Just Read It

This is one of the best posts I have ever read. It has a suprise ending that I will not spoil. But I will tell you how it starts.

It's just one of many pictures from a photo album full of pictures of the staff at Auschwitz relaxing and having a great time, sometimes with their children, during on-site retreats. I originally posted it as part of my post about "good people" and "bad people," but I've thought about it many times since then.

Principles

Star Parker has a great article about principles being more important to the American people than process. These are the last few paragraphs, but I encourage you to read the whole thing.

How can it be that even now many suggest that the problems of the party relate to process? They suggest that the party platform must change to appeal to this new constituency or reach out to that one?

Who is asking what do we believe to be true? What principles are crucial to assure that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be born into and grow up in a strong and prosperous nation?

Those who suggest that Americans have turned liberal are not paying attention. In California, as Obama captured 61 percent of the popular vote. In the same election, Californians passed Proposition 8 -- getting 71 percent of the black vote and 53 percent of the Latino vote -- to codify traditional marriage in the state constitution

The future of the Republican Party is not in process but in restoring leadership for traditional American principles that are relevant to every demographic group, to every ethnic group, in every time.

Let the work begin.

OneNewsNow has a story along similar lines.

Socialized Education

I was looking around at F3 Coalition and found this article. It is from World Magazine and written by Joel Belz. It makes several good points, and my favorite was this one:

Socialized medicine? Most of us recoil at the idea. Socialized airlines? Reminds us of Aeroflot. Socialized banks? When it happened last month, it terrified us.

But socialized schools? Nine out of ten of us patronize them regularly.

And we do so with na'ry a thought or concern about how such an arrangement affects next week's election, or the election after that, or the lifetime of elections to come.

Life After Birth

It is often mentioned that pro-life views should extend past the womb. This week in Fort Worth something happened that is a good example of this. A lady had arranged to give her child up for adoption. Adoptive parents were lined up. Then the little boy was born at 25 weeks. The adoptive parents had second thoughts at this point. The birth mother decided to look for someone else. CPS gave the birth mom 48 hours to find new parents before they would order the life support systems pulled.

Someone pointed out that if the mom had given birth at home and then not taken the extremely pre-mature boy to a hospital, she would have faced manslaughter or neglect charges. So what gives these punks at CPS the right to decide whether the child lives or dies? I understand that NICU is very expensive. But should CPS be the ones to put a price tag on life?

I am glad to report that the little boy did get a set of adoptive parents (with a runner-up even) before the deadline. God bless these new parents and the little boy.

Marriage Wins!

Amid the flurry of Wednesday, I got a glimmer of hope. OneNewsNow had an article celebrating the fact that marriage won across the country. Praise the Lord! Though our country seems morally bankrupt, I can still see the Lord working in mighty ways.

Predictions and a Prayer

Kevin Tracy has a prediction map for tonight's results. His ending electoral college tally is Obama 375 and McCain 163. I tend to think he is right. At the very least, he is a better political predictor than I am. If he is right, this is my prayer: May an Obama presidency energize God-fearing people across this country. Not because they are excited about his policies but because they finally understand that we, each one of us, must stop relying on the government to solve all of our problems. Moral decay in this country will only shrink when Jesus grows in each heart and spreads to other hearts. We God-fearers must actually do things. Things that are outside of our church buildings. Things that are outside our comfort zones. Things that we have never done before. May we all prepare ourselves by reading His Word and praying. Then may we have the courage to go public with our faith. May we go public in our stand against evil.

A Death, a Fight for Life, and Hope of New Life

A Death

Our rat, Stefano, died last night. In fairness, we had been expecting him to die for the last few months. He was about 150 in rat years and very decrepit. But it was still sad. He was a very good rat. He never bit anyone even when he was carted around the house in little jostling hands. He was very smart and friendly. His cage looks lonely with no cardboard house. I used to loathe rats until I got to know Stefano.

A Fight for Life

Today was the last day of the 40 Days for Life campaign. I have really enjoyed it. It was a great growing experience. I also enjoyed spending time in prayer about a subject that I haven't given much focused prayer time about previously.

Hope of New Life

I bought some paperwhites bulbs today. Somehow I find encouragement in watching dormant plants come to life. Maybe it reminds me of the Resurrection.