Lessons for Living

I Don’t Want To Alarm You

I’m no banking expert. Or anything remotely related to one. Period.

I don’t know what to make of the current crisis in the finance system.

I don’t even know if I’m using the right lingo.

But here’s something I just read:

Dominoes: Large Euro, US Banks On The Brink

We are witnessing a failure in government. Our Congress cannot work together to provide an immediate fix to a problem it created in the first place: forcing the American financial sector to extend mortgages to those who were high risk borrowers in order to champion to the American people that more minorities own homes than ever. That worked well under a booming economy. But when the natural cycle of economics turned downward, fear dismissed became reality unavoidable. The house of cards came tumbling down.

And even still, amid all the haggling and fighting going on in Congress over how to shore up the financial cash crisis, not a word is mentioned about changing the counter-intuitive practices forced upon mortgage lenders in the first place. In this respect, it’s not unlike how Congress and the White House chose to address illegal immigration: by trying to deal with those already here first rather than initially addressing the cause: the influx of illegals that continues to flow unabated.

Make no mistake, if we wake to Black Monday this week, the responsibility lies squarely upon Congress and the electorate which has put them there, not our banks. Our banks’ hands were forced by mandates from Washington, not their boardrooms.

And here we are. With a Congress so polarized that they are incapable of working together.

[…]

America does not seem nearly as polarized as its elected representation. But perhaps in less than one full week, it really won’t matter but for hindsight and lessons going forward. Hard, painful, demanding lessons.

I don’t have time to say more, though there’s plenty I could say.

For now, I remind you about Roger Hertzler’s article I posted here.

Two Exciting Investment Opportunities

I’m sure that by now most of you have heard of the financial meltdown being faced by the United States economy. It all started with the banking system starting to tremble. No, wait, it all started with people not being able to pay back all the money they had borrowed from the banks. Actually, I think it all started with real estate prices going down. Well, come to think of it, it really started before that, back when real estate prices went up. Or I guess it started before that, back when the banks decided to loan money to anybody who was willing to borrow money, which is what helped make the land prices go up.

Anyway, it started somewhere, sometime. And by all appearances, getting it started was a lot simpler than getting it stopped is going to be. You see, just this evening President Bush got on the radio, TV, and just about everything else he could get on and told Americans in general that there is going to be a widespread financial disaster. In other words, the average person would lose his house, his job, his retirement, his savings, his insurance, his sanity, and perhaps an arm and a leg. Unless, of course, we allow the government to step in and bail us out. Bail us out, mind you, to the tune of seven hundred billion dollars. For those of you who don’t know how much money that is, it is a 7 with a whole wagon load of zeros.

Anyway, in the midst of a world full of financial turmoil and uncertainty, I thought you would all be excited about a couple of wonderful investment opportunities I recently learned about. These are both guaranteed not to lose any of their value, and will not be affected by moth, rust, thieves, or financial market melt-downs. You have no need to fear when you invest in these securities, because they are backed by a pool of wealth far in excess of a measly 700 billion greenbacks. Read it all

Worse Than DUI

Texting while driving “more dangerous than drugs or alcohol”

Texting behind the wheel is more dangerous than driving while under the influence of alcohol or cannabis, researchers said Thursday.

Research carried out on young drivers (aged 17-24) using a simulator found that reaction time slowed by 35% when they were writing or reading text messages while driving. In comparison, reaction time deteriorated by 21% for those under the influence of cannabis, and by 12% at the legal alcohol limit.

I’m no teenager (and only two of our five flesh-and-blood children are still teenagers), but I better remember this the next time texting while driving seems so urgent. 😯

One-Year 64-Member Surge

Record 259 corporations honored for ‘gay’ support

The newly released Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, which ranks hundreds of businesses on their “treatment” of employees who have chosen homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender lifestyles, awards a record 259 corporations perfect scores, including newcomers Campbell’s Soup and Target.

The total in the 2009 report is up one-third from the 195 corporations so honored in 2008, according to the Human Rights Campaign, which explained that now an estimated nine million workers “are protected from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because of their employers’ policies on diversity & inclusion, training, health care, and domestic partnership benefits.”

The report notes that when the evaluation was begun in 2002, there were 13 corporations with such perfect scores – a total of 100 out of 100 possible – and that rose to 26 in 2003, 56 in 2004, 101 in 2005, 138 in 2006 and 195 in 2008.

If I were into boycotting, I would have to quit doing business with some outfits:

  • US Airways
  • Dell
  • Target
  • Campbell Soups
  • Visa
  • American Express
  • Bank of America
  • Best Buy
  • Chevron
  • Citigroup
  • Coca-Cola
  • Eastman Kodak
  • eBay
  • Google
  • Intel
  • JC Penney
  • KeyCorp
  • Levi Strauss
  • Macy
  • MasterCard
  • Microsoft
  • PepsiCo
  • Sears
  • UPS
  • Yahoo!

Wow!

Time to join the Amish or the Hutterites.

Or move to the Amazon.

Or forget the whole notion of boycotting.

Remember…

Our World Has Changed

Our World Has Changed

We used to read about terrorism in other countries. We encountered suicide bombers and germ warfare only in the newspapers. We could hardly have imagined hijacked jets smashing into buildings or deadly anthrax spreading through the U.S. mail.

Our world has changed. We have heard the sirens. We have turned horrified eyes to the burning skies. The flaming towers are etched forever on our memories. Every day the altered skyline reminds us of the tragedy.

Our world has changed. We watch in dismay as HAZMAT teams examine post offices. We grieve the loss of friends and loved ones. We know fear.

The unbelievable has happened. And our world has changed.

One thing has not changed.

Terrorist Attack!

September 11, 2001 — a day that will live in history and in the memories of those old enough to remember that day. On that day, well-trained terrorists hijacked airliners and used them as missiles of mass destruction in New York and Washington. Millions in the United States and beyond now live in fear of more attacks from a foe that is determined, elusive, and exceedingly difficult to confront. Even if guns and warplanes could destroy hundreds of terrorists and their strongholds, who is to say that more of them are not hiding out somewhere else?

The world begs for solutions to the terrorist menace, but solutions are hard to come by.

As I thought about the terrorist menace, I began to contemplate another more serious terrorist operation.

Living by Faith

Whether he’s a master terrorist or a stellar citizen, the faith of Jesus is what he needs for redemption. Whether she’s the best or the worst humanity has to offer, the faith of Jesus is what she needs for redemption. Whether they grew up in a rock-solid Christian home or in demon-worshiping home, only the faith of Jesus will bring them redemption. Thankfully, no matter who or how anyone is, Jesus makes His redemption available to them.

When Terror Strikes Home

Terrorists strike and our world erupts in dust, fire, and chaos. As we look around with shell-shocked gaze, suffering and insecurity leap at us from the rubble. Pain tears across the faces of the injured. Specters of suffering rise from the rubble to grip our heart the specters of stark terror, crushing bereavement, helpless fury, and mind-numbing bewilderment and shock. The scene burns indelibly into our very soul.

We begin to ask questions. “Why!? Where are You, God? Don’t You care about us anymore? Why do You permit such suffering and chaos?”

Is God responsible for it all? Is He still in control? What does the Bible say?

Do You Add to the Gloom?

From Barbara Johnson’s I Don’t Suffer From Insanity…I enjoy every minute of it calendar, something far less than insane:

What kind of perspective do you bring to unpleasant situations?

Do you add to the gloom or introduce joy?

Do you join in the grumbling or find something to laugh about?

Do you follow our Lord’s example and lift the spirits of “those bent beneath their loads”?

The Lord lifts the fallen and those bent beneath their loads.
Psalm 145:14 TLB

And two other verses I thought of on the subject of adding light rather than gloom:

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

I am both challenged and convicted.

Keeping a Pledge

Dobson Rebuked for Breaking His Pledge Before God

On April 28, 1990 at the Washington D.C. Rally for Life on video and to hundreds of thousands of Christians, Dr. Dobson stated, “I want to give a pledge to you on a political level… I have determined that for the rest of my life, however long God lets me live on this earth, I will never cast one vote for any man or woman who would kill one innocent baby.”

But now he’s planning to vote for McCain-Palin. Despite the fact McCain fails the above test.

Maybe a pledge “on a political level” is different that a pledge on a Christian’s level.

Whatever the case, here are a few sentences from a letter supposedly under the Focus on the Family letterhead:

As Mr. Enyart stated, it is true that Dr. Dobson has said on previous occasions that he would never cast a vote for any politician who supports abortion. Recently, however, there have been times that he felt he was faced with the necessity of making a difficult but inescapable choice between two or more major candidates.

[…]

Please know that Dr. Dobson didn’t arrive at this decision without giving it much thought and consideration. Rightly or wrongly, he chose to compromise his own standard, which he rarely does, in order to protect everything that matters most. Although Dr. Dobson realizes this decision carries with it the potential for criticism and disagreement, he believes God has led him in this direction.

Oh my!

Surely that doesn’t mean that he did arrive at his previous Nope-Won’t-Vote-For-Him decision without much thought and consideration. 😯

And he’s going to vote for McCain after all (never isn’t as long a time span as it used to be) to protect everything that matters most. So killing a baby here and there is in a different category? 😯

Dr. Dobson, a bit of unsolicited advice: Leave politics to the politicians.

And an observation: You don’t have to choose between two candidates — don’t vote at all.

Now, regarding pledges and vows and promises and commitments and oaths, the Bible:

“Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay” (Ecclesiastes 5:5).

“But above all things, my brethren…let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12).

So…what should Dr. Dobson do?

(And “rightly or wrongly”?!? Wow!)

Above all, love God!
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