by | September 21, 2010 · 7:00 pm

Goodbye to a Family Friend

I don’t want to do it, but it must be done.

Why do some things that should be so simple have to be so hard?  What is a car?  Is it not just a machine?  Does it have personality?  Does it have feelings?  Well, when you have driven a care past 300,000 miles, you tend to question reality.  Seeing this car leave our family is going to be,  no it IS difficult.

Several years ago I actually took the time to look for a specific brand, model and year of car.  I wanted a 1994 Honda Accord EX.  After searching the car lots and the papers, one morning, when I first got to work in Clarksville, TN, I logged onto the local paper’s website.  There, for the first time listed, was a car meeting the exact specifications I was looking for.  What was better, it was a one-owner (garage-kept by a literal “old lady”), and the asking price was at least $1000 under value.  I was the first to call and said, “I will be right over.”

The little blue Honda has been through a lot with our family.  It has had me drive it to appointments while I was wearing a suit and tie.  It has endured me driving it all hours of the night while delivering pizza.  It has carried the sick.  It has raced to the aid of friends and relatives.  It has even carried the load once packed into a Ford Crown Victoria that broke down on the way to Chattanooga from Kentucky (I will never underestimate my wife’s ability to pack again).

With nearly 340k miles on the old car, and with another in the shop, we have decided to let this one go.  The possitive side of the story is that someone else is going to get some benefit from it.  I still has life in its engine.  It still

One last look inside (my legs look wimpy)

looks pretty good, too.  For that matter, I think that the 1994 Honda Accord was the prettiest body style that Honda ever came out with.  Even the newer Honda we have, a 2001 EX, is not as elegant.  As a matter of fact, the ’94 gets better milage.  I do like the V6 in the 2001, though.

I hate it when change comes, especially when it requires the loss of an old, faithful friend.  This little Honda has been as faithful as they come.  It has never given us any problems that didn’t come with just usual wear and tear.  It was literally the best investment I ever made.  So long little friend.  You will be missed.

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by | September 16, 2010 · 11:09 pm

Happy Birthday to Me!

A whole lot has gone on this year.  I have had a few serious health scares.  My wife, Valerie has had more than her share of health scares.  Our girls have had difficulties, and even our dogs have had problems.  Man, it has been interesting.  But one thing I can do it genuinely celebrate the fact that I have gotten older.  I lived one more year.

September 17, 1967, was when I was born.  As I described it to a kid on the bus yesterday, “I was born before Austin Powers got transported in time.”  I really don’t know if she understood what I was talking about.  Anyway, Iwas born in the 60’s.  I put it another way a couple of years ago when I was speaking to a Vietnam veterans group in Soddy Daisy, TN.  I said, “When you were ‘in country,’ I was ‘in womb.'”  Fortunately, they actually got it and thought it was funny.  Good thing…they could have killed me, unlike the 10 year old.

Now, I have gotten some cool things for my birthdays over the years, thanks to loving parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, girlfriends, friends, co-workers, and other assorted associations.  But I can’t think of anything more cool, more fun, or more seriously (did I say) cool than a new 4G iPhone.  I have actually entered the most sophisticated, up-to-date, high-tech world of modern gadgetry.  Best of all, it is a brand new phone; not one handed down from somebody else who decided to upgrade, but felt sorry for me.  Who can I thank for this work of Apple art?  My lovely wife and children (and who knows, maybe even my son-in-law).

I am 43.  I won’t be long before I am 50.  Before I die there are several things that I would like to do at least once.  There are a few things that I would

like to do again.  One thing that I would like to do is drive a 67 fastback Ford Mustang again, one like I use to have.  I can still smell it.  I can still remember the feel.  Of course, I can still also remember rolling over several times in it, all the while praying to God “please don’t let me die!”  Anyway, I would love to drive one again, if not own one.

Another vehicle I would love to own again, or at least drive, would be a 68 F100 like my dad used to have.  That was a REAL truck.  I don’t see how the new ones even hold a candle to it.  When my dad was still alive, we used to imagine a perfectly restored 68 F100 pulling a scary, mean, black-on-black (like mine was) 67 Fastback on a trailer to a car show.  Now that kind of setup would cost as much as a house.  Oh well.  I can still dream, though.

Well, at least I have my family that loves me.  And even though I don’t have the truck and the car, I have a dang cool phone.  I have nothing to complain about.  Happy birthday to me!

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by | September 16, 2010 · 12:38 pm

Local Bus Driver Injured, and You Won’t Hear About It

The Average School Bus

It is dangerous being a school bus driver these days.

For the last two days, in the Hixson, Tn area, there has been a driver that has had to put up with fights on his bus.  This morning he was actually injured.  The students that caused his injuries were students who have been written up for past offenses, but were still riding that route.  Actions are being taken to try to get another driver and another bus to service that particular stop, but the students, or at least the students not arrested (if any of them were, I don’t know), will still be receiving transportation.

There are so many reasons for why all this is going on.  One reason is the fact that the students that are causing trouble are from families that have no control over their children, nor accept responsibility.  Another reason is that the children have no respect for authority, no fear of consequences, and respect for themselves.  The real immediate problem, however, is the inability of the bus drivers to discipline students in any way, nor put these dangerous, anti-social students OFF the bus.  Literally, the driver’s hands are tied  – tied, that is, to the steering wheel.  The only thing they can do is defend themselves when attacked, but even that is subject to legal issues.

There are many people, if not most, that think it is a right to ride a school bus.  It is NOT a right; it is a PRIVILEGE!  Children are required by law to attend school (or home school), but students are not guaranteed the right to ride a bus, especially if they are making life miserable for everyone else, disobeying rules, or hurting people.  Sadly, certain groups of people have a problem with thinking that they are “owed” certain rights based on their economic status, location, or ethnicity.  The fact is that buses in Hamilton County are owned by a company, not the county, and drivers work for this company, not the tax payer.  As a company, it reserves the right to decide who it will, and won’t allow to ride it’s buses.  Now, the contract between the company and the county may make certain exceptions, based on law, but no student is above the law, nor has the right to ride regardless of his actions.

Another problem that exists in Hamilton County is that bus drivers are required to handle everything that goes on on their buses and still drive.  What is a driver supposed to do when he is driving in the dark hours of the morning with 60-80 kids?  How is he/she expected to deal with trouble starting and try to drive at the same time.  It is hard, believe me.  Other states require that another person ride with the driver so that the driver can do his job of keeping the bus on the road.  That is not the case here; only with special needs (small bus)  routes.

I think that there should be an outcry on behalf of those that literally put their lives on the line to transport the most valuable cargo in the world – our children.

As school bus drivers, we should be able to protect and defend ourselves without fear of law suites, but we should also be able to defend and protect the students put in our trust.  When we are not allowed to do anything other than talk to and warn kids, or write them up, many more drivers and students are going to get hurt by gang members, hoodlums, and spoiled rich kids.  Sadly, again, it is the law that protects those who are causing so much trouble.  What’s the answer?  Get the laws changed and allow the brave men and women who transport our children to have more say-so in who is allowed to ride.  That would be a start, at least.

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by | September 14, 2010 · 10:34 pm

You Don’t Have to be Perfect to be Used

So, a Pharisee and a Publican walk into…let’s just say…a  search comittee meeting…

You know the story of the Pharisee and the Publican, don’t you? Jesus told the story, as recorded in Luke 18:10-11

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.”

Imagine that instead of the temple, they walked into a search committee meeting.   A meeting of people designated with the task of finding, let’s say, a new pastor for a church (at least that’s the way we do it in the Baptist denomination).   They walk in, introduce themselves, compare resumes, and one gets the job.  Which one?  The one that fits the picture of what every Christian fit for service should be – perfect.

Sunday night I shared with my congregation that God doesn’t just use perfect people, but people who have made mistakes, REAL people.  But sadly, within the church today, there are many men and women who have felt inferior and useless because of  sinful and broken pasts.  They are the people who sit on the pews, week after week, doing all they can to be faithful in life, but are forbidden to hold positions in the church.  They are much like the Publican, men and women who know they have failed before, but want to be forgiven and start new.  They are not the ones that look down on others for mistakes they’ve made.  They’re not Pharisees.

Have you ever considered how dysfunctional the characters of Genesis were?

I read through the book of Genesis last week in a couple of sittings.  Reading a book of the Bible that way, especially in a different translation, can help you see the story from a new perspective.  This time I was just astounded at how messed up these people really were!  There was so much “stuff” going on that if it were today, it would make an episode of Jerry Springer, or TrueTV look tame!  Consider, if nothing else, the sad story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel.  This was a seriously messed up family with real marital problems.  At one point, Leah and Rachel get into a jealous argument over a son’s mandrakes.  Just imagine you were a marriage counselor and listened in to the following story…

Reuben went out during the wheat harvest and found some mandrakes in the field.  When he brought them to his mother, Leah, Rachel asked, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”  But Leah replied to her, Isn’t it enough that you have taken my husband?  Now you also want my son’s mandrakes?”

“Well,” Rachel said, “you can sleep with him tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”  When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.”  So Jacob slept with her that night. – Geneses 30:14:16 HCSB

Twice Abraham told other people that his wife, Sarah, was his sister so that he would not be harmed.  Joseph’s brothers hated him and sold him to traveling salesmen.  Jacob and Esau were seriously at odds.  Leah, poor thing, kept trying to have children so that her husband, Jacob would love her.  Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, got him drunk on his wedding night and gave him the wrong wife – on purpose.  The son’s of Jacob (founders of ten of the tribes of Israel) lied to a bunch of men about making a covenant, then proceeded to slaughter all of them after they had convinced them to be circumsized.  It just goes on and on.  Messed up, I am telling you!

Nevertheless,

God told Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3  “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  How is this even possible?  If God can use Abraham and his family with all their problems to bless the nations, then He can SURELY use ANYBODY!

Check in next time, and I will continue my thoughts on this subject.  I will be addressing the legalistic applications of 1 Timothy 3, the portion of Scripture most likely used to keep the Pharisees in the pulpit, and the Publicans in the pews.

Here’s a teaser: should divorce keep one from serving as deacon or pastor?

Tell me what YOU think.


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by | September 11, 2010 · 1:22 pm

Heaping Coals, Instead of Burning Korans

Being that it is in the news everywhere, I couldn’t help but weigh in on this story.

Has anyone ever stopped to ask, “Why are we so worried about what Pastor Terry Jones does?”  Sure, there have been many, from Franklin Graham to President Obama, who have stated their opinions.  People in the news all the world over have commented about it saying, “Nothing good can come of this…” and all that.  The main reason that is stated by Christians is that this Florida pastor, by burning Korans, will not only incite violence, but turn people away from Christ.  The “Christians” say that this pastor is not acting according to Scripture.  Maybe.

I would like to submit that the real reason that most people are against this pastor burning Korans in public, which he has a right to do, is because they are AFRAID!  Did you read what I just said? People are AFRAID of what Muslims, the “peaceful” people, will do.  Now, would someone tell me, prior to 9/11, would this have been an issue?

It seems to me that terrorism is winning, and winning big!

Why is it that Terry Jones is/was wanting to burn the Koran?  The reason probably rests in the desire to see some resolution to the inequity in the world.  Just recently I showed to my congregation the video, Obsession – Radical Islam’s War Against the West, in which there were multiple scenes of Muslims burning American flags, crosses, etc., and speaking publicly of how Christians, Jews, and anyone else that differs with them are just “cattle.” In one of the scenes there was an Islamic group standing in New York City, speaking English, proving their loyalty to the Qua-ran and Islam by walking on an American flag and saying, “Allah Akbar!”  Not one person did a thing to stop them.  But could you even imagine the opposite happening?  Death and mayhem would take place, not just on the streets of New York, but all over the world.  So it’s ok to burn a Bible, but not a Koran.  RIIIGHT!

Protesting in Afghanistan

Protests have taken place all over the world over the POTENTIAL burning of Korans at the Florida church.  Nothing had even happened, yet people were rioting, burning stuff, threatening to kill.  Where are the protests, the riots, the murders, the fires of destruction when crucifixes were dipped in urine (see picture at left) by Andres Surrano and called art?  Did Catholics march through Rome burning American flags?  Did Baptists burn art studios?  When Christians did speak out in this country over the funding of such art with tax dollars, the media accused the Christians of being bigoted and incapable of “understanding true art.”  What happens when a cartoonist just draws a picture of Mohammed? Oh, well, cutting his head off is the only logicgal thing for “peace-loving” people to do.  Just doesn’t seem too fair, does it?

So, you see, Pastor Terry Jones is feeling the frustration that comes with seeing others do things that offend you, but never being allowed to speak out.  If everything was fair, Christians should be able to burn Korans just as easily as Jihadists can cut of the heads of people they don’t agree with (Kaafir).

But let me be fair, there are, supposedly, Muslims who do not believe in what the so-called “radicals” are doing.  The don’t believe in terrorism.  They hate what happened on 9/11.  They say that the Koran is being misused in order to justify killing.  For example, here are some verses from the Koran:

(Qur’an 60:7-8):

“It may be that God will grant love (and friendship) between you and those whom ye (now) hold as enemies. For God has power (over all things), and God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

God does not forbid you, with regard to those who fight you not for (your) faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for God loves those who are just.”

(I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but really, does not the Muslim world consider us as those who “DO fight you for your faith, and DO fight you for your homes?“)

The fact is that most of the world runs in fear at the thought of offending a Muslim, but Christians can be made fun of at every turn.  Islam is on the rise, and it is primarily because FEAR that they are able to grow.  Even if there are “peaceful” Muslims around us, their sympathies still lie with their brethren, and few will stand up and condemn groups such as Hamas, the PLO, etc.  The average Muslim, whether he likes it or not, is benefiting from terrorism in its purest form.  The world, including America, is changing its habits, beliefs, and customs, not to mention the Constitution, in order to placate a TERRORIST religion.

Well, back to Terry Jones.  Does he have the right to burn the Koran? Yes, he does.  Should he?  I don’t think so.  The reason for not doing it should not be based in fear, though.  The reason for not doing it should be based on the Bible.  Not a Bible of milk-toast, wimpy, cowering Christianity; but a Bible filled with the courage of Christ.  Jesus was the MOST offended of all people.  He came to love and to save the lost, but they mocked and crucified Him.  He, of all people, could have poured out unspeakable horrors upon the earth in a matter of seconds, calling ten thousand angels to His defense.  However, He did not.  He knew that His purpose had to be completed, to die for sinful man, so that those who “know not what they do” could be saved.

Even though we have the right to be angry and demand justice, we should show Biblical love.

Ephesians 5:1-2 tells us to “be imitators of God, as dearly loved children. And walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”   And as verse 15 says, we should “pay careful attention” to how we walk, “because the days are evil.”  Fact is, people of the world, including Muslims, are watching us.  Even though Satan would blind their eyes to the Truth of the Gospel, they can still see the love of Christ when it is expressed through the life of a Christian.  Admittedly, giving up our right to respond to injustice, as with burning the Koran, might seem unfair, but doing such things, just to make the other side angry, defeats the command of Romans 12:14, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”  Further more, verse 17 says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil.”

Burning the Koran is either an act of revenge, or an attempt at justice.

I would say to all of those like Pastor Jones that I understand your frustration and pain, not to mention your anger at obvious inequities in what is considered fair and just.  But to intentionally provoke, knowing the consequences, would be stirring up unnecessary strife in an already troubled world.  There may come a time when one can no longer “turn the other cheek,” but Romans 12:18 tells us, “whenever it is possible, live at peace with all men…”  What is the reason for this?  Because as verse 19 says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.”   The best thing that we can do in this world to reach the lost, including the Muslim, is to love them.  Granted, that may be easier said than done.  On the other hand, consider God knows what He is doing, and He makes a promise that is found both in Proverbs and in Romans 12:20-21:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him.  If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in doing so you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.  Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”

Maybe, instead of burning Korans, we should be “heaping coals.”


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by | September 2, 2010 · 6:48 pm

If Hawking says it, it must be true…Right?

The following is an exerpt from Stephen Hawking’s new book, The Grand Design, due out next week:

 

“Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist...” (Reuters)

I may only be a moron, but how can something that does not exist create itself? How can laws exist without a Lawgiver?  At what point do sane people look at comments like this and say, “Excuse me, but you, my good man, are an IDIOT!”

Given the expanse of eternal time, and the fact, as Hawking sees it, that the universe did and can create itself, is there not then the possibility that there is more than one universe?  Is it not possible, also, to assume that anything at any time could just pop out of nowhere, right in front of us and say, “Here I am!”  If any matter can create itself out of nothing, then the intent of the thing not created must have existed before the thing that was made.  I am sure that there could be a great many other intents floating around out there that could all of a sudden explode into existance, maybe even taking this universe with it.  Who knows?

There has to be some way we can find out the truth…hmmm…I wonder where we could find it?

You know, it is sorta funny how that I was just reading Plato yesterday (no kidding), and he believed that Idea and Form came before substance.  He did not believe in a God who had the Idea, just that the Idea existed.  Hawking believes that the Law of Gravity existed before the universe used it to create itself.  Sorta reminds me of an account of some other Athenians…

Act 17:21 KJV – (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
 
 
And while they sat around doing the things that philosophers did during those days, the same thing held true that is true today for Hawking…
 
 
Ecc 1:9 NLT – History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
 

Maybe Plato should sue for royalties?  Oh, better yet, since he doesn’t exist any more, he could just bring himself into existence again and go over to London and smack Mr. Hawking for not only stealing his Idea, but for being a fool (Psalm 53:1).

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by | September 1, 2010 · 11:55 am

“What do these stones mean?”

While driving my school bus just the other day, I happened to ask a couple of teenagers about their knowledge of the battle of Lookout Mountain during the Civil War. They had no knowledge that there ever WAS a battle on that mountain! I was completely dumbfounded. Every day we drive across the foot of Lookout Mt., right past monuments and markers, right beneath the cannon placements above, and yet they never even knew there was a battle there! Unbelievable!As I see it, somewhere there was a breakdown in the education these children were given. How is it even possible that teenagers could graduate from schools in Chattanooga and never know that one of the key battles of the Civil War, the very war that liberated their ancestors from slavery (they were African-American), was fought in their own back yard?

Was this information not considered important enough to teach in public school?

The Battle of Lookout Mountain

When I took just a few minutes to share some facts about what happened in and around Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga, making them look out the windows up to the low-hanging clouds that covered the bluffs, they began to understand some things. When I related how desperate the Union troops were, the seemingly invincible fortress that was Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and then used the clouds right in front of them to explain the “miracle” that took place, history came alive. I asked them to imagine how scary it was to a guy that may have walked all the way down from New York, just to look straight up that mountain and know that he was going to have to go up it with just a rifle and a bayonet.

Most American young people do not care about history because they have never been led to make a connection with the past. When it becomes personal, either by making it relevant or intriguing, they take ownership. We can’t just sit around and blame our children, or other’s, for not knowing what we do not teach them.  The very same thing can be said about our faith and what we believe. Consider the following Scripture:

Joshua 4:4-7 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: and Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel; that this may be a sign among you, that, when your children ask in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? then ye shall say unto them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah; when it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

What can we learn from these verses?  What principles can we see that could help our youth better understand our Faith, not to mention our history?  Here are just a few observations.

  1. “When your children ask in time to come…”  If our children are not asking questions, they need to be.  We need to lead them to places and discussions that would cause them to ask the right questions that lead them to discover truth.
  2. “These stones…”  There needs to be stones of remembrance, monuments, memorials in each Christian’s life that cause others to ask “the reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
  3. “Then ye shall say unto them…”   Do we know what to say when they do ask?  We had better!  What a loss and a missed opportunity when a child, even an adult, asks “what does this mean,” and we have nothing to say.
  4. “Your children…”   It is our responsibility to teach our children, not the state, nor a stranger.  Ultimately, we will be held accountable for what they learn, and from whom.

I can’t be held responsible for all the children of America, but I will be held responsible for mine (that’s one BIG reason we homeschool).  You will have to answer for yours.  And when it comes to the others that ride our buses, or mow our lawns, or stand in line, or or sit in our Sunday School classes, or whatever, don’t waste an opportunity to explain the reason for the “stones,” even if it’s a big mountain.

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by | August 25, 2010 · 1:44 pm

The Eye Doctor Visit

I was at a new eye doctor the other day.  Because of so many years of wondering whether or not I have glaucoma, my optitrician decided to send me to the place in town with the most high-tech equipment and eye doctors who specialize in glaucoma.  He sent me to Southeast Eye Specialists.  Wow!  Talk about a set up!  They had some cool gadgets, I must say.

While waiting in the exam room for the smartly dressed, highly intelligent Dr. McDaniel to greet me, I did what

any bored, adult male would do…I started playing with the equipment.  In the process of flipping levers and turning dials on very expensive stuff, I began to have a thought (which must imply that I was not thinking when I was playing with things that I couldn’t afford).  With all the different prescriptions for glasses, and all the different lenses one could look through, how could anyone say for sure that what we see when we look at things is exactly the way it really is?  Just look at all of those dials!

Some people would say this is the reason for believing that everything is relative.  You know, they get all philosophical-like and say, “There’s no such thing as right and wrong,” or, “Perception is reality.”  The only problem is that what we think we see may not be what is actually there, but what is actually there IS there, whether we see it for what it is, or not.  Just like the chart on the wall with the jumbled letters that start big on top, then get smaller as they go down, we can call the letter “e” an “a” or a “c,” but it is still an “e”.

We may think what we see is correct, but that doesn’t change reality.

The only way we can know for sure if we are seeing things correctly is to go to a doctor of optometry and let him evaluate our sight. He is qualified to turn the knobs and do the tests.  He knows what the letters on the wall really are.  He can be objective.  Only a fool would go into his exam room and argue with him over the “rightness” or “wrongness” of his letter chart.  Maybe it was those type of people that God had in mind when he wrote the following verse:

  • Acts 28:27 For the heart of this people is stubborn, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Some people insist that they can be the judge of what is right and wrong.  Some people are so convinced of their own understanding of things that they will attempt to belittle other’s opinions and claim that what they see has to be incorrect, especially if it is any different.  How sad!  You see, all of us are born with faulty eyes that want to see things in the most favorable way, like with “rose colored” lenses.  The only problem is that only God knows exactly what is on the wall.  And what is cool is that each one of us is different, so we may need one kind of lens, while someone else may need another.  God, our heavenly doctor, wants us to see the Truth for what it/He is, but not through faulty eyes, but ones which He has healed.

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by | August 12, 2010 · 6:52 am

Why I Hate Traffic Cameras

So, you’re just doing your own thing, minding your own business, when all of a sudden it seems like a cameraman with a huge flash took a picture of your car. You look around and see nobody, but someone is looking, alright. In a few days you receive a ticket in the mail. Some flash, while others do not, but these traffic cameras are always watching, always ready to snitch on the least little infraction.

I was wondering just recently why it is that I cannot stand these cameras. Supposedly, they are instrumental in saving lives by causing people to drive slower and safer. Maybe. I haven’t seen the statistics. But if they are good at saving lives, then why do I abhor those electronic tattle-tales?

The reason these cameras make me so angry is that they are insulting. Quite frankly, they are un-American (seriously). They insult every one who has earned the right to be trusted to act mature. They imply that I am no more responsible than the teenager who can’t be trusted with his parent’s car.

Every year more laws are added to the books by people who seem to feel that if they don’t write laws, then they won’t get re-elected. We don’t need more laws! We also don’t need spying, tattle-telling, big-brother eyes everywhere. Every day that passes brings us closer to a day when this society will crawl in diapers, drink from government-issued bottles, and never think or make decisions for themselves.

The basis for our laws, I believe, is the Ten Commandments. The beauty of our government, as originally intended, however, is that it was to govern a people who were moral, having the law of God written on the heart (Ps 37:32; Jer 31:33). Maturity has a lot to do with it, also. A moral, mature, self-sufficient people don’t need to be monitored at every curve. It’s a lot like grace.

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by | July 29, 2010 · 9:45 pm

Happy Birthday to Haley!

Ten years ago, yesterday, our little Haley Brianna Baker was born.  Born in Hopkinsville, KY, she is a true Kentucky Wildcat.  Well, being from Tennessee, I know very little about what a “true” wildcat from KY should act like, but if Haley is any clue, they’re nothing to mess with.

Tomorrow is the big party.  We are really going to take advantage of living next to a church gym.  The party is going to be science themed, with all kind of experiments (cool ones, of course) that the kids will be able to do.  One of them will actually involve making ice cream in freezer bags!

Ten years ago, my daughter was born, but I really didn’t know what to think.  You should have seen her!  You know how everybody always says, “All babies are beautiful?”  Well, to be completely honest, I shocked the nurse beside me when I said, “I don’t think she is mine.”  Who could have blamed me?  Do you know who she looked like? FRED SANFORD!  You know, from the tv show “Sanford and Son?”  White, Baptist preachers should not be having babies that look like old, black comedians!  You should have seen you look on the nurses face.  “Don’t say that,” she replied in a strong whisper which my wife was not supposed to hear.

Just a couple of days later, my wife carried Haley into the sanctuary of Hillcrest Baptist Church.  I can still see her carrying that little bundle in her arms.  The proud look on her face was beaming, as mine must have been, also. It was more than just the pride of having a new baby to show off, however.  What most people can’t understand is that it was also a sense of pride that we were able to take our little girl to her first church service in her life, the first one after the day she was born, and dedicate her to God.

Psalm 127 compares children to arrows in a quiver, and verse five says that a man is happy whose quiver is full of them.  Sadly, we can’t have any more children.  Haley will be the last, naturally.  She was our last home-made arrow, but we are happy with what we have.  I just pray that God will continue to give us the grace to rear our children in such a way that, as arrows, they will stay sharp, straight and fly true when they are released to pursue their God-ordained target.

Why were Valerie and I so proud?  I don’t really know for sure.  But one thing I do know is this: it was really cool to think that we were responsible for bringing into this world one more weapon that would be destined to put some hurt on the Devil.  Happy birthday to our littlest “Arrowhead!’All three "Arrows"

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