Don’t Get on the Truck!

I went to a hardware store today, and while I waited for my items, I started a conversation with the owner.  I live in one of the more conservative counties in Maryland, Frederick County, so I touched upon our second amendment.  I mentioned that talk of anti-gun legislation has gotten the attention of law abiding citizens in several states, and after rumored reports of the Virginia Governor’s plans to confiscate guns with UN troops or the National Guard, over 20 counties and towns in Virginia have declared themselves Second Amendment Sanctuary Cities.  His opinion, simply put was: “Assault weapons are unnecessary for non government personnel”, but “If they take our gun rights, there will be a war.”  Really?  The disturbingly strange thing is, about 6 years ago, I got almost the exact conclusion from another business owner in our County:  Assault rifles bad, but don’t take our guns.  

Many compassionate conservatives fail to see the flaw in this logic.  If you give them, or allow them to take, your AR, what are you going to use to stop them when they come to take your 22, 38 or BB gun?  If there is to be a war after surrendering the semi-automatic rifles, my money is on the government guns. 

I have twice had the pleasure of being with Sheriff Richard Mack, outspoken champion for our second amendment rights.  This man took the gun-grabbers to the Supreme Court, and won.  Our second meeting involved us giving him an hour ride, to the airport.  He talked most of the ride and he left us with this advice: “What ever you do, never, ever ,give up your guns!”

If we do lose our second amendment, at least keep one.  After watching “Missing”, based on a true story of a missing American in Chile, during our CIA sponsored coupe.  This missing young man’s father, and wife, were systematically dragged through multiple bureaucratic roadblocks, only to find his body rotting in the basement of a stadium with a bullet in his head.  The last time he was seen, was when they rounded him up, and put him in the back of a truck.  Therefore: “Don’t get on the truck!”  

Coming Soon!

I just finished an Advent retreat, but for some unknown reason, my mind keeps coming back to an old friend, Neal.  About twenty years ago, I became friends with a Shri Lankan 7-11 employee, who was a distant relative of the owner: kind of an indentured servant.  He  was working in the States to make money for his kids’ education, back home with his wife.  He was torn, but he was here for them.  He also knew that I was looking forward to that seasonal, long awaited, Pumpkin Spice coffee.  Every time I would go to 7-11 to get my coffee, he would smile, and melodically announce loudly, with his “Indian” accent, “Coming Soon!”  “Coming Soon!”

Can you feel it coming?  As a Christian do you sense the increasing anti-Christian culture?  As a fiscally responsible citizen, can you sense the hopeless inability of the FED to print fiat money, to inflate our currency, fast enough to keep-up with our virtual debt?  As a peace loving American, are you sensing the inability of anyone in government, to stop the nuclear saber-rattling war machine, that dominates both political parties?  Is it, “Coming Soon”?  Is He, coming soon?

For me, I would say, "yes"!  Maybe not the end times, but as Psalm 90  states, “Seventy is the sum of our years, or eighty if we are strong,..”  So either way, as I zoom through my 69th year, Christ is coming to me, soon.

If it is the end times, Luke says, “When these things begin to happen, stand erect and hold your head high, for your deliverance is near at hand.”  Lk 21;28.  And if its not, Jesus instructed the delivered man, formerly possessed by "Legion", “Go home to your family and make it clear to them how much the Lord in his mercy has done for you.” Mark 5:19

Well, here goes!  Prayer, and the grace provided by Jesus Christ, has helped me overcome: an addiction to porn, an affinity to “Mary Jane”, a social crutch of alcohol, a scrapping and reordering of moral norms, and more..  In His mercy, He has given me four children, eleven grandchildren, a beautiful wife who loves me, and a Church that continues to provide a channel for grace, reverence, and a refuge.

“......Happy are all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 2