So wher've You Been?

I knew it had been a while since I last posted, but I didn't realize it had been nearly four months! If anyone is disappointed about this I apologize. I am disappointed in myself also! And I was doing so well there for a while!

So where have I been? What kept me from writing for so long? It seems that I have been affected by the national Diabetes epidemic.

It wasn't that I didn't feel well. I felt just fine. It is just that this disease, particularly in its early days after diagnosis has proven to be time-consuming. Since about August 10, I have had appointments with my physician every three weeks, eye treatments with a retina specialist every two weeks, and appointments with dieticians every week. During the middle week of October, I spent sixteen hours either going to, attending or coming from appointments with these folks (OK, this also includes a regular Dentist appointment, but you get the idea).  Add to this that the eye treatments leave me unable to see adequately to read or write for twenty-four to forty-eight hours thereafter, and I hope that you can see why this thing has slowed me down. I also admit to being a bit discouraged by the whole thing.

The work year has ended however, and I am hopeful that I will get back into the groove of posting once or twice each week.

It has not escaped my notice that my page view count has gone up dramatically in recent months! Last week one day I noticed that I had nineteen views! I thank and appreciate all of you who have taken an interest, and I will try not to let you down.

As always, I hope that you will pray for me. Pray in particular that our Lord will give me the words to write, that I can continue to be His messenger through this blog. The time is growing short.

Stay tuned to this "station" and thanks for sharing this moment with me today!

2016; The Election and The Direction Revisited

What just happened last week?

It certainly was not what I expected. I don't  think that even the most optimistic of Republicans or the most pessimistic Democrats in their wildest dreams (or in the case of the Dems, their worst nightmares) would have expected an election result like that we woke up to a week ago today!

I have not, in the recollection of my seventy years, have memory of having seen a Republican sweep of the elected positions in our beloved country of this magnitude!    

It seems that more was going on in all this than just a Republican-Democrat shift in political philosophy. A look in the Iron County (MO) newspaper, The Mountain Echo, a few minutes ago, was quite revealing. A traditionally Democrat leaning county, saw this same Republican sweep phenomenon. Formerly this small Missouri County was a Democrat stronghold, and has been so for all of my lifetime. Only the state representative, (who handily won re-election)  and a few township aldermen were Republicans. This time, numerous and formerly popular incumbents, some of whom had  held office for several terms, were unseated. Only one County commissioner who ran unopposed and the also very popular County sheriff who by all appearances has done a very excellent job, and who won re-election by a slim double-digit margin, were Democrats who remained in office.

One thing really stood out for me regarding the winning candidates. I had been following their interviews that the paper did on each of them prior to the election. There were in particular two of them who expressed their Christian faith, an item that seemed to be the only thing that would recommend them over their opponents. One of these was one who declared that he perceived that God had led him to run for this office. He is one, as it turned out, who has unseated a popular incumbent opponent.

 All of this underscored a statement that I made to my friend Charles on election eve, regarding the presidential race, that if Donald Trump won the presidency, it would be an act of God. I believe that this is precisely what has happened! Not only regarding the presidency, but the entire Republican Sweep.

Now please understand me. I do not believe that Republicanism, or any other form of political conservatism necessarily equates to Godliness, or is necessarily favored by our God. Make no mistake about it, there are many among the GOP, and probably among last Tuesday's winners who are not particularly committed to, or even supportive of the Christian faith. This could include the president-elect himself. Yet I firmly believe that the secular humanist philosophy and the God-denying Socialism which we have seen as the operative philosophy in our nation in recent years is in direct opposition to our Christian faith, and is in many cases guilty of persecuting us.

 I said in my November, 2014 post, The Election and the Direction that I was unable to be overly optimistic about the victories in the 2014 mid-term election because it did not seem to represent a shift in the moral and spiritual direction of our country, and also because it did not necessarily present solutions to our major national problems. As of this writing I will stand on the claiming of God's promise:

If My people, who are called by My Name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14; ESV)

It is not clear to me if we, God's people have done our part in this verse's promise. I would have to say that there has been a significant positive  shift in our attitude toward following Christ's leadership in our national life. It is clear to me also that our Lord is giving us another chance to take our stand and to shift our nation back to him.

We still face many challenges. There is still a moral crisis in our nation. There is still a real threat of terrorism, including the home-grown terrorists. There is still a multi-trillion dollar deficit that I feel will cause an international economic collapse sometime in the near future. But perhaps Mr. Trump may be the man to bring us through the difficult times we have in front of us.

". . . who knows whether [he has] . . . come to the kingdom for such a time as this." (Esther 4:14; ESV)

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.