Sunday, A Horrible Destiny

PASTOR JOHN PIPER WINDS UP 2018 WITH A TERRIBLE, STERN WARNING...

Second Sunday Advent Thoughts In Preparation for the True Meaning of Christmas

PIPER: CAN I TELL EVERYONE THAT GOD LOVES THEM?

  FROM GLEN SCHRIVENER, a pastor, prophet and poet from SpeakLife. Amen.

First Sunday Advent, Also New Year's Day in the Liturgical Calendar: Prepare the Way

MARY'S MAGNIFICENT GOD

LISTEN AND MEDITATE WITH ANTICIPATION.
 .

 Breath of Heaven Comes to Mary....

My Most Unexpected, Delightful Meeting With George and Barbara Bush

IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY AS A GOOD FRIEND AND I DROVE FROM NASHVILLE OVER MONTEAGLE MOUNTAIN TO CHATTANOOGA.

We were going to a fund-raising/gathering for George W. Bush's presidential re-election campaign at the palatial home of Bob and Elizabeth Corker whom we knew as friends from their days living in Nashville during Bob's work in the Governor Don Sunquist's administration.

W. was not going to be at the Corkers that day, but George and Barbara Bush were making a proxy campaign stop with great fanfare and much publicity.

Tish and I arrived as personal friends, not deep pocketed donors. Neither of us knew many Chattanooga Republicans who would  be there in droves. We looked forward to visiting their Versailles-like home and gardens in spring bloom.

So it was we arrived, had our car valet parked, and went in to a massive mob scene.

We found Elizabeth and Bob and said hello then we wandered through the grounds and lots of exuberant people After a few minutes,  I wondered how I could politely flee. 

I turned to Tish and said, 'Let's blow this joint'  Or find a quieter place that's out of the way of the increasing crowds.

The Bushes were to arrive momentarily at the covered east portico  where press and ardent supporters pressed against each other.

'Why don't we go to the other end of the house on the quiet front patio until thimgs settle down?  I said. She agreed.

We found our way outside and sat down on the short brick wall away from everyone else.

Then as almost on cue, the presidential motorcade appeared and began to head up the Corkers' long, winding driveway with the presidential limousine lead and  attendant security vehicles following close behind.

'The Bushes were here!,. We were relieved we were in a quiet spot away from the mayhem.

Then suddenly something totally unexpected happened....

A man looking a lot like former president George HW Bush had his limo stop far down the Corkers' driveway, got out and pulled a white-haired lady out the his side of the car and started walking through the yard...up the hill towards....the two of.us!

'Tish,  that looks like the Bushes walking towards us. But it can't be;  they're supposed to be arriving at the other end of the house....  This is not supposed to be happening,'  I said, as they pulled themselves up the long hill, closer and closer to where the two of us were sitting far away from the crowds.

We watched for a minute dumbfounded, then I sprung up and out of my stupor and into my southern belle mode, as Barbara and George got closer to the two of us....

Ready or not, were suddenly the Bushes official greeting committee.

'Hello President and Mrs.Bush!' I said.  'Welcome to Chattanooga and the Corkers.....Do you know you are supposed to be arriving at the other end of the house where all your other supporters are waiting?"   We shook hands and greeted each other warmly.

President Bush said he knew he wasn't supposed to come this way,  but 'I saw two  pretty ladies up here and wanted to come meet them.'   Barbara smiled and chimed in, 'It was good to be here!'

So we stood making small talk for a few minutes as if old friends enjoying a beautiful spring afternoon, in  peace and quiet. Soon enough the real welcoming committee and press got wind of the Bushes whereabouts after their limousine arrived empty and quickly the mob came bursting out through the front doors where we were and swooped the Bushes  inside.

Tish and I said  goodbye. We laughed all the way back to Nashville later that afternoon. Who knew we would be their unofficial welcoming committee at the Corkers that day? Who knew we would have the unexpected pleasure of making their delightful company?

Sunday: A Wonderful New Daily Audio Devotional From Pastor John Piper @ Desiring God

ALSO:  The Great American Heartache---Why Romantic Love So Often Collapses On Us 

ALONG WITH MY DAILY BIBLE READINGS EACH MORNING FROM ONE YEAR BIBLE BLOG on my sidebar (which includes readings from the Old and New Testaments, a Psalm and Proverb passsage), there is a dazzling new, Gospel resource that I'm finding rich and edifying which I want to call your attention to.  It is brief but extremely powerful and well worth checking out, listening to and mediatating on daily:

It's called Solid Joys Daily Devotional with Pastor John Piper at Desiring God. When you click on the link, you will find the day's latest devotional and also you can scroll down and go back days, even  weeks to review old devotionals you missed or wish to review.

Today's timely devotional is Glorify God By Giving Thanks.

I hope you will integrate this feed into your daily quiet time and find it as wonderful a resource as I do.  It is now also posted as a link on my sidebar.  God bless and thanks for coming by.

UPDATE:  DUCHESS MEGAN MARKLE SUPPORTSk LONDON MOSQUE THAT SPAWNED 19 TERRORISTS

Thanksgiving Centerpiece On Board

ESSAYS FROM A CLAREMONT THANKSGIVING
 

I LOVE THE FALL HUNTER GATHERER LOOK--pine cones, magnolias and pheasant feathers (from Martha Stewart).  Perfect for dining al fresco or inside. It could use a little more red---berries or apples, for zip, but otherwise spectacular.

It's a glorious day of sunshine and soon-to-be warmth here in Middle Tennessee.  If you can breathe the air and it's warm enough,  hope you will join me for a nice walk in the woods;  we're  getting far too sedentary.   So much to be thankful for. Happy, Blessed Thanksgiving Day!  I include a prayer of thanksgiving from the Anglican prayer book:

Collect for the Day

Almighty and gracious Father,

we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season

and for the labors of those who harvest them.

Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty,

for the provision of our necessities and
the relief of all who are in need,

to the glory of your Name;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen

(The Collect for Thanksgiving Day)

Sunday, Ministering To People Who Are Suffering

WHY DOES IT SEEM THAT SUFFERING INTENSIFIES AT THIS TIME OF YEAR when days are shortest and light from sun is weakest? Does God design life that way? When life is supposed to be so cheerful it often become depressing and desperately isolated.

In this week alone horrendous mega forest fires in California have left so many without anything--- homes, possessions, family members and often worse. It boggles the mind how quickly disaster can happen to any of us and change the course of our lives and destiny forever.

How can we help in a way that truly reaches past merely restoring money and physical possessions? Nancy Guthrie talks here about what Christians and can do and how we can pray more deeply for those in need of so much:

          

Veterans Day Weekend With Lt. Dan Crenshaw and Pete Davidson on SNL

FORGIVENESS WITH HUMOR EQUALS A TERRIFIC BIT OF RESTORATIVE TV. Way to go for a change. Poignant, clever and very funny.

Pastor Mike Atkins From Ecclesiastes 8: Trying To Figure Out What God Is Doing In Our Lives, In the World Is Futile

THERE ARE A LOT OF MOVING, DISPARATE PIECES IN OUR LIVES THAT DON'T ALL FIT NEATLY TOGETHER AND MAKE SENSE. But righteous people and their purpose are in the hand of God. We may not know the end of something, but if we do what God guides us to do, then one day we will. If we humble ourselves and let ourselves be guided, God will bring something marvelous out of even the most difficult times. Please join me in praying for the thousands of victims of the catastrophic fires in California who have lost their homes and much worse. Also please pray for our favorite blogger and friend Gerard Vanderleun, his mother and little cat who are all surviving and prospering by the Grace of God.

 Fav TobyMac song dedicated to Gerard et al:

I Publish Only A Few Comments, But Now and Then I'll Treat Myself to One From the Hillary Camp

UPDATE:  SURBER---SESSIONS WAS THE WORST
UPDATE: WINNING THE HOUSE IS POLITICAL FOOL'S GOLD
UPDATE:  SIMON----HAS TRUMP PUT THE SENATE OUT OF DEM RANGE FOR 2020? 


THIS COMMENT IS TOO EXTREME TO DELETE. Without further ado, I give you Hillary Bill from Sewanee, TN on the elite radical left to all of us drug addled deplorables in Tennessee:

Only in a redneck state like yours, would a bimbo be elected whose degree is in Home Economics and has worked in beauty pageants vs a guy who has a Physics degree from Harvard and has successfully managed a state with $33 billion budget. Of course we know Tennesseans are in a lot of pain and they need their opiates which Marsha will be happy to supply after receiving her payoffs from big pharm... every other parent in Manchester, Winchester, and small town TN is on disability and has a opiate problem. I guess if you keep them medicated, you'll get their vote. Sorry, you can't blame the brown people for this, it's purely a white redneck problem. What is wrong with these people? Poorly educated, scared of the brown people, gun fetishists, and afflicted with fear and gullibility... It's a redneck nation, at least 50%, the worst of America which you vote to keep over fed and medicated.

But, justice is soon to come. It's Mueller time!

MY RESPONSE:

All the advanced degrees on earth cannot make up for your hateful,  condescending, disrespectful attitude towards the people of this state. These are my people.  Get a grip and grow up and out of your hysteria. You're a troubled man and starting to sound like an unhinged mass shooter in the making....this has been going on for years and today it's over. Get some help.

Grateful for Red Slam in Tennessee and Forecast Cat 5 Blue Hurricane Hit Land As Downgraded Dud

UPDATE:  DEMS TAKE HOUSE, BUT TRUMP WON ELECTION

SURE, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IDEAL TO HAVE KEPT BOTH HOUSES last night.  Still there's much to be thankful for:  Marsha Blackburn and Bill Lee keep Tennessee clearly soaked in red.  Beto, Andrew, Stacy and Taylor Swift were defeated.  President Trump is still a winner. For now.

Had Enough Already? Almost Over......No Really

THIS 5 YEAR OLD HAS HAD ENOUGH OF BEING WHIP-LASHED by his dad's run for governor in Alabama. Poor little guy.  The rest of the story....

This photo says it all and speaks for most of us.

I'm With Don Surber---Blue Wave Is Real, Red Wave Is Real, and....

....the GOP will keep the Senate and maybe the House! though the Dems will get more votes. Would not have thought it a year, a month ago, but today is a new day.  And Donald Trump is a political magician.  The nation's IQ test which Roger Simon poses today at pjmedia will be passed by freedom loving, responsible voters.

 See you Tuesday night glued to the tube.

UPDATE

Sunday, From the Book of Proverbs

'Those who give to.j the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. (28:27) I SHALL NOT WANT. If we are generous with wealth, we will lack nothing. While this cannot mean that all generous, righteous people become more prosperous, the second clause guves us a hint at why financial generosity van enhance material security. Selfish people get curses from the community around them. Thus the generous het the blessings of the community. In Mark 10:29-31 Jesus says that if, through generosity, you lose 'homes' or 'fields' for his sake, you will receive new ones 'in the present age.' The reason that Christians are free to radically give away money when needs are evident is because they are now members of a community that will do the same for them, should they ne in want.... In your life or the life of someone else, have you seen how the strength of a Christian community encourages and supports generosity? PRAYER: Lord, to live as a rugged individualist is not your will for me, and it leaves me vulnerable. Change my heart and strengthen the church so we, your people, can truly be members of one another. Amen From Tim Keller, Proverbs, God's Wisdom For Navigating Life NOTE: I had planned to do a post on a Christian perspective on Henley's Invictus. However, my computer screen has gone haywire and may be finished. Can't do that post until I get it fixed. Thanks for coming by.

Darrell Waltrip Helps Marsha Blackburn Over the Finish Line

WE'RE ALL READY FOR A LIGHT-HEARTED, FUN AD TO WIND THINGS UP AFTER A BRUTAL SENATE RACE in which the voters have been assaulted as much as the candidates.

Marsha and Darryl are lightning things up and delivering the NASCAR vote and beyond. I love it! Have already voted for Marsha for Senate and Bill Lee for governor. Now,  let's take it on home, Marsha and Darrell!

Thursday: All Saints Day---A Stunning Promise

A DEVOTIONAL FOR ALL SAINTS FROM RICHARD KEW

Revelation 21:1-7

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 

Thought for the Day

As I read a passage like this I wonder at the audacity of it. "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth..." that is a breathtaking statement leaving us wondering how the old will be subsumed by something utterly new and holy. Yet this is the end toward which the whole of Scripture points. We can only marvel at the grace and majesty of the living God and realize that this side of our own transition to eternity the hows and whys of this happening cannot be answered. But there is a promise within this passage to which we can cling, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, humanity." As he makes all things new the redeemed community of God's people will accompany him and the Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, who won our salvation. No wonder this is one of the key readings for All Saints' Day.

Thanksgiving for the Day

Without knowing precisely what it means for all things to be made new, it is through the Cross of Jesus that this will happen for us and we can bring gratitude humbly before him.

Intercession for the Day

Let us each pray that we may be ready for the day of our departing this life for the world that is to come.

My Bad Influence Emails From Maui: 'Found My Boat!'

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN. 

He and his besainted, long-suffering wife are visiting family who have just moved there. Exactly what he needs to go with the new Tesla, now dry docked quietly at home in Grand Junction.

Maui.

But then, not to leave well enough alone, he emails this pic which undoubtedly he thinks is hilarious....married guy humor.....but us womenfolk think is utterly puerile.

Right, Peggy.

Sunday Late: Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?

 
THERE ARE THOSE WHO SEEM TO ACCEPT CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR, BUT THEN LATER RECANT. They were never saved in the first place. If a person truly has a supernatural salvation experience, they can never lose it. Never.

But, Pastor John Piper does the heavy lifting with a terrifying, unpopular message in today's all-about-love church.  It's a false religion that rejects judgment: Before You Bail On Jesus, from Paul's Letter to Timothy @ Desiring God.

Speaker Ryan Slams Empty Promises of Single Payer Healthcare (Socialism)

WHY EVER WOULD WE WANT GO THERE? What fantasies would we have to believe to take the single payer bait?

Sunday: Pastor Mike Atkins Preaches On The Purpose of Problems from Judges

GOD LEFT PROBLEMS IN THE PROMISED LAND TO TEST HIS PEOPLE, ASSAY THEM, THEN TRAIN AND STRENGTHEN THEM. Every problem we're going through has a purpose. Crises show what we have become over time. As Christians, we better toughen up, because war and battles are coming our way.

20 Years Later, The True Story of the Murder of Matthew Shepard---Not the Politically Correct Narrative---Makes Slow But Sure Progress Into the Real World

I HAVE JUST RETURNED FROM FOUR INTENSE DAYS WITH STEVE JIMENEZ, AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF MATT IN LARAMIE, WY. It is the 20 year commemoration of the horrendous beating murder of Matthew Shephard in October, 1998, outside Laramie.  No one denies the undeserved violence of this crime.

Jimenez was headlining a Community Forum Tuesday on the real story of the life and death of Shephard based on over ten years of investigative research and reporting on the case. He asked me to come and speak on the panel. Way above my pay grade, but I did it anyway. As a former newspaper reporter and journalist, I became involved in this ongoing story with Jimenez, a gay man, in 2013 after reading his amazing book and meeting the author and several of the story's main characters in Laramie in the winter of 2014.

Here's an editorial I wrote for the Casper Star Tribune.
 
Matthew Shepard's family and The Shephard Foundation continue to vehemently deny and reject Jimenez's work while propagating the Myth of Matt's tragic death as a totally innocent gay man, targeted in a bar for being gay by two redneck strangers who hated gays and wanted to take him out.  He was a man who had no responsibility whatsoever in his murder.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This murder was not about gay hate between strangers, but rather about meth addiction and drug dealing between two addicted young men---Matt Shephard and Aaron McKinney who knew each other intimately.

The fake myth was far from the real story. Yet the quick myth became the rock solid narrative and fake news story of the decade pushed by the Shepards, the MSM and the radical LGBT community. The Shephard Foundation has raised millions and millions of dollars martyring Matthew over the past 20 years and don't want the flow of money and accolades to dry up. No one can deny some good has come from this narrative. Yet the good is based on a false story of Shepherd's life and death.

Today as the Shepards donate Matthew Shephard's ashes to the crypt at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. as a martyr and global icon of gay hate, the voices of reality are slowly speaking up in Laramie and elsewhere for the truth. It is not to make Matt look bad.  It is to make him look human.

 Make no mistake, these people hate Jimenez's decades long work and decry him as a liar and worse.

 Here below, Jimenez gives a radio interview today on this ongoing story with Glenn Woods in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Wyoming---Early October Snow...Not News, Carry On

EARLY DUSTINGS OF SNOW ARE FOR GIRLS AND GIGGLES.

Don't Be Fooled: Taylor Swift's Cheap Shots Endorsement of Phil Bredesen Has Nothing To Do With Red Tennessee, Everything With Her New-Found Home In Blue Manhattan

UPDATE: PIERS---TWITTER MOB MADE HER DO IT ?

SWIFT'S VIRTUE SIGNALING, DISSING MARSHA BLACKBURN FALLS SHORT OF POLITICALLY CONVINCING.

She's a teeny bopper globalist born and raised in Pennsylvania---not Tennessee-- with New York Times' talking points. Who's next to endorse Phil?  Cardi B?

Taylor's undoubtedly joined the Bloomberg Billionaire Brigade for Phil in Blue Manhattan while assuring she gets invited back to guest host SNL.

 No surprises here except the damage it will do to her career. Think she'll be going to Michael Bloomberg's Tuesday fund raising bash for Phil in Manhattan? I do and bet she'll even sing a ditty or two for liberal Dem elites and grandees.

And make no mistake,  senate hopeful Bredesen is a eastern elite who wants to cram blue values and agendas down Tennesseans throats cause we're not smart enough to know what's good for us.

Sunday, Alive to Religion Yet Dead To God @ Desiring God

NO MATTER HOW MORAL WE THINK WE ARE, NO MATTER HOW RELIGIOUS, DISCIPLINED OR CHURCH-GOING, each person who comes into a relationship with the Living Christ, comes through a supernatural experience--the new birth--which bring a new aliveness to Christ.

Pastor John Piper @ Desiring God

I'm With Camille: Women are Exposing Way Too Much Unsexy, Boring Information on Instagram (And Everywhere Else!)

ROGER SIMON:  SUSAN COLLINS SAVED THE SENATE (FOR NOW)

CAMILLE PAGLIA: The Rise of "Strangely Unsexy" Instagram Exhibitionism — And Why It Hurts Women 

Time for a major rethink of female self-presentation.  

Welcome to the flesh parade! For the past century, women in the Western world have liberated themselves by shedding more and more clothing, from beaches and ballrooms to today's boldly bare-all Instagrams. The pro-sex wing of feminism to which I belong celebrates this historical trend, which has been accelerated by Hollywood and the fashion industry as an expression of female power and autonomy. But is there a downside? With unapologetic exhibitionism now commonplace for both workplace wear and online dating, are confused messages complicating sexual relations and deepening the divide between men and women? Since it was launched eight years ago, Instagram has grown into a global obsession, used by more than twice as many women as men. Mating has morphed into a digital mirage, dizzyingly multiplied on Snapchat and Tinder. Instagram's tweaked, filtered photos and videos are both boon and curse, sharpening self-definition yet intensifying social anxieties and risking physical safety via hypersexualized self-advertisement and fantasy.

These Kardashians leave nothing to the imagination....there's no mystery, no allure. Just raw, soon-to- be rotting meat. UGH! No thank you.

 Below, Gloria Swanson, a well presented woman of mystery and true feminine power.  Note, no nudity,  just allure.

TN Senate Candidate Phil Bredesen Must Be In Trouble Cause He's Letting Michael Bloomberg Publicly Throw Him a Big Fundraising Bash Next Week In Manhattan

JUST SAY NO! TENNESSEE TO PHIL AND HIS EASTERN LIBERAL SUPPORTERS

 WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO BE A FLY ON THE WALL OCTOBER 9, when billionaire Michael Bloomberg hosts a fundraising bash in his New York City home for Senate candidate Phil Bredesen?

Undoubtedly, eastern elites, fat cats and literati will  be at Bloomberg's mega townhouse on E 79th in droves such as liberal NY Sen. Chuck Shummer, George Soros, Nancy Pelosi, Al Gore, Hillary and Bill and a host of other easterners who presume to know what's best for Tennessee and real Tennesseans.  They want Phil to win, so he and they can cram their global progressive agenda on us deplorable country bumpkins down on the farm.

Make no mistake  Phil Bredesen is a northeastern elite to his core no matter how he portrarys himself to be otherwise.

You can bet the conversations in the hallowed halls of Bloomberg land will be how to erode and discard the rule of law,  shred the Constitution,  do away with the electoral college and bring back and tax carbon credits for the sake of their climate change agenda.

Tennesseans had better be ready for a full-frontal assault on all their senses by Phil and company who want to take our fine red state back to LaLa land.  Fresh with wads of new cash,  Phil will hit us with ad after ad and stop at nothing to win this Senate seat from Marsha Blackburn.  I don't think it will happen now.

Marsha should make great political hay over this gargantuan Bredesen misstep.

Sunday---Pastor Mike Atkins On Each Man's Understanding of the Depths of His Sin Condition

ON UNDERSTANDING OUR TRUE CONDITION. The different levels of sin: superficial external transgressions, our deeper bruised sin nature and our deepest state of being born separated from God. Christ has forgiven every level of our sin if we ask and seek Him. The more we comprehend the depths of our sins and nature, the more we understand how deeply we are forgiven. That alone is the basis of our ability to love thankfully.

Senate Judiciary Should Vote Brett Kavanaugh To the Supreme Court

ALTHOUGH I FOUND DR. FORD'S TESTIMONY THIS MORNING COMPELLING, though uncorroborated,  I now believe Judge Brett Kavanaugh's testimony very believable and think he should be confirmed to SCOTUS as soon as possible.  He will make a fine Supreme Court justice.

Senator Lindsey Graham brought the house down with his courageous and firey speech and deserves our utmost gratitude and admiration.

What an amazing day!

Let the vote go forward now and the chips fall where they may.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Phil Bredesen First U.S. Senate Debate---It's Marsha By A Country Mile!

ROGER L. SIMON: BLACKBURN SCORES BIG IN FIRST SENATORIAL DEBATE

FAST FORWARD TO 24 MINUTE MARK FOR START OF DEBATE. Will comment more later, however the short version is, I think Marsha hit a home run with all the bases loaded. Phil on the other hand, walked to first base.

She was bright, high-energy, well-informed,  articulate, au courant while getting some well placed He's Chuck Shummer's number one recruit jabs in.

Phil seemed low-energy, over-the-hill and living on past  but decent glory. On the opening question What do you think is the most pressing issue to Tennesseans today? Marsha nailed it by answering the economy and jobs. Phil's No Cigar answer: the dysfunction in Washington.

On the subject of whether the candidates support the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Marsha was not afraid to define herself and say she would vote to move his confirmation forward Friday.

Tonight Marsha gave an outstanding showing bringing every issue back to its relevance to Tennesseeans, even to the military and families at Ft. Campbell,  and our immigrant Kurdish population just to name a few. Marsha turned the tables on the nay sayers. There's no doubt she can win this senate seat in November....maybe even by a country mile.

Sunday, On How 'Crazy Rich Asians' Is Profoundly Affecting Asian Americans and Many Others

 

IF YOU HAVEN'T YET SEEN THE CHARMING CRAZY RICH ASIANS,  run, don't walk to take it in. It's having quite an impact---sometimes overwhelming---on diverse peoples for many, many reasons. At the Gospel Coalition, Hannah Chao,  an Asian American, gives her take, Crazy Rich Asians and Being Truly Seen:

EDITORS NOTE: At The Gospel Coalition’s inaugural Asian American conference, Reclaiming the Center: Understanding Gospel Centrality for Asian Americans, various seasoned pastors will be emphasizing how Asian Americans and their churches can thrive with the gospel, the first importance, at the center. Join us October 15–16 to prayerfully consider how God may be moving among Asian Americans and their churches to bring all spheres of life to be aligned and shaped by the gospel. Register here.

When I watched Crazy Rich Asians, I cried. My husband teared up as well, and, according to my Twitter feed, lots of other people did too.
 
So why is a romantic comedy making people weep?

For a long time, neither Asian American faces nor experiences were well represented in movies. You have to go back 25 years to find a studio-backed film that had a mostly Asian American cast. So when my husband and I watched Crazy Rich Asians and saw people who looked like us and faced similar cultural struggles—feeling like the immigrant outsider—we were overwhelmed.
 
Why this widespread reaction? Because when we are seen and known, we are acknowledged as human beings with inherent dignity and value. We are neither mistakes nor outsiders. We belong. The beautiful uniqueness of who we are is celebrated, not whitewashed or marginalized.
For me, the experience of watching the film and feeling seen and known by it provided a beautiful reminder that there is One who sees and knows me fully. He is my Creator and perfect Father. When art like this functions as a mirror—when we recognize ourselves and feel seen by it—it can remind us that there is God who created us each uniquely and sees and knows us more intimately than anyone else does. It reminded me, for example, that God created me purposefully as an Asian American. 

God Made Me Asian American

Does it matter that I am a Christian and Asian? Does God care that I am Asian American?
The answer is resoundingly yes. In Psalm 139, the psalmist wrote that God “knitted me together in my mother’s womb,” that he was “fearfully and wonderfully made.” God is intentional in who he creates us to be. 
 
We are all made in his image, and our Asian Americanness is a part of that. Our heritage, our struggle to fit into two (or more) cultures, our feelings that we are foreigners—these are all unique experiences that God can and will use for his glory.

Asian American heritage, our struggle to fit into two (or more) cultures, our feelings that we are foreigners—these are all unique experiences that God can and will use for his glory.

Part of why I was so moved by Crazy Rich Asians is that I saw these familiar experiences so clearly in the film. Rachel (Constance Wu) is off balance and uncomfortable in the extravagant world of Singapore. Not only is she in a different social class than the people around her, but she’s seen as an American outsider and not Chinese enough by her boyfriend’s mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh).
Many white Americans might find it shocking to hear the word “American” said with pity or disdain, as Eleanor does in the film. But Asian Americans feel this tension constantly. In America, it is the “Asian” part that ostracizes us; but in Asia, it is the “American” side that disqualifies us. I am both, and I find no complete home in either place.
 
The reality is that all Christians should also feel like foreigners to this world. We know this world is not our home. Our citizenship is in heaven, so we should never feel fully accepted or at home here. As Asian Americans who are not quite accepted by our parents’ cultures and also perpetual outsiders in America, we can perhaps understand that aspect of our Christian identity more easily.

God Loves That I’m Asian American

Again, until I saw Crazy Rich Asians, I had never seen a movie celebrate aspects of my Asian and Asian American culture. 
 
Take all the food scenes. I’ve been to Singapore twice to visit my husband’s family, and to that exact outdoor food court where Rachel tastes all that scrumptious food. It was refreshing to see satays, laksa curry, and ice kachang portrayed as delicious instead of just peculiar or cringe-inducing. 
 
There’s another scene in the film in which Rachel’s boyfriend’s family makes dumplings together as a bonding activity. In American films, we might see families play board games or football in the backyard. But here, we see an Asian and Asian American tradition portrayed as the normal way families spend time together—doing an activity I did with my parents as a child.
 
There there’s the famous mahjong scene. Instead of a poker or chess scene to represent the conflict between Rachel and Eleanor, we are mesmerized by this game with its beautiful tiles and clicking sounds—sounds my husband grew up hearing whenever he visited relatives overseas.
God loves and celebrates us in our cultural distinctness. I believe he knows my favorite dish is gejang, a spicy crab fermented in soy sauce. I believe God sees and blesses many of my family’s cultural traditions, like bowing to our elders on New Year’s Day and eating seaweed soup on birthdays, knowing they bring our family members closer together. 
 
I believe God was pleased by all the time I spent with my mother, learning to play with Hwatu (flower cards used to play a fast-paced strategy and matching game) or Gonggi, a game played with five grape-sized pebbles that you toss and catch. 

God Sees You

When people “get you,” it means they have been paying attention. They respect you, dignify you, and see you. In a culture (or even in a church) rife with misunderstanding one another, thinking the worst of one another, and painting the other with broad brushes, a movie like Crazy Rich Asians is a great reminder that one way we can love better is by being more attentive: listening, learning, seeing each other in our differences—differences God crafted and celebrates
.
A movie like Crazy Rich Asians is a great reminder that one way we can love each other better is by being more attentive: listening, learning, seeing one other in our differences—differences God created and celebrates.

Read the rest...

New Fire Breaks Out Near Jackson Hole

VIA MAGGIES FARM: FIGHT ON TRUMP, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO START MANAGING OUR NATIONAL FORESTS better?  Or should I say, when are we going to start managing our national forests?  Period.

Between the massive stands of dead timber from pine beetle blight and drought,  the destructive forces of nature will step in every time......in a flash....with all the attendant drama---evacuations,  troops,  helicopters and massive smoke and air pollution at huge costs to taxpayers.

Rather, if we allowed more selective timbering by contractors on these big national stands,  it would be much more productive, low-keyed and far less damaging  and costly to human health, habitat at a fraction of the money.

As it is,  radical environmentalists---like radical feminists---- have taken over federal policies and made things much, much worse. The irony is as the feds fall down on its managerial duty,  environmental nazis want to tighten air pollution resteictions. 

What a complete joke.

Meeting Bill Lee, Front Runner For Tennessee Governor, With Wife Maria and Dickson County Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe, TN Sheriff of the Year

WHAT A LOVELY RECEPTION TONIGHT FOR BILL AND MARIA LEE in Dickson. Low-key and relaxed, it was good hearing Bill talk about his and Maria's journey over the past several years towards running for governor. It began with prayer, then went on to become several state-wide tours of all 95 counties----in RVs, tractors, pick-up trucks, cars. In the beginning, sometimes no one showed up to meet and greet them in parking lots. Gradually that began to change. Now  bigger and bigger crowds are cheering them on to victory November 6.

Lee's poll numbers show him far ahead of liberal Karl Dean, former mayor of Nashville. I'm convinced if he wins,  he will take this very red state and make it great in new ways--- paved by past good governors, like Bill Haslam and Winfield Dunn. Lee will be a man for the working man and initiate job training and other education initiatives in various trades---as he's done as CEO of the Lee Company---all over the state, especially in depressed counties.

It was also good meeting popular Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe, elected Sheriff-of-the Year by his peers across the state. No county's top law enforcement officer has had more tragedy and deep challenge in the past 12 months than this fine man and his deputies. May God bless them all and watch over them.

And may God bless the Lees.

Grizzly Attack Kills Jackson Hole Elk Guide Mark Uptain

GOFUNDME FOR MARK UPTAIN'S WIFE AND FAMILY

MARK UPTAIN WAS MAULED TO DEATH BY A SOW GRIZZLY AND CUB near some of my old  fishing/hiking stomping grounds in Jackson Hole.  He was guiding a bow hunting client and apparently, inexplicably was not packing a gun.  He used bear spray which was like bringing a water gun to a sword fight and lost his life in the process.  Terrible tragedy.  He leaves a wife and 5 children behind:

From the Jackson Hole News and Guide:

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department on Monday released new details about the fatal mauling of hunting guide Mark Uptain last weekend, including that bear spray was deployed.

The complete investigation is still ongoing, the notice said, and will continue with a forensic analysis to provide additional scientific evidence.

Game and Fish personnel killed the sow and yearling grizzly that were involved in the attack Sunday. A foothold snare that was left overnight near the conflict-causing elk carcass had subdued the younger bruin, and the yearling’s mother remained nearby.

“The sow charged the team in an aggressive manner and was shot by Game and Fish personnel,” the Game and Fish notice said. “The yearling bear was chemically immobilized and determined to be involved in the attack of the victims. The yearling bear was then euthanized.”

For a full account of the attack that killed Uptain and injured his client, Corey Chubon, pick up the Wednesday edition of the News&Guide. Prior reporting about the incident is available at JHNewsAndGuide.com.

Giving New Meaning to the Term 'Unsubstantiated:' Meet Feminist Trump Hating Attorney Debra Katz, Retained By Ford In Accusing Kavanaugh of Boorish Behavior Almost 40 Years Ago

EPSTEIN NAILS IT:  UNFAIR, UNFAIR, UNFAIR
TRUMP WEIGHS IN:  DELAY OK,  WILL ALL WORK OUT WELL FOR KAV
SURBER:  KAVANAUGH DID NOTHING WRONG
SIMON:  FORD'S COLLATERAL DAMAGE
SCHNEIDERMAN: WEIGHS IN 

KATZ  DISSED AND DISMISSED PAULA JONES ACCUSATIONS OF BILL CLINTON AS UNPROVEABLE
Timothy Meads @ Townhall writes today on the hypocrisy and dubious background of Mrs. Ford's lawyer Ms. Debra Katz who despises all things Trump.  In reality, these unsubstantiated accusations will NEVER be substantiated which Ms. Katz knows.  She just wants to stall the process of confirming Kavanaugh.  It's another political stunt designed to bring down Trump and the republic for which we stand:

The Washington Post has reported that Stanford professor Christine Blasey Ford is the woman behind the confidential letter given to Sen. Dianne Feinstein accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault as a teenager. According to the Post, Ford initially refrained from revealing the alleged information of a horrendous sexual assault due to privacy concerns for herself and her family.....

But she thought it was her duty to come forward on the record after the advice of Washington lawyer Debra Katz. Katz, however, has a long history of dismissing sexual assault allegations against liberal politicians, donating to left-wing causes, and even publicly demonizing all Trump advisors as "miscreants" who are worse than deplorables. briefly locked herself in a bathroom and then fled the house. 

Over the summer of 2018, as it became apparent that Kavanaugh was going to be nominated for the Supreme Court, Ford debated whether she should come forward publicly with this information.

According to the Post, Ford "engaged Debra Katz, a Washington lawyer known for her work on sexual harassment cases. On the advice of Katz, who believed Ford would be attacked as a liar if she came forward, Ford took a polygraph test administered by a former FBI agent in early August." After Sen. Feinstein announced the accusatory letter last week, Ford decided she had to come on the record to avoid public scrutiny and speculation. It was Katz who provided the results of that polygraph test to the Post. The results "concluded that Ford was being truthful when she said a statement summarizing her allegations was accurate." 

But, readers should remember that Katz treated Paula Jones' accusations of sexual harassment against President Bill Clinton very differently in the 1990s. According to court documents, Jones claimed that then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton summoned her to his hotel room where she was working as a receptionist. While in the room he "unexpectedly reached over to (her), took her hand, and pulled her toward him, so that their bodies were close to each other." She backed away, but he pursued, saying, 'I love the way your hair flows down your back' and 'I love your curves. He then "put his hand on her leg, started sliding it toward her pelvic area, and bent down to attempt to kiss her on the neck, all without her consent.' Jones claimed she said, "What are you doing?" and had to escape to a nearby sofa where she attempted to distract the governor by talking about his wife. However, when she was sitting on the sofa, Clinton came close to her and "lowered his trousers and underwear, exposed his penis (which was erect) and told (her) to 'kiss it.'" Jones then attempted to leave but the governor said, "'Well, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do,' and then pulled up his pants and said, 'If you get in trouble for leaving work, have Dave call me immediately and I'll take care of it.' She left the room (the door of which was not locked), the governor 'detained' her momentarily, 'looked sternly' at her, and said, 'You are smart. Let's keep this between ourselves,'" according to court documents. Jones claims she initially kept the incident to herself for fear of workplace retribution since Clinton knew her boss.

Katz dismissed Jones' assertions on March 30th,1998 on CNN's "Talkback Live" saying that, "Paula Jones' suit is very, very, very weak. She's alleged one incident that took place in a hotel room that, by her own testimony, lasted 10 to 12 minutes. She suffered no repercussions in the workplace." Likewise, Katz again said on CBS' Evening News on April 2nd, 1998 that Jones' allegation could not hold up in court because, "Clearly a one-time incident that took place in 10 to 12 minutes, she was not forced to have sex, she left on her own volition, the courts increasingly are finding that that is not enough to create a sexually hostile work environment claim." 

Sunday, Dr. Paul Lim----From Atheist to Christian At Yale

VERY COMPELLING, VERY WISE. WORTH THE TIME TO LISTEN AND LEARN.

Marsha Blackburn's Latest Ad---Non-Starter---Is A Homerun!

POMPEO CONDEMNS KERRY IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS FINALLY, A NEW, TRUTHFUL AND COMPELLING AD FOR MARSHA! 

Fact is, Bredesen is a decent  old guy. I know and like his wife, Andrea, both in Tennessee and Wyoming where they have a big home. Even though he was an OK governor, the skills he needs to go to the U.S. Senate for deplorable red-state Tennesseans like me are totally different. He would not be able to stand on his own two feet in the tsunami of partisan, whacked out Democratic stunt politics, no matter what he says. 

Nope, nada, definitely not this time, Phil. Come on Marsha, let's take it on home!! I'm Webutante and I approve this message.

The Coddling of the American Mind

IN 2015, Greg Lukianoff (president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) and Jonathan Haidt (professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business) wrote an article for The Atlantic entitled “The Coddling of the American Mind.” In that article, the authors argued that students (college but also pre-college) increasingly react to words, books, images, and speakers with fear and anger because they’ve been taught to exaggerate danger, to let their emotions rule, and to engage in binary thinking.

It proved to be one of the most read and discussed articles ever published by the magazine.
Now Lukianoff and Haidt have expanded on that article with a book entitled The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure. Their book has a lot to say about the way our colleges and universities are making a bad situation—the bad mental habits noted above combined with the belief that kids must be kept absolutely safe—much worse.

The root of the problem, argue Lukianoff and Haidt, is that parents, teachers, professors and college administrators have been leading young people to believe Three Great Untruths.

The first of those is, as they call it, the Untruth of Fragility. That is the idea that what doesn’t kill you makes you weaker, and therefore young people must be protected against everything from a stray peanut to hearing any “hateful” ideas. Drawing an analogy to the human immune system, which can’t develop unless it occasionally has something to fight against, the authors say that trying to shield students against stressful ideas results in their weakness and anxiety. And when students haven’t learned to cope with ideological adversity, they’re apt to retreat into “safe spaces” or lash out with anger or even violence.



The second great untruth is that you should trust and follow your emotions. Emotions frequently get in the way of sound reasoning, but young people are often told that because they feel that something is true, then it really is true. Therefore, if you feel that someone has committed a “microaggression” against you, then he has. You need not weigh the matter, asking if you might have misunderstood the person or are judging too hastily. Just follow your emotions and fight back.

And third is the Us Versus Them Untruth—the erroneous view that the world is divided into good people and evil people. You need to side with the Good and battle the Evil. Once that mentality soaks in, there is no need for dialogue or debate since everything the other side might say will be lies and propaganda. Consequently, we see a tribal mindset emerging in some young people that reduces everything to the black and white.

Lukianoff and Haidt point out that those untruths don’t originate on college campuses. They begin and are nurtured from early life on through high school. Unfortunately, when students get to college, which ought to be an environment where people face and deal with ideas that they find offensive, shocking, or even hostile, they instead find reinforcement for the Great Untruths.

Rather than helping students to mature, college surrounds them in an atmosphere of “vindictive overprotectiveness” that makes them more infantile.

How so?

For one thing, many schools now feature orientations and other programs that encourage students to see the world in “us versus them” terms. That’s the essence of the identity politics that saturates campuses these days. The authors write:

Imagine an entire entering class of college freshmen whose orientation program includes training in intersectional thinking, along with training in spotting microaggressions. By the end of their first week on campus, students have learned to score their own and others’ levels of privilege, identify more distinct identity groups, and see more differences between people. They have learned to interpret more words and actions as acts of aggression. They have learned to associate aggression, domination, and oppression with privileged groups. And they learned to focus only on perceived impact and to ignore intent.

All of that, write Lukianoff and Haidt, “prepares student for battle, not learning.”

Sometimes the numerous campus bows to “safety” and “diversity” boils over into ugly confrontations. For example, what started as an innocent email regarding Halloween costumes from a woman on staff at Yale (Erika Christakis) escalated into a mob with students screaming at her husband (Nicholas Christakis) for his failure to keep them “safe.” The Christakises were driven to leave Yale, but the school conferred an award on two students who had led the attack on them.

Another famous case the authors recount is that of Evergreen College, where angry, power-obsessed students terrorized the campus for more than a week over nothing more than one white professor’s decision to teach his biology course on campus when the day had been designated as “White Absence Day.” Afterwards, a faculty member remarked that the students “were doing just what we taught them.” Indeed so.

In those and other instances, it’s clear that the campus environment had exacerbated the immaturity of the students, turning them into dangerous, self-obsessed zealots.

The same Great Untruths can also prove harmful to faculty members, the authors point out. Just for having written slightly controversial articles, Rebecca Tuvel of Rhodes College and Northwestern University professor Laura Kipnis were assailed by students and fellow academics for having offended them. Rather than arguing against aspects of the articles that they disliked, the students and academics wanted those women to be punished.

The power of emotional thinking and the “us versus them” mindset were on full display.

Those bad mental habits are not just “setting up a generation for failure,” but are sowing the seeds of bitter social strife in the future.....

Read the whole article... via MaggiesFarm

Pastor John Piper: What Hope Does God Offer In My Depression?

NOTE: WE ALL HAVE DIFFICULTIES IN OUR LIVES. Sometimes situations bring us anxiety, sometimes depression. Other times, we are called to wait, wait, wait patiently on the Lord. As the days begin to get noticeably shorter in fall, this is a timely lesson to keep in mind. 
  READ AND LISTEN TO AUDIO AT DESIRING GOD.


Audio Transcript
As Christian Hedonists, we’re not unfamiliar with the pain of depression. And we get a lot of questions in the inbox about how to work through those unavoidable times in life when depression hits. There’s often a physical and medical side to depression, but also a spiritual side to these seasons, too. In that vein, a question comes in an email from one female listener.

“Pastor John, what Scripture passages do you return to when you are suffering from depression? I am suffering from depression pretty bad at the moment, and I need some help from Scripture. Can you help me?”

God Speaks

This is the central question for her to ask — namely, “Where shall I turn in Scripture, in God’s word?” This is what God said we should listen to: his word.


Now, I don’t want to be naïve here. To be sure, there are many dimensions to depression — from genetic, to dietary, to exercise, to trauma, to demonic harassment, to relational stress, to financial burdens, to weather conditions, to sinful entanglements, to sleeplessness, and on and on. I don’t want to give the impression that I am oversimplifying the complexities of what might trigger a season of darkness, or depression.

Nevertheless, I’ll say it again: under and over and through all these issues that may need to be addressed — and I would encourage her to address all of them that are relevant — the key question is “What has God said to me?” That is, “What does the Scripture say?”

The reason this is so key is that the Bible says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Depression regularly involves a weakening of our faith and our hope, and God is clear that reawakening of faith, reawakening of hope, will not come if we’re not hearing the word of God.

Not Naïve

The Scriptures do not present themselves as an automatic guarantee of emotional turnaround, because the Scriptures themselves describe people who hear the word of God and do not emotionally turn around — like the parable of the soils, or 1 Corinthians 15:2 (“You believed in vain”), and so on.
The Scriptures aren’t naïve, as if they are the quick and easy panacea for every emotional blankness. But the point is that, without the Scriptures, there’s no hope of a Christ-exalting turnaround of our emotions.

Medication might turn us around emotionally, but by itself, without the word of God, it won’t put us on a right footing with Jesus Christ. It may feel good, but without the word of God, it may not have done you any long-term good.

This listener has posed the absolutely right question without being naïve about the complexities of how difficult, and dark, and multi-causal depression can be.
So let me answer by giving five kinds of texts that she might turn to, and that I turn to.

Wait and Pray

Take note of the Scriptures that speak about the necessity of waiting for God. Psalm 40 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord” (Psalm 40:1). It doesn’t say how long — days, weeks, months. All it says is, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock” (Psalm 40:1–2). 

There’s this season of being in the pit and in the bog, and the assignment for us believers in those seasons is to wait patiently for the Lord.

Or Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” That’s not literally intended, like, “You get only one day of weeping, and then you get another day of joy.” That’s not the point, because this command might be read at 11:59 p.m., and you would think, “Hey, you get one minute of weeping, and then 24 hours of joy.” The point is, there are seasons of weeping, and they’re going to be followed, for the believer, with joy.

Or Psalm 56:8: “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

So the point in this first group is that the Bible does not present our walk with God as uninterrupted brightness. We feed in green pastures, yes, and we walk through the valley of death. We experience the shining of his face, and we experience the hiding of his face. So in the scriptural prescription what we find is that when his face is hidden, we are to wait and pray. That’s the first group.

Gutsy Guilt

Here is the second group of texts for her to look at with me. Turn to passages that show how to experience gutsy guilt.
I love this phrase, and I’m thinking of Micah 7:8–9, where it describes in a most phenomenal way how sinful people like us under the darkness of God are to be gutsy as we deal with God because of our justified standing. Listen to these words:

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness [now that’s what I would call depression], the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him.

All of us have sinned. I’m not saying every darkness is a specific punishment for sin. I’m just saying we’ve all sinned, and therefore there’s no point in trying to play goody goody while we’re under the darkness. We can’t say, “Oh, he’s treating me worse than I deserve.” No, we’ve all sinned. Micah continues,

I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me [not against me, but for me]. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.

That’s what we say when we’re in the darkness: “I shall look upon his vindication.” That’s an amazing and wonderful passage. There is nothing sentimental or naïve about it. It is utterly realistic in dealing with our own sin and God’s grace.
This is the way a justified sinner talks. We do not despair, and we do not feel presumptuous. Our confidence is in God and his vindication. Which leads now to a third group, where seeing that vindication worked out by God in history is absolutely crucial.

Canceled Sin

This may be the most important group of texts to look at. So fix your attention especially on the passages that describe the stunning work of Christ on the cross. The work that was outside yourself to provide your vindication as a justified sinner before an all-holy, all-loving God.


For example, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6–8). Oh look to that text again and again.

Or: “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3) — that is, in the flesh of his own Son, not your flesh.

Or Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Oh, what an amazing promise.

Or 1 Peter 2:24–25: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” So the great healing is, you were headlong heading for the cliff of destruction, and the Shepherd, dying, reaches out to you, and pulls you back. And it says, “You have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” Let it sink in: “My soul has a Shepherd. My soul has an Overseer.”

And there’s so many more texts like that: 2 Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 3:12, Philippians 1:6, Isaiah 53:4–6. That’s the third group of texts to look at.

Thanks and Praise

The fourth group is to recite Scriptures of thanksgiving and praise, even though you do not feel them. Here’s one example. Psalm 86:10–13:

For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. (Psalm 86:10–13)

Now, if you are honest with God, and with yourself, and with others about the absence of your feelings, then the recitation of these thanks are not hypocrisy. They are expressions of longing and a belief that God alone is worthy of thanks and praise.
Here’s what Richard Baxter, a pastor from 1600s, says about what I’m asking you to do.

Resolve to spend most of your time in thanksgiving and praising God. If you cannot do it with the joy that you should, yet do it as you can. You have not the power of your comforts; but have you no power over your tongues? Say not that you are unfit for thanks and praises, unless you had a praising heart, and were the children of God; for every man, good and bad, is bound to praise God, and to be thankful for all that he hath received, and to do it as well as he can, rather than leave it undone. . . . Doing it as you can is the way to be able to do it better. Thanksgiving stirreth up thankfulness in the heart.

It doesn’t have to be hypocrisy, in other words, for you to read the Scriptures about thanks and praise, and say them back to God — all the while knowing your heart is aching to feel them, and doesn’t yet.

Seed of Joy

Here’s the last group of texts. Turn to texts that cry out to God for the restoration of life and joy. Psalm 51:12: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” Psalm 85:6: “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?”
The reason for turning to texts like these is not only that they are prayers which God may be pleased to answer soon by restoring your joy. They are also evidences that the seed of joy in God is still alive in your soul.

Let me close with this, and this is so crucial because you may feel, “I don’t even know if I’m a Christian because I feel so blank.” There are four things that characterize that seed of joy that is still alive in you. See if these are there.

1. You can still see objectively that God is the supreme treasure of the universe, even if your feelings about him are very flat.
2. You can confess that objective sight of God with your lips, that God is supremely valuable.
3. You can cry out for the restoration of true joy, and that very cry is the seed sown by the taste of the joy.
4. You can refuse to turn away from God and embrace idols.

So may the Lord use those five kinds of Scripture to give you patience, and bring you through the season of darkness.

Ever See A Car In a Parking Lot and Wonder Who's Driving It?

I DID. TODAY.  THE CRACKER BARRELL OFF I-40 near Dickson.  Made me smile.

A Little Bit More On John McCain From Speakeasy Ideas

YESTERDAY I RECEIVED THIS EMAIL FROM FRIEND TOM KRANAWITTER @ Speakeasyideas.com. Thought it well-worth repeating here at Webutante with his permission.  Thanks, Tom, and your fine team there in Denver:

AUGUST, 2018, was marked by the death of two prominent Americans: Aretha Franklin and Senator John McCain.

We knew neither Ms. Franklin nor Senator McCain, personally, so we have little to say about their personalities behind closed doors. We merely offer a prayer for each that their souls be guided by eternal light.

THE SENATOR

John McCain had only one employer his entire life: The United States government. He served honorably in the U.S. Navy, during which service he was brutally tortured in captivity in Vietnam, a nightmare most of us cannot and don't want to imagine. 

John McCain then spent the bulk of his adult life, almost four decades, as a member of the United States Congress, elected to two terms in the House of Representatives and six terms in the U.S. Senate. 

While in the Senate, he mastered the art of cronyism—providing special government favors, waivers, preferential treatment, and subsidies for his business friends, all paid with money that was taken from others.

He also did more than any member of Congress in the last century to ensure that all incumbent members of Congress have decisive advantages over non-incumbent challengers. Aided by John McCain’s campaign finance law, incumbent reelection rates for members of Congress in recent years have reached as high as 97%.

John McCain and his political allies, both Republicans and Democrats, made it a crime for ordinary citizens to help non-incumbent friends running for elected office, beyond small dollar limits.

The justification was that there’s “too much money in politics,” meaning those in government could not resist the temptation of money. The solution proposed by John McCain? More government control over what citizens do with their own property. His was a life of using government force to command millions of fellow citizens.

Meanwhile, incumbents enjoy widespread name recognition and wide media coverage anytime they want it, simply because they are part of the government, an advantage almost no challengers can overcome. Together, John McCain and his allies effectively transformed incumbent members of Congress into a permanent political class more entrenched now than ever before in American history.  

John McCain died recently from a terrible disease, while still in office. It is right to offer condolences to his grieving family who watched his health decline. And, because of Senator McCain, almost all members of Congress today are far more likely to retire or die in office from old age or sickness than to lose an election. Ever.

Thanks again Tom. So much for term limits, thanks to McCain!