Where Am I?

There's only one place on this map that is over 70 today, much less over 80...and I live there. This map says it all. Not gloating, just speaking the truth in love. God bless South Florida in January!

Let All God's People Say "Amen!"

Since I'm on the theme of prayer for the new president, here is one by Dr. Al Mohler that is the cream of the crop. I was both inspired and encouraged by it, and I pray that we will all endeavor to do our part to make it a reality in the years ahead.

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Our Father, Lord of all creation, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: We pray today with a sense of special urgency and responsibility. We come before you to pray for our new President, Barack Obama, and for all those in this new administration who now assume roles of such high responsibility.

We know that you and you alone are sovereign; that you rule over all, and that you alone are able to keep and defend us. We know that our times are in your hands, and that "the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord" [Proverbs 21:1]. Our confidence is in you and in you alone. We come before you as a people who acknowledge our constant need for your provision, wisdom, and protection.

Father, we pray today for Barack Obama as he takes office as President of the United States. We pray that you will show the glory of your name in our times and in these days, confounding the wisdom of the wise, thwarting the plans of the arrogant, and vindicating those who do justice and practice righteousness.

Father, we pray with thanksgiving for the gift of government and the grace of civic order. Thank you for giving us rulers and for knowing our need for laws and ordered life together. Thank you for this nation and the blessings we know as its citizens. Thank you for freedoms unprecedented in human history. We understand that these freedoms come with unprecedented opportunities.

Lord, we pray with thanksgiving for the joy and celebration reflected on millions of faces who never expected to look to the President of the United States and see a person who looks like themselves. Father, thank you for preserving this nation to the moment when an African-American citizen will take the oath of office and become our President. Thank you for the hope this has given to so many, the pride emerging in hearts that had known no such hope, and the pride that comes to a people who have experienced such pain at the hands of fellow citizens, simply because of the color of their skin. Father, we rejoice in every elderly face that reflects such long-sought satisfaction and in every young face that expresses such unrestrained joy. May this become an open door for a vision of race and human dignity that reflects your glory in our differences, and not our corruption of your gift.

Father, protect this president, we pray. We pray that you will surround this president and his family, along with all our leaders, with your protection and sustenance. May he be protected from evil acts and evil intentions, and may his family be protected from all evil and harm.

We pray that the Obama family will be drawn together as they move into the White House, and that they will know great joy in their family life. We are thankful for the example Barack and Michelle Obama have set as parents. Father, protect those precious girls in every way -- including the protection of their hearts as they see their father often criticized and as he is away from them on business of state. May their years in the White House bring them all even closer together.

Father, we pray for the safety and security of this nation, even as our new president settles into his role as Commander in Chief. We know that you and you alone can be our defense. We do not place our trust in horses or chariots, and we pray that you will give this president wisdom as he fulfills this vital responsibility.

Father, grant him wisdom in every dimension of his vast responsibility. Grant him wisdom to deal with a global financial crisis and with the swirling complex of vexing problems and challenges at home and abroad. May he inspire this nation to a higher vision for our common life together, to a higher standard of justice, righteousness, unity, and the tasks of citizenship.

Father, we pray that you will change this president's heart and mind on issues of urgent concern. We are so thankful for his gifts and talents, for his intellect and power of influence. Father, bend his heart to see the dignity and sanctity of every single human life, from the moment of conception until natural death. Father, lead him to see abortion, not as a matter of misconstrued rights, but as a murderous violation of the right to life. May he come to see every aborted life as a violation of human dignity and every abortion as an abhorrent blight upon this nation's moral witness. May he pledge himself to protect every human life at every stage of development. He has declared himself as an energetic defender of abortion rights, and we fear that his election will lead directly to the deaths of countless unborn human beings. Protect us from this unspeakable evil, we pray. Most urgently, we pray that you will bring the reign of abortion to an end, even as you are the defender of the defenseless.

Father, may this new president see that human dignity is undermined when human embryos are destroyed in the name of medical progress, and may he see marriage as an institution that is vital to the very survival of civilization. May he protect all that is right and good. Father, change his heart where it must be changed, and give him resolve where his heart is right before you.

Father, when we face hard days ahead -- when we find ourselves required by conscience to oppose this president within the bounds of our roles as citizens -- may we be granted your guidance to do so with a proper spirit, with a proper demeanor, and with persuasive arguments. May we learn anew how to confront without demonizing, and to oppose without abandoning hope.

Father, we are aware that our future is in your hands, and we are fully aware that you and you alone will judge the nations. Much responsibility is now invested in President Barack Obama, and much will be required. May we, as Christian citizens, also fulfill what you would require of us. Even as we pray for you to protect this president and change his heart, we also pray that your church will be protected and that you will conform our hearts to your perfect will.

Father, we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, the ever-reigning once and future King, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He and he alone can save, and his kingdom is forever. Above all, may your great name be praised. Amen.

Inaugural Prayer

I didn't watch the inauguration, but I did go back and watch the video of Rick Warren's prayer. Definitely better than Robinson's, but I just have to say, if Martin Luther King Jr. is shouting in heaven, it's because of the glory of Jesus, not the inauguration of Barack Obama.

That being said, kudos to Warren for praying in the NAME.

A video of Warren's prayer is HERE.

"god of our many understandings?"

Here is the prayer that Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson prayed at an inaugural event on Sunday. This prayer is a perfect example of just how confused is the state of mainstream denominationalism in America. My comments follow...

“O god of our many understandings, we pray that you will bless us with tears – tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless this nation with anger – anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort at the easy, simplistic answers we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be fixed anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility, open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world. Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences.

Bless us with compassion and generosity, remembering that every religion’s god judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable.

And god, we give you thanks for your child, Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States. Give him wisdom beyond his years. Inspire him with President Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for all people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our ship of state needs a steady, calm captain.

Give him stirring words. We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, god, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking far too much of this one. We implore you, O good and great god, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity, and peace. Amen"

First of all, God is not the "god of our many understandings." God is not who we make Him. He is who He has revealed Himself to be. This opening title perfectly embodies the attempt by many to conform God into our image instead of the other way around.

Secondly, Robinson asks "god" to give us anger against discrimination. He is quick to mention discrimination against the GLBT community, as if any form of dissent, including Biblical dissent, is discrimination. He does not, of course, mention the real discrimination against born again Christians.

Perhaps most insulting, Robinson prays for "freedom from mere tolerance, replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences." It is no longer enough, in Robinson's mind, to merely tolerate the practice of evil. We must endorse it. Robinson essentially prays that right will be wrong and wrong will be right, ignoring the "Woe" of Isaiah 5:20.

Let's pray that our new president will be wise enough to ignore this kind of wisdom and seek the true counsel of the Word of God.

You can actually watch the prayer by clicking here.

Name That Quote

Let's play a game. I'll post a quote and the first person to guess who said it gets a free ice cream cone. Ready...set...go...

"When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."

Hmmmm, was it:

A. Nancy Pelosi

B. Ronald Reagan

C. Ted Kennedy

D. Pope John Paul II

E. Jerry Falwell

F. Gerald Ford

G. Jimmy Carter

Bravo Bott

BP ran a story about a Christian radio network that was required under FCC regulations to air Obama commercials during the recent presidential campaign. However, there is no law that says that Bott Radio Network must actually keep the money. So what did this Christian network do with Obama's money? They gave it to pro-life causes!

"We spread his wealth around," Rich Bott said.

Way to go.

Uncommon Wisdom

Wachovia bank had a slogan a few years back called "Uncommon Wisdom." They argued that when it came to handling your money, they possessed uncommon wisdom. That can be argued, but here is something that cannot from the book of Deuteronomy.

"For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none." Deuteronomy 15:6

What was good wisdom in Moses' day is good wisdom for the US OF A. We should not borrow from other nations...period. However, compare this verse with the following quote from our president-elect:

"We're already looking at a trillion-dollar budget deficit or close to a trillion-dollar budget deficit, and that potentially we've got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery that we are working on at this point," Obama said.

Trillion-dollar defecits for years to come? Why? When a single party controls the house, senate and the White House, what's stopping them from balancing the budget right now? An unwillingness to face the music is what. The republican party, of course, was just as wrong when they controlled virtually all of Washington but refused to give us a balanced budget either.

The bottom line is both parties need to sit down with open Bibles and learn the real uncommon wisdom from God's Word.