I haven’t really known what to say. It often takes awhile for me to be able to gather my thoughts and put them into something that others could understand.
Our office had a policy not to discuss politics in the office, to keep everything under control. I respected the policy that our office had put in place, and kept my personal political preference to myself and a few others who were close friends of mine that felt the same way I did. Most of the office assumed I was voting for Obama because I was so young, and they never asked me about it, so I didn’t discuss it.
Wednesday morning, a very nice black lady I work with stopped me in the hallway and was talking about how glad she was that Obama won. The election was over, and I cannot be bitter, especially, since God knows what He is doing. I just said I am glad she was so happy and agreed that it was a historic election. Then she began to complain that the 45% (or whatever it was) that voted for McCain were racist. Someone else (who happened to be white) walked up and agreed and said they were also stupid. I walked back to my office shocked by what I had heard.
I voted for McCain because I cannot vote for someone who is a Marxist in good conscience. It had nothing to do with the color of their skin. It had everything to do with the fact that Obama (and Biden) could not be further from where I stand on the issues.
I should not need to justify the reasons I do what I do to everyone. How I live my life should be enough. I considered this woman to be one of the nicest people in my office and I considered us friends. It really hurt me.
One of my husband’s best friends is black, and in fact, he is one of my favorite people to spend time with and talk to about everything. One of my best friends is Korean who was adopted by Jewish parents. I love her dearly. One of my closest friends at work is Vietnamese (who happens to be as conservative as they come). I don’t spend my time concerned about the color of their skin, but rather, we have a blast just being ourselves. It hurts me that such a blanket statement was thrown in my face without the basic care/thought of who might be hurt by such an extreme statement.
Do I think that racism still exists? Oh yes I do. Is it an acceptable behavior? Absolutely not. But this is not my point in this post.
I was so disgusted years ago when I heard one of the ladies say she only voted for Bill Clinton because he was better looking than George H. W. Bush. She voted as if it were a beauty contest. Scary. Now we have some people who voted because of the color of a man’s skin and not the issues. Also scary. And now, if you did vote on the issues and they didn’t align with the black nominee, you are automatically racist.
Mike asked me who I wanted to see run in 2012. I know who it is. I absorbed so much of what was going on during the election and have processed most of it (finally after almost a year of this mess). I watched most of the RNC speeches, minus a few that I had no interest in what that person had to say.
Rudy Giuliani made me laugh, but as funny as he is, and as much respect as I have for him for what he did during 9/11; I do not agree with him on most of what I feel are the important issues. Romney scares me, Mormonism aside. I have great respect for Fred Thompson, but every time he opened his mouth during the primaries, I became scared, because he sounded like he just didn’t care. Huckabee is hilarious and he has a very likable personality, but there are certain things about him that concern me. Palin still excites me, but with the McCain fallout… well, they need their scape goat and they will destroy Sarah Palin’s career just to get one, so I fear she doesn’t have a shot. Then there is the man who I thought was one of the two shining stars at the RNC, Michael Steele.
We live in Virginia, so Michael Steele running for office in Maryland, is old news. Since all our local stations are DC stations, we get a lot of Maryland politics. Michael Steele made me laugh a few years ago with his “Steele Hates Puppies” newspaper headline in one of his commercials. I remember seeing him talk then and I liked him, so when he spoke at the RNC this fall, I made sure to watch his speech. Then I youTube’d him and watched many of his other speeches, and then looked up where he stands on the issues, and read his background story. There are a few things I don’t agree with him 100%, but to me, he was a shining star for the Republican party, but especially for the conservatives.
I remember after seeing his speech at the RNC and then reading about him, I told my mom that I had wished he had run. Well, that didn’t happen, so I would like to see Michael Steele in 2012.
Well, that is my input about the last week, and who I hope runs in 2012. I put the “Steele Hates Puppies” Commercial below, and his speech at the RNC below as well. I encourage everyone to at least look him up and watch some of his other speeches. One thing I learned from the Ron Paul movement is, there are others out there just like me and we wanted to be heard. I would be interested in hearing anything you know about Michael Steele, good or bad, since obviously I don’t have time to read or watch the news much these days. Any comments about what you see from watching these videos are also appreciated. Please abide by the commenting rules that are found on this blog, which is basically, keep it polite and treat others how you would like others to treat you.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14
I am not praying for a particular candidate to win, but instead I pray that God would have mercy on our country.
That’s right - I am offended. After talking to a few people about the comments made on Oprah and watching plenty of experts on this bailout, apparently it is everyone’s fault. Well, I am offended.
Since I was a little child, I have saved. If you don’t believe me ask my parents. I remember being 10 and not wanting to share a curling iron with my mom and my parents suggested I take my savings and buy one. But that was my savings!! I actually remember that talk with my parents about using some of my money to purchase things and how it can’t be -all- savings. I bought the curling iron, but was sad to see my precious money spent. I remember when people would ask me what I was going to use my saved money to buy. A car, I responded. At 8, I had my eyes focused on the future, and I worked hard and saved hard. By the time I graduated from college, I had enough saved to get my super hot sports car, but couldn’t justify the cost, and ended up with a small hatchback sports coupe that was reasonable and practical. I had my saved money in a CD at the bank making 7.2%. Because the CD was making so much in interest, I decided to take out a loan for my new car, at 3.5%. That car will make it to 200K, that is the plan (obviously some idiot on the highway could change that, but that is the plan).
Since then, I have paid that car payment religiously each month and I have continued to save. My furniture is from Ikea, the furniture is tasteful, yet fairly inexpensive. My husband needed a car. He had gotten a used car, which ended up having very serious problems (can you say losing a quart of oil every 100 miles? And it wasn’t a leak.). We weren’t married at the time, but were engaged, we discussed what he should do. We agreed that he should buy a new car and keep it for 200k, just like I had done. He took out a loan on the car. He got a small coupe that was well within his budget and was well within our means. Now, my car is down to the last 6 months of the loan, and my husband’s car still has awhile to go, but if tomorrow those debts were called in, we could pay them off without heartache and would still have a rainy day fund.
I may not have a flashy car, and a big fancy home, but I am living well within my means, in fact, with as much as we are trying to save, I would say we actually live well below our means. I cook, I do the work on the cars when I can (complex rules make that difficult), Mike and I do all the cleaning, we do everything. Yesterday, I went out and bought plumbing stuff, because one of our toilets broke - guess what? I am going to fix it myself, just like I have always done. Mike and I could have easily afforded to buy that house a few months ago, but God told us we should wait. Neither of us understood at the time - well, the houses we were looking at purchasing are now 20% off. We could have still afforded it, and without sweat, but Mike and I realized that we needed to stay well below our means, in fact, living off of a single salary. With the exception of my car payment, we can do that - and that will be paid off soon.
I am offended that the bailout is my fault. I am offended! My 401K’s are mainly in conservative and some moderate investments. Mike likes to invest. Months ago, I had a feeling that God was warning me about the stock market. Mike put a small amount of what he wanted to invest into the stock market. Well, I am glad we didn’t put much. Most of what we invested, is sitting steady, but I am convinced that we made the right decision.
When it comes to savings, I always look for the best deal. We have two CD’s, one at 5.25% and another at 4.5%. The 4.5% CD has a deal where if the interest rates go up, we can raise the interest rate one time. So, that is where our savings are now and they are making money and they are safe. We also are proud to say, we don’t keep any of our money in big banks. We have all our money in more than one bank that are relatively small, but not your tiny, small time bank. These banks did not fall for the sub prime mortgage scam. In fact, I remember talking to a counselor at one of the banks about my savings and mortgages and things after I graduated, and that was the one thing he boasted about - and he actually predicted it would get many people into trouble. Well, he was right.
I am offended.
I read all contracts before signing them. If I don’t understand something, I make sure I get the correct answer and have full understanding before I sign anything. Yes, that has sometimes caused things to take much time and sometimes things don’t get taken care of that day, but it was never a waste. It was always insurance.
My money is safe. My investments were not overly risky. I save. I save. I save. I live without the latest video game, and the latest in technology. I save. I am not in debt that I cannot immediately pay off. Our credit cards are always paid off. I save. I didn’t sign contracts I didn’t understand. I save. I leave within my means, in fact, I would say we live below our means. I do invest, but I do not invest anything I can’t afford to lose. I take good care of what I have, including my car, my appliances, and even inexpensive things. My car will last probably a good 10 years if not more. I bargain shop (and boy, can I bargain shop - but I also don’t buy anything, just because it is a bargain). I make dinners, I make freezer meals for both lunch and breakfast. I make many of my own things - such as my Christmas tree skirt, the wreaths and floral arrangements around the house. I save so much by doing those things. I also believe that everything should be done in moderation erring on the side of conservative, and never extravagantly. We don’t take expensive trips around the world for vacation. I save. I work a full time job along side of my husband (even though, I probably don’t need to work full time). I educate myself before I make major purchases/decisions. I have always believed that if it sounds too good to be true, it most definitely is. I believe that nothing is free. I believe in rainy days, they always come. Did I mention I save?
With that said, I must now tell the world how I feel when I get blamed as a part of this financial crisis - I AM OFFENDED!
And now, the most offensive part - I am stuck bailing out the people who lived beyond their means, invested too aggressively and didn’t save for their retirement or for a rainy day. I am stuck paying for everyone else’s stupidity, and I am really not happy about it. It is not the government’s job to bail all these losers out of the deep pit they got themselves into by being so recklessly irresponsible. Thanks a lot. No really, thank you. I can’t wait to pay higher taxes because of you, and I can’t wait to have the money I have preciously saved all these years to be worth less, because the dollar was trashed while our government tried to bail you out of your mess. Thanks a lot.
I am offended.
I am offended.
Finally, I should mention. God has blessed my husband and me so incredibly, and He has also provided the wisdom and (especially for me) the conviction of fiscal responsibility that gets reinforced over and over, time after time. I wouldn’t be where I am if it hadn’t been for God in my life and the mercy He has poured upon me. I am convicted that I must show my thankfulness by using what He has so lovingly given to the absolute best of my ability. If we (the U.S.) are going to survive the next decade, it will be by the grace of God. I guess it always is by God’s grace, but one thing I have really noticed is that we have not been thanking God for His mercy on us, and I fear that God is taking away the great blessings He has been pouring on this country. He knows what each of us needs. But, I am sure that God is not happy when we thank Him with irresponsibility. There is always hope, America is becoming the prodigal son. Will we wake up and realize what we have done, and will we run back to the Father for mercy? I guess time will tell. The bailout has me worried the answer is no, but I pray we will return to the mercy seat.
Here is my top ten warning signs that your manager has a real/make-believe issue with an employee and how to get rid of them. This list is composed of what I have seen happen to others around me over and over. These are the top ten that seem to be the most successful. In no particular order…
1) The manager will make up some subject of why management needs to meet with you, such as discussing future goals, future opportunities, or some other reason that sounds like it is in your best interest. We will call this x. He/she all the sudden wants to meet with you right before you leave for the day. The conversation usually starts with “So, what time are you leaving today because I want to discuss x with you?” Run! (see 2 for reason)
2) If they want to meet with you before you leave on a Friday, brace yourself! Managers do this so that you immediately leave and go home angry. They don’t want to have to deal with your justifiable anger, they also don’t want others to know what they did to you. They know that sometimes one evening will not be enough cool off time, hence Friday before you leave - that way you will have all weekend to get over any murderous rage you may have for your scum of a boss.
3) If the manager is a she, you will suddenly hear her all the sudden start to say “Hiiiiiii!” to you in a high pitched voice like she is happy to see you. Don’t walk, run! This is a trick that many women use to make you think that they are OK/happy with you, but in reality, they are stabbing you in the back. This is a typical female thing and is not used in management alone and should always be feared.
4) Sudden change in response behavior. This is a tricky one to track down, but here are some examples. If you have instant messaging in your office - is your manager the type that always answers you right away? Does he now suddenly go “away” or doesn’t respond for a few minutes (enough time for some manipulative response that will hopefully give you warm fuzzies, but not be of any use to you whatsoever). Same thing can also happen with email and vmail. Be careful not to be too paranoid, since they may legitimately not be able to respond right away.
5) If you hear your manager all of the sudden start mentioning how much overtime (hours over 40) he puts in a week, and then brings up how many hours you work (i.e. 40). You are obviously not committed.
6) If you manager starts to ask when you got in or when you will leave - watch out, you are about to be accused of cheating on your time card, or you are a “clock watcher” which means very bad things. The term “clock watcher”, in reality, should not be feared. It should be a good thing. It means you know when you get in and when you leave - which allows you to be accurate on your time card, which is what they tell you your first day. However, when a manager uses the term “clock watcher” they are implying that you are lazy and don’t put the extra effort into the team, no matter how hard you work during the hours you are there. This will ALWAYS come back to haunt you on your yearly assessment, i.e. tiny raise. Or my personal favorite, they want grounds to fire you.
7) You aren’t being a “team player”. If your manager accuses you of this, it means he wants you out. As long as you aren’t making your team miserable, and especially if you get your work done, than the only reason to be told you aren’t a team player is to make a case against you.
8) Gossip is an excellent weapon for a manager to use against an employee. Always listen for the buzz words that a manager will repeat over and over. See, the key is to get people believing what you say. For example, the key word maybe “incompetent.” The manager will call someone incompetent any chance they get, the word incompetent is always used and repeated over and over. Usually the reason why the employee is incompetent will be missing, but they get extra credit for using a word with more than four letters over and over to describe the employee. Within weeks, most of the team that does not work with the employee everyday will believe the lies being spread.
9) Like 8, this is similar. The concept of what I would call a scapegoat. Often you will find a manager has some major issue. Maybe it is false time charging, or spending too much time talking to others. These managers know what they are doing is wrong, but instead of changing the behavior, they seek to justify what they are doing. In order to do this, you will find that managers will wait for another employee to do the same thing, but to a minor extent, like leaving 5 minutes early one day, or one day talk longer than usual to another employee. All of the sudden, they are the time card falsifier or the employee that spend too much time socializing. This is dangerous for multiple reasons. Not only does it allow a manager to get away with breaking the rules, but also they will destroy another employee’s reputation in the process. With this one, managers get to do twice the damage! Another thing to mention is that managers use this as insurance. If an employee complains about the manager’s irresponsibility, the manager will have already established a complaint against that employee, which will dismiss the accusation against the manager. Watch out for these managers and run!
10) No such thing as a straight up answer. These managers should be feared by everyone, subordinates and higher managers alike. When a manager cannot give a straight up answer, it means things are bad. So bad, the consequences of the actual answer being given would cause much consternation. Eventually this will come back to haunt someone - and that person will most likely not be the manager. This is the situation to be most feared. Nothing says dangerous like working for a manager who manages like a used car salesman sells cars. Time to spruce up the resume and find another job.
You would think by the sounds in my office that the end of the world was happening. People are hurting.
What is it that I worry about in this mess? Same thing that scares me the most - people. People panic and do really stupid things and cause more panic, which results in a hard to break cycle of panic and the resulting stupid actions. That is what scares me.
Me? I am OK. I have complete faith that God sees what I need and He will provide. My health has been kind of a mess lately, and yet, God has provided. I found myself being very frazzled with it all last week. My mom came up on Friday to help me out on my day off. She is such an amazing blessing, I can’t begin to tell you. I started to share with her the worries I had throughout the night. I asked her if I was doing the right thing, and why was I so frustrated. Why weren’t things easier, and why were all these things happening? She and I talked and she told me not to be worried about the things of the earth. She asked me if God had never provided my every need? He always had. The next verse she quoted, I knew well, but it stopped me dead in my tracks.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” - Mark 8:36
I don’t know what is going on lately in the world, but the dark forces are out in full force. I think that is what was on my mind. There is a verse that hangs on my refrigerator to remind me of something very important when the world seems so full of evil:
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-9
Amen. Thank God for that. Sometimes, you just have one of those days, and I had one Friday. I felt so helpless, but with God, there is always hope. I share this because I know that many are worried about many things. I close with a verse that God was reminding me today, as others in my office were worrying about their 401K’s.
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:31-4
First of all, I realized after just reading my last post that I gave James Madison credit for what Thomas Jefferson said. AH! I can’t believe I did that. I was thinking about another quote that James Madison said, and must have gotten it mixed up while typing. Sorry about that - I feel like a huge idiot. The Madison quote that I was thinking of was…
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to The Ten Commandments of God” - James Madison
Lots of stuff going on as usual. This blog was mainly to express my thoughts on things, especially related to my faith, but other things as well.
I just changed the background, which is nice… especially since blue is my favorite color, but I must admit, I loved that tornado background. I am thinking about changing it around a bit, but I am not sure right now. I wanted to change the title, but Mike thinks “Tending to Chaos” fits perfectly. I don’t know. We shall see.
My dad is safely back from his trip to Louisiana. He said he couldn’t get to the little town I grew up in, even after almost a week since the hurricane, it was still flooded. That is kind of sad, but not surprising, since it was so far south. My family down there are all fine. Damage happened, especially to my cousin’s house, but everyone was fine.
Work is piling up as usual. I am not sure if that is good or bad. I think it is good from the standpoint that people are happy with what I have done and want more. It is not good from the standpoint that I honestly feel like I am drowning in work most days. I guess that is what the title Senior Engineer means. *sigh* I guess “with great power comes great responsibility.”
I find it frustrating at times. I started out as an intern, then at graduation, was a mid-range engineer. I never really was a junior engineer, and in less than 3 years, I was promoted to the title senior. Something that takes most almost ten years, I have done in less than three. Freaks me out. People in my office found out I was in my mid-twenties the other day. I got a bunch of surprised faces. People say I look much younger, but they didn’t think I actually was as young as I am. Weird.
We survived tropical storm Hanna just fine. It was actually nice to get some rain finally. My mom came up to visit and we just unpacked some boxes and listened to John Denver (Rocky Mountain High - yeah!). My mom was a huge help as usual. There was a little flooding on the roads outside our house, but we were more than fine. Unfortunately, for some of my friends, they weren’t so lucky.
School is now back in session, and traffic has become unbelievable. Every September, it is so much worse than the previous year. Crazy. My 10 minute commute has gotten a bit longer lately. :-) I am hoping people will start learning how to drive eventually, but somehow I just doubt it.
Funny, I should mention traffic. I have started taking the time I am stuck in traffic and just turning into a prayer/praise time with the Lord. I find myself singing or praying out loud most mornings. I am sure everyone who passes me and sees me talking, thinks I am nuts, but I am finding it to be such a great way to start out my mornings.
Something I am learning first hand recently is not only that a house divided cannot stand, but when there is a non-believer trying to drive a wedge into a house that has a solid foundation built on Christ, the plan always back fires. The rains come, the rivers rise, but the solid foundation doesn’t falter. Lately we have seen people throwing large rocks at our foundation, trying to collapse a strong faith (mine especially, has been the target) in the Lord and they have not succeeded. They have caused us much annoyance, but they are not tearing the foundation down. In fact, I think in a lot of ways, it is just strengthening it.
Politics is starting to get on my nerves. One thing I have seen for certain is that many people are scared silly by Palin. Makes you wonder why. It is interesting. I have watched people practically start foaming at the mouth as soon as her name is mentioned. The other thing that just appalled me was when Biden basically said he is pro-choice because he doesn’t want to impose his religious belief on others. You are calling murder a religious belief that shouldn’t be imposed? Don’t even go there. That statement opens a logical can of worms that is insane. My question is, so why do we even have laws at all?! Why is murdering anyone even an issue with this logic? Disgusting and more so, frightening. People scare me. That is where I will leave the politics stuff, but seriously, this whole thing is spinning out of control.
Mike and I have been busy, still unpacking and organizing everything. We have gotten a lot done. We have got a lot of stuff coming down the road here in the next few months. It is going to be crazy! I am guessing that my posting will continue to be sporadic as I am just so busy.
Well, I am off to tend to the chaos of today, so I will talk to you all later. Thank you to all those who have stopped by lately. It is always good to hear from everyone.
The verse I close with is one that has inspired me in the past and so much recently:
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody. - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-2
Ugh, I really hate discussing politics, but I guess it is time to layout my personal feelings on the subject and give some background. Over on my husband’s blog, he has been talking a little bit about how we are going to be voting. I will start with my political background, then the line, I believe, should be where faith and politics collide, and finally how I feel about this election.
Political Background: I guess I would best describe myself as a conservative with a stong libertarian slant. Basically, the meat of my political plate is conservative, but the potatoes are definitely libertarian. I have socially conservative views, as well as fiscally conservative views. However, I believe most of the law making should come from the state and that the government, should stay out of people’s personal lives (and pockets) as much as possible and within reason (obviously). I also believe in the right to let people totally screw up their own lives, but be held accountable for screwing up others lives.
Compassion and Charity? Yes, I do believe in helping out my fellow man, but I do not believe it is the governments responsibility. That is a perfect job for the church. The beauty about the church is that they are right there in the town, they see the need, they know what is going on and can help those in need. Many years ago at my child hood church, a woman’s husband died in a machine accident. They had many young children and a huge farm. The church immediately came running to the rescue. The offered her a job as the church secretary to help get her back on her feet, the men pitched in at the farm until she was able to rent out a portion of it and hire some help for the rest. She was able to bring her young children with her to the church, while she worked, and her older boys were working with the men at the farm, learning how to help take it over.
Today, she is married to a farmer, who had lost his wife years ago, and they have the farm back under control and they have tons of children and she doesn’t need help from the church. That is church in action. The government cannot just hand out money blindly, but that is what it does. There are so many moochers and greedy people taking advantage of the government, which results in the common man, who is working, having to work harder and ultimately make less.I could go on about morality, abortion, and all of that until I turned blue, but I don’t have that much time, so I will go on to the next thing.
Voting? This may sound crazy to some, but I would give up my right to vote if every other woman would give it up as well. I feel like voting rights for women has been… well… a disaster. But, as long as women are allowed to vote, you bet I will, because someone has to try to counter-balance the stupidity of female voting. I admit, I tend to vote for the lesser of two evils in most elections, but in the primaries, I vote for the ideal candidate. I also realized there would never be such a thing as the perfect candidate. Everyone has issues, and man is imperfect. I also thought about how it would be if I ran, yes, even I would do things that weren’t the best things ever, I know it is bound to happen. So, here I am, who do I vote for in the election? Ugh. It is more often than not a catch 22. Well, maybe more of a paradox.Where do I feel Faith and Politics Collide? Sit tight and don’t get angry until you have read the whole thing. ;-) One of my favorite quotes of all time is from George Washington’s farewell address:
“…reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” - George Washington
Yes, I do believe that as Thomas Jefferson said, that the Bible is the corner stone, but we also must be careful (my Anabaptist background is coming out in full force here). Religious freedom was one of the reasons this country was founded. A state-run/state-controlled church is dangerous. “Religion” cannot control government. The result is the middle ages under the Catholic church. Absolution was a way of life, and people lived their lives out of fear. The grip the Catholic church had on people was terrifying. The church had its opinion on everything, if you disagreed, you were automatically a heretic.
With that said, I don’t believe that the level to which separation of church and state (which is NOT in the constitution - it was in a letter - esh) is carried out today is a good thing - it is horrible. The concept only meant that there would not be a state church, not that you couldn’t say a prayer or have the ten commandments posted. People are insane.
Who am I voting for in the election? Well, as my husband said, it will be McCain. Why? Well, it’s a long story. Who did I vote for in the primary? Ron Paul and dang proud of it. I wanted to go, but was in the middle of a hair raising project at work and thought that I wasn’t going to make it to the primary. I had to convince my boss that I should leave, that was fun. Mike promised me that he would vote for a reasonable candidate of my choice in November - and that is the story. I did like Ron Paul, and do support most of his ideals.
Why McCain? Quite frankly, I am afraid for this country, especially that will not bounce back from the stances and views of the other party. Yes, I realize that McCain has his serious issues, but the chasm between the two candidates leave no straddling the line for me this round. I must vote my conscience, and ultimately, I leave it in God’s hands.What are my feelings about Palin? Well, usually I will be the first to stand up and say a woman? Are you kidding? However, with this woman, I will make an exception. So far, everything I have seen about her and I have heard from her, thrills me. She use to hunt moose? How can you not love a woman like that?! :-) I am excited, she seems like she could be a great role model for young girls instead of all the other frightening women seen in the media today.
As many problems as we have in the country, I still think it is the best one out there, and I am still proud to be an American, even though I do get embarrassed every now and then - it is still my country.
I will do my part, as I believe I am called to do, but I put the rest in God’s hands. If we are going to survive the next few years with the gross instability in the world, it will have to be by God’s hands.So… Now you know. I usually like to add a verse from the Bible, but I am running very short on time, so I leave you a link to Romans 13.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. - Ephesians 6:12
There are times when people do you wrong. You didn’t have to do anything, but they are there attacking and trying to tear you down. This happened to me recently, and at first I was hurt, but then it didn’t stop and I became pissed off and extremely hateful of this person when no one could see. Or I thought no one could see. By anyone’s standards what this person did and said was inexcusable and I had a right to be angry.
God saw my heart and my attitude. Tonight, God showed me where I was wrong, as He so often does. I can sit in the corner and pout or yell about the wrongs done to me, or I can choose to do what is right and what God expects from me. I didn’t want to at first, but God told me I had to forgive them. I started to pray, next thing I know, a short prayer turned into me pouring my heart out and praying about things I didn’t realize I needed to be said.
Sometimes I just don’t understand why things happen the way they do, and I sometimes let things bother me and rip me apart, but God showed me something again tonight that He unfortunately has had to show me over and over again. How can I be an example for Christ when I am playing right into Satan’s hand? That is what Satan wants, to tear me down and keep me full of anger, instead of keeping my focus on God.I maybe a little bruised and bloody from the incident, but I can’t let that keep me from being a light for Christ. Being angry and hateful is not going to show Christ in me, and I would be a sorry excuse for a believer if I let what they did to me consume me.
I also realized something else, people do things without even understanding why they are doing what they are doing. This person isn’t a believer and what they did hit below the belt, and I don’t think they even fully realized what they was doing. Darkness hates the light for reasons it doesn’t understand. This incident was definitely a spiritual attack. I don’t want to go into what it was about, but there was something going on in my personal life and they couldn’t have known about it without a Satanic influence. When they brought it up, they claimed to have a vision about it, and then proceeded to go after me full force. There is no doubt this was an all out spiritual attack. Which is also the reason I cannot remain angry and hurt by what happened. The past few days, I have felt so burned out and consumed by it. I felt almost like throwing my hands up and giving up, but that is when God showed me what I needed to do to keep going. I needed to let it go, forgive them, and put my focus back on Christ.
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” - Hebrews 13:5-6
God, sometimes I just don’t understand why You put up with me. I am a mess. I am stubborn. I usually want to do everything on my own. And yet, somehow You love me anyway. And You sent Your Son to die for my sins. I don’t understand, I can’t comprehend the never ending love You have for me, but thank You. I wouldn’t have made it this far without You, thank You for never failing me and for never giving up on me.
