The past two night have been miserable. It figures since my beloved and i wanted to get my lazy butt back to the gym again starting Monday. Sunday night DD3 woke up in the middle of the night (four times) with some kind of pain in her right foot. There was no swelling, nothing felt out of place, it was not tender to the touch, and she could move it... never did figure it out. Then last night i could not get to sleep until sometime after 12:30 am... but i kept waking up. I lost count after the seventh time. I think i brought this experience on myself.
I recently heard how much "junk" there is in the human mouth, and that if proper oral hygiene is not kept up it can lead to a myriad of things. So, i took some dental floss from my beloved's medicine cabinet and flossed the teeth for the first time since before my last dental appointment. Let's just say it was not pretty... and i felt a little off even last night. I have rinsed with Listerine and kept up with the teeth brushing since then. Taken a little extra vitamin B, C, and E this morning, but last night... not sure this was the cause... but. One of the times... the 7th or so... i had a weird dream...
It began with some kind of plane performing some kind of bombing run along a river. The visual was a lot like an old video game i used to plug quarters into way back when...
just with a slightly different view perspective. I was seeing it all from a 3rd person point of view (like the game, but different). At some point (my memory of the dream is getting fuzzy the further away i get) i remember calling a bunch of military types around and delivering some kind of speech... i remember it being about something about this "attack" being
only five missiles. That our grand parents had so much more to deal with. That is where i woke up.
As i lay there, trying to go back to sleep (my mind was 'flooding' at point)
i quickly jotted down some notes... what is presented here is pretty much all i got down. It occurred to me that we Americans are not used to sacrificing for the things that are important. We try and legislate morality. We try and order everything so safe that 'disasters' never happen. Neither of these things are possible. We want the school systems to teach our children right from wrong. But not discipline... we can't have little 'Johnny' or 'Suzie' feeling ashamed for their mistakes. When things go wrong we look to blame anyone or anything. When something needs to be done the most common outcry is "not in my backyard"!
At church my beloved and i (well, mostly my beloved) head up the pre-school ministry. Each quarter my beloved takes the time to type up the schedule, taking special care to fulfill each request for special consideration, and mails them out to each volunteer who serves in pre-school. She also rotates those who serve on her team to be the "caller of the month" where they call each person to remind them that they are serving on an upcoming weekend. Do you know we still have people who routinely don't show up... who show up late... or do not take it upon themselves to try and switch others if something comes up. The result is that my beloved and i work between 9-11 weeks out of 13 filling in spots that have gone uncovered.
Starting with the church in America we need to start preaching the gospel first and foremost. We need to teach people that there is personal accountability and responsibility. That the basic things like common sense and morals are hard some times, but that the hard things are worth doing.
We need to stand up and say where can i stand in? Don't always wait to "have a passion" for something, don't wait to be invited, and don't presume to preselect where/how you will serve. As charecter and gifting becomes known adjustments can be made, but until then serve. Sin needs to be preached on. There are two things that are certain in this world. 1) We are all going to die some day. 2) We
ALL sin! To sugar coat either fact of life is to do a dis-service to the community. How did this gumption of, "well, so-and-so lived a good life. Surely they are going to heaven.
NO THEY ARE NOT UNLESS THEY ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR NEED FOR A SAVIOR! To have someone sit under you and not tell them about sin and that they are sinners is to do them a dis-service!
Our grandparents (in some cases our great-grandparents) had to sacrifice mightly to over come a depression and fight a world war. They knew hunger, they knew sacrifice. Men and women rolled up their sleeves and went to work. The were rationed food, and material goods. Military units suffered terrible losses to achieve victory. I am not so sure such a victory could be had today. We do not have the stomach for it. I am not saying we need to throw men and women into situations they have no hope of winning, but i am saying that times will come when they will die, but you know what... more people are dying from cancer than the Iraq and Afganistan wars.
America is in trouble people. We no longer teach our children the basics at home. We do not take the extra effort to teach - and enforce - right from wrong.
We expect schools and legislators to set up laws and rules, and have other people enforce them. We do not teach our children common sense and that there are sometimes consequences when bad choices are made. Our governement is at its own throat. The far left, far right, and moderates are at each others throats. Even the ruling Democratic party is being divisive with itself (i mention them because they are the majority in our government currently). We as a church should be seperate from the government... but not in that we should never be heard in an offical forum or setting... but in that we should not stand by and wait for governemt to do our "job" as the body of Christ.
The gospel is offensive to a dying world.
Christ Himself told us that the world will hate those who love Him. Although we cannot, and should never again, act like the Inquisition, but we cannot afford to be silent anymore. We can not make people agree with, or believe in Christ, but we can proclaim the truth. Do not be afraid to offend some when presenting the truth. They may not believe you, they may not be hostile, they may never speak to you again, but if the opportunity presents itself... speak the truth in love and compassion. If the Word of God is rejected move on. But at least do the hard work and live out what He taught - at least within the body.
I was still able to serve my country and my community. It was here that i first served on a state mission - flood duty - and got a taste of serving my community in this capacity, and this it shaped me in different ways. It didn't take long until i got the combat arms 'itch' again. An MP has a role to play in the military, but i had the privilege of serving with some of the sharpest men in the Infantry. Sure, they are generally rough around the edges and not thought of as being the 'brightest bulbs in the drawer' - but get in to a tight situation they always have your back.
So, i transfer back to my old battalion, but this time as a 'straight leg', a "crunchy" or "popcorn" as they are known by their armored or artillery comrades. Here i learned the value of leadership in 'tight' situation, to think when the rest of the world is going to hell. I never served in combat, but everything just short of where real lead gets thrown. I also learned that my own body was not always able to cash checks that my mind wanted it to. After going down with the heat several times i went back to the MP's. I felt defeated and a failure, but i was still able to serve, and for that i was grateful.
) This morning was one of those deals. But that is not what this part of today's blog is about.
. I loved climbing up into the ceiling to help install the speakers. I loved running the cable to/from the sound board and the hookups. I loved the team work. I loved the hours. I LOVED the work!
