Today is the most wonderful day, the day my dear wife was born. She suffers from Covid at the moment. She has an immune system that doesn’t function right and so this is a most serious problem. Trying to keep oxygen levels high enough is troublesome. It could go either way.

My soul is troubled like never before. I have a friend who lost his love four years ago; it was a long arduous journey back to spiritual well-being. Just the thought of losing my one and only love of my life, it’s just so unthinkable.

At this writing I have no idea how this will turn out but whether this be her last birthday or there are more to come I wish her a “Happy Birthday”. Marvelous to think she’s spent these forty two years with me. I am truly humbled. Not that I’m the worst “catch”, but in my wildest dreams I never thought the prettiest girl in school would be my wife.

Yes, she was the pretties girl to me but it was a quality that few girls (or boys) possess anymore that has given me a most wonderful life. My sweetheart made a vow along with me to love each other, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, ’til death do us part, according to God’s ordinance; and thereto I pledge thee my troth.

So, to her, I am someone special, unique, the only one she wants. We’ve been through it all and there remains only one I want to be with. It’s just so good, satisfying if you will, to be with her. Short-comings, we both have them but love covers a multitude of sins. We just love each other through it all; no turning back, no turning back.

There’s an old song that goes something like this: an angel without wings is hard to find, perfection in her body and in her mind, and when I think of her my heart starts to cry……………….the till death do us part may come way too quickly. I pray not.

Maybe she’ll be OK. If you have someone you cherish, tell them today because tomorrow may never come. I celebrate this day with her. Linda is her name. Her name is music to my life. Happy Birthday Linda!

1922 Christmas Eve Message

Title: 1922 Christmas Eve Message

Date: December 24, 1922

Location: compiled from speeches printed in the New York Times and the Washington Evening Star

Context: Delivered by Vice President Coolidge to the American People, broadcast nationwide over the General Electric radio station, WGY

“When the first Christmas came to mankind it brought the assurance that their faith and hope were justified.  It revealed the existence of an everlasting righteousness.  It established the foundation of the civilization of the Western world.  Through all the shifting changes of more than nineteen centuries this revelation has remained, constant, unshaken, secure.

“Through the influence of its teachings there has come a recognition of the glory of man.  He has been raised up to his true position, ‘a little lower than the angels.’  The universal right of freedom has been acknowledged.  Obedience to authority has been sanctified.  The existence of a common brotherhood has been disclosed.  The ever-abiding obligation of service has been established.

“These are the fundamental principles of American institutions.  They were not created by man.  They cannot be destroyed by man.  They have a higher, more imposing source, reaching from everlasting to everlasting.  To observe these principles, to live by them, to translate them into action, is the way to good citizenship, to progress and to economic success.  There is no other way.  The full significance of Christmas is lost unless, as a part of its observance, the American people think of these things.

“It is the realization of these great truths that warrants an abounding optimism.  They have not failed, they cannot fail.  There are times when they may appear to be rejected, but they always emerge strengthened through increasing allegiance, triumphant through enlarging victories.

“These are the reasons why our country has no need of revolution.  What it needs is perfection.  The world waits on the extension of these principles into the practical affairs of people.  Their application will be found not in some complicated legislative enactment, not in some abstruse theory, but in the simple and homely experience of everyday life.  If more freedom is desired, it can be had by more obedience.  If there is need of more brotherhood, it will be found in more service.  If success be sought, the way lies open through thrift and industry.  If character is wanted, it can be created by hard work and kind deeds.  This is the substance of which America has been built.

“Of all countries on earth ours needs the least apology.  Whatever it is desirable for a people to have, here it may be secured.  Opportunity is open.  The rewards of effort are sure and large.  They are growing better.

“All of this leads to but one conclusion.  Preserve American institutions.  Perfect the relationships of daily life.  Persevere and go forward, obedient to the divine instruction:  ‘Be ye constant in well doing.’  That way lies our promised peace and good will of which the angels sang with joy as they beheld the miracle of the first Christmas.  The mission of America is to make that vision a reality.”

We see it all around us. We live in a new woke atmosphere of justice that promotes equity over equality. Equity is loosely defined as making sure all have access to the same benefits whether in the classroom or in the society at large. It further makes the “state” obligated to individualize the talents/needs of each person. Equality is having some form of same access but allowing the individual to work to overcome obstacles to their success.

Our country’s founding was based on individual effort without government interference, a unique concept in a world long bathed in a group effort mentality. They say that equity is a step above or an advancement in the noble desire for equality. We teach our young that they have the right to the American Dream without rooting their success in their own effort. This is where the idea that, “you didn’t build that” which President Obama put forth, comes from. There is nothing special about you. Oh, the collective pundits say there is but the experience on the ground shouts no. You are what the mob-supported government says you are.

Your skin color, religion, sex (lack of gender), or political bent determines your value. In fact it’s fast becoming your reason for being alive is dependent on checking the right boxes. Individual effort and responsibility are only important in relation to how well you obey the edicts of your betters. For a man who doesn’t check boxes well and therefore by default is an enemy of the state, my future in this utopian paradise doesn’t look promising.

This idea of equity over equality effects our everyday choices. For instance our choice of dogs is being skewed by equity. I “like” dogs well enough but these thoughts may offend dog-centric people, a risk I am willing to take. Dogs by many people’s standards are deemed better friends, better companions, and in short, better than humans.

The SPCA came to the United States in 1866 which is notable because it was the year after the end of the Civil War which claimed more American lives than any other war. The world has always been a cruel place and it was the implementation of English common law that nourished the resolution of so many reprehensible things. However, it also ushered in a generation of over-zealous members of a growing society who now are divorced from the necessity of making tough choices regarding bad animals and humans.

No-kill rescues are becoming more popular and with that more dogs of questionable value as a pet are being promoted for adoption. I don’t support cruelty to animals but we’ve developed a world of no consequences for bad actors in both the animal world and the human arena.

Because the world is “over-populating” according to elite minds the aborting of humans is thought most beneficial to the world whilst at the same time ignoring the cruelty of the act. Let’s tie this over-indulgence in equity to the problematic outcome it presents.

Up till now we’ve kept the more belligerent and dangerous members of equitable teaching out of our daily lives. It has in the past only been the occasional heinous crime that upsets our pursuit of happiness. But equity has brought us to the threshold of a violent cultural norm one step at a time. Every man deserves to live even if he’s committed unthinkably cruel crimes. The same applies to dogs. It varies state to state but it’s fair to say that the popularity of no-kill shelters and prisons accommodate the proliferation of the worst of men and the worst of dogs in our society.

A hundred years ago the average person knew when dogs became dangerous and you put them down. The same applied to men. As we feel the encroaching violence batter our everyday peace it becomes more necessary to start saying no to those that don’t know good from evil.

We will either have equal rights or we will be surrounded by the equitable mob who value us purely on the things that don’t matter to God.

Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.

Paul wrote most of the New Testament. Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus giving him the qualification the other apostles had, witnessing the risen Christ. I think the disciples, or should I say the other apostles, were somewhat hurried to replace Judas Iscariot. They chose Matthias for that position.

Maybe there was some confusion on how they would do this “spreading the gospel” mission and going out two by two had some precedence but could it be they should have waited for Paul? It was a long wait for sure. This isn’t being critical of Peter and the rest of them. I’m sure it was prayed about and certainly they weighed the desires of Jesus.

Jesus seemed to have just walked along and told the apostles to follow him. He didn’t wait, no procrastination, he just invited them to follow. He taught fishermen how to be fishers of men.

Paul was different. He loved God. He knew everything, a Pharisee of the Pharisee. He knew the Word of God. He wasn’t going to allow anyone to screw up his nation’s faith in the words of Moses. But he was not a servant of the Messiah. He knew about God, about the scriptures, but Paul didn’t know Christ.

Paul became a servant of Christ and was called for a special purpose. The only reason for him to be alive was the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The oracles of God were given us by the prophets of Israel. Now an Israelite was given the task of giving the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews rejected the gospel but a Jew would be the one to deliver the bulk of new covenant scripture to the non-Jewish world.

I thank God for the Word of God, both old and new. Lord give us the same burden to deliver the salvation message to the lost. We, like Paul, are just servants doing what the master wants and that is letting others know why he came here.