Bad Move

There is a lot of talk about a vote coming up at the UN to create a new state, a Palestinian state. Much of this is happening because President Obama endorsed the idea of a Palestinian state. Bad move Mr. President.

Just how bad?

Ask yourself how many Jews live and work in the area that wants to become a Palestinian state? Take your time, actually look it up.

Okay, time is up. The answer is zero, none, nada.

If you are a Jew in Egypt it is not as bad, but you are actually subject to attack at any time. And if you are attacked because you are mistaken for a Jew, the response is, "Sorry, we thought you were a Jew" as if that explains everything and makes it alright.

It doesn’t .

Since turnabout is fair play, let’s ask how many Palestinians or Arabs work and live in Israel, homeland of the Jewish people?

The answer is approximately 20% of the population of Israel is made up of Arabs or 1.5 million. They live in freedom under the protection of the Jewish state, they and their families living in peace.

And it is Israel that is reviled, not Palestine.

Bad move Mr. President.

“Retreat, Hell!”

Not too long ago my bride and I watched a movie at home that was so bad we almost wanted too … well I don’t want to say, but it was really, I mean really, badly done. I posted on Facebook about it and our son agreed, but recommended Battle Los Angeles.

So to get the last movie out of our minds/heads, we decided to watch Battle Los Angeles. Not bad, not great, but real entertainment with real (albeit fictional) heroes. We enjoyed it on a few different levels. Especially the acts of heroism within the film, but they seemed somewhat overacted.

Still, we learned a new wartime phrase, “Retreat, Hell!” In the movie it was explained as a USMC motto, especially for the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines according to Wikipedia, when a Marine officer was ordered to retreat and replied “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!”

“Retreat, Hell!” and the movie theatrics had me looking at the movie as a recruiting film for the US Marine Corp and a bit for the US Air Force. The real focus of the movie was clearly on the USMC throughout and the brotherhood of the Marines. Was it overdone? I thought so then but no longer.

Why not any longer?

Well, this past week I read about a real life USMC soldier who has become the first living Marine in 38 years to win the Medal of Honor. Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer while a Corporal serving in Afghanistan, from his citation, received this Medal “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Marine Embedded Training Team 28, Regional Corps Advisory Command 37 in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September, 2009.”

That doesn’t tell the half of it, read the citation here or here and find out what conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty really is.

One thing that jumps out at you in reading the facts within the citation is an understanding of why no living Marine has received the Medal of Honor in 38 years. It is nothing short of a miracle that Sergeant Meyer is with us today. The facts of going into battle solo against overwhelming odds three times, the last two while wounded, in the same battle with three different vehicles, gun trucks, saving two dozen Afghan soldiers, is almost too much to believe.

Corporal Dakota Meyer is an incredible embodiment of the spirit of “Retreat, Hell!” I hope you take the time to read the full citation.

Live in Love, Live in God

1 John 4:16b reads “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (NIV). The version you choose doesn’t matter much as the clear thought here comes through in each one, if you “Live in Love, you live in God, and God lives in you.”

But John is here stating the inverse of the truth he first stated eight verses earlier (1 John 4:8), “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

So how do we go about living in love? A few other verses provide a glimpse at the answer. For instance, “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself” and “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself” (Hebrews 5:28 and 33a). The more I love my wife, the more I live in love, the more I live in God.

Then there’s “love your neighbor as yourself” first in Leviticus 19:18b as a commandment from YHWH and then from Jesus, his second commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself” in Mark 12:31. This is not just for the neighbor I like, but also for the neighbor who has done me wrong, who I could reasonably bear ill will towards. This is not near so nice or as easy as loving my wife as myself. Still, if (big IF) I persevere and “love my neighbor as myself” – the more I do so the more I live in love, the more I live in God. Not so hard if I remember my wife, my bride of 40 years, is my closest neighbor and I begin there.

Finally (for the purposes of this entry) there is the command to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” or “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” first in Deuteronomy 6:5 then in Mark 12:30. Note the addition of “all your mind” in Mark when Jesus give this as his first command.

How can we do this, “Love the LORD our God with all of our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength?” Deuteronomy 30:6, provides a clue, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts … so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

But that was Old Testament, how do are we to do this now, circumcise our hearts? I don't know, but I think Jesus provides the answer in Matthew 18:3, when “he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”

As an adult, I need to somehow circumcise my heart to have a heart like that of a little child. I think that is the answer. The first disciples, hard bitten fishermen, did this when they dropped everything to follow Jesus. They, at that time, had the hearts of little children.

With the LORD circumcising my heart, I become like a child living in love, living in God, with God living in me.

Too Good Not to Share

Wednesday night, September 14, 2011 it was a “Movies and Matches” night. No one showed up to play any match chess. However, there were a few of us for the “Movie.”

To be sure, this was not a movie in the normal “movie” sense. Instead it was a selection from www.chessvideos.tv that was free for public consumption. I titled it “Knightmare!” as it was a case of an eventual good Knight against a bad Bishop where the play with the Knight resulted in a Knightmare for the player with the bad Bishop

Peter Lumbaers with the Black pieces provides solid instruction on how to win with the smallest of advantages – in this case a good Knight vice a bad (but not too bad) Bishop – against Anne Haast with the White pieces.

He is very frank about the position being a draw, until Ms. Haast made an error resulting in amplifying Lumbaers’ Knight’s mobility as well as that of his King.

If you care to watch 25 minutes of quality instruction for free, you may find the game here. I have seen it three times and enjoyed it each time as well as learning something each time.

Watch, learn, enjoy, and be entertained - all at the same time.

Consumer Sovereignty

Now there is a term I have not read before – Consumer Sovereignty. Mark Perry used in at his blog site Carpe Diem where his article about the Chart of the Day titled Chart of the Day: Consumer Sovereignty Rules in the Long Run and Competition Breeds Competence.

What an eye opener.

When he discusses economic lessons he mentions the shortcomings of both management and labor sovereignty. Both management and labor sovereignty, in a competitive market, are trumped ultimately by Consumer Sovereignty.

To make his point he uses his “chart of the day” to lead off the article where you can see in 1980 Ford had over 300 times as many customer complaints per 100 vehicles as Toyota with 195, while GM was much worse with almost 400 times as many customer complaints as Toyota. No wonder Toyota and similar brands took over much of the U.S. market.

However, as of four years ago (2007) there is a much different story to tell from the same chart. Toyota still has the lowest complaint per 100 cars with 110, but GM only has 1.23 times as many (135) – a vast improvement on both companies. Ford did even better with only 1.13 times as many (124). The companies are now in a virtual statistical tie with the American models coming on strong.

One other website comes to mind when mentioning consumer sovereignty although I do not recall it ever being used there, Gary North’s Specific Answers.

While I don’t recall Dr. North ever using the term, he has given advice many times reminiscent of the term. When a subscriber writes in and wants to know how to “get rich” or “get rich quick” Dr. North often advises them they have chosen the wrong website and then offers the following advice on obtaining wealth – find something you can offer to the consumer/customer at a lower price or of higher quality or even a product the consumer/customer doesn’t know they want or need yet.

Indeed, his advice always acknowledges the sovereignty of the consumer/customer who is always looking for a better price or higher quality at the same price.

Let’s hope the marketplace stays open and free enough to let us – the customer – reign supreme. For an example of a state run or controlled marketplace take a look at page three (3) of the free downloadable book The Vampire Economy as an example of the alternative.

Unfailing Love

Men’s Bible study following breakfast this morning at Calvary Chapel of Dayton, Ohio led by Pastor Dave Elkins. You can hear his teaching online here.

Working our way through Isaiah found us in Isaiah chapter 30 today. Very interesting, very powerful material. There is so much there, but I want to comment on what jumped out at me there in chapter 30 and some of the discussion.

It was the very first sentence (verses 1 and 2a) where my attention was first drawn: “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me;”

Here I saw a repetition of Abraham traveling to Egypt without first consulting with the LORD and all the trouble he got into. It is the same in my life as well. When I consult with the LORD about my plans, doors open and close in very different ways. If I see doors closing after asking for His advice or approval, I take that as His answer. If the doors open after asking, then I take it as His approval or lack of disapproval. I have found I do not want to “go down to Egypt without consulting” God.

What follows in Isaiah is God’s curse on Israel for “look(ing) for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge” (v2b). The consequences go on for a number of verses, but in verse 15 we find “The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel says, ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.’” Our Heavenly Father once again shows His love and mercy offered to Israel and by extension to the rest of the world – if only we will accept it. Israel at this time did not for the verse concludes, “but you would have none of it.” Like so many of us today (including me) Israel refused this wonderful gift from our LORD and they literally ran away (see verses 16 and 17).

Nonetheless, God through Isaiah makes sure Israel knows of his love even after they have run away, in the very next verse (18) “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Like a loving husband or wife who forgives a spouse who has failed in their covenant vows, God demonstrates his unfailing love.

The measure of that love is noted in verses 23 and 24 after Israel rids itself of all its false idols as He blesses Israel greatly when, “He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.” Even the animals of Israel will be blessed for “In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.”

Take away: Wait upon the LORD, consult the LORD in prayer if you (I) want to experience the blessings and mercy in your (my) life through His unfailing love.

First Gift

During creation, “God said, ‘It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper fit for him’” (ESV, Genesis 2:18).

It seems God wanted to make sure Adam knew it was not good to be alone and needed a helper, so He brought every living creature forward for Adam to name and Adam would have been hard pressed not to notice they always came in pairs – male and female. God also had Adam name them as Adam had dominion over them. The Bible says it this way, “And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him” (Genesis2:19b-20).

עֵזֶר

The symbols above occur in the Genesis 2:20 and are commonly translated as helper or help meet and you will find it in Strong’s Concordance with a transliteration of “ezer.” It is the very first time it occurs in the Bible. In Strong’s it is preceded by and followed by “Ezer.” In the entry that follows in Stong’s, it has the same exact markings below the letters, while the preceding entry has the three dots under the third letter as under the second letter above. Nonetheless, in both cases we are told Ezer = “treasure” and operates as a proper noun – a male name.

In Psalms 33:20, 70:6, and 115:9 the help provided is by or from God.

This is important because the woman, Eve, is a gift from God to Adam. She is his treasure. She completes him. She is no ordinary gift. She is a divine gift, from God to Adam.

When God made Adam, He formed him from the dust as a potter would create a pot from clay. When God made Eve from Adam’s flesh and bone, He built or erected her as a house is erected, so Eve was created much differently than Adam was. Perhaps because she would give birth to new life – this is implied in the use of the same word for her to build a family by giving birth (Gen 16:2 and 30:3).

Adam seemingly gets that Eve is special, built by God for him because when God brought her to him, Adam said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:34a) is here. Note how he makes the statement, “This (Eve), at last, finally, is here” (paraphrasing). He knows. To state “at last” tells me he has been waiting for her, his treasure and helper given by God.

I believe the above has tremendous implications for us men (me) when it comes to how we view and treat our wives. It has changed how I look at my bride of 40 years and how I treat her now that I recognize her as a divine gift from God.

According to God’s word, my wife, a divine gift to me, completes me and with her I am made complete. This is a game changer in our marriage.