As we enter this New Years weekend, much talk is about averting the Fiscal Cliff. My only comment will be that I have no doubt the Cliff will be with us for several months if this Congress's performance the entire time they have been in session is any indication. There might be some band- aid can to kick down the road but the reality is that the United States will enter a deep recession due to loss of confidence by global markets and investors in the fiscal viability of America.
Never in my life have I been convinced that the 535 Members of Congress and the President of the United States should be summarily impeached or forced to resign with no pay, no pension, no benefits for they simply have not performed. They even admit it themselves as of this morning so why not hold them accountable as a business owner would do to an under performing employee? We have been failed as an American People by these elected people!
But more, much more importantly, my family entered this weekend with a Family affair last evening with all eleven of the herd here at our house for pizza and then downstairs, all in our pajamas, to watch The Grinch That Stole Christmas on our 55 inch flat screen and all in pitch darkness but for the TV lighting. The grandkids played and watched, laughed and played, snuggled and kissed; yes, a great night of Family. I realized in that time of watching the macro view of last evening, just how vital Family is to the human existence. Families are built upon boundaries for boundaries define the rights and wrongs of direction.
My wife and I have just finished our morning devotional and coincidentally, today's Our Daily Bread is about boundaries. Joe Stowell writes:
In all the years I’ve worked with people, I’ve yet to meet someone whose life was all messed up because he or she kept God’s commands. Yet, in a day when personal freedom is celebrated as an inalienable right, talk of conforming our lifestyle to God’s ways is often viewed as an infringement. And anyone who speaks out in favor of God’s boundaries is ruled out of bounds. But in this frenzy to be free, it should not go unnoticed that our society is increasingly marked with a haunting sense of meaninglessness and despair.
God’s people should have a distinctly different view of boundaries. Like the psalmist, we must realize that a blessed life comes from delighting in the law of the Lord (Ps. 1:2)—not in living like those who “walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take” (v.1 niv). A believer in Jesus will recognize that God’s boundaries are not meant to take the pizazz out of life. Instead, they are divine fences constructed with God’s wisdom to help us avoid the treachery and trouble of reckless living.
Next time you are tempted to break through God’s boundaries, remember His loving purpose in putting up fences. Choose to bless God for the boundaries and for the way they bless you.
What freedom lies with all who choose
To live for God each day!
But chains of bondage shackle those
Who choose some other way. —D. DeHaan
To live for God each day!
But chains of bondage shackle those
Who choose some other way. —D. DeHaan
God’s fences keep you within the bounds of His blessings.
As the snow continues to gently fall but after the devotional, I am lifted by the words of Mr.Stowell. Being politically correct is not a boundary marker. The very mess we are witnessing in Washington perfectly examples that. The issues of same sex marriage, abortion, escalating murders, sexual perversions on every had, ever increasing divorce rates, etc, etc; all example the antithesis of exactly what the Bible and Mr. Stowell addressed to each of us. I believe one thing we can all agree on is the depth of the vileness of Man cannot be assessed for with each terrible example we can know we but need to wait a few more days and something else even worse will be ushered into our lives via the media.
I will close by a return to our founding as a nation and thus how far we continue to venture from those principles. When you stop and realize via the writings of those men that risked everything including their lives to draft a Declaration on Independence, a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, all of those structural documents for the new Union were filled with references to an Almighty God and seeking His divine guidance and sovereignty. Today, more and more American thumb their nose and scoff at even a hint of God in anything such as our classrooms.
See, I cry when I hear the National Anthem, I salute when I see the flag, I shake hands and salute military veterans and feel tears one step later. I am a goof and I know it. I love my country. I love knowing men and women will commit their lives to protecting me from the evils of people that hate me because I live in America. I get very angry when I see Godless politicians, actors, talking heads dispute and demean the very existence of that same God upon which this nation was founded. I believe America is getting exactly what America has sought; distance from that same God and that is both scary and horrific. I believe God saved my soul and the souls of my family. I believe, therefore, my family will be joined again in Heaven so we can spend eternity together. I believe Jesus came to this earth, lived, died a horrible death for me. I believe this "mess" is fixable if and only if this nation makes a dramatic return to that same God.
So it is far less about fiscal cliffs, school shootings, PTSD, abortions, etc, but more about tears of joy in knowing a person has brought Jesus into his or her heart which serves then as a prism for a life serving Jesus. I realized all of this as my family through the noise of kids at play, listening to the kids talk to each other in their own unique communication systems, as we laughed, told stories, shared experiences around cheap pizza; I felt proud, humbled and honored. As I prayed the blessing on the meal last night , I almost could not finish it for tears welling up in me as Poppy prayed for my family and for thankfulness for one more time together. Yes, the tears are back just reading this!
Find somebody you love this day and hug them, love them, show them you really, really care.
The system is broken. The problem lies in the fact that when you move away from your foundations you lose your foundation. When you stretch the boundaries, you have no boundaries. There is no line to judge right and wrong when the line is constantly on the move. There is no basis for the masses other than what is popular at the time. If you don't like the fact that something is viewed as wrong, stand fast. This will change as soon as someone feels "offended" or "oppressed" because you don't share their view. I think it is much more valuable to stand your ground in what you believe, hold your foundations, know whats right and wrong, believe in something. Never be like the many whose morale fiber waxes and wanes with whatever is popular or what society tells them is good. This is the issue we are in. No lines are there and we are without foundations, our house is built on sand. As soon as we receive leadership who will say "this ends here, we will fix this", or "we've gone too far, this must stop" then we will see change and recovery. We cannot battle against each other and remain luke warm. This great Country of ours can overcome anything. We just need a unified direction, a foundation, boundaries, and a vision!!!
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