Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee

I’ve often wondered whose side God is on.  You watch a football game and there are often believers on both sides praying for victory.  In an election there are followers of Jesus praying that their candidate wins.  Does God really have a hand in who wins?

We’ve had a mixed bag of results in the Real Estate Market. We made $0 on our 1st home.  We prayed that God would sell it so we could go to Seminary in Texas and it did sell but we left with nothing.  Our 2nd home in Jacksonville, NC was nice.  However, when we moved to Atlanta to serve at a church that I know for certain we were to be at–we actually had to write a check to get out of that home.  Where was God?

Then we moved from Cumming, GA to Canton, GA to start a church.  We prayed and our house sold in about a month and we made an nice profit. We could have surmised that God was in our move.  However, the church ran out of money and we accepted a job on the Gulf Coast.  We prayed for God to sell our house and it sold but again we lost money.  We didn’t have to write a check like before but we lost some of the profit from the previous home.  Where was God?

We were approached by a great group of people in NC to move to a new ministry field.  We felt God was in it and we sold our home in less than 24 hours for a nice profit.  Was God behind this?  Our whole time in NC has been a struggle and wondered why were were losing money?  Well, the entire nation is suffering?  Where is God?

We have been trying to sell our home in NC for 3 weeks. We haven’t even had a showing yet.  So, yesterday we dropped the price significantly.  By the time we leave NC, I won’t be any better off than when I moved to Atlanta in 1998.  Where is God?

It got me to thinking about Job in the OT.  Job was highly thought of with God. Yet, Job struggled a whole lot worse than I can ever imagine.  I’m sure Job questioned why God would allow him to go through so much. I would guess if Job were around today, he would say should I not accept the bad with the good?

Our house may sell this weekend. It may not sell at all and we could foreclose.  I have no idea what God has planned for the future. This is what I know.  God has blessed me way beyond what I deserve.  I may not have or ever have a lot of money.  But I have a Godly wife and children.  I have parents who brought me up in the way of the Lord. I have more friends than anyone deserves.  

Where is God? –Right here with me!

[Bloomberg]

U.S. taxpayers, who feel they own a stake in Wall Street after funding a $700 billion bailout for the industry, don’t want executives’ bonuses reduced. They want them eliminated.

“I may not understand everything, but I do understand common sense, and when you lend money to someone, you don’t want to see them at a new-car dealer the next day,” said Ken Karlson, a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran and freelance marketer in Wheaton, Illinois. “The bailout money shouldn’t have been given to them in the first place.”

Compensation at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and the six other banks that received the first $125 billion of the federal funds is under scrutiny by lawmakers, including Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat. President-elect Barack Obama cited the program at his first news conference on Nov. 7, saying it will be reviewed to make sure it’s “not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms receiving government assistance.”

While year-end rewards are likely to decline with a drop in revenue this year, industry veterans say that eliminating them risks driving away the firms’ most productive workers.

“There are instances where bonuses are justified, deserved, and in the best interests of the investment bank involved,” said Dan Lufkin, a co-founder of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette Inc., the investment bank acquired by Credit Suisse Group AG in 2000. “Your very best people are people you want to hold, and your very best people will have opportunities even in this environment to transfer allegiance.”

`Your Jaw Drops’

The companies, which set aside revenue throughout the year to pay bonuses, haven’t commented on plans for year-end awards, typically decided this month or next. A study released last week said the firms are likely to cut bonuses for top executives by as much as 70 percent.

“Even really sober people are saying this is the worst financial crisis since the Depression, and they’re saying bonuses are just going to be reduced?” saidPatrick Amo, a 53-year-old retired merchant marine in Seattle. “Oh my God, you read that and your jaw drops.’‘

Wall Street firms’ pay has traditionally been tied closely to performance of the companies, which is why employees receive most of their compensation at the end of the year after final results are known. Depending on seniority and performance, bonuses for traders, bankers and executives can be a multiple of their salaries, which range from about $80,000 to $600,000.

Read more here.

[From me]

How in the world should people in companies that have been “bailed out” get bonuses? People are losing jobs and foreclosing on houses that actually worked hard.  Others, like myself have cashed out retirement to make ends meet and people who ran our retirement plans in the ground and are “bailed out” with our tax dollars are going to get a bonus!  Something is not right.  The government should make sure no one gets a bonus in any corporation that got “bailed out.”  Those executives should be thankful they still have a job.  Bonuses are not suppose to be expected unless you perform.  Companies that have lost money don’t deserve bonuses.  I respect Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutte who recently took a pay cut because his city is in a financial crisis. Leaders sacrifice in times of crisis not pad their own accounts!  Come on! If our leaders expect us to sacrifice–they need to do so also.  How about Congress taking a pay cut!

What do you think?

[Snoqualmie Valley Record]

Despite some parents’ and students’ objections to the Day of Silence, Mount Si High School Principal Randy Taylor told the Snoqualmie Valley School District board last week that the high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) had begun planning this year’s event, scheduled for April 25.
Taylor said organizers were working to set expectations of respect for all students - participants and non-participants - on the Day of Silence, which is part of a nationwide effort to raise awareness of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans-gendered and questioning (LGBTQ) students and allies who do not feel safe enough to speak their true voice.

Read about it here.

[AFA]

Why should parents be concerned about the so-called Day of Silence?

A. This event was started a decade ago by an adult homosexual advocacy group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), with the goal of promoting homosexuality to all students in a given school. It has grown enormously, unfortunately, as the support for the ‘gay’ agenda has been embraced by thousands of schools and impressionable students nationwide.

The Day of Silence postures every person who identifies as a homosexual, bisexual or cross-dresser as a victim of ongoing, unrelenting harassment and discrimination (being ’silenced’). While some incidents like this do occur, this event is an overwhelming exaggeration in an effort to manipulate our kids’ natural sympathies. The result ironically is that youth develop favorable views about a controversial, high risk behavior. At the same time, any disagreement, even when responsibly expressed, is viewed as “hateful”.

This year, GLSEN adds a special twist to “Day of Silence”: shameless exploitation of the recent tragic school shooting death of California 8th grade student Lawrence King. Los Angeles media report that although the boy had been entrusted to the care of Casa Pacifica, a residential center for “abused, neglected, and severely emotionally disturbed children,” he had been permitted for the last two weeks to attend school in feminine makeup, nail polish, and high-heeled boots. The adult guardians, school administrators, and teachers responsible for guiding and protecting this precious troubled child failed him miserably; GLSEN fails him again now by employing his violent death to manipulate and deceive millions of children.

Read about it here.

[From me]

I said I wouldn’t talk about homosexuality and I’m not. This isn’t a post about whether it is right or wrong. I just don’t think school is the place for a political statement. I thought school was for education in the 3 R’s etc… Why have a day that disrupts education? I’m sorry for the young man who was killed. It was wrong as is anyone who is killed. Are we going to start having days of silence for college Student Body Presidents at UNC or for young co-eds at Auburn? What about days of silence for the millions of babies that are aborted?

This is stupid. If an adult wants to live a certain lifestyle then fine. That is their choice. But don’t shove all this mess down impressionable children and teens. Let them make up their own minds without a school sanctioned event.

What do you think?

We went back to my wife’s hometown of Scottsboro, AL for Thanksgiving. We haven’t been back there since we evacuated for one of the many hurricanes that hit the gulf coast a few years back. Here are few random thoughts about my adventure.

• Kids don’t travel well
• Even when you leave earlier in the week–other people have the same idea (we got caught in traffic at the SC/GA border for an hour and the traffic on I-85 South in Gwinnett County was backed up to Sugarloaf. Thankfully I know my way around Atlanta.
• Rome, Georgia’s “By-pass” takes longer than driving through Shorter Ave. Plus there is a new Starbucks on Shorter Ave.
• Once I hit the Alabama state line I lost Sprint Coverage. uggh!
• Why does the Country group Alabama have an entire building dedicated to them?
• Scottsboro, AL is a beautiful area
• Once you have visited UnClaimed Baggage twice there isn’t much to do in Scottsboro.
• Scottsboro has a nice Wal-Mart
• I’m grateful that my wife left Scottsboro with all of her teeth–that is not the norm.
• Who has enough money in Scottsboro to live in those multi-million dollar homes at Goosepond except Taylor Hicks?
• One day in Scottsboro is enough.
• I’m glad I no longer live in Rome, GA.
• Don’t watch an Alabama-Auburn Football game with graduates of Auburn.
• Atlanta is very crowed but I still love it.
• Starbucks was smart making Starbucks mobile so I can find them on my Treo.
• Why does everyone travel back on Sunday?
• I’m glad we got rain but why when I’m driving?
• I want a motorhome but don’t want to pay for gas
• Why is gas $.30 cheaper in SC?
• Why do I get mooned in Gaffney, SC everytime I drive by that peach?

• My hard drive broke on my Dell
• My cord on my old Sony laptop broke just a few minutes ago.
• Good thing I posted all of my posts before I left, like I always do.
• I have a great family
• I’m blessed
• Happy Thanksgiving