SPENDTHRIFT

You have a Visa or Master card, right?

And if you got in trouble with it and owed more than you could pay...would you think running it up farther would solve your debt?  How about floating a bank loan to pay interest ONLY...would that be helpful?

What if Visa says you've reached your credit limit.  Would you say "we're blowing through that number, Jack.  And you're a cold-hearted one to try and limit me.  And insensitive, too, since my card supports my family."

Here's Realville.  If the country continues to spend and drown in debt, we all go down.  Then where will the poor be?

For the last four years, our spending has begged for a twelve-step program.  Ignoring the Constitutional REQUIREMENT to provide a budget, and ignoring their own Debt Commission recommendations...this administration made no effort to be responsible, while they SAID "we must reduce the deficit".  At any time they could have done that.

From one George to another (Washington to Bush) the Federal Public Debt accumulated $10.6 TRILLION; now four years later it is $16.4 TRILLION.  These numbers are exponential.  Can we agree this cannot continue?

Our government drives a dollar wagon through the country, throwing billions off the back.  Besides checking off the Democratic wish list (electric cars, high speed train, wind farms, etc.) has it worked?  My dollars are buying less and less.

Of course without any budget numbers on a page, there was no accountability.  And when anyone suggested we spend less, the administration repeated "we don't have a spending problem" and "we should tax the rich".

And the people cheered as though the problem was solved.

Still, the thought leadership continues to "put all chips on the billion dollar dumps".  At what point does our willingness to cut slack for "the worst economy since the Depression" expire?

In 2013, we've ALL ponyied up more taxes (and the new Obamacare taxes haven't even kicked in yet) so NOW can we cut spending?

 Sorry, no.  Although they SAID "tax now and we'll cut later"...they switched the bait and declared "we can't possibly cut spending on the backs of the poor".  You could drive a truck through that cotton candy righteousness.

Please let us know.  Are we all chronic teenagers with our money management...or just low-information citizens who haven't connected dots?  The state is putting us in a vulnerable/slavish debt position.  And debt management seems like such a no-brainer!

Fiscal good health is the only way we go into the future with the ability to bless others.

EVIL ROOTS

Newtown was unspeakable evil against defenseless children.  It demands a response.  Will it be an assault gun ban?.  Of course, we tried that for a ten year period back in the 90's, and everyone agreed the numbers didn't show any effects.  

There's a sport these days to bully the gun; it's easy to pick on an inanimate piece of metal.   On the other hand, other root causes have a loud voice.  Hollywood talks back.  Money talks back, too, on behalf of video games and the mental health/pill industry.  There's not much press about a violent psychotic drug reaction being a possibility for the shooter's rage.  That would seem worth probing.

When we see nothing done and legislators saying "it's complicated"...we feel like a dog chasing its tail. Of course it's complicated.  But what if the answer were simple?  What if we all just valued God's words regarding these roots of evil:

EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE.  "I will be careful to live a blameless life...I will set no worthless thing before my eyes."  Psalm 101:2,3  "Everything is lawful, but not everything is beneficial." 1Corinthians 10:23

DISSOLUTION OF THE FAMILY.  "Each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."  Ephesians 5:33   Why?  "We are members of His body...for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh...the mystery is great, but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church."  Ephesians 5:30-32  Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church, whom He loves and serves and never leaves.

DECAYING MORALITY.  "Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death.  But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit."  Galatians 6:8

MENTAL ILLNESS.  "Through all that they suffered, He suffered too...in His love and mercy He protected them; He lifted them up and carried them..."  Isaiah 63:9

APATHY.  "God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons.  He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating."  Colossians 1:13,14

DESENSITIZATION.  "Be gentle with one another, sensitive...forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave."  Ephesians 4:32

LACK OF SOCIAL CONTACT.  "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another; and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  Hebrews 10:25

POP CULTURE.  "But do you call that a free life?  What did you get out of it?  Nothing you're proud of now.  Where did it get you?  A dead end."  Romans 6:21

UNEARNED FAME.  "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of Your truth, we wait eagerly for You; for Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls."  Isaiah 26:8

God records three instances where He allows the taking of a life:  

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (Genesis 9:6 and Romans 13:4)

JUSTIFIABLE WAR (Genesis 14)

SELF DEFENSE (Exodus 22:2)

Exodus 22:2 says "If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him."  Our legal system read that and translated it "justifiable homicide".  We have been given the right to protect ourselves by God, and then the Constitution gives us the right to bear arms in that defense.  

Most gun owners would be willing to tweak loopholes to be reasonable.  They just know that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem...so they shouldn't bear the full weight of the solution.

KNOW BOETCKER?

Who was William John Henry Boetcker?

A THINKING MAN.  WJHB was the third child in-between three sisters born in a suburb of Hamburg, Germany in 1873.  When he was eight, his father (a factory foreman) was carried home on a stretcher because he had been beaten by striking workers.  The incident that left his father disabled for life...marked the young boy's soul and also gave him purpose in life.

William started a book when he was 15 of puzzles and mind problems.  Although his father thought it a waste of time, the boy worked hard and by his next birthday he had completed 500 pages.  When published, the novelty of being Germany's youngest author drew the attention of a wealthy American-born countess.  She saw Boetcker's potential, but believed he needed to go to America to fully realize it.  So on his graduation from high school, her gift to Boetcker was $65 for travel money.  He was 18 and alone when he boarded a steamship for New York City.

A FOCUSED MAN.  Although his ship was reported lost in stormy weather, Boetcker arrived in America and went to Chicago to enroll in Chicago Theological Seminary.  He spoke no English and his teachers spoke no German, so they conversed in Latin.

A FUNNY MAN.  In 1893 the Chicago World's Fair came to town with all its innovation and invention that would have captured the mind of this seminary student.  When the Pope sent a Cardinal to represent the church at the fair, one of the Swiss ceremonial guards became sick.  The church advertised for a coronet player who was 6' tall.  Boetcker answered the ad and although he was not 6' tall, he was great on the coronet.  No one else responded and he got the job. 

The fair introduced George W. Ferris' new invention, a steam-powered wheel that was 264 feet high and towered as crown jewel over all the other exhibits.  Each of its 36 cars held 60 passengers (40 revolving chairs and room for 20 to stand) who could look out plate glass windows to the fair below.  It was lit by 3,000 of Edison's new electric light bulbs.  Boetcker paid 50 cents to ride the wheel...it malfunctioned...and he was left at the top.  Before it could be repaired, people across the fair could hear a coronet playing "Nearer My God to Thee".

A SERVING MAN.  Boetcker finished seminary in New Jersey, graduated and pastored churches in New York and Indiana.  Then at the turn of the century, he began to give motivational speeches on social justice.  His concern was for individual character and personal initiative.  His early convictions that were formed as a result of his father's attack convinced him that industry and labor could change as individuals changed from the inside out.  So William John Henry Boetcker came to be known as the "Inside Man".

He published a leaflet in 1916 called "Lincoln on Private Property" and on the back he put his TEN CANNOTS.  Ronald Reagan once used them and attributed them to Abraham Lincoln, but they were written by Boetcker.  Most of us have read them.  They are what used to pass as just good common sense.

Do you think our times illlustrate this Boetcker list?

The Seven National Crimes:

I don’t think.

I don’t know.

I don’t care.

I am too busy.

I leave well enough alone.

I have no time to read and find out.

I am not interested.

William John Henry Boetcker came a long way from the suburbs of Hamburg, Germany...and he blessed many lives along the way.  Well done, Mr. Boetcker.  Your first-class life speaks to us still.

"Before you can write a check, you must first make out a deposit slip; before you can draw money out of a bank, you must put money into a bank; before you are entitled to a living, you must give the world a life; if you want to make a first-class living, learn to give the world a first-class life."  William John Henry Boetcker

OH, THAT'S RICH!

It's pretty hard to take serious advice from posers.

Two specific examples come to mind lately of folks who can't match their sayin with their doin.

Perhaps you've seen the star-studded YouTube where Hollywood stars urge us to "demand a plan" about gun violence.  Someone has put together an answer in this LINK.  It's pretty illustrative, but very graphic.  Be warned.

But no one takes movie stars seriously, right?  How about a public servant like Al Gore, rich with advice for others?

Remember how the former VP lectured others about environmentalism while living in multiple houses (including the 10,000 square foot McMansion in TN sucking a huge electricity bill) and riding around in private jets that gobble nasty fuel?  Remember how he told us the seas were rising...while he was buying a seaside resort home?  That inconvenient truth is a little hard to choke down.

Now the former VP pockets $100 million from the sale of his failing company, Current TV.  That's his cut of the oil-rich Qatar dollars from the $400M sale to Al Jazeera.  To who?  AL JAZEERA???  Is that just purely business?  Is anything WRONG with that sale?

1.  Glenn Beck had tried to buy the channel, but his offer was refused because of Current TV's mission statement.  Fair enough.  The mission statement spoke of "shared goals" and certainly Beck/Gore do not share goals.   But then when Al Jazeera bought, they had to get out an eraser for those words.  Now their mission statement reads "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell stories that no one else is telling".  That's rich to think the new buyer will promote independent thinking.

2.  When VP Gore sold to Al Jazeera, that meant oil (his nasty nemesis) bought him out...and THAT drips with irony.

3.  Al's Jazeera has now bought a way into 40 million American households with their anti-American bent.  How is this helpful for our country?  We are now experiencing "homegrown" terrorists and wouldn't this feed such hatred?  It is breathtakingly insincere for VP Gore to speak pro-Israel words while his actions are 180 degrees away.  And there's more...

4.  The NYTimes has reported that the former VP pushed to close this deal in December (it was signed on January 2nd) so as to avoid the changes in the tax system.  That is just good business sense, but it would conflict with his earlier words about being SO willing to do a little more and pay his fair share.

Whether it is Hollywood or Al Gore, it is hard to abide with posers.

2013 GOOD WORKS

Chuck Colson spoke of the skepticism he felt from others after coming to Christ.  People waited for his commitment to Christ to expire because they thought jailhouse conversions were phony.

Some may be.

But Chuck Colson came to Christ BEFORE he went to jail.  And then it was Christ, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, who drove him to plead guilty in the Watergate case.

Chuck had lots to say about doing good by serving the underserved.  He earned a seat of authority on the subject by never forgetting the prisoners he promised never to forget.  What a good man who lived thirty-three years as a slave to a new Master.

So what does that have to do with New Years?

As you and I plan our 2013 days, it is time to think about our willingness to find the things ahead that God has in mind for us.  Here's how Chuck Colson puts it:

"Those of us who have 'by grace have been saved through faith' must be about doing the 'good works which God prepared in advance for us to do' (Ephesians 2:8-10).  For it is through Christian acts of loving service - especially to the more needy among us - that the world will see the power and love of Christ."

I'm not excited about flopping around doing just any "good" thing.  I want to match my willingness to preordained/prefitted opportunities.  These are exciting times in the kingdom of God.  May the coming year find us all implementing His plan.

"For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him."
Philippians 2:13 

CHRISTMAS 2012 GREETINGS

This year, our family is giving big thanks for our new and unexpected baby!

Will came in February and that little ray of delight has been grinning ever since.  He's a chubby lightbrite to all of us.

Mike and I smile to think of our two special honors with Will...

We were asked to the ultrasound and got to peek into the serenity of Beth's womb...and then we got to be in the birthing room most of the day with Beth/Matt/Nate until getting shooed out at the last thirty minutes.

It was a privilege to be in the grandstand for both those events.

There was another baby (the One from Bethlehem) who was expected, but His grandstands were sparse.  The Messiah came silently into the very world He had created...to witnesses who smelled like the outside.  A nightshift of shepherds were in the fields when suddenly the sky became blazing with Shekinah glory and a "BEING" appeared from the heavenlies.  It's easy to imagine why they were sore afraid as then myriads of angels filled the sky. The sheep caretakers bowed low before receiving directions to the long-awaited Messiah.  Don't you know that as they ran, they wondered "why me"?

Here's a possible reason for "why them".  Ever heard of a place called The Tower of the Flock?  In Hebrew words, the place is called Migdal Eber and it is mentioned twice in Scripture.  According to Micah 4:8, the Messiah will be revealed there.  So where is this tower?

We know Bethlehem is six miles from Jerusalem and Migdal Eber is out from Bethlehem.  The flocks in those fields belonged to the temple and the sheep were born to be sold as a sacrifice.  The tower was a watchtower against predators...but it was also used as a birthing place.

The sheep were out in the fields all year long, but when the ewes were about to give birth, these shepherds (responsible for lambs without spot or blemish) brought the sheep into a limestone cave beneath the tower so they could supervise the birth.  If a little leg were to be broken, the lamb would be useless.

While we think of a low animal shelter with smelly service animals to be an unlikely birthplace for El Elyon (the Most High God)...G. Campbell Morgan says this place where thousands of sacrificial sheep had been born is exactly the perfect WHERE.  And the WHO to receive the birth announcement?  Temple shepherds are just the ones to connect the dots and recognize THE Lamb of God.  Then they worshipped Him and went out praising God.

This Christmas, Mike and I are praising Him, too...as we consider our salt-and-light grownup kids with kids of their own.

We adore the two grandboys up here in Fayetteville and the three grandgirls down in Little Rock.

Matt is at his post as junior high principal and this year everyone was reminded of the responsibility of that position.  Brad has finished his first sixteen months of running his own business managing mouths up on ninth floor of Medical Towers I beside Baptist Hospital.  Beth and Laura are staying home with the two youngest, while one is a kindergartener and the other two are second-graders.

Life spins by but we grab onto each blessing, the latest of which was running a six-day GrandCamp for Lily in November when her parents and sisters went to NYC.  God gave us oomph.

Merry Christmas with our love and best wishes to each of you in 2013.  The front door here is open and the upstairs is waiting for any Razorback/Crystal Bridges/leaf peeping traveler.  Or, come for any reason.  And...Happy Birthday, Jesus!

P.S.  Last night after our family Christmas Eve meal/gift exchange, Nate was buzzed.  He hatched a plan to intercept Santa by spending the night in his treehouse/fort that he and his Dad made.  His mother mentioned the plummeting temperature and winds, but his daddy said boys need adventure.

P.S.S.  When you get time, here's a  LINK  to a sweet, three minute Christmas video about our long-expected Jesus, whose story started even before time began.  See how many characters you can name!

GUN CONTROL

Dear Vice President Biden,
It will be ridiculous for your task force to suggest any solutions that have not worked in the past.  And it's equally ridiculous to do nothing.

Americans want practical, workable, effective answers to Newtown. This will take some real wisdom and not just political ideology.

God, save us from the posers.

WHAT HASN'T WORKED?
Gun bans.  See LINK.

Criminals don't obey the law and Americans have the constitutional right to bear arms.  LINK and  LINK.

WHAT HAS WORKED?
1.  Conceal carry laws.  See LINK.  Anyone can cite any study when making their argument.  But when facts buttress the argument, it earns notice.

Last week there was a shooting at the Clackamas Town Center in Oregon.  CNN reported extensively on the incident but left out a cogent point.  The shooter took his life when police confirmed that a concealed-carry person pointed a gun to the man's head.  LINK.

Here are a few other instances of concealed-carry weapons halting violence:
• A 1997 high school shooting in Pearl, Miss., was halted by the school's vice principal after he retrieved the Colt .45 he kept in his truck.
• A 1998 middle school shooting ended when a man living next door heard gunfire and apprehended the shooter with his shotgun.
• A 2002 terrorist attack at an Israeli school was quickly stopped by an armed teacher and a school guard.
• A 2002 law school shooting in Grundy, Va., came to an abrupt conclusion when students carrying firearms confronted the shooter.
• A 2007 mall shooting in Ogden, Utah, ended when an armed off-duty police officer intervened.
• A 2009 workplace shooting in Houston, Texas, was halted by two coworkers who carried concealed handguns.
• A 2012 church shooting in Aurora, Colo., was stopped by a member of the congregation carrying a gun.

2.  Gun control laws such as a waiting period and background checks.  Proof?  Adam Lanza tried to buy a gun, but was dissuaded because of the background check.

Adam's guns were legally bought and registered to a lady with a unblemished record.  How can we not sell to people who MIGHT have family members who haven't done anything in the past but MIGHT go ballistic because they have mental health issues?  Ms. Lanza lived as a single lady and as such, had a right to the security that guns would afford.  At the same time, she also had a huge responsibility to keep them secure.  That was especially true when she saw his downward spiral and verbalized to her friends "I'm losing him".

If the present gun laws and regs are not being enforced, what makes us think new ones would work?

WHAT ARE THE OBVIOUS THREE COMPONENTS OF A SOLUTION?

GOOD PARENTING

No one can expect to be submerged in a video game world of violence and push the button over and over to kill someone without losing sensitivity.  Electronic "games" sharpen a short attention span and the competitive nature of boys, while the isolation destroys healthy social interaction.  What you spend your time thinking about is what you are becoming.

In Ms. Lanza's defense, I have not lived in her shoes and can give her the benefit of the doubt that she loved her son and tried to do the best for him.  I know when school didn't work, she brought him home to homeschool.  Mothers die a thousand times when they hear the words "no one is my friend".

But in that basement, Adam drew farther and farther away from reality.  We define success as being smart but this child shows that having brains is NOT the celebration that we make of it.  Adam was so smart that he did college courses at sixteen, but smart didn't make him happy.  Relating to people would have made him happy and that leads to the second part of the solution.

MENTAL HEALTH

I'm over my head here...not knowing how to translate this important piece of the puzzle into law.  Somehow Ms. Lanza needed an option that was missing from our system.  

TWEAK GUN CONTROL LAWS

A compromise would be to work on limiting magazines with 30 rounds.  You say..."hunters certainly don't need thirty shots".  That's right.  They are also not necessary for a one-on-one house invasion.  But if there is a crowd (like in the LA riots or a group of people who decide to come for your property/life), you need to make the first five rifle shots count.

WHERE'S GOD IN ALL OF THIS?

I'm hearing people say God killed those children because they reason He is either all powerful or He is not.  No!  God loves those precious children and a shooting was not His plan for their lives.  He also loves Adam Lanza and that boy's plan was different to God's plan.  Is God always in control?  Yes.  Some of what happens in this fallen world includes God's permissive will.  But it's comforting to know that those first graders are around His throne now and no longer know the tears of this world.

A long time ago in Eden's garden, ANOTHER Adam chose not to believe/trust God.  That rebellion wasn't God plan, but Adam and Eve followed different leadership because they had a will which was given full head.  We have that same option.  Part of the reason that God gives us choice is to show us what we are like.  We need Him; we just don't seem to know it.

Adam Lanza needed God's leadership.  You may not think you're in his "category" because you've never killed anyone.  Then you hear the Bible say we murder with our words and we kill because we intend to malign.  We also are surprised to hear Him say that all sin is sin to Him.  We like to put sin into categories, but He doesn't.  He says if you keep the whole law but fail in one, you become guilty of all.  He sees sin as rebellion against His person (the ungodly) and His laws (the unrighteous).

So don't fault a loving God for giving us our way.  Pure love is when God sees me spit in His eye and then cares enough to pull back the veil so I can see how my defiance looks from His side.  Grace is the agent that moves the veil so that my spiritual sight can bring repentance.  Then the FULLNESS of His grace provides Coverage available at the ready to offload defiant heart choices.  Jesus is that coverage.

You think God did not weep for the children in Connecticut?  On that awful day, parents sent their child to school without any expectation that they would die.  But God intentionally (from before the foundation of the world) sent His Son to die.  God knows their pain very well.

When the dust settled in Connecticut, neither the innocents nor Adam nor his mother had any choices left.  Satan is the enemy who comes to steal and kill...and he stole Christmas joy from the whole nation with his murderous acts.  But the teacher who hid her students, Vicky Soto, made a costly, Christ-like choice and gave her life for others.  

Now America must make some wise choices.  We can tweak gun laws.  We can beef up mental health options.  We can urge good parenting.  But a nation in moral decline will continue to come unraveled.  So just know this:

IN THIS WORLD, THE SINGLE GREATEST PLACE OF SAFETY IS TO RUN TO JESUS.