Mike's Message

Using Remember the Milk to Keep Your Other Web Apps Free

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:19:00 +0000

I'm a big believer in cloud computing. First of all, I find it much safer to keep my files in the cloud. If my computer is ever lost or stolen, or my hard drive crashes, my files will be waiting for me in the cloud when I get another computer. Of course, I could set up an elaborate back-up system to protect myself from such calamity, but those require a great deal of effort and discipline, the back-up media needs to be stored off site, or you must use an online backup system with a monthly fee if you want to have enough space for all of your files. Secondly, it's just so much more convenient. It doesn't matter whether I'm using my laptop at home, my desktop at the office, borrowing a friend's computer at his house, or even using my smart phone on the go, I have access to my files.

Since I'm a bit on the cheap side, I use web apps that are free, but each gives a limited amount of storage capacity for free accounts. Here are just a few of the applications I use on the web. All of them are available free, but you can get more storage space for a monthly fee:

Drop Box 3.1 GB free.
Zumo Drive 2 GB free.
Google Docs unlimited free strorage of documents created in Google Docs, 1 GB of space to upload other files, i.e. Microsoft Office files or pdf files.
Evernote, unlimited total storage capacity, but only allows you to upload 60 MB per month.

Remember the Milk (RTM) does not provide a place for me to store files in the cloud. It is a task manager. It helps me to remember what I am supposed to do each day, and to keep a record of what does and does not get accomplished. But it does help me maximize my storage capacity on my other apps. Until recently, Evernote users with free accounts could only upload pictures and pdf files. This week Evernote removed that restriction, and allows it's free users to upload any file (with a maximum file size of 25MB). To maximize my useage of the other applications, I've set up a monthly reminder in RTM to see how much of my 60 MB allotment is remaining on the last day of the month, and then transfer infrequently used files from Drop Box, Zumo Drive, or Google Docs until I've (nearly) used up my 60 MB allotment. I leave a little space in case I need to make some more notes in Evernote before my allotment starts over at zero the next day.

Of course, in this monthly review of the files that may or may not need to be transferred, I also just find many that are obsolete and I don't need to use them at all anymore.

Using Remember the Milk to Keep Your Other Web Apps Free

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:10:00 +0000

From Evernote:

Using Remember the Milk to Keep Your Other Web Apps Free

Drop Box 3.1 GB free.
Zumo Drive 2 GB free.
Google Docs unlimited free strorage of documents created in Google Docs, 1 GB of space to upload other files, i.e. Microsoft Office files or pdf files.
Evernote, unlimited total storage capacity, but only allows you to upload 60 MB per month.

Of course, in this monthly review of the files that may or may not need to be transferred, I also just find many that are obsolete and I don't need to use them at all anymore.

Sexting Epidemic « Denny Burk

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:56:00 +0000

http://www.dennyburk.com/sexting-epidemic/

Billy Graham on Salvation

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 22:36:00 +0000

I was dismayed a few years ago to hear Billy Graham hedge on the need for faith in Christ to be saved. While I don't remember his exact words, I remember he was responding to a question from Larry King about whether Jews (or anyone else for that matter) who didn't believe in Jesus were going to hell. Graham's response was surprisingly diplomatic, and compromising. He said something to the effect that he didn't know, that he just left that in the hands of God. I remember thinking, "You don't know? What does the Bible say? Isn't that our authority?" Although I was somewhat shocked, I made allowances for his age and let it go.

Today I'm reading George W. Bush's memoir Decision Points. He talks about a family meal in 1985 when Graham was the guest. The senior Bush asked Graham the following question.

The first question was from Dad. He said, "Billy, some people say you have to have a born-again experience to go to heaven. Mother [my grandmother] here is the most religious, kind person I know, yet she has had no born-again experience. Will she go to heaven?" Wow, pretty profound question from the old man. We all looked at Billy. In his quiet, strong voice, he replied, "George, some of us require a born-again experience to understand God and some of us are born Christians. It sounds as if your mom was just born a Christian." -p31

If the 43rd president's recollection is right, the greatest evangelist of the 20th century seems to be saying 20 years prior to the King interview that for some, there is no need for regeneration. When I began this section I was excited to hear how the encounter with Graham showed the junior Bush his need for a Savior. Instead I came away sorrowful that the gospel was compromised for the sake of tact and diplomacy. Our goal should never be to offend, but worry over offense should never deter us from preaching the whole gospel either.

Merry Christmas, the Mike Stevenson paraphrase!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Mike Stevenson is a friend of mine from our time at First Baptist Hampton. Please enjoy his interpretation of the Christmas story.

Once upon a time, long, long ago in a land far, far away ... So many stories start this way.

But there's one story that should always start this way. It's the story of Christmas. This story was only once in all of time. It was in a land far, far away. In a time and place so far from anything we'd recognize today that it might just as well have been on another planet. But no other story has had a greater impact on all of human history . It's one of the simplest but at the same time most profound stories ever told. This is the one story that split time as we know it into everything before the story and everything after the story. It was once upon a time. It was a long, long time ago. It was in a land far, far away from anything we'd call normal.

It's the most amazingly simple story but it changed everything, even time itself. This is my interpretation of the Christmas story.

The times were hard. The government, as usual, was making things worse. For some reason they wanted to count how many people were in the land. So they ordered everyone to register and be counted. Not a big deal - unless you lived somewhere away from your home town. Then it was a big deal. You had to take time off from your job, take the kids out of school and take the whole family on a road trip back to your home town.

No minivans. No planes. No SUVs, trains or buses. You had to walk, ride in a horse or ox wagon or maybe ride a donkey. There were no convenience stores along the way and no golden arches if you got hungry. And when the kids had to go - well, your best hope was some nearby trees.

All along the way you had to keep a sharp eye out for all sorts of dangers like snakes, scorpions, wild animals. The worst and most dangerous of all - thieves. There was safety in numbers so you gathered your family into a small gaggle and tried to blend into the large gaggle of other families making the same crazy trip.

All this so you could fill out a piece of parchment to be registered and counted. Typical government inefficiency - bureaucracy. Papers, please. Let me see your papers, please.

So in that long ago time, in that far away place, Joe and his fiancé gathered their things, packed some lunches, rented a donkey and hit the road. Joe didn't live in his hometown so he had to make the trip to fill out those infernal census forms, probably in triplicate, just so he could be counted. Nope. There was no internet, email, telephones or postal service where he could "mail it or phone it in". Bummer.

And to make the situation even more ridiculous, Joe's fiancé, Mary, was very pregnant. We're talking ready to pop! How about a hardship waiver? I mean, REALLY. But, no - the law says you gotta make the trip. And the way they enforce the law with all those centurions – you might as well quit whining and start walking. Typical government. Come to think of it, maybe that's not so different from today.

Anyway, off they go. Joe walking leading the donkey along with Mary doing her best to stay on the donkey as he trouped along the rough trail. Sorry excuse for a road. Why don't they fix those potholes? Just what do we pay our taxes for anyway?

While the long and dusty road faded behind them and the way ahead disappeared over the horizon, Mary and Joe made the best of the trip passing the time talking about anything and everything to take their minds off Mary's ripe condition.

I imagine as they plodded along they sang some popular tunes and discussed their plans for the upcoming year. When they get back home Mary would have the baby. Then they'd move into a little bit bigger apartment in a nice neighborhood with decent schools and a place to set up Joe's cabinet shop business. A small synagogue nearby would be nice, too. It would be tough. But as long as they had each other they knew they'd find a way to make it.

As they finally reached the outskirts of the thriving metropolis of Joe's hometown they were amazed at how many people were already there. It's always nice to go back home. Childhood memories - wading in the creek, stick ball with the neighborhood boys and there's the old schoolhouse. It looks so small and run down now but back then it was huge - and new.

But that was then. Now with this crazy census going on the little town was flooded with thousands of people all trying to find a place to stay for a couple days while they registered. You'd think the World Series or Super Bowl had come to town. Wait - wrong time zone. So maybe the Olympics - yeah, that fits.

Anyway, Joe lead the donkey through the streets stopping at each hotel, motel, inn and bed and breakfast but the story was always the same. The no vacancy sign was lit and even the couches in the lobbies were full.

Mary was not a happy camper by then, either. The long donkey ride was more than she could handle. It looked like the baby would be born real soon. If they didn't find a place pretty soon the baby will be born on the blanket from the donkey's back. The equivalent of being born in the backseat of a cab.

Desperate for a solution, Joe pounded on door after door, explaining the situation as quickly as he could looking for anyone with even the least bit of compassion. Finally - he found the owner of a little bed and breakfast who would show a bit of sympathy. His B&B was jammed. Even the lobby, weight room and dining room were packed. But he had an empty stall in the barn for the donkey because one large family arrived in a large wagon with only one ox. They filled his last room but it left an open stall.

"I don't have a place for you and your missus but you can keep your donkey in my barn. It's the best I can do."

Desperate for a solution, Joe paid the man and lead the donkey into the barn. The open stall was big enough for an ox or a camel. It was late at night and Mary was about to pop! No time to look for a place for them to stay - the best idea at the moment was for Mary to rest in the barn while Joe tried to find them something better. At least she'd have shelter from the wind and there was some hay for the donkey. Maybe Mary can hang on until morning. Maybe Joe could find more suitable accommodations.

So Joe busied himself sweeping out the stall and putting fresh hay down. He took the blanket off the donkey and spread it out on the hay. There was just enough room beside the donkey for Mary to lay down on the blanket. Maybe if he made her comfortable enough her labor would stop - giving him a little time to find something better. I imagine there were hundreds of apologies and promises to "make it up to her". But no amount of groveling was going to work. Why didn't we get reservations? Oh, yeah - no phones, email, internet and postal service. Bummer.

What else could go wrong? How about Mary's labor. Getting off the donkey and laying down didn't help. By then it was obvious the baby was not going to wait. It was happening soon, very soon. Maybe any minute. It's certainly not going to wait until they get back home. Joe's nightmare just kept getting better and better.

So the new emergency was how to deliver a baby in a barn. There was no obstetrician, no midwife, no nurses. There wasn't even any water to boil! "I don't know nothing about birthing no babies!" Wait – wrong story. But I'm sure Joe wasn't the first to use that line and he certainly wouldn't be the last.

There they were. A pitiful sight. Joe frazzled to the core and Mary trying her best not to scream. The last thing they needed right then was a startled donkey in the stall with them. "I'm sorry – I'll make it up to you – I promise – you'll see – honest – it's not supposed to be this way – this is SO WRONG!"

It may have taken hours or minutes and I'm sure Joe lost all track of time. But sometime that night Mary finally delivered a beautiful baby boy. Joe laid him in Mary's arms and grabbed some clothes from the donkey's pack. He ripped the material into squares and Mary cleaned and wrapped the baby because it was cold and drafty in that old barn.

Joe found an unused feed trough in another stall and dragged it in beside their donkey. He cleaned it up a bit and did some make-shift repairs so it wouldn't fall apart. He filled it with fresh hay and laid some of the cloth from the remnants of the clothes he'd shredded. Mary laid the baby in the "crib", covered him with the cloth and knelt beside him, rocking him slowly.

About then there were some excited voices outside. Drunks. Or Prowlers. Joe grabbed a pitchfork and went out to investigate. Imagine his surprise when he found shepherds standing outside the barn and asking if he'd seen a baby around here. I'm sure when they told him why they were there he dropped the pitchfork and stood there in absolute astonishment.

The shepherds told Joe about the ghosts they'd seen. A couple of them said they were angels but most of them thought they were ghosts. They told Joe that the vision was so real and they all saw and heard the same thing. They knew it had to be real. No UFO stories here – they all saw and heard the same thing. The ghosts' message was unmistakably clear. They dropped everything and ran as fast as they could to see the baby. It was the only way to prove it was real. If there was no baby then they'd know it was a figment of their imagination – maybe a reaction to something they ate. Or a bad case of sheep fever.

When Joe regained his senses he took them to the stall where Mary was rocking the baby in the makeshift crib. It was exactly like the ghosts had said. Perhaps they WERE angels. It was the most amazing thing any of them had ever seen. This was no ordinary night – no ordinary baby. They congratulated Joe and Mary on their beautiful baby boy. Joe sheepishly lowered his head and muttered under his breath – but it's not MY son.

That's probably when Joe was overcome with a blinding flash of the obvious. All the pieces suddenly came together like a Ginormous Jigsaw Puzzle. The last piece completes the picture and it's a thing of beauty. He'd had some really weird dreams about Mary and the baby. He wasn't sure he wanted to marry his unfaithful fiancé but the dreams were so real. Worst case, he could bail out and dump her before the wedding. Everyone would understand.

Mary told him she'd had some strange dreams, too. She swears there's no way she could be pregnant. But her dreams were so convincing. And she was pregnant. Maybe … And the birth of her cousin's baby, John. That was a little weird, too. After all those years wanting to raise a family and suddenly she was pregnant. Mary's dream ghost/angel was right – exactly right. And when Mary went to visit, her cousin already knew about Mary's baby. No one else knew so there's no way … Maybe … So many dreams. So many ghost/angels. So many mysterious messages but every one of them have come true.

Now these complete strangers, a bunch of uneducated, smelly shepherds, show up with a wild tale about singing ghosts lighting up the sky. When they showed up they already knew about the baby without anyone telling them. In fact, it was late at night. No one knew about the baby but Joe and Mary – and a few donkeys and camels and one ox. But these guys show up and they already know all about what happened only a couple hours earlier.

Those smelly shepherds were right. This was no ordinary night and no ordinary baby. So Joe and Mary spent the rest of the night with a bunch of shepherds talking about dreams, ghosts, angles and the messages they had each heard. They compared the details and found everything lined up perfectly. Not one detail was incorrect. It was abundantly clear that the messages of the dreams were prophesies that had come true – exactly.

So Joe and Mary completed their registration and made their way back home. They found a little bit larger apartment in a nice neighborhood near a little synagogue and Joe set up his cabinet shop. They raised the boy being careful to take him to the temple and synagogue every time they had services and especially on the holy days.

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
Luke 2:52

And the rest, as they say, is history.

So once upon a time, long, long ago in a land far, far away – a baby boy was born in the middle of the night in a barn in a small town. There were so many people around it's amazing that no one noticed except the few people who were told about the baby – by ghosts.

Time was split on that night. We mark all of human history by the event's timeline before or after this baby was born.

A baby in a barn – changed the world. And the smelly shepherds rejoiced.

Believe in miracles.

Merry Christmas.

Mike Stevenson

Playing Santa

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 19:24:00 +0000

My kids are beyond the age where Santa fills them with excitement and wonder. But yesterday Terri, Catherine and I had the pleasure of playing Santa to a family that lives near our church. The generous folks at First Baptist Lovejoy gave so that this family might have a merry Christmas. Early in the week Wanda Livingston and her daughter Kristy Blanks did the shopping, and on Wednesday night a few of our members wrapped gifts in the fellowship hall while the rest of prayed in the sanctuary that these gifts would open the door to an opportunity to share the gospel with both the kids and adults in this family in the days to come.

LetterMeLater.com - Schedule Email to be Sent Later Automatically

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:07:00 +0000

LetterMeLater.com - Schedule Email to be Sent Later Automatically

I just got a letter from a church member wanting something in our bulletin, not this Sunday, but the next two Sundays. I need to be sure I:

Don't forget to put the announcement in the bulletin and
Can find the information when I need it.

It would have been easy if she'd emailed me after I had done this week's bulletin, I could just go ahead and put it in. So I just forwarded the email to myself, in the future.

I have an account with LetterMeLater.com. It allows me to forward the email to me@lettermelater.com. At the top of the body of the message I fill in the following information.

To: myself@mydomain.com
When: Monday 9:00am

So, next Monday her email will show up again in my inbox, and I can go ahead and put her announcement in the bulletin. If you need to send emails to yourself or others, but need them delayed until a future date or time, LetterMeLater.com is a great tool. The free account allows you to schedule up to 30 emails per month, and to send each one to up to 10 different recipients. If you need to send more, you can upgrade your account for $20/yr.

Leave a comment and tell me how you could benefit from being able to schedule your emails for a future date or time.

It's Like Herding Cats - A pastor's life: It'll Be Coming Down in Buckets!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:11:00 +0000

It's going to rain hope in Haiti. It'll come down in buckets. Hundreds of thousands of them. And families will know that God cares for them and has put His people on the problem.

via itslikeherdingcats.blogspot.com

My friend David Wilson blogs about his church's contribution of 20 buckets of food to provide relief in earthquake ravaged Haiti. I found his words very inspiring, and considering that our church like his provided 20 buckets, I thought they might inspire you too!

Thanks David for a good word.

Posted via web from First Baptist Lovejoy

In utopia there is universal health care coverage and freedom. This isn't utopia: You choose

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:18:00 +0000

Freedom isn't free. It is bought with the blood of patriots. It is sustained by the exercise of personal responsibility of those who live under it's umbrella. In the wake of the Great Depression we sold a portion of our freedom in order to have the government provide us with retirement benefits. This week congress will seek to force Americans to exchange their freedom for the illusion of guaranteed affordable health care. Every tyrant comes to power by promising the people a rescue from some great fear.

No one wants to be without access to health care. All of us feel compassion for those who don't have, can't get, or cannot afford health insurance. But the price for universal coverage is a loss of freedom. The government will interfere in the free market and tell corporations who they can and cannot insure. Many of those "evil insurance companies" are owned by people like me and you if we have money invested in mutual funds. If you have an IRA or a 401k, that's YOUR business that the government is interfering with.

In order to "provide" coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, the federal government will force you to buy insurance whether you want it or not. They have to do this to keep people from gaming the system. Otherwise people wouldn't buy coverage until they developed a major illness. This would bankrupt the system. You are wise to have health insurance long before you become ill, but in a free country, you have the freedom to do so or not.

I have compassion for those who have serious illnesses and who cannot get access to insurance. I think charitable, loving, kindhearted people should give freely and help those in their circle of influence get the care they need. I don't think it is the responsibility of a government of free peoples to seize money from some of it's citizens, whether they are stockholders of insurance companies, young healthy adults who are making a free choice to spend their money on something other than health insurance, or any other American taxpayer, in order to provide that health care to those who don't have it.

We can have universal health care, for a while. Eventually as we continue down the path of expecting the government to provide the needs of the people, there will be too many receiving benefits, and too few paying in. The system will collapse. When that happens we will have mortgaged our freedoms and have no house of health care to show for it.

Tom Hanks doesn't understand that racism was a coping tool, not a reason for WWII

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:04:00 +0000

In defending his comments that the war in the Pacific was racially motivated, Hanks cites hearing many people use racial epithets of the Japanese in that era. While those epithets were certainly used, that does not make them the motivation for the war. We also used epithets in the Atlantic theater, like calling the Germans "krauts".

The fact is that anytime one goes to war one of the coping mechanisms that makes war possible is the dehumanizing of the enemy. There is an instant reaction when one is attacked, i.e. in Pearl Harbor or in the WTC attacks of 9/11/2001 to vilify and dehumanize those who have attacked us. And in order to fight back, we dehumanize them further. In order to be able to mentally and emotionally deal with the horrific acts of war soldiers come up with all kinds of names, some racially based, for their enemies. That does not make either racism or ignorance the reason for the war. The reason for the war in the Pacific was that the Japanese wanted to control the Pacific, and tried to cripple us by bombing Pearl Harbor in order to do so.

The reason for the war in the Atlantic was to stop the aggression and genocide of the German regime. I have been a lifelong fan of Hanks screen work, but if he can't tell the difference in a reason for a war and a coping mechanism in the midst of war, then he is the one who is displaying ignorance.

Posted via email from It's Just a Thought

Fox Compares Health Care Debate to Alice in Wonderland

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:37:00 +0000

southbaybiblechurch.org :: View topic - PowerPoint Backgrounds for Worship -- Lighter Backgrounds

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:28:00 +0000

via southbaybiblechurch.org

http://southbaybiblechurch.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8&sid=cc6f158f0b5ddcafc...

Posted via web from It's Just a Thought

Sermon for Next Sunday, Via Dolorosa -- Luke 23:26-49

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:43:00 +0000

Via Dolorsa

Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street
But the crowd pressed in to see
A Man condemned to die on Calvary

He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back
And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head
And He bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for His death

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,
But He chose to walk that road out of
His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

Por la Via Dolorosa, triste dia en Jerusalem
Los saldados le abrian paso a Jesus
Mas la gente se acercaba
Para ver al que llevaba aquella cruz

Por la Via Dolorosa, que es la via del dolor
Como oveja vino Cristo, Rey, Senor
Y fue El quien quiso ir por su amor por ti y por mi
Por la Via Dolorosa al Calvario y a morir

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem.

Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

Fun at the Sr. Adult Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:29:00 +0000

The Lovejoy Community Center hosts a breakfast for senior adults in the area on the second Saturday of each month. It's a lot of fun. Two of our members, Peggy Banks and Thomas Downer were there. And of course free food always attracts a Baptist Preacher.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from It's Just a Thought

Break the Microsoft Office Addiction: don't buy Microsoft Office 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Mike Hardin's office and software Bookmarks
Bookmarks | Network | Tags | Subscriptions | Inbox

http://delicious.com/mehardin/office+software

It'll soon be time to pay Microsoft to upgrade your office suite again. Why not consider one of these free alternatives. They both open documents in and save documents to Microsoft formats. Break the addiction!

Posted via web from It's Just a Thought

Organizing for Tax Preparation with Remember the Milk

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:47:00 +0000

http://blog.rememberthemilk.com/2010/03/tips-tricks-tuesday-tracking-tax-paperwork/

I have several clients who email me their paper work each year for me to prepare their returns. More often than not there is something missing and I have to call or email them to ask about the missing information. I have to confess I've even filed incomplete returns for myself, and had to amend them later to add the missing information.

There is an article on the Remember the Milk blog today about using this online task management list to make sure you have all your documents together before you either send them off to your preparer, or sit down to prepare your own return. I'm a big fan of Remember the Milk, but I've never used it for this. I may start next year though.

Leave a comment and let me know how you organize for tax season.

Posted via email from Mike Hardin tax service

Baptist Press - Study: Cohabiting normative but harmful

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:59:00 +0000

Baptist Press - Study: Cohabiting normative but harmful - News with a Christian Perspective

As she looked at the young lady's new engagement ring, the pastor's wife said, "That's beautiful! Have you two picked a date?"

The young lady replied, "We're thinking next April (over a year away) because we've only been in our house for four months."

The clear indication is that this young lady speaking to her pastor and his wife thinks the normal and wise course is to 1) cohabit, 2) become engaged, and 3) get married. There was a time when even if a person chose to do this, they wouldn't expect the church, especially not the pastor or his wife to approve. Clearly we are living in a post-modern, post-Christian culture, even in what was formerly the Bible belt.

Ministering at the Detention Facility Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:43:00 +0000

The second Tuesday night of each month is my turn to preach at a Federal Detention Center in our community. I signed up for it to set an example for others in our church, hoping we might have several involved. So far it's just a retired pastor and me. And I confess. I'm tired of it. I don't want to go tonight. I want to go home and hang out with my family, maybe even go to bed early. I never want to go to the prison anymore. But, I know I will be glad I did. You see, I've felt like this for a year. And without exception I leave saying, "I'm really glad I came tonight!" God always blesses my faithfulness and my willingness to serve. So why can't I translate that into excitement and a positive attitude before I go?

Matthew 25:35-36 (NIV)
³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Sending a Message with the Census - Mark Krikorian - The Corner on National Review Online

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:29:00 +0000

Fully one-quarter of the space on this year's form is taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government's business

via corner.nationalreview.com

The only constitutional purpose of the census is to determine how many seats each state gets in Congress. Yet it is illegal to lie on the census, or to refuse to answer any questions. Here is one honorable, constitutional approach to at least one of the unconstitutional questions.

Posted via web from It's Just a Thought

» Health Care and the Left’s Perverted Definition of ‘Rights’ - Big Government

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:29:00 +0000

Health Care and the Left’s Perverted Definition of ‘Rights’
by Kerry J. Byrne
One way that leftists have managed to keep alive their dead, defeated, bankrupting theories on issues like so-called health care is by perverting the definition of very basic terms.
The word “right” is one of the most glaring examples of a definition that’s been distorted by the intellectual house-of-horrors mirror that is leftist theory.

Image: CATO Institute
Every American has the “right” to health care they argue.
They’re right. Every American does have a right to health care. In fact, they have that “right” right now. They have the right to buy insurance. They have the right to not buy insurance. They have the right to pay out of pocket. They have the right get a second opinion. They have the right to rub a little dirt on it and suck it up. They have a right to help out a friend in need.
What they don’t have is the “right” to health care in the perverted leftist sense of the word.
A “right,” in the traditional American lexicon laid out by the likes of Thomas Jefferson, is something that exists by virtue of our humanity. It is “inalienable” and we are endowed with these rights by our creator. No government or institution has the power to take away these rights. You exist, therefore these rights exist.
In the leftist sense of the word, though, a “right” is something very different. In fact, it’s not a “right” at all: it’s a handout provided to you by government, often at exorbitant costs to society.
“I have the ‘right’ to health care!” the leftists demand angrily. “Therefore, the government must provide it for me!”

Rights, in other words, are not innate to your humanity in leftist theory. Instead, rights are bequeathed to you like party favors by political Big Brothers: here’s a do-nothing job for Uncle Henry, here’s a tax exemption for a big donor and … oh, look, here’s some discounted healthcare for members of the big unions that support me.
The “right” to health care in leftist theory, then, is not something that you possess inalienably by virtue of your humanity. Instead, a “right” to them is a dehumanizing tragedy in the making.
The government that gives you your “right” to health care can just as easily deny you that so-called “right” to health care. They can take it away at anytime: if you end up in the wrong column of an actuarial chart, if you vote the wrong way, or, hell, in the very likely event that the system goes bankrupt, the government will be in a position to deny what once was your inalienable “right” to health care. Remember, the Soviet Union declared that its citizens had the right to everything from a home to a job. How’d that work out for them?
“B-b-b-b-b-but!,” scream the leftists. “Insurance companies can already deny you health care.”
No, they can’t. Insurance companies are certainly part of the problem. We’ve grown to depend on them too much and on ourselves too little. The system does need to be fixed.
But insurance companies cannot deny you the inalienable ”right” to health care. They do not have that power. They can only choose not to pay for certain procedures. You can still find another insurance company, seek help in a different state, find a charitable doctor to pay for it, benefit from a fundraiser or, worst-case scenario, benefit from the generosity of a well-funded, for-profit private health care institution.
After all, you still have the “right” to find that care. Even in a worst-case scenario in the current system, you only need the means.
But when government monopolizes the system, when government first decides what kind of care you’ll get, and when government next decides if they’ll even pay for it, your right to health care no longer exists.
At best, your rights will be forced underground into a health care black market: doctors illegally providing care in a cash-only medical economy – but probably one better than the legit “health care” system where patients have no rights but those regally gifted to them by the lords of big government (who, themselves, will never be denied care).
Look at Canada: it already has a vibrant cash-only medical economy. It’s called the U.S. health care system.
Your “right” to health care already exists. Don’t let the leftist and their perverted definition of the word take it away.

via biggovernment.com

In the debate over the "right to affordable health care" Byrne talks about the changing definition of a right. The rights identified in our constitution were not given by the government, they were endowed on us by God by virtue of a humanity. The constitution, specifically the bill of rights, simply prohibits the government from infringing upon those rights.
But in this cry for everyone having their right to affordable health care, a right has been redefined from being a gift of God on which government cannot infringe, to an entitlement for which government must provide. With that definition of rights, how long can it be before our treasury collapses under the weight of it's self-imposed responsibility to provide it's citizenry with their "rights"?
I can't find a "right to health care" in our constitution. But for the sake of argument let's assume it falls under the "right to life" umbrella. Doesn't telling the citizenry they must buy insurance, or use a particular doctor, or follow receive treatment or be denied treatment based on some bureaucratic policy infringe on that right, rather than safeguard it.
You already have the right to health care. You also have the responsibility to fund that right. Byrne talks about some of the options you have to do that. As soon as you expect the government to provide it for you it will cease to be a right and become an entitlement that can and will, be taken away as the system collapses.

Posted via web from It's Just a Thought

Boortz: OBAMA ...sending the national debt soaring to 90% of the economy by 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:29:00 +0000

THE COST OF OBAMA

via Nealz Nuze on 3/8/10

There is one thing that Democrats, Republicans and Independents can all agree on - the debt we owe is our greatest long-term threat to national security. By a two-to-one margin, Americans of all demographics and political parties believe that the amount of money we owe to China is now a greater long-term threat than radical Islam. They're right, but it's must worse than that. The level of debt facing this country will destroy the dreams of our children and grandchildren. It is hard to imagine that future generations will have the opportunity to pursue anything close to the lifestyle we enjoy as they are faced with this crushing debt to retire.

Just how bad is this problem? Read on .....

Last Friday, the Congressional Budget office released a report stating that our projected debt is actually going to be much higher than the White House predicted. Wow! Now who didn't see THAT coming? The CBO says that Obama's budget is going to lead to annual deficits averaging $1 trillion for the next decade. The White House's prediction was an annual budget shortfall of $853 billion for the next decade. Why the discrepancy? Obama expects to bring in more tax revenue. The CBO, on the other hand, does not believe the Obama economy will be able to generate the tax revenue because it expects less economic growth. In fact, the CBO predicts that the deficit will never fall below 4% of the GDP under Obama's policies and "would begin to grow rapidly after 2015."

(By the way, as of right now our predicted annual deficit for this year is $1.5 trillion - a post WWII record at 10.3% of our economy.)

But back to this report ... the CBO says that deficits of that magnitude would force the Treasury to continue borrowing at prodigious rates, sending the national debt soaring to 90% of the economy by 2020, while interest payments on the debt would also skyrocket by $800 billion over the same period.

Speaking of interest rates, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell puts our interest rates into perspective. He says, " ... in just four years the administration predicts the government will have to spend more just to pay interest on the federal debt than it spends on the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, HUD (Housing and Urban Development), Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Treasury, and the Corps of Engineers, Environment Protection Agency, GSA (General Services Administration), NASA, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration and the Social Security Administration -- combined."

Posted via email from It's Just a Thought

He's Still Working On Me ~ SG Artists kids

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:42:00 +0000

via youtube.com

For my friend @talkofthesouth and all the others who are glad God isn't going to leave us like we are.

Posted via web from It's Just a Thought!

Fox News: Marriages that have lasted 10 years or Longer

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:01:00 +0000

Report from CDC odds of marriage lasting over 10 years for those who lived together before marriage: 61% for women and 63%. For those who NEVER lived together the odds of success in marriage re 66% for women and 69% for men.

The older couples are when they marry (first marriages) the greater the chance of success.

Other findings:

— The odds of staying together 10 years or longer in a first marriage are better for couples of the same racial origin, the report found.

— Nearly 80 percent of couples who have their first child at least eight months after their first marriage are likely to celebrate their 10th anniversary; those who don't have children are more than twice as likely not to last 10 years.

— About 75 percent of marriages between men and women 26 years old or older last at least 10 years, compared with only about half of teen marriages.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587763,00.html

Posted via email from It's Just a Thought!

Healthy Kingdom Church retreat notes

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:42:00 +0000

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Spiritual Reflections: Confessions of a Recovering Christian

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Hardin) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:54:00 +0000

via revmdavis.blogspot.com

Marshall Davis took a stand for Biblical standards of morality, sexuality, and church polity, and paid the price. And yet he still loves the church who persecuted him. A great read.

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» Health Care and the Left’s Perverted Definition of ‘Rights’ - Big Government

Health Care and the Left’s Perverted Definition of ‘Rights’

Boortz: OBAMA ...sending the national debt soaring to 90% of the economy by 2020

THE COST OF OBAMA

He's Still Working On Me ~ SG Artists kids

Fox News: Marriages that have lasted 10 years or Longer

Healthy Kingdom Church retreat notes

Spiritual Reflections: Confessions of a Recovering Christian

Mike Hardin's ***office* and *software*** Bookmarks