MInTheGap

Who are you going to vote for?

It’s interesting, thinking about the upcoming Presidential election and
who to vote for.  I’ve heard and read of many people on all sides of
the issues bemoaning the fact that the two major candidates are either
fuzzy about who they are as a ploy to get the center votes.  Either
that, or the idea that certain promises and stances that the hearer
believed the candidate really had were not followed once elected.

A relative of mine believes that she should vote her conscience and is voting for Peroutka of the Constitutional Party.  She believe’s it’s not an option to just vote for the lesser of two evils.

Along this line, Allan Wall states in his recent column
that the evangelicals are big enough that they shouldn’t just roll over
or capitulate to the Republican party because he’d be better than Kerry.

On ther other hand, there are a multitude of articles talking about how
Kerry is being anything other than himself during this campaign. 

Robert Novak states that one of the biggest things for the Dems is judicial selection
in the next term, even though it isn’t mentioned much.  There is a lot
of people out there that believe that the Supreme Court gave President
Bush the victory in 2000 and believe that if Bush has his way that he
will get anti-abortion, anti-gay rights people on the bench who will
immediately begin imposing their will on the people.  Kind of like the
way the courts are doing it now.

Then of course is all the
commotion caused by accounts that Kerry reinacted some of his war
footage, that he doesn’t know where he stands on issues– standing in
the grey as much as he can.

So, who to vote for?  The
important thing is to vote because your voice must be heard.  They
question of who is best decided by you.  Conscience?  Best chance to
win?  What would happen if all voted conscience?  It’s an interesting
question.

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A Grandfather’s Past

Some time ago I wrote short stories and posted them in other places. Since this journal gets more visibility than that site, I figured I post some here from time to time to see what you think. Here’s the first:

Being left at his Grandfather’s house, he saw his mom and the car move out of the driveway and then down the road. Turning around, Joey looked at the big white house and the barn that was down the hill a little way. He thought about his Grandfather being the only one in such a big house, but he also remembered the cabinets of food that is Grandfather had. As he walked toward the back door, he could remember all of the times that he had been over to the house when his Grandmother was there also. They had some good times playing cards and board games. He really loved his grandparents. He always knew that there were some sweet cookies of candy behind the cabinets in the kitchen. Just thinking about it made him hungry.

Walking in the door, he took of his shoes, and continued inside. Once there, he searched the rooms, looking for his Grandfather. He found him in the living room, sitting alone with a Bible on his lap. “Hello Joey.” The grandfather said.

“Hi Grandpa.” Joey responded. Joey walked over to the table where another book, full of pictures, was lying open. He looked at the pictures for a few seconds and then asked, “What’s this, Grandpa?”

“That,” the grandfather said, walking over to it, “is my college yearbook.”

“Did you know all these people, Grandpa?”

“No, son,” the grandfather said with a smile, “Not all of them. Here, I’ll show you which ones I know.” Picking up the yearbook, he walked over to a nearby chair. Joey came over and sat down beside him. The grandfather put his arm around him and started to point out people he knew. “This was Jim Boutchia. This guy was my roommate. He had to get up at three in the morning every other morning and he woke me up every time.” The grandfather said with a laugh. As he went through the names, running his finger over the pictures, recounting the events that had happened, he stopped on the picture of one girl.

“Who was that, Grandpa?” Tapping his finger on the picture, he looked at Joey.

“That, son, was a friend of mine, that I almost lost.”

“What happened?” Setting the yearbook aside, he stood up and walked over to window. “Please, Grandpa. Tell me what happened.”

“Well… Communication is the key to any relationship, be it a friendship or a dating relationship. I found out more about this girl from everyone else than I did from her. There was a time, though, that I almost blew it.”

“Tell me, please.”

“I wrote her a letter once. It basically told her that she was not being a friend to me. Then I didn’t talk to her, and she didn’t help me.” A tear streamed down the cheek of the old man. “Apart from God’s grace, I could have lost a good friend.”

Joey, noticing that his grandfather was getting to that stage where he was going to give a long sermon, focused on trying to get the cookies out of the cabinet. “Grandpa, can I have a cookie?”

“I almost lost a friend. Joey, friends are a gift from God. They’re one in a million. Never neglect, never forget, never intentionally hurt a friend. Always treasure them.”

I wish I lived in Oklahoma

It looks like there are time where good things happen to the right
people at the right time.  Conservative values triumphed in Oklahoma in
a man that would not make the end goal of his life to serve in the Senate.  When someone steps out to say he wishes to serve and voluntarily limits himself, and vows that he doesn’t just want to be a senator, but to change the Senate.

So, visit coburnforsenate.com and stand behind someone that is willing to fight for right!  And, if you live in Oklahoma, vote!

Smear Attempt?

John Kerry in a space suit. 
This is some pretty funny stuff.  It appears that he posed for these
pictures, so he had to know they were taken.  Did he think they were
private?  Did he think they may make him look good with John Glenn? 
What is his take on the timing of their release.  Do you really think
he didn’t know they were around and available?  With so many campaign
people around, you would think they would know what would happen, and
yet now that there’s a certain reaction in the press, we’re supposed to
wonder if it’s a smear attempt?  Why are they so defensive?

Let me hear from you!

Have something you’d like to see my opinion on, or would like to start discussion on? Send me an e-mail at MInTheGap[at]MInTheGap[dot]com and I’ll see what I can do!

Revival Begins with You!

I have been reminded recently that if we believe that there’s a problem in our churches, the first place we have to look is ourselves. Yes, we are to be training others, helping those in faults, etc., but our first response should be to examine ourselves.

Where are we in our Christian life? Have we fallen victim to the dictatorship of the routine? Do we do things just because we have always done them? Is the Word of God fresh or boring? Do we have joy or are we just surviving on past accomplishments? Have we “arrived” or are we still pressing on toward the mark?

Judicial Tyranny

What gives the rights to the nine men and women in robes to determine
right or wrong?  Certainly not the Constitution of the United States. 
It declared that the function of courts was to interpret the law, but
these courts have gotten out of hand.

When courts can find an imaginary right to privacy in the law, and
thereby kill millions of children before they are born, we should have
said this was too far.  I mean, think about it.  Whether you disagree
or agree with abortion, anyone knows that extrme caution should have
been taken on that ruling.  In the best case, they were only removing
tissue, but in the worst case, millions of lives could be lost because
of them.

Now we are bombarded with these blatantly false
statements about discrimination.  I was reading a thread the other day
where the person’s statement was that no where in our Constitution is
discrimination enshrined.  Has this person even read the Constitution? 
Without trying very hard, I can come up with at least two:  The
President must be an American Citizen, 35 yrs old or older.

Think about this… more later.

The Frog in the Pot

The old saying goes, if you want to cook a live frog, place the frog in a pot of cold water and gradually raise the temperature. The frog will not notice the gradual increase in temperature and will cook. However, if you place him in hot water, he will jump out right away.

Our society has been gradually taken down a road that would shock anyone from a few centuries ago. Pick a subject, and you can find it.

I mentioned before about my car, and fortunately nothing else happened to it, but there was a time (still is in some places) where you could walk away from a car with the keys in it and not be concerned. My parents talk of times where they would wheel the stroller up to a super market, leave it outside, go in and do the shopping and not worry that the child would be there when they got back! Places like that may have been rare, but today they are non-existent.

Gradually the family has been eroded to where it accepts all kinds of things it was never intended to accept. If you go back even 50 or so years, it was odd to have divorce, single moms, and especially outed gay couples– let alone gay marriage. And yet, bit by bit the family has been redefined as not to offend or not to judge.

First it was magazines, TV, then VCR, then DVD and the Internet. Things that once started out as great inventions to bring us together and communicate found their way to pervert our soul. When it was magazines, you had to go and get it and people could see that– or order it– but there was something physical present. Then it morphed to VCRs, where you could rent them. You could still be seen, but special rooms and business were built to accommodate this. Hotels started offering porno on TV and you didn’t even have to have it on your bill! And then we got to the Internet. The ultimate in “guiltless” sin. You can look all you want at tons of free stuff and delete all trace you did. No one needs to know.

The list goes on. We continue not to notice what’s going on around us, and then wonder why things are so bad now. When will we see the fight around us, realize we’re in a battle, and fight to win for Christ?