My Review of 2018

This entire year has been memorable for a number of reasons as indicated in the bulleted list.

• Contacted Gretchen Whitmer to volunteer for her campaign
• Collected signatures on petitions for her campaign
• Attended Petition Submission
• Attended events for her campaign across the State
• Canvassed for the Democrats throughout my community
• Joined the local Dem club
• Attended first Democrat Conventions
• Worked the polls during primary and general election
• Joined the Black Caucus Dem Club
• Attended County Democrats Convention
• Elected to Executive Board of County Democrats
• Attended many meet and greets for candidates
• Promoted a boatload of Democrat candidates on social media
• Created live videos promoting the importance of voting, immigration, etc.
• Created videos to just to vent against the idiot-in-chief
• Created videos to promote my potential candidacy for president in 2020
• Watched the biggest sham of a presidency reveal more stupid and treasonous activities on a daily basis.
• Participated in several Marches in the cold, in the rain, in the heat: March For Our Lives, Families Belong Together, Cinco De Mayo Parade, Labor Day Parade,
• Lost 16 pounds knocking on doors
• Saw Bill Cosby go to jail for sexual assaults
• Saw many celebrities accused of sexual misconduct
• Saw the stain of corruption spread to the Supreme Court with the Kavanaugh confirmation
• Determined Russia has infiltrated American democracy with the intent to demolish it with the help of Koch Brothers, the Mercers, the Adelsons, the Murdochs and corrupt, treasonous Republicans (most now trumplicans)
• Vowed to fight against tyranny and a “life-time president”
• Learned the journey to the White House–is costly–emotionally, physically, as well as financially
• Trained to become more politically active in all elections

It has been a very busy year, one that has opened my eyes and hopefully the eyes of others in understanding we cannot be apathetic bystanders, we must get involved at every stage of local government to ensure our democracy is sustained and all participate in the process.

I won’t bore people with redundancies, since I’ve actually written about much of what has occurred this year, but I wanted to put in one place, a summary of my political involvement on my journey to the White House. A look back at what we’ve done is a good place to start planning where we go next and how best to make it work for all involved.

Hope you’ve all had a merry Christmas and look forward to a happy New Year (without the anger or lies of you-know-who).

 

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How We Avoid Hate!

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord. Proverbs 16:1,2

When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way, he causes their enemies to make peace with them. Better a little with righteousness than much with injustice.  7,8

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. The wise are called discerning, and gracious words promote instruction. 18-21

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. A violent person entices their neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good. 28, 29

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city. 32

One of the most significant ways we can avoid situations that lead to hate is to understand how hate manifests itself. Hate doesn’t just show up out of the blue–it is planted, fertilized and nurtured to fruition by those who are insecure, fearful, and resentful (and incapable of rational thought).

People who have severe doubts about their own ability to accomplish things resent those who are confident and their lives demonstrate their confidence. Generally speaking, they will fertilize their insecurities by blaming others for what they have not achieved, and the more they blame others, the more they nurture their hatred. They teach their children to hate others because of fear–not knowledge–and those fears for the most part are baseless because insecure people–don’t venture far from their base of comfort. In other words, they have not lived a full life–one in which they ventured far from home and experienced life outside their parameters of their comfort zone.

The same people are incapable of understanding that we can be passionate in our disagreement with others, but we don’t have to allow the disagreement to lead to hate. We must understand that it is our right to disagree, but we can disagree, agreeably which won’t lead to wars or rumors of wars or bullying rhetoric. Hate spreads when people who are incapable of rational thought never realize that they are not always right and that others don’t have to agree with them. They have yet to understand what “individuality” means.

If God had wanted clones–He could have created them. We would all look alike, think alike and never have any need to use our brains or vocal cords.

What we must do to avoid the proliferation of hatred, bigotry, and senseless fear is to realize we all have something to contribute to society in productive, constructive ways and none should be ignored or disregarded simply because of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or any other factor. We must realize that God created one race of people–the human race with one blood surging through all–it’s red–no matter the color of skin is.

With insecurities–comes the tendency to think a person or a group of people is superior to another. In order to perpetuate the lies–they create all sorts of false data, write books with suspicious documentation to prove they are superior to others. We see this in the beliefs of all the “white nationalists” or other hate groups who actually believe they are superior to every other group of people. They do not know or understand that the cradle of civilization began on the continent of Africa and that skin tones changed as man migrated to cooler climates. Education would be extremely beneficial to debunk all these myths, but for those who hate–irrationally–they tend to think that having an education is synonymous with being elitist. Therefore, they revel in their ignorance and nurture their hate.

There’s an adage that says, “ignorance is bliss” and we can see that being true for those who choose to blame others for their shortcomings and positions in life. They’re happy with their ignorance and would rather hate than learn to live peaceably in society.

We know that when we disagree (especially in households), we should never allow the sun to go down and we’re still angry. Be passionate in disagreement, but ready to concede the possibility of being wrong and be willing to do the research to make a verifiable point and not just rely upon “an opinion” with no legs.

We can avoid planting the seeds of hatred and bigotry by recognizing that we are part of a greater world and we don’t have a right to expect others to live  by what we think or believe. We can educate ourselves (with all of the accessible technology) and not hold others accountable for what we don’t accomplish. We can learn to love–unconditionally–just as God loves us and with that love–there’s no room for hate. We can stop fertilizing and nurturing hatred by accepting responsibility for what we do and say or for what we don’t do. We are responsible for everything we say–good or bad–and everything we do–good or bad and we cannot blame others for our actions or inactions.

When we learn to critically analyze why we think what we think, believe what we believe, or do what we do–we’ll discover there is more to life and living than what we think we know.

 

Momentary Anger, But Enduring Favor!

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5 NIV)

What is a moment in God’s timing? If a thousand years is as a day then a moment could be hundreds of years. At least it could be about 400 if we estimate timing accurately between the time the last prophet spoke to the children of Israel and His appearance on earth as Jesus.

But that’s another discussion. As a grandparent who is parenting, again, I often get upset with my grandson–a teenager–going through puberty. I can only imagine how many reading this can relate, but at rate, this is trying time for both of us. We both get angry and sometimes, I have to remove myself from the moment so I won’t say something I will regret. Fortunately, for him, I don’t stay upset. Within a couple of hours, if he hasn’t done too much that’s foolish, I’m over my anger. He holds onto his anger a little longer, but for the most part, it doesn’t last long.

When I think about how we all must transition through stages of life, I’m really glad that God’s anger doesn’t last–if it did, where would some of us be? I know I can look back on my life and shake my head–thinking about all the foolish things I did and know that some of them had to anger Him, but He kept me–even in my foolishness–from any lasting harm because of His plans for me. Today, I am thankful for His plans for my life since they have brought me to a place where not only have I acknowledged His great mercy and love, but have accepted Him as Lord of my life and I’m living please Him.

Because of His favor, I am able to live my dream–teaching English and writing to my heart’s content, exercising the gifts He’s given. Because of His favor, I have been able to make an impact in the lives of others by being who He wants me to be and not who I was without Him in my life. Because of His favor–doors have opened that none can shut and doors have closed than none can open. Because of His favor, I walk with my head held high, knowing who I am and who I serve and know nothing by any means shall harm me. Because of His favor–shown towards me--I can show favor–towards my grandson, knowing that the phase of life he’s in shall soon pass.

Thank You, Lord for favor and a desire to do all things to please You. Thank You for new mercies showered upon every day and because of the new mercy, we can continue to show mercy to others. What a wonderful thing to know that Your anger only lasts for a moment–not in our timing, but in Yours–and we can rejoice when we wake.

Don’t Blame God! Bart!

Earlier today, I had an interesting interaction with Bart@sluckyducky on Twitter. He was apparently upset with me because I posted a tweet thanking God for the 1+ million readers I’d asked Him for and standing in faith to receive.

Okay, there were a number of questions he asked that I’ll try to answer. Why not pray that no more children die of starvation? He accused me of caring more about getting readers than ending rape, cancer, murder, etc. While I understand that his primary purpose was to goad a debate or argument, I refused to engage. My faith–in whatever I’ve asked for–is based on my relationship with Him and faith in God is accessible to any who choose to believe. Now for people who choose not to believe, that’s on them. Don’t blame God for all the ills of the world when those ills were caused by greedy people, selfish and self-centeredness, and lack of moral compasses.

Hungry children–when people cannot afford to feed their children they should consider that fact before having them. When governments care more about keeping the rich, rich and care nothing about the poor, that’s on the governments. When droughts occur that keep crops from growing and deplete appropriate animal feed and care–let the scientists explain it for you since you do not believe in God.

And that’s the other thing–why are you blaming God when you don’t believe He exists? How does that work? Are you choosing to blame Him for things that people do because it is so much easier to blame “a non-existent God” than to hold people accountable for their actions?

Bart said,”I have a Master’s Degree in Theology and ‘was’ as Christian for 30 years.” Apparently, something happened in Bart’s life that he never forgave God for. Perhaps, it was guilt over his own inadequacies, or hurt because of a loved one being lost or a host of other things. Bart–God did not do anything to you or anyone you loved. God is a spirit and He is love. Whatever happened in your life to make you hate God and deny His existence is between you and Him and I pray you get it straightened with Him before the end comes.

But let me get back to The Word and my prayer life, which is no secret. As I said to Bart earlier, my prayer tweets are a matter of public record and I have prayed for peace, calm, wisdom and the end of abuse and neglect of children, the end of senseless violence and hatred, as well as for “readers” of my books. God doesn’t have a problem with what I ask Him, so I don’t understand why you do?

When I ask God for anything, I ask–once, in faith–believing I shall receive that for which I asked (which is why I thank Him in advance of receiving it) and He always delivers. I don’t doubt Him for a moment for if I doubted He would do as I ask, I would receive nothing. But do know this–God does not force anyone to do anything. Obeying Him is always a choice. When our relationship with Him is right, we hear Him when He speaks and when we obey Him, we can have what we want from Him.

When people feel powerless in events over which they have no control, instead of seeking God for wisdom in how to respond to the situation, they simply blame God and then deny His existence. That’s not going to solve anything. The root of the problem is the individual’s unbelief and lack of faith. If they were to exercise their faith in God, without doubting, they would see the same results I get.

People play the lottery because they have faith in a lottery. They go to casinos because of their faith to win. They go to race tracks because of their faith in a horse. That is where their faith is. My faith is in God and since I don’t have a problem with people who have faith in other things, why on earth do you have a problem with my faith in God? Is it envy, jealousy, guilt, remorse, what?

Whatever it is or was–Bart–you need to get over it and stop trying to project your guilt over a situation onto others who choose not to share your lack of faith. And if it’s that deep–seek Him and get it right. The fact that you “say” you don’t believe He exists doesn’t change His existence for all who believe. You believe what you want, and so will the rest of the world, and that certainly includes me.

God loves you so very much that He willingly came down and hung on a cross for your sins (and everyone else’s). Was His love in vain? Are you so callous that you cannot see the sacrifice He made for you and me? Are you so overwhelmed with guilt that your heart has hardened and you have no room for love? If you cannot receive God’s love, you certainly are incapable of loving anyone else and that includes yourself. Let Him into your heart and stop hating Him for those things that happened that you could not control. Don’t blame God! He’s innocent! It is people–whoever created the problem for you–that you should be angry with, but you should also forgive–so you can go and have the best life God intended for you to have.

God loves you and so do I and your lack of faith in Him–will never change my complete faith in Him and all He does for those who believe that He is and will do for those who do not doubt Him.

I entreat every Born-Again Believer who reads this to pray for Bart–that he’ll seek God, forgive God, and receive God’s best in his life. God knows who he is and the real problem and He is able to do all things well.

Great Compassion!

In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.(Isaiah 54:8 NIV)

Anger–emotional turbulence that sometimes leads to regrets–at least on our part, should never negate love of someone. God shows us here that even though, in a surge–electric turbulence generating strong emotion–of anger, He chose not to respond to us, but never stopped loving us.

How many times have we as parents allowed anger to generate turbulent emotional responses from us towards our children? Did we stop loving them simply because we were angry with them? Did we make sure they knew how to not ignite turbulent emotions within us, again? When we are angry, do we not ignore those with whom we are angry for a time? Our response to those with whom we get angry is genetic–we got it from Our Father–and yet do we love as Our Father loves or do we allow the turbulence to continue unabated and lose a right relationship with others?

Parents who get angry with children with whom they never remind the children they forgive them and love them breed angry children. Those angry children continue to allow their turbulent emotions to run rampant, unchecked and hatred for others grows and extends beyond the household where it began, but creeps into an unsuspecting society, spreading like the plague. Angry kindergarten children graduate to being angry middle-schoolers and then angry high-schoolers who body-slam security guards, rape classmates, taunt and kill teachers, and then become a statistic which sociologists study, but can find no solution to the problem–no way to break the cyclic-curse.

All of this stems from a society of people who disown God and know not how He operates--though He gets angry and ignores us for a moment, His mercy is everlasting and His compassion endures forever. We ignore Him and have not compassion or love for Him and it is evident with all those in prisons, morgues, and cemeteries. It is evident with all of the misguided unwed mothers and all of those caught up in rebellious behavior, including sexual immorality.

We must become more like Him if we are see the curse broken and all of the earth in position to receive God’s mercy and compassion–all benefits of being His children.

Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to become more like You and show great compassion for people when we get angry. For Your Word allows us the emotional turbulence of being angry, but that anger should not cause us to sin against You or others. Give us, O God, a heart of flesh that hears You and desires to obey You.

 

We Used To Do It!

Reading for today, Colossians 3:4-10, I am reminded of the things that I used to do.  Paul tells the Church at Colosse that when Christ appears, we will appear with Him in glory (raised with a glorified body), but he also reminds them of the things they used to do and should not still be doing because of the new self created in Christ.

The point of this passage of scripture is simply this:  We have a past–used to do some things that were ungodly, illegal, immoral, and unethical.  We used to lie, hold onto anger, bitterness and unforgiveness. But that was then–when we did not know we had a Savior who loved us enough to die for us.  Now that we know, who He is and who we are in Him, none of those things we used to do (in opposition to God and self) should be a part of our new nature. If they are, are we really a new creation or have we just taken up a facade (external attributes), but our thought-life, our inner nature, has not changed?

God knows those who are His and if we are attempting to fool anyone; the only person we fool is ourselves.  When the enemy plants thoughts in our minds, remind him–“I used to do those things, but they are no longer part of my life!”

Now, we can start doing some new things–those things that will glorify God–and assure us of our new nature and then we can look the enemy in the face and say, “Look at me now and see what I am doing right now!” We can defeat the power of the enemy, by not dwelling on the things we used to do, but preparing to do all that God has planned for us!

When cloudy days or thoughts interfere with what you need to do–now, just remember those clouds will go away, when we think brighter thoughts.

Driving Forces!

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