This land is your land, this land is my land....

This land is your land, this land is my land....

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

Shortly after I converted to Christianity, I heard an an old Wisconsin Synod Lutheran preacher speak at my new church. The mans name was A.G. Dornfeld, he often spoke and ministered on the Holy Spirit. He also carried cases of fliers with him, One said, Righteousness exalts a nation, yet Sin is a reproach to any land. The other had the familiar verse about humbling ourselves, ceasing sin, and seeking God. Then he would heal our land. This seems to be the responsibility of those who call themselves Christian, yet somehow we like to put the responsibility on those who live outside what is considered Evangelical Christianity.

For some time now, this scripture has been pricking my thoughts and prayer life. Repent, turn from sin. All that bad stuff I enjoy yet hate to have others see. I haven't been in any fights or had a drunken spell lately so obviously He isn't talking to me. Yet I do hear this quiet little voice saying, “Be Nicer to that person” “don't be so harsh. Let me be reflected in your daily life.” It is a severe challenge. I do enjoy honking the horn at those who cut me off or turn in front of me. I am close enough to 300 pounds, yet I shake my head at the 500 pounders I see walking down the street. My problem, after all, started when I was just 5. Whats theirs? Have they no self control?

A year or two ago, my cousins daughter died a month after being beaten, apparently by her boyfriend. When I saw her last, she was a vivacious, rambunctious young lady getting ready to graduate from High School. She had a professional nursing career and family. Then somehow, Meth- amphetamine found a way to destroy her. This once lovely woman had lost herself to the drug, it destroyed her persona and her vivaciousness.

Last fall I called my nephew. We spoke for a few minutes, he began to choke up. One of the young ladies he had dated in High School had recently passed away, following weeks in an ICU after a heart attack. She was a young professional, a wife and mom who was afflicted with eating disorders as a teenager. Again, a lovely young woman who was a joy to be around. Drugs and alcohol robbed her kids of a mother, a husband of his mate.

This week a bus driver on the North Shore of Minnesota has been charged with assaulting four young girls, many of them pre- teens. Another young girl has been repeatedly molested by a man known to her family. Their innocence stolen at an early age. The list goes on and on.

My friends, the responsibility is ours to bring this nightmare to an end. The work isn't hard, yet it will be life changing. Sit in your chair, or on your bed, or kneeling at your pew, and listen to that still small voice, hearing how God wants to work in your life. Follow through on the very best that there is for us. When WE continually do that, we then can pray effectively for our nation. God will heal our land, restoring that which has been stolen, revitalizing our land. I believe that is our only hope.

So, in the past months, I have been checking my thoughts regularly, and asking to be more responsive than reactive. To be a mirror reflecting Gods love to others, even those I don't really care for. In return, I am making and growing many more friendships, and having a sense of the presence and Peace of God in a gentle and intimate way. I often fail, yet I try to get up walk again.

Please join me in prayer for our region. That our women and girls and boys would be protected from those who would abuse and hurt them. That stashes of drugs would be revealed and confiscated. That the dealers would be found out. It is Gods responsibility, and our only hope. Too many have had their lives stolen away, too many cannot face a normal day. Too many cry themselves to sleep because they have been betrayed by one who should have been trustworthy, but chose not to be.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Constitutinal rights,Christian standards and Witness.

You know, I haven't had health insurance since 2001.

Not that it isn't available, I do qualify for WI High Risk insurance. Last time i checked the premium 2 years ago it was 2200+ per month. Not 22 dollars. Two Thousand two hundred plus per month.Thats a few thousand more than I make in a year as a Chaplain.

I have had something like 9 or 10 major surgeries, 12 or 14 cat scans, 4 MRI's 1 colonoscopy 16 shots of steroids and hundreds of PT appointments since 1993.

I had a cancer that only 13 others had experienced. Fortunately, it was one of the few non-lethal types.

Dad had stage 3+ colon cancer when discovered, stage 4 at surgery. It has been 8 years since my last colonoscopy, one would sure set my mind at ease. One major argument against the presidents health plan is that the government doesn't have constitutional right to institute it, or that it is a violation of our constitution to implement it.

As a country, and as Christians, we have been more than willing to give up constitutional rights, depending on who proposed that loss. {IMHO}

If anyone wants to take me to task, read through the Patriot Act,see what rights we gave up under G W Bush. More than you would ever believe.

I am getting at the point that it seem that if something is proposed by a liberal, or democratic person, president or institution, it must be bad. Be honest, look closely. Tho we may prefer conservative govt, many conservative republicans are as "degenerate" as those liberal democrats. {only half in jest} Barney Frank may be gay, but it was a Conservative rep from Florida who headed a committee to protect abused children that was in fact soliciting young male pages with texts. Bill Clinton had extramarital affairs, the Governor of one of the Carolinas' has been in adultery for several years. We hate democrats big wasteful government, yet it was under the Bush Administration that the bureaucracy grew the largest ever. Senators and congressmen of both parties have benefits which the average citizen cannot dream of. One term in Congress gives health care for life. It goes on ad finitum, ad nauseum.

There, I probably have offended a few friends and several I don't know. I have been on a "Kick" about consistency tho. Lets be honest,be real and apply the same rules, conscience or standards to ourselves first, and walk perfectly, before we expect others to live up to our standards.

I work with an incredible nurse, one of the finest ICU nurses I've ever seen. I would want her to care for myself, family or the ones I love. After 5 years of working together she fessed up, " I don't believe in God". She was expecting the worst from me. I took a deep breath and asked Why. Her response was chilling. "I have worked here 22 years. Since I started, Born Again Christians have been coming here, telling me what I had to believe, and how I was supposed to live. So I watched them, for all these years. The same folks who were telling me how wrong I was were lying, stealing, cheating on their wives or husband, not paying their taxes.I came to believe that IF THERE REALLY WAS A GOD, THEY WOULDN'T DARE SAY ONE THING AND LIVE THE OPPOSITE. THEY WOULD BE TOO AFRAID.They have proven to me by Their actions there is no God.we aren't talking about a person who is blaming Church Hypocrites, we are talking about a person who studied the most outspoken religious folks she knew, heard their words, and saw their actions.

Jesus said: Tarry ye here in Jerusalem until you are endued with Power from above, and you shall be my witnesses" the Greek word for witness is Martus, which certainly implies a lifestyle rather than a bullhorn.

Ok, so this really doesn't have a lot to do with President Obamas' denial of constitutional rights. It does however speak to evangelical Christianity's do what I tell you you need to do, not as I do attitude. If I don't like it, it must be wrong. It is an attitude I haven't seen Jesus express in Scripture.

More in the future....