Today is my Sister’s Birthday

Today I celebrate the lives of my sister and my mother, in this small way.

Today (October 29) is my sister’s birthday. Four years my senior, she would have been 60 today, if she had survived. I miss her still, although when she was here, in her later years I didn’t spend a lot of time with her. Sometimes you don’t know what you have, until it is suddenly gone. She died at age 44, of liver failure – she was an alcoholic. Her death was one of the most stressful things that has ever happened to me. I was the second person on the scene at her death – her body was still warm. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.

Then, there is my mother, who passed away on October 30, 2000. I was there at her passing. A heavy smoker, she died of a combination of COPD and dementia; when she died, and for some months before that, she did not know who I was. Her passing, really, was a blessing. COPD causes shortness of breath – a victim usually has a low-level panicked feeling all the time, perhaps a ‘drowning’ feeling. My mother was suffering from this for several years before I found out there was a medical reason for it. During that period, I thought she was going nuts. In reality she was having panic attacks and paranoid attacks that frequently caused her to behave irrationally.   

At this point, I am the last survivor of my birth family. My Dad passed away before my sister did.

Death represents the end of pain. Sometimes, for everybody involved.

If you’re a Christian, that is. Neither my sister nor my mother were what I would call ‘practicing’ Christians – but they were both acquainted with the Bible, and the precepts of Christianity. I do hope they were saved. If so, I expect that I will get to see them again.

A person generally is exposed to more death as he ages. It seems that probably, on average, half of everybody you know will die before you do. As my neighbor says, “Don’t worry about life. You’re not getting out of it alive!”.

A young person doesn’t really perceive that death will happen to him – it is off in some distant future. On the other hand, an older person knows that his time will come. This causes different reactions in different people.

Some people, if you were to throw them out of an airplane at 30,000 feet without a parachute, would scream all the way down. Others would enjoy the view for as long as possible.

I plan to enjoy the view.

Cheers!

-Popgun

A Thought

As a Christian, I believe that I will live forever (after I die).

Maybe we’re here on this earth to learn patience. Somebody that lives forever is going to need a lot of patience.

-Popgun

Obama Is Not the Anti-Christ

Obama is not the anti-christ.

Can’t be. The anti-christ will be competent at foreign relations.

-Popgun

An Old Story

A long time ago, someone told me this story. I’d attribute it, but I don’t remember where it came from.

A pastor was preaching to his congregation:

“Strong drink is of the Devil! Christians should not drink Strong Drink!”

“Amen, brother!” said the old widow in the front row.

“And smoking is sinful! Lovers of the Lord should not Smoke!!”, sayeth the Pastor.

“Amen, Pastor!”, said the old widow.

“And Snuff! Snuff is Evil!!”, cried the Pastor.

“Now you’re MEDDLING!”, muttered the old Widow.

The moral of the story is obvious. Everybody is in favor of reform, as long as it is somebody else that is being reformed.

This is the fundamental problem with the current push for health care reform. Everybody agrees it’s a great idea – just don’t mess with ME. And that’s exactly how I feel, too.

I want the current push for reform to fail, because frankly I do not trust the current administration to stick to the specific subject. They have tried to hide so much left-wing progressive policy in this bill (or set of bills) that the whole thing has gone sour. I no longer trust them to come up with ANY bill that is honest.

Obama, Pelosi and Reed, and others, have poisoned this bill with their left-wing agenda. They have made so many patently false statements about it that it turns the stomach.

It’s kind of like getting screwed over by a dishonest salesman. The next time he tries to sell you something, you aren’t going to trust him much. That’s how this feels to me. I don’t have any faith at all that what is being done is for my family’s benefit.

So, Mr. Congressperson, if you happen to read this – vote NO on the health care bill, whatever is in the final version. You haven’t read it, you don’t know what’s in it. Vote NO. Maybe we can tackle it again in a few years with a more rational approach.

-Popgun

How About That?

I was reading the excellent blog of Bayou Renaissance Man, and came across this article about bacon.

I was amazed to discover that pig by-products are used in the manufacture of bullets and explosives. This is news to me.

Then, I remembered that I have read somewhere that Muslims and certain other religions define pigs as unclean animals. So I did a little fast research and found that in Islam, this sin pertains if a Muslim person knowingly partakes of pork. If they do it unknowingly, it is not a sin.

So here’s a thought: Perhaps we need to advertise the fact that our weapons have pig in them. Once aware of this, a Muslim terrorist would be committing a sin if he puts himself in a position to be shot or blown up with modern firearms or explosives.

Just a weird, tongue-in-cheek observation… sometimes my mind goes in odd directions.

-Popgun

Magnitude of the National Debt, #2

Back in May, I noted that the the U.S. national debt equaled about $2.25 per day since the creation of the universe / big-bang event. ALL previous administrations combined have saddled us with this amount of debt.

The Obama administration has announced that the 10-year deficit projection (NEW debt) is 9 trillion dollars.

That means that the U.S. National debt today will increase by about $1.79 on Obama’s watch.

All prior administrations combined = $2.25. Obama’s administration alone = $1.79.

If this prediction is correct, the U.S. National debt in 2019 will be an amazing $4.04 for every day since the creation of the universe.

Wow.

-Popgun

Number 34

Yesterday was our 34th wedding anniversary.

In this day and age, this seems like a record. But it wasn’t hard at all. If you come to understand deeply that “the two will become one flesh” (Matthew 19:5), then you have the answer.

Sometimes your hand fumbles and drops something – but you don’t get mad at it – it’s part of you. You might get mad at yourself for making a mistake, but you don’t get mad at your hand.

In the same way, you develop true forgiveness for each other’s foibles. You love your entire spouse, not just the best parts. You both know that whatever each of you does, you’re in it together, so you deal with it and go on. This concept also means that you actively try not to do anything that would hurt the other; the same as trying not to hit your hand with a hammer. You do everything with an understanding that it affects your spouse as well.

It takes understanding, patience – and love.

In this respect, I have been truly blessed.

-Popgun

Separation of Church and State

Obama has said that Americans “do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation”.

He also said, “And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”

He’s wrong about the first point. In the United States, 51.3% of the population think of themselves as some variant of Protestant; 23.9% as Roman Catholic, and so on. So an overwhelming 75.2% think of themselves as Christian. I’d say that justifies calling the United States a Christian nation. Source – WolframAlpha.

There are an estimated 5 – 7 million Muslims in the United States, according to some sources. Islamicweb claims there are almost 10,000,000. Using their (probably optimistic) numbers, paste them into a spreadsheet and sort it by population descending, you find that the United States is number 24 in the list. If you sort it based on percentage of population that is Muslim, the U.S. comes up number 106 in the list. Therefore, any way you slice it, Obama is wrong about the second point.

Whatever his purpose, I don’t like the direction he’s taking here. Obama wants to be popular everywhere, and it is not going to happen. This is a major weakness of his, in terms of diplomacy. I most certainly don’t like his playing kissy-kissy with Hugo Chavez, or bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia, either. He has no dignity, nor respect for his own office.

Just as a point of curiosity, I wonder if we can sue Obama for ‘mixing church and state’?. He’s clearly trying to use religion to his advantage in his official capacity as POTUS.

-Popgun

Death Statistics in the U.S.

The CDC says that 2,426,264 people died in the United States in 2006. I don’t think this number includes abortions.

The AbortionFacts website shows a total of 760,849 abortions in 1995, in the U.S.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform shows a total of 1,370,000 abortions in 1996, in the U.S. Of these, 93%, or 1,274,100 occurred “because the child was unwanted or inconvenient.”

I didn’t happen to turn up abortion statistics for 2006, so this isn’t apples-to-apples.

The above information is based on published statistics and is probably reasonably accurate. The next statements are my personal opinion on the matter:

I conclude that pro-choice women, in 1996 – thirteen years ago – murdered no less than 1,274,100 unborn babies for their convenience. And this trend continues.

This number is equal to about half of deaths from all other causes in 2006. Killing babies (or adults, for that matter) because they are “unwanted or inconvenient” constitutes murder, in my book. This statement may offend you; if so, I won’t apologize. I can’t see any other way to describe it.

Based on these facts, I’d say that it’s no wonder that God seems to be removing his blessings from this country.

-Popgun

Men (and Women) of God

It seems to me that any preacher, pastor, rabbi, or cleric of any stripe who feels called to do God’s work, and requires payment to do it, has questionable motives or misplaced priorities.

The person truly called by God to do His work is going to do that work regardless of payment. And that person will get their reward – sometimes through gifts of man and sometimes direct from God.

The litmus test for a pastor – would you continue to do your job if the money dried up? After all, you said God called you to this ministry!

And again – Pastor – have you ever changed ministries in order to make more money?

Think about it.

-Popgun