A NEW Start

Okay! One of the more popular commitment songs of the church is "I Surrender All"....Well today, I guess that I am surrendering. Until now, I have avoided the regular, routine, even the recurring, habit of blogging. However, I will stop dragging my feet and admit this is the "21st century way" of communication (for now)....Guess I will attempt to get on board this train before the NEXT TRAIN comes along.

Today is Thursday, January 24, 2008. Unless hindered in a big way, it will be my goal to post a blog on Monday and Thursday of every week. The goal will be to speak about current events, offer words of advice (that should be good), the culture, the church, and the life of a believer.

Although it is difficult to believe, this first blog in my new committment is a word of caution for all emailers and bloggers. There is much bad or bogus information on the cyber-superhighway which, I believe, is placed out there to make people look, shall we say, not so smart. A prime example is the bulk email which I receive at least 4 times every year about the well-known atheist "Madeline Murray O'Haire" being at it "again." In this email (as you well know) is an empassioned plea to write the FCC about something or other. (the last I received was an attack on the show "Touched by an Angel" which according to my information has not been in production since 2003) The problem with this email is that MS O'Haire is dead and her organization (at last check) was defunct. Yet the emails go on.

The most recent email I received (and I have received it no less than 6 times in the last month) was about the musing of Jay Leno relative to President Bush and this country. Candidly, from time to time I have watched Jay performed over the last 15 or so years and as long as he keeps his humor "clean" he is pretty funny. However, the statements credited to him in this email certainly didn't sound like him at all. Just my opinion, but I could hear Bob Hope giving these words like I remember him giving many words of patiotic support in years past.

In checking out this email, I found the true source of this writing. His name is Craig R Smith of the World Net Daily news. To read this column in the original form, click on his name. The original date is November 6, 2006.

After reading Mr. Smith's column, I challenge you to go to a google and search with these words "Leno blessed are we." Yes, I did this and literally, both laughed and cried at what I found.

Without writing so much that no one will ever read it all, it seems that all the links, which contain articles, blogs, comments, and other responses to Mr. Smith's column CONFIRM just how spoiled we are as Americans. We have much that we should be thankful for and yet, we continue to defend our right to be pampered and coddled.

Here is the payoff for me; All these words both affirm and confirm for me what the Bible teaches when it says, "the heart above all things is deceitful." In times like this I am reminded of how many times in scripture we are told to not be deceived, and particularly "self-deceived."

The answer for our struggles in this nation will only be found in the heart of the individual. According to the Bible (and my experience) all of mankind needs a heart transplant, one given by our Lord Christ.

I offer us two challenges; 1) Let's check out every tidbit of info BEFORE we pass it along, and 2) Let's make sure our heart bears of the marks of Christ, who, while standing firmly on the truth did so with a heart of love and compassion.