Commentary

There is nothing like being outside working on a barbed wire fence and hearing ‘rriiiipppp’. It means you have once again caught your blue jeans on a barb. You look down and see several tiny holes, and the one big gash. And money is tight, so new jeans aren’t in the budget. Rats.

Knowing how to sew and having supplies on hand come in handy.A good sewing basket has everything you will need to make simple repairs. Here are a few of the items that are absolutely necessary:

Scissors -a large pair and several smaller ones. The larger ones are used to cut fabric; a medium size allows for cutting turns and notches; small scissors are used for snipping thread.

Thread - Keep an assortment of colors in your basket. You don’t have to have every color in the rainbow, but choose the colors that you need the most.

Straight Pins - Straight pins help to keep seams together as you sew. They hold patches in place, and also can be used as markers.

Everyone can’t be right; that’s why we must know where to look and whom to believe.

Truth.

Nowadays it seems like everyone claims to have a corner market on it—unless they’re saying it’s impossible for there to be an objective Standard to go by known as “Absolute Truth.”

Consequently, today’s Gold Standard is rooted in relativism and humanism, which basically say “Everything is relative, i.e., subjective to an individual’s own, personal views-and-values.”

In other words, it’s a humanistic viewpoint says “I am the center of my own universe and truth is what I believe it to be. You’re entitled to your own beliefs—but, don’t try to force your beliefs on me.”

Hmmm: no wonder we’re a divided, polarized nation where it’s “Survival of the Fittest” and “the one who has the most ‘toys’ at the end of the game wins.”

But, in this case, it’s not toys; it’s wealth and power.

“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court.” Elon Musk

Please recall that Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, had proposed to buy Twitter.

This suggestion was rejected, immediately and forcefully. Twitter was so opposed to the purchase it stated it would put in place a corporate “poison pill” so as to make the potential purchase and/or takeover by Musk so unattractive that he would abandon his plan to acquire it.

Twitter’s corporate legal counsel then reminded the Twitter brass that they have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders. After that Twitter became magically more amenable to the potential sale.

Musk then proposed a $43 billion purchase of the company and reasonably assumed Twitter would honestly disclose the number of “real” human Twitter users, excluding all the fake spam bots.

In reality, we know the problem.

But we choose to believe the Lie.

Yes, II Thessalonians 2:1-12, along with Matthew 24:4-44; Romans 1:18-32; II Timothy 3:1-7, 12-13; 4:3-4 and II Peter 2:1-3:7 clearly tell us what’ll happen in the Last Days. So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we see what’s happening all around us right now.

In Rom. 1:18, Paul talks about “God’s Wrath will be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness toward those who suppress the Truth.” And, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what he meant in vv.19-32: for it’s exactly what’s happening all around us today.

And, what’s this “Wrath revealed?”

Is it earthquakes, famines, floods, tornadoes/typhoons, pestilences (diseases, epidemics), out-of-control forest fires, terrorism, etc. (Rom. 8:22)?

Or, is it also something else?

Included in the historic and dizzying litany of U.S. Supreme Court decisions the last ten days are rulings on 2 ^nd Amendment rights and free exercise of religion.

These decisions, when analyzed in conjunction with landmark pro-democracy decisions defending the rights ‘of the people’ through their elected representatives to choose to protect pre-born human life and requiring that the U.S. Congress determine major environmental policy—not unelected bureaucrats unaccountable to the people—the Supreme Court has returned “We the People” to a constitutional republic and a ‘government by consent of the governed.’ ^nd

Let’s begin with the 2 ^nd Amendment case. The Supreme Court held that New York’s handgun licensing regime was

When we think summer, we think spending time with friends and family doing fun things. One of my favorite things to do is to have a neighborhood picnic!

Growing up, my parents hosted our neighborhood picnic every year. Daddy grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. The other families brought the ‘fixins’, sides, salads, and desserts.

And, of course, there was always a tub full of homemade ice cream! At first, it was a hand-cranked version, and everyone had their turn. Later, Daddy splurged on an electric one.

Hosting a picnic is as easy as setting a date and determining who will bring what. It might help to keep a list, so too many duplications aren’t made.

If you are the host, you may want to provide the main course. In our case, we made the hamburgers and hotdogs, and bought the charcoal for the grill.

You may not already have enough chairs and picnic tables for everyone. Just make it a BYOC (bring your own chair) event.

By nature, we want to believe a lie rather than the Truth.

But, when it’s all said and done, we’ll all be judged by Truth.

And, that’s wherein the problem lies: for, just as Pilate asked a rhetorical question about Truth (“What is truth?”), but didn’t really expect an answer (John 18:38), so do we do the same thing today.

Yes, today’s generation— which delights in relativism, secularism, atheism, agnosticism and a whole host of other “isms”—has definitely bitten into the devil’s original lie to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden:

“Don’t listen to God; don’t you know He lied to you? He knows if you listen to me and eat of this beautiful, delicious fruit that you’ll become just like Him” (Genesis 3:1-5).

And, in reality, what he was saying is: “And YOU will become God!,” which was his original desire while he was still head of the angels in Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-14).

Have you ever gotten excited about trying something new, but suddenly, there is this feeling that maybe you shouldn’t? Have you ever questioned if you are good enough? Smart enough? It’s almost as if you are hearing this soft whisper saying you can’t, you aren’t, you shouldn’t.

That whisper coming from a personal bully. He’s a hairy little beast that loves to lurk in the shadows. His name is Fear. Sometimes, he goes by his aliases Doubt and Uncertainty. And he loves to show up to throw water on the flames of progress and creativity.

The most common fear people have is a fear of failure. All our lives we struggle to please other people – parents, teachers, friends, and bosses. Being afraid can prevent us from trying new things. It stifles our curiosity and keeps us from learning and growing.

Keep your pets safe throughout the hot summer months as soaring temperatures can be dangerous for pets.

Summer has officially begun, so it’s a good time to remember that pets require special care to avoid heatstroke. Dogs cannot tell us when they feel hot, and it is our responsibility to ensure that our pets have sufficient shelter from the sun, an adequate supply of water to drink, and a way to cool off as the heat rises. Be aware of these essential needs when leaving your pets outside during the day. Moreover, do not forget that at this time of the year, it is life-threatening to leave pets in hot cars, even if they are parked in the shade, and even for just a few minutes! Each summer, the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital sees several heatstroke cases.

May the July 4^th Celebration be a day of hope, reflection, and prayers for the Nation. On July 4^th America will pause to celebrate the founding of the nation which occurred on July 4, 1776. The celebration will mark 245 years as a democratic republic. There will be the customary gathering of friends and families for picnics, singing of patriotic songs, a musical concert on the mall in the nation’s capital, with fireworks bursting and inundating the capital’s evening skies. Regrettably, many Americans, particularly people of color, will find it difficult to celebrate the founding of the nation. Why? Because they remember that at the time of its founding their ancestors were enslaved by those proclaiming and declaring freedom for posterity.