A Parting Thought

<sup>As we get ready to ring out 2009 tonight and ring in the New Year, I wanted to leave you with a thought from Ecclesiastes 3:11:

11</sup> He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Frankly, 2009 was not a great year for many of us, but we can pray that God will make 2010 beautiful in His time. Don't get overwhelmed by events. Remember, as the above verse also tells us, that we are citizens here in a strange land and He has set eternity in our hearts - our true home. Bless you as we all continue the journey home over this next year. Happy New Year!

It's Too Hard to Catch Terrorists - Part Deux

It came out this morning that the would-be suicide bomber of the Delta flight bought a one-way ticket with cash and then boarded the flight without his passport. He also checked no luggage. By my count this guy violated four "tells" for terrorists that we have all heard the warnings about yet the security people didn't see anything amiss.Great. He was also on a list with 499,000 other possible bad guys but now the government spinmeisters are saying it's "too hard" to cross match one name against this database. Mark Steyn said this morning that if Amazon can pop up personalized recommendations for him even though he may not have logged on in 6 years, why can't the airline security computers do the same for someone breaking every supposed rule in the terrorist book? Good question. Maybe we should put Amazon in charge of airport security.

Homeland Security Boss Flip-Flops

In a performance worthy of John Kerry, Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano first said on Saturday that the airline security system worked with the near disaster on the Delta flight that the Nigerian kid tried to blow up and then reversed course Sunday saying "it failed in this instance." Ya think? news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091228/ap_on_go_ot/us_airliner_attack What wasn't as widely reported was her reason why the system isn't working. The real culprit, according to Napolitano, is - get ready for it - BUSH!! Booga booga. newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2009/12/28/clueless-napolitano-now-concedes-system-failed-miserably

Well, Janet, I hate to break it to you but it's your watch now. The bad guys are constantly probing our systems and adapting their tactics - it's a dynamic process. We likewise have to constantly be evolving our hardware and tactics. Of course in this case the fact that kid's father was doing everything he could to alert authorities that his son had gone off the Islamic deep end and was dangerous could probably have been considered actionable intelligence, especially when he bought an airline ticket to the U.S. Then again, this is the same Administration that cautions us not to jump to conclusions when an Army major of Arabic origin who has publicly discussed killing his fellow serviceman, dresses in full martyr garb, and then kills 13 soldiers at Ft. Hood while shouting "Aluhu Akbar!" I mean there is absolutely nothing to indicate that this guy is a terrorist as opposed to a simple nut case. As long as politics trumps vigilance in the national security arena, we can only pray that the same mercy that God showed to the passengers of the Delta flight continue with our nation as a whole.

Merry Christmas

O Come O Come Emmanuel

This is Chuck Colson's Breakpoint column today, which deserved reprinting in toto.

A Candle in the Darkness Twenty Years Later

December 24, 2009



As people across the world tonight light Christmas candles at Christmas Eve services, my mind goes back to another Christmas 20 years ago in Romania, when the country was still in the grip of communist tyranny.

The story begins with Laszlo Tokes, pastor of a fast-growing reformed church in the city of Timisoara. His powerful preaching had caught the attention of communist officials, and they began a strategy of suppression. They stationed police officers around his church, machine guns cradled in their arms. They hired thugs to attack him. Finally, just before Christmas, they decided to send him into exile.

But when the police arrived to hustle Pastor Tokes away, they were stopped cold. Around the church stood a wall of humanity. Christians from around the city—Baptist, Pentecostal, Orthodox, Catholic—had joined together to protest.

All through the day they held their post. As it grew dark, a young Baptist student named Daniel Gavra pulled out a packet of candles, lit one, and passed it to his neighbor.

Then he lit another. One by one the burning candles were passed out among the crowd. Soon the darkness of the December night was pierced by the light of hundreds of candles. When Pastor Tokes looked out his window, he saw a sea of faces lit up by a warm glow.

That night, he said later, was the “turning point in my life.” He would never erase from his mind the picture of believers from all denominations joining hands in his defense.

Two days later, police finally broke through the crowd and dragged Pastor Tokes away. But that was not the end. The people now streamed to the city square and began a full-scale demonstration against the communist government.

Once again Daniel Gavra passed out his candles. Once again the night was lit by their glow.

Finally, the communist officials began to panic. They brought in troops and ordered them to open fire on the crowd. Hundreds were shot. Young Daniel felt a searing pain as his leg was blown off.

Yet the brave example set in Timisoara inspired the rest of the nation. Within days the entire population of Romania had risen up and the bloody dictator Ceausescu was gone. The churches filled with worshippers offering praise to God.

For the first time in half a century, the people of Romania celebrated Christmas in freedom.

In the hospital, Daniel Gavra celebrated while learning to walk with crutches. His pastor came by, offering him sympathy, but Daniel wasn’t looking for sympathy.

“Oh, Pastor,” he said softly. “I don’t mind so much the loss of a leg. After all, it was I who lit the first candle.”

What a powerful image for us here in America as we celebrate this Christmas—the picture of a black December night lit up by a glowing testimony to the unity of God’s people.

What mighty things the church could do today when it is truly is the church: when we stand shoulder to shoulder with all our brothers and sisters, ready to fight evil, prepared to give our limbs—and yes, even our lives—to light a candle in the darkness.

www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/13937-a-candle-in-the-darkness

What a Chunka Chawclat!

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s Arnold Stang was ubiquitous on television and radio in a host of character roles, all of them nerdy. The line of his that I most remember was for a chocolate bar named "Chunky" and he would voiceover, "Chunky - what a chunka chawclat!" in his impeccable nerdy voice. Mr. Stang died Sunday at 91. R.I.P. www.kgw.com/news/entertainment/79891392.html

Motown is Now NoTown

This is a video about how Detroit was turned into a post-apocalyptic venue. The tight shot here is the downtown core. If you want to walk to Wayne State University from here you go through a landscape resembling Dresden immediately after the Allied bombing. Detroit is Murder City. Everybody who can has moved to the suburbs or out of state altogether. Ideas have consequences and Detroit is one of those consequences. It is important because the same ideas that brought us Detroit are being pushed hard at the national level today. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.


hotair.com/archives/2009/12/21/new-crowder-the-death-of-detroit/

PETP - People for the Ethical Treatment of Passengers

There are not many things that I have agreed with coming out of the Obama Administration, but this is one that I do. I posted earlier this year on the awful treatment afforded the passengers on a Continental flight to Minneapolis/St.Paul this summer. The new rule would fine an airline heavily for similar treatment and it's about time. The airline industry reacted by saying the new rule would result in more canceled flights. So? Would you rather be on the ground in an air conditioned or heated terminal depending on the season or strapped in your seat on a plane for 6-7 hours with overflowing toilets, screaming kids, no ventilation, etc.? Not a tough call! Many airlines have treated their passengers worse than cattle for a long time and it's way past time that something like this was done.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tarmac_strandings

One Person's Difference

If you haven't watched the movie Bella, you should. It's the story of a life saved from abortion and the struggle of the one parent and a Good Samaritan. Here is the story of the man behind the movie and it's a great story of one man deciding to be salt and light to the world. He has made a difference for Christ and I thank God for him and others like him. How is your salt and light doing?
www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=119213

Chokepoints and Core Competentcies

I noticed a small article last week that said the U.S. Navy believes that Iran could now shut down the Straits of Hormuz. This area is the chokepoint in the Persian Gulf through which 40% of all the oil in the world passes, so the strategic implications to the world economy are enormous. The article below questions whether the Navy could reopen the Straits if Iran decided to close them, as it certainly would if Israel decided to strike at its nuclear program. The author's answer is "yes" but maybe not quickly because the Navy has lost its edge in performing its core competency: control of the seas. Diplomacy is laudable but when the talking stops and vital interests are at stake, you had best make sure that Teddy Roosevelt's "Big Stick" is ready to go. Politicians and Navy brass take note.


www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/344friup.asp

I Am Not Making This Up

The Copenhagen conference on global warming was pretty much shut down yesterday by this. : )


www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601130&sid=a5wStc0K6jhY

The Still Point in the Turning World

I was thinking about the Christmas story today. I like John 1, "¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. " It is so neat, clean and cerebral. Which is precisely why reading the Christmas story in Luke is so necessary. The story in Luke is much messier: arbitrary Roman edicts, difficult travel, no room at the inn, a young woman with a sullied reputation, a long suffering and patient man. That of course is the central part of the Christmas story - that God sent His only begotten Son into the mess that is humanity to redeem us and draw us up into heaven to be reconciled to Him. Beauty at Christmas is fine - listening to Handel's Messiah, looking at pastoral pictures, enjoying delicious food with family and friends - it's all good. But the essence of Christmas is that in a chaotic and messy world, a loving God arrived as one of us to bring us His peace then, now and forevermore. Amazing.

What Kind of Jacket?!

Many of you are probably buying North Face gear for someone on your Christmas list. North Face makes good, if somewhat pricey, clothing. Now there is an alternative - The South Butt! Take a look at the cheaper alternative before you click that "Buy" button. www.thesouthbutt.com/ Hurry, though, because in a classic illustration of bad judgment or bad legal advice, or both, North Face has lumbered into court to shut this young upstart down. www.kgw.com/news/business/79246147.html Hats off to this young man and shame on North Face! They should be buying him out, not shutting him down.

The Last Ice at the North Pole

One of Al Gore's inventions unfortunately bit him in the caboose yesterday. The former Vice President announced at the Copenhagen climate summit yesterday that there is a high probability that all arctic ice could be gone within 5-7 years. news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091214/ap_on_sc/climate_gore Within hours, though, Al's earlier invention - the Net - was abuzz with a statement from the scientist that Mr. Gore purportedly relied on that disavowed Gore's sweeping pronouncement:

“It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.” www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/copenhagen/article6956783.ece

I for one am glad that Al invented something that can correct the record so quickly when ex-politicians try to foist baloney on an unsuspecting public!

I Knew It!!

Beer prevents cancer. This Bud's for you!

thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Beer-could-be-the-new.5894530.jp

Copenhagen, Schmopenhagen

In honor of the opening of the Copenhagen conference today on global warming, I have posted a John Hawkins' column that poses four questions for global warmists to answer. Nowhere have I seen answers to these questions and before we spend trillions of dollars and kill our economy at their behest to "save the planet", is it asking too much to have them answered beyond a reasonable doubt?

townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2009/12/08/four_colossal_holes_in_the_theory_of_man-made_global_warming

Remember

December 7, 1941 - a day that will live in infamy. Japan struck the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor Hawaii without warning, plunging the United States into a desperate battle for the next 4 years. Millions of young Americans went to war including my father and mother and two of my uncles. Admiral Yamamoto who engineered the attack had studied at Harvard and knew the American character. He had advised against the attack saying that it would awaken a sleeping giant. He was right. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. Japan followed three months later on August 15, 1945. Remember the brave Americans who fought for this country. Remember so that we will never be caught unprepared again. Remember.

V for Victory! (The Way It Wasn't)

President Obama's recent address to the country about Afghanistan was perplexing, to put it mildly. Basically, we are adding 30,000 troops to the fight but will begin withdrawing them in July, 2011. Let's go back to the day after Pearl Harbor and see how President Roosevelt handled things:

"Washington, D.C., December 8, 1941. President Roosevelt announced today that the United States will do whatever is necessary to totally defeat the Axis powers after the duplicitous Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. "They have roused a sleeping giant and we will accept nothing less than the unconditional surrender of the Axis!" said Roosevelt after his address to a joint session of Congress. The President set July, 1944 as the date for withdrawing American troops from both the European and Pacific theaters and said he hoped the Axis would cooperate."

Well, maybe it didn't happen quite that way. Ronald Reagan said it well, "Here's my strategy on the Cold War, we win; they lose." If you are not going to seek victory, then get out before a lot of good men and women get killed for nothing.

Arlington at Christmas

A reminder of those who have made the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion more than an abstract idea.

Rethinkingchristmas.com

We've all said it at one time or another, "Let's simplify our Christmas this year." This is usually delivered in a somewhat plaintive tone with a look of hopeful dejection. Well, there's help.

Mark Earley writes in today's Breakpoint about a new book, Advent Conspiracy, that talks about five churches' efforts to move away from unlimited consumerism and massive debt at Christmas to a celebration more focused on the true meaning of the season. www.breakpoint.org/bp-home More helpfully, he cites a new website that is full of practical ideas of how to actually downshift our spending and ramp up our worship of God during the Christmas season. rethinkingchristmas.com/ Take a look and see if you can't take some small steps this year to put Christ back in Christmas.