An Undecided Decides

Finally they can subtract one from the undecided voter column. Even though I no longer sit on the fence, this election has been a struggle for me. In previous elections my ballot could literally be marked months in advance. My mind was made up when my party’s delegates reached the magic number. There was little left to the process other then worrying that the villain on the other side might win.

However, this year stirred my own internal debate which caused a reexamination of a number of things. As a result I will vote differently then all of those other elections. I will vote outside my party for president for the first time. I will vote differently then my wife, friends, family, people at work and the rest of ‘my circle’.

When you live inside a world that looks and acts and thinks like you then you are sure we all makes sense. Everyone agrees. This is where we are going and this is how we should get there. However, over the past couple of years I have been exposed in a real way to life outside “my circle”. When you step outside those walls and learn that your reality is not everyone’s reality all of sudden things are not as absolute as they were when your rules kept things orderly.

It was extremely hard to open up my convictions and look at them from another point of view. I want to be clear; this is not a change of my convictions but a reevaluation of my response to them. That is what has been so hard to work through. I always thought the other side had the wrong conviction. But the more I have listened to the candidates (not the hype around them) this time, I found they all are able to identify the problems but it is more about a difference in our response to them.

Am I changing parties? No.
Do I feel the other side has all the right answers? Absolutely not.
Do I agree with all the candidate’s plans? Nope.

But sometimes it is not about what makes me comfortable. Sometimes it is not about what agenda I can profit from. Sometimes you just have to look at those you have to choose from and decide which one you are willing to follow. Sometimes it is just about leadership. Leadership is so desperately lacking in this country. So today I will respond differently then I have in the past. I will cast my vote for a different agenda and hopefully a leader that will lead this country.

It came down to one thing, what power does a president really have except the power he can obtain through persuasion.

Please earnestly pray for our country and vote today.

Small Enough

The story goes...

After dinner Theodore Roosevelt would step outside the White House to enjoy a cigar with his best friend, William Beebe, the famous naturalist. The two men would look up at the sky, when their eyes had focused on the tiny patch of light near the constellation of Pegasus, Roosevelt would say in prayerful tones, “That is the spiral galaxy of Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of 100 million galaxies. It consists of 100 billion suns, each larger than our sun.” Then Roosevelt would say, “Now, I think we’re small enough. Let’s go to bed.”

I get so caught up in my tiny piece of the world. My minute sphere of influence consumes my focus. This little slice of the universe so overwhelms me.

It is good to stop and take in the vastness of the universe and how little it is focused on me. It continues to plod along without consideration of my problem de jour or even what happens on this tiny little speck of a planet. Only a God of infinite proportions could place us in something so eminence and unmeasurable.

Yet, within all of the spinning, revolving, wobbling, twinkling, rotating, burning and exploding, I am not lost but found. This great big all powerful God reaches out of the dark infinite and found this insignificant and touched it. Transformed it. Only by grasping my smallness can I begin to step into true worship.

Now, I think we’re small enough. Let’s go to bed.

A Lesson From George

As we head into another week of financial questions. I offer this wisdom from a different George...

"Can't you understand what's happening here? Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not. That's why. He's pickin' up some bargain. Now, we-we can get through this thing all right. We've, we've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other." - George Bailey

One More Thought on Paths

A quote to follow up yesterday's post...

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere." - Frank A Clark

Ancient Paths

This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16



When not sure which way to go? Why do I seek my own way when there are ancient paths to follow?

There is no need for multi-lane super highways. These are narrow trails each well worn & built up by godly men and women over generations. Passageways that may be slow to follow but speed is not always in God’s plan as much as mine. Not the most direct routes but they pass amazing views of Gods work along the way.

There are no signs to mark the entrance because we are told to ask the way. He wants to walk along with us. Show the way I was created to follow.

God does not call one to blaze new trails as often as I may think.

Lord, show me the ancient and good paths you have laid out. Then remind me when I stray from them.

Bailout or Rascue it all Stinks

Okay the bill has passed congress. Call it Bailout or Rescue, it all still stinks. A guarantee of financial disaster or rush head long into something that no one wants to do. No time to think. No time to discuss. I never trust the guy that says you have to make a financial choice right now or the deal goes away.

So this means somewhere the tax dollars of a guy who just lost his house will end up going to save the bank that foreclosed on him. Does that really make sense? Only in America, because we are talking Wall Street and Washington and sense was never required in either place.

You see, to me, all of this is a little like a dog who was sniffing around the yard one day and ends up with a big piece of crap on his nose. He really has two choices; either walk around with the crap on his nose or lick his nose.

Folks, it is time for us to lick our nose.

Making Time

"Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!" - Og Mandino

I let it happen too often. Everything on my schedule gets pushed end to end. There are no gaps, no time to breath. The day is all set then here comes that thing I really should be doing. However, because I am so over committed, it goes by without notice? Responsibilities are important but if there is no time to talk to my child or give a neighbor a hand or spend a few moments in prayer when a friend asks, perhaps there is something on my responsibly list that shouldn't be there.

Random Thoughts

• The only person I should be better then is the person I was yesterday.

• Always saying I am busy but if I had more time, would I just be busier?

• I don't know my neighbors very well.

• Take one day off and play golf alone. Walk it and enjoy God.

• Life is a little like poker. The cards are determined but how we play them is our choice.

• The size of this universe is amazing but even so the realization it didn't know that I existed was disappointing.

• The adults when I was a kid looked like they had it together far more then the adults I know today?

• What ever happened to the Information Superhighway? Are we on it? I didn't see the signs.

• When I am out of step with God, I know who moved.

• Getting stuff only increases my wanting stuff.

Do Not Cross the Line

Why do we have this fascination with sin as a line?
We argue about its location.
What is allowed and what is abhorred?
Everything on this side of the line is good while over there is evil.
We even negotiate how close we can stand without going over?
Friendships are broken, religions are formed and wars are fought to establish where the line is.

Do you suppose God is as concerned with the line as much as we may think?
Consider instead, what if God would rather change the focus from the line to Him?
You see when you are facing God there is no line.
Its not so much where the line is but where the light is instead.

I Have Gas

I am confused by the whole gasoline industry. Always have been but even more so today.

How can Nashville be out of gas while 650 miles to the west in Oklahoma City it is $3.19 per gallon which is the lowest price we have had in six months? How does that work? Is I-40 blocked? How did a whole city run out of gas? Was no one watching the little red light on the gauge? My wife starts reminding me to pull over well before that thing comes on.

Also on this subject, why do competitors have such comparable gas prices? The two stations down the street from me are exactly two cents different every time I drive by. Do they stand outside with the plastic numbers and wait to see which one flinches first? Or more likely, Shell spends millions of dollars every year forecasting world wide oil production, monitoring distribution channels, calculating cost of sales, predicting outside influences, etc. to establish their price while 7-Eleven tells their guys to watch the sign across the street and subtract two cents?

How can a station have the same price as the competition on the same corner but the same company has another station a couple of miles away is ten cents higher? Does it cost that much to drive those big trucks? If so, wouldn’t the prices on the highway be cheaper then the ones they have to come all the way into the city to stock up?

Now you can see why I am so confused. I am going back to work.