TBatty’s Blog

The first week of July has shown us the amazing rescue of 15 hostages from the FARC, some really bad guys who, according to globalsecurity.org, are “Colombia’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped Marxist insurgency.”  The rescuers were rightfully hailed as heroes, as was Columbian President Alvaro Uribe.  Three of the hostages were Americans defense contractors who had been held captive for more than five years.  That strikes close to home for me, since my company is a defense contractor, and we have employees currently under contract in harm’s way on foreign soil.

Two days after the hostages were freed we celebrated Independence Day, the birthday of our nation, memorializing the day we declared publically that freedom really is important.  Most Americans can quote portions of the Declaration:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

….these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States..

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Everybody ought to read the whole Declaration every year.  Freedom really is important, and I am more than grateful for the “protection of Divine Providence” and for the patriots who originally secured that freedom, and who continue to preserve it today.  Unlike this latest hostage rescue, the price of freedom often has to be paid in blood.

These things remind me to celebrate a deliverance more amazing than the Columbian hostage rescue, and a freedom the extends beyond anything secured by human rescuers or patriots.  The price indeed was paid in blood, the blood of Jesus Christ.  The freedom He purchased for me was freedom from death, freedom from sin, freedom from condemnation, freedom from fear, and a host of other freedoms, topped by the assurance of eternal life.   ”If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)    That “rescue,” that deliverance, that freedom is available to all who believe, and it produces a life full of hope.  So how cool is that?!

As usual, LaShawn Barber touches an important topic with insight and delicacy.

Over the years, through what I’ve seen with my own eyes and heard from others, I’ve come to believe that deliberately depriving a child of a father is a form of child abuse.

Fatherlessness As Child Abuse? posted today

My father was present, actively engaged, and he loved me throughout my childhood.  I am blessed that both he an my mother still are alive and married to each other.  But I have seen far too many examples of the tragedy of fatherlessness, examples that validate LaShawn’s conclusions. 

As a leader of a “families with young children”  LIFE Group at our church, I try to reinforce the truth that fathers bear the primary responsibility for preventing or correcting the “no father = child abuse” problem.  Christian fathers must lead by example as much as possible, and teach the children - especially the boys - how to stand against the destructive currents of our time, to become the fathers and husbands that God calls us to be.  Thank you LaShawn for contributing to the solution by highlighting the truth.  ( I left that comment but don’t know if it will be published.)

I fully agree with what she wrote.  Check it out.

Today’s temperature was cooler than average for the last day of June in the Dayton Ohio area.   Good natured talk around the locker room included the standard comments about the hoax of global climate change, specifically global warming.  With the incessant bombardment by CNN and The Weather Channel, you might be tempted to think that the so-called mainstream view is the only credible view.   Its adherents even revel in being labeled as “alarmist”…  

I was struck–not that I haven’t been before–by the pejorative language used by some anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse warming (AGW) skeptics in response to his writings. Terms such as “erroneous and laughable models, bad data, and farce” were thrown around liberally.  …  Being alarmist (if those of us who believe in AGW are) doesn’t necessarily make us wrong. In fact, we may not be alarmist enough. What if we’ve underplayed the effects of global warming? What if they turn out worse than what we think? What if climate change has passed the point of no return?…..

“MAYBE WE NEED TO BE MORE ALARMIST” by Buzz Bernard, Senior Meteorologist, The Weather Channel (posted today)

The balancing view - my view, that this is all a monstrous hoax - can be found, but you have to look for it.   A handy starting point to help you swim against the current is Skeptics Global Warming, a relatively young blog.  Check out their current news and Week In Review articles.  A small voice for sanity.

Sweet, sweet worship, followed by clear teaching/preaching.  Johnathan does an excellent job of presenting sound biblical teachning in an easy to understand way.  You can listen to some of his past sermons and judge for yourself.  He currently is working through the book of Jonah, and this morning was on chapter 2.  The message was focused on the fact that God wants us to be free, and the road to freedom begins with repentance.  Are you enjoying freedom from guilt, shame, addiction, etc.?  Do you want to be free?  Do you have an opinion about the road to freedom?

Sundays are nearly always good for me.  I look forward to meeting with the people of Koinos Christian Fellowship (the church that meets in the movie theater).  Free worship, excellent preaching, and fellowship with many friends.  And the chance to meet new folks who may become friends, and hopefully to introduce them to my Lord.  Anticipation….

Well….I’ve been reading blogs for years, and I wondered how it would be to actually do one.  So this is my first attempt.  Now I wonder if anybody will show up, read, and possibly comment.  Two challenges:  (1) How will anybody find my blog?  (2) Is anything here that is of interest?  We’ll see.