Broncos

I was actually ready to turn the TV off last night at half time because the Broncos were down 24-0 to the San Diego chargers. Sure glad I didn't turn it off. Peyton Manning got it done in spite of multiple first half mistakes and errors. It just goes to show you, anything is still possible if you don't give up the good fight!

Fairest Lord Jesus

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,

O Thou of God and man the son,

Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,

Thou my soul's glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodland,

Robed in the blooming garb of spring

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Oh what fun

It's time to start thinking about skiing again. The mountains, the lovely trees, the alpine setting, riding up the ski lifts and taking in the beautiful views, feeling the brisk cold air as you whisk down the mountain, and then feeling the snow inside your coat, and where is my glove? Missing... wait... my ski pole is 100 yards downhill, my sunglasses are crooked on my face, Oh what fun!

Redeemed to enjoy God

Time spent walking around the lake near our house is always time well spent. It's quiet with wildlife nearby, not too many people, and very pleasant scenery. Nancy and I really enjoy our walks here. But today, we found out that a friend has Lou Gehrig's disease and has about a year to live. She is 66 and can't eat without a tube. Her husband Bob is 69. I asked him how it's going this morning during our workout and he said, "God has blessed us in so many ways we can't count them all. We just live each day, one day at a time and rejoice in the time we have."

How do you come to understand God's motives? He sometimes seems to withhold blessings we legitimately desire. According to Larry Crabb in his book The Pressure's Off, it is the "Immanuel Agenda." Crabb says, "He (God) will be with a people who value Him above every other blessing. He will create that people at the cost of His Son's death and at the cost of being hurt every day by children who really don't want Him except to use Him. He is allowing good dreams to shatter to arouse the better dream of knowing Him."

Jonathan Edwards once said that the spiritual journey requires an "intense concentration on God's point of view." Such a concentration he says, will "cause an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of our interests in heaven." When things go wrong, we tend to get "me" focused or we blame God.

I shouldn't make it my goal to get out of life what I want. That's called greed. As I learn to follow Jesus, I can drink the living water that satisfies the real thirst that I have. As for my friends, while they are suffering and not doing what they probably really want, they are redeemed to enjoy God and their hearts are fixed on Him. More is available to us in Jesus Christ than we dare imagine.

Look Out!

Sunday, Nancy and I went for a walk down to the lake. Her foot is feeling a little better.We decided it was a nice day to walk around the lake and see the sights.

On the way back we usually watch the prairie dog colony and listen to them chirp warnings about people nearby. This day they had a different chirp! We saw this coyote digging for one and eagerly looking for a meal.

Wiley just didn't seem to have it today. Maybe you'll get lunch tomorrow! We watched him go from hole to hole, sneak up on others and run after them. My guess is, he's been somewhat successful in the past.

Then, there was a town meeting to discuss the threat. "It won't be long and he'll have a nuke!" said one of them, "Nah, we don't have a thing to worry about. Let's just stay in our holes and ignore him because he isn't interested in us."

Occupy Sesame Street

You can easily make the case that the President works for the people. He is our employee. A good boss (the people) will make a raise effective as soon as the employee is. However, it's been four years and the level of performance is abysmal. So, since the President has not been effective for so long, I want to strongly urge the people to send him to "occupy Sesame Street" with the rest of his people.

As for Big Bird, well we should all be thankful he is good enough to make it on his own. The government does not need to help him. My guess is, he would be on TV somewhere without a subsidy, and if not then he should go down with the rest of the good programs that failed.

Predictions

I've been out of town in Fargo, ND enjoying a little snow and windy weather. My job takes me all over the West now and I never know exactly where I'll be. I taught a Covey 4DX class to a group of franchise owners from ND and Minnesota. After the class, some of us walked outside to go to dinner. Brrrrr.... it was cold. Then, when I came back to my hotel room and opened the door, the small light in front went on! Who left that window open?

Here are some of my visions and prognosis' for you. No, I'm not Nostradamus or anything, but I'd like to make a few predictions anyway. I predict...

On the election: Some late breaking news, with six cemeteries still to be heard from, the election is still too close to call. Delay's counting and recounting citizens, dead people, and "guest workers."

On Thanksgiving: Our turkey will be sick again this year. All day long it will have a thermometer in it.

On Christmas: My neighbor will shoot off three blanks again this year and tell his kids Santa Claus just committed suicide. It's just too expensive, he'll say.

On New Year's: My troubles will only last as long as my resolutions. Hopefully.

On Inauguration day: President Obama will have a new home but it will still have his mother-in-law in it.

On Taxes: Obama gets re-elected and you realize the IRS is like a bad laundry, you keep losing your shirt.

Well I guess the Rocks won't lose 100 games! Pretty bad season though. Why is it, at this point in the season other teams have to meet and conspire how to beat the worst team in the division. Are we that tough? Actually, we can score runs, we just can't pitch. We find pitchers who can't pitch, throw to first, or field the ball. So the Rockies pick him up. Oh yes! He's a great prospect. Maybe ownership needs to re-examine it's goals. I'm losing patience.

Wildlife a few miles away

Waterton Canyon (just a couple miles from our house) is known for its wildlife. The idea is to ride your bike up this gravel road for 6 or 7 miles to Strontia Springs Reservoir. On the way, there is a good chance you'll see some big horn sheep (pictured below) or a bear (like we did a couple weeks ago). Saturday, we rode up the canyon and were rewarded with plenty of wildlife. These sheep were right in the middle of the road and figured they owned it.

Then here comes Nancy and they politely stepped aside, although they watched her very closely. I'm sure they thought, "she could be packing!" We stopped and took a few photos and then enjoyed our ride up to the reservoir.

On the way back we saw a few more up on the hillside grazing on something yummy. I sure couldn't see anything yummy. But they were sure focused on their meal.

We're headed backwards, not forward

Some of you have asked about all the political posts recently, so I'd like to offer up an explanation. I think it was Tip O'Neill who said, "As we all know, the truth is a frequent casualty in the heat of an election campaign." I think he is 100% correct! The number of lies told have skyrocketed!

That said, the matter is worse since the media has done little to inform people about what is really happening. I believe that Barack Obama is a socialist. That was confirmed when he said he believed in redistribution of wealth. My friend Craig observed not long ago how this is so completely anti-business. And, America is successful because of what business has done, not the government. Socialism penalizes those who are productive and rewards those who are unproductive. That is going on today. So, what does the media do? They separate the wheat from the chaff and publish the chaff. Socialists have run for office before and gotten maybe 50,000 votes, along with the communists. You have to lie quite a bit to overcome this kind of political deficit because people don't want socialists running our country, they've just been deceived. I don't think Democrats really believe he is a socialist, but he is. Socialism will drive us into the stone age and is moving us backwards, not forward!

In the summer of 1976, Carter told reporters on a press bus in Ohio, "You've treated me very well so far," Compared to what? They asked. "To the way you treated Nixon."  Now that I have a blog and some followers and a Twitter account with a few followers, I hope to "change" things in my own little corner of the world. Don't be deceived by what the media tells you.

I am also deeply concerned about moral issues in our country. Morality is declining. Some would say, we're just getting more enlightened because gays can get married, women can "choose" to "kill their infant," some states have legalized euthanasia, and we play with genetics by crossing pigs with people in order to harvest tissue. If there isn't something deep inside you that says, "this is wrong," then I have nothing to say to you except, "examine yourself more deeply, and try to reflect on the difference between right and wrong?" If you say, "It's right for me," then you've bought into moral relativism and are believing a lie propagated by liars. Ask yourself, why is it "choice" trumps "murder?" And, as long as we're on the subject, I don't want to pay for your birth control or your abortion. You need to pay for the consequences of your own negligence. When I was a kid and broke the neighbor's window playing baseball, I didn't go to all the other neighbors and ask them to pitch in and help pay for it.

I am also concerned about small business in our country. Obama care will kill much of it and drive good people, who create most of the jobs in this country, out of business. Not to mention how the onerous government regulation kills any incentive to be creative and take a business risk. We're headed backward, not forward. Obama says he doing all these wonderful things for small business, but it's just words. What he does is purely and simply anti-business. You say, "business is evil," No, business isn't evil, there are just a few well publicized business executives have done evil things.  Hmmm... so there is evil after all? Now my question to you is,what if it's "right for him?" And while we're talking about this, remember who warmed up to Wall Street, bailed out the banks, etc.? Barack Obama! Why isn't he guilty by association?

So, you can vote the way you want and say what you think. All I ask is that you really reflect on who this person is and what he is really trying to do. Is this really what you want?

Wait! Don't issue layoff notices in October - O

Obama tries to block sequester layoff notices. Of course it will make him look better and cost the taxpayers lots of money.  Click on Block sequester above to read more.

Why?

My church welcomes all denominations - tens, twenties, fifties...  But this is ridiculous!

This is the kind of thing I'm struggling with. It is no longer stimulus money, it's not feeding the poor or the hungry, there is certainly no political benefit to the U.S. for doing this, and why don't local Christians get any of this? No, the government just wants to tax church's now. Where is the public outrage?

I couldn't resist

Where is President Obama really from?

There is reason to believe that President Obama is not from the U.S. as was previously believed.

Reason #1:  This particular flying saucer left Earth the day after its arrival. The crew didn't talk to anyone on Earth (other than make hoards of promises), but it did leave a bunch of junk mail sent to "Occupant."

Reason #2:  There are flying saucers over us all the time. Their occupants want to talk to our responsible leaders, but they're having trouble finding any!

Reason #3:  This particular flying saucer landed in Arizona and the crew was sent home due to inadequate documentation. The occupants left and filed a lawsuit.