Happy All Saints Day! It’s been awhile, and I see I never finished my travelogue. So let me tell you what didn’t happen to cause this delay, with the caveat that some of it could possibly still happen in the near future.
No, we didn’t get stuck in Omaha, Nebraska or Salina, Kansas. We made it all the way back home before some people even knew we’d gone and before the gas prices started going back up again. The recent discovery that we had only about 25 days worth of diesel fuel reserves came after our trip, so that didn’t affect us. The nearly $7.00 / gallon that Californians are having to pay for gasoline didn’t affect us because we didn’t go all the way to California. We turned around in New Mexico. Turning around is like repenting. Repenting would be a real good thing for policy makers who are causing all the fuel shortages, but I’m not expecting it.
And, most of the wildfires had calmed down by the time we started on our trip, so global warming didn’t burn us alive while traveling the Santa Fe Trail. We passed through unscathed.
I promise I’ll get back to the travelogue eventually.
We also didn’t die of some dreaded disease yet, although the Boomer Remover (a.k.a. “Covid”) may have been back for a brief Round Two. I felt pretty rotten for a while, so I took my Ivermectin dutifully and had to miss some church. I was pretty sad about that, but when I got back the next week, I was able to reassure someone on the worship team that the cameras pointed at the stage weren’t such a great distraction. They represented real people like me, who even if they couldn’t be there in person, could still feel like they belonged. Eric was less sick, even though he was not really good at socially distancing himself from me (😁).
Now that we’re finally learning that we’ve been lied to about the effectiveness of the Covid shot and that it’s now actually the “vaxxed” who are dying, can we stop the mandates in the military, please? Some flight instructors have been permitted to fly again pending what happens in a lawsuit against the mandates, but our military leadership seems stuck on denying exemptions, especially religious ones.
We didn’t get “disappeared” by the FBI. Not yet. Although, some people I know have been brutally arrested and mistreated by the Biden (in)Justice Department. This is very concerning to me, since it is clear that the full power of the federal government has been unleashed against their political opponents. As President Trump has said, “They’re not coming for me, they’re coming for you. I’m just in the way.” The raid on Mar-a-Lago and the confiscation of his stuff is not just about Trump, but about the eleven peaceful pro-lifers, including heads of organizations and a Holocaust survivor. And it’s about others who disagree with them. It is not enough to stifle free speech. There must be no dissenting speech whatsoever. This is a tenet of Communism. This is where we are headed, like Venezuela, and like Brazil, who just in the last week elected a corrupt socialist convict for its leader.
The current trajectory must be stopped. Pastor Jack Hibbs makes reference to this in his powerful Happening Now broadcast, which was devoted fully to California’s Proposition One. He says that Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, is the Late Term Abortion King, that Proposition One (crafted to enshrine an absolute right to abortion in the California constitution) will push California over the edge into God’s judgment, and that he (Jack Hibbs) might get arrested for saying so. “Doesn’t matter, though,” he says. Pastors who know the truth but do not teach it will be judged harder, when it really does matter. So he says, very clearly, there’s no such thing as “pro-choice” when it comes to abortion. It is “pro-life” or “pro-death.”
In one week, we will have the Midterm General Election. Christians must vote and be wise about it. If you live in California, you’d better be looking out for Proposition One and Vote No. And if you don’t live in California, you’d better be looking out for governors who are copycats. Keep praying, because even here in Indiana, our pro-life law is on hold because of legal challenges. Babies’ lives are at stake.
Life Chain 2022
We didn’t die of starvation from a food shortage. Not yet. We have been able to increase our supply of stored food over the summer, just in case the self-fulfilling prophecy about a (manufactured) food shortage comes true and there is no food on the shelves this winter, or the inflation makes food too expensive to buy. We don’t know if it will be sufficient, but like Joseph in Egypt, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. The Bible does talk about famines in the Last Days. Although, it also does happen to mention "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal …” Those pesky moths!
We didn’t die by freezing. Not yet. We’re still alive and well and wearing enough clothes to keep our blood circulating. We’re concerned about the Europeans who were relying on Russian natural gas coming through the sabotaged Nordstream pipelines, to heat their homes this winter. And likewise, we’re concerned about people still living in Ukraine who have had their utilities bombed with winter approaching. Not to mention, there are the people here in the U.S. who are facing record-high heating oil prices because those pesky Saudis won’t be bullied by the Alzheimer’s patient in the White House who killed our own pipeline and turned us into a beggar nation.
But right now, we’re just putting on extra layers and keeping our thermostats set lower than usual. Maybe we’ll stop making frozen protein shakes when January comes around. Perhaps that will be better used for hot chocolate.
We didn’t die of nuclear war. Not yet. As you are probably aware, such an earth shattering development would be on everyone’s radar and the Mainstream Media wouldn’t be able to spin it to be something it ain’t. It’s almost as if everyone is expecting World War III. Two years ago, that would have been unthinkable. Did everybody forget how terrible nuclear war really is? Is it okay if it only happens across the ocean? Because China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea all want to annihilate us, and nukes seem to be the way to go. Whether it’s “dirty bombs” or “tactical nuclear weapons” or multiple warheads on a hypersonic missile, it’s all very very bad. Nuclear war would devastate the environment, but Mankind in his struggle for power doesn’t seem to care.
And finally, we didn’t go to be with Jesus in the Rapture. Not yet. If this had caused the delay in writing my blog, I’m sure you would have excused me, because many of you would also be enjoying Marital Bliss with The Messiah.
Because we haven’t gone to be with Jesus in the Rapture yet, we have had some other news:
We are still tasked with the Great Commission, and we are still covered by the promise that He (Jesus) is with us always, even till the end of the age. This Sunday, Eric is teaching at Vivi and Andrew’s church, Calvary Chapel Fellowship in LaGrange.
Eric has found some relief in his knees through an over-the-counter supplement and regular P.T. He turned the blue bedroom into a workout room for stretching his hamstrings and exercising his back.
We were able to go to the Pastors Conference, which we had not been able to attend for three years. The fall is one of the most beautiful we’ve seen in a very long time.
Calvary Chapel Midwest Pastors Conference 2022
I have yet another opportunity to direct a children’s Sunday School program. Hurray! The kids are learning their parts and if they all come, what a wonderful thing that will be! We all just have to stay well this year. And we have a grandbaby coming who has volunteered to be our baby Jesus.
We have (presumably) another Thanksgiving, to remember and celebrate God’s blessings. This year, we’ll go to my dad’s house, and I may have to bring some Puerto Rican dishes, just for him!
We have (presumably) another Christmas coming up on a Sunday this time, to proclaim The Messiah to The World. So then Christmas Eve with our family’s Handel’s Messiah songs will be that Saturday night. As always, it could be our last chance. We’d better make it a good one!
Which brings me to The Messiah, the Savior.
Jesus was born as a King—even the Gentile astrologers knew that. When He returns to Planet Earth, no matter how shattered it is, He will have the power to clean it up. After all, He invented this world and built it according to His own detailed plan in only seven rotations of the planet. Certainly, He can rehabilitate it also, in very short order.
And He will rule and reign here as King of Kings and Lord of Lords for a thousand years. His judgment and His justice will be perfect. No matter what happens, no matter what we have ahead of us during our remaining time on earth (and it may be some of the above, and it doesn’t all sound pretty), God knows exactly what He is doing.
This is our promise and a blessing for a very dark time:
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
~Romans 16:20
