Resolutions Update + Giant Pigs + Multiple Thoughts for Today

RESOLUTIONS UPDATE

I'm making some progress in my resolutions for 2019.

• Not to read any partisan diatribes re:  the 2020 elections. Some days I do better than others.
• Add to our list of National Park visits & cross something off our bucket list. Last month we crossed off Teddy Roosevelt & Glacier National Parks.
• Lose 10 lbs. Only 6 lbs to go.
• Treat Sammy with more patience. I think I'm doing pretty well.
• Help put out all of our Christmas decorations. Lois & I will put up Christmas decorations before the kids visit us at Thanksgiving.
• Work out at least 3X per week. I've been in a slump lately.
• Continue spending an hour of so in "quiet time" each day. I'm doing well.
• Write a devotion book for the 2019 Orphan Grain Train convention. Mission accomplished.

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE . . . CHINA

"China breeding giant pigs the size of polar bears. [What if they start breeding polar bears the size of elephants?]


THE GOSPEL CRIES OUT

There is glory in the death of Jesus Christ, in the suffering of God, because in his unmerited suffering, like a seed that falls to the ground and dies, there are roots shooting down to water that cleanses and life bursting abundantly forth from a burial that would not constrain him. This is precisely what the gospel cries out over the unmerited suffering of communities and a world overcome with evil and cynicism. And so you find that not only is redemption possible, but forgiveness can be extended because the glory of the cross, the transforming yield of life that can be held in God’s death, is actually holding you. --Jill Carattini, Slice of Infinity


THE AMERICAN PAST
The American past has had its share of both hypocrisy and nobility. Truthfulness demands that we acknowledge both. Americans were hypocrites in extolling liberty and grounding our national identity to a significant extent in it, while at the same tolerating or even embracing slavery. But, over time, the principles and rhetoric of freedom proved powerful tools against slavery. --Rich Lowry, National Review Online


WE'VE ALL MADE MISTAKES

I’ve been overwhelmed lately with this “cancel culture” business. If someone discovers you’ve looked the wrong way once in your life, it’s all over. People set out to destroy you. That’s not the way we are meant to live. We’ve all looked the wrong way. We’ve all made mistakes. We’ve all sinned. And we all will again. One of the great glories of life is that we can begin again. Our sorrow for our sins and awareness of our weaknesses keeps helping us get better and be better on this journey of life with all its challenges. But increasingly we forget this. More and more, it seems, the loudest voices in culture won’t make room for growth and redemption. And so people despair — they think they are stuck. And things on the news don’t help, as we’re all sucked into more terrible news and anger. Kathryn Lopez, NRO