Monday, April 28, 2003

THOU SHALT NOT . . . According to Reuters, today the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Kentucky of a ruling that barred the display of a large granite monument with the Ten Commandments on the state Capitol grounds in Frankfort. Without comment, the justices let stand a federal appeals court ruling that the display would violate church-state separation under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.   Maybe it would have been better if they had been called the Ten Suggestions. If only you had been alert to my commandments, your happiness would have been like a river, your integrity like the waves of the sea. Your children would have been numbered like the sand, your descendants as many as its grains. Never would your name have been cut off or blotted our before me.  –Isaiah 48:18-19 The next time some disaster strikes, or some terrorist act occurs, let’s not ask “where was God?” I think it’s pretty clear that we don’t want Him around. File under Current Events. 8:26:12 PM    Go ahead, make my day  []

MONDAY MISSION PromoGuy's Monday Mission 3.17   1. Postmodernism (a popular philosophy of the current day) indicates that there are as many "truths" as there are people; nothing is absolute (however, by its very nature, even the word 'Postmodernism" resists definition). For yourself, what truths are absolute? Are there any absolute truths in the Universe?   Yes. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.   2. Do you believe that you are still "teachable?"   I believe I am and if I’m not, I hope I realize it. I think it’s important to constantly learn as we make this journey through life.   3. To do something well, in most situations, requires study and practice. What's the most recent thing that you have done well as a result of study and practice?   I spoke at a seminar last Thursday involving my legal specialty.   4. If you had the time/money, what do you want to learn how to do more than anything?   I’d like to hitch a flight from the Russians to the International Space Station on a Soyuz.   5. Those around us may often try to intervene, but ultimately each individual is responsible for the choices they make in life. Tell me about a recent situation where you had a decision to make, and those around you tried to influence or direct you. Were they successful? Was that "help" welcomed?   Since most of the decisions I make in business are on behalf of clients they always involve the input and in fact the approval of others. As far as personal decisions go, right now the most recent decision I’ve made involved where we’re going for vacation this summer and what we’re going to do when we get there. My son and my wife not only influenced, but participated in our decision.   6. Things are much easier to accept when they are given by invitation rather than being forced upon us. When was the last time you rejected something because it was forced on you? How did it happen? Did you hold a grudge about it? Was it ever resolved?   I’m certainly not the kind of person that likes to be ordered around. People seem to either know or sense that and don’t cross that threshold. My wife and I once rented a house from a scum-sucking dirt-bag slumlord who, by way of example, insisted that the sewage that flooded the basement was only "water," even though it had a condom floating in it. After dealing with that kind of crap from him, along with numerous cold winter nights without heat, we started withholding rent from him. Well, the long and the short of it was we sued him and settled by moving out after living rent-free for several months so he could sell the house. The house remained vacant and unsold for over a year. I hope he choked on the mortgage payments. Not very Christian, but I still feel that way. I know God forgives me.    7. Are you the sort of person who questions everything, or are you able to accept things without someone providing you tangible proof?   I’d definitely be a citizen of the “Show Me State.” Of course my faith in Jesus is based on just that, faith.   BONUS: Ooo baby, do you know what that's worth?   Of course I do. Hondo knows everything. Do you?   File under 8:19:03 PM    Go ahead, make my day  []