Opus 2024-362: Armpit Healing

Yesterday I went through a time of, shall we say, low spirits.  Something happened, and I responded like a child who just realized that his nose was dirty, or some such thing.  I went outside and stared at the horizon.  In my heart, I knew that God was there because I meet him at the spot every morning.  However, I was not in the mood to be encouraged.

God gets really good at patting me on the head and distracting me.  The thought occurred that it’s like a little child who has got an owie.  Their whole world is focused on that stubbed toe.  It’s like the end of the world has come and the screams and lamentations have no end.  How do you deal with that?  I guess you could just ignore it and walk away and figure they’ll get over it eventually.  There are times when you do that.

There are other times when you reach out, wrap your arms around them, and squeeze.  When they get to the point where they’re having trouble breathing, you start tickling their armpits.  You may have a whole list of other things that will distract them and irritate them to the point where they start laughing.  Once you get to that point, the terrible injury is forgotten, and life goes on.

I am not sure that God doesn’t treat us that way at times.  He does that if we let him.  Sometimes the child is just so stubborn and their pain so real that they don’t want to be distracted.  They don’t want to be healed.  They don’t want to get well.  They love the attention.  We get that way with God too.

So next time you stub your toe, being serious, or not, make sure that you’re willing to except the attempts of God to reach out and tickle your armpits.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-361: Expectations

As I write, it seems that the presidency has been secured by Donald Trump and at the moment it looks like there will be a majority in both the Senate and the House.  Whether the Senate will get better, I have no idea.

Based on past experience, what are some of the things we can expect from the opposition?

First, we need to expect the rhinos to come out of the closet, and perhaps even takeoff their masks.  Don’t be shocked when several senators who have been elected as Republicans suddenly declared that they are crossing over to the other side.  Or they may just quietly boat where their pocketbook is rather than where their responsibility is.  Alaska I’m looking at you.  There could be more than one.

Expect extensive and unending lawsuits.  Expect the press to go on lying the way they have as far back as I can remember.  Remember, it was Walter Cronkite that surrendered for us in Vietnam, not the soldiers.  This is been going on a long time.  It will take even longer to correct it.  I would suggest that if you are doing anything that would direct money towards the mainstream media or the complicent corporations, you seriously consider other options.  Don’t wait for others to do it.

Expect National Enquirer style exposes against anyone who’s trying to keep the republic alive.  Perhaps JD Vance will be declared a voodoo priest.  And perhaps Ted Cruz will be accused and being warm and charismatic.  Remember the picture of Bill Clinton in the blue dress?  Photoshop Trumps face on that.  The options are only limited by the imagination of the America haters and believe me when it comes to hating America they have very vivid imaginations.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-360: Election 2024: One Step at a Time

There is a gospel song sung by Christy Lane, which goes, “One day at a time, dear Jesus….”  Let me assure you again those of you who are very insecure, I am not equating Donald Trump with Jesus.  What I am saying is that we have to take this one day at a time, one step at a time.  At the present moment in the darkness of the morning it looks like we have won the actual election.  Rejoice.  Celebrate.  Have a party.  But don’t turn off your radar.  Don’t turn your back.  Don’t stop locking your doors.  Keep in mind that the deep state is there and they have at least until inauguration to keep playing their games.

So we can take deep breaths.  We can heave a sigh of relief.  We have more reason to hope for the best.  But now is the time to keep praying.  Now is the time to keep raising your voice on issues.  Now is the time to keep moving forward.

We now start the long trudge through the court system.  The corrupt judges are still out there.  They will still need to be battled.  If we can’t put a fear of the Trump in them, we need to put the fear of the Lord in them.  Keep within the law and keep your powder dry.  The battle continues.

And assuming that we make it to inauguration, Trump is installed, and the republic continues; So does the battle.  We will need to continue to extend the control of the patriotic Americans to state houses, courthouses, and ultimately, what’s the homes of America.  Keep talking to your family and friends.  Start pointing out to them the good things as they happen.  They certainly won’t hear about it on the evening news.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-359: Election 2024: So What

Two headlines had me shrugging my shoulders and at the same time seeing a little bit of red.

The first was the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire endorsing Trump.  The second was Joe Rogan endorsing Trump.  You might ask, “What is the problem?”  I would think it would be obvious, but let me explain.

Too little, too late.

Assuming that the reports are accurate, which is a flying leap into the darkness, the timing means that any such endorsement won’t make much difference.  A week ago I heard at church that almost 50% of our county had already voted.  I am sure the percentage is higher today.  Since most people will have already voted how will these announcements make any difference?  I hope that the ones most likely to have voted early are the ones who would not be impressed by such endorsements.

It all comes down to whether the Democrats have enough middle level flunkies that are too afraid to cheat like they are told to do.

See you on the other side.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-358: Liberty Ridge

I noticed recently on the Weather app that I was theoretically able to see 29 miles.  It called that perfectly clear air and I would have to agree.  I don’t think I could see that far because the ridges of hill country intruded on the sweep of the vista.  I could see for miles though.  And what I saw, and what I heard was the sound and sight of liberty.

I see people living with the unrestrained freedom to pursue their lives as they want.  I watch the people across the street is they rise early in the morning, in the dark before the sun even begins to suggest its presence, and they one by one get in their cars and drive to work, or school, or whatever else their day plans for them.  It’s not the government mandating where they work.  It is the freedom of choice that comes in our country.

I can’t see all the cars that go by on the roads nearby but I can often hear them.  They come in all sizes, makes and shapes.  They make all kinds of different noises.  They are trucks, huge 18 wheelers, and small pickups.  It’s a matter of choice.  It’s a matter of exercising your liberty, your resources, and your willingness to work.  The whole world should look like this.

And I think much of the world could live like this if they would choose the right priorities and the right values.  If they valued free enterprise.  If they would get rid of the government regulation stifling their lives.  If they had the values that are found in the Bible about honesty, fidelity, and basic morals.  If they could learn to trust because they knew that cheating displeased Almighty God.  It would make a difference in what they had for breakfast, how comfortable their homes were, the level they were able to support their families and so many other areas of life that we take for granted.

Be grateful for the founding fathers of this country, and the insight they had in the human nature and political wisdom.  Do what you can to stop the current crop of liberty destroyers.  Every time an unelected bureaucrat makes a new regulation with the force of law he’s whittling away your choices and your flexibility.  He’s trying to force you into a box of his design.  Rather, a box that he has forced you to build and climb into.

Elections matter. Prey hard.  Stand up and speak and make sure you vote.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-357: Removing the Dross

As I was meditating on how God purifies people, sanctifies them, matures them, and leads them to be what he wants him to be, I was thinking in terms of sanding off rough edges.  That is not the analogy that God gives us in scripture.  He tends to talk about refining.  He’s thinking in terms of making gold and silver pure.

God talks about the dross being removed.  I am not a metallurgist.  I am not an expert in any way in the process of making pure steel, gold, silver, or any other metal.  All I have is kind of general ideas I picked up here and there, some of them from the Bible.

I have this picture of ore being refined to a certain point, and then in order to really purify it you have to make it even hotter and let it sit over a fire for a long time.  The picture I get is that the dross, impurities, slowly rise to the surface.  As the metal is continually heated and the dross continues to rise, the worker will skim off the impurities from the top and discard them.  He will then continue to refine the metal.

My thoughts at this point went to politics rather than theology.  I was thinking about our hopes that Donald Trump would be elected.  One of the common topics of discussion is that he has to get rid of the people who have been polluting our government for so long.  We know that the top ranks are corrupt beyond imagination.  We know there is a self-centered seeking for power in riches that is destroying the liberties of the masses.  One of the ways to reform is to get rid of the impurities.

I think it’s interesting that there seems to be a parallel between purifying gold and getting the government into the condition it needs to be.  It seems that the pollution, the corruption, the dross rises to the top.  At that point, it must be skimmed off.

I would urge President Trump if elected to skim off the dross.  At this point it has been very consistent in rising.  Skim it off.  Wait a while.  Skim it off again.  And as the dandruff shampoo label tells us, repeat.

There will probably be a steady supply of impurities rising to the top.  Keeps skimming.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-356: Is God a Nitpicker?

I’m still on the porch.  I’m still looking at oak trees.  I’m wondering just how God is involved in the formation of these trees.  I have about six trees close enough to notice details on and it’s obvious that you can’t find more than a couple inches that might be the same on any two trees.  I’m not even sure you could find that.

Now comes my question.  Does God oversee and direct every single cell that forms in these trees?  Does He get out that device we used to have in my drafting class that was called the French curve and carefully craft every bend?  Or is there some process that God has put in place that allows random chance in the formation of oak tree trunks?  And what does that say in regard to human beings?

I can go either way on this.  My God is big enough that He could be directing the twists and turns of every leaf that falls off the tree.  He could be directing the formation of each cell and the location of each little bit of mitochondria that is found in it.  He is that big.  Forgive me for the smallness of the word big.  At the same time He’s also big enough to set up random choices and allow them to run.

I tend to lean toward the random choice side of things because I believe in free will.  I believe that is part of being made in the image of God.

You can go for being a robot if you want.  It doesn’t make sense to me.  I don’t understand it.  But then I don’t claim to understand God either.

homo unius libri