McCain/Palin & "Puts His Faith In You!"

We attended a McCain/Palin rally on Friday. It was electrifying! 24,000 people and Indiana is on fire for the Gov. Palin and I can honestly say, I feel the most like her and her family. They have my morals, they love the same God I do, they are not afraid of taking on corruption and bad government AND they stand for smaller government.

There were several statements that Gov. Palin made a the rally that resonated with me. The one that I hear over and over today is, "You have a choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader who puts his faith in you." This hit me hard as a minister because it is the same with religion and the Almighty.

World religions say they have the correct answer and poof we have people of all faiths and religions that turn into religion followers and in the Christian world, "Church-goers." On the other hand, The Almighty Jehovah, puts his faith in people and loves us and guides us and molds us because He puts his faith in us.

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Our faith is trusting in God and poof we have "Christ-followers." Then he responds with Ephesians 2:6-7, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

Thank God He loves us and cares for us and trusts us with the message of His Son, Jesus, AND puts His faith in us.

You know I love ya, Don

Political Humor....I promise

With all the politics in our country right now I thought a good Friday Funny (its a day late, sorry) should lean towards Political Humor (well that is what the polls indicated....and I always go with the polls. Remember Al Gore and John Kerry were both winning according to the polls. Where are they now?) So, enjoy and remember to laugh a little at all the rhetoric...it will keep you from crying.

A little girl asked her father, "Daddy? Do all Fairy Tales begin with 'Once Upon A Time'?"

He replied, "No, there is a whole series of Fairy Tales that begin with 'If elected I promise'."

Have great weekend and you know I love ya - Don

Gov. Palin and A Child with Down Syndrome in the Vice Presidential House

I received a question: How good was it to have a Child with Down Syndrome on the Stage at Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement that Senator John McCain asked her to run as his Vice President?

Here is my take on it: Every child is unique. Our Matthew will be 5 on September 17th. He had open heart surgery at 14 days old along with a staph infection and has had several issues of pneumonia over his short life....Large crowds of people and a great deal of love and energy thrills him and always has from the very beginning. I remember after the heart surgery and he had a staph infection. The doctors could not tell us if he would survive. He was in medication induced coma while the infection was being sucked from the tissues in his body. All we had for four days was monitors.

His numbers would go down when it was still. He would often not respond as well to pain meds when Karen and I or other family was away from him. So, we stepped into action. We had family there around the clock. Karen would read scripture and we would pray together aloud. We played praise music and a personalized CD with songs that Granny brought. I even read out loud the entire book of Charlie and Chocolate Factory to Matthew. What was supposed to be a week long procedure was over in four days. When Matthew returned from surgery, the infection was gone and he was alert. It was awesome to see those blue eyes again.

Since then, Matthew has become even more social and LARGE event oriented. He loves church, he loves school, he loves Walmart, and he loves people. In fact, Mike and Cathy Canny invited us to a Beetles Impersonators concert last night at the Conner Prairie with almost 9000 people on lawn chairs and blankets and Matthew soaked up every minute. Thus, Matthew is our official Walmart Greeter....this could be his life goal....he is definitely gifted at it.

I am not saying every child with Down Syndrome is the same...I do think it would be prudent to cut the parents some slack and let them know what is best for Trig. Most children take after their parents and Matthew has talkative parents, so it seems is you know Karen and I, Matthew did not have a chance in the lack of talkative genes (or chromosomes).

I still am excited with the advocacy we might all share with a Child with Down Syndrome in the Vice Presidential Mansion. Isn't it exciting to see the prospect that the world might see the value in every life.

Comments always welcome...Have a great Labor Day!
Don