Napoleon on Jesus

Napoleon wrote about Christ, if you can believe it. He said the following:

"Everything in Christ astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and his will confounds me. Between him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by himself... I search in vain in history to find the similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history, nor humanity, nor the ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary."

Absolute Grace

Yancy put the Sermon on the Mount in perspective for me in his book The Jesus I Never Knew. He says the sermon is not about burdening us with more "to do's" and how to "be good." It's about what God is like.

Why should we love our enemies he asks? "Because our clement Father causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good." Why be perfect? "Because God is perfect." Why store up treasures in heaven? "Because the Father lives there and will lavishly reward us." Why live without fear and worry? "Because the same God who clothes the lilies and the grass of the field has promised to take care of us." Why pray? "If an earthly father gives his son bread or fish, how much more will the Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him."

The sermon wasn't given so we'd furrow our brows in despair over our inability to do it. It's God's ideal toward which we ought to strive. And here, Yancy's words capture it: "Thunderously, unarguably, the Sermon on the Mount proves that before God we all stand on level ground: murderers and temper-throwers, adulterers and lusters, thieves and coveters. We are all desperate, and that is in fact the only state appropriate to a human being who wants to know God. Having fallen from the absolute Ideal, we have nowhere to land but in the safety net of absolute grace."

God's Grace

William Shakespeare writes the following in the Merchant of Venice:

The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven...
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.

Bird man

I love this photo of the bird man, Chris Andersen. The Nuggets cruised to another win against Golden State in spite of a 6-19 start in the first quarter.

Snowstorm

My back is sore from shoveling snow. Yes, we got hit hard yesterday and last night. I guess we had about 10 inches after snowing all day at the house and an additional 8 inches by morning. I actually like the snow. It fills all the potholes! This morning it was pretty cold. I put on my coat to take out the garbage, and it didn't want to go! It's supposed to warm up over the weekend though. In fact, it's bright and sunny already!

Times are bad

They say that things can always get worse. What a thrilling thought! So, I was driving by Cheesman Park in Denver the other day. I slowed down to see what was happening and what do you know... The pigeons were feeding people! Then on Sunday morning I went to the grocery store to pick up doughnuts for our class at church. And I have to say, times are bad when"dollars to doughnuts" is even money.

The family

While we were in Tucson we gathered for a family photo. This only took about 15 minutes, a family record! Someone in this group looked up the family tree and their kids were living in it. But, you can't choose your ancestors. Chances are they wouldn't have chosen you either.

Congress

Just a few years ago, everyone complained about the way Congress and the President spent billions of dollars on weapons, bombs, planes, and anti-missiles. Somehow, it was thought the government would use them in a constructive way. However, now the Congress and President have given away our tax dollars for many years to come, only to have it re-appear as AIG bonuses and Wall Street Lear jets, once again it was thought it would be used in a constructive way!

Former President Gerald Ford said, "A bronco is something that kicks and bucks, twists and turns, and very seldom goes in one direction. We have one of those things here in Washington - it's called the Congress. But Tom Korologos said it best, "The things Congress does best are nothing and overreacting."

Denver Pow Wow

Nancy and I went to the Denver Pow Wow at the Coliseum over the weekend. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Below is a photo of the procession of all the Western U.S. tribes into the arena on Sunday afternoon. The event was kicked off with a morning prayer.

At the end of the procession, there was a special song (10minutes long) to native American veterans for each of the wars since WW I. I took the photo below while they were honoring the Viet Nam war veterans. There were also color guards and U.S. flags. It was very clear they were proud of their veterans and of their country. They said this many times during the procession, in fact, we were were all asked to stand during the procession and presentation of the colors.

Once the procession was over, the Inter-tribal event of the afternoon got underway. I took the photo below with everyone in the arena. Unfortunately, I couldn't get them all in the photo, the arena was too big. Suffice it to say, there were a lot of Indians! I took lots of videos and when I get a chance I'll post them on You Tube and do some links for you. The afternoon featured the drums, singing, and dancing. I hope you'll like it as much as I do.

Read the Federal Register

It turns out president Obama just spent $20 million tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas refugees to the USA. Why didn't this make the headlines?

Most have not noticed that the order provides a free plane ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Parliamentary election of January 2006.

Read the Federal Register and see for yourself.

Lazy in Tucson

They have a lot on the ball. Unfortunately, it's never in their hands. But we had fun passing the ball around and playing in the street and the park last weekend with the kids. Most of us guys have been accused of not spending time with the kids because of some obsession with football. The accusation is, we're couch potatoes. I beg to disagree!

Now, will the real couch potato please stand up? Maralie missed her nap today. She slept right through it! And Lisa fell asleep in the middle of a nap. Hey, wake up! It's time to eat!

Nancy took care of the burgers. She's a born gourmet. I start out every day with a bowl of Cheerios Rockeffeller! This day, we fared pretty well at Noelle and Seth's house.

Historic Milestones

At a time when so much is being made about our first black president, Ann Coulter made the following observation in her February 25th column:

"As long as the nation is obsessed with historic milestones, is no one going to remark on what a great country it is when a mentally retarded woman can become Speaker of the House?"

Travel to Tucson

We drove to Tucson, AZ last weekend so Nancy could attend a baby shower for our daughter. On the way, we drove through Hatch, NM. Like this one, many of the restaurants had themes and interesting statues in front of them or on top of them. It was a nice little town. Next time I go through there I'm stopping for a burger at this place.

My daughter Noelle is indeed great with child. I enjoyed putting my hand on her tummy and feeling "Daisy" roll around. We visited their new house, which they rented from family. It's a lovely home in a nice new neighborhood. I was amazed at how nice it is. It was almost like being in a Home and Gardens magazine. She's done a great job of decorating and making it wonderful. When she was younger, I wouldn't go into her room without a tetanus shot!

The baby shower was very nice; so I'm told. I didn't go. All of us guys, who stayed at the house, wondered what they do there. What do they do anyway? We played with the football in the park, ate pizza and goofed off. What could be better than that?

Here was one of her presents. A diaper cake!! This present reminded me that having kids is like eating grapefruit. No matter what you try, you end up with a little squirt!

Craig and Kathy Hanson drove down from Scottsdale for the events. Here they are with Seth. Notice his office behind them. I think he really likes his new digs.

Here is your blog author with "Little" Andy. I was teaching him how to drum on the table. Now he can do the drum solo from in a gadda da vida.

Nancy's foot

Last week I showed you a photo of Nancy's foot after her surgery. Needless to say, some of you preferred not to look at such a... fresh scar, shall we say. So, just to freshen you up a little, I have posted this nice photo of a Columbine flower in the Rocky Mountains.

Just remember how valuable your feet are though, without them you don't have a leg to stand on! The doctor told her that he'd have her on her feet in no time. It was true. She had to sell her car to pay his bill. I think doctors must wear masks because of their fees! The difference between an itch and an allergy is about $5,000!

Good friends

Here is my friend Gary Henry (you know, Paul's brother). I've known Paul since I was about 19 years old and then met Gary last fall in the Grand Canyon. We had some fun times in a rubber raft. The Henry's are real friends. They're the one's who walk in when everybody else walks out.

I-5 in Oregon

The drive from Eugene to Portland, OR is nice and straight. My job takes me to some very nice places and this is no exception. The countryside is green, the mountains still have snow on them, and it's nice a clean. However, when I first arrived it would snow for about half an hour, then the sun would come out for half an hour. This weather cycle repeated itself all afternoon.

Cannibals and liberals

I think Obama is about to discover what Lyndon Johnson figured out in 1967. "Do you know the difference between cannibals and liberals?" President Johnson answered. "Cannibals eat only their enemies."

According to liberals, the underlying cause for man is "The bee knows the formula of its hive and the ant the formula of its anthills, but man does not know his formula." The reason why man does not know his formula is that, unlike the bee and the ant, which are not free, man is free. Freedom is man's formula, but according to Dostoyevsky "he will never find it so long as he seeks it in parties and ideologies, however good they may be."

True social change can occur. Until we bring about a change in ourselves, even the best-intentioned attempts to restructure anything "from liberalism" by new laws or by force are doomed. Corruption and deceit live in the hearts of men along with selfish earmarks and greedy bankers and investors. How can the government change that? According to Dostoyevsky, only Christianity possesses the answer.

More thoughts on marriage

Since I went to a wedding the other day, I've been thinking about marriage. Marriage is a great institution, but who wants to live in an institution? Many people claim to know a lot about marriage. Anyone who says that marriage is a fifty-fifty proposition doesn't know the first thing about women or fractions!

I remember when Tyler was about seven when he first looked into our wedding album and said, "Pop, are these pictures of the day Mom came to work for us?" I told him yes, and then reminded him that it's important to find the right girl because marriage is like a violin. After the music is over, you still have the strings!

Marriages may be made in heaven, but most of the details are worked out on earth! A real fairytale ending: "And they lived happily even after!"

Unemployment

Unemployment is due to a shortage of money to pay people who work because these people have no money to buy things that could be made if they got paid to make things. My neighbor in this situation looks forward to the yawn of a new day! I'm just glad I have a job!

Freedom

People almost never make use of the freedoms they have. For example, freedom of thought, however by way of compensation they demand freedom of expression.

A wedding today

I went to Troy and Anna's wedding today. Troy works in our office here in Denver. It was a beautiful wedding set in a lovely Catholic Church. The Priest who officiated said, they were now in the minority because there are more single people in the world today than married, "not counting himself of course." Everyone laughed. He is probably right. There is pressure to loosen the restrictions which prevent Priests from marrying. But the world is changing, although it's changing for the wrong reasons.

I also believe it was right for Luther to marry, expressly to "proclaim and establish temporality and earthly life as pleasing to God in contrast to fantastic abstraction," but in these times it might be beneficial for a person to refrain from marrying, expressly in order to declare that spirituality still has so much reality that it can be enough, more than enough, for a life.

Cooking

Nancy is going to be out for the next few days on a retreat. So... I guess I have to cook. Uh-oh. I used to think I was a pretty good cook, until I burned my shopping list. Don't ask. Okay, it was a grease fire with three settings. But that's okay, I have a remedy for everything. In my house we have Mylanta on tap.

When you're camping though, the best garbage disposal is a fire. You can toss your food in it and whatever else, and no one knows.

I decided that while Nancy is gone I'd be imaginative. So, I wrapped spaghetti around meatballs and called them "hot yo-yos"! But the really important thing is coffee. Especially on a campout. We make it real strong to the point you have to use two hands to dunk a doughnut!

God's Grace

I like what SK has to say about God's grace, expressed in Ephesians it says, "for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

SK says, "Ah is it not true that the scurviest ingratitude would be for a man to spare himself all the strenuousness because he is saved by grace. Or what would you think of a man who grew cold and indifferent to his wife because he knew that he was loved and would put forth effort only when he knew he was not loved and wished to earn her love."

Foot surgery

Nancy had her foot operated on three weeks ago. The Doc removed a neuroma (tumor, non-cancerous) and fixed a hammer toe, evidently caused by the neuroma. Now that the stitches are out I thought I would show you what it looks like. She has high hopes of a fine recovery. Hopefully, she will be hiking with me in the mountains soon!

A socialist state?

Dostoyevsky was by no means parodying when he drew this portrait:

Do away at last with the nobles,
Do away with the tsar as well,
Take the land for common owners,
Let your vengeance forever swell
Against Church and marriage and family,
And all the old world's villainy.

AND in the book From Under The Rubble...

"The basic propositions of the socialist world view have often been proclaimed: the abolition of private property, religion and the family. One of the principles is the demand for equality and the destruction of the hierarchy into which society has arranged itself.

Each belongs to all, and all to each. All are slaves and equal in slavery. First, there will be a drop in the standard of education, in learning and talent. A high level of learning and talent is available only to the very brainy. We must abolish the brainy! The brainy have always seized power and been despots. We will execute or exile them. We will cut out Cicero's tongue, gouge out Copernicus's eyes, stone Shakespeare to death - that's Shigalyovism! There must be equality in the herd.

Childbirth and relations between the sexes are under the absolute control of the authorities. The individual family, marriage and the familial rearing of children do not exist. Children do not know their parents and are brought up by the state. All that is permitted in art are works which contribute to the education of the citizens in the spirit required by the state."

So writes Alexander Solzhenistsyn regarding the socialism of the future.

What is government?

There are two viewpoints at work in our society today. One is, the government is your friend and knows best. The other is, the government is the problem. In my opinion to err is human, to shrug is civil service. Where else but in the government could you find the following: A clerk is told to destroy a whole series of documents because there isn't enough space to store them. But, the order goes on: he is told to make a copy first! The nearest thing to immortality is a government bureau. And then something like this...