Category: Something to ponder . . .

Patriotism Defined

For 2012 Irene has started In God We Still Trust – A 365 – Day Devotional written by Dr. Richard G. Lee.  On January 2nd, Patriotism is defined . . . “Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of English Language, 1828: patriotism n. Love of one’s country; the passion which aims to serve one’s country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions in vigor and purity.  Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the noblest passion that animates a man in the character of a citizen. 

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Diction, Eleventh Edition, copyright 2004 patiotism, n. Love for or devotion to one’s country.

Note how the definitions have changed.  With its objective actions, Noah Webster’s patriotism is very different from the vague, subjective patriotism of one who only feels love for his country.  True patriotism is not just an emotional feeling; it is action.

Webster’s original definition starts with a love for country, but moves to specific actions; service to country, defense starts with a love for country, but moves to specific actions to country, defense of country, protection  of the rights of country, maintenance of the laws and institutions of country, and preservation of religion and morality in public and private life.  This kind of patriotism puts the needs of the country above personal and partisan desires, as well as above the favor of foreign nations.  ”

The men of Judah . . . remained loyal to their king.  2 Samuel 20:2

With the 2012 Elections approaching, research the candidate you are voting for and know where they stand on the issues important to you. 

We received an email, The NEW ANT and the Grasshopper we thought we thought we’d share . . .

THE NEW ANT and the Grasshopper, Two Versions:

The ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

This one is a little different….

Two Different Versions …

Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE OLD STORY:

Be responsible for yourself

MODERN VERSION  

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. 

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.  How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green…’

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the SEIU group singing, We shall overcome.

Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray for the grasshopper’s sake, while he damns the ants.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush 43, President Bush 41, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper’s plight.  Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having  nothing left to  pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given  to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading  friends finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is  in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn’t  maintain it.

The ant has  disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper  is found  dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over  by a gang of spiders  who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Be careful how you vote in 2012.

I’ve sent this to you because I believe that you are an ant not a grasshopper!

Make sure that you pass this on to other ants.  Don’t bother sending it on to any grasshoppers because they wouldn’t understand it, anyway.

Pennsylvania , the keystone state – 2012 HERE WE COME!

At a recent PA GOP 2012 training meeting, Jerry Morgan gave an unbelievable speech . . . and he right.  Jerry said, take a look at history,  PA is the keystone state.  We fought tyranny at Valley Forge, PA.  The constitution of the United States was signed at Philadelphia, PA.  The turning point of the civil war was fought at Gettysburg, PA.   Terrorism was fought at Shanksville, PA.  Now it is time to take back our country and fight for economic development.  We, the Pennsylvania’s are the minutemen.  Our nation can be taken back; it is time to stop Obama.  All politics is local and PA could be the state to make the change in the white house.  2012 HERE WE COME!!!!!

If you wish to be one of those Pennsylvanian’s to make a difference, please email us at rockstargop@verzion.net and we will keep you informed of how to be involved.  We need to start now to ensure a victory in 2012.

What would Sam Walton say about aluminum foil?

I finished my box of Great Value/WalMart brand aluminum foil and opened a new box of Reynolds Wrap brand aluminum foil.  I saw the reynolds wrap said, “foil make in the U.S.A.  So that made me wonder, “gee I wonder where the WalMart brand was made?”  The WalMart/Great Value Brand says, “Packaged in the USA/Metal of Russia.  What would Sam Walton say?  From now on, I pay the extra and purchase Reynolds Wrap!

Irene

Freedom Fried

So now, come back to your God! Act on the principles of love and justice, and always live in confident dependence on your God.
~Hosea 12:6, NLT

The ‘Fourth of July’ selection for Crosswalk the Devotional.

It fell to me this year.

And whoa if I didn’t have a firecracker of a time coming up with what to write.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not riding on the trendy bandwagon of American self-loathing. I love my country. I dig personal and religious freedom. Without a free press I’d be out of a job, and without free speech I’d be locked up somewhere. But not here!

So why the long face on red-white-and-blue, take-a-day-off, fire-up-the-grill day?

…Because Christianity has so little yet too much to do with the American Dream. To wit: “After centuries of shacking up with ‘the American dream,’ churches have perfected a dicey codependence between consumer-driven therapeutic individualism and religious pragmatism. These theological proxies gnaw, termite-like, at our identity as the Body of Christ, eroding our ability to recognize that Jesus’ life of self-giving love directly challenges the American gospel of self-fulfillment and self-actualization” (Kenda Creasy Dean, Almost Christian).

…Because I get sad when I consider the evolution ‘Freedom’ has undertaken just in my lifetime – from “allowed to act responsibly” to “if it feels good do it” to “absolutely anything goes and don’t even try to suggest otherwise, or we might just take away your freedom.”

…Because “Independence Day” is a disconnect for me, devotionally speaking, from things I know to be true: namely, that independence has never served me well where family or friends or work colleagues or the Church or the Lord are concerned.

And so, left without the trite and tried-but-true for today’s devotional, I settled on the short, bittersweet, and eternal…

  • Neither politics nor religion nor any mixing of the two will save me. Likewise, patriotism and faith-in-Christ need not be shoehorned to celebrate either one.
  • Some things are really messed up. Most things are really not mess-up-able. A few things that are require only repentance to restore.
  • It’s never wrong or out-of-style to be thankful, to express gratitude. To Him who freed your soul, or to those who gave you a free country.
  • You can pledge your allegiance to the flag every day and admit your own and your country’s independence, but “when you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor” (James 4:10, NLT).

Have a safe and blessed holiday, everyone.

Shawn McEvoy

http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/mcevoy/freedom-fried.html?utm_source=Crosswalk_Daily_Update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=06/30/2011

The Fence

Our internet was taken out by last week’s storm.  It’s great to have it back.  We received this email, that was worth sharing . . . how true.

 You can’t get any more accurate than this!

 Which side of the fence?

If you ever wondered which side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a Republican doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a Democrat doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat..
If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a Democrat is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A Democrat wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a Republican doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Democrats demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.

If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it..
A Democrat demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a Republican reads this, he’ll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A Democrat will delete it because he’s “offended”.

Well, I forwarded it.

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.” Thomas Sowell