"Stand your ground, men! Don't fire unless fired upon! But, if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!" ~Captain John Parker, Lexington Battle Green
All the things that occurred that day --
the desperate ride of various Patriots stirring the heroes of the countryside,
Lexington,
Concord,
the escape of Samuel Adams and John Hancock,
A new nation was birthed this day through the conviction, courage, and blood of people like you and me who were passionate for real freedom and fed up with tyranny.
Do you know that one wounded Patriot dragged himself to his own doorstep and died in the arms of his wife?
"Posterity, you will never know what it cost my generation to preserve your freedom.
I hope you make good use of it."
~John Quincy Adams
77 Patriots versus 700 redcoats.
"One man with courage is a majority." ~Thomas Jefferson
"If God be for us, who can be against us?" ~The Apostle Paul, Romans 8:31
John the Baptist "was a radical and unafraid to let anyone know it." "John needed passion to fulfill his God-given calling." "Every pioneer needs passion. Pioneers cannot be satisfied with mere maintenance, for they have nothing yet to maintain. They create from nothing. ...their passion attracts other pioneers." "[John] felt consumed with his mission."
Like Jeremiah: "Then I said, 'I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.' But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." (Jer. 20:9)
"Like a magnet, [John] repelled some and attracted others." "He possessed a strong sense of justice. This hunger for justice drove him. He wouldn't sit still until he saw results." "He felt dissatisfied with anything but action. John was a doer. He didn't want people to merely talk..." "Associate with people of passion. Hot coals stay hot when they remain in the fire."
"Pilate interrogated Jesus and found He had done nothing worthy of crucifixion. But instead of leading -- instead of taking an unpopular stand and allowing this innocent to go free --- Pilate gave in to the outrage of an unruly crowd. He released a notorious criminal and sentenced this guiltless man to die an agonizing death on a cross." ~John Maxwell, The Maxwell Leadership Bible(emphasis mine)
Leaders who vilify the innocent and protect terrorists and murderers: Kamala Harris, California Attorney General and candidate for Senate.
Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, has been shown to harvest baby body parts, to intentionally keep unborn babies alive so that their unharmed brains may be procured, to crush "above and below" so that the organs desired can remain intact, and sold to the highest bidder. Video evidence and admission. This occurred in California. Yet instead of investigating Planned Parenthood for this inhumane, torturous treatment of life, the California Attorney General has decided it would be far more politically expedient to protect Planned Parenthood at all costs and to prosecute, malign, and raid the home of the law-abiding hero, David Daleiden. After all, Planned Parenthood's coffers are well-funded by tax dollars and those tax dollars fund Kamala Harris' campaign so that Harris can keep making Planned Parenthood the sacred cow that it is, so that PP can give money back to Harris so that Harris can protect PP so that... well, the cycle is obvious.
And Harris must be sure to wrongfully accuse, condemn, and imprison, if at all possible, Daleiden because she needs Planned Parenthood's cyclical support to help her procure her next seat of power, the U.S. Senate.
And so California, Korrupt Kamala may very well be elected to Barbara Boxer's vacant senate seat in November. And it is you who will put her there unless you stand firmly against corruption, evil, and murder.
“Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature….If the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.” ~James A. Garfield
Every time an election season comes around, I'm on another learning curve. This time it's all about the delegate process. Primary vs Caucus. Closed vs Open. Bound vs Unbound.
I still can't wrap my whole head around it but the mussy water is clearing a teeny bit. Here are some resources in case you have wanted to learn more about the process:
This chart has been helpful to me to follow as we go from caucuses/primaries state to state.
A good article about how to become a GOP delegate.
This helpful page sheds light on bound vs unbound delegates.
I hope that helps. It, at least, can begin to give us a little clue about how it all works.
This, of course, is a wacky system. Our Founders did not desire a party system, but in a whopping two Presidential elections, the party system appeared. So, it is what it is. The states determine how their election process works. And each party makes its own rules. There, of course, can be much debate over this, but for the informative purposes of this post, we won't get into that now.
Nevertheless the Lord's counsel -- that will stand."
~Proverbs 19:21
And so our plans to spend a month away to start getting our Texas settled are no more. Just like that. Disappointing? yes. Providential? yes. Devastating? no. Leaving us a bit wondering? yep. But how we love and trust His ways. We were supposed to leave on Monday. Basically packed up and mostly ready to go, I came down with a little hint of something that seemed relatively harmless and then proceeded to knock down me and my whole family. When all is said and done (at this point anyway), my husband has pneumonia and we are on a boat load of antibiotics and canceling our trip. So, we'll just have to suffer here in perfectly blissful Borrego Springs where it has been a temperate 80 degrees. Our comfortable beds and home envelopes us and we are safe and cozy. Just a different kind of adventure. It has been four months since we were in Texas. If we wait until summer, it will be another four months. Though, it does seem a long time to wait - doubling our initial planned absence from Texas - it's all ok.
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will of to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'" ~James 4:13-15
Last August I had the sweet privilege of hearing Pastor Rafael Cruz at an event where I was representing CWA.
The event organizer, Gina Gleason, invited me to attend a VIP luncheon. Much to my delight, I was assigned to sit at the same table as Rafael Cruz. When he came to the table, he took the seat beside me.
I was aware that his son, Ted Cruz, memorized the Constitution as a teen. As a mom who is trying to raise godly, patriotic heroes, I decided to ask Rafael what in Ted's upbringing inspired him to attempt such a feat at such a young age. Most teenagers I know have never read the Constitution or even care about it. How can I instill in my boys the pursuit of nobility?
Pastor Cruz told me that in 1980, he volunteered for the Ronald Reagan campaign and so the daily dinner table discussions often revolved around the campaign, Reagan, and the nation. He said that it lit a fire in Ted and he's been hard at loving and defending this nation ever since.
Enjoy this story about Rafael's conversion to Christ and the effect it had on the Cruz family.
"If your self-worth is defined by being an elected official - when that becomes their self-definition, their self-worth, they're terrified to lose it which means they will never rock the boat, they will never make the hard decisions, they will never do what we need to do to actually fix the problems because it might mean that they lose their job.
My self-worth has nothing to do with being elected a senator or elected President of the United States. My self-worth comes from being a creation of God Almighty. Jesus Christ shed His blood for me. There can be no greater self-worth than God sent His only beloved Son to die for me."
"A wise and wonderful Director will be with us to give us step-by-step instructions. If we will listen, He will guide. If we will follow, He will lead. The result - a life well lived and a journey well taken." ~Priscilla Shirer
This family has been on the edge of embarking on a new path, the full details yet unknown. It is exciting and scary, heartbreaking and thrilling.
From our last instructed step.
I am asked so often what the big picture of our plans looks like. I really don't know. There is some fear in not knowing, but God is clearly asking us to just do the next thing. And we are so glad to know what the next thing is. I hope we will take great pleasure in the moment and not concern ourselves with the guessing game of what may or may not come.
"If our guide [in Israel] had looked us in the eyes on day one, given us a map with the major places circled, a rundown of each location's significance, and then sent us on our way, it would have been a catastrophe. It would have been far too much for us to absorb and would have resulted in confusion yielding a horrible tour. Our amazing trip came as a direct result of following him from one destination to the next, leaning in and listening to each explanation, and engaging in his wisdom step-by-step. This is what a good guide looks like."
