Sauerkraut and the Fourth of July

Several years ago, I attempted to make sauerkraut. I had extra cabbages from our garden, so I carefully studied how to prepare the heads and make the brine. It was some trouble, but I looked forward to the fruits of my labor.

When the time had passed, I checked the container. But what I found surprised and disappointed me—it smelled like something rotten! Accordingly, I believed I had failed, so I immediately put it where all spoiled produce went at the time—in the compost pile. When I came to my senses and realized I had just tossed out a lot of very nice sauerkraut and that fermented cabbage was supposed to smell like that, I regretted my haste …

To those who want to throw out America because they have detected some unpleasant smells from her past, I wanted to tell you this story. Please don’t be so quick to judge! It takes time for a country to mature, and as it does, given the right nurturing environment, it will be pleasant and useful. 

Maybe it’s just another case of trying to downplay what we as Americans have come to cherish. But didn’t we just have another federal holiday only two weeks ago? They squeezed it in between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, so here we go again, right?. <Insert eyeroll here.>

Are we getting a little tired of Great American Feasts that ruin our diets and rev up our grocery costs? Has Independence Day become just another time to grill hamburgers, attend sales, and not conduct business? Or can we use it as a time to reflect on what we have?

I just saw a headline that made me want to cry: “100 Year-Old WWII Vet Breaks Down: “This is Not the Country We Fought For.” The video is a gut-wrenching reminder that as I write this, most of America believes that Biden is taking us the wrong direction. We’re wondering if we’ll have a Christmas for our kids and grandkids, but some of us have already decided to have a “staycation.” 85% of us are spending less because we have run up our credit cards and used up our savings. And now we are trying to decide whether we can afford both gas and food. There is a severe cat food shortage in L.A., my cousin says. My guess is, people are using it for their own dinner, so the cats don’t have enough.

Like the vet, we’re looking at what we’ve lost and saying this just isn’t the same country. We have lost respect on the world stage. Our military was humiliated in Afghanistan. Our own people are doing the job of our enemy and burning down our cities. We’re letting coyotes drop off millions of people into the country without question, suffocating our own businesses and industries, and begging other countries for oil and credit. As we ponder that, can we still celebrate our country with fireworks and flags? 

One year, under Obama, when the Supreme Court decided that same sex marriage had to be forced on every state, Eric and I felt so ashamed of the direction of the country that we took down our U.S.flag and flew the Christian flag instead. And then we were just as excited to put that flag back up, when Trump re-instilled our national pride and put us back on the right path. But now … ?

Saturday, we took Rori to the Fourth of July parade in Delphi. Small town parades are pretty cool, homey—a great summer spectacle. Delphi had a flag about the size of the ones at the Trump rallies hung over the street suspended between two Delphi Fire Department ladder trucks. 

Rori marched in the color guard with her band, accepting her band’s cash award as she marched by the judges’ tent. 

There were clowns, equestrians, tractors, politicians, floats, and Delphi High School’s one-and-only electric bus.

But I got choked up at the beginning, because the VFW was there at the beginning of this half-hour summer spectacle, carrying Old Glory, leading the Pledge of Allegiance, and playing the National Anthem. 

I sang it with them, too, standing there on the Courthouse lawn, hand over my heart. There is something majestic about the song, and yet, there’s a burning question:

O say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

In context, the songwriter was talking about the Battle for Ft. McHenry during the War of 1812, as he observed it while detained on a British ship. The brutal attack was waged for 25 hours and throughout the night, and he was afraid in the morning he’d see the American flag missing. But it didn’t happen—the Americans held out and the really huge garrison flag was waving over the fort at the coming of the dawn. 

Now… I have to ask the question above in a different context. The banner yet waves, yes, but is it still the land of the free and the home of the brave? Is it the same country the vet fought for and so many brave men and women gave their lives to defend?

After the National Anthem, a 21-gun salute shattered the stillness, and a sweet rendition of Taps. Everyone knows the tune, but do you know the words?

Day is done, gone the sun

From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky

All is well, safely rest

God is nigh

Fading light dims the sight

And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright

From afar, drawing near

Falls the night

Thanks and praise for our days

Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky

As we go, this we know

God is nigh

Taps was written and first used in the summer of 1862, during the Civil War, to mark the end of the day for the troops.  It is also now the traditional song used in ceremonies to honor the death of a soldier.

But the United States of America is not dead yet.

And God is still nigh. 

God is near to all those who seek Him. He heard our earnest prayers and answered them when Roe v. Wade was overturned, handing the abortion issue back to the states. HE has done this great thing in America, and so I know He wants to bless us. He doesn’t want to abandon us. And I believe that He doesn’t desire for our nation to die like a dog.

Here’s what we read in Ecclesiastes this morning:

Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.”

~Ecclesiastes 7:10

We are America. We’ve already had to do some atoning for the national sin of slavery. A lot of American blood was spilled during a horrible Civil War over allowing this sin to be the modus operandi in our country for decades. Some would like to bring up our past all over again because, like sauerkraut, it didn’t smell good at first whiff. But that one is honestly in the past and should stay there. What we have to do now is to atone for the national sin of abortion, to continue to fight that war, and to win it.

Another headline: There are rallies in Australia protesting the overturning of Roe v. Wade. How can that happen? Why does it matter to a country on the other side of the world, what we do with our laws, with our Constitution, with our belief system… but it does.

President Reagan characterized our nation as The City on a Hill, from Luke 14, as having some kind of moral authority to which the rest of the world could look up and respect. What we do in this country really does affect the whole world. So it was weird that France should lecture us on the overturning of Roe v. Wade, when their abortion law limited all abortions to 14 weeks’ gestation, and ours was, by Supreme Court fiat, on par with China’s and North Korea’s—throughout all stages of pregnancy.

Other countries are alarmed at the sudden change. For years, we’ve been one of the world’s largest exporters of abortion, funding them in other countries and coercing countries to change their laws to allow them. But now they don’t know what to think. In France, a proposal was immediately submitted to enshrine abortion in their Constitution—as it was in California. Yes, that’s on the ballot for the fall. Guatemala, though, is trying hard to be pro-life, regardless of our Supreme Court decisions.

Truly, the abortion debate is not over. The March for Life organizers have said there will be a continuation of that tradition every year without fail, until there are no more abortions. That is a huge challenge because so many hearts are hard and our collective morality is debased.

Here is one telling statistic: After Roe v. Wade was overturned, requests by men for vasectomies has been up by 900%. Men are alarmed that they can no longer have irresponsible sex and let the girl “take care of it” afterwards. So, in order to continue to enjoy unrestricted irresponsible sex, they are neutering themselves.

All right. Here we are. I have heard some of my friends wistfully wish they had been born in a different century. Really? Like, when the slave trade was active and humans were being bought and sold in public? Like, when people were falling down dead from the Black Plague? Like before the Internet or cell phones, or indoor plumbing, or even deodorant?

No, Christian. God has placed you here, in this century, for a reason.

People who read the Book of Revelation and the letters of Jesus to the Seven Churches will usually identify with one or more of the types of churches described there. Most will hope their church is the Philadelphia type in Rev. 3:7-13. This is what Jesus said to them:

"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

~Rev. 3:8 and 10

If we would identify with the Church of Philadelphia, we must DO what is written in these verses:

• Go through the doors God opens for you.

• Flex your spiritual muscles and go out to battle against the spiritual forces of wickedness with what little strength we do have.

• Keep God’s Word.

• Do not deny the Name of Jesus.

• Follow His command to persevere.

You see, we still have work to do. America needs to be that City on the Hill, and she still can be, as long as we who are Christ’s are His lights in the world… until the Father removes us so that we will be kept from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world to test our fellow earth-dwellers.

God’s Church simply cannot afford to sit around like a long-term Covid patient, unable to breathe without tiring easily. We are not the Church on Oxygen. And we are not the Church that requires 12 hours to build up a charge like some Tesla. We are the Church Connected to the All Powerful God.

Make good use of the time we have left. Arise and shine, Church of America! Proclaim liberty throughout the land, and enjoy celebrating what we have. Like my experiment in sauerkraut making, do not throw away your treasure. It is working just fine.

AT LAST The End of Roe v. Wade

We only imagined this day for SO long.  

Roe vs. Wade was decided while I was yet too young to vote and when I really wasn’t paying attention to world events.  

On January 22, 1973, I had recently moved to Southern California to start the last leg of my education at Artesia High School, second semester, Grade 11.  I was pre-occupied with the cute boys there and what they thought of me.  I was not thinking of abortion at all.  I was thinking about the color we were going to paint the room I shared with my sister.

I didn’t know that Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe”) was being used by feminists to have all the pro-life laws in all 50 states nullified so that she could abort her baby -- which she did not do because the baby was already born and the case was moot.

I didn’t know that an all-white all-male Supreme Court ruled that women should be able to abort their babies and that a companion case -- Doe v. Bolton -- redefined “health of the woman” and further clarified that abortion would henceforth be legal throughout the land for any reason up till the day of one’s birth.

I didn’t know in ‘73 that my own mother was pro-life (because I didn’t ask her), or that I could have also been at risk of being aborted since I had been conceived before my parents were married and that in 1956 they lived in a state where you could get an abortion.

I didn’t know that I was being trained, even back then in my high school years, to accept the concept of the “Population Explosion,” and that it followed that abortion was good for the Planet, though I really didn’t even know what it was.

And back then I did not know that God would speak to me through a speechless slug, who writhed in agony when I salted its tiny body, causing me to remember that a saline solution would do that to a tiny human during an abortion.

Back then, I did not know that eventually I would be part of the pro-life movement, fingerprinted and jailed for attempting to stop the daily killings at a few abortion mills.

In 1973, I had no idea that I would have eight children who would be extremely important to me, and that their stirrings and flutterings in my body would convince me of the sanctity of life at all stages.

I didn’t know that eventually “Jane Roe” would become pro-life, but her daughter, who was famously supposed to be slain, would grow up to hate her mother.  I also didn’t know that “Mary Doe” of Doe v. Bolton never even wanted an abortion and nobody even told her she had been used to change abortion laws.

And in 1973, I didn’t know -- how could we have known? -- that over 60 million children would be killed over the next nearly 50 years here in this civilized nation with “In God We Trust” inscribed on all our money.

But now we do know.  Now we have 3-D ultrasounds and we can watch the little children suck their thumbs, wave, swim, and yawn in utero.  We have the testimonies of former abortionists and clinic workers.  We have websites that prove abortion is killing not just babies, but their mothers.  

We know that Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood was a disgustingly racist eugenicist. 

We have information about Abortionist Kermit Gosnell and the Planned Parenthood baby parts traffickers.  We know about the Indiana Abortionist Ulrich Klopfer, who had over 2,400 jars of baby parts he had collected as souvenirs stored on his property when he died, and his heirs had the misfortune to stumble upon them.

We know that the Satanic Temple challenged the State of Texas because their Heartbeat Bill supposedly deprives them of their “freedom to practice their religion” -- with ritual killings of babies targeted for abortion.

We know that the “pro-choice” movement is not about choice at all.  It is all about abortion.  That is why enraged pro-aborts are targeting pro-life pregnancy centers, burning them down in an effort to eliminate all loving alternatives to killing babies.

We know that Roe v. Wade was improperly decided, because there is NO Constitutional right to abortion.  It couldn’t hold water.  And when Planned Parenthood vs. Casey expanded “abortion rights,” it made matters even worse.

Every day at 3:00, our church prayed that God would close the Planned Parenthood in Lafayette.  He answered yesterday, with this ruling.  Planned Parenthood v. Casey was also thrown out along with Roe.  God wanted to not just close down that one Planned Parenthood, but all of them.

Friday, June 24, 2022, was the most significant day in my adult life.  I was in the kitchen having a coffee break when the news flashed across my phone:  “RSB Network with breaking news -- Roe v. Wade OVERTURNED!”  I gasped and then immediately sent a text to some of my friends  Because this is bigger than 9-11, much more important than Jan. 6, bigger than any war in our history -- it is a life changer.  President Trump said “God made the decision.”

This picture shows a POW bracelet my parents bought for me as a teenager.  The idea was to wear your bracelet until the POW or MIA from the Vietnam War was released or we recovered his remains.  Then we were supposed to send all of them to the families.  I wasn’t diligent enough to wear this reminder and I totally missed the event where Lt. Col Gilbert Palmer’s remains had been sent home to the States.  I know the families were melting down the bracelets and making memorials to their loved ones.

But the other bracelet was made later, maybe in the late ‘80s.  We were supposed to wear those until Roe v. Wade was overturned, which just finally happened yesterday.  Nobody knew the abortion holocaust would take nearly 50 years to stop.

Like with the POW bracelets, there should be a monument made to honor the 60 million+ children who were killed during the era of Roe.  But the number of Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust was only a tenth of that and museums to remember the dead are overwhelming.  The number of names on the Vietnam War Memorial is less than one thousandth of the babies slaughtered during Roe, but a visit there leaves its mark. 

A memorial to the casualties of Roe would be really huge … but with only a few names.  

The truth of the matter is, the work is still not over, for the job of protecting life has been sent back to the individual states.  And now the next phase begins, where the states must respond to the ruling and do what is right.  Missouri became the first state to abolish abortion, and several others had “trigger laws” in place.  Others will be slower at signing on.  Some will make themselves sanctuary states for baby killing and that is simply demonic.

We must do several things:

1. Make certain that our own states enact pro-life laws stating that Abortion is NOT protected here.  Every day we wait will cost more lives.

2. Declare in our states that children in the womb are persons, deserving of protection.  Pre-born children are people, in every way imaginable.

3. Thank the Lord for the answer to nearly 50 years of prayer, and for allowing President Trump to be elected and to nominate three key justices to the Supreme Court.

4. Pray that God will finish the work of closing down those Planned Parenthoods -- all of them.

5. Pray for the safety of the members of the Supreme Court, who had the courage to do what was right.

Our governor has stated, in response to the Supreme Court ruling, that he has always said he is pro-life, so let’s get it done, Governor Holcomb!  There’s a special session of our state legislature scheduled for July 6.  It needs to happen.

Today at 2:00 there’s an event at the Statehouse in Indy.

And this Sunday, tomorrow, there’s a rally at the Tippecanoe County Courthouse at 2:00 to attract the attention of our lawmakers.  The pro-aborts will certainly be rioting and burning at night, while we rally during the day.  We must not be afraid.  The Supreme Court did their part, and we must now do ours.  

Dear Father in Heaven, the news yesterday was glorious!  We thank you, for as President Trump declared, You made yesterday’s decision.  He is right to credit You.  We are in awe as we consider how You heard our cries and changed the make-up of the Supreme Court so that this time could finally come.

Now we pray for healing, for our country, and for the families who were directly impacted by the senseless slaughter of innocent human life.  

We pray that our justice system would rise up and protect the pro-life pregnancy centers so they can minister to the mothers and babies.

We pray for the safety of the Supreme Court justices, that they would be surrounded by your hedge of protection as the anti-life forces turn out to inflict their wrath.

We pray for the state legislators who now are faced with the task of reimplementing life-honoring laws, that they would do what is right and do it quickly.  Most especially, I am asking you to nudge our state senators and representatives here in Indiana to get this job done.

And Lord, we pray that we would not rest until every single abortion is outlawed in America and around the world.  And not only outlawed, but unthinkable.

For we pray in Jesus’ Name, Who called Himself “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,”

Amen.

Doing Life Right: Practicing Counting My Blessings

This week, we had several notable events, including the birth of Baby Amos, the fixing of the air conditioner in our car (very good for a heat wave), the second round for the car when the serpentine belt broke, and Father’s Day.  These things are neither earth-shattering nor mundane, but it is easy to lose perspective.  As is true in most cases, we can be constantly grumpy or constantly joyful, and it is our decision which it will be.  So we must practice doing life right.

Baby Amos Haley was born on Thursday in a small Catholic hospital in Kokomo, and we’ll need to get his entry in our family Bible soon if we’re going to keep up with this.  He’s a very good-looking child, but he was keeping everybody in suspense, so Kim’s labor was started up on Wednesday night, well past her due date.  He clocked in at 7 lb. 13 oz.  

Blessing #1: Though I was concerned she might have been perceived as “taking too long,” Kim had a good delivery, without even a hint of a C-section. 

 

Blessing #2:  Both Kim and Baby are healthy.

Blessing #3.  Amos.  Period.

Amos has bright blue eyes and super-soft, dark hair, and as babies generally are, he is an endearing little human, so Rori is enjoying this, her first and only actual sibling.  It may be that Amos will be a life changing experience for her.

Blessing #4:  Amos and Rori are bonding, as siblings should. 

Blessing #5.  Amos has been born into a home where his parents love God and love each other..

Unfortunately, Eric and I didn’t get to meet him face to face until Friday night, since about the time he was born on Thursday, we were camped out on the lawn in front of the Caterpillar plant in Lafayette, waiting for a tow truck during a heat wave with our dying smartphones.  The air conditioner in the car had just been fixed the day before, but it didn’t really make much difference on Thursday because we couldn’t even start the car.  Therefore, it was okay for us to be there in front of Caterpillar, we told ourselves while eating a scant picnic dinner under their tree.  Besides, we’re stockholders!

Blessing #6:  The breaking of the serpentine belt happened on Thursday because the folks at Leonard’s informed Eric that there was an immediate urgent need for supplies.  So he went to town in the cool air conditioned car.  Though it was a bit inconvenient, we are thankful it happened on Thursday and not when I was on the road to see my dad.

Blessing #7:  The car problem and the need to drive the old car to town to rescue Eric gave me ample opportunity to shop for Father’s Day gifts and a few other things we needed as well.

Blessing #8:  The smartphones stayed working long enough to get messages from the dispatcher and towing company and didn’t die in the middle of the ordeal.  We don’t know how, but we had enough charge.

Blessing #9:  Even that tree, and the “winter emergency” blanket we had in the car were blessings.  Remember Jonah and his complaint to God about the worm that had killed his shade plant on a stifling hot afternoon of waiting for the destruction of Nineveh?  Remember how the Israelites moved in the wilderness when the cloud moved? Yeah, shade is a blessing.

Blessing #10:  I bought some food, just Smart Carb bread and sliced turkey breast lunchmeat, while we were waiting, and that proved useful when our wait time extended past dinner time.  We didn’t go hungry.

On Father’s Day, I left for Southern Indiana by myself after church.  I mostly let Siri tell me what to do and I don’t get lost anymore like we used to before we had smartphones.  I know this is drawing us into the spring-loaded trap of the New World Order and the NSA is tracking our every move at all times.  But for now, I would rather know I’m not going to get lost.

My dad has had some hearing loss that started in February, on top of what he’d already lost.  An ENT told him it was just fluid in his inner ear, but so far what he has prescribed hasn’t really helped.  Unfortunately, his worst ear is the right one, and when he’s driving, he can’t hear me well.  So at times when we were having animated conversation, while driving to a restaurant in Seymour, he would turn his head to face me so he could read my lips, and once, he just pulled off the road completely.

“Dad, what are you doing?”

“I pulled off the road so I can hear what you’re saying!”

Dad will be 88 next month.  He’s still getting on pretty well!  Both of us ordered something from the senior menu because we dislike large price tags on more food than we could ever comfortably put in our small frames.  Dad ordered liver and onions, which he said he hadn’t had for a long time.

“Ewwwwwwwwwwwww!”

(I don’t like liver and onions.)

But the restaurant must not have had enough help because it really took a long time to bring our small portions of liver and chicken stir-fry.  It was okay though -- more time to sit across from him in the comfy booth and talk.  That’s what I was there for.  We become a little bit Ultra MAGA when we get together, which is good for Dad.  He can’t talk to my little brother about things that matter.  My sister won’t talk to him at all, because she still thinks Joe Biden is doing a good job.  But there’s me, and we’re on the same page.  Except for liver and onions.

Blessing #11.  The auto repair place fixed our serpentine belt quickly on Friday and I had a car that was safe and cool to drive to my dad’s house.

Blessing #12:  The gas in Southern Indiana was cheaper than it is in Lafayette.  

Blessing #13.  Talking with my dad.  He and I have so much to talk about and don’t often get to do that.

Blessing #14.  My dad.  Yes, I still have my dad on Father’s Day.

Blessing #15.  Even though I somehow missed my turn on the way home, Siri was there to do a quick recalculation and tell me what to do.

Eric went with Joe and Susie after church and spent time with four of our kids altogether.  Three others have checked in for Father’s Day by phone so far.  We are blessed!  There were grilled burgers for lunch, with two families in attendance, and there was pizza for dinner and a cheesecake with two other families, including Chris, Kim, and Baby Amos -- his first “outing.”  

There was news from the families, including their current events like a Chick-Fil-A convention in Atlanta the next day, …

… and their aspirations for the future. Believe it or not, parents of adult children really love it when they are asked for advice and input.  We may not have all the answers, but we can sure pray about it!

Blessing #16.  Having all our kids talking to us and wanting to be with their dad on Father’s Day.  Nowadays, it seems to be more common for your kids to shoot you, or at least talk back.  But there’s love and respect there, and love for Jesus, and we couldn’t ask for more.

Blessing #17.  Twenty-one air-breathing grandkids to snuggle, and more on the horizon.  Okay, some of the grandkids don’t really want us to snuggle them anymore, but they don’t mind if we transfer that to their own kids now.

Blessing #18.  Father’s Day gave Eric a good excuse for having grilled burgers on Juneteenth.  Even though it was broadcast that white folks weren’t allowed to go to any Juneteenth cookouts.  Even though it was a new federal holiday.  Father’s Day is still around, and we’ll take it!

And then we came back, and we still had jobs and income.  All our kids still have jobs and income and food.  Until recently, that wasn’t so big a deal, but it is now.

Blessing #19.  Jobs.

Blessing #20.  Income

Blessing #21.  Food.

Here’s what I posted this morning on Facebook:

I have heard and know full well how much evil lurks within Big Government, Big Education, Big Pharma, Big Abortion, Big Tech, and Big Ag. I do not know the full extent. There’s also great evil and corruption in the Mainstream Media and even the Mainline Church.

BUT there are forces far greater than these that have them trembling in their boots. Those are the Power of our Heavenly Father and Great Creator God, the Name of our Almighty King Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God and the Gospel, the True Saints of God and the Prayers and Praise of His Church.  We are truly unstoppable.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

    ~1 John 4:4

There will be a final reckoning. Guess Who wins?

Dear Father in Heaven, that’s a lot of blessings.  But I know not everyone has all the same blessings I have.  Some people don’t have their dads or their kids aren’t on the same page with them.  Some people are not in good health anymore; rather, they are in pain.  And their situations are grievous, to be sure.

But most of us can still thank you for our blessings here in America, choose to focus on them rather than on our own set of difficult circumstances, and trust You.  Because You are bigger and far greater than any power that comes against us, and we will fear NO evil, for Thou Art With Us.

And so we will trust You.

In the Wonderful, Matchless Name of Jesus,

Amen

Success, Starvation, and the Second Amendment

How do the three things in the title relate to one another? I’ll explain …

A couple weeks ago, I reached my weight loss goal, so this popped up on my Numi phone app: 

NutriSystem’s app wanted to switch me over to the “Success” plan, for maintenance. So I did it, since I am generally easy to get along with. 

I found out that that plan included a whole new kind of program, where we ditch what we knew before as “Smart Carbs” and “Power Fuels” in exchange for “Pinks,” “Oranges,” “Whites,” “Purples,” and “Greens.” I found some of it was intuitive, such as “Greens” were non-starchy vegetables… except that some non-starchy vegetables are not green—like tomatoes, for instance. “Purples” were fruits, which reminded me of grapes and plums… but many fruits are not purple, such as mangos and pineapples. “Pink” is the color of your medium rare steak so it’s meat… but also dairy, which has little to do with pink, unless it’s maybe a cheddar with streaks of wine in it or something.

So I found it too confusing after nearly 2 years of being faithful to the prior system. Numi also wanted to raise my calorie count from 1200 to 1700 a day. That would not work at all, unfortunately. I only lost weight, and that very slowly, because I adjusted that calorie count on my own down to about 950 a day. At 1700, I would very quickly gain back everything I had lost, no joke.

I talked with a NutriSystem weight loss counselor, and as I expected, she didn’t like it that I had skimped on the calories. Basically, there’s some kind of consensus among weight loss “experts” that your body is unable to live on less than 1200 calories, so there’s this hard and fast lower limit, whatever your size or age.

She spoke of starvation mode. She said when you stay on a low-calorie diet for very long, your body metabolism slows down to make up for the missing calories and tries to gain them back.

Well, I suppose that could happen, but I know I have never truly been at risk of starving. In fact, my mother and I both joked about how if we ever had a famine, we could survive for quite a while off “the fat of the land.”

But the mention of “starvation mode” reminded me of a scene in the book 1984, where our hero Winston has always blamed himself for the death of his sister. He called to mind how he reacted when the family was trying to survive as he grew up but instead of sharing gallantly, he had hungrily gobbled up both his share and his sister’s. Afterwards, he could recall how sickly his poor little sister had looked, and how she had disappeared… 

And I remembered how I had “shared” a can of tuna with our housegirl in the Philippines. Her one small can of tuna was her whole dinner, but she was watching us kids while my parents were gone, and I was watching her tuna. I had this great idea of how we could make the tuna into a tuna salad and both of us could eat tuna salad sandwiches—wouldn’t that be great? She saw how I coveted her can of tuna and eventually just handed it to me and went without. I got in trouble of course. I also got fat while I lived in the Philippines. It was too hot to play and I was always overly concerned with getting my fair share of anything served at mealtime. Usually other family members just rolled their eyes and gave me all of it.

Was I starving? Of course not. But sometimes I have eaten as if I didn’t know where my next meal was coming from. Compare this attitude of mine with that of the birds, who are always trusting God for their next meal, remembering that He provides for all of them just fine.

But there’s evidence of a coordinated attack on our food supply right now—case after case of factories mysteriously catching fire—even a fertilizer factory in North Carolina, which will make it difficult for farmers to raise crops. Farmers have been ordered to destroy their crops or lose government subsidies, and whole farms full of chickens and eggs have been destroyed because of a few cases of bird flu. 

Similar to every other manufactured crisis of 2021 and 2022, Biden wants you to blame someone else, not him or his leftist policies. In this case, it is obviously Putin’s fault for the food shortages, right? And an actual famine has been predicted by the administration, for sometime in the fall—and fortunately, we “have all summer to prepare.” Since these self-fulfilling “prophecies” tend to come true fairly frequently, we should be paying attention to them, but this won’t be caused by Putin as they say, neither will it be caused by weather or bad soil, locusts or hail—just crushing, horrible government policies.

But things are getting serious, folks, enough for some people to point to the food shortages and say yes, we’re definitely in the Tribulation period. (Not everybody, … not me.) 

What happens when people are actually hungry, though? This is something most of us have never really had to worry about beyond being uncomfortable because dinner was late. We may say, “I’m STARVING!” but… we’re not, any more than I was truly starving when I was “sharing” (stealing) someone else’s food as a child. 

But if Americans were actually hungry, like out-of-food hungry with nothing on the grocery store shelves, I doubt that very many among us would just willingly lie down and die so that others could live. When people are actually starving, they very well may be a bit rude (like on Black Friday). They may steal. They may kill. It could get ugly.

In desperate times, people do desperate things.

In the book of 2 Kings, the city of Samaria was besieged by Ben-Hadad, King of Syria, and the people were slowly being starved out. Before the Lord came to the rescue, they were buying and eating anything they could find, including dove droppings and donkey heads. The King of Israel heard an oral argument between two women, who had earlier agreed to eat their sons one at a time, but when it was time for the second one to give up her son to be the meal of the day, she didn’t. And the first one thought that wasn’t fair, so she appealed to the King. That was pretty desperate!

Here are things some people are recommending to prepare for the coming days:

• Do not go anywhere alone or with only children. Have two adults together at all times.

• Consider carrying a gun.

• Store up food now, while you can.

• Grow your own food, including sprouts or garden foods, inside or outside. 

• Learn to hunt or fish.

• Be an entrepreneur. Find alternative ways to make money.

• Invest in gold, silver, and cryptocurrency.

• Get off the energy grid.

• DON’T let them bully you into being afraid and complying.

Not everything on the list is imperative, but if any of it rings true to you, and you feel led to do so, then do so.

Eric and I decided to get some backup food, which is never a bad idea anyway. We didn’t get the package deals advertised on the internet because there’s a lot of macaroni involved, and most of the meals heavily depend on being able to access water and a stove. If our power grid is also attacked while we’re having a food shortage, we would be out of luck. Granola bars in a storage tub truly would be a better idea. We’ll try to store enough for us and enough also to share with others.

Then Sunday afternoon we took a free gun safety class at Geneo’s Hunting and Fishing, and it was very interesting. I know I have been harassed a lot for being a military veteran who never handled a weapon during my military experience. But maybe it’s high time to do something. Because the Left has been talking about gun control, and some are talking more openly about confiscation. If you read history, you know that that always happens just before a dictator takes over. An unarmed citizenry assures the dictator that no one can successfully resist him. You may want to read “The Auschwitz Escape” by Joel C. Rosenberg for some perspective. (That link is a 30-second trailer for his book.)

We the American people are watching our Constitutional rights evaporate before our very eyes. The Second Amendment is the latest of these.

Meme from Sizzle.com

Gun control is not the answer to the violence in our society. Here are better answers:

1. If every armed bad guy knew that everybody he intended to victimize had a concealed weapon and knew how to use it, that would seriously cut down crime. That would be multiplied if armed bad guys who intended to shoot up a Wal-Mart experienced dozens of shoppers aiming their weapons at him.

2. If the police were allowed to do their job and not be brutalized every time they had a confrontation with a criminal that ended up in the use of deadly force, that would greatly help.

3. If criminals knew they would not be released as soon as they had checked into a prison because of lenient prosecutors, they might think twice before committing a crime.

4. If prisoners on death row were speedily executed without spending years and years there, that might be a deterrent.

5. If we had a great outpouring of God’s Spirit and a coat-to-coast revival in America that caused great changes in the way people lived, that would be the best thing we could ever hope to see in our lifetime, short of the Rapture itself. Revival doesn’t have to be something that happened back in the good ol’ days. It can happen again, especially when people are desperate and seeking for answers.

Consider carefully and prayerfully what you must do: Vote, run for office, store up some emergency food, grow vegetables, carry a weapon, pray for guidance and revival and peace, share the Gospel… Maybe all of the above?

“Lord Jesus, Your Bride the Church is still here on Planet Earth, watching the earth-dwellers scurry around like anxious ants after their hill has been kicked. We see trouble on every side, but we are not troubled. As we wait upon You, we are hoping for revival and trusting in Your providence and Your deliverance in the midst of this crooked and perverse world. As You taught your disciples to pray, so do we: 

“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. 

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 

Amen”