I'm impressed

OK- been awhile here since I posted- first off, I must make a slight retraction to my post of "Get Over It".  Turns out that the pastor that I cited as wanting a bill passed to remove an atheist sign in the Washington State capitol building was in error.  He was trying to get his sign posted as a "15 minutes of rebuttal" to the aforementioned atheist sign.  If that were it, I'd probably be ok with it, but he decided to have a press conference that dissolved into saying things like because the governor allowed this to happen she was "turning Washington into the armpit of America".  <sigh>  Yeah, like that was better........gee, my mistake for inferring that this pastor was doing something stupid.........

Now that that's over with-

For those that haven't seen our weather up here in the Upper Left Hand Corner, it's been something pretty special, even for someone who has lived in snow before.  Since last Monday, we've had something like 13" of snow (7 of it last night, and another 3 today) along with 1" of sleet and 50mph winds.  Truly impressive.  Here's a couple of pix:
This is from my living room window, looking across the street.  Big fun.


Here's another shot, looking down my hill to the east.  This is not a fun street to get up and down on with this kind of snow.


A shot into my backyard from my upstairs deck.  This is a common yard, shared by 4 houses, and it's usually full of kids.  Not today.........they'd be swallowed up.

I did try to venture out today to the grocery store for my wife (who is terrified of driving in snow) - and I got stuck twice in snowdrifts.  Nice.  Not terribly manly, lemme tell ya.

So, for all my friends here that I refer to as "WWW" - "Washington Weather Whimps" - I'll give ya this one.  This has been a pretty good storm, and it doesn't look like we're gonna be in the clear anytime soon.

Get Over It

Let's get the precursors out of the way first.

I am a Christian. A Protestant at that. I don't believe in God, Jesus and The Bible- I KNOW them. God and my relationship with Jesus Christ is like air to me- I require them to live. I know that Jesus is The Messiah, that His death on the cross atoned for my sins and the sins of others; that He resurrected in 3 days and ascended to Heaven, and that He is coming back. He was 100% God and 100% man (at the same time) and that He lives to this day. These are incontrovertible facts, and nothing anyone does or says will shake me from this. I've seen, experienced, tasted and smelled God in my life in things big and small, good and bad, and all other points in between. And, I believe that this time of year has everything to do with the birth of Jesus, and not some kind of weird, materialistic thing that some have made it out to be.

And, that is why the atheist sign in Olympia doesn't bother me. (For those that don't know what I'm talking about, click here.)

Yep- you read that right- it doesn't bother me. I could care less. Display your sign, folks. In fact, make it bigger and put lights on it. Make it bigger than the Christian and Jewish signs, and when the Christians and the Jews make their signs bigger, I want you atheist folks to make your sign bigger again with more lights. Do it!!

I am in no way being sarcastic, either. Quite the opposite, in fact. I assert that the atheist folks have the inalienable right to do it, and we, as Christians (or Jews) do not have the right to do or say anything that would take that right away. I'm neither offended nor am I challenged by different viewpoints of this nature. I don't want to suggest that the US Constitution has anywhere near the veracity of The Bible, but I do believe it. The Constitution says that any US Citizen has the right to do what they are doing- or, more accurately, the Constitution says that the government shall not keep it from happening.

That said, I heard a radio spot today that a certain well-known pastor here in the Northwest is trying to get some bill passed that would remove this sign. This pastor basically has no other ministry other than loudly standing in opposition to things like this, and honestly seems to believe that his efforts are noble and right in how they line up with Scripture. I say that's crap. They don't. They are nothing but hot air designed to separate a loving Christ from those that say they don't believe in Him in the first place. The Scripture I read says to tell these people who have the atheist sign that God loves them, too, and by doing that, you place those who created the sign and the sentiment in the path of a God that will deal with them. At that point, your job, Mr. Pastor, is done and over with. Get over it.

So- my ire here is not with the atheists who put up the sign. They have the right in this country to be wrong. They have the right to miss the point and say what they want to say. My ire is with those who share my belief in God who are so empty and so shallow that their entire existence is do nothing more than shout and miss the point that they are to exhibit love and nothing more. (Please note that there is a distinct difference between "love" and "acceptance") Anything that any Christian would espouse that would fly in the face of redemption and reconciliation and just create more hostility is wrong, and serves no other purpose than just raising the rafters. If there's a bill to be passed to have something removed, it should be this pastor and those like him.

Just get over it already. No matter what sign they put up, it doesn't change the immutable fact that Jesus died for them, too.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all.