Am I the only one who thinks gossip is not a good idea? Erma Bombeck said "Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It's gossip!"

The women down the street, when I was a child, was the neighborhood gossip. She use to question all of the children who lived on my street. I never rode my bike faster than when I passed her house. She wanted information about my family and I was not going to give her any. She did not like me for that reason.

The Bible compares the tongue to a small spark that starts a raging fire. "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body." James 2:3.

The rudder on a ship was small but, the pilot could steer the ship where he wanted it to go, despite strong winds. So the tongue, even though it is a small member of the body, can do great harm. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. No man can tame it.

Don't belive in the Bible? How about the dictionary and it's definition of gossip? Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational or intimate nature.

Who gossips to you will gossip about you.

Gossip is fun unless it is about you.

Have I ever gossiped? Yes and I am sorry for it. I have made an earnest decision not to engage in gossip.

I think about the many "entertainment shows", "tabloid news" and "gossip blogs and websites."  What a shameful way to make a living. Why anyone would want to be famous is beyond me. And I don't know how anyone can get a fair trial in America anymore. I truly believe that a person is innocent until PROVEN guilty but a suspect is a target for the meat grinding media and lives have been ruined by false accusations and rumor. 24/7 new media is full of speclation and rumor/gossip. They have to fill the air time with something, anything.

I have had this poem for many years.  It is old and tells the truth about gossip, rumor and spreading evil.

 

The Monk And The Peasant

A peasant once unthinkingly

Spread tales about a friend.

But later found the rumors false

and hoped to make amend.

He sought the counsel of a monk,

A man esteemed and wise.

Who heard the peasant's story through

And felt he must advise.

The kind monk said: "If you would have

a mind again at peace.

I have a plan whereby you may

from trouble find release.

"Go fill a bag with chicken down

and to each dooryard go

and lay one fluffy feather where

The streams of gossip flow."

The peasant did as he was told

and to the monk returned,

elated that his penance was

a thing so quickly earned.

"Not yet," the old monk sternly said,

"Take up your bag once more

and gather up the feathers that

you placed at every door."

The peasant, eager to atone,

went hastening to obey,

no feathers met his sight, the wind

had blown them all away.

Margaret E. Bruner

We can never take back the gossip that we spread or the hurt we have caused.

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be."  James 3:9

 

 

Do you think $200,000,000 is a lot of money for America? It might not have been a few years ago but with our economy in the tank, it is a very large sum in 2010. That is how much it will cost our country, every year, to try the terrorists in New York City. The reason for having the trials in civilian court instead of a military court is, according to the Obama Administration, is to show the world how excellant our judicial system is. Doesn't the world already know that out legal system is the best in the world? 

There is absolutely no reason to have these people tried in civilian court at all. Perhaps Obama is trying to break our country financially by every means available to him.

Most Americans do not want the trials of these murderers held in New York City. What a waste of time and dollars and for no good reason.

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL

I'm sorry to start the new year off with a negative comment but I finally realized what I hated about 2009. (Besides the fact that Obama is president and Pelosi is still around) It's the rewarding of bad behavior.

I am no saint but no one every gave me a trophy for doing bad things. Remember when we saw pictures of Kate Moss using cocaine and then her modeling career took a big leap? (I realize that was more than a year ago but bear with me)

Then there is Alex Rodridges. An excellant baseball player and why not? I could probably do well too if pumped up with performance enhancing drugs.  Michael Jackson, a true entertainer and don't forget a child molestor. All he had to do was die of too many drugs and he is adored even more in death. Brittany Spears, loses her children because of her bad behavior and according to one newsite was the most sought after celebrity of 2009. Probably the worst parents to ever be on TV, the Gosslings, are on the cover of every tabloid paper in the universe and and on every interview show in America. (Ozzie and Harriet, where are you?) The Octomom. I don't even want to think about her.

When I was a youngster, bad behavior was frowned upon and you knew that it would take years to get back on top if you ever managed to get above water first.

Then we have Pat Tillman. An NFL football player who quit football to go fight in Iraq where he was killed. Where was the fanfare, the new coverage, the magazine covers for this American hero? Even James Brown, the entertainer with a history of abusive behavior got hours and hours of air time after he died. If all of this isn't a sign that things in America are going sour, I can't think of what is.

I don't believe that athletics and entertainers should be our children's role models. I believe that role falls upon the children's parent and even some of them are failing on that score. But can't we at least try a little harder to show that behaving badly should have a down side. I do believe in redemtion. I also believe that rewarding bad behavior is a huge negative.

If you want your fifteen minutes of fame, try to make them a wholesome fifteen minutes. Something your grandchildren can look back on with pride, not embarressment and shame.

We can do a whole lot better.

 

 

How is your imagination? Try to imagine this.

You are living in a perfect place. You have zero problems, no worries. Your health is perfect, there is no sin of any kind around you. Now you have to leave this paradise and go into an evil world, full of sickness, violence and hardship.

You will become the most helpless of all creatures, a newborn baby. You will be loved by your parents and relatives but you will now be surrounded by the evils of this world. You know that your life will be difficult but you have a purpose and you will fullfill it.

This of course is what Jesus Christ did. It was the plan from the beginning. Jesus knew that he would suffer here on earth but He did it for you and for me. You and I have sinned. You may say, "But I'm a good person. I've never stolen or killed anyone." It is our Creator who decides what sin is and no one is good, except Jesus Christ. It doesn't even matter if we have given lots of money to the church or traveled the world helping the poor. We are all sinners in God's eyes. That is why Jesus left perfect Heaven and became a helpless newborn baby. He knew that he would be the sacrifice for our sins, everyones's sins. He died on the cross so that you and I could be reconciled to God The Father, our Creator.

We as Christians celebrate Jesus coming to earth 365 days a year but it is on Christmas that we want the world to ponder these things for thier own Salvation. Christmas to us is not about the tree, the gifts, Santa, Frosty or Rudolph. It is a beautiful time to remember a new born baby who would one day set us free from sin.

My prayer today is that if you do not have a relationship with your Creator, you will think on these things. You will ask God to help you understand. Ask Him to show you the Way.

Merry Christmas to all who read this and may the New Year find you a New Creator in Christ, A Born Again Christian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I met a man years ago who was very handsome but also rather scary. He had been a prize fighter, a Long Shoreman and a body guard for the mob. Just being in the same room with him gave me the shivers. He and I attended the same church. I didn't see him for several months, not because either of us stopped going to church but because our paths just didn't cross for a while.

When I did see him again, I no longer felt leery being around him and though he was still just as handsome, he looked different than the man I had encountered before. He had a look of peace and contentment.

Shortly after I noticed this difference, he got up in from of the church congregation and told us all that he had been Born Again, that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. He told us that he had done so many visious and cruel things in his life that he didn't believe there was any hope for him. Someone had shared the True Gospel with him letting him know that it was those visious things that Jesus suffered on the cross for. That there was no sin so evil that God would not forgive. This man prayed, asking God to forgive him and to enter his heart. He asked God to change him and change was what we all saw. We saw it in his eyes and on his face. The look of a man who had been forgiven and was starting on a new journey, a new life, a new way of living. (Shortly after he was Born Again, he visited a Chiropractor who accidently broke his neck. He didn't sue the Chiropractor knowing that it was unintentional. He was in a neck brace for many months and during that time he visited a teen whose neck had also been broken. The teen was sucidal but because of the new friendship with my church brother, the young man, got thru his time in a neck brace and had made a wonderful new friend.)

That is what being Born Again means. Becoming a new creature in Christ, being reconciled to God. Gone is the old way, the selfish, sinfull life. Anyone can go thru this wonderful transformation of real change. Jesus sets you free. Free from thinking only of yourself and what you want. Free from hell and suffering for your sins. Jesus has already done that for you and all you need to do is believe that and ask Jesus to come into your life and make you a new creature, regardless of your past.

Salavation is a free gift from God. You can't earn it, borrow it or buy it.

Accept God's gift of Salvation today. It's Real Change That You Can Really Believe In.