Cut each other some slack.

Each and every one of us is a distinctive product of our gene pool, our environment, our life experience and our faith. Our beliefs, our convictions, and our partisan leanings are inherent in the unique and singular individual which, through time, we each become. As a result, some of us lean blue, and others red. It’s not simply what we choose to believe. To a large extent, it’s what we’ve become. We need to accept that we’re different and cut each other some slack. SC

The Bible tells us if we would have God’s boundless affection, there’s but one condition:

The Bible tells us if we would have God’s boundless affection, there’s but one condition: We must love God without restraint and each other without exception. I realize that loving some of us is a tall order, but considering the reward, I suspect it’s worth the effort. And, just between you and me, God doesn’t expect us to be 100% successful.  He just requires us to try. I intend to try harder.  I suggest you do likewise. While loving everyone, unconditionally, without exception, at first appears daunting if not entirely impossible, that’s not necessarily the case.  We are all products of genetics, our environment, and our life experiences.  As a result, we are each very different.  Despite this obvious fact, we all have one thing in common.  Even in the case of the most seeming vile and depraved among us, that individual was once a vulnerable child.  To one extent or another, some essence of that innocent child remains.  While it’s often difficult to reconcile ourselves to what many people become, or at least appear to have become, with this insight and determination, it’s entirely possible to love who each of us was. We’re required to love the sinner, not the sin. That’s a start.  SC

Any godless sinner can put on a pious façade and slander the faith and beliefs of others, but it requires wisdom, dedication, sacrifice, and boundless compassion to truly repent and follow the teachings of Christ.  SC

If that makes me a liberal...

Back in the mid fifties, even I was a youngster.  Following a horrendous spinal tap and the heart stopping diagnosis of Poliomyelitis, I spent several weeks convalescing at Kaiser Hospital in Vallejo California. During a two week confinement in a hospital with dozens of other crippled children, a five year old has worlds of time to pray. One night, all alone in my hospital room, scared half to death and miles and miles from home, I called out to Jesus from the depths of my little soul.  Days later the hospital ran some tests, and told my folks to collect me and take me home. When I finally tugged my cowboy boots back on and Dad and Mom headed for home with me in tow, I began a walk with Jesus that has lasted to this day. When my family and I arrived in Missouri in 1978, I became a member of Dry Creek General Baptist Church, where I was baptized under the bridge at Indian Creek in 1979.  Twenty years later, in 1998, I became a member of Pomona Christian Church, where I maintain my membership today. I live in the Ozarks now.  Suffice it to say, the majority of my church family are lifelong, staunch conservatives. I love those folks dearly, and many of them tolerate me.  As someone who has considered Jesus Christ my personal Savior for over fifty years, I believe in doing justly, loving mercy, walking humbly with my God, and enthusiastically supporting the rights of others to walk with theirs. I believe freedom is all about personal choices. I cherish my own freedom; I make my own choices, and I passionately support the freedom and choices of others.  If that makes me a liberal, so be it. I prefer to consider myself an American. SC  

It’s time to remember what made America great to begin with

There’s a race in progress around the world today that we can’t afford to lose, and America is standing flatfooted at the starting line, held back by those who feel no need to participate, because they’re not invested in America.  They’re only invested in themselves.

The incomparable engine that powers our economy is all but idle, rusted, and starving for fuel. Our country’s vast wealth and potential has pooled at the top and grown stagnate.  The answer is not additional years of greed, robbery, self-interest, and promises of trickledown. The answer is cash flow now.  It’s time to prime the pumps!

I’m not suggesting giveaways. We don’t require additional handouts to the bottom.  And we certainly don’t require more tax breaks and giveaways to the top.  I’m suggesting unparalleled investment, with the expectation of unparalleled growth and dividends. It’s time to put all our backs into it and grunt.   

It’s time to puncture that reservoir and circulate the fuel that will get our engine running.  It’s time to make hard work profitable and profits equitable for all those who do the work that make them possible. The answer is not raising wages until America is unable to compete on the world stage. The answer is to provide incentive through affordable housing, healthcare, and education, so that a person who is prepared to work for fair, equitable, and competitive wages will find those wages sufficient to meet their needs, and the businesses and corporations who employ those people can produce state of the art services and products that result in reasonable profits while remaining competitive around world.  

It’s time to rebuild our infrastructure so that America is once more the envy of the world.  It’s time to harness our ingenuity, creativity, workforce, and technology, and invest again in America and our people. It’s time to remember what made America great to begin with, and why the world once looked to America for leadership.  It’s time to refuel our engine and get back in the race. SC

Day by Day

I've been asked about the importance of faith in my daily life. Over fifty years ago, following a childhood bout with polio, I began following Christ.  I did not begin my walk with Christ with any real idea of where I was going.  I just set out to follow, day by day.  I’m not suggesting that the entire walk’s been easy.  My walk with Christ has provided countless blessings, but along the way I’ve faced struggles, I’ve sinned, and I’ve failed repeatedly.  I've been beaten down, and beaten down, and beaten down. Life’s trials and tribulations would have killed me long ago, if not for a revelation: I’m not responsible for each day’s results, or my ultimate destination.  I’m simply called to faithfully follow Christ, day by day, step by step, in the light each new day brings, and to share that light, should others choose to follow.  I’m called to “do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with my God.” The God of Abraham requires no more, and no less.  SC

PEACE

When those about us languish in a sullen sea of doubt, and the whole world seems in anguish, and hope, nowhere about; its then faith burns most brightly with conviction’s brilliant glow, while fears retreat contritely, vanquished by the confidence we know. For our hope is not in inner strength, nor conceit at honors won. Our valor not doomed to fail at length, our victory not contingent on what we’ve done. Our joy is not reliant on some gallantry we’ve shown. We’ve no need to be compliant to some distant impropriety we’ve known. For our strength is in humility, not some valiant course we’ve trod, but in simply doing justly, loving mercy, serving God. SC