Hope even in the death of a love one

I’ve done my whole adult life with my Karen, the only woman I’ve ever needed. Suddenly, I have to figure out how to do the rest of my life without her. That Sunday night, we sat in the bleachers at our local football stadium and we watched our grandson graduate from high school as valedictorian and giving a faith-filled valedictory message. Monday afternoon, she was gone. Wrapped in this huddle of sobs with our three adult children, I just choked out the words, “It hurts so bad.” It really does.
Now, it’s been some weeks, but as I walk into our living room, I still instinctively look for that beautiful hair. I called it her “crown of glory” as she sat in her favorite blue chair. I go to make that oatmeal that she loved for breakfast. I turn to tell her about a conversation or situation and to hear her trademark laugh over my dumb jokes.
Our four-year-old grandson said it all the first time he ran into our living room and saw her chair empty. He just ran back to his mommy and said, “Mommy, you were right. She’s not here.” No, she’s not, and she won’t be again. I’ve probably shed more tears in recent weeks than I’ve shed the rest of my life. But I have a story to tell. Actually, it’s the Story that I’ve tried to tell folks my whole adult life. And suddenly I’m living its ultimate validation.
I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “A Shattered Heart, A Certain Hope.”
Everything I’ve ever believed, everything I’ve ever taught about my Jesus is true! Everything that my death-crushing Savior promised, I can tell you, He delivers in the darkest, most devastating days of my life!

( More )

Romney may be preparing for possible presidential run in 2016

The story is right here.

POPE FRANCIS SEEMS TO BE JUST WHAT HIS CHURCH NEEDS IN THESE CHALLENGING TIMES

HUMILITY IS NOT A WORD USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH A LEADER THESE DAYS AND YET THAT WAS THE WORD MOST OFTEN USED TO DESCRIBE THE NEW POPE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, TO BE KNOWN SIMPLY AS FRANCIS.

AND INDEED THERE IS MUCH EVIDENCE FOR THAT HUMILITY. IN BUENOS AIRES AS BISHOP HE RODE THE BUS. HE COOKED HIS OWN MEALS. HE WASHED THE FEET OF PEOPLE WITH AIDS. SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING JESUS WOULD DO, DOESN’T IT?
HE SEEMS TO BE A MAN OF PRINCIPAL. THOUGH REBUKED BY THE ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT FOR HIS DEFENSE OF HETEROSEXUAL MARRIAGE, HE STOOD HIS GROUND.
WHATEVER DOCTRINAL DIFFERENCES EXIST BETWEEN PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS, POPE FRANCIS SEEMS TO BE JUST WHAT HIS CHURCH NEEDS IN THESE CHALLENGING TIMES.
( Billy’s thoughts – Read the rest of the above commentary by Cal Thomas right here or listen to the audio. )

Year in Review: The Political Highs and Lows of 2012

Read the blog posting

2012 Top Stories

Well we are about to end a new year but before we close the books on 2012 lets look back on what some of the top stories were. Below are what I think were some of the top stories of the year.
President Obama being reelected. Even though many souls are without jobs, the polls showing most Americans opposed government health the majority of the voters gave Obama four more years. Some of the blame has to go to how the Romney people and how they tried to run their guy against Obama and some of it we should accept it as just where America is. It is sad to see our nation reject the values that have made it the best nation in the world. It was very troubling to me before the election to see some Pastors on TV who thought it was no big deal that Obama backed abortion and same sex marriage.
Benghazi has to be another top story. How Obama blamed the whole attack on a video that was made instead of on radical Islam. The media also helped the White House cover this up by not reporting it. Some have said this is bigger than Watergate because no one was killed in Watergate and people were killed in this event. I hope and pray in the new year the truth will come out.
Sadly once again another school shooting took place. This time at a grade school December 14th I once again rang bells for the Salvation Army. It wasn’t as cold as it was last year. It was the night of that terrible school shooting at that grade school in Connecticut. While we should keep praying for the students and staff of that grade school along with the families of the dead the question keep coming to my mind what if some soul had been at that school who had a gun who could have taken the shooter down.Yes the chances are some would have died regardless but a police officer or a trained citizen with a gun can do much good and in this case might have saved some souls. Guns are not to blame for crime, sin is to blame.

The war against people of faith thanks to the current White House picked up speed. The American government is trying to force people of faith to pay for abortions and other things that go against their faith and values. This war will keep going on in the new year.
In my view the top story of 2012 has to be the Supreme Court upholding Obamacare as the law of the land. Thanks to Judge Roberts who was named to the high court by President Bush. So once again the high court made a law instead of following the rule of law.

Billy David Dickson All Rights Reserved, 2012
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Billy or read more commentary on current issues at https://billydteacher.wordpress.com/.

LIBERAL MEDIA: BLAME CONSERVATIVES NO MATTER THE OUTCOME

A Washington, DC-based watchdog group claims the media falsely blames conservatism for Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential election.

During the months-long campaign, mainstream media outlets uniformly condemned the GOP’s conservative message. The Media Research Center offers the following examples:

ABC’s Barbara Walters assailed the GOP for being “behind” on social issues.
The Washington Post went on a mission to look for “right-wing nuts” who plan to buy more guns as a result of the Obama re-election.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper rhetorically questioned how the GOP will overcome party “extremes” to attract Latinos, while his cohort Piers Morgan trashed the tea party and the “extreme right” for being “intransigent” and pushing “archaic politics.”
On election night, NBC’s Brian Williams opined that Rush Limbaugh was a liability for the GOP.
( More )

Faith Groups need to Repent of their political idolatry

Various faith-based voting blocs across America — white evangelicals, black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jewish-Americans — all played critical roles Tuesday in the outcomes.

Ethnic divisions sharp among Christian voters

WASHINGTON – The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life says exit polls show black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics diverged from what was otherwise broad religious support for Republican Mitt Romney.

Pew senior researcher Greg Smith says that while Catholics overall were about evenly divided, about 60 percent of white Catholics voted for Romney while three-fourths of Hispanic Catholics cast their ballots for Barack Obama.

The racial difference was even more pronounced among Protestants, with nearly 80 percent of born-again evangelicals voting for Romney while 95 percent of black Protestants supported Obama.

The president also received support from about 70 percent of religiously unaffiliated and Jewish voters, while most who said they attend religious services every week supported Mitt Romney.
( Billy’s thoughts – It is sad whenever any faith group puts anything ahead of the principals of that faith. How can a soul who follows Jesus vote for someone who backs abortion including five seconds before the baby is born is something I will never understand how people of faith can vote for somebody who calls himself a Christian but yet doesn’t stand for what the Bible stands for. This should tell us a work needs to be done in the churches. We need to get back to the Bible and repent of worshipping anything but God which includes political parties, and our race.Read more of the above story. )

Why was Obama given four more years

So why did Obama get four more years in the White House. It is easy to Monday morning quarterback after a loss. Still us on the right need to do some soul searching so we can change what we can change and accept the things we can not.
Here are some of my thoughts….
A. Obamacare should have been talked about more in this election. The polls showed the majority of Americans were against that new law yet they voted to give the man behind it four more years. Explain that to me if you can. It should have been talked about more. Romney should have pointed out how members of the Catholic Church and other people of faith are going to be forced to pay for things which go against their faith and values.
B. Gov. Romney should have gone more on talk radio and other media like Fox news that would have been fair to him. – Bill O’Reilly tried to get Romney on his show.Yes Bill would have been tough but he would have been fair. – Bill O’Reilly even if you don’t like him you have to admit he has high ratings. By the way John McCain also did not go on the O’Reilly show when he ran for President and he also got beat. If I had to guess my guess would be the people who were running the elect Romney office did not want him to do it. They wanted to play it safe. Did most of the media help Obama get elected? There should be no debate that they did. So why not take your message to shows that will let you get your message out.
C. The GOP has got to do a better job of reaching out to black Americans, and other minorities. The GOP should not back down from their core values but they need to go to these groups and let them know they care about them. They should address issues like crime and school choice. Both could be winning issues in the black community. They should bring it up like this shouldn’t poor families get the same chances as rich families to give their kids the best education possible.
D. Those who are pro life should not back down from the abortion issue but pro lifers who run for office need to change how they answer questions on abortion. When they are asked about abortion and rape instead of answering those questions they should point out the extreme of the other side. They should bring up how those who support abortion support it even for reasons like the sex of the child or if the child is going to have something like Down’s syndrome.
E. The spiritual leaders of this nation have stopped teaching the word of God. They are teaching that all points and ways of living should be accepted. A few days before the election some black pastors were on tv saying it didn’t matter that President Obama supported things like same sex marriage and abortion. So here are people who should be teaching the Bible, faith, and values that are willing to accept teachings and views that are at war with Christian teachings. That is a big problem. Churches need to get back to preaching the word of God. I don’t want my pastor preaching on a Sunday morning who I should vote for but they can say things like vote Bible based values. And for sure no man who claims to be a preacher of the word of God should be backing any soul for office who has values which are at war with the Bible.
F. Obama ran a dirty race. They claim things like Romney killed somebody. That Romney didn’t care about everyday Americans. And Romney or those in his office didn’t come out defending himself. So people think a man who will tax us more cares more about everyday Americans.
G. I believe Romney is a good guy and for the most part did his best in running for office. I am sorry Americans won’t get a chance to judge him by his actions as President. I am not sure no one on the right could have won on Tuesday. I am not even sure the prince of the right President Reagan would have won. When we have members of the Catholic Church saying they don’t care we have a man in office who wants to make us pay for things which go against our faith and values. Some members of the Catholic Church were willing to say we don’t care what the leaders of our church say. Shame on members of the Catholic Church who were willing to vote for a man who did not support the Born Alive Infants Protection Act while a state senator
which would have made it law that a baby who survived an abortion is given healthcare.
Too many souls today are being given a handout from government. It is no longer what you can do for your country but what your country can do for you. We should no longer depend on God, our families, and our churches but our new savior is the government.
We need to claim America back. That is going to take a lot of prayer and work however we can do it and we must do it.
Well those are some of my thoughts on why we are going to get four more years of President Obama. If I think of anymore reasons I will post them in another blog post.

Billy David Dickson All Rights Reserved, 2012
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Billy or read more commentary on current issues at https://billydteacher.wordpress.com/.

Direction of the nation and lets not point fingers

There are important lessons to be learned from the results of the 2012 presidential election about the shape of the electorate and how Americans voted. President Obama received seven million fewer votes nationwide, but it wasn’t a case of the President losing voters to his Republican challenger – Mitt Romney won more than one million fewer votes than John McCain as well.

Some of the much-vaunted demographic advantages that President Obama held in 2008 shrunk. He lost ground to Mitt Romney among traditionally democratic groups. Youth voters swung back towards Romney. (Though Obama still held a historically-large advantage there.) Catholics were at a historic high for Democrats in 2008, but they voted for Obama with roughly the same split they voted for Al Gore this time around. Jewish voters went more heavily for Mitt Romney.

( Billy’s thoughts – Lets be careful in pointing fingers at this time. The vote may have gone for Obama no matter who the GOP ran. This just might be the direction the nation is going which is sad.Read more of the above post right here. )

Why I Was Wrong by Dick Morris

I’ve got egg on my face. I predicted a Romney landslide and, instead, we ended up with an Obama squeaker.
The key reason for my bum prediction is that I mistakenly believed that the 2008 surge in black, Latino, and young voter turnout would recede in 2012 to “normal” levels. Didn’t happen. These high levels of minority and young voter participation are here to stay. And, with them, a permanent reshaping of our nation’s politics.
If Romney couldn’t manage this trick against Obama in the current economy, no Republican could.
But that doesn’t mean we just give up. Obama barely won this election and we still have a Republican House of Representatives. We still have the ability – and more important, the responsibility – to fight to keep this great country as we know it and love it.
We must stop Obama’s socialist agenda. That’s our job for the next four years.
( More )