Obama Eve

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This morning I awoke late and feeling good. “Good morning birthday boy,” said Peg, “happy birthday.”

“It is not my birthday,” I replied.

“Well what is it then?”

“It is Obama Eve.”

“Are you crazy?”

“No, I’m just thinking that we call the day before Christ’s birthday Christmas Eve, shouldn’t the day before our first black president’s birthday be named the same? He is, after all, transforming the world as we know it.”

I went on to explain that we are all joyful to celebrate Christ’s birthday. So much so, that we can’t bear the anticipation and begin our celebration the day before. Isn’t it the same before the newly proclaimed messiah of the Western World’s birthday? Not really, but it is the opposite of Christ’s birthday. Christmas is a joyful time with an overwhejlming spirit of giving and good cheer. Regardless of how tough our lives are we forget our pain at Christmas and spread what little we have to our loved ones and forget any animosities between us in the spirit of peace and joy. On Obama Eve people who relish taking engulf us. They love taking, not giving. Instead of love and peace there is racial divide. Instead of being happy about the life we enjoy living with Christ, we see sadness everywhere. It is as if people are at a dead-end. There is no joy in losing liberty, a job, replacing the job with two or three part-time ones. There is sadness in seeing our government deny God, and then attack our right to worship. There is no happiness or joy watching Islam proclaim itself as a religion, yet profess to kill us in the name of God.

Yes, Obama Eve is the complete opposite of Christmas Eve, and the idea of turning seventy-five on Obama Eve does not make me happy.

However, I am thankful for all those years of great health, and the blessings of a wonderful family to cheer me. I am grateful for having the privilege of spending forty-two years with an amazing friend, lover, and wife. I am grateful for the gift of a second beautiful wife for seven plus years, and the family she gave me.

There are so many things I am happy about that even the dark cloud of Obama Eve can not depress me.

Political Grace Before Dinner

The Thanksgiving holiday is over, and I made it without a mental breakdown. Grandma Peggy and I entertained the kids and the components of their families that could make it. The highlight of my day was saying Grace.

I went off the deep end and veered into the political arena, but recovered quickly. I thanked God for the current President who is  teaching us how fragile our liberty is. We have lost liberties throughout his tenure. One of the worst is the government take-over and ultimate ownership of two car companies, and some banks too. How about the President firing the CEO of a major car company? The entire Board of Directors at GM lost their rights on that one. The Constitution does not cover that detail anywhere, not even between the lines. I recently re-financed my mortgage and had to sign several documents pertaining to the Department of Homeland Security. A pure waste of paper, and probably the time of several bureaucrats hired to review the document; for what?  I’m sure I could put together a pretty good conspiracy, and pull it off before anyone at Homeland Security can detect a problem by the review of those documents.

Anyway, after my political Grace, I got down to thanking God for the food on our table and editorialized the fact of how lucky we were to have food at all because I had personally delivered food to a family in need just a few days earlier. They were desperate and very grateful to have that which I delivered. Finally, I got to:

Bless us oh Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen

The food on our table:

Turkey, stuffing, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, lasagna, tossed salad, cucumber salad, a relish tray, wine, and desert too: Cherry pie, apple pie, brownies, cinnamon cookies, a giant chocolate chip cookie, ice cream cake, and more.

No, we didn’t have cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie.

Oh Sweet Jesus What Do We Do?

Charley Rangel made a plea to Christians today. He asked them what Jesus would do about the debt ceiling?  I am a Christian and It is my opinion that Christ is a conservative. Jesus told Charley point-blank to stop spending, cut taxes, and drop sinful regulations.

Rangel cited the Good Samaritan as his reason for continuing to spend.  The good Samaritan left the innkeeper with a small sum money and told him to take care of the badly injured man who could not take care of himself. The Samaritan told the Innkeeper he would pay expenses over that which he gave him for the care of the man. Jesus never expanded the story beyond that. He did tell the man challenging him to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

I take that to mean that if I love myself enough to take care of myself without government aid, then that is what Jesus would want for all of us. Jesus would also want us to help severely injured and sick people who could not care for themselves. He would want us to pull a person away from harms way. He would want us to give CPR to someone having a heart attack. Our paramedics and emergency rooms do plenty of that. Would Jesus want us to sacrifice our living to feed those who won’t feed themselves?

We continue to give our fellow-men aid to help them out of their situation, but we do not teach them to fish. I recall a story about a woman who was being moved out of public housing into a lesser apartment. She was upset and told reporters that she had been on public aid for thirty years and deserved something better than the place she got. Shame on us for not learning that our failure is teaching generations of people to rely on the government for life because that aid  is easier to come by than an education or a  job.

He Is Risen!

The Resurrection from Grünewald's Isenheim Alt...

Image via Wikipedia

Greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer.

He had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Christmas Stories

Thank you for reading my story Santa is Missing, and for all the complimentary comments. I truly appreciate your  kind words. If you missed a chapter or want to start from the beginning, just click here: Santa is Missing. All ten chapters are linked and indexed for your convenience.

For new readers, who have not had the opportunity to read the 2009 story titled The Gift, I am publishing a completely revised version this year. The first part of eight begins on December 16, and will run daily to completion near Christmas eve.

I liked The Gift because it challenged me to express my personal views on Christmas and God.  If you wish to read a simple warm story about an angel who decides to give the Boss a gift for Christmas The Gift is for you. I hope you take my challenge and read it. I also hope it leaves you with a warm glow in your heart about Jesus Christ and Christmas.