“Houston, We Have a Problem”

In 1970, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert were hurling through space at thousand of miles an hour on their way to the moon.  Lovell had orbited just before Christmas in 1968, and two other crews had already landed on the moon and returned safely to earth. 

When Swigert conducted a routine stir of the liquid oxygen tanks, an electrical short caused an explosion that crippled the space craft and threatened the survival of the crew. 

Quickly assessing the seriousness of the situation, Lovell uttered the words that are as memorable today as they were understated then. 

                                    “Houston, we have a problem!!”

 I am reminded of a movie about the ill-fated Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks.  I kept thinking, they aren’t going to make it!! It was just a movie, but those scenes brought to everyone the seriousness of the problem.  It was all dreadful and very unlikely these men would return alive.  But thanks to the skill and dedication of a huge team of engineers and mission controllers, Apollo 13 made it back safely, although the crew was not able to walk on the moon as planned. 

So where is this taking us today?  What is the seriousness of our problems as Americans?

For many years our society has been hurling toward a secularized pagan future.  We are “lost in space.”  We have left the fundamentals of our faith and we are hurling toward a destiny that is destroying the foundations of our country.

Like the frog in a pot, we have witnessed and lived through changes so gradual that they were almost imperceptible at first.  Of late, those changes are accelerating rapidly, and a growing number of people are beginning to realize that we are headed toward disaster.

Looking back it is apparent how far we have fallen in just the past 20 to 30 years. But now, the process is accelerating, and we are heading down the slippery slope which will result in the loss of our Republic as we know it.  We are on a dangerous trajectory of losing what is most priceless to us and our children.

Too often , Believers, have sat back with the idea that we should not become involved with worldly affairs.  Really?  Perhaps this mindset has brought us to where we are now, from a Christian nation to one where more than half of the citizens have lost faith in both the ideals of our Founding Fathers and the Faith which shaped our great nation.

So yes, Houston, we do have a problem but its one for the whole of America!  

                                       
Is Everything Racist?

Living in Memphis after moving from El Paso, I have benefitted from living within an African American community.  I have found them to be courteous, friendly, and helpful. 

Last Thanksgiving, I had a fender bender and was given a citation.  All my fault.  The policeperson was very courteous to me.  I expected to be chastised  for being careless but she was extremely friendly and helpful. 

Recently there was a tragic death of Tyre Nichols.  He was brutally beaten by five black officers and they have been charged with murder.  It was a tragic thing and never should have happened.  I’m sure the officers will be charged accordingly and given prison terms.  But there is another cause for alarm.  This too has a racial component.

No sooner was the beating death announced than accusations of “systemic racism’ surfaced.    Despite these being black officers and killing a black man this is still a racist issue.  Now everything that happens becomes a racist issue!

I keep in touch with doings in El Paso.  For the many years I lived there I was very involved with saving the Franklin Mountains from developers who would gladly bulldoze and grade the slopes in to order to build homes with a view!  Since it is dry desert area the natural fauna would rarely come back. 

I received notice that Tom Lea Park was building a permanent shelter for hikers and bikers who wanted to take a rest and enjoy the views of the city.  They are naming the permanent shelter in honor of Tyre Nichols!!  Really? 

I wrote on their Facebook page that Mr. Nichol’s death was indeed a tragedy but that he had never been to El Paso, had not contributed to the city or had done any outstanding deeds that he should be remembered in such a way. 

The response I received made me out to be unsympathetic, cold hearted, uncaring, racist etc etc. I was the bad guy for even suggesting that this shelter should not be named after Tyre who had never contributed to the good of the city of El Paso or even here in Memphis.  He wasn’t on an errand of mercy when he was pulled over and beaten to death. 

As Victor David Hanson wrote in Epoch Times. “Pause to reflect that American is the only successful multiracial constitutional republic in history.”

As the world becomes ever scarier Americans must…..As Benjamin Franklin once warned……”hang together or most certainly they soon will all song hang separately. “

No one wants to suffer.  Older people are particularly aware of this as we face end of life issues.    Not a happy thought for the New Year.  Sorry, but this is an issue that we all face sooner or later. 

As I write this, a famous football star is in recovery from heart issues that suddenly appeared when he was tackled on the playing field. As of this writing, he seems to be on the mend but just suppose he was not to continue in recovery and was placed on life support.  What would you do? 

I am not suggesting that we keep people alive by supplying their body with fluids or machines that will help them continue in this life. That is a personal decision that one must make.  People of faith view all life as sacred.  Although in times past, death was the only option. 

 However, we have come to a point in society that has shifted away from protecting innocent human life to eliminating all suffering.   Let’s start with the transgender moral panic.  In the name of eliminating suffering in children with gender dysphoria, many physicians insist that they will eliminate suffering in children by surgically and medically changing the sex of children.  Only later, these same young adults are now in anguish over their new sex roles and blaming their parents for not protecting them while they were younger.

This isn’t new but the idea of “eliminating suffering” by euthanasia is creeping into the mainstream of American life.  It started years ago by a man called, “Dr Death.”  Look him up.

Now it appears that Canada is ahead of us in promoting assisted suicide or euthanasia, but we aren’t far behind.  Currently, 10 states allow physician assisted suicide.  In my old state of New Mexico, where I went to school, the “End of Life Options Act” goes well beyond legalizing physician assisted suicide.  It also mandates that a doctor take crucial steps to help the patient commit suicide, including referring physicians and providing information about it.

Under this New Mexico law, if medical professionals don’t participate in the assisted suicide process, they could be subjected to civil or criminal penalties and even lose their licenses.  Instead of this, would it not have been more worthy to focus on treatments to help patients by developing  new drugs to ease pain and suffering?  We trust doctors to heal, not harm.  We trust doctors to provide compassionate care and comfort when healing is no longer possible. 

In a nation founded upon the self-evident truth ‘that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” it should follow that life itself is sacred. Ending life by abortion or suicide takes away the sanctity of life and the role of our Creator in making life possible.

A culture that views life as circumstantially disposable instead of as a gift of God has suffered a self-inflicted wound that could prove fatal if not treated.  Ending the practice of both abortions and assisted suicide would be a noble first step towards making a culture which once again promotes a faith based and morally upright society! 

                                             Raising up our Sons

I recently read a speech that had been prepared and presented by Heather MacDonald, the fearless author and commentator on such topics as crime (“The War on Cops”) and equality (“The Diversity Delusion”).  She attributed the decline of education in America to the over feminized school systems in which teachers, administrators, librarians, and union leaders are predominantly female and overwhelmingly progressive.

This should not be a political, racial, gender, religious or cultural issue.  But it’s a fair question to ask what students are learning in school about fatherhood, the role of parents and the primacy of the family as the unit in which kids are ideally raised.  And why the men seemingly most welcomed into the public school buildings are Drag Queens!!! 

Schools celebrate the histories of black people, Hispanics, and women; honor the LGBTQ+ lifestyle; promote the New Green Deal; and aggressively teach racial and gender curricula.  When discussing history, it is usually in a negative way.

Here’s a modest proposal.  Let’s create opportunities for more men to visit schools. Encourage more males to enter the teaching profession.  Fathers, cops, firefighters, active military, veterans, businessmen, karate instructors, and judges, to talk with students about fatherhood, the family, liberty, the Constitution, personal responsibility, self-defense, capitalism, the rule of law, hard work, limited government etc. 

In the interest of diversity, equity and inclusion should not such topics and speakers be a welcomed part of a balanced education in America?

                                School Choice.  Yours’s or Theirs’s

I am such a “Nay Sayer.”  I am always hoping to write more positive blogs. Good things are happening all around me but at the same time I can’t help but compare my past experiences with my observations of society today.

Although I didn’t teach for long……only three years………I wasn’t expected to work after I had children.  However, teaching has been in my blood……genetics?  The women in my family were teachers.  I always was involved with my kid’s education.  I have two children who are involved with the educational system and have taught or in the school system itself. Most of you are parents who have raised their children or are doing so now.

Mind you, this is only a general observation.  Those of you who are in the teaching profession also have opinions.  Most of the teachers I know are dedicated to giving their students the best knowledge to function in our world but unfortunately, these teachers are few and far between.  I will note here that the pressure is on most teachers to join the NEA, National Education Association, and other teacher’s unions.  Originally these unions were to provide protection of the teachers from exploitation and limited wages.  Now they function in a different role.

I recently read an article entitled, “The Schools are on Fire; Time to Get the Children Out”.  I love the analogy of the burning school building.  Would you let your children stay ‘trapped inside” or would you rush to the school site and pull them out yourself..   not even relying on others?

I feel this expresses what is happening in our public schools today.  The “Educrats” have taken over the school system and parents are outraged.  The socialist agenda is being pushed into the school room.  The teachers are no longer teaching the core subjects but the whole system is being infused with an ideological brainwashing agenda that eagerly welcomes your own children for that purpose.

The gay, abortion, transgender, woke agenda led me to question the whole educational system.  This system is being corrupted by  unions who feed off of the teachers themselves who are “urged” to join these unions. 

The writer of the above article is correct when he states: “For decades conservatives have squandered millions of dollars on public school reform. For almost two years, conservatives have been showing up at school board meetings to complain.  Countless great teachers have tried everything to protect their students.  And yet, nothing seems to work.

He goes on to say, “Government schools aren’t broken, rather they are working very well as their intended purpose: fundamentally transforming America by dumbing down, indoctrinating, secularizing, collectivizing, and weaponizing future generations.” 

It’s time to stop playing a rigged game on the education establishment’s battlefield using its rules.  American parents should flee the system and build parallel institutions. Our country and liberty depend on it!

It’s your taxes and mine that are paying for this insanity.  We need to support institutions that are not under control of the governament or best yet homeschool our children. Not always possible.

What are your thoughts?

                            Worst of Times and Best of Times

Women simply don’t like to reveal their age.  At least I don’t, but now in my “golden” years I pause to reflect on my life during the Great Depression of the 30s.  I say this because the current events of the past few years give me a desire to remember what our life was life back “then.”

Yes, it could be called the Worst of Times.  People were throwing themselves out of windows when the stock market crashed.  Money wasn’t available from a window in the bank.  The doors of banks were closed and no place to get cash for your next trip to the market. 

My father was one of the lucky ones.  He had a job.  It only paid $30.00 a week but we considered ourselves fortunate.  He could pick up cheap meat and veggies from the A and P grocery…… (Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co).  They had no freezers and were closed on weekends.  It was a good time to buy food although we didn’t have large refrigerators that held much. 

Hobos would come knocking on our back door wanting to work for a meal.  My mother never turned them away and aways prepared a meal.  We lived in a small duplex and really didn’t have much for them to do, but they expected to work for their food and Mother would find small jobs around the house.  No one expected handouts.  There was a sense of pride in working for what you received. 

 The Works Progress Administration initiated by President Roosevelt, better known as the WPA, put men to work on bridges and roads.  However, hardships continued through the ‘30s and the beginning of the ‘40s. 

I remember hearing Roosevelt telling his radio audience about the horrific attack at Pearl Harbor.   We were shocked at this assault on our country.  Now there was a war on two fronts, Europe and Asia.    But America was united. 

Patriotism was greater than at any time that I can recall. Women filled in the workforce; kids collected scrap metal and paper; we bought saving stamps from our teacher, war bonds etc.  We were limited on certain foods. We used food stamps to buy sugar and there were no bananas.  People grew their own veggies from their Victory Gardens.  Cookbooks came out, using a limited number of ingredients.  Everyone was involved in the war effort. 

But it also was the Best of Times.  My childhood and into my teenage years were good times for our generation.  We didn’t have our parent’s worries.  We had little and most likely would be considered poor today; however, many of my childhood friends were in the same boat.  We had a tightly knit family, which sadly isn’t seen too often these days.  There were pickup games on Saturdays, following strict but good learning at school.  I could go out and play with friends and never worry about being attacked.  We played jacks and kick the can and caught fireflies when it turned dark. 

Our parents never worried about what the teacher was telling us at school.  We weren’t being indoctrinated with Wokeism or Cancel Culture.   We said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning with hands on our hearts.  The intercom played the Star Bangled Banner and there was pride of living in America. 

It’s difficult to give advice to the present generation.  Through no fault of their own, they have been exposed from an early age to entitlements, comfort zones, drugs, foul language, transgenderism and lack of respect for our great country and authority.

I pray that a change is coming. I pray that this generation can overcome the obstacles which we are facing in today’s world.  Is it  just wishful thinking that we can ever return to having  pride in our country?  Is making “America Great Again” just a dream? 

                                                    Are You Just Compost?

What a strange suggestion.

I read this article in the last issue of Epoch Times written by Wesley Smith.  I wanted to share with you, my readers.  This article was so amazing to me that I felt you might be interested also.

I believe that each of us was made in God’s image.  A word coming from the Hebrew which means……”A shadow of”.  In other words, God put within us something special that provides us both spirit and a soul as well as giving us a human body.  Therefore that body He gave us is special…….both at birth and at death.  

Starting in 2027, California will allow composting of the dead.  Known officially as “natural organic reduction (NOR), this novel final disposition process transforms the deceased body into soil to spread on gardens or in which to plant flowers or a tree. 

Liquefication is another increasingly popular means of body disposal.  The human body is liquefied by alkaline hydrolysis which makes a liquid of the soft tissue which is used a fertilizer. The bones are crushed into powder.  This is now legal in 21 states and will some be legal in more. 

So, what about all those martyrs that were burned at the stake?  People who never received a body burial.  Can’t God remake them with a heavenly body?

Yes, of course. But these martyrs did not choose to be sacrificed.  It’s a completely different issue.  We are to honor the dead, not desecrate their bodies or to devalue the human body that God gave us. 

I know that many people want to be cremated.  Who am I to judge, although that too is decision made by many instead of a burial. 

Jewish people honor the dead.  They honor the body that once housed their family or friends.  Death is a ceremony which allows the family to grieve as well as remember the life that once inhabited that body.

 Human dignity matters even after we die.  As an ultimate example, look at how important the pomp and ceremony of Queen Elizabeth ll’s funeral were to millions of people around the world.  Imagine the different sense that would have been conveyed if her remains had merely been poured into the London’s water system!!

There is something ultimately diminishing about grandpa in a flowerpot.  It seems to me that these methods to unceremoniously eradicate the body convey a powerful symbolic message that we’re essentially nothing more the carbon atoms gathered temporarily in an animated form…….!!

All this recalls a movie called “Solent Green” made in 1973.  Over crowding in New York brought shortages in food and space.  Without anyone knowing, they were turning dead bodies into food called Solent Green.  Now, it doesn’t seem so farfetched. 

I might be old fashioned, but if our remains come to be perceived as merely so much waste to be disposed of as quickly and efficiently as possible and if we really come to see ourselves as unworthy of anything greater than anonymous death, we’ll be tempted in life, to treat one another accordingly! 

                                 You are worth more than compost. 

                                 Forgiveness: Needed in Your Life!

The Jewish community will be celebrating the High Holy Days which end in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  This is a special time when God will be forgiving and forgetting past mistakes………. but only if you have forgiven others.  That’s why being a Disciple and Believer of Jesus becomes so important to us.  Its forgiveness of our sins!

Forgiveness should be a natural for those of us who are Believers.  Its part of who we are and what we are to do.  Easy to say but so difficult. 

Someone has really hurt your feelings.  They have lied about you and said terrible things about you.  Some people owe you money.  They have never paid you back…….not one penny!  You have sisters or brothers who don’t want to keep in touch.  They neglected your parents and all their care depended on you.  You even had to pay the bills at the nursing home.

                                                  Forgiveness. 

Only the mercy and grace of God’s forgiveness through Jeshua (Jesus) frees us to forgive others.  The need for reconciliation is urgent and even more so in these days of conflict.

Reconciliation may seem out of reach to those who ignore the teachings of our Messiah and Lord.  “Do unto others as you want them to do to you.”  We all want forgiveness.  Not only to those whom we might have harmed, but we need to practice forgiveness toward those who have harmed us. 

God alone sees everything, has no memory problems, and is 100% accurate about all our wrongs.  We have no excuses before Him.  He knows our hearts as well as our outward performances.  We might say we forgive others and probably mean it but there is a “heart problem” which isn’t easily solved. 

Colossians 3:13 tells us. “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you.  Remember the Lord forgave you, you must forgive others. “

Its important to confess our sins. But can you imagine having to answer to the Lord for each and every sin you ever committed?  Thankfully we don’t have to regurgitate all the gory details of our past.

 In fact, the ministry of reconciliation “is, that God was in Jesus, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

This should not be a one time a year event.  We as Believers need to make this happen on a daily basis.  There will always be people who offend us.  That’s because we live in a fallen world. 

May God use our love and forgiveness to help reconcile many people to God and to one another, through the forgiveness of our Savior and Lord.

                        Its what needed in your life and mine!

                                                  Loving Your Body

Who is Chloe Cole?  Have you heard of her or read her story?  It has appeared in the more conversative newspapers and media. Her story starts out with the heading “Teen Recounts Horrifying Transition Surgery”.   Thankfully she realized the tragic delusion of transgenderism and wants to warn others. “I was failed by the system. I literally lost organs.”

When Chloe was 12 years old, she decided she was transgender. At 13, she came out to her parents. That same year, she was put on puberty blockers and prescribed testosterone.  At 15, she underwent a double mastectomy. Less than a year later, she realized she’d made a mistake — all by the time she was 16 years old!!

Now 17, Chloe is one of a growing cohort called “detransitioners” — those who seek to reverse a gender transition, often after realizing they actually do identify with their biological sex. Tragically, many will struggle for the rest of their lives with the irreversible medical consequences of a decision they made as minors.

“I can’t stay quiet,” said Chloe. “I need to do something about this and to share my own cautionary tale.”   

What is so sad, is that today many in the educational system are pushing and promoting this heresy to even younger children.  It should be called what it really is: child abuse. 

I am happy that Cole has the chutzpah to tell her story despite the threats she has received.  What a sick society we exist in today.  When warning others of harmful deviancy, you are maligned and harassed.  In her own assessment, Chloe said,  “Now that I’m completely disillusioned from all of it, Its’ really shocking that we’ve even gotten to this point.” 

Youth and children are clearly not mature enough to make such life-altering decisions.  Can somebody explain to me how changing your outside will change your inside?  If one does not like the way they were born, perhaps they should consider getting outside of yourself and become interested in the welfare of others.  Parents need to more proactive in what children are reading, listening, or hearing either from friends, the media or at school.  Easy to say but what a difficult job!! 

So how can we explain this terrifying, and frightening thing that is happening in our society?  When we have lost sight of how we are all created in God’s image and we accept the idea of evolving from lower life forms…..then, perhaps, we were given the wrong sex at birth!  However, God doesn’t make mistakes.  He didn’t use evolution in His grand designs.  Man figured that all out by himself!!

Communism and atheism go hand in hand, and we’re seeing its putrefying fruit.  G.K.  Chesterton, a well-known theologian described it well, saying, “When men stop believing in God, they don’t believe in anything, and they believe in everything!  

Amen to that!!

                                               What are you worth?

It amazes me how quickly we humans….. worldwide…. have lost the value of human life.  More to the point……the value of humans yet unborn.  We discuss video games, broken homes, mental illness, and guns for mass shootings, but no one has added abortions to the mix. 

Think about it.  When you have basically taken human life away in such a cavalier manner for more than two generations, the message is that human life has no value or purpose.  We have lost our spiritual moorings.  Add this to the mix of vulnerable young minds, not accepting their born genetic identity.  Each of us are created with the proper chromosomes to be male or female and no given hormones  or surgery will change a thing.   

For the past 50 years we have turned into a society that knows if they get pregnant at an inconvenient time, they can just get rid of “it”.  There are no consequences except, perhaps, a lifetime of regret.  There are many people who have had abortions and have guilt the rest of their lives.

The abortion industry is now big business.  There must be money to be made.  It’s your taxes dollars paid out to those who provide these services whether you like it or not! 

Abortions are now called……birth control.  Lots of double speak here.  Family planning is another less offensive term.  Perhaps “freedom of choice”. These women did have freedom of choice when they had unprotected sex!!

Yes, there are many women who choose abortion because of circumstances in their lives that they deem would be harmful to the child or themselves.  But taking an unborn human life is never acceptable.  Am I being judgmental? 

Why isn’t adoption added to the mix.  Many childless couples must go to other countries to find a child because they are unable to adopt one in America.

Perhaps there is an underlying issue here. Just perhaps there it is more than just reproductive rights. Just perhaps, taking the unborn human is only part of the problem.

We are witnessing worldwide threats on how we are destroying our planet.  The Greenies are warning us that we only have a few more years before we will destroy our world and it will turn into a rotten mess.  We are doomed……..at least by the threats we have heard. 

Could it be that with fewer people (population control) that there will be a better chance for our survival?  Older people are now included by offering end of life drugs.  How much longer will there be an option of living pass 80? 

I might be an alarmist but I’m fearful.  I see danger ahead. 

God warned Israel when they offered their children to the pagan god, Moloch, they would lose their homeland.   What happened to all civilizations that practiced human sacrifice?    

God will not be mocked.  We have taken Him out of the equation.  We are given dominion over the earth to use it wisely and to maintain its beauty but not at the expense of taking human life.

What are you worth?