#1857
Saints vs Olympians
God, give us men!
GOD,
give us men! A time like this demands
Strong
minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands;
Men
whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men
whom the spoils of office can not buy;
Men
who possess opinions and a will;
Men
who have honor; men who will not lie;
Men
who can stand before a demagogue
And
damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!
Tall
men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In
public duty, and in private thinking;
For
while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their
large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle
in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong
rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.
Josiah
Gilbert Holland
The most common comment I get about what I write,
"Thank you for saying and putting in print what I think." Your writer must get his thinking right,
also. It all starts in the mind.
I have found that most people think history started the day
they were born. 99% of those who have lived throughout history never receive
any recognition. It is only the
wierdos-bizzare who get the attention. The
worse things get, the more we are supposed to lower ourselves to accommodate
our feelings about weirdos. One person's
mediocrity is another persons paradise.
This week, great news-breathless talking heads, a
19-year-old man attempting to climb the Trump Tower Trump
Tower New York police
attempting to keep this "fool" from killing himself and perhaps
others. He got his 15 minutes of
fame. Gave even more free publicity to
Mr. Trump.
Sending messages, the logistics of communication, has always
been a complex procedure. The American
Indians used smoke signals. Every
southern plantation had a large bell.
This writer still remembers the one cent postcard. I am amazed that even children carry around
telephones in their pockets, a hand-held instrument with more technology than
the module that landed on the moon. When
I was a child, there was only one telephone in the entire community for many
miles around. The phone was at my cousin's
country store. In all my years of
university education, military service, I never had a single telephone call
from home. Telephones were used in an
emergency. I will always support the US
Postal Service and the US Public School System.
My mother told me that as a young bride, when I was a baby born on a
dirt road where there were no power-phone-water lines often only two vehicles
would go down the road during the day...the public school bus and the mailman. Alexis de Tocqueville who wrote about early Americans
"1840" was amazed that mail was delivered even into the western
frontiers. Such a pity that today's
young people know so little about history...they do not study God's word nor
the many available history books.
A senior student from the local university here
"UNCW" was driving the car of this blind-veteran, I said to this
educated young-man, "I think we should stop for some lunch." I further said to him, "Can you even
imagine what it was like for our ancestors to have crossed the plains on
covered wagons and what they did when they got hungry?" I know you will think I am lying but here is
what he said, "I am sure they stopped at a McDonald's." I could not help but laugh after I had
fainted. Can you even imagine a caravan
of covered wagons pulling under the golden arches?
We glamorize criminals, spend tremendous tax dollars to
house and diagnose them. God never
appointed a committee, always dealt with the real man or real woman. There is
only one you...in the eons of history, only one person with your voice, your
fingerprints, your flecks in the iris of your eyes. Until you learn to live powerfully, you
cannot learn to die boldly. Too many of
us have chosen the low roads in life, 1/4th of all adults in New York City have the herpes virus. We are bombarded every day with the challenge
that "black lives matter" in this same New York City , 3/4th of all black babies are
aborted-killed.
Our ears have been "challenged", and those of you
with eye sight have watched the Rio Summer Olympics such competition by
young-spirited athletes is wonderful.
God's word talks about the necessity for playing. Ancient writers, Socrates-Plato-Aristotle
talked about athletic training...the sacrifice involved in preparation. God talked to us about the race, winning the
race. I kept hearing the athletes
talking about how winning was all-consuming.
One does not become an Olympian without discipline. In the athletic
competition, in the race, discipline determines destination.
If discipline is important with Olympians, a very physical
challenge, should not discipline-sacrifice-an all-consuming mental activity
become just as important in our spiritual life.
I am convinced, I know without the shadow of a doubt that the saints who
have gone on before us were just as convicted, convinced, concerned with their
grace of faith. The importance of their
salvation, as any Olympian. We are all
called to be saints, thank God, I have known some in my long-interesting life.
Every 18 minutes someone dies in America from an overdose of a
prescription or non-prescription drug.
Most opiate overdoses. Too many
of our fellow citizens are looking for an escape, an escape from the challenges
of just living. When I was young, they
looked for the escape in the bottom of a bottle or a methadone clinic
"another form of addiction".
Saints or Olympians, it all comes down to strength of mind.
Mankind's greatest enemies, Satan's greatest captives, not
the disabled, not the poor, not the slow learners but Satan's greatest captives
the intelligent, the wealthy, the powerful, the opinion molders. The politicians, the powerful need to know,
stolen water is not sweeter. Even God's
elect must repent. Remember, those of
you who are so broadminded-so tolerant-so liberal, when secularism takes over
you will be able to show your testimony to Christ only inside a building...your
family affections only in your home.
Guilt is the curse of those who care, Christianity has always been 90%
courage...we Christians are so afraid we are going to offend someone by showing
our Christianity. We must learn that
this is not a one dimensional world.
Saints and Olympians understand history, what it means to fail, the joy
of winning.
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