Full Tank of Gas and Living in a Free Country

     When somebody asks my husband Cliff how he is, he typically says, "I've got a full tank of gas and I'm living in a free country," and in a way, that says it all. I think most Americans have some anxiety over this election, the negativity of it and the feeling that things are spiraling out of control. So I thought it might be time to refocus our attention, even if it's just for a moment, on what's so great about our nation and our people. I did my own survey of people around me, and here are some of their comments to the question, "What's the best thing about living in America?"

Mary Jo Steidler: Feeling free.

Curt Olson: That I can get up in the morning and do a job that I love, and not be forced to do something else.

Kevin Stanfield: The fact that we can worship whatever god we choose.

Kelly Feigitsch: The music. When I went to Ireland, London and Paris they played American music. That and the food.

Kristin Opheim (born in Norway): Opportunity. Think about it. We are so unexcited about all the resources we have around us. It's like a giant playground. Everybody else in the world gets excited about what we have here, but if you're born here you don't appreciate it.

Jordan Ziegler: Women's freedom, because in a lot of Third World countries that doesn't happen.

Rachel Chumley: Our freedom of speech.

Mandy Schaff: The ability to choose. Where we live, what we eat, who we vote for.

Darrell Olsen: That with hard work, determination and a plan, there's opportunity for all of us. We're not told in advance what we have to be.

J.R. Havens: We invented the hamburger....and the Second Amendment.

Renita Brannan: The freedom to be Christian, to be an entrepreneur, freedom of speech. God bless America!

Henry Blakes: Our access to education, because it gives you the chance to get wherever you want to go.

Alan Miller: Not having to worry about anything. You feel safe, secure and you can do whatever you want to do.

And me: I love life in this country, and while we are facing some challenges, I believe we are blessed to have been born here and privileged to live here.

Where I'm Interviewed on KNDR-FM Radio

Here's my interview on KNDR radio. My thanks to Brad Bales.
http://picosong.com/aKWa/

Dream Angels

I ran across something interesting the other day while reading about St. Augustine. He was a fascinating guy. In this particular account he talked about an angel who came to a friend in a dream. In the dream the angel convinced the man of the existence of life after death by discussing the various ways in which we see -- with our eyes, with our minds and in our dreams. The angel used this information to convince the man of the existence of life after death. It made perfect sense to me. Here's an excerpt:

As while you are asleep and lying on your bed these eyes of your body are now unemployed and doing nothing, and yet you have eyes with which you behold me, and enjoy this vision, so, after your death, while your bodily eyes shall be wholly inactive, there shall be in you a life by which you shall still live, and a faculty of perception by which you shall still perceive. Beware, therefore, after this of harbouring doubts as to whether the life of man shall continue after death. This believer says that by this means all doubts as to this matter were removed from him.--St. Augustine

Great point!

In Search of the Burning Bush

 

 

"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." -- Stuart Chase 

 

 

Why do some people hear God, or see visions, or receive revelations and others don't? I have a friend who longs for such an experience. "I always hear, 'I've had this dream,' or 'God spoke to me,'" he says, "so I wonder what's wrong with me? I've prayed for that, too, but it hasn't happened." He thinks there is a God, but he wants a burning bush in order to be sure. "I have faith that there's something bigger than me that cares about what's going on," he adds, "but because I have no direct experience I'm not totally sure."

 

He, like most of us, is terrified at the thought of non-existence, so he wishes for assurance beyond a doubt. I don't know if there is such a thing.

  

Saint Teresa of Kolkata received a revelation from God, on a train of all places, and that vision or inner voice was profound enough and overwhelming enough to convince her to devote her life entirely to the destitute and forgotten. And yet, from her own writings we know that she spent most of the rest of her life searching to find that experience again. She got close only one more time, and after that, had to live on faith that the Jesus who revealed Himself to her on the train was still there and still loved her with a totality that only God can manage.

 

How many of us get even one "burning bush" experience? Most of us are asked to believe on faith. I like to think of life itself as a miracle. Leaves are miracles. A molecule of water is certainly a miracle. The human eye is a marvel of engineering, architecture and beauty. All are irrefutable evidence of intelligent design.

 

But when you get right down to it, how many miracles are enough? A sermon I heard recently drove this point home. The Apostles actually watched Jesus perform one miracle after another, and yet, when He was taken away by Roman soldiers, they all ran away in fear. They also had their doubts. But in their saner moments, they chose to dedicate their lives to their belief.

Faith itself is a gift from God, but I believe he'll bestow that gift if we ask him to. In the meantime, if you have those odd moments of doubt, don't be too hard on yourself. You, too, are human.