A Little Light

The picture I have placed in this installment of 'Ramblings of a Follower' is of Mayor John Cook the mayor of the city of El Paso, Texas where I live.

Yesterday I experience a moment of joy that I want to share with you all. I am on a regular schedule of chaplains and ministers, here in our city, who are asked to do the invocation for our weekly City Council meetings. I arrived at my normal time and waited along with others for the meeting to start. The meeting started late, which is not unusual but yesterday as the mayor came in to the meeting room he was carrying his guitar. The mayor is a fine man and as with all who serve as mayors in cities across our nation he has a difficult job. He is a Christian man and from what I understand his faith is not just cultural which gives me a sense of security and hope in his leadership.

When the meeting should have finally been called to order the mayor picked up his guitar and announced to all that the meeting was going to be a little delayed because....... he hoped that we would all join him in singing some Christmas carols to honor the season. At first I found myself a little embarrassed for him and wondering what would happen and how many would sing. Well the mayor began with the song Noel and sure enough only a few people were singing with him and my embarrassment for him seem to grow stronger with each chord that was played.

But then it struck me, how wonderful this effort by the mayor was. In a day when the onslaught of political corruption seems to be growing in our nation; here was a man, a civic leader, a brother in the Lord, who was willing to be counted, at this time of the year, as a follower and worshiper of Jesus Christ. My heart was warmed and I found myself feeling proud to be identified with the mayor on this occasion. With that heart warming came a boldness within me and I began to sing louder and louder with the mayor.

I have hope for our nation not because we are perfect but because we have a savior name Jesus Christ and countless men and women like my mayor who are willing to bring a little light into the midst of growing darkness. God bless my mayor and all those who serve in my city with sincere hearts and efforts.

Let us pray for those in authority over us....in this we shall find peace.

Exposure of the Heart

There is an old saying that goes like this; "Out from within the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" In recent days there has been a shocking and ongoing revelation of corruption within the office of the governor of the state of Illinois. On the one hand it shocks us as a people because we would expect a governor to have a higher standard in all areas of their life but alas we have once again had an example that reinforces our frustration and loss of respect for those in the political arena. The governor not only was caught in bribery but clearly his heart has been exposed and his words only seem to enforce the truth of the corruption of the man.

I have attached an article to this blog from the writer Judy Gruen a contributing writer to the American Thinker Blog. She has something to say that perhaps we should consider.


As news broke about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's arrest on political corruption charges, even those who have become cynical about political miscreants expressed shock at the brazenness of his attempts to sell the U.S. Senate seat formerly occupied by President-elect Barack Obama.

Less shocking, unfortunately, was his incessant use of the "f-word" during conversations in which he plotted to cash in on his political power. Our society has become mired in both an endless parade of political graft (remember the congressman who hid $50,000 in the freezer?) as well as an endless parade of profane language in the media.

Fortunately, we are not so jaded that we will sit still for political miscreants -- we want them punished and justly so. I'm sure millions will cheer along with me on the day that Blagojevich is stripped of his governorship and sent for a long time-out in an Illinois prison, where he will have lots of time to spend in the library and work on expanding his limited vocabulary.

Perhaps it's no accident that Blagojevich used the most vulgar obscenities in nearly every sentence caught on tape. Minding your language and minding your behavior both require self-discipline and a respect for an established order in society. Clearly, the out-of-control, arrogant governor had neither. Foul language is almost always used by people who are angry and hostile, as the tapes plainly reveal Blagojevich to be. He also proved another truth about habitual obscenity users: the more they swear, the more limited their vocabulary becomes, to the point where they cannot go more than one sentence without a meaningless, yet still offensive, profanity. So in addition to adding to that anger management problem, chronic swearing also makes you lazy, unimaginative, and stupid.

Not that long ago, one rarely heard rough language among civilized people. Most found non-profane ways to express anger and frustration, using self-discipline and a far richer vocabulary than is commonly used today. As our society has normalized foul language, we have degraded ourselves in the process. Now, people yakking on cell phones in a doctor's full waiting room (even with children present) don't flinch from using the first four-letter word that pops into their sullied brains.

Of course, the governor's insufferable actions are worse than the language he used. But as Jim O'Conner, author of Cuss Control, the Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing, observes, "Profanity is part of the English language, but people have to be more discreet about when and where they use it. The governor was quoted in private conversations. Still, as a public figure, he should have known that even what he said in private is likely to be reported." Yes, especially considering that he knew he was under investigation.

The fact is, a little self-censorship is good for the soul, while also building that elusive kinder, gentler society. In addition to the joy of seeing an arrogant creep like this get his comeuppance, we'll all benefit if we let bad boy Blagojevich become a poster child for what mindless profanity can do to us. As he has shown, it isn't pretty.

Judy Gruen is the author of The Women's Daily Irony Supplement.

Relationships

How fragile are relationships....my mother and fathers marriage lasted over 50 years, that makes them real gems of perseverance and hope. Their marriage was not without its difficulties, on a couple of different occasions they almost got a divorce, I remember the confusion of those times and the pain I felt as a young boy trying to figure what I had done to cause the problem that my parents were having. This perspective is so typical of young children when they see their parents struggle within their marriage.

Well my parents never did divorce and continued on through the years to make the choices for commitment that led them to the fifty year mark, truly an amazing mile stone in marriage.

Why do I bring up this topic today?

Tonight I found out about a couple that my wife and I knew many years ago with whom we have recently been in touch with again that are now in the process of possibly getting a divorce. When I found this out I was speechless, for those that know me, being speechless is not a common thing for me, I was grieved, overwhelmed and just wanting to reach out and help.

How does this happen, what do we do that leads to broken relationships?

Although the circumstances vary and are complicated that lead to broken relationship what is at the core of the issues and complications that lead to broken relationships is simple.

Back to my conversation with my friend;

In the midst of the conversation with my friend I found myself being stirred regarding a friendship I and my wife have with a couple here in our city. We have wanted to see them for a while but circumstances being what they have, has not allowed that to happen. Over the process of time I recently found myself being offended by what appeared to be a lack of mutual concern for the relationship by this couple, this lead me down to the twisting maze of the victim/poor me mentality. By the time I was done going through this maze I was ready to "give them a piece of my mind" regarding their lack of effort to at least maintain the relationship.....ah the victim always seems to be so right, at least to themselves.

Well as things would have it I happened to be able to have lunch with the husband and found out about all the challenges that they are having as a family and as he spoke I felt extremely selfish and stupid, to say the least, for my self-righteous victim mentality, and that I a pastor, a man of God, a.......fool, had made a terrible and yet simple mistake that could of led to a broken relationship with some precious people whom I admire and love.

So where does this episode of my life lead to? To the simple beginning of all relationship breakdowns; self, and the deifying of self in any relationship. Thats where it all simply comes down to, it all begins with some one in the relationship deifying there need or want as supremely important above everything and everyone else. I use the word 'deifying' because of the way we all fawn over and seem to place above and before everything else OURSELF. All to often when this happens we don't even realize it because it seems that we are just so right in our understanding and knowledge of the assumed relationship difficulty.

Jesus is the master of relationship building and he proved it by allowing himself to be crucified so that we might have a restored relationship with our heavenly Father, that pretty much demonstrates to us what we must do with our deified selfs and how we can at least begin to see good relationship start in our lives and or be restored in our lives.

Just a thought or two for us as we journey together.