MANDATORY? Says Who?

Over the years, as I’ve driven my granddaughter to and from practices, I have heard the word “Mandatory” used ad nauseam. I always wondered just how in the heck a school or a coach or a teacher could demand a student show up at something, after regular school hours, and proclaim it to be “mandatory”. Who appointed them as king or queen.

The word and the decree have always bothered me, but I said nothing because I didn’t want to get my charge in trouble from the royalty that was issuing the decree. Instead, we got up at all hours of the night, drove endless miles, showed up at practices during times that should have been spent with family, and on and on and on. Each time, I truly wanted to tell the decree issuer-er what I thought of his/her decree but held back for the reason stated above.

Another group that has been diligent in issuing ‘mandatory’ orders is employers during the recent plan-demic…Yep! Mandatory. Take the jab or lose your job. One of my sons, a registered nurse with a master’s degree, said, “No!” and changed hospitals where the edict was not issued. The other, after 20 years with his company, the last ten or so working from home, was ordered to take it in the event he had to ‘come into the office for something’. He surrendered, saying, “I’m not going to throw away 20 years.” I understood. He was laid off from that company in January, a year after the decree, as an ‘excess employee’…never mind he was well paid after 20 years of being on the job. So much for loyalty. I guess it isn’t mandatory that the company be loyal to him.

Even so, the mandatory edict had been issued and he surrendered to it, following company lines. Because he took the jab, his wife did so as well, saying, “If he has to then, I’m going to do it as well.” It was a show of solidarity on her part. In my heart, I understand she was thinking if something happened to him, she wanted it to happen to her as well. I understand and appreciate that, knowing full well things don’t usually happen that way.

We live in the south. Sometimes we have really hot summers. When we know we are going to have a particularly hot day or week, we try to get all out outdoor work done early so we don’t cause anyone, including ourselves, to have a heat related medical issue. Makes sense, doesn’t it.

Apparently, it doesn’t make sense to football coaches. We have a nice young man—15 years old—that mows our lawn and has done so for a couple of years. He is diligent, polite and consistent…that is until his coach tells him it is mandatory that he show up for a mandatory football practice at such and such a time in the morning. Mandatory – there is that word again.

I can relate to the coach wanting them to get the practice done in the morning, before the heat sets in, but there are things to be considered. It is June/July. It is hot. Football doesn’t even start until the fall so why is it the coach makes a mandatory football practice in June/July? Doesn’t make much sense to me. It seems August would be plenty of time to start practice but apparently the coach didn’t think so.

The mandatory football practice puts the young man in our yard in the heat of the day which we don’t really like. We are concerned for his health and truly do not want him mowing our yard in the heat which could cause him to have a heat induced medical episode. He is diligent though, and tells us he will be fine, he is used to it.

You might say, “Mow your own yard.” That’s true, we could do that. Or we could hire someone else to do it. However, we really like this young man and want to keep him…by the same token we want to keep him healthy. So, what do we do? We surrender to the demands of the football coach and let the young man come mow when he can and we pray he is well hydrated and will tell us if he needs to stop.

I guess that is my gripe for now – sometimes it is mandatory that I vent!

Jerusalem Day – the March

There has been quite a bit of verbiage written and spoken in the last weeks and days leading up to Jerusalem Day, or Yom Yerushalayim in Hebrew, a national holiday in Israel.  The holiday is a joyous event that honors and celebrates the reunification of the Old City of Jerusalem after the Six Day War in June 1967. It is a day of great festivity, political speeches, back balcony barbeques and time with family and friends.

Israeli Soldiers at the Western Wall – 1967 – First time in centuries

On a personal note, David and I were in Israel on this day in 1988, still on our honeymoon. We had an apartment on King George Street, just a few buildings down from Jaffa Road which was, at that time, one of the main thoroughfares into the city. It was a hot night and my new husband was unable to sleep so he had been up reading when he heard a loud noise from the street below. He came into the bedroom and told me he was going to go see what was going on as he couldn’t tell if it was a celebration or trouble.

I quickly jumped out of bed, pulled on some clothes and said, “I’m going with you.” Not knowing the situation, I didn’t want to take any chances on something being wrong and our not being together.

We rushed down the four flights of stairs and onto King George Street. We looked to our right and saw the action was happening on Jaffa Road so we walked there to check it out. We were amazed at the number of young people, tons of them, all carrying Israeli flags, singing and dancing as they made their way toward the Old City about a half a mile from where we were standing.

Not really understanding what was happening but being caught up in the excitement, we joined the throng and marched with them toward the Old City. The crowd continued to grow as more and more people – of all ages now – joined in the march. The joy was palpable as they sang and danced. We didn’t know what they were singing but we knew enough to understand it was a celebration.

We were now caught in the midst of the crowd as we made our way through the streets of the Old City. It was well after midnight, actually into the early hours of the morning, when shop keepers are at home in bed dreaming of success with crowds flocking into their shops. It felt odd to see the shops closed and only an occasional naked bulb lighting our way. We weren’t sure where the march would end up but we knew the Old City well enough to know we were heading to the Kotel – the Western Wall. And, the closer we got to the wall the louder the singing became as absolute joy overtook the throng.

Jerusalem Day March

We wove through the maze of streets until we came to the steps that opened up onto the plaza of the Kotel. As quickly as we could, we found a way out of the pressing crowed and moved toward a lower retaining wall where we could watch the singing and dancing as the marchers pushed closer and closer to the sacred Western Wall. We loved it. We sensed the joy they were experiencing without the understanding of the reason for it.

The next morning, we learned that it is the custom for youth, from all parts of the country, to march toward Jerusalem and the Old City in recognition and celebration of that day in 1967 when the Old City was, once again, fully in the hands of Jews for the first time in centuries. We were thrilled that we had been a part of the event, even though we had not understood the significance at the time it was happening.

Now, thirty-four years later, they are still celebrating the reunification of the Old City of Jerusalem and we join them in that celebration, no matter where we are or how busy our personal schedules may be. We love the fact that Jerusalem IS Jewish, that it is in the hands of Jews, as ordained by God and through His grace and mercy may it always be such. Am Israel Chai.

Joy at sunrise on Jerusalem Day – Zion’s Gate – Jerusalem

Follow the Money

Once again, our country is crying out to Congress, to God, to anyone who will listen, “Do something!” But what is that something that we, as a country, need to do to stop these senseless shootings, particularly school shootings, where innocent people of all ages are shot down and murdered while they are going about their daily routine.

I have heard the cries of “Why is this happening so frequently?” but no one has an answer. From my vantage point, that of a grandmother and great grandmother, I have to say, follow the money.

Where does someone like the latest shooter, Salvador Ramos, get the money to buy an AR-15, over 300 bullets and a handgun in less than two weeks. Anyone who has even looked at the prices of guns and ammo lately will attest to the fact that they are not cheap. My research shows the current price of an AR15 to be $685.47, a decrease in price of $86.36 in recent months. The 223 ammunition, currently runs between $45-70 for 50 rounds. According to early reports, due to be confirmed over time, is that Ramos purchased over 300 rounds. That would have been a minimum of $270 – $420.

Early reports, yet to be confirmed, are that Ramos had a second weapon, allegedly a handgun. According to MSN – if you can believe their reporting – he bought these weapons two weeks ago, on his 18^th birthday. Once again, where did he get the money? I don’t know but I question that he would have received that much money – $685.47 + $270(+) = $955.47 + whatever the handgun and ammo cost – for his 18^th birthday from family. Apparently, he didn’t have any friends so where did the money come from? Did he have a job? No reports of such. Did he steal it? Once again, no reports at this point. Where did he get the money to buy over $1,000 in guns and ammo?

Ramos is dead now, which is a blessing to all but maybe his family. I’m sure they loved him and hoped for better things for him, but that is out of the scope of things now. Certainly, he left a memorable statement as he made his way off of this earth – not a good one but a memorable one.

Reports are beginning to trickle out that there were ‘issues’ with this 18-year-old guy. He dropped out of high school and apparently fell through the cracks not being missed by anyone. He got lost in the Covid shut down and wasn’t able to make his way out to reality, but he did manage to have some money. Where did it come from?

There are things we will never know, held from us by those who are protecting us, or themselves. But this needs to be investigated completely, thoroughly, and then again. Who was behind this shooting? Was it a planned event? Surely, he had been planning it for some time – at least two weeks, if not longer. But where did he get the money? Who taught him to shoot? How did he know where to aim at the children? Why was he so angry?

Time will show that he was mentally ill. That is no surprise. Anyone shooting children has to be mentally ill as well as evil. So again, where does a mentally ill, high-school-dropout get $1,000+? How does he learn to shoot? How does he plan such an attack? Who helped him? What is being covered up?

I don’t have the answers to any of these questions, but I certainly do have questions. My questions aren’t helping 19 grieving families at this time– none of them will ever be the same again – but I am sure they also have questions. They deserve answers. We all deserve answers. Why? How? Who?

May God wrap His loving arms around these devastated families and help them through this hideous time in their lives. My heart goes out to them. I cannot imagine the anguish they are suffering. They deserve answers.

Overloaded

A while back I was carrying groceries in from the car when one of the bags broke, causing the contents to crash onto the garage floor. It was a mess as pickle juice, mingled with salad dressing caused a smelly river to flow wherever it wanted as I rushed to clean up the mess after a few angry thoughts directed toward the sacker at the store. You might say, “He didn’t know.” Really? He didn’t know that putting heavy glass jars and bottles into a single layer paper bag would break. Logic alone should have told him it would happen and another bag needed to be added for security’s sake.

Having cleaned up my mess I watched as the TV cameras filmed a group of 32 illegal immigrants making their way across the muddy Rio Grande River and I wondered what their ultimate goal was. My mother’s heart tells me they are seeking freedom and a better life for their children, yet to be born. That is reason enough to make a dangerous journey of thousands of miles – supposedly on foot – cross a swiftly flowing river to surrender to ICE on the other side – the safe side. But is it?

Do they, the illegals – or I guess the politically correct term is ‘undocumented’ people – have any concept that their intrusion into our country may create the same effect of a single layer grocery bag, overloaded with breakables. When it is a matter of survival, or feeding your kids, or making money the immediacy of the moment does not give thought to the overloading of a system already beginning to rip.

No one really knows the true number of illegals entering our country on a daily basis, nor do that know for sure how many countries are involved in this intrusion. Do they care? No, those in Washington don’t care. If they did, they would stop it. But they don’t so nothing is being done about it and the trickle has turned into a stream into a raging river overflowing its banks. Where will it end?

Will our country turn into another third world country? No one ever thought that could or would happen to Venezuela, but the proof is in the photos that are smuggled out. Empty grocery shelves. Gasoline so high that even the once elite can afford it. People of all socioeconomic strata are begging for food and desperately fleeing their country in search of a better life, of freedom.

A Venezuelan grocery store – not that different from what we’ve seen in 2022 in USA

Compare them with the people of Ukraine. Instead of fleeing their country when it came under a vicious attack, their men – and some women – have remained to fight. Many have died in the onslaught, but they died as heroes protecting the country they love. They didn’t run. Sure, most of the women and children were sent to neighboring countries temporarily. The majority of them want to return to their country even though it has been reduced to rubble. Some will not make it home, but many will and they will rebuild that which the enemy has destroyed.

There have been endless numbers of young, hard bodied men and boys coming across our borders. We don’t know yet what their being here will do to our country, but I cannot help but wonder how their country might have changed if they had been like the Ukrainians and stood to fight for that which they longed for. Freedom. Freedom comes through the bloody hands of those who were willing to pay the price – it does not come through illegally invading another country. In the end, the invaders will lose but at what price to the freedom of the country they chose to invade.

Ukrainian Soldier standing his ground for his country.

Whether it’s a river of pickle juice and salad dressing or a muddy river, the mess has to be cleaned up. It is time to do that before there is more loss and a greater price to be paid. Our shelves are already empty. Our gasoline prices have skyrocketed. There is no baby formula. It is time to clean up the mess before it is too late.

Sovereign Says WHO?

There is an evil wind blowing around the world that is catching most of us off-guard and unprepared. On Sunday, May 22, 2022, the WHO – World Health Organization- will vote on stripping 194 nations – yes, 194 nations – of their sovereignty! That is every nation in the world! Now, would you like to talk about One World Order?

The background for this can be found on https://Don’tYouDare.INFO. It is alarming, to say the least. Let’s take a look back at the recent invasion by one unnamed country that affected the entire world. Everything, literally everything, got shut down. Some countries are still shut down, or shutting down for the first time, i.e., North Korea, and some are shutting down again for the second, or third, or fourth time. There seems to be no end to that particular invasion.

The WHO was upset that the invading country refused to cooperate and they – the WHO – were not given all of the information they demanded when they went there to determine the root cause (Kamala’s favorite phrase – root cause) and doors were shut in their faces. They repeated the trip at least one more time. It didn’t work since that country isn’t WOKE. Like all spoiled children, they decided to ‘show them’ by declaring the entire world to be subservient to the WHO through the loss of sovereignty during the time of an invasion!

At first glance, we might agree with them since the invasion was beyond anything we had seen. All leaders lost their logical grounding causing their particular country to spin out of control. Think Justin Trudeau in Canada, or Netanyahu then Bennett in Israel. Shutting down a country due to an invasion is not a rational thing to do but when fear takes the helm ration goes out the window.

Now that WHOs tantrum is under control and they’ve decided on an action to show us, we are all hanging from a very thin string, including the United States of America! Imagine there is an outbreak of measles in your school. Do you want the entire state to shut down because your kid got measles, even though they’d received the shot that was supposed to prevent it? No, you don’t. That wouldn’t be rational. But we aren’t talking about rational thinking here – we are talking about control – absolute control.

We are still suffering from a loss of control if we want to fly somewhere – no free breathing there – get on the plane, cover your face and shut up! I don’t think there is one of us that has not seen the insanity that has caused by passenger after passenger freaking out and causing planes to make forced landings. Imagine the entire world freaking out like that! IF we lose our sovereignty, how will we handle it? How do you handle it when you are told you cannot do something? Personally, I don’t like it and I believe most of us function under the same fury when we are deprived of a specific right.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/06/disputes-over-mask-mandates-comprise-75percent-of-faas-unruly-passenger-complaints-on-planes-.html

Hello WHO. Talk about Big Brother. This is the BIG BROTHER, BIG SISTER, BIG DADDY in action and if we don’t do something about it, we will have up close and personal experience with it just like we had with the invasion. Don’t fool yourself into thinking this isn’t going to happen. I thought that when I first heard it then I decided to research it. Michele Bachmann has spoken about it as have a number of other legitimate leaders. If you want our country to maintain our sovereignty then it is imperative that you contact your Congressional people in Washington, D.C. at once. Let them know that you know.

Our Constitution is on fire. We must act now if we are going to preserve our country for ourselves and our families. This rests on our shoulders. There are so many diversions out there that this can slip in without being noticed – don’t let it happen. Call. Write. Text. Email. Do whatever you have the means to do to stop this while we can. No kidding – this is serious.

The WHO Plans to Strip 194 Nations, and the US, of Sovereignty- May 22 (independentsentinel.com)

It Isn’t a Dream – It Is a Nightmare!

Recently we watched a rerun of Valley of the Dolls which has a haunting theme song “Got to get off of this ride … gonna get out of this merry-go-round”. Like Neeli, in the movie, we seem to be caught in a vicious circle of loss, unable to find our way out. This seems to be America right now, spinning and spinning in a never-ending-spiral toward destruction. While most of us are not caught up in taking dolls – drugs – we are trapped in a destructive ride that is not of our own doing, but that of our so-called leaders, the theme of which seems to be loss.

This morning I was listening with dismay to the reports of parents frantically searching for baby formula for their babies. That’s right – baby formula. Who would have thought a shortage of something so simple, but so necessary, would happen here in our abundant economy, but apparently it has. I have to ask why. In trying to understand this I Googled baby formula contents. I didn’t see anything that would appear to be a cause for a shortage, but there is.

My Google research tells me there are three main baby formulas, each based in cow’s milk, soy protein, and/or protein hydrolysate – a hydrolyzed cow’s milk where the proteins are broken down into smaller particles which makes it easier for baby’s sensitive tummies to digest. Wow! That is amazing. I wonder what my pioneer grandmothers would have thought had they heard such news while they nursed their own babies with breast or cow’s milk. In the meantime, baby formula has become a very expensive commodity that is now locked behind plexiglass partitions in box stores, with quantities severely limited for each buyer. How’s that for security?

In the same newscast, I listened as a farmer from a southern state expressed his deep concern over the price of diesel fuel and the lack of replacement parts for farm equipment. He told how he now spends $30,000 a month on fuel to keep his large farm running. He told of having to rob his own equipment to get a replacement part for his John Deere tractor in order to get it back into the fields, having been unable to find a part anywhere in America! Nowhere was there a part for his tractor! He also expressed his dismay at having to hire “guest workers” to help on his farm as no one wants to work! Imagine that – no one in America wants to work! What has happened to our country? Is everyone living at home with Mommy?

I was at a meeting last week where I met a woman who owns a staffing company. She was there looking for potential employees of all kinds. She told of the difficulty of finding people to work. I made it a point to talk with her, asking why that was. Is it because the government is paying them to stay at home? Are they still drawing Covid money? Are they getting pro-longed unemployment? She said “No” to all of those questions, saying she didn’t know what the problem was. Neither do I. How do you not work for a prolonged period of time and still keep a roof over your head and pay your bills? I don’t understand it.

There are reports of truck drivers facing huge expenses in diesel fuel to get what product there is to the warehouses or stores. Fuel prices that have gone amuck for us, as individuals, are even more consequential for these men and women who bring products to us. It all boils down to moving our country from self-sustaining energy production to shut down pipelines, and withdrawn oil leases. Why? Who is it that wants to destroy America?

Is it a matter of you can’t out-shoot us because we are all armed so you’ll break our backs with the cost of goods or the lack thereof? What is the agenda? Does it come down to One World Order? Or is it something else? I cannot imagine what is behind this but I will say, it is not of God.

As we struggle through these economic crisis points – and we are in a crisis whether we admit it or not – we have people demonstrating at the private homes of Supreme Court Judges over the right to kill. There is no need to kill. To my knowledge there is not a shortage on birth control pills, the day after pill, or condoms or IUDs or other preventive devices. Why do we need to kill when we can take a pill? I don’t understand that one either.

Like Neeli, we are caught in a trap created by man because of man’s own selfish agenda. Where will it end? How did we get caught in this game? When will we stop wondering why and do something about it? This isn’t a dream – it is a nightmare designed to destroy that which is good.

Here We Go … Again!

It seems every time we turn around we hear more about this current administration’s need for more money. In the last year and a half since the Dems have been in office – and I really don’t know who is in office – there has been one crisis after another. Perhaps this is just a matter of ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’…

Crisis One: Afghanistan debacle. Any American who wants to leave Afghanistan can go – we will get them out. That hasn’t happened. It is my understanding that there are still quite a large number – I believe in excess of 1,000 – that have been trying desperately to get out. That was August 30, 2021, and those people, if they are still alive, are stuck there with only the hopes that a real warrior will come to their rescue.

Crisis Two: Gasoline prices. Oh yes, this is hitting all of us. Every time I get gas now I want to shake the pump to see if the golden egg will pop out. It doesn’t and I don’t but the thought is there! No egg – just a goose that is wishing it could fly!

Crisis Three: No microbial antibodies! Nope. There used to be a lot of them but the Feds took the distribution over and now there aren’t enough. It is my understanding they are very hard to get. That shouldn’t matter though – the pandemic is over – all that remains is the plandemic! However, the uncertainty of needing to wear masks lies somewhere in a courthouse, the final ruling yet to be determined. Most people in my state – most – have cast aside the mask and are breathing freely.

Crisis Four: Freedom! Oh yeah – where did that go. I remember when America was a country where you had freedom of speech. You could say pretty much what you wanted to, other than shouting “FIRE!” in a crowded theatre. I guess you could shout it in a theatre that isn’t crowded, but I don’t know for sure how that would work.

Crisis Five: Border security. Not! There is no such thing as border security. The Feds have left it to the various states to fight their own way to security from invasion by illegals. No one knows for sure where the nearly 1.7 million have gone, but we shouldn’t be too concerned – they’ve all been given free cell phones and they’ll surely call in when it is their time to go to court. Most likely, even the 45+ illegals on the terrorist watch list that have been allowed in will comply with that request. Surely?

Crisis Six: Food! Oh my goodness. Have you gone to the grocery store lately? Food prices have skyrocketed if – that is a huge IF – you can get them. I have never seen the grocery store shelves so empty in this country. Where are we headed with this? I don’t know. However, I have heard that a number of food processing plants across the country have burnt in the last few months – I’ve also heard that this is an unfounded conspiracy theory! Where, or where, is the truth?

Crisis Seven: Ships stuck at sea. This is such a strange phenomenon for me to understand. You have giant ships, loaded with cargo from everywhere – but mostly China – stuck at sea because “there is no one to unload them?” Hmmm. Maybe we should buy American.

Crisis Eight: This one isn’t a crisis yet, but it is looming large on the horizon. That is the government forgiving student debt. Will it happen? Will it not happen? I don’t know but I do know I have a grandchild that just graduated a year ago from an expensive college – her choice. As much as I love her and want to protect her, I want her to pay back the money she borrowed. It comes under the classification of growing up and accepting responsibility. Why am I dubbing this a crisis? Because if this happens – and I hope it doesn’t – then we will see colleges ramp up their tuition to an even higher amount.

Put the crisis in the order you want, but please pay attention and stand for what is right.

Yom Ha’Shoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day

Sunset last night, April 27, 2022, was the official start of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel and throughout the world for those who care to take part. Today, sirens blew throughout Israel as everyone, including speeding cars on superhighways, came to a stop, their occupants and drivers standing at attention while the sirens sounded. It is a show of respect and a recognition of the tremendous loss that was suffered by the Jewish people during the Holocaust. You cannot be in Israel and experience this without being moved, if not to tears, then perhaps to a better understanding of the cost of the loss of six million Jews who were killed by mankind’s hatred for no other reason than they were Jews.

Sometimes the question is asked, “Why the Jews?”  The answer may be problematic for some, but my thoughts/opinion on it is the not-so-simple-word called jealousy. Going back to the beginning of recorded time, God has favored the Jewish people and made promises to them that they would (and did) inherit His land – the land of Israel – set aside for His purposes and His people. From the moment they went down to Egypt, 70 people in the family of Jacob, they have had to fight to survive. Generations later, as they came out of the bondage of Egypt – one million strong – into the freedom that would be theirs, they had to fight armies trying to destroy them as they marched through the desert. First it was Pharaoh and his underlings and then Moab and Ammon and others.

Even now, survival is the strongest influence in Israel pushing her to build a very strong IDF – Israel Defense Force. You notice, the word is defense not offense. As one well-spoken Israeli immigrant said, “We don’t fight other people’s wars. We fight our own.” And that is the way it has been with Israel since the very day she declared herself an independent state on May 14, 1948. The next day she was attacked by five Arab armies! By the grace and mercy of God, Israel survived in spite of the fact that many of her soldiers had just gotten off boats from Europe where they had barely survived the Holocaust. Most of them didn’t speak Hebrew nor had they ever held a weapon, yet they fought furiously knowing that for them – this was survival. More than 6,000 Israeli lives were lost in the war just because they didn’t understand the language of their newly founded land.

Since then, Israel has had to fight and fight and fight just to exist. Depending on how you choose to count it, Israel, in her short seventy-four years has had at least fifteen wars. Beginning with the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, moving on to the Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency in the 1950s into the 1960s, the Suez Crisis in 1956, the Six Day War in 1967, the 1973 Yom -Kippur War, and so on up to, and including, today from the constant terror attacks and threats by those that want to see her destroyed.

All the while Israel has continued to grow in population embracing Jews from around the world as they have heard the call of God and moved home – made Aliyah – to Israel. They have come with their old and infirmed, their infants, their wounded, their pregnant wives and their large families, but they have come home to their Israel and the hope that she holds.

Every nation in the world has watched as their Jews have chosen to leave to join the wave of Aliyah. Israel has flown immigrants in by the thousands, stripping seats and luxury from airliners in order to rescue those coming in from Ethiopia in Operations Moses and Solomon, lifting them out of famine and despair into freedom and a future, all at the expense of the Israeli government. Others have come in from India, China – yes China, South America, Central America, North America, Russia, Germany, France, England and many other countries, including a current influx from Ukraine. They are welcomed. They are taught Hebrew. They are allowed to live in freedom. They are fulfilling the biblical prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, coming home from the north, south, east and west. 

Today, I stand with Israel in awe of all that she has embraced and defended and I pray for God’s continual hand of protection on her. Am Israel Chai! Israel Lives!

Bunnies or The Lamb

Spring has finally arrived in Oklahoma as it has around the world. New life is everywhere with flowers and greenery poking through the still-cold-soil, bringing hope of warmer days. With this beautiful season of new life comes the gorgeous colors of soft blues and pinks and yellows and all the good feeling colors that make you know winter is over – hopefully.

Like so many other women, I was preparing for the spring feasts of Passover and Easter thus the reason for my going to one of the large hobby stores – you know the kind – abundance of anything you could think of to make beautiful decorations for the holiday tables.

I wondered aimlessly through the store looking for paper plates and special items that would make my table settings special. I loved all of the little signs about faith and love and camping and sports and everything spring. I could spend hours in that store and hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, which I did not do. I kept reminding myself that I am in the ‘getting rid of mode’ so I kept myself under control putting only what I needed into my basket.

Standing in line at the checkout counter I noticed a never-ending gondola of adorable little bunnies in all shapes and colors, Easter eggs of all sizes and shapes and pastel flowers along with other decorations. I looked at the Easter bunnies and wondered where that idea came from and how we got so far off the trail of what is right for this holiday season.

Biblically, this season is about the LAMB – the LAMB of God that was sacrificed on a cross so that we – all of us – could accept that LAMB of God a/k/a Jesus Christ and become heirs of the Kingdom. Initially, the lamb was the animal sacrificed at the first Passover and its blood was painted on the doorposts and the lintel of Jewish homes in Egypt so that the death angel would pass by. That blood was sacred as it represented life and sanctity and protection.

Generations later, it was the blood of Jesus that was sacrificed for us on the cross of Calvary that allowed entrance into the faith and freedom He represented. It was not a bunny – it was a LAMB. I didn’t see any lambs in that store – not one. They may have been there and I may have overlooked them, but truth be told, I don’t think so.

To take it one step further, the bunny was initially the symbol of love as represented by the goddess Aphrodite – sexual love – not the kind of love that we associate with the Cross of Calvary. And, to fully understand the perversion of the bunny – the hare – we need to understand that the hare is a non-Kosher animal that would never have been acceptable in any Jewish sacrifice.

You might ask why I care since I am a Christian and not a Jew. It is because it was the blood of a Jew – Jesus Christ – that I am a Christian today. To adorn my table, my home or even my yard with a bunny at this time of year – no matter how adorable – is a direct affront to all that is Jewish. My thoughts, opinions, and attitude about all of this is, “What would Jesus do?” I do not believe he would be dancing with a bunny when it was about the LAMB – the LAMB of God and the sacrifice made a great cost.

Think about it. It does matter.

David Against Goliath

I have had so many thoughts about the war in Ukraine – about Russia attacking a sovereign nation for no reason other than greed. Like everyone else, I’ve watched the reports. I’ve read the articles on the internet – the good ones, the manufactured ones and the right-down-ridiculous ones and I’ve wondered where this is all going.

First of all, I am angry. I am angry that any nation – or state – can attack another one without cause. That you can arbitrarily lob over bombs, send in troops and tanks, burn and destroy everything that is beautiful about the sovereign country for no legitimate reason. I am angry that over one million people have had to flee for their lives into neighboring Poland. Like everyone else, I am asking why.

There are rumors of the mental health of the dictator Putin being unstable, and I have to say I’ve wondered about that. I have no way of knowing as I don’t know him, have never met him and have had no real opinion about him – until now. I won’t express my opinion about him now but I’m sure it aligns with everyone who follows this blog.

I have been amazed, thrilled and in awe of President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, as he has stood to fight and not run like so many leaders would have done. Whether he survives this war or dies fighting for his country, he will definitely go down as a real hero to the world.

President Volodymyr Zalenskyy

II Chronicles 14 tells the story of King Asa, king of Judah. “Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.

9 Zerah the Cushite marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10 Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

11 Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.”

12 The Lord struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, 13 and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar. Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed before the Lord and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder. 14 They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror of the Lord had fallen on them. They looted all these villages, since there was much plunder there. 15 They also attacked the camps of the herders and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.”

History repeats itself. Once again, we see a bully trying to destroy an innocent. God intervened then and I believe He will now. I, along with multitudes of others, are praying for God’s intervention in this unwarranted war. We are seeking Him and His power to overthrow the seemingly mighty and bring him down to the desert where he belongs.

God’s power is greater than any army, any dictator, any crazy person. I am trusting God and I am praying for Ukraine.