We know the problem. What's the solution.

Each time there is a mass shooting whether it be a school or shopping center or movie theater, the calls go out for gun control and many a citizen object and the battle is on and the solution long, long away.  I am one that believes Americans have the right, and should have the right to bear arms.  Personally I don't own a gun and have no interest in owning a gun.
  I've heard suggestions that we should eliminate assault weapons, make laws that make it more difficult to own a gun, make it illegal to own weapons, make it illegal not to own a weapon, putting armed ex soldiers and ex policemen in schools and several other offerings that are equally not effective or seriously entertained.   Somewhere out there is a solution that is acceptable to the majority of people.
  We seem to be a nation of extremes.  Once abortion was a crime and now it is just another form of birth control.  At one time drinking was illegal and now is as if you are a social outcast if you don't drink.  Now, some want the right to own just about every type of weapon imaginable which other think we should not be allowed to own anything.
  I just don't understand some people.  Hillary Clinton calls herself an advocate for children but she is pro abortion and proud of it.  How can one justify in their own mind that killing something one day is perfectly acceptable and the next day claim it is the most precious thing in the world.
   What we need to do is get off our soapbox for our particular cause and seek a common sense solution.  Take the emotions out of it.  Each of us will have to give up something.
   The liberals will have to acknowledge that gun ownership is a right and they are going to have to accept that.  Pro-gun activists are going to have to admit that we cannot continue as we are because it is just getting to be too dangerous.
  Maybe we can change how guns change hands, requiring all gun sales to be done under the supervision of law enforcement.  I know that one of the most stolen items is weaponry, so many there should be tighter controls guns are stored at home so that if the guns are stolen they can't be fired by the thief.    Maybe make it illegal to have anyone under twenty-one to carry a weapon when not in the company of a a responsible adult.
  I like to watch true crime stories and it seems that in too many murders the offenders are young and they have guns and are involved with drugs.  maybe we can make it illegal for anyone with a drug conviction to own a weapon.  Make the penalty stiff enough to where owning a gun is not worth the price one has to pay.  maybe some kind of mental health evaluation should be given before one can purchase a weapon.  Make it like a driver's license.  One has to be issued a picture ID and it has to be renewed ever so often.
  There is a solution out there and we have to get off our emotionally soapbox and find it.  

Valentine's Day

  Took my wife to Americas Roadhouse express for their Valentines day special and it was well worth the price.  An appetizer, choice of seafood or ribeye, salad, and desert which was a large slab of volcano cake, 3 scoops of ice cream all drizzled in fudge.
   Today, the 16th, we went to Academy Street Baptist Church for their Valentines Day Banquet.  It is actually open to the public.  We had spaghetti and a salad and desert.  Afterwards we played some fun games like stuff the tote and some games that were two player games where one describes an object, an animal or a person and the partner   tries to guess.
  Believe it or not the women won the majority of the games that were most physical while the men took an unsurmountable lead in the more intellectual contests and winning the night.
  I was disappointed we only had two visitors, a former member and her son.  They now attend the church I went to for many years before coming to Academy Street.  I certainly will not make an effort to influence them on where to go to church.  I love both churches and I have worked hard for my previous church and I still pray for them and support them.
  We are having some events that perhaps more people will feel more comfortable attending.  We are have "The Anchormen" of March 17th and our revival begins April 1.  The last time the Anchormen were at our church we had a full house.  Come early, stay late and let's get to know one another.  It's not our church it's God's house and you are as welcomed there as I am.
   If you live in Randleman, chances are I've given you a gospel tract.  if I haven't I'll probably get to you sooner or later.  Until then, remember God loves you and so do I.

Old ways versus the young

Of course I think different than you young folks.  I was raised differently, taught different things,  and developed different values because I had different experiences.  Even so, we are more alike than different because we have the same needs and desires and the same truths apply equally to the young and the old.
   The two biggest differences I see between people my age and people under 25 are the relationship we have with drugs and the relationship we have with Christ.  Drugs, including marijuana, were something that was used by the hard core criminal element.  It wasn't until the mid sixties that illegal drugs started gaining in popularity and that was so mostly    due to protesting of the war in Vietnam.  In the fifties almost everyone belonged to a church and half those people who belonged could be found in a church somewhere on Sunday morning.  Things were so different back then that the only curse word ever uttered on film was in the movie "Gone with the Wind"
    There were lots of things wrong with peoples thoughts and actions back then: widespread discrimination, bullying, lead paint, lack of safety features on cars, and political corruption.  It seemed that not everyone who went to church was a believer  and certainly wasn't a doer of the Word.
  It's been over 50 years  since the United States of America took over the lead in the Vietnam War from the French and lots of things have changed.  We have laws against discrimination, bullying is frowned upon, laws and attitudes are changing about drug use, lead paint is being eliminated, automobiles have plenty of safety features and soon will have no drivers,  and things that were impossible 50 years ago are now common place.
  Much has changed in fifty years.  I'm glad we no longer have segregation but I believe the divide between the races is even wider now than ever.  We still have all our old social disorders although some are shown in more subtly ways.  Drug use is wide spread, drinking is more prevalent, virgins are rare, abortion is a way of life, people are way more selfish and people do not attend church and true believers are the disdain of the masses.
   It is quite possible and more than likely we have just swapped one set of evils and vices for different evils and vices but just eliminated the God that held us accountable for our moral and social failures.  It is about time that we get to know this God.  This world is a hard place to live in and we can use God's help getting through life.  Many don't believe their is a God; nevertheless that doesn't change the fact that there is one.  I'm glad I grew up in a time and place where I could get to know God but the young have a greater opportunity to serve Him and more ways to do so than I ever had.
   Hope to see you in church soon.      

Should forgiveness by the victim lesses the penalty for the guilty?

  A few years back a family was returning home from an evening out together when two gunmen confronted them, open fire with guns, and killed the mother, one son, and seriously injured the father and shot the second son in the arm.  While recuperating in the hospital the father was filled with hatred for the people who killed his family members and he thought of ways he would like to exact revenge.  Then he began to think of various scriptures and realized that he should quieten his angry and forgive the perpetrators, whomever they may be.  It was only after his change of heart did he discover that the shooters were two of his injured sons friends and they were acting on that son's instructions.
   One shooter received a life sentence, the other shooter received 15 years and the son who planned the whole affair received the death penalty.  The father wants the sentence reduced to life imprisonment.  I understand.  No one wants to see their child die, no matter what they have done.    But that decision should not be his nor is the sentence part of forgiveness.
  Forgiveness is not for the perpetrator but for the victim.  When we fail to forgive and hold hate in our hearts it's like a poison that slowly robs us of our happiness.  Forgiveness is never about letting the perpetrator get away with his crime.  The stat's role in the sentencing is that of protector of the populace.  The guilty parties sentence should not be increased because the victim hates him nor lessened because the victim has chosen to forgive him.
    I am not against the death penalty but I do believe it should be used only in the cases where it has been demonstrated that the guilty party is capable and likely to continue a life of crime and there is grave danger to the public that the guilty party may kill again.  Serial killers, spree killers, and mass killers all fit that category.  But often they get lessor sentences in order to secure a conviction or to gain information that is vital.
    The father in this case should just step away lest he run the danger of turning his hatred for the killer into forgiveness and then into hatred for the state that executed the killer.  Forgiveness has come to naught.  

He broke into an occupied car.

  Yesterday my son went to his car on his lunch hour and took a seat in the passenger side.  While relaxing a stranger broke into the car,  Both my son and the stranger were startled,  My son did get a description of the mans car but no tag number as his car was sporting a temporary tag.  One of my sons Facebook friends suggested that if that had occurred in Arizona the thief would have been shot as a high percentage of people in Arizona carry weapons.  If that be true I doubt that the chances of getting to ones gun before the thief could have gotten away are slim to none and if one shot a person after they began to flee the scene then that would be a serious crime.  If the average person in Arizona carry weapons then perhaps the thief would have been an average person and it is more likely he would have shot the victim before the victim could have retrieved his weapon.
  I am not anti-gun but I am against people who have the attitude that "if I had a weapon it is easy to make the bad people go away and I'd be the hero".  The truth is that the victim who has a weapon probably will never have the opportunity to use it. might have his weapon taken from them and used against them, or will face serious legal problems if they actually fire their weapon.
   In my son's case there is no circumstance that he could have legally shot the thief.  No weapon was seen by the victim, his life or well-being was not threatened, and the thief immediately fled the scene.  The death penalty is not an option for petty theft for the courts and it should not be an option for the citizenry.
  I believe my sons actions were proper and appropriate  Gun ownership does not entitle one to be the judge, jury, and executioner.