January 16th, 2025 - Early Morning Thoughts

 Hello (good morning, et cetera) dear Reader, and welcome to this obscure slice of cyberspace where I'm writing to you on a dark January morning in the small, quiet hours before Dawn, somewhere in the remote Sonoran Desert. And, if applicable, welcome back! 😄

The little turtle had a nice, warm bath and is now back in bed with his Daddy; the dogs are asleep but both the cat and the rabbit are running around, chasing each other (is what it sounds like). The coffee is wonderful - hot and delicious; just one of so, so many things to thank God for today. 

With regard to the Israel/ Hamas conflict: thank You, God for there now being a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel in that, over the next forty-two days, we now have hope of receiving the (surviving) innocent hostages whose lives have been forever disrupted as of October 7, 2023. Every single day that those poor, innocent human beings have spent in hostile captivity is a day too long and never, ever should have happened - never would have happened if the United States had been under any kind of real leadership, but that's thankfully almost behind us now. Clearly Biden's pathetic "Don't" was laughable and half-assed to say the absolute least. 😡 That man and his administration are directly responsible for the deaths of how many, I wonder? Do I even want to know? Well, no matter, because God knows and God will not be mocked, you can take that straight to the bank! 
But, beyond bringing Your Justice, Lord Jesus, we ask You to please provide solace and comfort to all affected survivors of the conflict in Gaza as You bring down a curtain of supernatural peace, the peace that passes all understanding, and we give You thanks, in Jesus' Name, amen.

Continuing in that attitude of prayerfully seeking the face of God today, here is today's portion from the Book of Wisdom:

Proverbs 16 ESV

and in audio format:

This verse from that chapter sticks out to me today:

This verse applies to all leadership, in my opinion, from a parent to a boss to members of the city council to a landlord to you name it, if you're in authority, any and all true authority is only established by righteousness. And all deliberate abuses of power will result in the solemn facts as stated earlier in Galatians 6:7. 😎

Here's another promise of fact from today's Proverb, again relevant to the character and behavior of true, strong leadership:

In my opinion, dear Reader, that last verse is one of many that is Bible for "FAFO". It requires strength for leadership, the ability to make the life and death decisions that forever shape our world, and only one with the strength to consider the least of these in his decisions is qualified for the job.

President Trump IS that leader, full-stop. 

I love him (his entire family!) so much and do you know why? Because he loves US - the poor, the forgotten, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, the disabled - the ones the Lord God calls "the least of these". It is his humility and heart of service (among other character qualities) that make the man truly wonderful, by any and all definitions of the word. He is not perfect, he is a man. None of us are perfect, not by any means, but any and all of us can have a perfect heart before the Lord. 
Find me one example of human perfection in all of Christian history (aside from Jesus) - you can't.
God doesn't choose 'perfect' - He perfects the chosen! 
Let that fact encourage you, dear Reader, and me too! that, regardless of our inherent weaknesses and imperfections, God can and will use us for His purposes if we will only have a perfectly submitted heart before Him. 
Thank you for stopping by this morning, I pray the Lord bless you today like never before, and again please please do keep everyone affected by the conflict in Gaza in your prayers as that is a deeply personal favor to me; thank you, take care. Be blessed, be loved.

💗