Last night, before leaving work, I got a call, informing me that the son-in-law of church members had committed suicide. I spent a while at their house last night talking to them, crying with them, praying with them.
In that time, I thought of a lot of things about suicide. I know some groups believe that suicide is unforgivable. They view repentance as asking God to forgive you. They believe firmly that if you don't ask forgiveness for each individual sin, then God won't forgive it.
People sure think God is petty.
God is a God of love and mercy. Mercy isn't Him waiting for the chance to burn us, disappointed when we repent. God is understanding. This particular individual was in a car wreck that messed up his brain, a little more than a month ago. He was also on a medication that had a side effect of suicidal thoughts and actions. He told the doctor that he was having suicidal thoughts, and the doctor didn't do anything.
This man had a disease. He couldn't help it. God is merciful, and I have hope for him. I won't guarantee his salvation, because God knows this man's heart, but I have hope.
There are several people in the Bible who commit suicide. Famously, King Saul and Judas Iscariot killed themselves. They died in their wickedness. But two others are praised for their faith. Samson had faith and repented for the first time in his life, and destroyed the enemy temple and was killed with that act. The other was a servant of King Saul, who was so grieved that their God appointed king had taken his own life, he also took his own. Yet he is lifted up as an example of faithfulness.
So if you have a loved one who is depressed or suicidal, get them help. If you have a loved one that took their own life, please don't let ignorant people steal your hope away. Trust God. Love Him. Know that He is faithful, even when we aren't.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Happy Singleness Awareness Day
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
ObamaCare: A personal testimony
So the CBO report has been highly debated. Are people losing jobs, or are they walking away from extra jobs because they don't need them?
Well, my mother was nearly canned for insurance purposes. They ended up negotiating to drop full time employees to ensuring the employee only, not their family. Since my mom is both a widow and an empty-nester, this allowed her to stay. Her friend Brenda was not so fortunate. This 60 year old woman is now working the graveyard shift at Amazon.com's shipping center, doing hard manual labor in 10-12 hour shifts just for insurance coverage. Where's her promised "freedom"?
What the Democrats call "job lock" we once called "having a steady job."
I've recently become employed once more. But I took a pay cut of 1/4th, and have to provide my own insurance. My good friend John Thompson is sending me a monthly check to cover that for the next year. That's a big relief.
That said, my insurance cost before Obamacare was $65 per month. Now it is $237.16. And since they regulate the market, I was not able to find private insurance any cheaper, because Obama tells the companies what they will pay and what they will cover, as well as who your doctor will be. It's a government HMO. Thanks for that.
Another thing that changed in the law is that now, I have to have maternity coverage. You know, in case I give birth. Now, if I knocked a girl up, she has to have her own coverage. This won't roll over to her. Nope. This is in case I give birth. I also have to have pediatric dental coverage. You know, to cover the dental care for kids that I don't have. And I am required by Federal Law to purchase this.
Now here's the fun part. When I went to get private health insurance, I was required to buy this separately. But when I tried to do this, I was asked for my child's name and Social Security number, which I can't provide because I don't have a kid. So it is ILLEGAL for my to buy what I am LEGALLY REQUIRED to buy.
All that was done so that I was federally required to buy directly from HealthCare.gov.
So much for my freedom. Thanks President Obama.
Well, my mother was nearly canned for insurance purposes. They ended up negotiating to drop full time employees to ensuring the employee only, not their family. Since my mom is both a widow and an empty-nester, this allowed her to stay. Her friend Brenda was not so fortunate. This 60 year old woman is now working the graveyard shift at Amazon.com's shipping center, doing hard manual labor in 10-12 hour shifts just for insurance coverage. Where's her promised "freedom"?
What the Democrats call "job lock" we once called "having a steady job."
I've recently become employed once more. But I took a pay cut of 1/4th, and have to provide my own insurance. My good friend John Thompson is sending me a monthly check to cover that for the next year. That's a big relief.
That said, my insurance cost before Obamacare was $65 per month. Now it is $237.16. And since they regulate the market, I was not able to find private insurance any cheaper, because Obama tells the companies what they will pay and what they will cover, as well as who your doctor will be. It's a government HMO. Thanks for that.
Another thing that changed in the law is that now, I have to have maternity coverage. You know, in case I give birth. Now, if I knocked a girl up, she has to have her own coverage. This won't roll over to her. Nope. This is in case I give birth. I also have to have pediatric dental coverage. You know, to cover the dental care for kids that I don't have. And I am required by Federal Law to purchase this.
Now here's the fun part. When I went to get private health insurance, I was required to buy this separately. But when I tried to do this, I was asked for my child's name and Social Security number, which I can't provide because I don't have a kid. So it is ILLEGAL for my to buy what I am LEGALLY REQUIRED to buy.
All that was done so that I was federally required to buy directly from HealthCare.gov.
So much for my freedom. Thanks President Obama.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
12 years ago, 10:05 AM, the bell rang to let me out of Algerbra 2. I was met by a friend, who informed me that terrorists had hijacked airplanes and were ramming them into buildings. I arrogantly informed him "No one would be dumb enough to attack the United States" (Oh how foolish of me) I walked into US History, and saw one smoking tower on the TV, and heard Peter Jennings say that the other had collapsed minutes before, and that a third plane had hit the pentagon. When the bell rang to start US History class, the teacher stated simply, "This is history." And we watched the TV in silence for the rest of class.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
NFL 13 week 1 synopsis
What a week 1.
The Colts started off, well, not that great. Last year, most games they lost were ones where they started big, took theif foot off the gas, and lost it. That's kinda what happened in this game. Reggie Wayne, had one heck of a game, including a TD. But in the end, when needed most, Luck still showed he has some magic in him, and made big plays through the air and on the ground. Our defense looked tired early in the game. They need to do conditioning if they're going to play four quarters.
Rest of the League:
Broncos-Ravens. The Ravens didn't have their two top guys, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. The Broncos had Wes Welker, and what was that other guy's name? Oh yeah, Peyton Manning. Manning went out to prove he is still Peyton Manning. He did, trying an NFL record for most TDs in a single game. My mother said "Poor washed-up Manning..." I'm not ready to hand them the Lombardi trophy, but man they looked good. It was like the Manning at his peak with the Colts. Come out and play around the first half. Game plan with what you learned at half time. In second half, take apart opponents. Also, gotta mention that it was good to see Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dallas Clark, and Brandon Stokely together again, even all are former Colts. They needed Marvellous Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Jeff Saturday, and Tom Moore, and they'd have their entire offensive key!
Fins-Browns. Man, the Browns were terrible.
Lions-Vikings. Once again gotta say, I love Matt Stafford. The Lions D earned a lot of credit. After the opening TD by AP, they made adjustments and shut him down entirely. Stafford had a new toy, Reggie Bush. I hope the Lions can keep this up. They've had a lot of bad years and deserve some good.
Chiefs-Jags. Every single point was scored in this game by the Chiefs finding the endzone. Just one it was their own.
Saints-Falcons. This one was fun to watch. Possibly best game of the week.
Titans-Steelers. This game, by contrast, was ugly. Time to let Ben go.
Niners-Packers. This game was uglier. And you hate to see a game's outcome effected by poor refereeing. It sounded like the replacements again.
Cowboys-Giants. This game was ugliest. The Cowboys weren't that good. The Giants were THAT BAD. They beat themselves. They last time they looked that bad in the beginning of the season, they beat the Pats in the Super Bowl.
Pats-Bills. Speaking of the Pats losing, they almost lost this game. Every year they start in Buffalo, and almost lose! EVERY YEAR! You'd think they'd learn not to overlook their opponent. Buffalo pours out everything in this game every year, and seem to leave nothing left for the rest of the season. Oh, and just because you missed it: Tom Brady's a chump. Here's to hoping Tom breaks his leg and it's Tebow Time again!
The Colts started off, well, not that great. Last year, most games they lost were ones where they started big, took theif foot off the gas, and lost it. That's kinda what happened in this game. Reggie Wayne, had one heck of a game, including a TD. But in the end, when needed most, Luck still showed he has some magic in him, and made big plays through the air and on the ground. Our defense looked tired early in the game. They need to do conditioning if they're going to play four quarters.
Rest of the League:
Broncos-Ravens. The Ravens didn't have their two top guys, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. The Broncos had Wes Welker, and what was that other guy's name? Oh yeah, Peyton Manning. Manning went out to prove he is still Peyton Manning. He did, trying an NFL record for most TDs in a single game. My mother said "Poor washed-up Manning..." I'm not ready to hand them the Lombardi trophy, but man they looked good. It was like the Manning at his peak with the Colts. Come out and play around the first half. Game plan with what you learned at half time. In second half, take apart opponents. Also, gotta mention that it was good to see Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dallas Clark, and Brandon Stokely together again, even all are former Colts. They needed Marvellous Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Jeff Saturday, and Tom Moore, and they'd have their entire offensive key!
Fins-Browns. Man, the Browns were terrible.
Lions-Vikings. Once again gotta say, I love Matt Stafford. The Lions D earned a lot of credit. After the opening TD by AP, they made adjustments and shut him down entirely. Stafford had a new toy, Reggie Bush. I hope the Lions can keep this up. They've had a lot of bad years and deserve some good.
Chiefs-Jags. Every single point was scored in this game by the Chiefs finding the endzone. Just one it was their own.
Saints-Falcons. This one was fun to watch. Possibly best game of the week.
Titans-Steelers. This game, by contrast, was ugly. Time to let Ben go.
Niners-Packers. This game was uglier. And you hate to see a game's outcome effected by poor refereeing. It sounded like the replacements again.
Cowboys-Giants. This game was ugliest. The Cowboys weren't that good. The Giants were THAT BAD. They beat themselves. They last time they looked that bad in the beginning of the season, they beat the Pats in the Super Bowl.
Pats-Bills. Speaking of the Pats losing, they almost lost this game. Every year they start in Buffalo, and almost lose! EVERY YEAR! You'd think they'd learn not to overlook their opponent. Buffalo pours out everything in this game every year, and seem to leave nothing left for the rest of the season. Oh, and just because you missed it: Tom Brady's a chump. Here's to hoping Tom breaks his leg and it's Tebow Time again!
Syria
Let's look past rhetoric to some truth.
Truth #1: You should judge people by their words. Senator Obama would impeach President Obama for attacking Syria. Eating crow doesn't quite cover it.
Truth #2: For once there is bipartisan support for something in Washington. It's amazing how many in Congress think we should do something in Syria, despite surveys that say EIGHT-SEVEN PERCENT of American oppose action in Syria. This shows just how disconnected Washington is from the American people. We've got to kick these guys out and start over.
Truth #3: The international community won't back the play because of reports that say that groups within the rebels, actually Al Queda terrorsts and affiliates, took the weapons and killed their own people to force our involvement. Putin publicly said so, and the Obama administration responded "That's stupid." No facts, of course, just that they don't like the report.
Truth #4: Sun Tzu (the guy who LITERALLY wrote the manual on conducting warfare, called "The Art of War"), thinks this is a bad idea. He said that the loser attacks, and then determines the terms of victory. The winner decides terms of victory, then attacks. We have no objects, and innocent people will die by us dropping random bombs, then we may spark retaliation again Israel and other allies in the region, not to mention our own embassies. Oh wait. Obama's fine with those being attacked.
4b: Sun Tzu also said the deception and surprise were keys to success. We have neither. If we were going to do something, we should have done it first. It's easier to get forgiveness than permission, especially if the world thinks you are as weak as Obama.
Truth #5: We can't hope to win. The President of Syria is evil, but he's holding a greater evil at bay, just like Egypt and Libya. Hopefully we learned out lesson. If Al Queda wins in Syria, we lose, big time. If we go in and accomplish nothing, we've just ticked off the entire world for nothing. If we help the Syrian President, then we've added to the more than one hundred thousand deaths there already. Let's learn from history, and just keep our noses clean and mind our own business.
Truth #1: You should judge people by their words. Senator Obama would impeach President Obama for attacking Syria. Eating crow doesn't quite cover it.
Truth #2: For once there is bipartisan support for something in Washington. It's amazing how many in Congress think we should do something in Syria, despite surveys that say EIGHT-SEVEN PERCENT of American oppose action in Syria. This shows just how disconnected Washington is from the American people. We've got to kick these guys out and start over.
Truth #3: The international community won't back the play because of reports that say that groups within the rebels, actually Al Queda terrorsts and affiliates, took the weapons and killed their own people to force our involvement. Putin publicly said so, and the Obama administration responded "That's stupid." No facts, of course, just that they don't like the report.
Truth #4: Sun Tzu (the guy who LITERALLY wrote the manual on conducting warfare, called "The Art of War"), thinks this is a bad idea. He said that the loser attacks, and then determines the terms of victory. The winner decides terms of victory, then attacks. We have no objects, and innocent people will die by us dropping random bombs, then we may spark retaliation again Israel and other allies in the region, not to mention our own embassies. Oh wait. Obama's fine with those being attacked.
4b: Sun Tzu also said the deception and surprise were keys to success. We have neither. If we were going to do something, we should have done it first. It's easier to get forgiveness than permission, especially if the world thinks you are as weak as Obama.
Truth #5: We can't hope to win. The President of Syria is evil, but he's holding a greater evil at bay, just like Egypt and Libya. Hopefully we learned out lesson. If Al Queda wins in Syria, we lose, big time. If we go in and accomplish nothing, we've just ticked off the entire world for nothing. If we help the Syrian President, then we've added to the more than one hundred thousand deaths there already. Let's learn from history, and just keep our noses clean and mind our own business.
VMA response
I don't want to say something in poor taste. How about "Ew..."
How about I let someone else say it better.
http://heseltonhappenings.blogspot.com/2013/08/vma-debacle.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FDTEnZ+%28Heselton+Happenings%29
How about I let someone else say it better.
http://heseltonhappenings.blogspot.com/2013/08/vma-debacle.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FDTEnZ+%28Heselton+Happenings%29
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)