Took Long Enough…

This project took way longer then it should have.

Way longer..

Westbury Tuscany railing system. Lots of cutting and fitting and filing and measuring and repeating and repeating and never mind…

A lot more difficult then I imagined..

Finished today…After invoking numerous magic words, and making a few up..Women hid, children cried, men cowered, dogs howled…Yeah lots of magic words….Loud magic…

Plus I cheated, but that goes to the grave with me..

 

Media BiASSed: Stepsalotinit…Twit..

1. Stephanopoulos Demands WH ‘Guarantee’ That Trump, Wealthy, Won’t Benefit From His Tax Plan

 

Thursday on Good Morning America, anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed top economic advisor to President Trump, Gary Cohn, to “guarantee” that Trump’s new tax plan wouldn’t give tax breaks to the wealthy, including specifically the President himself. In his usual fashion, Stephanopoulos aggressively confronted the Republican White House official on who would benefit from the president’s policy, while taking a soft approach on the same topics just four, and eight years earlier, when President Obama began his terms in the Oval Office.

2. NBC’s Today Spends Three Times More on Will & Grace Than GOP Tax Plan

 

On Thursday, while ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS This Morning spent several minutes covering the new Republican tax plan and talked to top Trump administration officials about the policy, NBC’s Today couldn’t even bother to devote a single full report to the topic. Instead, the morning show devoted three times more coverage to the renewal of NBC sitcom Will & Grace.

3. CNN/MSNBC Push Accusation Trump Treating Puerto Rico Poorly

 

On Thursday, the federal government stepped up its hurricane relief effort in Puerto Rico by dispatching three-star Army general, Lt. Gen. Jeff Buchanan to oversee all operations. The move came as the sheer devastation from Hurricane Maria continued to cripple relief efforts and supply distribution. Instead of recognizing the unique and difficult challenge that trying the aid Puerto Rico was, both CNN and MSNBC tried to paint the Trump administration as uncaring of their plight.

4. Seriously? Matthews Compares Russian-Backed Fake News Trolls to the 9/11 Hijackers

 

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you’re shown otherwise. During Thursday’s Hardball, MSNBC host Chris Matthews compared the Russian-backed social media trolls during the 2016 election to the 9/11 hijackers who murdered thousands of Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

5. Spike Lee Hijacks CNN/NFL Special: Politics Must Be in Sports Due to Country’s Racist History

 

Like many of CNN’s town halls, Wednesday night’s NFL special featured multiple perspectives and balanced questioning, but the goodwill and dialogue was degraded by liberal filmmaker Spike Lee’s intolerant outbursts. Chief among them was Lee’s insistence that politics cannot be avoided in sports (and thus must be mixed) because of the country’s racist history and “genocide of Native Americans and slavery” plus dismissing concerns about NFL protests raised by a Gold Star family.

6. Charlie Rose to Justice Ginsburg: ‘Keep Up That Exercise, Okay?’

 

On Wednesday, CBS’s Charlie Rose was caught openly rooting for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to delay her retirement from the Supreme Court – for as long as Donald Trump is President. The CBS This Morning anchor, on his PBS show, encouraged the Bill Clinton-appointee to stick to the health regiment set-up by her personal trainer as he warned: “Donald Trump may have the chance [to appoint another justice]. So you keep up that exercise, okay?”

7. Nets Hail Life of ‘Progressive’ Pornographer Hefner: ‘Beautiful Ending’ for ‘American Icon’

 

All three networks on Thursday hailed the life of “American icon” Hugh Hefner, honoring the “beautiful ending” for the pornographer. CBS also made sure to tout the “progressive politics” of the magazine and support for abortion. In total, ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 27 minutes and three seconds to cheering “one of the most influential figures in social history.” ALL three networks led with Hefner first and covered the unfolding disaster in Puerto Rico second.

Self-Deliverance

Self-Deliverance

September 29

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil” (Proverbs 3:5-7).

Oswald Chambers advises, “Whenever God gives a vision to a saint, he puts the saint in the shadow of His hand, as it were, and the saint’s duty is to be still and listen… When God gives a vision and darkness follows, waiting on God will bring you into accordance with the vision He has given if you await His timing. Otherwise, you try to do away with the supernatural in God’s undertakings. Never try to help God fulfill His word.”*

In the book of Proverbs, Solomon warns us not to rely on our own fallible wisdom while trying to do God’s perfect will. God wants us to wait for His deliverance. His means of bringing us to spiritual maturity requires us to wait on His deliverance through adversity so that we will be able to discern the difference between our own self-deliverance and God’s authentic deliverance in our lives.

It’s a paradox but it’s true: God often calls us to a ministry – then He deliberately thwarts our efforts to achieve our goals! We see it in the life of Moses. In obedience to God, Moses told Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” How did Pharaoh respond? He said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” Again and again, Moses returned and demanded freedom for his people. Again and again, Pharaoh refused.

God sent plague after plague upon the Egyptians. In response, Pharaoh hardened his heart and persecuted Moses and the people of Israel. So Moses complained to God, “You called me to go to Pharaoh, but You are not freeing the people!” Moses grew discouraged because God had called him to fulfill a vision – a dream of liberation for his people – and the vision seemed to die.

But God was teaching Moses and the people of Israel to persevere, to obey, and to wait upon the Lord in patient trust for God’s perfect time for deliverance.

*Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest: An Updated Edition in Today’s Language, ed. by James Reimann (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House Publishers, 1992), entry for January 19.

Two Men – Different Reactions

September 29
Two Men – Different Reactions
For reading & meditation – 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
“”… ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'”” (v. 9)

We must spend another day examining this very important issue of why it is that some non-Christians seem to respond better to life’s problems than many Christians. Just recently I heard of two different people whose business ventures collapsed. One was a Christian and the other an agnostic. The agnostic responded to the situation by saying, “”I cannot determine what happens to me, but I can determine what it will do to me. It will make me better and more useful.”” He struck out in another direction, and his new venture prospered to such a degree that he won an award. The Christian responded to the collapse of his business by saying, “”Life is unjust. What’s the point of trying? I shall withdraw from the cutthroat world of business and concentrate on my garden.”” He had to undergo some in-depth counseling before he was on his feet again, and after six months he felt strong enough to rebuild a new and now prosperous business. What can explain the different reactions of these two men? We could explain it in terms of temperament, upbringing, and so on, but there is one thing that must not be overlooked – the Christian had access to the grace of God which, if utilized, should have enabled him to view the situation even more positively than the non-Christian. As a counselor, I understand why people respond wrongly to life’s situations. However, my understanding of it does not prevent me from recognizing that the true biblical response to life’s problems is to take full advantage of the grace of God and turn every setback into a springboard.
Prayer:
Gracious Father, help me to respond to everything in the way a Christian should. Help me to see that not only do You lift the standard high, but You also supply the strength for me to attain it. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.
For Further Study
1. What does James teach us about trials?
2. What was Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians?