June 2009 #1

PRAYER FOR BETTY: Betty is presently going through radiation on her back & tailbone. She has had six days and has a total of twelve treatments, going into the oncologist each day. She has a lot of pain laying on the radiation table but it is a short treatment. Hopefully this will ease the bone pain she has been experiencing.

PREACHER OBAMA; Turn on the news (Fox) most any weekday late morning or early afternoon and you are more than likely to hear President Obama speaking. He is not preaching the Good News he is preaching more big government, a favorite topic of his. Bigger government, more power, authority, rules, agencies, czars, etc. are increasing government jobs. His stimulus package is not doing much to create new jobs abound the nation, only government jobs. The reality is that our children and grandchildren will be working for the government for many years to come to pay the tax bill. / The media is still entranced with Obama, even when his swift hand kills an annoying fly, great news stuff. If that doesn’t catch your fancy keeping watching, you will get to see the family dog or his rushing out with a caravan of limousines to purchase hamburgers. He even brought some back to those who weren’t in the caravan. I never did see who paid for the hamburgers. / The taxpayers did get to pay thousands of dollars for dinner and a play in New York. Can you imagine the flack President Bush would of received had he done the same when he was in office? / We haven’t seen anything yet, just wait until Obama gets his socialized medical plan passed that is similar to what Canada and England has. My son John was under that plan when he and his wife Ethel served as missionaries in Canada. He had gall bladder problems and writhed in pain on the floor at times because the government declared the problem related to elective surgery. It took months of agony before he received surgical relief. If you have never had a serious gall bladder attack, believe me, it is something more than just an “elective” procedure. You would take a knife and cut it out yourself if you were able.

REAL SPIRITUAL WORK: “John 6:29, Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” Too often we apply or claim wrong things as spiritual work. There is no spiritual work done by us until we start from this point, knowing first that we belong to the Savior, then we can serve him and know we will receive His reward.

May 2009 #1

PERSONALS: It has been some time since I sent out a Musings and many are asking what happened to the “Musings”?. Between Betty and I doctoring and not feeling the best I just haven’t felt up to writing or doing much of anything, other than over using my recliner night & day. Further, my vision had declined making reading very difficult. / Betty has developed double vision and been to the eye doctor a number of time and had MRI’s taken to try and find out what is causing the problem, including a minor surgery to check the blood vessels at her temple. Nothing was found so she is seeing the eye doctor regularly to keep tabs while wearing an eye patch over one eye.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION: I turn eighty on the 18th and the kids planned a big celebration for me over the Memorial Day weekend. There were 24 of us sharing a joyous time together. Patty can early and stayed for two weeks that has been a rich blessing. My what a great sacrifice on their part coming from as far away as Oregon. I never expected such an honor and blessing. Nor did I expect to reach this age but God has graciously allowed it and I take things as they come.

TATTOOS: I wrote previously about tattoos and someone responded with the following: “Do you really think tattoos are a mimicry of satanic practices in modern-day culture: A lot of mandates God set in the Old Testament for the Israelites aren’t applicable – times change along with cultures. A tattoo that can spark a conversation about faith in Christ doesn’t seem like a negating thing to me.” I don’t want to give a lot of space and time to this topic but here I go. The Ten Commandments come to mind and I find it interesting that nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament, with the exception of keeping the Sabbath. They were good for Israel and they are good for the present age as well. The Old Testament sets the stage for the New Testament and it is valuable for us today, else God would not have preserved it for us. Therefore we learn from it and find it applicable in so many ways. Old or New Testament, as a Christian I choose to forgo tattoos believing that my body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and not to be so abused. Anyone who chooses differently, that is between them and their Lord but I find it difficult as a believer to do so. Further, the God of the O.T. is the same as the God of the N.T. and what was wrong or immoral in one period is wrong and immoral in the others. Culture should not amend God’s standards.

GAY QUEEN: Can you believe this: A gay male in a Los Angeles high school was voted to be their prom queen. What a slap in the face for girls of the school. I think if I had been the prom king I would have stepped down from the position. For that matter I would have skipped the prom. Sodom and Gomorrah here we come.

FEWER POLICE & FIREMEN: Economic problems are causing the firing of police and firemen, endangering our communities. We desperately need to see a turn around or we are going to see an increase of criminal activity. Do you find it interesting (or a sad day) that Obama is increasing the size of government, hiring new czars, etc. rather than a true stimulus that increases employment for society at large?