The Highways of Life

 In the New Living Translation, Matthew 7;13-14 talks about the highway to hell.

We are born into this world.  At birth, we are not given an instruction manual on "how to live a Godly life".  Instead w are blessed if we even have someone called a mother, father, aunt, or grandparent who tries to guide us on how to behave as a human being.

After birth we start off in this world on highway 101 headed south to warm weather, human fun and adventures, and riches galore.  We are taught to idolize sports and athletes.  We salute our flags and play our national anthems.  We do whatever we as human beings want to do.

But as we go down highway 101, we start to see billboards.  Some say, "Jesus Saves".  Then we stop for gas, or for electric cars, we stop at a charging station to refuel.  At the stop someone may tell s about a man named Jesus Christ.  About God and somebody with a strange name of, Holy Spirit.  We listen for awhile, but highway 101 is calling us back to the road.  So we get back to the earthly journey, the adventures or mis adventures of life.  Then again we see the billboards about Jesus and then see large crosses built up on the side of the highway of life.

All of a suddenwe start seeing detour signs.  Detour to Salvation, next exit.  It's strange.  The Detour signs keep appearing.  Even if you have driven miles since the last Detour sign.  You start to wonder. What is this Salvation place?

As we get tired on the highway, we pull over into rest stops. Then we get some information.  Some brochures about this Jesus Christ and this Salvation place that we kept seeing Detour signs for,  Then we get back on highway 101 and eventually follow a detour sign which leads to this place called Salvation.  That's when your journey really begins.  After being on a 4 lane highway, the Detour route merges you onto a 1 lane road, only going in one direction.  It's a very narrow road, so you slow down. Every few miles you see a sign that allows you to merge back onto highway 101.  You see some people merging back on 101, while others continue on the road to Salvation.

Then you start seeing competing billboards. Signs about what you will find if you get bacck on highway 101. Luxurious material things.  The enjoyment of human vices. The freedom to go faster on highway 101.  But, the plain signs of Jesus Save, Salvation ahead still greet you.  You notice that the highway 101 signs are more colorful and bright.  They are made to appeal to your human senses.  You find yourself getting of that narrow road and getting back onto highway 101.

But the signs about Jesus and that place called Salvation and the detour signs are still on 101 serving as reminders that you still have a choice.  You start to notice that the gauge in your vehicle no longer shows how much elecric power or old school gasoline is left in your vehicle.  Will you get stuck on highway 101 when your fuel runs out?  Do you get off 101 and detour back to highway 1 and take that narrow road to Salvation before your fuel runs out?

It's time to make that decision.

Mr. Fortson and Mr. Rosario - Another wave of improper use of force?

 It is nothing new.  Policemen responding to a call for assistance.  We can imagine the adrenaline and apprehension they must feel as they approach a situation they have been sent to respond to.  The unknown awaits them.  The common thread they all have is they are armed to respond with deadly force to the situation.  That is there personal tool for saving their own lives.

But in two recent situations either lack of training, or unsubstantiated fear resulted in the police murder of a victim who need now have died.  An airman in Florida, Roger Fortson.  Shot to death as he stood in his apartment ,one arm toward a sheriff at his door, and one arm with a gun pointed toward the floor.  The result 5 to 6 gunshots by the officer which resulted in Mr. Fortson later dieing of the wounds caused by the gunfire.

Nineteen year old Mr. Rosario in Queens, New York having a mental issue crisis.  Responding policeman attempt to tase him, but a situation when Mr. Rosario got a hold of a pair of scissors and approached the officers, resulted in Mr. Rosario being shot and killed by one of the policeman who had responded to the scene.

These events are nothing new.  Nor is the refusal to conduct a nation wide review of police training.  The refusal to stress de escalation continues.  The refusal to implement nation wide use of force policies continues.

Now the thought is building on how competent are the police to respond to a situation and a call for help?  If you do so, are the odds greater that the request will lead to the death of someone, possibly even yourself?  The competence of each officer to use a weapon only when necessary needs to be asked before they start their tour of duty.  Which officers are liable to shoot to kill first rather than deescalate.  This is a conversation every city with a police force should be having with local police, state police and sherriff departments.

Is it coming to the point where we have to defend ourselves against the police??

What Value does TV news have to your life?

 I was listening to another round of news being reported on local television stations.  One thing has become apparent.  News stations in different cities and sometimes within a city seem to report on the same "news".  It is further testimony that somewhere in these United States of America, a small group of people is deciding what it is you need to hear that day.

I was listening to the news report about a member of the British royal family and thought to myself, "Why are the goings on of a British monarch an important news story?  What information preseneted in that story is going to materially impact or change my life? The answer was, nothing. The caste systems in our world has concluded that the level of human importance of the royal family dictated that a story be shared to the world about it.  Did presenting that story change negative conditions in your community?  What did it do for you?

We need to expect and demand more from the news.  The personal events of somenone's life is not really news.  News is an item that helps develop or improve a person.

During your local news, ask yourself, "why is he/she  telling me this information?