Three Posts For College Students

        With commencement speeches beginning, I bring back these posts addressed to young people and will leave them up for a day or so:

The Shortest Commencement Speech Ever.....May, 2013

         Once again, another year has passed and I wasn't invited by anyone to be their commencement speaker! So I dreamed a dream and in that dream a very fantastical thing happened. Joe Biden was to be the commencement speaker at the University of Pennsylvania but a couple of his hair plugs fell out at the last minute and he refused to go on stage. The Ivy League  school administrators were frantic in trying to find a replacement. When they heard my name, Special Dog, they thought I must be a rap singer and thus eminently qualified to give a commencement speech.......then I woke up. So I sat down and penned the speech that I would have given had I in fact been invited as a commencement speaker...anywhere:

       Well this is it! Four years....a hundred thousand dollars in debt.....and all you got is a piece of parchment and a t-shirt saying "I survived four years of American higher education." I just want to say one word to you. Just one word....plastics! Actually that's a quote, one of the top 100 film quotes by the way, from the 1969 movie The Graduate.
        I'll start my advice with a little history.... the "last official words" of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The magazine sized book published in 1964 that most everyone has seen... Four Days, The Historical Record Of The Death of President Kennedy, described it this way, "These were President Kennedy's last official words-the conclusion of the speech he was to have delivered in Dallas." That speech ended with these words, "...the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain'." That Bible excerpt is the last half of the 1st verse of Psalm 127... from the King James Version, which begins with this "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
          So I pass these words on to you as encouragement in this commencement speech for they are the only truly reliable words in this post: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!

          So.... you will be going out trying to find a job...maybe you already have one lined up.....please remember...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
          You finally have that degree....it will be worthless if you forget, Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
          Whatever your degree is in.....it must now be built upon this, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
          You might already have a position at the biggest law firm in New York City.....God's Word reminds you, Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!
          You're already an expert at investing and have great plans for your portfolio.....is this the title of that portfolio...Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it?
          You're patient and willing to work your way up....good traits, but keep in mind...Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
          You just might want to work for a year with the United Nations.....to build peace.... Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.
          You might want to save the planet or protect the environment .....without God it will be in vain, for Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain!

          This may be the shortest commencement speech ever given but one does not have to be a PHD, or a celebrity, a statesman, general or financial wizard to relay God's wisdom to graduates......

"Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Stark Contrast

         Surely somewhere in America on that bleak or snowy Saturday in early December 1941 a young man sat looking out of a restaurant window, or maybe a coffee shop, with a young lady at his side who was his new bride. They had the world at their fingertips as he was just awarded that treasured college diploma he worked so long and hard for, and she wore the wedding band she had dreamed about since they first met in grade school. They looked into each other's eyes with hardly a care in the world. Oh, the plans they had so much fun making.....a small cottage with a white picket fence that someday would keep little ones and maybe a puppy dog from straying as they play.
          And then the morning came and as they walked into church the somber faces took their joy away for they had not heard the news from that group of islands where the sun shown year round and warm surf slapped the white beaches. America was in the war against evil that they had only given themselves minutes a day to reflect upon. The young bride knew immediately that their dreams would now be put on hold if they would ever come true. Surely the prayers of all present in that worship service were salted with tears.
          Not every generation has its hopes interrupted as this generation did on December 7th, 1941 but our young generation today may indeed be another one. Colleges and universities are having their commencement right about now and the hopes and dreams of many wearing mortar boards and gowns are exactly the same as the young couple that I described.
          I'm a news junky and the daily pain from the news of this world has made it such that I could never lose myself in plans or even hopes and dreams. Love is disappearing in the world....no.... worse than that, it has been hijacked by greed, tortured by pride and what is left is directed to ourselves and we in America are paying dearly for our dalliances.
          The 1943 Academy Award for Best Picture went to the 1942 American film Mrs. Miniver in which Greer Garson also won for Best Actress. It portrays the upper middle class Miniver family who live outside of London in a very nice home on the River Thames. I list this film as one of my favorites in my Profile for this blog.
          Life could not be sweeter for Mrs. Miniver and her family as she is smitten over an expensive new hat and her husband (Walter Pidgeon) outdoes her by purchasing a sporty new vehicle. Their eldest son has taken up the pipe at university and spouts his political views with heartfelt sincerity but naive certainty much like our youth today and very much like myself at that age. War looms on the horizon but is not taken seriously until England declares war on Germany. Life then changes for the family as their son goes off to war as their own home is damaged by bombs.
          There is a church scene at the beginning of the film and another at the end and the stark contrast of the two is the essence of the film. Americans would already have experienced the realities of war when the film came out and the intended purpose of the film was to rally the American public by showing them the courage and stamina of the British homefront in a war they had already been in for three years. Winston Churchill commented on the book and the film in that they did more for the war effort than a flotilla of battleships.
          I highly recommend the film for the essence, for we are in need of a reality check on what lies before us, and our congregations are in need of an extreme soberness in our worship services that would eliminate distractions and focus us solely on who we are there to worship.

River Of Passion....2013

          It was drizzling and a bit chilly as my wife and son and I walked Cambridge University back in the spring of 2001. I wanted to see where many of the Puritans were educated, and I wanted to see some of the places where the Academy Award winning Chariots Of Fire were filmed. The building that housed the White Horse Inn was long gone but a small blue plaque hung in the nearest spot possible to that location.

To our youth.....may they make more of it than we did. 

          It was in the 1960s when Madison Avenue realized that the youth of America were a potentially potent economic force with their newly established buying power. Along with all the attention given to us, for I was a Baby Boomer also, came a microphone. Some used it to shout pro-Ho Chi Minh slogans from atop university statues, some used it to attack Richard Nixon, some used it to announce to the world the true meaning of love, peace and happiness, and a very few used it to ask "Brother, are you saved?". The youth never relinquished that microphone but didn't really use it again until the horror of the murderous and imperialist Bush Administration (to use their words and their contorted reasoning) savaged the Middle-East with war.
          When Barack Hussein Obama came along with no employment history to speak of, no legitimate letters of recommendation, no experience outside of community organizing and not even a birth certificate to prove eligibility for the job he was applying for, the youth came out in force to change America and the world.. Obama received 66 percent of the 18-29 vote in 2008. More recently, Rand Paul became a favorite of young people in the republican primaries.
          It was in a 16th century English pub, the White Horse Inn, that a youth movement did indeed help to change the world. Located on the grounds of Cambridge University... students, Dons and travellers discussed the works of Martin Luther and out of this discussion came a passion for the hearing of the Word of God which resulted in the English Reformation.
          America needs a vigorous and positive contribution from its youth at this very moment in our history. It must not be birthed by the spirit of the age but by God's Holy Spirit. Just getting a job cannot be the criteria to determine success. The college student of today is in a more precarious situation than any generation before them. Not the Civil War, nor World War II, nor the Cuban Missile Crisis compares to it. They are losing their republican form of government, the Constitution that kept the rule of law intact, and most importantly the blessings of having God's very hand upon our nation.
          The original discovery that youth were an economic force has evolved into a monster feeding frenzy with the youth feeding on every material and social networking product thrown at them while others feed on the youth themselves and enemies of America feed on the vacant minds seeking anything to occupy it.
          I realize that you, any young people who may be visiting this site, do not want to hear this. Possibly you are not represented by this description. You have made plans, worked hard and now it is your turn to enter the work force and carve out a niche with a prosperous future. Are you going to attempt this without God, or at least expect the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a nation that overtly rejects God? Realize this.... past generations had the benefit of living within of a God-fearing populace. Even the agnostic could graze in the fields of plenty. This is not the case today! Others have long since sprayed the insecticide of secular humanism over the amber waves of grain, killing the grain it was supposed to protect. You can join this survival of the fittest if you want, where prosperity is soulless and void of true happiness; or you can join those who are seeking mercy from God and a renewed reverence to the one who blessed your grandparents and their parents as far back as to arrival on this continent.
          Do you sometimes feel a void of passion in your life...a meaninglessness that cannot be satisfied by the picture that you paint on your Facebook page? Well, a river of passion flows right by you! Cup your hands and drink from it. Let mercy and peace pass over your palate. A President's election will give but one night of elation but the coronation of the King of Kings provided every morning and every evening with a ceaseless ardor that will make you forever thankful. If you happen to really see the trouble that we are in here in America... that very sight is from God, and He will also give the balm, supply the strength and provide the wisdom to see the joy of redemption even in the darkest hours of this world, and to plan ahead with the full trust that if it be His will it will happen and if it not be His will you would not want it to happen. Here is the only true hope and change...... "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." 2 Corinthians 5:17

Trumpet Sound

The following post is April 11th:
   
         Donald Trump aside, most people would associate the word trump with a card game, which is interesting itself in that Mr. Trump built much of his fortune in casinos, but Merriam-Webster lists another definition first....'trumpet'. The word trumpet supposedly appears 61 times in the King James Bible. Indeed, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17...."For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." (KJV)
         Whatever Donald Trump has been in this campaign, he has been a trumpet, and on no issue more than securing America's borders. He has trumpeted a needed alarm throughout the nation....his 'trump' a call to battle. That's my assessment anyway of his campaign up until now.
          I need to add this here for I have held this opinion throughout the seven plus years of these posts, Ted Cruz... or even my long time number one candidate for president....Jim DeMint....could not turn America around. It can't be done! We are no longer united states. I was sitting at the computer during one of the major primaries a few weeks ago, I can't remember which one, and with around 70% or so of the votes counted, and over a million votes cast, there was a five vote difference between Cruz and Trump! How many of our polarized elections have been decided by a single political ad or one candidate's grass roots skill, or worse yet chicanery, or a worthless media or clueless electorate? Some conservative radio talk show hosts are 180 degrees apart on this convention scheme, the same radio hosts that while unified kept an electorate informed so that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz later had an audience.
         Even if politics were the deciding issue, which it isn't, America could not stand. Only an awakening throughout the entire nation and a reformation throughout the entire church could alter our fate, and that would only be to have secured mercy from God in the coming judgment that we so richly deserve.
        But this post is on politics and here is an observation and the reason for the post. Please think a bit on the absurdity that I am going to describe. Republican elites have gone ballistic over the possibility of a Trump presidency. To hear them talk it would be devastating... the worst possible thing that could happen to America. They would have us believe that they are standing up in defense of their beloved country for they will not let this travesty come about. My question is......where were they when Barack Hussein Obama was running? We knew by 2012 that he was a Marxist....we're still not sure what religion he is.....if he has one. He gave enough evidence of his disdain for America and utter disregard for our well-being that even Inspector Clouseau could figure it out. And yet they hardly protested at all, and were barely audible at that! There is a coming reckoning for our nation no matter how this election would turn out.
          We need, in America, to look to the 'trump of God!' We need to meditate on the judgments listed in the Book of Revelation, for Christians surely will experience some of them. At my age...sixty-six...I am involved in and around many conversations pertaining to pensions and social security. I cannot recall a single solitary time when anyone, Christian or otherwise, showed any concern about America surviving these troubling times. Judgment on America apparently never enters their minds. This needs to change if we are ever to confront the real reasons that chaos, greed and violence have run amok in our country.

        

Goodbye Columbus

       John Boehner referencing Lucifer is like Nancy Pelosi mentioning the Constitution. Neither one has a clue as to their subject, but that is exactly what the former Speaker of the House (Boehner) did! He compared Ted Cruz to Lucifer. Hmmm? Mr. Boehner...why not leave Lucifer to those who know about him and admire him....like Saul Alinsky. I googled 'Lucifer' and all I got was a television series by that name! This might just explain John Boehner's, and much of America's, worldview...."Lucifer? Oh yeah....he's some cool guy on TV." The following was first posted in 2014:     

Goodbye Columbus      

         The aggregate of all temptations thrown at America since the end of World War II proved too much for us to handle. The plan was ingenious in that it was patient. Whether it was television, or the film industry, or the wide world of sports, or the computer, or the narcissism of social media, we were boiled as the proverbial frog in the kettle. I'm writing here about the workings of one particular fallen angel who conscripts mankind into his army of radicals.
         Saul Alinsky, who had such an influence on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, acknowledged this fallen angel at the beginning of his 1971 primer Rules For Radicals in this dedication, Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical; from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom-Lucifer.
        Our thinking patterns are chaotic right now. Major functional building blocks were purposely left out of our education, for we were to be malleable citizens, not rigorous thinkers and certainly not vigilant patriots. Students were still students and the teachers were still teachers and the curriculum seemed similar on paper but the essence and the direction of learning changed. We hoped to succeed as well or better than the rest of the world, but most importantly.... we were to become as the rest of the world! We were rendered helpless, save for the remnant who saw this coming and either taught their own children or strictly monitored what their children were taught or actively entered into the 'system' to salvage as much of our heritage as they could.
       History, like the news of today, can be filtered to say what the administrator wants it to say. We can still engineer a bridge but we have placed more of an emphasis on social engineering and have thus engineered a society without God, without law, without ethics or logic, and without even a conscience to be sorry for what we created. Technology and greed merged to form social media, and now both young and old stare incessantly into the pixelated eyes of this Trojan Horse of Facebook dragged into the home, oblivious to what is inside the belly of this beast.
         The biblical blessing and indeed command....fear of God ....had to be destroyed and the latest and most insidious strategy has been the blitzkrieg or lightening war that we are experiencing against traditional marriage, for the results of this will be that children, in just about every area of their lives and upbringing, will be indoctrinated with a complacency towards God or a no fear of God. Is this not sacrificing the children of this nation upon pagan altars for political expediency, and might not this attack on the impressionable minds of all children be the final nail in America's coffin, hammered in by many of the very people that we are now praying get returned to our Congress?
          It was God who set Christopher Columbus out on his journey, He that gave the Pilgrims the strength, stamina and faith to launch out to a new frontier, He that guided our Founding Fathers, He that provided us a lesson to be learned in our Civil War, He that brought world wars to an end to further His plan and it is He right now who will either move upon our hearts and our minds one more time for His purposes and for His glory alone, or it will be He who will watch as we stumble into the abyss while seeking autonomy from Him and from any laws given us as a hedge of protection.
       

Mayday

         I put about 1400 miles on our vehicle over the past week. As always the web address of these posts was on the tailgate, along with one word....Mayday. The following was first posted in November of last year.

Mayday        

         Have you pondered the inaction of this our 'stand-down president' on issues of national security as he fritters the days away on the golf course, or his usurping powers not enumerated in our Constitution when he does act, or his seeming ambivalence towards the people of Iraq or the Kurds or the Israelis, or Christians anywhere, or even Americans, or really anybody outside of those who support him for their own private gain?  Have you noticed how many people he appointed to important positions because of some perceived political advantage irregardless of whether they have any ability or experience? And have you noticed the ensuing disasters from these appointments?
          Whether you are in college or working tons of overtime to secure your family's financial future.....MAYDAY! Whether you are 65 years old and trying to retire or 25 years old and buying your first house.....MAYDAY! Whether you are Republican or Democrat.....MAYDAY! Whether you are black or white or brown or yellow or red.....MAYDAY! Whether you are union or supervision.....MAYDAY! Whether you are male or female.....MAYDAY! And whether you are American or not.....MAYDAY! Prayer is our only answer.....intense, perspiratory, humble, pleading prayer!

         Franklin Graham, son of Evangelist Billy Graham, made some comments on the deteriorating conditions of this world and the possible nearness of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, comments that made the Drudge Report because of their extreme candor. He said in part "As I read the news, I can't help but wonder if we are in the last... hours... before our Lord Jesus Christ returns......"
         Have you ever been involved in some activity or exercise that was so robust that you felt the immediate need to rest for a few minutes just to get your bearings? Well, that is what it feels like to me as I read the news of the day. Quite a number of years ago I and many others recognized that America was beginning to spiral out of control. Five years ago I wrote about the imminent dangers we faced as a nation and a free people and within the last few years my words became warnings on the collapse in just about every area of our society and the world.
         There is a big difference between resting for a few minutes to regain one's bearings and sticking one's head in the sand during this horror movie being played out on the front pages of our news sources.
         Martin Luther once answered when asked what he would do if he knew that the Lord was coming back the next day, "I would plant a tree." That indeed is what we must do... carry on...press on... but even there we need tranquility enough to guide our hands.
         Franklin Graham knows it, other Christians know it, and I know it.....the only true peace of mind that comes amidst the howlings of the tempests that are shaking every pillar of justice in our country, damming up every fount of blessings and ripping asunder every document holding any truths that limit our own self-autonomy is at the foot of the Cross on Calvary, the empty tomb and the mount upon which Jesus ascended and will one day return, whether it be, as Graham added, hours, days, months or years.

Virtual Elections

      
         There is no precedent for what is happening in this election cycle. It's not exciting as it is portrayed. It should be mortifying and humbling.... for it is more of a requiem.....a dirge for a dying nation.
          I was raised Democrat and loved, in my intellectual innocence, the Democrat Party as it once was....flaws and all, but this is a new entity today....a mixture of Leftists, Marxists and an assortment of thugs ruling over an aggregate of special interest groups that could find no other home because it   was not a home that they wanted but a dispensary of benefits. I'm now in the Republican Party, which is nothing more than a toga party for the patricians, holding virtual elections, the primaries being where one pledges to join with the elites.
          This pall over the American landscape that not only blurs our vision but dulls our senses cannot be lifted through the voting booth. God permitted us to form a constitutional republic for His purposes but we turned it into a democracy for our purposes. Isaiah's words could speak to us...."For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion." (9:16 NASB)
       

Some Things I Like About BHO.....2009

         I bring this post back a couple of times a year. I could not write it today as it was written in November of 2009. In fact, I retain only a few of the 'things I like about Barack Obama' mentioned in the second paragraph of the following post. Barack Obama has since earned every bit of the criticism he receives today. He did not fail in his agenda....he did not grow into the job....and he will not have the respect of any of our former presidents.

         You would not have to read very far into this blog to realize that I believe that Barack Obama was unprepared and possibly unqualified to be President of the United States, that his method in taking office was deception, his foreign policy lowers the defense of this nation, his domestic policies are too close to the beginnings of a totalitarian state and that he represents a Socialist takeover of America.
          Is there not anything good that I can say about him? Actually there are some things. I do not wish ill of this man, our President. I've mentioned before that the optimism I perceive on the faces of the black community, particularly the children, tempts me at times to overlook some of these serious problems, tempts me greatly but fails to convince. Here are the things that I like about Barack Obama: He came from a dysfunctional family, and survived. One does not have to be poor during their youth to be disadvantaged. He was a bright and motivated student that accomplished much in academia. He is a faithful husband and loving father of two beautiful children. His speech is polite and constrained and at times he can be charming. I do not doubt his compassion, rather his wisdom. I want him to utterly fail in instituting his agenda but succeed in dealing with threats to this nation both foreign and domestic. I want him to learn and grow into a job that Saul Alinsky did not prepare him for, and I want him to retire from office in three years with the respect any former President should receive.

         Some day I may want to write about the things that I like about Hillary Clinton, but that will be the day the men in white uniforms come for me and put me into a room with big plexiglas windows and rubber walls which I will surely think is a racquetball court and ask for a paddle and ball to practice with.

Welcome To Animal House

        Hillary Clinton has been using the line for over a decade now...."It's time for a woman president." Here we have one of the most, if not the most, corrupt and despicable candidate for president in the history of our country (Obama qualifies more as treasonous) and yet she has the audacity to make such a demand. This world has had quite a few women leaders as of late and they have proven to be every bit as incapable as men. Feminism came on the scene with a vengeance in the late 60s. Now women can have all the fun that we men have had. Congratulations....welcome to animal house....try not to step in the vomit!
        The feminization of America shows up in laissez-faire church polity and the failure to defend the clearest of scriptural truths. It shows up in a weakening national defense and law enforcement. Its fingerprints are all over political correctness, rising illiteracy statistics and the lazy river of higher education. It dominates television and assists in giving us worthless legislators, senators and presidents.
        Feminism's reach has expanded beyond the in-your-face....street protesting radical feminist. Many wonderful Christian women are on the periphery of this issue in the home but I ask you....how do you rely on a vote when there are only two voting? He wants to sell the house and move to a new community but she doesn't? Do one of the parties say...'OK, you get the say this time but remember...I get to make the decision next time? Or do the two of you agree that if both parties are not in agreement....then you just don't do it?
        Women are well on the way to being masculinized, while men are keeping right up with them in being feminized. Feminization of men does not mean that they walk around with a limp wrist while commenting on the floral pattern on the drapes. In essence it means that they abdicate the man's responsibilities, primarily in the home. Those responisibilites include both loving the wife and making decisions for her benefit and not for personal desires, and directing Christian instruction in the marriage and family. Women....you can either jump on the bandwagon and take his decision-making away from your husband....or you can pray always for this weak mass of quivering jello that you married....I'm describing myself....some of you were more fortunate.
         Some of the best writing on the disaster of the feminization of almost everything comes from women writers who are feminist! This isn't what they wanted. They wanted a fair shake....not unisex bathrooms and a draft notice from Uncle Sam. The transgender movement is a natural outgrowth of our gender denying culture. Ironically during this half century of feminization it has been women who most stood up for family values in both the church and government. For every Nancy Pelosi there has been two Sarah Palin's and for every Gloria Steinem there has been two Phyllis Schaflys and for every Megyn Kelly there has been two Ann Coulters. The culture is kaput without a rebirth of biblical values and even then the nation itself will see God's judgments stemming from over one hundred and fifty years of continuously increasing rebellion that has culminated in a veritable pagan nation and feminized gospel that neither saves nor preserves.
         ,

Airbrushing Our History

         Consider just the news from today. Barack Obama is in the UK trying to pressure the Brits into staying in the EU. This has nothing to do with trade or economies. Borders and national sovereignty need to be eliminated, and Obama has said as much to them. The scam of Global Warming is in the news with some new 'temperature' statistics. This has nothing to do with the climate of our earth but rather with the redistribution of wealth upon the earth. Andrew Jackson's face is to be taken off of the $20 bill and a display of state flags are to be replaced by state commemorative quarters at the U. S. Capitol...this because some of the flags have Confederate symbols on them. This is a form of Whack-a-Mole folks where our American heritage is whacked every time it pops up. 
         Have you not noticed the strong-armed politically correct Progressive/Left influence from some of our sports networks and professional sports leagues in the last few years? Have you read about Curt Schilling lately? Do you think that these executives came up with these decisions on their own? Barack Obama may consider all of this as part of his endgame folks but he is only a pawn on this board, as are some billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio.....useful you-know-whats- as Lenin would call them Should you come to see what is going on here, you may want to fall on your knees in humility seeking forgiveness of God along with those of us who have known about this deadly gambit for quite some time.
          Does the name Terry McAuliffe sound familiar to you? He was bequeathed a governorship, Virginia to be precise, two years ago. He just signed an order that gives 206,000 convicted felons the right to vote again.....and just in time to help Hillary. Friends, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz can't fix this illness in America. Even nine Antonin Scalias could not ensure an educated populace. Trust in politics if you wish.....but they own that now too.

The following post is from July of 2015:  

         A Breitbart commentator hit the nail on the head when he likened the attempts to purge America of Confederate symbols to Stalin airbrushing people out of photographs. If one fell out of favor with Stalin, and after that person was 'eliminated,' censors would remove him from photographs where Stalin was present.  I'm looking at one such photograph right now. Stalin is on a ship's deck with two men to his right and one to his left, Nikolai Yezhov, who fell from Stalin's grace and was executed. The accompanying photo has the same smiling Stalin flanked only by two men to his right. Yeshov is no longer in the photo to Stalin's left, just the ship's rail and the sea! I want to emphasize here that what we are experiencing today in America is the same purge mentality.
         This is pure...unadulterated... Communism, as it will seek to eliminate even the remembrance of that which poses a risk in any way.  The American public of today, in general, would fare miserably in comparison to both the North and the South during the Civil War. We do not have their thinking or analyzing acumen. Their logic and reasoning was intact whereas ours is practically non-existent as evidenced by the chaos and absurdity with which the 'politically correct' so easily smothered our culture.  Our priorities are inundated with the narcissistic and the trivial. We understand adequately neither the issues that led to the Civil War or the character of its participants on both sides. The attacks on Thomas Jefferson are meant to further erode any ties we have with the founding of our nation.
         You could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of men in our government today who would not wilt in comparison to a Robert E. Lee or a Stonewall Jackson in honor, integrity, greatness and godliness. We are not worthy of the Lincolns, the Lees, the Jacksons or the Chamberlains and many others from that time period. That is....we as a people.... for our military has indeed carried on that tradition, but it also is being marginalized from purges in leadership on down to cultural engineering in the ranks..
         It is only a guess, I have no way of knowing for sure, but I would imagine that nine out of ten new visitors to these posts either disagree with my thoughts on the threat of Communism today or have no idea what I'm talking about. This I expect and it's one of the reasons for these posts of seven plus years.  The news media will never inform on the similarities of Barack Obama and the Bolshevik mindset, and maybe that's a good thing, for it would be a biased whitewashing and airbrushing of both.

A Hymn And Prayer

         The doors had closed as they were designed to but six of the sixteen watertight compartments were already flooded. Unfortunately they were not totally watertight for they had no ceiling, and water overflowed into adjoining compartments. They effectively sealed the compartments for a time but some engineers today believe that this actually spelled doom for many passengers, for the weight of water in the bow of this ship prevented an even balance that might have given the ship as much as six hours more time before sinking. Others believe that higher compartment walls might have saved more lives. The RMS Titanic sank 104 years ago today.
         There was a hymn sing on the ship a few hours before it brushed the iceberg. The last hymn sang, and particularly the last of four stanzas of that hymn, are interesting in retrospect. The hymn is Lead, Kindly Light. It was written as a poem in 1833 by John Henry Newman. Hours before this epoch disaster, and in the last hymn that was sung, worshipers began with....

Lead kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom, lead Thou me on! 
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on.

         The words continue through the first three paragraphs in a reflective mood of the author.  Years later hymn author Edward Henry Bickersteth felt compelled to add another stanza which reads....

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself has trod, 
Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God. 
To rest forever after earthly strife in the calm light of everlasting life. 

         Lord, forgive us for forgetting Thee. Have mercy upon us for Thy name's sake alone. Help us navigate this tempest that we have brought upon ourselves.  Instruct our dull minds. Restore our faith in Thee, and then use us in whatever capacity brings the glory that is Thy due.

The following post was written in December of 2014 and I add it because of the topic matter:

         The mood on the bridge was somber. The Captain never said a word as the chief engineer detailed the damage to the hull from the iceberg. All of the ship's officers were present. Muffled voices from somewhere on the decks below were the only sounds. It could have been a painting or a photograph. The scene almost had a Civil War flair to it as some of the uniformed men faced left, some straight ahead, some with a hand neatly placed between buttons on their coat. The Captain turned from looking out over the calm sea, picked up his cap from a table and carefully placed it over his grey hairs, walked over and opened the hatch as the muffled voices became loud shouts, and stepped out into the chilly North Atlantic air as reserved as he had done thousands of times before. 
          As the hatch swung shut the voices once again became muffled and the officers seemed to breath for the first time. The First Officer spoke, "Gentlemen, I promise you that if I am made captain after this voyage I will restore the promise of this great ship." The Second Officer took two steps into the middle of the gathering and spoke next "If I might interrupt sir, had you followed my advice we would have come to a stop hours ago at the first sight of icebergs." The Executive Officer cut him off  "Stopped.....stopped! I would never have taken this route. Records are all you men are interested in...Fame!"
         Everyone in the room was now shouting out allegations. They had all moved closer together and the scene was uncomfortable to watch for the one person not blessed by birth into the elite culture of the ship's staff officers. Throughout the entire meeting....the details, the captain's humiliation and the officers fighting over who might replace him.... was a lowly ship's mate standing at the wheel, holding firm onto it as was his duty even though all engines had stopped. He turned suddenly to face the others, his face red as the ribbon across his cap just below the word HMS Inviolable. What was there to lose? Would they reprimand him and send him to his quarters? "You are all daft! The ship is going to the bottom! None of you will live till morning!" The First Officer stared intently into his young face "Going down? Nonsense. This is His Majesty's Ship Inviolable. It is unsinkable!" At that point a pair of binoculars had slid off of a table and crashed onto the deck of the bridge. The lights flickered and a horrible groan emanated from the bowels of the ship. The officers, every one of them, for the very first time, realized what was indeed going to happen.
         This invented scene is emblematic of our political process at this present time as our ship of state's officers are, one by one, promising how things would be different under their watch. 2016 presidential elections? Get the lifeboats out first gentlemen and should God have mercy upon us to even allow us another national election without great catastrophes to our homeland then it might be appropriate for you all to slither back in but I'll tell you now not to apply for we would need new faces at the helm and on the bridge.

    
       

America....America....God Mend Thine Every Flaw

         The following post was written in March of 2011 and it referred within to a post written in November of 2009. Time goes on and we in America continue to "sow the wind" and "reap the whirlwind." God's words through Hosea were prefaced by this "They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes but I knew it not, With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction." (Hosea 8:4, 7)
          After reading this verse anew today, the words idols for their own destruction struck a different chord with me then before. I thought about Facebook which has surely become an idol that we obviously craved. The effects that it has had on our narcissistic inclinations alone dimmed any discernment that we might have had, while its potential for a Big Brother manipulation of our minds is very real. We have set futuristic technology up as an idol and there are legitimate concerns about Artificial Intelligence someday acting independently of man and even against mankind. There are many other examples of how we have built idols that do us nothing but harm.

America....America......God Mend Thine Every Flaw

          Not since the Civil War has America been imperilled as it is today. The national debt can never be paid down and it went over that edge because of political motivations. We are so globally intertwined that even if we straightened out our own paths, we are handcuffed to others who have no desire to do so. China, no friend to us whatsoever, at least their communist and military leadership, can bring us down if they want to and if their own current events go south they may implement this option. Israel is surrounded and its enemies, like a pack of wolves or shiver of sharks, need only the smell of blood to unleash another war. Russia would sell our enemies the noose to hang us. Both China and Russia are building their militaries while we are more concerned with what armament contracts can bring in the most votes. Our media, in the main, hates conservative principles, our traditions and heritage, to such an extent that the Marxist, Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky cabal has a veritable free rein in propagandizing a sizable postmodern, politically correct, idol craving culture. Our borders are porous, bureaucrats legislate and George Soros sits on a mountaintop with his minions ready to swoop down on Dorothy and Toto to steal those ruby slippers.

          The events of 9/11 even pale in comparison to the organized effort today on every level to bring us down. Yet with all these dangers, and many more, the President of this besieged nation golfs on weekends, parties at night and has shown today that he is more informed and interested in picking the winners in March Madness then any of the aforementioned problems, and others, any one of which can send this world into a tailspin.

          I wrote in a November 13, 2009 blog titled America...The Beautiful that We know who built this nation. They were in the pulpits, pews and courts, on farms and in the cities, under pilgrim, tricorn and coonskin caps, Civil War kepis, Cavalry hats, helmets and berets. They cooked and sewed and drove rivets when needed. They wore blue and grey, G. I. Brown, navy white, air force blue, jungle and desert camo. Heroes are born in the cauldron of trying times and we are seeing them again today. How about the Christian women who, in their limited free time, would rather read of Ruth and Orpah than watch Ellen and Oprah; Christan fathers whose children see them thanking God before every meal, Faithful pastors who say you can keep the crowds, I'll preach Christ and seek the approval of the crowds of witnesses gone on before; of teachers whose first priority is the children; of conservatives on university campuses who are two bright to be scammed; of every country music singer that sings of God, family and country; of every retiree who did their part and now shares their wisdom; of every union member who says I'll fight for what is right and not for what isn't; of every janitor at a Tea Party who is a giant compared to the executive who would rather be on the golf course, and of our military in every mess hall and PX, behind every desk or 50mm gun-wearing private stripes or brass. These are some of our heroes. This nation may not survive. Why God has not ended this experiment as of now is the real mystery but even if we do, their will be a remnant giving glory to God for past mercies given to us that we might help others.

The Wages Of The Disregard For Law

         It was not that surprising.....for it was Abraham Lincoln. The speech itself and the vocabulary used could be given today by a Ted Cruz or a Jim DeMint or a Mark Levin. It was given January 27, 1838, and Mr. Lincoln was only 28 years old. The audience was young men of the burgeoning Lyceum Movement which was an attempt by some to improve the overall fabric of society by means of programs and lectures. The title of the speech was The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions, and the venue was the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois. This can be easily Googled if you wish to read the entire speech.
         Lincoln was very disturbed that mob rule was gaining momentum "from New England to Louisiana" over the rule of law. He listed some specific instances. In one, a group of gamblers were hanged just because they were gamblers, and in another a black man who was accused of murder was burned to death. The following quote from Lincoln's speech will hopefully shake you to the core..."Thus went on this process of hanging, from gamblers to negroes, from negroes to white citizens, and from those to strangers (going thither on business); till dead men were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees upon every road side; and in numbers almost sufficient to rival the native Spanish moss of the country, as a drapery of the forest." This statement is more than disturbing.
         Lincoln looked back in this speech to the American Revolution when our Founding Fathers and the people used their passions to bring freedom and liberty but he then commented on the innate corruption of man and how passions without law can lead to mob rule. He worried about the very continuance of our government. It is from this speech that an often repeated quote from Abraham Lincoln emanated..."If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
         He referred to a departed..."hardy, brave and patriotic people" who bequeathed to us our inheritance of civil and religious liberty and then contrasted that with his time where a "disregard for the law.....pervades the country." Acknowledging that isolated instances in themselves may not endanger our government, he pointed out that when a citizenry ignores the danger of the disregard for law...."the lawless in spirit (themselves) are encouraged to become lawless in practice." Disregard the law and you open the door to the most egregious evil. Today it is your rights that mean nothing to these people.....give them time and it will be your life that means nothing to them!
         Abraham Lincoln was giving warning that if the people become divided with one half ignoring the encroachment of lawlessness and the other half suffering from that lawlessness, then the latter will lose their "attachment' to their government...."depend on it," Lincoln deduced "this government cannot last." He defended the patriotic spirit that Americans still had for their country, and that they would die for their country, but warned that already many of the "pillars" of liberty had crumbled away.
         He supplied an answer as to what must be done..... the history of our nation's beginning should be...."read of, and recounted, so long as the bible shall be read"....and that "reverence for the constitution and laws" should never be abandoned!
         It is more than remarkable that Abraham Lincoln was describing an indifference to law that we are experiencing today......a former First Lady/Secretary of State can do what she wants regardless of the law, an Attorney General can ignore some laws and prosecute those favored by his boss, government agencies can be used as tools of persecution, mobs can rule cities, the power of the ballot box can be usurped by establishment elites, and universities can regulate speech, inquiry and truth.....while the media ignores the danger of the disregard for law.
         

Shoals And Reefs

        January of 2015 was the last time I posted Heaven Is For Real....The Book Is Not. The latest installment of this genre (that I know of) is Miracles From Heaven.....thus today's reposting. I have a question for you...would this not be a legitimate topic for a small group discussion or even a Sunday School class, or are we so secure in our comfort zones that no opposing opinion is allowed? Is it not possible that we consider ourselves so immune from deception that we might in fact be overly susceptible to fads and false notions?

        Why bring back this post again and again? It's not the most important failure in the Christian church today but this type of nonsense is part of the fabric of the contemporary church and helps to keep it from learning its own faith. Why look to church history? Why try to understand doctrine that requires labor and perseverance to understand when such evidence as is in this book tells you that you  are on the right track? Heaven Is For Real is a litmus tests of sorts. If you fell for this story there is something seriously wrong. Run back to it if you want; it's an easy road and there will always be another storyline or prophesy teaching to keep you intellectually sedated. These are hard words and most readers are probably gone already but not you. Why? Maybe it's because there has always been a nagging suspicion that something just wasn't right?
         The church in America is primed for books like this for it is part of the culture and the culture is anti-intellectual, narcissistic and obscurantist as to any consequences to ignoring American history and most importantly church history. This is why we have Barack Obamas and Joe Bidens. This is why we have Benny Hinns and Joel Osteens.      
         What this book and movie will do is keep many of its Christian readers and viewers in the doldrums with no real wind for their sails, and this with a tempest of all tempests looming on the horizon. It will make them think that they are tacking a right course. We are in need of a safe harbor and these types of books, and they are many, are shoals and reefs amidst the pounding waves. Let me reiterate, if you missed this easy one.....what else have you missed!

Heaven Is For Real......The Book Is Not.......May of 2011

         Well, I'm way behind on this one. A few days ago I heard about the new book sensation, Heaven Is for Real. I picked it up and read it in little more than an afternoon then went to the New York Times Best Seller list and in some sort of Freudian Slip I went to fiction and started scrolling backwards. Well, I was back into February and no Heaven Is For Real. Then it dawned on me...non-fiction, for I had trouble even putting the book into that category. Indeed, according to what I then read, it had been Number 1 for 12 weeks and has only slipped to Number 2 this past week. What can I say? It's sad that this is what Christians read, what they so easily fall for, what they are totally unprepared to discern.
         For those not familiar with this book, as I wasn't until three days ago, a pastor's son has an out-of-body experience on the surgery table and is taken to heaven. This loving father is certainly sincere but he also erred in discernment of what happened. There are two ways to address this, the first being to list the ways that the book is not Scriptural but I think that it's more important here to address this genre of Christian literature. You're probably not too happy right about now, if you have read this far, but if you can read on a little bit further I'd like to give you some things to at least think about.
         You wouldn't want this story to be true! If it was legitimate, then maybe the hundreds of similar stories that came before it could be legitimate also and even if only a portion of them were legitimate you would then be living a Christian existence where personal testimony, experiences, imagination, the paranormal and even chicanery would rule. You would have given up our bulwark of strength in the reasoning mind that God gave us and of reading God's Word under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and this for a mess of pottage. You would have given up order and precision for the chaos of emotive evidence. When I was about 16 years old, a man came up to my friend and I at a shopping center and showed us some very nice watches.... supposedly they were inventory that he was trying to get rid of...right! Well I bought one and it worked perfectly for about the same number of weeks that Heaven Is For Real was Number 1 on the best sellers list. The book will be gone soon, possibly they will make a movie of it, but then another incredible story will come along.
         I have another thought to ask you to consider; I submit to you that, on a scale of excitability, all the thrills that you may have had reading this story do not compare with even the shortest verse in God's Word....."Jesus wept." (John 11:35) I'll even go further than that...even if you could take the trip  that this little boy supposedly went on, the excitement of thoroughly understanding even one of the great Doctrines of Grace as they relate to our own salvation, of a lost sinner deserving of condemnation but pardoned through absolutely nothing in or of ourselves, of God's choosing us in spite us and keeping us despite our many frailties, then it would make that trip even less than trivial, to be discarded for the real joy of seeing Jesus through the eyes of faith according to His Word!
         Friends, this is not a discerning age for the world or the church and America is at the precipice in no small measure because of it. Maybe you think that it is a discerning age and we are just fine. J. I. Packer once commented, to the best of my memory anyway, that the term giants often used to describe the Puritans was inaccurate for they were normal men, it was only that we are in a church age of Pygmies that we see them as giants.
         Please do not take my statements to where I never would take them, that being that there is nothing valuable being done in the church today for there is. One need go no further than missionaries of the true gospel, than servants who give and give and give with no concern for their own well being, than pastors who literally wear out dealing with the challenges of this age, than the faith shown by you and multitudes of others in living in a world that mocks its Creator and rejects its Savior, but we are also called to handle the Word of God correctly.
         A glass can only hold so much liquid, our time can only be portioned out on so many things and this age is a candy store of diversions, a haberdashery of excuses to wear and a fitness club to make us think that we are healthy. The book of Jeremiah tells us to ask for the old paths, where the good way is... (Jeremiah 6:16.) Even the wonderful authors of today had first mined the works of those who came before us. One has to mine gold or at least pan for it. It doesn't usually wind up on Best Seller lists.

"The Odd Couple"

          I would like to recommend a book that I think you will thoroughly enjoy, learn valuable American history through reading it and even be edified in the process!
         These may be the two most celebrated men in the American colonies prior to the American Revolution. Stay with me, for the names may surprise you, at least one of them. Only eight years separated the elder born in Boston in 1706 and the younger born in Gloucester, England in 1714. Both were born to humble circumstances and both had unrelenting passions. They were different in their philosophies of life yet were great friends until the younger died first in 1770.
         The elder, a polymath, was a printer, an author, an inventor, a scientist, and a statesman of world renown among other things. You now surely know that he is Benjamin Franklin. The younger was an evangelist. The University of Pennsylvania honors both as founders. George Whitefield (pronounced Whit-field) was the most celebrated man in the American colonies during his ministry.
         This book is far from just two mini-biographies. It tells a story of Philadelphia in the first half of the 18th century and it provides a very concise and necessary picture of Christianity during that period, including snippets of Jonathon and Sarah Edwards and Cotton Mather, while more detail is given John and Charles Wesley. But the book is more than even this. It shows the similarities of these great men... Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield... while contrasting the passion of the former to improve the mind and thereby the citizenry in general, to the latter whose passion was to to see souls come to Christ. Although it may have at first been Whitefield's enduring labors to raise money to fund an orphanage in Savannah that placed him front and center in Franklin's eyes
          Raised in working-class families but rebellious to the establishment of their time, they would soon travel the world in their own endeavors and eventually change the course of an entire people. Ben Franklin rejected his Puritan Boston upbringing for a gospel of good works while George Whitefield rejected the dour messaging of the Gospel from his youth to unveil the majesties of Jesus Christ to awestruck throngs from New England to Georgia.
          Whitefield published most of his sermons under the auspices of the Philadelphia printer but they forged a great friendship to go along with business, a friendship that Franklin even referred to as love. There's a lesson here for America today if we are willing to learn it. Franklin never became a Christian although he greatly supported his friend's ministry, while Whitefield never stopped  attempting to bring his friend into the kingdom of Christ. Ben Franklin listened over the years as a friend would, while George Whitefield gently but firmly apportioned his pleadings to his friend, not wanting to turn him away but not willing to abandon his soul either.
          The God-fearing liberal of today should admit that this nation is collapsing into anarchy and violence and welcome the Christian message of law and gospel as a stabilizing force even if they have no intention of accepting it, but that's not what's happening. They want to be free of the Bible!
          George Whitefield was often hounded, ridiculed and persecuted by the secular element in society but he saw this as evidence that Satan was not happy with his ministry. We can learn from this, for if we are not being ridiculed for our belief then maybe we are just not very upsetting to the demonic forces being unleashed around us.
          
         The book is The Printer and the Preacher, Ben Franklin, George Whitefield, and the Surprising Friendship that Invented America by Randy Petersen and it was published by Thomas Nelson in 2015. The author referred in his book to Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield as "the odd couple" and thus the title of this post.
        

Temporal And Spiritual

Planned Prescience        

         It would be stunning if it weren't that almost every week this self-anointed king occupying our White House makes a stunningly absurd remark....usually with a smirk. Today he did it flashing a peace sign during a summit and warned the world that if "madmen" ever got a hold of a nuclear bomb they would "certainly" use it. This warning has been shouted from the rooftops for the entire time that Barack Obama golfed, partied and joked his way around the D. C. and world circuit, and in spite of his ignoring at best the terrorists he is now warning of! He also offered this bit of wisdom ....if the bad guys get nuclear bombs and use them it could...."change our world." Folks, he's not warning you....he's pre-staging an alibi!  This is not prescient vision....it is planned deception.
         These people are not stupid. They know that this world is about to enter a time of extreme trial. They are planning on it and may even initiate it. Our preoccupation with sports, personal fitness and entertainments are key to their springing a New World Order upon us. On a temporal level all we can do is impress upon those in Congress that no matter what may be ahead, that under no circumstances are we to give up our sovereignty, even in part, to any world body or organization...not even for a minute!

         The following is from a 2012 post and addresses the spiritual side of our travails. We cannot ignore the political side, for if we succumb to the Marxists in Armani suits, clerical robes and academic regalia then the children of our once blessed nation will pay the price, but neither can we defend them apart from first putting out trust in Jesus Christ for the welfare of our nation.

"Son, I failed to try"

         ....Having said this....having given these purely personal opinions, I need to reiterate as I have done consistently in this blog that any of our schemes and all of our schemes, whether they be noble or ignoble, sound or unsound, cleverly devised and painstakingly developed or simply mob induced, will indeed either fail or succeed but not without God's staying hand or lifted hand. We cannot go one way or the other apart from His permission which will ultimately lead to His glory and the benefit of those who trust in Him. 
         We do have a cause, that being a future for us and our children in a nation that insures freedom and liberty, and acknowledges that God is not only the source of all blessings but the author of all truth. The hard reality is that that may not be what's in store for our children. They may look at us one day and inquire as to what we did in the final days of the constitutional republic of the United States of America. Our answer will have to be either we tried and failed to protect that heritage, or we failed to try....... mainstream America, it will either wake up, as there are signs of, or return to a deep sleep, either of which will be as God sees fit to permit, for his ultimate purposes and to His everlasting glory.

It Doesn't Look Like America Anymore

          I had a rare day off on a weekday today. The grass needs mowing, I need to use the weed whacker but first I have to fix it, French door windows on the porch need cleaning, the garage is a mess and I have important appointments that have to be made. So, as I was saying....I had a rare day off during the week today with nothing to do...so I took a four hour drive up to Buffalo just to visit the community that I was raised in for the first 12 years of my life.....and then I drove back home!
         Today's youth, on the whole, have been deprived by the predator forces around them from understanding liberty and freedom...from being introduced to the greatness of our Founding Fathers...from discerning between right and wrong in favor of correct and incorrect. Can you blame them for going crazy over Bernie Sanders?
         I took the below photo of a tree that I wrote about in the 2012 post that follows:
          

It Doesn't Look Like America Anymore

         I'm in a rather melancholic mood tonight. This once proud and industrious nation is staggering and punch-drunk. It has rejected its Benefactor having defiantly proclaimed the words of the Victorian poem Invictus "I am the master of my fate: the captain of my soul" and forgotten Benjamin Franklin's words to the Constitutional Convention "I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"
        

          It wasn't a vision and it wasn't a daydream. It was an awakening of sorts for an eleven year old boy. My guess is that it was December, for the giant snowflakes would not have moved me so in the middle of a winter that had already seen many snowstorms come in off of Lake Erie. The year was probably 1961. There must not have been any friends available to pal around with for I was walking aimlessly as the snow was falling fast and sticking. The tree could not have been more than twenty feet...more of a big bush than a tree but it still stood above the flat Buffalo landscape. The ground was barely covered by the fresh snow but those large flakes landing on the bare limbs made climbing the tree...bush...inviting, and I did.
         I sat on the highest limb that would support me. To my right was the apartment complex that I had grown up in, three story red brick buildings placed almost as a maze with plenty of grass in between, perfect for young boys to play football on. If there was anyone outside with me that day they are no longer in my memory. Looking to my right, towards the red brick, gave me feelings of security for almost everyone knew their neighbor. Looking to my left was almost as a frontier. It was just a very large, seemingly endless, open field that I had explored often finding and breaking open the most interesting rocks. Directly behind me was the United States Post Office where the Stars and Stripes flew proudly above even the apartment buildings. Often, when the flag was not raised, we would swing like Tarzan from the ropes until the local police cruiser pulled in and then we ran.
          I pondered the beauty of the snowflakes that day. It was as if I never experienced anything majestic before. I remember gazing off over the open field as if I were in the crows nest of the Mayflower looking off to see if I could spot the new world. I revisited that spot and that tree not too many years ago, almost wanting to climb it again. Instead I stood at its base and tried to put myself back into 1961. I looked to my right and it seemed as if not a single thing had changed, for the red brick buildings looked exactly as they always had. No new buildings had been added nor any taken down. Only one change was immediately obvious, the line of metal trees with clothesline connecting them was gone. I looked off to my left and there was no field whatsoever, only an eight lane highway dug into the ground so that if you looked straight out you saw houses in the distance but if you walked a little bit closer it was if another world existed beneath the surface of my boyhood. The frontier was domesticated, its treasures pillaged.
         Oh there was one more change. Looking behind me, the Post Office was gone along with the flagpole and Stars and Stripes. I had the feeling that the people living in these same red brick buildings did not know each other anymore....just a feeling. Had I climbed that tree I would have had to look down into that abyss of vehicles as hundreds of people came into my life and vanished just as quickly without my even getting to see what they looked like. I didn't feel secure anymore as strangers were to my right with the faceless to my left. There was no flag representing America towering over me, no eagle ready to attack a lurking enemy. Nor could I run home and watch Gunsmoke where the good guy always won. I wasn't lost for I knew where I was. It was America that was lost, buried under the soil that provided the ditch for the highway that took everyone somewhere but no one really anywhere that looked like America anymore.