Swap Blog

A few years ago I had the father of one of my former students day suddenly. He had been sick for a little while, but he had began to improve and then suddenly he passed on. For those that have been regular readers of this site, you know a similar thing happened to the wife of fellow East Tennessee blogger, Atomic Tumor, last year. Over the last 30 or so years I have seen similar things happen several other times as well. I mention these things to point out how unsure we are of tomorrow and that we need to be about the work that we are called too today.

Moving on -

Isaiah 41:9 I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, `You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:11 “All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.

Isaiah 41:12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them.Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.

Isaiah 41:13 For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Isn’t it great that we have nothing to fear when we go into battle for God. His chosen people are victorious before the battle is even joined. I know that I personally forget that many times. I get concerned about how a situation will work out. I begin to wonder how God will provide this time. Regularly, I have to remind myself that the issue is already resolved. I have also learned that in time I will see God’s will and direction in the outcome.

In hindsight I always see the problem, and it is simple. I try to get ahead of God. I begin to think about the victory before He is even ready to show me where I am going to do battle. God has a time, a place, and a purpose for everything. It is not our place to determine His time, place or purpose, yet we assume it is many times. We do this because we convince ourselves that our labor is vital to His work. The truth is a 180 degrees from that though. His work is what makes our labor useful. The victory is won by Him. He then allows us to share in the celebration and spoils.

Our enemies will not just be defeated by God, they will be disgraced by Him. That is not for the benefit of our ego, but for the benefit of the Kingdom. That way all will know who was the victor and who was defeated. No one will be left to wonder about the outcome, and the defeated foe can not try to “re-tell” the event and change the outcome. God wants His victories to be noticeable and definite. He wants all to see and know who is the one true commander. To me that means He also wants us to be proud of the victories that He wins for us.

To many times I think we try to move past the victory to quickly. God wants us to find and learn the vital lessons that He has for us in the victories. He wants us to learn from His acts, not just be expectant for the next battle and victory because we are always in a hurry to see the end result.

God is not about human time, He is about eternal time and eternal victory. It is our short sightedness and ill directed motives that distract from His work. The great thing though is that no matter how hard we work to foil and distract God from His work our missteps accomplishes nothing. God is going to complete His work, with His people, in His time.

Isn’t it great to be the chosen servant of the almighty God that chooses to use us to advance His kingdom instead of the rocks, birds, and animals that would ALWAYS do His will. Free will is an amazing gift, even when we miss use it.

Have a great day and remember that the victory is already won, no matter the battle, and no matter the odds. This is not because of our greatness or worth, but because of the greatness and worth of the one we serve. Stay strong, be courageous, and serve Him mightily today.

Today The Hatemongers Quarterly, published daily, decided to take at look at the idea that Iraq was not associated with the 9/11 bombing. In doing so THQ pulled in and analyzed the candidacy of Ron Paul. Like or dislike Paul this is a interesting read. Full Post Here

Tom BOOM BOOM Boonen just got a new custom carbon fiber Specialized. This one came out of a custom mold that cost € 500 000 (or roughly $673,000 USD) to produce. Boonen is suppose to get 5 or 6 more of these custom frames in the next few weeks to replace the custom aluminum bikes he is on now. This custom carbon frame is 13mm ( .511 inches) longer in the top tube then the normal Specialized carbon frames. This extra top tube length is suppose to fit Boonen better and help with some of the back problems he has had since his team switched bikes. Full story at the bottom of today’s Cycling News News of the Day

A Lovely Infidel has a great photo of the day up today. It is of a swimming bengal from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Zoo Post Here

I found a web site devoted to reporting “Dumb Laws” and wanted to share it. The list of such “Dumb Laws” that they find in Tennessee can be found here. Click on the state names at the top of the linked to page to see similar laws in other states.

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred has a great Wacky Wednesday Award up today. My three favorites this week are The Valium Award going to British Performance Artist Mark McGowan and The Thorazine Shuffle and Dance Award going to John Edwards (thus proving the statement I made in the previous post true about Edwards destroying himself) and The Methamphetamine Medal going to Caryl Dontfraid. These alone make it worth reading, but the other awards this week add to the enjoyment. Give SC & A’s full weekly award post a read here.

Well the news seems to be going about 90%+ that one Fred Thompson will “officially” get in the race for President. I will be the first to say I called this one wrong, and I am pretty sure that I did call this one wrong at this point based on the news.

I never doubted the pull Thompson would have, but I doubted that Freddy T would want the job. He seemed to have what he wanted - a career in Hollywood, a family, free time, the ability to comment if and when he wanted, etc. Add to that his recent lymphoma admission and I just did not think the had the desire to walk away from that and run. Former Posts Here, here, and here showing my thoughts at the time.

When Fred Thompson gets in the race the dynamic will change. It is never wise to bet against Mr. Thompson when he gets rolling. I think Thompson’s entry will also be a example of why it is tough to go from being a sitting Senator to the Presidency. Thompson has not been involved in the recent Congressional or White House decisions and can run on what he would do, not what he recently did. Regardless of the party it is hard to distance yourself from the current government when you are in the Senate. That has been true throughout the history of the US and that is part of the problem that Senators McCain, Clinton, and Obama all face currently.

Thompson will and does have some negatives when it comes to conservative Republicans and evangelical Christians, but I think they will have far less trouble voting for Thompson then they would candidates like Rudy and Mit who have wavered on some issues that they consider vital in the past.

Bottom line if Fred gets in I think he wins the Republican nomination as people, and money, always seem to find their way to Thompson. Thompson is not Reagan, but he is not Bush or McCain either, so I think the majority of Republicans will vote for him.

The question then will be how Thompson can do against Hillary Clinton as I don’t think Obama gets out of the Democratic primaries. John Edwards issues are all his own, he does not need to have a voting record to create problems for himself. Edwards kills his own campaign within nine months I think.

Thompson Vs Clinton (both who cut their political teeth during Watergate) will be a interesting race. I expect McCain to go third party after he loses the Republican nomination. I am not sure how many other third party candidates we get. I am not sure if McCain hurts Thompson’s or Clinton’s chances more at this point as he seems to pull from the edges of both parties.

Based on the news this AM there are only two important things going on in California right now. First you have the two whales that have been “trying” to find the Pacific for over a week still “trying”. The second West Coast story is that Britney Spears throw up in a club.

At this point, to me, neither of these are that important as both are old news at this point. I hope the whales get to the Pacific soon though as then their future will be brighter. Maybe then Britney’s future will brighten up to due to all the freed up news time which may press her back into professional care.