Drawing A Line
Maybe it's the grilled ham and scrambled eggs in Denny's this morning. Maybe it's the guffaws and wise cracks of the truckers watching Price is Right on the flat screen TV over the bar. Maybe it's the high octane coffee, but I can't stop reliving the beautiful scene that unfolded just a few hours ago in the Tennessee hills. Driving north from I-40 on highway 92, a hilltop revealed a panorama of hills in the distance, each row a little taller than the preceding, like God's own amphitheater. Low lying clouds rested in the valleys, concealing all but the smokey hilltops themselves. Nestled in the foreground was the sleepy little town of Midway. A rather prominent church, its white steeple easily the highest manmade structure around, seemed small unto insignificance against the massive, billowy white backdrop of ground-level clouds. It looked as if the clouds could drift forward just a little and swallow the town entirely. Do you remember the song?
For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies, 
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to thee we raise
this our hymn of grateful praise
Soaking in scenes like this, it is easy, easy beyond description to become completely lost in thoughts of gratitude and appreciation. Appreciation for those whose courage and foresight secured our freedom. Appreciation for the Founders who famously broke with the whole tide of human history, preferring to design a system of government that would actually transfer power from them to the citizenry rather than the other way around. Appreciation to the Author of the freedoms the Founders secured with their wisdom and that our ancestors secured with their blood.
Against this flood of happiness, this tidal wave of liberty, paddles Barack Obama, who last week at the National Prayer Breakfast intoned his received vision that, "…for unto whom much is given, much shall be required," …to Internal Revenue. Fresh from this devotional, his Health and Human Services Secretary ruled that Christian organizations would be forced to cover contraception and sterilization in their health plans, in direct contravention to their doctrine and most deeply held moral beliefs. But what's a little thing like religious freedom in the face of a more pressing need to abort the unborn. Bishop David Zubik, of Pittsburgh has written that the Secretary and the President, "have said 'To hell with you' to the Catholic faithful of the United States. To hell with your religious beliefs. To hell with your religious liberty. To hell with your freedom of conscience. …" Even the Archbishop for the Archdiocese of the Military Service issued a letter to Catholic members of the military announcing, "It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle."
Showing the strength of her convictions, Nancy Pelosi replied, "I’m going to stand with my fellow Catholics in supporting the administration on this. I think it was a very courageous decision that they made and I support it." Our overseers in Washington DC have evidently overlooked the scripture reminding those that would harm children that, "it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."
At some point, it becomes necessary to stand and be counted. At some point, it becomes necessary to draw a line in the sand. Through a series of Constitutional crises, from the Executive declaring the Senate to be in recess to a plethora of Czars, from the government compelling private citizens to enter into private contracts to infringements on religious liberty, Barack Obama is bringing us to a decision point. I take great solace and strength from the knowledge that my redeemer is not of this world, and that my ultimate allegiance is to eternal truths, rather than the received wisdom of a small man paddling against the American tide.
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Comments:
Mar '11
Re: Drawing A Line
It's always good to be reminded that America is a beautiful country, in spite of the Political craziness.
One ray of hope in all this is that it may play into Mr Santorum's hand, if only Newt's ego can get outa the way.
May '10
Re: Drawing A Line
I do so love to take the time to stop and read your posts, Dave. You are an artist!
Jul '10
Re: Drawing A Line
The questions become: where is the line drawn and are there enough left willing to do something about it? It seems every time someone wants to declare a line that will not be crossed they are immediately labeled as fringe, extremist, or to have somehow moved out of bounds which makes it that much more difficult to ever reach a decision point. At that point the decision was already made. Too much of the electorate seems content to have their rights trashed as long as they get entitlements, cheap consumer goods, and higher taxes on people better off than themselves.
Interestingly, Francis Schaeffer warned of this 35 years ago in worrying that the drive for personal peace (the desire to be personally unaffected by the world's problems) and affluence (rising personal income) would move our free society towards an increasingly more authoritarian government that provided those ends. That government would not be obviously fascist but more manipulative through subtle means like information control, psychology, and genetics. Sounds awfully familiar to me.
Jul '11
Re: Drawing A Line
One way to combat such silliness is to teach the children well. Last week I went to my daughter's Christian pre school for a human body lecture. I mentioned God a dozen times and the miracle of Christ repeatedly.
May '11
Re: Drawing A Line
This piece feels like a devotional, in a lovely and inclusive way.
Dec '10
Re: Drawing A Line
Dave,
My father was a Graduate Dean of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, a Catholic School run by the Fathers of the Holy Spirit. In Pittsburgh all of the Catholics referred to them as the Holy Ghost Fathers.
I used to make a joke and say that the University was run by the Holy Ghost Fathers and my Father. They loved each other. It was a time, after WII, that people were thankful to be alive and free. A simple job was good enough. Marrige and children were what life was about. My father had Graduate Students from all over the world and the poorest neighborhoods right around Pittsburgh. They loved to be there. Getting their PHD in a fresh new Science. Discovering America and loving it. Somehow a pattern emerged. It happened 5 or 6 times. (cont.)
Dec '10
Re: Drawing A Line
The Graduate Student no matter where he had come from, got married while he was there. Just as he was writing his PHD for publication, his first child, a son, was born. It happened just this way so many times that it was just crazy. Once the Graduate Student had his PHD and his first child something else would happen. He fell in love with America and didn't want to go back. Usually, they were family people with many relatives back home. Yet, they would make the choice with out any urging to stay. Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Woman, Man, New York, LA, West Virginia, it made no difference. They fell in love with America.
DAVE, WE WILL BEAT THESE S.O.B.s. I PROMISE YOU. WE WILL BEAT THEM.
May '11
Re: Drawing A Line
Dave, thank you. You see I a have a personal interest in your post. You drove within a few miles of my childhood home. My home was within a hundred yards of Highway 92 near Jefferson City.
Every time I go back to those beautiful, green hills I look around and simply know why Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and other pioneers came to the area. There are other beautiful parts of our country that remind me of my home. Pennsylvania comes to mind with its rolling hills and deep green forests. Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia,too. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson could tell you of the beauty of Virginia. The land has a softness a welcoming feel.
People have come to America for more than two centuries now to get away form oppression. What kind of oppression? The only kind that can hold you down...government oppression. And now we are growing our own. It is time to weed the garden and get rid of the choking vines. It is time to focus on removing Obama and his ilk from office so our garden can be productive again.
Re: Drawing A Line
Pilli: Dave, thank you. You see I a have a personal interest in your post. You drove within a few miles of my childhood home. My home was within a hundred yards of Highway 92 near Jefferson City.
Every time I go back to those beautiful, green hills I look around and simply know why Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and other pioneers came to the area. There are other beautiful parts of our country that remind me of my home. Pennsylvania comes to mind with its rolling hills and deep green forests. Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia,too. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson could tell you of the beauty of Virginia. The land has a softness a welcoming feel.
You are fortunate indeed to be able to claim that area as home. Its beauty is downright inspirational.
May '11
Re: Drawing A Line
Dave Carter
Pilli: Dave, thank you. You see I a have a personal interest in your post. You drove within a few miles of my childhood home. My home was within a hundred yards of Highway 92 near Jefferson City.
You are fortunate indeed to be able to claim that area as home. Its beauty is downright inspirational. · 12 minutes ago
I wish it were still home. Maybe in a few more years. I am heading for the high desert of Albuquerque very soon. Quite a different landscape. A new adventure.
Re: Drawing A Line
Pilli, Albuquerque is beautiful in it's own way. I've driven through there several times. Along the highway though, the houses were the same color as the dirt which was just as well because a good gust of wind covered them with the stuff in any event. But I suffer a little inside when I'm in a place that can't grow grass.
Nov '11
Re: Drawing A Line
Thanks, Dave (as always)...it's heartening to see what Peggy Noonan called "a sleeping giant" waking up to itself. Travel safely...