Amazing Weekend

This past weekend I had the opportunity and the privilege of witnessing God moving in the lives of people. We had Pastor Bob Coy the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale speaking at our West Campus. He kicked off our new series called Story. As we expected we had a great turnout for the three weekend services. There were close to 3000 people that came out to hear him speak and they were not disappointed. Pastor Bob is a great communicator, not only that, but he is also totally committed to God and to spreading His Word. Bob shared his testimony and what God has done and is doing in his life. He did it in a down to earth manner and simply had us all laughing at times and also crying at other times. Overall it was great to see how the Lord used him to bring people to a saving relationship, as several people responded to the invitation to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I am also thankful and at the same time humbled by the commitment of all the volunteers that gave of their time and their efforts to make this event happen. Without their help it would have been impossible to minister to so many people. From the set up and break down crew, to the Kidz Ministry volunteers, to the security people, greeters, ushers, everyone served with a smile on their face and a willing heart to help. I am honored to be the campus pastor serving alongside this great bunch of Jesus crazed people, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and I look forward to more events like this that we can continue to bring people to light through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you want to read more about Pastor Bob's story go here.

The Law of the Garbage Truck !

A friend of mine sent me this and I think is sooo true. I hope the rest of your day is "garbage free."

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car just by inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy I mean he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of The Garbage Truck."

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run all around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointments. As the garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, resentments, anger, and frustration; so........... Love the people who treat you right, Pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make it, and ninety percent how you take it.

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

Hypocrisy in Action

Speaker of the House Pelosi says that those who disrupt and protest at town hall meetings are un-American, however check the video out, and see her commending protestors and disruptors during protests agaisnt the war. I guess it only applies when people protest agaisnt what she supports, what a hypocrite.

Big Brother is Coming

The White House strategy of turning supporters into snitches when they see "fishy" information about the health care debate may run afoul of the law, legal experts say. Story Here.

Awesome Quote!

"Congress treats the American taxpayer like an all-you-can-eat buffet ... Pelosi and Reid, you need to put yourself on a diet, or we'll do it for you in 2010". Lynne Marino.

Congress Gets an Upgrade or The Irony of Hypocrisy

Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy eight jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used by federal officials at a time when lawmakers have criticized the use of corporate jets by companies receiving taxpayer funds. Once again our representatives laugh in our faces and spend our hard earn tax money. Read Story Here.

Chicago Style Politics

Following reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been orchestrating an effort to intimidate members of Congress and Governors who raise legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of the stimulus, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Emanuel saying “While this type of scare tactic may work In Chicago, it will not work to intimidate me or other Members of the United States Congress.” Read letter here.

They Don't Get It Do They?

Despite the questionable impact of the first stimulus package, there is actually discussion of a second stimulus package. So far, the states have spent roughly 10 percent of the $787 billion package, but it has yet to register on the "recovery" radar. In fact, the only thing that seems to have changed is the unemployment rate and not in the direction the President had hoped.

Given where the money's been directed, maybe none of us should be surprised. Mark Kelly of the Heritage Foundation did some digging on where the House Speaker funneled her District's dollars, and the list of projects is enough to send taxpayers through the roof. Let me put it this way: Nancy Pelosi is trying to stimulate a lot more than San Francisco's economy. While the average American is worried about losing his shirt, Congress is funding actors who aren't wearing any!

Here are some of the Speaker's pet project that are being funded with yours' and mine hard earned dollars:

According to Kelly, $50,000 was sent to an initiative called CounterPulse in San Francisco that just sponsored a "Perverts [Sleep Around]" event on July 25, urging people to "Join your fellow pervs for some explicit, twisted fun!"

A company called Jess Curtis/Gravity, Inc. will receive $25,000, presumably to help boost their Symmetry Project, which features nude couples in compromising positions.

Other programs are too crude and embarrassing to even mention. But shouldn't that say something to the third most powerful leader in America? If these projects are too obscene to talk about, what business does the U.S. government have funding them? This isn't just waste it's reckless, indecent garbage sponsored by Congress and paid for by you and me. If these are the priorities of America's new leadership, then we should definitely get a second opinion on their vision for an issue as significant as health care. For more on Pelosi's "waste" line, visit Mark's blog here.

Sources: FRC. Mark Kelly

The Glorious Fourth

In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams told her of the actions of the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776. "The second day of July, 1776 [the actual day the Declaration was signed], will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever."

As we celebrate Independence Day, as John Adams so aptly predicted, we must not forget nor overlook the intense struggle our Founding Fathers faced. Their Christian faith played a critical role in an era that altered the history of the world.

There is not a better example of this seamless devotion to God and country than Samuel Adams. In his time, Sam was far more famous than his cousin, John. Sam was known as the last of the great Puritans and the father of the Revolution. It was Sam Adams who organized the Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence. (By the way, if you're going out to a Tea Party on Saturday, historians believe that the first tea party, the one in Boston, was organized by Samuel Adams. It was that Boston Tea Party that lit the fuse of the American Revolution).

When Sam Adams was elected to that First Continental Congress and traveled to the gathering of leaders in Philadelphia, he thought the Continental Congress needed to begin its work on its knees--in prayer. But when the motion was made to call in a local clergyman to lead the worship, John Jay of New York and Edward Rutledge of South Carolina objected. We are too diverse, they said. We could never agree on whose prayers to say.

Rising to his feet, Sam Adams spoke: "I am no bigot," he said, "I can hear the prayer of any man of piety and virtue who is a friend to his country." Deeply moved, the delegates voted to approve Sam Adams' idea. The next morning, amid reports of the British moving against the people of his hometown of Boston, Sam knelt in prayer with his fellow delegates, as the Rev. Jacob Duch? prayed. "Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me, and fight against them that fight against me."

That inspired move by Sam Adams did much to overcome suspicions among the delegates. Joseph Reed of Philadelphia called that prayer "a masterly stroke." Those Founding Fathers could now work together for liberty.

Soon, Sam Adams would sign the Declaration of Independence. Alongside Sam Adams' name you can find that of Charles Carroll, a delegate from Maryland. Carroll was the richest man in Congress and the only Roman Catholic. Nowhere else on earth in 1776 could you find an Evangelical like Sam Adams pledge "his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor" alongside a Catholic like Charles Carroll. They both risked death by hanging for signing that great Declaration. But they served the King of Kings and had no fear of King George III.

In our efforts to maintain the freedoms won by our forefathers we must be like them--people of action and prayer. We must never sever our personal faith from our public stand for faith, family and freedom.

Resources: FRC

A RINO Goes Home

After more than four decades, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Penn.) is officially going home. The once-GOP leader announced his re-affiliation with the Democratic Party yesterday after years of work as one of its greatest allies. Sen. Specter "moderate" agenda as a senator on life, spending, marriage, and judges often did more harm to the pro-family cause than good. When asked about the switch, the Pennsylvanian said frankly that he didn't believe he could win the Republican primary against a staunch conservative like Pat Toomey.

His departure officially puts the RINO's (Republicans In Name Only) on the endangered list. One of the few liberal senators left in the GOP, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), lamented Specter's passage in a New York Times editorial. "... It was when we began to emphasize social issues to the detriment of some of our basic tenets as a party that we encountered an electoral backlash." She aggressively tried to make this case to her colleagues yesterday as Republican senators met to discuss Specter's departure.

Of course, the fundamental problem with Snowe's theory is that in the last eight years, the GOP's emphasis on social issues has been as absent as its fiscal discipline. And that, not Snowe's "shrinking ideological confines," is what has banished Republicans to the political wilderness. Moderates like Specter and Snowe voted for the stimulus, the bailouts, legislation that takes innocent human life, and bills that harness free speech. With a track record like that, what exactly is the difference between the two parties if social issues don't distinguish them?

Source: FRC

Weasel of the Day Award!!!

Mutiny Within the GOP

In GOP base, a 'rebellion brewing'. A quick tour through the week’s headlines suggests the Republican Party is beginning to come to terms with the last election and that consensus is emerging among GOP elites that the party needs to move away from discordant social issues. Read It Here.

More Heat on Pelosi

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is upping the ante on Speaker Nancy Pelosi — asking the Obama administration to release CIA notes taken during a 2002 briefing session with Pelosi and other Congressional leaders. Read It Here.

The Irony of Hypocrisy

Pelosi now playing defense on torture. Many Republicans,led by former CIA chief Porter Goss, are accusing Democrats like Pelosi of “amnesia” for demanding investigations in 2009 after failing to raise objections seven years ago when she first learned of the legal basis for the program. Read It Here.

What Did Nancy Pelosi NOT Know, And When Did She Not Know It?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing back on GOP charges that she knew about waterboarding for years and did nothing. Read It Here.

Hate Crime Legislation

It wasn't the Fourth of July, but there were plenty of fireworks on Capitol Hill yesterday in two different House committees. After much anticipation, the Judiciary Committee wasted no time getting to work on "hate crimes" legislation. Under the new bill, people who commit certain crimes would face a stiffer punishment for any prejudice they might have toward homosexual and transgender victims. In essence, it singles out some Americans for "extra protection" under the law based upon their sexual behavior.

By late Wednesday, the Democratic majority had faced so much opposition from Republicans on H.R. 1913 that the hearing was discontinued. The debate was reignited, thanks to the stack of amendments offered by Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Steve King (R-Iowa), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Each one highlighted the absurdity of the bill by asking Democrats to extend the same unique status to the elderly, the military, pregnant women, and the unborn. Every Democrat who was present at the hearing voted against adding these groups as a "protected class."

Although no official timetable has been set, the "hate crimes" bill could hit the House floor in the next few weeks. If this bill becomes law it would bring in censoring in the Christian arena as far as bible teachings having to do with homosexuality and such.

Source: FRC

On The Absurd Front

It seems the Obama administration will give in to a U.S. District Court ruling as an excuse to allow 17-year-olds to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription or their parents' consent. An official with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told reporters that an announcement on the subject was forthcoming but that the decision had been made to overturn the current policy, which dates back to the Bush administration.

Judge Edward Korman ordered FDA officials to make Plan B available over-the-counter to minors as young as 17. The Obama administration has decided to roll over and accept the court decision without a single appeal. Essentially, the President is allowing a lone federal district judge to make a scientific decision that affects the health and safety of women across America. For the young administration, it shows an incredible disinclination to fight for good policy. Considering the risks that Plan B poses to women and its unproven track record after repeated use, there seems to be no rational basis for the President's decision, except political ideology. So let me see, 17 year old girls can't buy cigarettes and they can't buy alcoholic beverages or go in to bars, but they can buy this pill and not tell their parents. How does that make sense?

History Repeats Itself!

This is a cartoon that appeared in an issue of the Chicago Tribune in 1934. Can you see any similarities in what is going on today?

Another Slam on Obama Part II

Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign called President Obama “irresponsible” for the way in which he engaged Venezuela President Hugo Chavez during the Summit of the Americas. Read Story Here.

Another Slam on Obama

A former CIA boss says that president Obama is compromising national security by releasing memos outlining terror interrogation methods. Read Story Here.