Code Pink Crosses the Line

There’s some ‘baggage’ that comes with being a Christian and believing in the exisitence of God and goodness. By default, most believers have to acknowlege the existence of the devil and evil.

For those of us who grew up in the pentecostal, charismatic and even catholic traditions, our exposure to the manifestations of evil in this world are perhaps a little higher than for those in more conservative christian traditions. Almost all of us however, acknowlege that witchcraft, hexes, curses and demonic oppression and possession are not only possible, but are actually a part of the spiritual reality of our world.

This is why I read with absolute horror, and righteous anger, that the anti-war protest group Code Pink, had ended their latest week of protests, with an open invitation to witches to to cast spells on the location and occupants of a recruiting center in California. I believe they are planning another session for Mother’s day.

Code Pink members unfurled a pink banner reading “Troops Home Now” and waved signs as they began the protest, which they promised would include incantations and pointy hats for a “witches, crones and sirens” day.

“Women are coming to cast spells and do rituals and to impart wisdom to figure out how we’re going to end war,” Zanne Sam Joi of Bay Area Code Pink told FOXNews.com.

The attitude of many, including some in my own family, was to laugh at their ‘antics.’ Their concept of witches is limited to the halloween hag or fairy tale bad guy, or the hot babes of ‘Charmed.’ Few, very few recognize the spiritual implications of having a ‘real’ witch speaking a curse into the lives of unsuspecting indivduals.

If you don’t ‘believe’ in poison, and you drink it..it will still kill you. Not believing in the power of evil to destroy a life, won’t stop it from happening.

My dismay hightened when I discovered that the only reponse to this spiritual assault was people putting a ‘ring of salt’ around the recruiting center.

May God help us…

Where were the believers to plead the protection of the blood of Jesus for those who were present.. where were the spiritual warriors who could speak the Word into the atmosphere and command angels to war against the forces of darkness that would show up to carry out a witches decree?

I know I’m probably freaking people out writing like this… but I come from a spiritual tradition that teaches us to recognize our spiritual authority. We are nothing in ourselves, but the authority of Christ that dwells in us as believers has given us the right to bind and loose things in the realm of the spirit that would seek to harm those covered by our sphere of influence.

I cannot put into words the intensity of my concern when it is considered acceptable in America, to openly dabble in witchcraft in an effort to influence the direction of government policy. Is there no shame anymore… is paganism now the currency of the day?

I know there are those who will say that this was a harmless exercise in pagentry.. like Halloween in May. That may have been the case for the vast majority. But I guarantee you..absolutely…that some who turned up were active practitioners of witchcraft, and used the activity of the ‘themed’ protest to do real spiritual damage. A reporter familiar with the area observed:

Code Pink’s request to have witches join the anti-war protest in Berkeley is probably tongue-in cheek. But I lived in Berkeley for many years, and I know for a fact, that there are covens in that fair city. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few real witches show up and conjure some anti-war magic.

Saints.. these are dark days. Evil in all it’s forms is lurking in the weeds, waiting for the structures to be be put in place for it to come out into the open and be accepted as the norm.

I hesitate to label individuals as evil.. but I can certainly identify the ideologies that would foster its presence. The extreme libralism of ‘any thing goes’ and ‘there is no such thing as right and wrong’; the era of ‘reletavism’ that would be ushered in to our lives if this philosphy is allowed to be the dominant shaping force on our domestic and foreign policy, will only bring catostrophic regression of the value system that has made America what it is.

There is much more at stake in this election than a ‘presidential nomination.’ We are on the frontlines of a battle for the spiritual and cultural identity of this nation. And you’d better believe, if the liberals win.. I’m heading back to the islands.

God be with us.

His Handmaiden

References:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354689,00.html

http://newsblaze.com/story/20080510090143reye.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

 

 

I am not a victim: Rejecting the Obama Revolution

First of all, my apologies to any regular readers for my absence this last week or so.

I’ve been so busy with work, and the news is so saturated with democratic primary sensationalism, that there just hasn’t been much I actually wanted to process out in the open.

The Matrix called, and I lost myself in that wonderful place where you barely even remember there’s an electoral process going on. (I’m telling you, McCain needs to do something soon to wake up and engage the base, or we might all just slip into a coma and wake up after the electiion!)

The restful bliss of ignorace notwithstanding…hearing Michelle Obama say at a rally on CSPAN, that a child in South Carolina burst into tears at the thought of Obama becomming president because she ‘got’ that America was putting limitations on her, woke me up right quick from my lethargy.

If Michelle is to be believed, the little girl cried because she ‘knew’ that she wasn’t getting an education equal to others, she ‘knew’ that she won’t get good health care if she had an emergency, she ‘knew’ that we were stuck pursuing a failing foreign policy.. because she ‘knew’ that America is putting limitations on her ability to succeed.. WHAT??!!

I think she cried because it was exciting that she might get to see the first black president elected in our history… but that wouldn’t offer enough political capital to manipulate on the stump.

I had an ear out checking to see if anyone in talk radio discovered the soundbite to add to her ‘I’ve never really been proud of America’ comment, but no one seems to have commented on it on radio or in the blogosphere that I can see.

I actually sense that even the live crowd didn’t appreciate the comment, because she was clerly expecting applause or feedback when she said it, and when it didn’t come, she backpeddled on the comment and tried to qualify what she ment by ‘limitations’

Say what you will… NO ONE can doubt that America is still the land of opportunity. You could be born in the most terrible of circumstances, but most Americans, if given access to an education, food, and shelter, can become whatever they want to become.

The Only limitations we have are those we place on ourselves.

The victim mentality seems to overshadow almost everything the Obamas do. In fact, much of their success seems to be derived from getting people to feel really sorry for themselves, getting people to feel indignant at their lot in life, and then getting them to take it out on ‘other,’ (whoever that happens to be at the time.)

Sound familiar? Welcome to the ‘black’ experience as defined by Liberation ideology.

Oddly enough, this is all done in the name of unity, love and change.  The messages seem to be at crosspurposes.

I know that all of the candidates repeat the ‘Washington is broken’ mantra, and they’re right! It just seems that Barak’s campaign seems to get more propulsion out of that message because of the almost ‘revolutionary’  way he manages to communicate it.

So much of their message seems to be ‘Fight the power!!” that it makes me wonder again, to what extent Rev. Wright’s philosophical perspective has influenced and informed Obama’s perspective of the world, and how he thinks it can be ‘fixed’

If you understand that according to Wright’s world view, only RADICAL action can bring change, and that Wright needs the ‘oppressors’ to stay the ‘oppressors’ so that he can hold on to power over his congregation of victims, it makes you wonder how much ‘Change’ Obama would really be interested in making from the WH, and just how radical those changes would be if he actually made them.

In theory, following Wright’s philosophical model,  Obama would hold the reins of power, ‘preach’ to his victims that he is fighting for them, while he does little or nothing that would actually improve their lot.. and in fact could do some radical things that would in fact make their situation worse…because in the end, it was only ever about the power.

This would sound crazy, except for the closed door conversations caught on tape, or the back channel discusssions about NAFTA with the Canadians, or the latest doublespeak on his dealings with the teamsters.

I don’t hate Obama.. in fact, for his supporters sakes I hope his ‘revolution’ is real, and based on a sincere desire to help people and change America for the better, but much has come to light that makes one seriously question the motivations of this ‘rebel’

If we have learned anything, it is that Obama’s brand has taken a hit… Is he really just another politician capable of doing and saying what needs to be done to ensure his progress?

If so, It’s just sad that the only way he can find to raise himself up… is by making us feel really down so that he can offer us ’salvation’ from our despair.

I am not a victim.

His Handmaiden

A Pawn’s Rebellion

I’ve always liked chess.

Can’t say I ever totally mastered it, but I do know that it’s a battle of minds and wills and strategies, and that it doesn’t REALLY get going until some disposable pawns are taken out like so much cannon fodder.

I believe that many online political activists have been reduced to pawns; manipulated, sacrificed, and used to further the agenda of some knights, bishops, kings and queens in the MSM and major league blogosphere.

I’m not a Romney fan… but how did my personal uneasiness about his recent social conservative conversion, become a full blown case of Romney derangement syndrome? I mean, at it’s height I was practically frothing at the mouth in my passionate ‘hatred’ for the man.

I see the same thing from the other side about Mike Huckabee. Sometimes it seems like Romney supporters would love the opportunity to make Mike in effigy and burn him at the stake. The intensity of vitriol is potent, but I doubt at the beginning of January most of them even knew who Huckabee was.

So, the question becomes,  how did we the party faithful end up where we are; full of this unneccessary poison that may end up tainting our ability to reason clearly come November?

The answer I believe, is that we were played as pawns by the conservative and mainstream media and blogosphere both, in their attempts to influence this electoral process in the direction they saw fit.

Lets begin in Iowa … with the unexpected boom in earned media coverage of Huckabee.

The MSM’s experiment with the ‘preacher who would be president’ went through a roller coaster of agendas.

 First he was covered for electoral ‘entertainment,’ not taken at all seriously and not allowed into the hallowed atmosphere of the 1st tier. But Mike is a skilled communicator, and used those apearances to drive up his name recognition and poll numbers, right before the critical first in the nation primary, making him a threat to the then front runner Romney.

This is the critical point at which the general voting public becomes aware of Huckabee and begin to tune in to information about the dark horse candidate.

It is also the first time that many voters become aware that Mitt was running well in Iowa and that there was a contest going on between the two men.

It became the point when the chess masters started manouvring their pawns to get their favorites into a position for checkmate.

The conservative media were already in mid Rudy/Fred propoganda strategy when it became clear that these two would not be players in Iowa, and of the two remaining players, Mitt was clearly more ‘presidential’ in their eyes.

Thus began weeks of intensive interrogation interviews on Fox and the sunday shows, as ’scandal after scandal’ and contorversy were dug up and ’analyzed’ in a constant news cycle in attempts to take the shine off Huckabee’s appeal. Many of the far right giants in the poIitical blogosphere followed suit. Sometimes they even broke the ‘latest scandal’ and fed it into the MSM.

It didn’t help that in the chase for a scoop, reporters cherry picked questions and statements made by both candidates and blew them into days worth of ‘negative’ coverage further inflaming the partisans on both sides of the divide… the now infamous Mormon question by Mike, or the marching with Martin Luther King Jr. comments from Mitt. These were probably not the best comments to make when your every word is going to be dissected, but the damage they did was mainly because of the spin put on the comments by ‘commentators’ and not the comments themselves.

Now, in the minds of Romney supporters Huckabee was a soft on crime, pro-life liberal, knuckle dragging corrupt, bigoted, bible thimping hick. And in the minds of Huckabee supporters, Mitt was a slick opportunist, an empty suit, an elitist  who would say or do anything to get elected.

This maybe wouldn’t have been an unsurmountable problem if the two candidates were covered equally by the one set of commentators that REALLY mattered to the conservative voting public.. but they weren’t.

Because of the clear and OBVIOUS bias of the Hannity’s Ingrams and Malkins against the Huckabee candidacy, Huckabee supporters became livid with the unfair and unbalanced coverage of their candidate in favor of  Romney.

We had no problem with Mike being held accountable for the ’squishy’ areas of his record, but when the conservative media refused to ‘analyze’ the squishiness in Romney’s record, and in effect whitewashed him into Reagan reincarnated, it was very hard to swallow.

Unfortunately, I believe that the steaming frustration we had with the conservative leaders we had trusted to be objective, became directed, unfairly or not, on the object of their affection. Romney.

I began to destest him because he was in my opinion, receiving unfair and perhaps undeserved support from the very people who were doing evrything in their power to negate the candidacy of someone who was a reflection of what mattered most to ME.

It really didn’t help when supporters of both candidates themselves began to spout the media talking points in blog comments, and even went beyond ‘facts’ to the visceral personal character attacks in those comments. I began to percieve Romney’s character as being  the same as the ‘worst’ of his supporters own, and ‘hated’ him even more. I am probably not too far off the mark to say that Romney supporters probably had a visceral reaction to the more extreme presonal attacks on Romney that some Huckabee supporters made as well, and likewise made the leap to attributing those qualities to Mike.

By being unfair in their coverage, the conservative media shot themselves in the foot. They managed to alienate the very voters that they were trying to convince to buy what Mitt was selling. A better strategy would have been to say, Huckabee is good.. but Mitt is better..

Saying Huckabee was a liberal was like telling me and others like me, that I was a liberal too…  “voting bloc overboard!” Not the best way to woo us. It instead created a vicious circle of poisonous dislike that began with the media, but was continued and perpetuated by inflamed supporters.

While the Huckabee supporters waged their war with the conservative media elite, the MSM was still playing with their new ‘preacher Huckabee’ toy, enjoying that it was bothering the GOP elite that they were playing with a ‘pastor,’ and that their apparently unwarranted attention was driving the Romney supporters crazy in their own rights.

In the end, nobody realized that the only winners were the ‘media’ in all its forms, and that the only losers were we the people who cared enough to be actually engage in the political process in action.

Almost all of our ‘frenzy’ is rooted in published and broadcasted material that is written with the intent of being provocative and stirring up hostility between camps. We moved beyond calm and logical opposition on principle, to rabid rival steet gangs, each intent on the destruction of the other.

There are always those extreme, (and immature) characters who will detest and reject a candidate out of hand because of something as personal as their religion.. (on both sides of the divide) But by and large, most of us are just very impressionable, and inclined to believe whatever ‘fits’ with our personal take on a particular issue. If you were inclined to like Mitt, you were more likely to believe and embrace information that reduced Huck’s viability, and vice versa.

Nothing gives these writers and reporters more validation than having 300 comments of Huckabee vs. Romney hysteria posted after their articles. Some bloggers will go so far as to create provocative websites, and then blog about them in a way that provokes controversy.

(I will not go so far as to accuse, but I find it highly suspicious that the huckabee4america.com website was created the same day that it was blogged about on Townhall, in a way designed to inflame Romney supporters against Huck. Further, a google search of the website yeilded only 2 hits, the website and the townhall article. Now, that TH article is being cited as a source by other pro-Romney bloggers in an anti-Huck light.)

Then there is the most recent commentary on Mike’s campaign spin with McCain in Arkansas.

Reported objectively in multiple sources, you come away with a sense that Huckabee and McCain are good friends able to campaign together comfortably because they had a civil campaign.

The exact same conversation reported with an agenda, included the comment, “In a dig at Romney…”

Excuse me.. is that reporter psychic? Can she read minds… how dare she assume that a comment about ‘negative campaigning’ had to be about Romney… did not Fred play dirty, and perhaps hurt Mike even worse that Mitt ever did in SC?

People are playing with our heads… and we’re letting them!

Look, we all have to get to the point where we can say I like my guy more than your guy… but I don’t hate your guy, and I could see some benifits that he could bring to the table.

Neither of these candidates were angels… they are human, and politicians after all. We need to take them down off of their pedestals and accept them for the flawed representatives of our world views that they are.

I’m so tired of being the entertainment or validation pawn for ‘reporters’ or bloggers trying to make their mark on the world with unprofessional provocation.

I’m just not going to play anymore. 

His Handmaiden

Signs of the Times

Sometimes we can become so obsessed with politics, especially if you’re a junkie like me, that lots of other news slips by unnoticed. News that really should be critically important, especially to those who are spiritually sensitive.

We all should know that oil reached another record high of 115 dollars a barrel today, but do we realize what the ripple effects of our paracitical relationship with ‘liquid energy’ is causing?

In our attempts to find eco friendly replacements for oil, much of our food producing farmland has become fuel producing terrain, (corn for ethanol) and the ripple effect of that is finally reaching our store shelves.

I’m sorry, but I’ll give up my car, before I’ll give up my bread.. it’s ridiculous!

An alarming article was published in New York in the last few days, detailing the very real impact that corn production for fuel, along with other natural factors impacting the agriculture sector, is having on our food production. The quote following the link details the reporter’s eye witness report of food rationing in progress at a Costco on the east coast. Please read the entire article, it is a real eye opener.

http://nysun.com/news/food-rationing-confronts-breadbasket-world

Most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag [of rice]. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.

“Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history,” a sign above the dwindling supply said.

Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.

An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour.

This is in America people!! How is this happening? We are the breadbasket of the world!

In another related story that got the drive by treatment this election year, there are RIOTS taking place all over the third world because of food shortages!

In Cameroon, 24 people have been killed in food riots since February, while in Haiti, protesters chanting, “We’re hungry” forced the prime minister to resign this month.

In the past month, there have been food riots in Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Madagascar.

The World Bank now believes that some 33 countries are in danger of being destabilised by food price inflation, while Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, said that higher food prices risked wiping out progress towards reducing poverty and could harm global growth and security.

(see source below)

Nothing new you say, there’s always been hunger in the third world…but wait… we don’t usually get to the stage of riots because generous countries like the US ship flour and rice overseas to those in need.

Do you think we have food for humanitarian aid when our wholesale depots are running out of produce for local consumption?

I’m not trying to be a fearmonger, in fact, I’m fairly sure it’s possible for things to stabalize, at least here in the U.S. IF individuals stop thinking about their individual bottom dollars, and start thinking about the good of the country as a whole.

Forget growing food for fuel… we can’t eat the ozone, if it comes down to that immidiate choice. There are other alternate energy sources that will not neccesitate ration lines at the checkout.

It is very sombering to think that we could propel ourselves into a social and economic meltdown that will have international ramifications, because everyone wants to get rich quick. Who needs a biblical famine, when we can induce one ourselves by man made means?

Lest we forget though, there is nothing new under the sun, and nothing that catches a soverign God by surprise. Almost 2000 years ago, the apostle John recorded in the book of the Revelation:

Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” (Revelation 6:6)

That’s the same as paying 50 plus dollars (@ minimum wage) for a quart of flour. According to scripture, its coming. The wise and the spiritually attuned will be prepared.

I am not by any means obsessed with the apocolypse… but when signs of the times start staring me in the face, I’m not one to ignore them either. Just in case

Time to spend a little more time on my knees, and to buy an extra bag of flour!

His Handmaiden

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/04/22/scifood122.xml

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmOrrlNsq91JgRERInIgzRXDagzg

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C04%5C23%5Cstory_23-4-2008_pg5_26

The Advocate

I am currently experiencing just a shadow of what Jesus probably feels when He stands before the Father’s throne to advocate on our behalf.

I have been mentoring a student teacher at work. She has really invested her energies, time and passion into embracing and enhancing the spirit of our school. She is a wonderfully creative teacher, participates in extra curricular activities, is the first to volunteer for the task no one else wants and even teaches a yoga class for the staff after work once a week.

A vacancy has come up in our department, and I was almost sure that she would be a shoe in for the spot. I mean what could any unknown off the street offer to challenge the good that we already know?

But I can’t shake the feeling that the top brass aren’t sold on her, and that feeling was confirmed by the appointment email that popped up today asking me to sit in on an interview with another subject.

I suppose that by law vacancies have to be advertized, but I guess some little part of me was expecting the “wink and nod, she’s in, don’t worry” routine.

So now, I’m her advocate. I probably know her best, have spent time with her, seen her up days and down days, seen her brilliant ideas and her stupid ideas. Of everyone on that campus I probably am most aware of her instructional strengths and weaknesses, and most of all she is petitioning to be a part of MY family, my department, so I would hope that my opinion and feedback would matter.

Even if on her own merit, she does not satisfy whatever invisible ‘requirement’ it is that the administrators are looking for, I am hoping that the trust that those individuals have in me, and my judgement, will be enough to atone for whatever is missing and open the door for a lifetime carreer in a place that she loves to work.

It’s a heavy burden. I feel the discomfort of having to acknowlege to her that she appears not to be ‘good enough’ on her own, yet the comfort of of knowing that I will do everything in my power to see that she gets a fair shake.

Why?  Because I want her to be a part of my team. 

And my earthly stress is but a pale shadow of our Lord’s.

He too must help us understand that we are not ‘good enough’ on our own. Even with all of the good works and kind deeds that we have done. He too has to stand as an advocate before the throne and say forgive them their failings for my life’s blood sake. You entusted me with their spirits at Calvary, in time they will grow to spiritual maturity. Do not turn away from them in anger.

My bosses are under no obligation to accept my advocacy. In the end, she really is on her own, unless she committs her way to the Lord and asks Him to open a closed door. (if it really is closed)

Thankfully, Jesus’ death and resurrection marked the beginning of a blood covenant between God and His creation, and it’s our Lord’s full time job to intercede and advocate on the behalf of those who believe, before the throne.

Thank God that our heavenly advocate has an eternity’s worth more influence than that of any earthly advocate that we may ever have.

And I sure do keep Him busy!

His Handmaiden

Contagious Christianity

“A Christian, an atheist, a lesbian and a New Ager walk into a restaurant.”

Sounds like the start of a really bad joke right?

Nope, that was the reality of my lunch date today with fellow teachers in our ‘transition time’ before heading out to some professional development workshops.

The funny thing is when we walked through the door to sit down, all I knew about them was that they were really pleasant workmates and that we were killing some time together.

What happened between walking in the door and out? A very politically incorrect, (in liberal education circles anyway) conversation about the role of religion and faith in society from our multiple viewpoints.

God sure has precision timing.

I’ve just started a study with our church’s youth group that is directed at helping them to discover and apply their unique evangalism styles in an attempt to build personal relationships that will open doors for them to share the gospel. It’s called Contagious Christianity, and teaches the kids how to work around the stereotypes of what evangelism is seen to be, to find their own approach to peer evangelism.

The study provides simple strategies for creating and building sincere longterm relationships, and provides tips on how to make that transition from secular to spiritually infused conversations in their daily lives.

I’m learning as much as the kids are, and today God provided me with a master class opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone in ministering to my liberal workmates.

Oh.. there was no ‘Come to Jesus or else’ moment. Rather I had an amazing opportunity to present myself as a believer who cared about them regarless of their non traditional religious or lifestyle viewpoints.

Our very secular conversation about the sensational ‘pregnant man’ evolved into a discussion on the limitations placed on adoption for gay couples, and one teacher expressed frustration at the roadblocks thrown up by religious conservatives to the rights of others to be happy.

I felt led at that point to remind them that Jesus did not himself judge and throw up roadblocks to the happiness of others, in fact he went to parties with the very folks that the traditional religious society of his time rejected.

My faith in God, and my perception of the character of Christ and how He sees people in a non-judgemental and loving light, opened the door for future one on one conversations when other aspects of our accountability to God could come up.

It is not easy to talk to others about God, to share the love of Christ in a non religious environment, especially environments where those topics are taboo, but we need to try.

All of my tablemates revealed that they had been exposed to the overly agressive and pushy evangelism efforts of parents and friends, and that it had pushed them away from, rather than drawn them closer to God.

I never sought these individuals out for friendship, they kind of found me. Perhaps the Lord sent them? My own mission field on the job? Maybe I’m one of the few christians that they will have the opportunity to connect with personally?

Whatever the reason, I don’t take my opportunity to minister lightly. They are not projects, but acquaintences who could become friends. They are also individuals who could be my workmates until I retire in 20 years.

That’s a long time to share God’s love and message of hope

We should all be looking for ways to be contagious christians in our daily lives. Sometimes our mission field is right under our noses.

His handmaiden.

Huck PAC is Born!!

It’s like Christmas morning in April…and on tax day no less, but FINALLY Mike Huckabee is back as the visible face and leader of the conservative movement that took the nation by storm during the GOP primaries.

We have all felt this election season, as conservatives, and as social conservatives in particular,  the deep sense of disconnect between us and those who were supposed to be our leaders, both in the secular and religious realms.

As a presidential candidate Mike represented reality, our reality. He loved God, his country and his fellow man and put the principles of self governance and the golden rule, before the expediency of politics time and time again. We learned so much from him about how to walk this walk, and still his testimony shines out in his words and actions post race 08.

We know he’s not perfect, and we are not so foolish as to lift him up as an ‘idol,’ but we do see in him, someone with the experience, the interpersonal skills and now, the name recognition to do what needed to be done:

Harness the energies of thousands of frustrated Americans who feel disenfranchised by a political system that works around them instead of with them. And so Huck PAC is born

I don’t know what the future holds for Mike and this political action committe, but I do know that it will only become what we make it. We can’t ALL be leaders, which means that we will have to trust the vision of the one we chose by default to be our leader, and try to avoid the second guessing that could rip our efforts apart.

There will be power in our unity, but divided against ourselves, we will not stand.

The time to buy in is now, but if we buy in it has to be 100 percent. If we have reservations and want to support one candidate, but not another, if we want to dicatate that money go here, but not there, we negate the trust that we placed in Mike when we encouraged him to take this step on our behalf in the first place.

If Mike Huckabee is the man that he’s proven himself to be, if he continues to exercise the good judgement that he has shown thus far, there should be no hesitation in our willingness to support the causes he champions from here on out. Of course we will use our own judgement as the ultimate final criterion, but it will feel good again to race as part of a team that has a lead dog. (And one with lots of fight at that!)

I look forward to many more exciting months of working with Mike to turn Washington on its head come November. How will we do it? In Mike’s own words:

We are committed to supporting Republican candidates who are passionate advocates for tax reform, a strong national defense, real border security, life, the family, less government and individual liberty.

We will identify candidates who hold firm to these principles, promote their campaigns and financially support their efforts.

See you on the trail!

His Handmaiden

http://www.huckpac.com/?FuseAction=Home.Home

Back from the Matrix

I like to think of ‘The Matrix,’ as that reality that most Americans are living in, where you have no idea of what’s going on in politics, because you’re too busy at work and at play to watch cable news or spend all day in the blogosphere, and you don’t care enough for it to matter anyway.

(It is this mentality, incedentially that has caused us to endure the many painful consequences that occur when weak leadership is in power at all levels of government)

It’s been almost 6 months since I’ve lived in that reality, (I’ve been out of the matrix and in ‘the real world’ of political awareness since around the same time that I discovered Mike Huckabee), but I had a forced re-emersion these last three days or so because of the sheer volume of work that had to be done on next semester’s teacher schedule.

Wow, talk about putting a puzzle together… and it doesn’t help to spend 8 hours one night putting it together, to discover the next day that there were pieces missing you didn’t know about, so then the whole thing has to be re-worked for another 10 hours!!

It’s been pretty exhausting, but refreshing not to have the alternate political tension hovering over every minute.

I spend so much time pointlessly fuming about nasty comments political bloggers make, or being frustrated that ‘Huck isn’t doing anything yet’ or drowning in people’s hostility to candidates across, and even within party lines, that it’s very hard to remember.. people don’t care a whole bunch about something they are uninformed about.

I used to wonder.. HOW could people NOT know how good for America Mike Huckabee would be. But if they’re living in the matrix, chances are, all he is to them is a funny sounding name that they know nothing about.

It makes what he accomplished this season even more remarkable. But I’m rambling…

My point is, when I emerged from my forced hiatus, Mike had had an amazing conference call with 6000 supporters, the MSM and blogosphere was buzzing with the news that he had signed up with a talent agency, and that his political action committe was about to be launched.

Barak Obama had once again managed to put his foot in his mouth by implying that God, guns and prejuidice is something that ’small town America clings to out of ‘bitterness’ at their economic lot in life, and John McCain had yet to make further inroads into the social conservative resistance of his candidacy.

All of which, had not remotely impacted the past few days of my life away from the inner workings of the political blogosphere. They all may as well have ceased to exist.

All of their ‘doing’ did not reach me once I was out of access of their ability to communicate and engage with me. Reaching me directly with the message was the only way it could touch my life.

In the business of our christian walk, and all of the ‘doing’ that we do for Christ, let us all step up our efforts to do some direct and personal communication of the good news, to those people in our sphere of influence.

The great impact of the ‘international missions ministry’ to spread the news of God’s love and forgiveness isn’t known to, or influencing your neighbor next door. That’s YOUR job… it’s why you’re their neighbor, or co worker, or teacher.. “How will they know, unless you tell them?”

Lets not be satisfied to leave them asleep in their hopeless, Godless matrix.

It’s time to wake some people up.

His Handmaiden.

Seeing the big picture

I’m one of those annoying people who have to know the intended outcome of something before I start working on it. I have to have a goal, to be able to visualize the goal line.

I don’t really understand how folks can be comfortable starting something, not knowing what it is they want to have accomplished by the end. But that’s just how I’m wired.

Here in AZ we’ve got about five weeks left in the semester, and I’m already pouring over the data that I’ll need to work with to ensure that next year gets off to a banging start.

As our school’s English department chair, I have to figure out how to best utilize the strengths and weakness of my staff to ensure their success and that of their students in my course scheduling. 

I’m also revising our supplementals  allocation, (fancy words for decidng who gets to teach what literature) so that we stop poaching on each other’s materials and making each others’ lives unbearable when we have to endure the whined, “but we read that already!!” (the horror!)

I’m also thinking about goals, the things I want us to do differently, the things I want us to keep.

I’m doing all of this, and its the end of my FIRST ever semester in an ‘administrative position’ (my dpt chair stayed home to have a baby, and may not be coming back!)

Well.. it just got me to thinking, how often do we as Christians spend time thinking of ‘the end of our race?’

We start our walk with Christ, and have a very ‘take one day at a time’ mentality. We tend not to think of how what we’re doing, or not doing will be brought to bear when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ.

I’m not thinking so much of a condemnation session, as a award session, (for there shall be therefore NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus) and of how living our Christian lives with the big picture in mind might in fact help to change the way we live.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say to the Lord, that we’d had a plan in the way we walked our christian walk? Wouldn’t it be nice to identify the individuals with whom we had shared the ‘good news’? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that we had found ways to honor and not bring shame to the name of Jesus?

Maybe if we spent a little more time thinking about what is waiting for us at the end of this journey, we would be a little more careful about how we make it.

His Handmaiden.

Christian Carnival CCXIX

The 219th Christian Carnival is complete, and posted at the blog Chasing the Wind.

http://chasingthewind.net/2008/04/09/christian-carnival-ccxix/

I encourage you to stop by and browse the posts submitted by other writers in the christian blogosphere. I actually participated this week, and they have posted a link to my ‘The Cost of Repentence’ post.

The carnival is put together every week, once a week  and hosted by a different blog each time. If you are interested in participating, feel free to visit the Christian Carnival info link in my blogroll, sign up and start posting!

God bless

His Handmaiden.