Meditating On God’s Law

Over the years I have worked with several congregations and several church schools and I have come to accept one thing.  I do not know anyone whose life was messed up by living by God’s instructions and standards.  Yet today we seem to have a country where God’s standards are an infringement on our lives. But in this world of desiring our personal freedom, we find that we are not getting better, but worse.  Do we need to be reminded that the Psalmist says that the man who is blessed is the man who finds that “his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night”.  You see, God’s boundaries are not meant to hinder, but to guide, protect, and to make life good.  You might want to find time today to “meditate on His law”.

This was received from my minister, R. Wayne White of Web Chapel Church of Christ in Farmers Branch, Texas.

Credit Card Scams

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the fraud division of American Express to ask about certain charges that were being made.  I found out that somebody was making a number of high-dollar purchases.  Subsequently, they were removed from my account, and a new card was issued.  I received a new statement today, which showed more bogus charges!  I contacted AmEx and was told that these charges were against an OLD card; one even before the one that had just been replaced!  I asked the evident questions---why is a card not invalidated (taken out of their system) when a new one is issued?  How can someone get a merchant to accept OLD card numbers, when they certainly do not have this card?  Their reply was startling.....there are bogus cards out their, but the way this scam often goes down is, the perpetrator asks a clerk to slide a card, which doesn’t work.  The perp then states that something must be wrong with the magnetic strip, and verbally gives them the numbers to type in!  WATCH OUT!!!!

 

Photo Attribution: By U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class LaTunya Howard [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Reality TV From the Surface of Mars

I don’t really care for or watch reality TV, for life itself is real enough for me.  However, I believe that this guy has hit upon a great idea to finance his idea....don’t you know that a network would pay huge bucks for the TV rights to such a venture!  The ads that they would be able to sell would make the super bowl ads pale in comparison.  That being said, I think Lansdorp is overly optimistic when he states “All the technology we need exists already – or nearly exists.”  The logistics of such a venture are HUGE;  I say HUGE!!!  My gut feeling is that he is seeking publicity; maybe planning for another venture that is more realistic.  Time will tell, but I probably won’t be alive to see it...... if it happens.

Reality TV for the Red Planet - New York Times

Blizzard of 2013 in Claude, Texas

Claude, a little town in the Texas Panhandle is where I grew up.  It recently got 72 inches of snow!  Well, maybe it only drifted that high because of 70 mile-per-hour winds!  But this was nothing compared to the blizzard of 1956, when I could walk up and over my house on the drifts—true story!!  Incidentally, when I say that Claude was small....it had a population of 820 when I graduated from high school in 1959, with a whopping 26 in my senior class!!