We are STILL America

Happy Friday.  We are three days post-election and this morning as I sat down with my bottle of Spark, I am happy to realize one thing:  I’m done with the “What the hell happened on Tuesday?” and feeling like I’ve got my feet under me again.  I don’t want to ask “What happened?” anymore.  I’m done with that.  We learned the hard way that when you put your faith and trust in man, you lose everything precious to you.  When you put your faith and trust in God, you have a fighting chance.  Now, it’s “This is what’s happening.  This is our story.  This is our goal.  This is the road we are on.  Join us or whine alone by the side of the road, but we’re moving on.”

Knowing myself, I know there will be down days and up days.  I’m not going to list links to stories of businesses that are closing because of the election.  We know they’re happening.  We don’t need to reiterate them or dwell on them or cause any further heartbreak to someone who’s being affected by them.  We need to gather around one another to encourage and help each other.  We need to remind one another that as long as we draw a breath, we are capable and able to reach for our goals and dreams.  True patriotic Americans will come up alongside a brother in distress and help.  We will show up with boxes of food.  We will share warm blankets and wood with those that are cold.  Our money still speaks volumes and if you see a company that is not being honest or righteous you can choose to buy elsewhere.  I like a latte as much as the next person, though I don’t drink them very often.  However, my days of ANYTHING Starbucks are over after the CEO of that company came out in support of O.  You want my money?  Should have supported someone different.  When I want a coffee I’ll go to a locally owned place not far from the house.  Support a local.  We have that power, you know.  We still have power.  Washington doesn’t want you to think so but it’s true.  We have the power of “no” and we have the power of our own legs carrying us where we need to go.  And we also have the power of bended knees and clasped hands and prayer.  And THAT power is mightier than anything a pen in Washington, DC can wield.

So, clean off the desk or the kitchen counter, or fold that last basket of clean laundry and thank God you have a washer and dryer if you have one.  If you still have a home, thank God for your kitchen and go make a good meal.  Get the vacuum cleaner out and thank God you still have carpets to clean.  When your kids are loud, don’t yell at them to be quiet, thank God you still have kids to keep you going, because they do that.  They keep you going.  Over the next few weeks I’m going over our house with a fine tooth comb and doing a final cleaning of things that weigh us down or we don’t need.  Streamlining our lives with as little baggage as possible is what we will be focusing on.  Let Washington have the baggage.  We don’t need it.  Remember that this is STILL America and no matter what they want to call us we will ALWAYS be Americans and it’s a blessing to be born in the greatest country man has ever known.  If down the road all we have is memories of what was, you’re still doing better than someone from Cuba or Venezuela or Russia or Iran.  Look at what they have to look back on.  We can remember how we started out, and NO one can tax that or take it from us.  EVER.  We are still AMERICANS.  Something most of the world has wished it could be. 

Now, get going!

Who can you share the Light with?

Yesterday I shared that our pastor came to the house to bless us with serving Mike communion since he can't get to church. Our pastor LOVES politics. LOVES politics. His wife was a relative of Mark Hatfield and they've been back to DC several times, to the Capital, and a few other places. He doesn't bring politics to the pulpit, but you can talk to him about it all day long anywhere else. As I opened the door yesterday, I eyed him and said, "Ok, we are good? No angst or concerns?" He just smiled. Our pastor is one of the most genuinely peaceful people I've met. He shared with us his background yesterday and all he EVER wanted to be, as far back as he could remember, is a pastor. He is rare because nearly all pastors have gone down a different road before they devoted their lives to the ministry. He started serving the Lord in grade school, then junior high, then high school, and beyond. The ministry was IT. And he's perfectly suited for it.

I peppered him with all sorts of political and spiritual questions and he patiently answered them for me. I love politics, too. It's endlessly fascinating. But then he said something that was so true. "Had Romney won, we'd have gotten lazy again. This will keep us on our toes because we know what's coming, and we know what we have to do."

Remember 9/11? Immediately flags were everywhere. Churches were filled to the rafters. He said our church saw about a week of attendant surge. It didn't take long for it to die down and the flags were pulled in and once again, Starbucks drive thru's were busy again. Americans are good, and you can hate me for saying this, but Americans are lazy. As long as we have a scintilla of fat in our lives, we get lazy. Truth hurts! You can bet had Romney been elected we'd all go back into our "me" comas.

We CANNOT be lazy. Now is the time that we need to work hard. Not just to feed our family and keep the lights on, but we are going to have to reach out. How well do you know your neighbors? Not well? Well, then, maybe you need to go over and knock on the door and introduce yourself and see if there is someone in needs of a comforting word or encouragement. Invite them to church with you and have a nice meal with them afterward. Strengthen your ties in the community. Learn who is who and who needs what and what uplifting or encouraging things that need to replace the dark and dismal in someone's life. Campaigns are won one voter at a time. Lives are changed, one person at a time. By ourselves, as individuals, we have our own strength, but you're INDIVIDUAL. I'm not saying you need to break bread every single day with strangers and travel in packs, but open your eyes, your arms, your hearts, your homes. You watch. You will find people that are hungry for friends, for Jesus, for food, for warmth, for someone just to CARE. It's no mistake that we are heading into cold weather right after the election. It's APPROPRIATE. Now more than ever people will need light and warmth. What do you have that can make a difference and make a friend?

Strength in numbers. POWER in numbers. Don't isolate yourselves when what you have inside your heart can make the difference between eternal peace or eternal damnation, between a friendship or suffocating loneliness, between despair or hope.

Pick up the pieces and begin moving on.

The past few months I’ve found a voice in writing and I’m grateful for you that have read my words and been so supportive and complimentary. I am now going to use my voice to hopefully warn for what’s coming. I am by NO means any expert on anything. I love the Lord and I know the power of having Him in your corner. I’ve spent the past 15 years learning all I can about the political system and prophecy and I’m still just scratching the surface. However, along the way I’ve gained wisdom from several incredibly spirit-filled people that have helped me with my walk with God.

However, I will admit last night I went to bed somewhat distraught. It seemed as though instantaneously, we watched a perfectly normal election night WITHOUT WARNING go into a major upset. Like we stepped into a parallel universe and we were looking at a foreign world through a lens. This wasn’t supposed to happen, said Dick Morris, Charles Krauthammer, George Will, Ann Coulter, and the list goes on. It was as though the last many months disappeared, all that hard work, and the election appeared to be handed to him. I know I’m supposed to give the office of the presidency the honor it deserves. I’ll honor the OFFICE. I will NOT honor the man.

My daughter, Katherine, and I have had some trying times recently. Last evening all that was dropped. She spent much of last evening, while in class, comforting and encouraging me. She’s too young to have ever known the good times we knew as kids growing up. I was grieving what was. She’s never known it. We had such amazing times as kids, didn’t we? I was so blessed last night that we could put the petty things aside and I was encouraged by her texts. She tried to tell me I was jumping to conclusions and making mountains out of molehills. It’s ok, mom, just be patient and don’t upset. He’s not even close. Then the final decision: We didn’t win. She was amazingly astute in her observations and thoughts and in her comfort. We may butt heads, but politically, she gained some insight growing up with me as her mom and she was a comfort. “We still have God, mom.”

Laurie was also quite strong. She is a tenacious fighter, smart, capable, and eloquent. Her last remark was, “I still have my God, nothing can change that. Lord knows we'll need him now more than ever.” Right now she is in the middle of her nursing clinicals and her husband, after being betrayed by a superior at work, is now looking for a job, and we are waiting to see if how the interview went and if the job comes through.

And then, Alison. As I the tears fell down my face, as I grieved what appeared to be further destruction of our beloved United States, Alison brought her teddy bear to me, wrapped his fuzzy arms around my neck and said, “Mom, Butterscotch thinks you need a hug. Don’t cry. We still have Jesus. We can’t make everyone see the truth. Eventually, they will have to see it.”

More wisdom in the words of these three than I’ve heard from most adults in a long time. They all acknowledged that the White House will once again house someone we don’t care for, but God can never be taken from us.

This morning I woke up and that’s when He started working on me.

“Lori, do not despair. Didn’t I tell you I will never leave you nor forsake you? Don’t you remember Job? What did I tell him? Where were you when I laid the foundations for the heavens and the earth? So, if I’m going to tell him that thousands of years ago, then I will tell you, I have not moved, left, budged an inch. LAST NIGHT is what happens when you put your faith in a MAN and not in ME. This country chased me out a long time ago. I still am in the hearts and lives of those that took the gift of salvation, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be trying times. I raise up kings and take down kingdoms, remember?”

We had indeed put all our hope and faith on a man, or men, or a party, or a label (liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian) and completely ignored who our hope and faith should have gone to: God.

Strange, but I don’t feel as strong a sense of defeat today. Should the Lord tarry, we have four years to get through and our mettle and resolve will be tested like no other time. We are truly going to have to be the salt and the light. Now our choice is to curl up in the fetal position and feel sorry for ourselves, or grab hold of our Bibles and start letting the world SEE how WE lead. There is a party affiliation heading the country. We need to be the God affiliation heading our side. And make no mistake, there are still sides. I am of the opinion now that the former titles I listed above are gone. This election took us to new territory: Socialism. You can pretty it up all you want but that’s what it is. Socialism.

At some point over the last couple of decades we have watched our fellow Americans go from having a dream and a desire to work hard and achieve, to standing in line for a handout with little or no guilt. Do you remember the last election, the group of black women jumping up and down and the journalist asked them what this meant, this new president they had. “Obama money! We gonna get us some Obama money!” This used to be a nation of such pride. You were ashamed if you had to accept a handout or a hand-up. We’re Americans. We don’t need to accept charity from anyone. A sense of pride and ownership came with that paycheck we deposited. Now, you’re considered greedy or undeserving if you have a good job, are pursuing a good job, or in need of a good job. The ambitious or enterprising are the targets of snotty comments and snarky remarks. The laziness that has taken us over is shameful. I choose not to participate in that. In fact, I am challenging every single person that reads this to start a business. There are plenty that you can start and if you need help, well maybe we can all put heads together and help one another out. WE do not have to fall in lockstep with what resides in DC. We are fighters. We are Americans. We cling to our guns and our Bibles. Most of us, anyway. Get your Bible out and start reading it to your family at night. Pray together. Do not let the divisive attitudes of those in power divide your family. One of the first rules of communism is to destroy the family. You go the opposite direction. Gather your family close to you and resolve to stick together. They can only do to you and your family what you ALLOW

There are dark days coming, but remember who our King is. God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God that created the universe and gave us His Son. He has not left us or forsaken us. Rather, many have left or forsaken Him. Find Him. Once you do find Him, get down on your knees and start talking to Him. He really wants to hear from you. I promise.

FEMA! Where is FEMA! Cries Staten Island.

Friends, if you can take the time to watch this, please do so.  It's a link down at the bottom of this blog.

First, can I just say that Ann Curry, you have no clue as to how lucky you are that you're no longer trying to fit on the morning couch with Matt Lauer and his EGO.  You forte is doing stories like this.  Consider what Today did to you a favor.

Now, after you watch this, what was the first thing that came to mind?  For me it was this:  Why are these people crying and begging and screaming for SOMEONE, THE GOVERNMENT, FEMA....ANYONE. 

Therein lies the problem!  We have been so conditioned by the government to depend on them for everything.   As Glenn Beck once said, you should be so prepared for ANYTHING that comes at you that when the FEMA trucks do roll into your neighborhood, you can politely tell them, "We don't need you.  Go find someone else to help." 

People make fun of preppers.  Until they are the ones showing up at your door with a meal, or dry blankets, or offering to let you come over to their house for a hot shower because they thought ahead and installed solar panels that heat the water tanks, or however those things work.  We are not preppers per se, but we do have quite a bit to help us out in an emergency.  Make fun of that family that buys MRE's and Food Insurance and Stove In A Can, and propane stoves, until they are the ones bringing a hot meal to you after the power goes out.

In Oregon there are government officials that will FIGHT you until you are broken down over YOU having the gall to save rainwater in barrels and other water resource containers.  They don't WANT you to have bathwater saved for your garden.  Why?  Because then they can't come along and give you what you need, but you have to follow their guidelines and their rules or they don't give you what you need.

That is just such bullshit.  They claim ownership of the water because it fell into the STATE of Oregon.  Again, what was that word?  Oh, yes, bullshit.  The rain falls and if it falls into a cistern in my backyard then it's mine and I'll use it however I wish.  We were given a buttload of medical supplies when Mike was discharged in August from Salem Hospital.  They didn't want to restock them so fine, hand them over!  I am making a REALLY awesome first aid cabinet.  If we have a natural disaster I'll be happy to bandage boo-boos.  Because we have the materials on hand.  The family across the street needs a meal?  Happy to oblige.

Why?

Because we are AMERICANS.  We take care of our own (hey Barack, that is why we're so pissed at you for Benghazi.  Because you didn't take care of four Americans.) and we make sure our own are well-fed and have needs met when disaster strikes.

So go ahead and keep making fun of that family that lives out in the middle of BF Egypt and hunts fowl and has a pantry that would make Caroline Ingalls cry tears of giddy happiness.  It's that same family that will be the first to knock on your door to see if you need help.

These people in Staten Island, Long Island, along the Jersey Shore--when you get back on your feet--and you will because you're AMERICANS, and Americans bounce back no matter how far off the building we are dropped--get your homes in order, clean out a closet or two and start putting away the things you so desperately needed and didn't have because a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, you let the government tell you they would give you everything you need.

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/11/02/NBC-Staten-Island-Abandoned-By-FEMA-Red-Cross

Friday, November 2, 2012

Wow. That's all I can say. Wow. The world is just CAREENING out of control and our lives go on. We spent three hours at the hospital this morning. This has been such an emotional day. At one point I was sitting in the wheelchair outside the exam room having a good old fashioned cry.

Here is a picture of what greeted us when all the dressing was off. To the untrained eye, like mine, it doesn't look like much. In fact, I don't really know what I expected, but the doctor was EXTREMELY pleased with the graft. She said it took very well. 

The tendon down in the foot is another matter. She really had to cut away and there is still some infection somewhere. A culture was taken and it turns out to be pseudomonis. This was the same bacteria that would show up on the gauze wraps and had to be dressed with gauze soaked in Dakins solution, the saline water/bleach solution. Topically it's not bad. When it is down in the foot, however, that's another story. We are being sent to the Infectious Diseases Clinic at the hospital and expecting a call from the Radiology Department for a CT Scan of the foot. That will be done to see if there is any infection in the bone. I'm going to pick up his prescriptions for two antibiotics that work together to get rid of the bacteria. The Infectious Disease doc will decide if Mike will have to have IV antibiotics. If that's the case, he will have that done at the same Wound Clinic because it's actually the Infusion and Wound Clinic. They can change the bandages daily and administer the IV drugs daily. But for now, it's pills while we see how far this is in the foot. We have opted for the time being not to go back on the Wound VAC.

The skin graft itself is interesting. That is actually a few layers of skin, although very see-through. If you look carefully you can see the pattern of the machine that punctured the holes for breathing and drainage. Doctor was quite happy with that. If we can get the pseudomonis under control, this will then be a success.

Mike had the dressing PEELED off his stomach this morning. Ugh, that was PAINFUL. No matter how much saline solution or Lidocaine was poured onto it, it was being pulled from raw skin. And bleed! Bled like a stuck pig. He did grab onto my arm once in absolute agony. Apparently that was payback for the contraction I had in labor with Ali that ground his hand and wrist into the plastic siding on the bed.

We're even now. Stay tuned.

My mission today, should I choose to accept it........

Is to get the dead tomato plants down.  I am truly ashamed of how I've let the yard go to crap since Mike got sick.   Today the first order of business is to get a couple of things tossed into the yard refuse container because I think there are about 2 million fruit flies in it from tossing apples and pumpkins in.  Then I'm cooking down the pumpkins from Halloween to put the meat in the freezer.

I'm feeling the need to purge again.  In 2008 when we lost the house in Redmond (had a painful flashback to that this week.  I miss that house.  I don't miss Redmond, but I miss that house.  Mike picked out such a lovely little place.) and I spent a lot of time purging and cleaning out closets and things we didn't need to haul through life with us.  I know we have plenty again to give to Goodwill.  It's very freeing, not going through life with so much baggage. 

At a friend's suggestion I bought Disney's Little House DVD.  It was WONDERFUL.  Kind of choppy in the story telling and Alison and I kept asking each other, "Wasn't Carrie born in the big woods of Wisconsin?"  There was no baby Carrie.  But for all of those people who are anti-homeschooling ("Socialization!  What about socialization?"), here goes:  This was back in the day when family was EVERYTHING.  The turn of the century was about the same time the progressive push was starting.  One of the first points of Socialism, Marxisim, Progressivism is to destroy the family.  Get inside the family, get them OUT of the house and start taking down the fathers so the family needs government assistance for all their needs.  Before that, family helped family and once the family was stable, then they reached out to the community.  People helped take care of themselves and each other.  There were no "government programs".

 The kids were taught manners.  They were taught to work hard.  No one jumped in the wagon and bounced over the prairie to Kohls to buy a dress.  Even when we read Farmer Boy Mrs. Wilder had a weaving loom up in her sewing room and she MADE the material from wool shorn from the family sheep.  She made the material and then made the clothes.  Shoes?  You were lucky to a pair a year, and if money was tight, you got the hand-me-downs and the largest feet got the new shoes.  I have LOVED reading through this series with Alison at bedtime, and watching this DVD because you see kids getting EXCITED over a stick of sugar candy in their stockings.  There were no X-Box's or Easy Bake Ovens under the tree.  And actually, Christmas trees were few and far between.  A stocking hanging from the mantle, maybe, but those stockings were filled with shiny coins and candy sticks.  One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to take a fresh orange and adorn it with clove spears.  The FRAGRANCE!  And that was a treasured gift.  A pomander for the dresser or closet.

I think this series of books and the movie should be required reading for every single person in this country.  You would discover true appreciation, generosity, and joy.  Children would once again be introduced to manners.  They would find the fun of being outdoors and building forts and work hard to help the family bring in the harvest from the garden.

THOSE were the good old days.

So much to say, how much time do I have to say it?

This morning, on the way to the hospital for an abdominal bandage change, I got a text from a friend from long ago.  Her husband died this morning at 2:15 a.m.  I do not know the details yet.  I have called and left a message.  She will call when she catches her breath and I know that the only thing I can do for her and her two beautiful children is pray.  You always hear about this happening to OTHER PEOPLE.  You don’t think catastrophe and heartache and loss will come to your door and knock.  In 1995, I watched my father fall victim to a brain aneurysm.  Never expected it.   This happens to OTHER PEOPLE. He lived, albeit with two strokes giving him what amounted to an involuntary frontal lobotomy.  November 4, 2006, my dear uncle was murdered in his own home.  Imagine watching KPTV Fox News and finding out from the anchor that your uncle had been cut in half below the waste and dumped in a driveway on Highway 26, with his arms and legs wrapped up in a comforter  and stuffed in his van that had been abandoned.  It doesn’t happen to us.  This happens to OTHER PEOPLE.  You see people’s children being kidnapped and killed and dumped into a ditch or shallow grave—you see this on Fox News.  That’s OTHER PEOPLE.  Never you.   I never would have expected to hear from the doctor that Mike had an hour to live if she didn’t get him into surgery IMMEDIATELY.  Hey, this doesn’t happen to us!  This happened to a young girl in Georgia in May.  She’s the OTHER PEOPLE.

No, I’m sorry to pee on your rainbow, but we are all the OTHER PEOPLE.

Turning my attention back to the getting to the hospital, we arrived and as I’m wheeling my husband in the doors of Building C, once again, I am brought face-to-face with a reminder of how fragile lives are.  Our bodies are finite.  For some, life is tenuous and bodies are riddled with broken down parts and diseased organs.  When I lay that transparency over the transparency of people running to and fro (where did I hear that…..oh, the Bible.  Describing how people would be carrying on their lives in the last days), I marvel at how quickly our attention can turn from God’s hand to the world’s hand.

This morning, on the heels of what was the most horrific storm we have ever seen as a country, I have felt this completely overwhelming desire to be in prayer as much as I can today.  I know God is moving mightily right now.  Our country is not only in massive turmoil, our entire world is in massive turmoil.  We live in the age of "news as it happens, immediately, right now", so a massive protest in Spain or Greece appears immediately on our computer and television screens.  The ONLY thing that keeps us from becoming Greece or Spain TODAY is ONE cataclysmic event that is simmering on the edge of our lives.  Rest assured, it IS coming.  The question is when.  It doesn’t only happen to OTHER PEOPLE.  This is heading to our shores as well.

This storm was perhaps the FINAL warning.  God is trying SO hard to get our attention.  God is infinite, but I don’t imagine His patience with us is.

We are seeing murders and corruption and disease on a biblical scale, for lack of a better description.   Our children are NOT safe on the streets anywhere anymore.  It is quickly coming to the point for some children that they are not even safe IN THEIR OWN HOMES, with danger coming either from the hands of an adult in their lives or someone breaking into their home and taking them to their death.  The other night, I was driving to get I can't remember what from I can't remember what store, and at the stoplight, two young girls, about 12 years old each, were out by themselves, in bike and scooter.  Way past dark. Growing up, this sight wouldn’t have been given a second thought.  My first thought?  “Where the hell are the parents and why are these two out this time of night?”   My “mom” radar kicked into overdrive and I was PISSED.   Did we not just hear about the discovery of a 10 year old girl that was dismembered in Colorado?  How long does one’s attention span have to be to forget that news and let two girls about the same age out after dark on the street?  No, that happens to OTHER PEOPLE.  Damn, there’s that phrase again.

This is not our parents’ world anymore.  With every headline, you can all but see the razor sharp finger of Satan stirring the cesspool we live in.  If you think the Bible is irrelevant to today’s world, the Bible just can’t relate to today’s world, and the Bible is a lovely collection of historical stories but doesn’t really apply, what HAVE you been smoking?  The Bible IS relevant today.  In fact, you can take just about ANYTHING from a news headline and find it referenced in the Bible.  Just open to the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, any of the major prophets of the Old Testament.  Read Matthew, John, any of the letters of the Apostle Paul, Revelation.  It’s all there.  And it’s every bit as relevant NOW as it was when it was written and compiled into our Bible.  And what God has planned in store for us will not happen to OTHER PEOPLE.  It will be coming to ALL OF US.

A week ago,  over two months before Christmas, I saw that ridiculous dog with the target around its eye running through a snowy scene with Christmas shoppers, heralding the coming of the insanity of Christmas, the shop-till-you-drop, the “be at the stores at 3:00 a.m. standing in lines of freezing cold shoppers so you can fight your way into a store and engage in hand-to-hand combat for a plastic toy your kid will forget about three days after Christmas” insanity of Christmas.   I HATE the world’s Christmas.  To me, it’s like trying suuuuuuuuper hard to get a really tight sweater on and it’s suffocating me as it’s stuck on my head and no matter how hard I try to wiggle into it, it just chokes me.  THAT is how this time of year affects me from the world’s standpoint.   I really find it shameful that the world uses a celebration of the birth of our Savior to act like they have a limitless credit card to buy meaningless items for people who sometimes have to be reminded about the person the gift came from.  I have stood in miserable silence in the checkout lines at a store while women before and after me complain about having to buy “someone” a gift just so they have something under the tree but I really don’t like him/her.  Wow, I know Jesus wasn’t born on December 25.  More like late September/early October if you look at the weather in that part of the world at that time of the year.  I KNOW Mary crouched on a bed of hay and squeezed out our Savior on that bed of hay, the Savior that would suffer, die,  be buried, and rise on the third day JUST so you can bitch about having to shop till you drop for someone you don’t care to talk to.  THAT is how much I love Christmas.

Thanksgiving, I can deal.  I love to feed my family and I need to get cracking and get Mike up and healthy again because he literally takes over the kitchen and makes a wonderful memory out of a meal. 

If I were the Almighty, and thank Him I’m not, I cannot honestly say I’d be in an all fired up hurry to come back to collect the saved because the mere thought of having to even come close to what we have created in this world is that—what word can I use?  Unappealing?  Unsavory?  Disgusting?  But it’s HIS plan and HIS time and my job is to be ready, have my wick trimmed and oil lamp filled, and TRY to share the gospel with people.  I don’t know if I have accomplished that with this writing.  To be honest, that’s not my aim with this writing. 

My aim is to share with you, as best I can, my heart this morning.  We have had a storm hit our country.  Fifty or 60 years ago a very ugly woman with a very ugly heart made a stink of God being in our schools.  Over the decades we have systematically chased God out of every aspect of American life, from prayer at football games, prayer groups in schools, crosses on mountains, crosses on the side of the road, churches holding gatherings in schools.  Myself, personally?  I have not done that, but by saying NOTHING, every single one of us is complicit in shutting Him out.  We have chased him out, but who is it we always seem to run to when disaster strikes our country, or crisis and heartbreak descend upon our lives?  God.  We call out to the One we ordered to leave.  As Ann  Graham Lotz is fond of saying, “God is a gentleman.  If he’s asked to leave he isn’t going to create a fuss.”

Do I feel that this storm was happenstance?  Absolutely not.  This MONSTER storm hit two days before the celebration of witchcraft, darkness, and sin, Halloween.  Make fun of me for saying that, I don’t care.  If you KNEW some of the occult aspects of this day you’d run screaming and never turn to look back over your shoulders.  I highly recommend going to www.lasttrumpetministries.org, and read some of the writings that the founder of that ministry shared about HIS youthful involvement in the occult as a young man.  He came from a family widely renowned in the world of the occult.  He was something of the Grand Poobah of the occult until he was invited to church and heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He RAN  from the occult and spent the remainder of his adult life teaching and warning people about it until he went Home a couple of years ago.   

Our country, financially, is in the toilet.  We are running this country on money that doesn’t exist anymore.  That’s what a deficit is.   Facts and figures for money that WE DO NOT HAVE.   We are living on borrowed time, financially and spiritually.  One morning we are going to wake up and see Wall Street DONE and rioting in the streets in New York.  It will take probably less than ONE day for all hell to break loose and have riots and protests filling our streets wherever we live.  I am not being dramatic.  I’m being honest.

If you have a Bible in your house, I am asking you to dust it off and open to the book of John.  That’s in the New Testament.  Fourth book in, if you need help.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the Word was with God.  There was no BOOM and suddenly this perfectly round world appeared.  You cannot have a masterpiece without a master.  No amount of clipping coupons or shopping sales is going to turn this ship around.  No amount of shutting your doors and turning on a reality television show is going to make this go away.  You can either pretend nothing is happening and continue to lie to yourself and then stand in front of your family when they come to you seeking answers as to why your bank is shuttered and you’re broke.  Or you can open your Bible and prepare your heart and your family and be ready.  He will come as a thief in the night.  When we least expect it.  And THAT won’t just happen to OTHER PEOPLE.  It will happen to YOU.