On the morning of Saturday, August, 24, Love Wins showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different, large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding. On that morning three officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute … Continue reading Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC

North Korea on Sunday accepted a South Korean offer for talks on reuniting families separated by war, but proposed separate talks on resuming lucrative tours to a scenic North Korean mountain in an apparent effort to link the two discussions. SOURCE:  Koreas agree on talks to reunite families separated by war – CBS News. I sure hope that this latest opening between North and South Korea is successful. That country needs to finally re-unite. They have been separated for 60+ years, mainly because of politics and superpower actions.  I love the fact that this latest conversation was started by the … Continue reading Koreas agree on talks to reunite families separated by war

“We never will have any prosperity that is free from speculation till we pass a law that every time a broker or person sells something, he has got to have it sitting there in a bucket, or a bag, or a jug, or a cage, or a rat trap, or something, depending on what it is he is selling. We are continually buying something that we never get from a man that never had it.”       Sept. 24, 1930       Will Rogers Speculation seems to be where all the instant wealth is obtained in this country. … Continue reading From The Man Who Never Had It….

Christians will not be agents of reconciliation and healing as long as they see the world from the perspective of the privileged or fail to even attempt to see from the viewpoints for those who are unlike themselves in important ways.  We have a higher calling than simply to be representative of our race, class, nationality or whatever else defines us in this world. “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Source: Craig M. Watts: Beyond Trayvon Martin and Racism | Red Letter Christians. Continue reading Agents of Reconciliation..

3)  We turn Christianity into a culture rather than a lifestyle. We have turned Christianity into a market.  We have reduced Christianity to products we consume, sell, and advertise.  We are more about profits than prophets.  Christianity has become a culture rather than a lifestyle.  We’ve been taught to consume Christian products rather than being Christian.  We’ve been taught to be salespeople for Jesus rather than true followers of Jesus.  Living a Christian lifestyle means Christ’s love has penetrated so deep into our heart that our lives begin to embody that love in real and tangible ways.  We want everyone … Continue reading Inspiring Quotes…

2)  We focus on The Great Commission over The Great Commandment The Great Commission does not supersede the Great Commandment.  Our mission is first and foremost: “Love God with all your heart and mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.”  What we have done is divorce The Great Commission from the Great Commandment.  We falsely believe our commission to make disciples is separate from our commandment to love.  The truth is, we are commissioned to love–to proclaim and demonstrate God’s love.  To proclaim the gospel is to share the depths of God’s love for the world (AKA everyone). The gospel … Continue reading Inspiring Quotes….

Several things have come together lately that take my focus to the decisions we make in our lives. With that in mind I am going to attempt a series of posts here at RJ’s Corner with the title above. Every day we make hundreds of choices in our lives.  Many of them are things like what to eat, or when to go to bed.  I think most of us are pretty good at making those daily decisions. But I am convinced that many, including myself, are not so good at some of the higher level ones. We just don’t spend … Continue reading Don’t Get Stuck – The Series…. Opening Remarks

I have come to a realization lately that these stories of all us old people living longer is a bunch of phooey. Here I am finishing up my second year of being on Medicare and when I read the obituaries in our local small town paper I see lots of people who are much younger than I am. That fact has kind of startled me and warned me that my years on this earth might be shorter than I have planned. You never know. At our ages if we show up in tomorrow’s obit it probably wouldn’t bring a big surprise … Continue reading Living Longer…

The Post, according to its own announcement of its sale for $250 million, has suffered a 44 percent drop in operating revenue over the past six years. Like other once-prosperous big-city dailies, it has been wounded by the defection of readers and advertisers to Internet competitors. No major U.S. newspaper now claims to have a business model that would guarantee its survival, let alone its success long-term. But the “long-term” is where Bezos’ mind naturally likes to go, says Brad Stone, senior technology writer for Bloomberg Businessweek. Stone’s forthcoming book “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon” … Continue reading Thinking Long Term….

Housing is coming back. Banks are lending again. Energy is booming. A prominent Democrat argues that the U.S. economy is finally coming back to life SOURCE: Is the U.S. Economy Coming Back to Life? – TIME. Everything is great again in the USA!  The stock markets are booming. Banks are as profitable as ever and are now lending again. All the economic indicators are rising.  These are joyful words for us liberals and dreaded ones for conservatives during a Democrat administration. Everything is great except for the fact that almost all of this prosperity is flowing into the hands of the … Continue reading Everything is Great Except…..

I am a big fan of the TV show “Little People, Big World” about the Roloff family. The mother and father and one of the four children are dwarfs. I think I relate to them because I too face a daily handicap. I have watched the show since its origination I don’t know how many years ago. What brings this to mind is the latest episode of the family where they went on vacation in Costa Rica. During their trip Matt, the husband who has some pretty severe physical limitation, struggled to keep up with the family but often times … Continue reading Life’s Frustrations…

Pentagon officials say leaving zero troops in Afghanistan after 2014 would not be good strategy, but if Afghanistan doesn’t give US troops legal immunity, it’s the likeliest outcome. SOURCE: Leaving zero troops in Afghanistan? It’s a serious option, Pentagon says. – CSMonitor.com. Wouldn’t that be something. I think it would be a first in my lifetime that we didn’t leave soldiers after the battle is over.  We pay huge amounts of our taxes to keep our young kids in over a hundred countries throughout the world. For some reason we just can’t seem to get out completely when we get out. … Continue reading Wouldn’t That Be Something….

At the center of this ring of geriatric mobsters is Bulger, 83, a still fierce figure despite the liver spots on his hands. Bulger is on trial in federal court for a string of crimes including 19 murders. Prosecutors say that some of his victims were strangled with those arthritic hands. Bulger’s trial has entered its third week with a series of senior citizens describing the criminal havoc and reign of fear his Winter Hill Gang wreaked all over Boston with the help of corrupt FBI officials Bulger trial is not just about organized crime and FBI corruption. It is … Continue reading The Mob….

During the last portion of my corporate life I was an IT guy. IT being information technology. For those of you who might not know what that is we basically, at least in my area, take data and turn it into information. The old saying goes “Drowning in data but starved for information”. If you want to get an idea of what that mean just Google about anything and watch thousands of hit come up. We IT guys took those thousands of hits and with some pretty sophisticated software narrowed it down to a handful. Now that you got an … Continue reading Voting Districts….

How did things get so out of whack in DC????????????? Continue reading Down on the Farm…..

Two long years, in which all I did was stare at the endless abyss, not sure if I was meant to jump or not, scared that the jump wouldn’t fix anything. All I needed was an escape, and the abyss wasn’t willing to offer me one. It took me two years to realize that life isn’t really worth living unless you want something. Until you have an impossible dream, an ideal to strive towards. Until you have something to fight for, you simply exist. SOURCE:  Over the edge… « Cristian Mihai. My young Romanian friend Cristian Mihai certainly gives me … Continue reading Purpose in Life…..

Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents Smog can cut off sunlight to Beijing for days. At the International School of Beijing, parents want routine air quality measurements, and the school has built a $5 million dome to enclose a playground and filter the air. Seth Doane reports. Source: Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents – CBS News Video. One of the major prices China is having to pay for their sudden industrial dominance is pollution. Since there is a much bigger priority on economics than there is on environment the big industrial areas of the country are becoming very polluted. I know there … Continue reading Beijing’s heavy pollution concerns parents

Prince William and Kate Middleton have named the royal heir George Alexander Louis, Kensington Palace announced in a statement today. SOURCE: Kate Middleton and Prince William Name Baby George Alexander Louis – ABC News. So another big royalty event is past.  The future king’s name is George. Being a big U.S. history buff, not so much the royalty stuff, King George has some significance to me. Let’s go back about 250 years ago. At that time another King George was battling with insurgent terrorists in some of his British colonies on the other side of the world. They absolutely refused to … Continue reading Taking It Back….

One of the biggest stumbling blocks in following the teachings of Jesus is our tendency to do whatever we want, and to then convince ourselves that Jesus supports our agenda. This is especially true when it comes to His peace teachings. I’ve talked to church leaders who really want to speak the truth about peace but are afraid of repercussions from people in their congregations who are either in the military or related to someone in the military. There are a couple of things I’ve learned from thinking through this issue. The first is that we can love and respect … Continue reading A Quick Quote from Stephen Jarnick

While the cyclical outlook looks bright, the U.S. will be hampered in the longer term by such structural headwinds as an aging population, a plateauing of educational achievement and increased inequality, Gordon said. Source: U.S. Expansion Poised for Longevity – Bloomberg. I have always found it strange that my more conservative friends seem to want to see all Democratic administrations fail in one regard to another. They always say that their Republican heroes did it better than any Democrat ever could.  When they mention this I just love to pull out the statistic that shows if you invest $1000 in only … Continue reading U.S. Expansion Poised for Longevity…

Emmy Awards 2013: Nominations Announced Source:  Emmy Awards 2013: Nominations Announced – ABC News. I won’t bore you folks who swear you never watch television with the long list of Emmy nominations here. If you want to see them click on the source above. The point of this post is that excluding “Dowton Abbey” there were no other shows on this long list that my wife and I watch. Are we out of tune with all those other TV watchers?  Most of the shows on the list I put in the “stupid” category. They are for the most part just … Continue reading I Must Be Getting Old…..

The Bible nowhere qualifies the command to help the widow, the orphan, the oppressed, and the poor. The Bible never says “help the Christian poor” or “help the poor only if they listen to a 30-minute sermon.” God told the Israelites that they are God’s people if they help the poor and bring justice to the oppressed. No qualifiers. No agenda. No strings attached. Just love. Scandalous love. Jesus love. The kind we teach and preach about – the free gift of God, that we do not deserve and cannot earn. Source: Joy Bennett: Time Share Charity and God’s Scandalous Grace … Continue reading Too Many Conditions….

President Obama: “There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me,” Obama said. “And there are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me, at least before I was a senator.”  Fox News: Fox’s Sean Hannity suggests that the main reason Obama identifies with Trayvon is that the two as teenagers had smoked marijuana. On Facebook, Fox News radio host Todd … Continue reading Words From the Heart….

A rain free night full of vehicle demolishing and car smashing fun was featured at the 4-H Fairgrounds Saturday for a capacity crowd inside the main arena as 38 drivers competed in four categories for trophies, prize money and bragging rights. Welcome to small town America. I have lived in it for much of my six plus decades on this earth. I want to thank my local paper for the photo and the words above. I live just north of a town of 2214 people.  At least that is what the sign says coming into town.  I wouldn’t have it … Continue reading Small Town Life…