Lyle's Blog

Someone once said “A penny saved is a penny earned”. That almost sounds like one is putting the cart before the horse. But if you think it through, a penny saved has big advantages. You can invest the penny, there are no taxes to be paid on the saved penny, and saved pennies can accumulate and fund other necessities and ventures. Therefore saved pennies are less stressful than earned pennies. When you save, you rest; when you earn, you work. Further, passive income is better than earned income. To illustrate I’ll tell of my own tepid experience in this matter. In the army one of my friends would run out of money within a week of being paid. Many times he would come to me and ask for a loan til payday. He would borrow ten and payback fifteen. This happened several times. After the service I bought a small house on three quarters of an acre for $3000. I sold it a year later for $5000. After I married my wife and I bought a house, rented it for a period of four years and then sold it. The new owner assumed the existing mortgage and I supplied the second mortgage. At that time he paid 10% interest and stipulated he could pay $50 or more dollars a month. For three years the minimum was paid which meant that a large part of the payment was interest. I realized the advantages of being the lender! Years later I worked with a guy that, hard to believe, was always short of money. So just like my friend in the service, I would loan him a $100 and pay me back $125. I say all this to urge you to be frugal and prepare for any outcome. There are always opportunities to avail yourself of extra income without adding to your work load. And in doing so you provide a service to those that would otherwise not qualify for a home loan and on the smaller scale not be taken in by title loans and pawn shops. The Bible says the borrower is a slave to the lender. I’ve been both and the latter is so much more fun. Loaning money can have bad consequences, so if you do, make sure of the character of the borrower.

I lived in rural Minnesota when I was in elementary school. The school had three hundred students grades one to twelve. We rode the bus. There were two bus drives that served our route. Pinky was a forgettable thin man of weak character. On his watch anything went, spit-wads would fly and occasionally hit the back of his neck. The older kids would pick on the smaller. There were fights. My mother told me I couldn’t fight so I didn’t. But when I came home with a patch of my hair pulled out she relented. I settled the score. Dennis was the other bus driver. He didn’t put up with anything. I remember these two high school boys were being belligerent, taunting everyone including first graders with threats of harm. It was a cold snowy day. Dennis stopped the bus. He grabs the boys and slams them against the wall and in no uncertain terms informs them they are worthless pieces of crap. He opens the door and bodily throws them in the snow filled ditch; no bus ride for them for a week. Eventually we moved to western Washington state. There I attended the most violent junior high in the state. On many occasions the police were at the school at days end as fights were a regular part of life. Our shop teacher had a large paddle and used it when necessary to straighten out the thinking of these rodents. Fast forward fifty years and we witness what the discarding of discipline has accomplished. No longer are the innocent safe or have any defenders. The leftist have posted signs warning everyone of the no tolerance policy concerning drugs, guns, smoking or whatever else they’ve thought of. I guess it gives the naive cowards some comfort thinking that someone is doing something. Little do they realize it’s only law abiding people that obey the signs and rules. Hoodlums don’t fear disregarding there parents orders, mouthing off to teachers, or doing anything wrong. Dad can’t spank you; he might lose custody of you and have to go to anger management training. There’s no fear of going before a judge. More than likely the hand will be slapped and they’ll be on their way to greater mischief. The school makes sure they’re segregated from God; no accountability ever. The progressives have given us the world the apostle Paul spoke of in Romans the first chapter, verses 28 through 32. The leftist are using the same approach for gun control. Demonizing the law abiding citizen while allowing the criminals to go free. If you kill someone the victim loses his life but the perpetrator may get out and enjoy doing it again. Or if they do get locked up for life we get to pay for their medical and living expenses all the while the benevolent state doesn’t even lay flowers at the grave of the victim. The utopia flower is just now coming into full blossom; if only there were a way to pluck the peta

It’s always bothered me how ignorant and predictable Americans are. Most all of us have suffered the government indoctrination centers relentless destruction of our founding values. We’re taught to be tolerant of everything with the exception of the truth. Our society has succumbed to the mind-numbing double speak of our politically correct masters. Things have gotten so bad that a good number of people have noticed and do understand to one degree or another the peril that we are in. There is ample evidence in the world that socialism and communism don’t work and yet our young have been well schooled in the hatred of liberty and the acceptance of collective living. Freedom is only kept by those that are willing to let everyone participate in the consequences of wrong decisions. I understand the attraction of safety net thinking but I also know that spreading the wealth around is a recipe for destroying the incentive to making wealth. Corporations are in bed with politicians and most of us know it. But we are unwilling to break up this unholy marriage because we’ve been lied to so many times that lies feel like the truth. Half of Americans are willing to vote for blatantly corrupt people. This reflects the corruption of the average citizen and I see little change possible. Like a battered spouse we believe them again and again because they do love us or at least say they do. They’ll make it work. They always have. Somehow the day of reckoning is put off to another time. And just like that spouse whose held on for years to broken promise after broken promise, we look in the mirror one day and realize that we really are much older. We don’t have any more time to wait for the promise to come true. We’ve been cheated, lied to, and the infidelity is crushing our spirit. Maybe it’s time to leave him. Maybe if we embrace another liar things will be better. After all, we don’t want to die in a wretched state. This is where Americans are. Because they wouldn’t demand honesty, good character, and dedication to the vow they took to uphold the constitution, many would leave the protection of the constitution for the promises of the corruption which is socialism and its big brother communism. From each according to his ability and to each according to their need sounds so appealing. It’s the promise of every despot. I think we’re about to marry a control freak, an overbearing oaf that will soon look around for someone to blame for whatever irks them and they unveil their true selves. They are abusers, verbally and then physically, And then they look at our children. Those cold eyes look at our children. God help us.

As I’m growing older reminiscing has become a constant companion. There’s a line in one of the songs I like that says “little things I should have said and done, I just never took the time”. Looking back I can see the things that would make a big difference were just little things. Taking time to say things and do things make a huge difference in the lives of those around you. Taking time, that’s the hard part. We’re so busy with work, play, and our plans for a better life. We have three children. When your first is born they receive all the attention. They benefit from the sole attention of two parents. This is a two-edged sword for them because even though they may be catered to, they must also suffer the undivided attention of two parents who from some fount of wisdom have figured out exactly how to raise a child. This one is going to be perfect. And for a while you actually believe they are. What you don’t realize is that you missed the little things like the teaching and mentoring of love. Enter child number two; they being a baby require lots of your time. Your first born now receives half your attention which they probably resent although there is a freedom in not being monitored so much. It’s a little thing, a little less time, a little less of everything if you’re not careful. Child two usually takes a back seat to child one. There’s just less time (and maybe money) to do all those things you did with child one. I do see parents that try to do that, running to this game and that, believing that activities keep the devil away. There is some truth to that of course but you do have to notice the little things that take place. What kind of people are becoming your child’s heroes and therefore mentors? Sports and music both produce characters that have only one virtue: talent. When your child wants to replicate that virtue many times they adopt the other less desirable traits of these people. Living with a child emulating these personalities can be challenging. If child three arrives time is further limited and it becomes harder to take the time to spend with the older children. And that’s when they need it the most. Having children doesn’t necessarily bring a couple closer together. Oh it does for a while sometimes, but when you were without kids conflicts were usually few and easy to overcome. It was easier to stay together. After a few years there arise issues that blind side you. Then all your short-comings flood back in and remind you of where you went wrong. That’s if your lucky. Our modern world makes it ever more difficult to weather the storms of life and stay together for “better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health”. Why? There are so many options these days. We don’t have to be diligent about spending the time on the little things. It’s just the big things that consume us. There are so many broken families. Don’t wait till you’re old to assess your approach to those you care about. In the end none of us have done everything well but certainly some have done much better than others. You’ve just got to let them know right from the get-go that they are always on your mind, that you love them, and all you want is the very best for them. You see, it’s love that covers a multitude of sin, short-comings, and lack of knowing. So the best we can do is spend the time on one giving each other the grace we need to weather their storms of this life.

Have you ever asked yourself why you are here, why you were born, what your purpose for being alive is? Many would say it’s to leave this earth a better place for our children. You know, clean the place up whether it be pollution of the planet itself or the pollution of the mind. This seems correct and reasonable and I do agree that we do have to consider our children’s future. But we perpetuate the myth that we can make this a better place, that we are better than our ancestors. Take a long look around the world; are we really different from men of two or three thousand years ago. Sure we’ve advanced in so many areas, but I’m not talking about modernity. I’m talking about sin. The desire and ability to do evil to one another has merely become more sophisticated. Our technology enhances our enslavement to wicked living. As a nation we ignore the blight of human trafficking, sexual deviancy, the abuse and killing of our innocence, and corruption of leadership that is supposed to protect us from ourselves. In America we have come to believe that everyone has a right to believe anything with the resulting robbing of Peter’s liberty for Paul’s reward. We’re not supposed to judge anyone. That notion is quoted from the Bible by people who disdain the Bible. It is used to parlay there support for unscrupulous actions by squelching opposing views that Bible believing people may hold to be true. It is seldom challenged which has brought us to our present dilemma: the total corruption of our culture. By allowing secular deviants to cherry pick the truth we have relinquished our moral duty to protect liberty which leaves everyone at risk from the tyranny of the few. Man does not become better with education. Knowledge is important if not purported to be an end all. Man is better when he humbles himself to God instead of being humbled by the whims of the state. This is our one hope: that as we become more humble we may submit ourselves to the will of God and bring upon the world His desire that none should perish. We need to encourage others to seek liberty by being humble, to love life and encourage innocence, and allow everyone to pursue happiness which is the contentment of an easy smile.
“Question 1: What is the chief end of man? This most basic question confronts each of us. Why am I here? What is the reason for my existence? What is the purpose of my life? The catechism on the basis of 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Psalm 73:25 provides the familiar answer. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”