An Attitude Of Gratitude

I have had a lot of very excited responses from people over the years once they have been informed that they have passed the automobile road test.  Testees are told whether they pass or fail at the conclusion of the test, followed by a review of their positive and negative actions and me handing them a nice looking certificate.

The typical white under 18 teenager receives a positive result quite calmly, expecting of course that they are receiving what every good driver like them deserves.  Sometimes a parent will take a photo of child with certificate standing next to me.  If one of these kids fail the news is often taken harder by the parent who has spent much of their child's life building up his or her child's self esteem.  Plus the parent has shelled out a lot for driver education and some of them think that paying for the test is the same as paying for that nice looking certificate.

Things change a little bit once someone turns 18.  These young adults usually have not gone through driver's training, the demographics are often different and success has not been something that has been guaranteed.  This is true for whites as well as for minorities.  However in my experience the best responses have come from minorities.  And the older the person being tested (if they have not had a previous license) the bigger the response.

I get people jumping out of their cars after passing just the parallel park,  screaming for joy.  A young man nearby watching proudly yells at his family;  "That's my brother!  THAT'S MY BROTHER!"   I've had women finish the test, been informed that they pass, and do little "happy" dances, inside or outside the car.  Women and sometimes even men will lean over to hug me.  One very large African American woman almost totally enveloped me in her quite amble bosom.

I recently passed a middle aged Vietnamese man who leaned over and kissed me on my cheek.  "Oh my gosh" I thought, "I just had a man kiss".  The next day after passing a 20 year old white guy I got out of the car and his father, who was missing most of his teeth and looked quite older than what he probably was, came over to shake my hand.  For some stupid reason I remarked "What, no man kiss?"  which caused his face to turn pale while he stammered "Um, no th th thanks.  I need to be going now".  He quickly got into his vehicle.

Last year I informed a 22 year old woman from Jordan who came dressed for the test in her native clothing that she had passed.  Grabbing my hand very tightly and looking me square in the face she actually told me;  "Sir, you are the first man I have ever given my heart to."  Quite a nice complement, I think.

People clap their sweaty hands or raise them up and shout "Thank you JESUS!"  That actually happens quite a bit, sometimes preceded at the beginning of the drive by "Help me Jesus, help me Jesus, help me Jesus."  And for my part after the review I always try to part with a sincere "May God bless you."

The Name Game

My three oldest children are Benjamin, Cecilia and Caroline.  When Carrie started Middle School her older brother and sister warned her to watch out for the stoners, i.e. students who do drugs and hang out together.  That small fact apparently was not explained to Carrie who thought for a long time that Stoner was the name of family of ruffians who liked to beat up unsuspecting Middle School kids.  I thought of that the other day when I did a road test for a client whose name is Gideon Stoner.  Turns out there really is a Stoner family!

Last month I was scheduled to do a road test for a kid whose first name is Jahon.  I made a mistake when I greeted him by saying;  "Hello Javon, are you here for the test?"  His mother quickly corrected me.  "His name is JaVON.  JaHON is his brother."

I thought if any of my readers out there are pregnant and are in the process of picking out your child's name that the following list might be helpful.  These are first names of some of the people I have tested from just this month of February 2012.  Not a Robert to be found.

Elwyne  -  DeWayne  -  Uniqwa  -  Keonte  -  Maelene  -  Amarelis  -  Mykia  -  Verenice  -  India  -  Abdulrahman  -  KIeiyana  -  Markish  -  Marc-ey  -  Aalea  -  Jaron  -  Aberson  -  Breya  -  Dung  -  Jeancarlos  -  Mu  -  Donta  -  Donte  -  Zalene  -  Azzam  -  Sead  -  Ante  -  Reunell  -  Denisha  -  Chanty  -  Van  -  Yener  -  Hezequiel  -  Nayeli  -  Tykeyah  -  Eloeka  -  Mikela  -  Leandra  -  Blanca  -  Starlisha  -  Oredi  -  Evangelia  -  Taquonna  -  Derikus  -  Marielle  -  Jamon  -  Troya  -  Lanensha  -  Tiaqua.

Plastic Bags On Rear Windshield Wipers

One time when I was very young I noticed that the parents of my neighborhood best friend covered their car upholstery with plastic.  When asked why my friend told me that they did not want the upholstery to show the normal wear and tear of a family.  Even at a young age I thought that was kinda stupid.  We have to sit on and endure the look of grungy plastic for years to help what, resale value?

Plastic was a wonderful invention and boon to mankind, but it was not intended to remain on things like lamp shades forever.

The other day on a road test I was riding in a nice SUV and right there in front of me was a windshield mounted GPS, the face still covered with sticky packing plastic, the pull away tab quite visible, the image not too clear.  "Is there any reason you still have that plastic covering your GPS?" I asked.  "Oh, it's pretty new" was the reply.   Right.

Last week someone came for a road test and their rear windshield wiper was covered by an ill fitting plastic bag.  I have noticed while driving in the last year that quite a few SUV's have those ill fitting plastic bags and was going to attempt to find out more from the driver but the poor woman failed on her back up maneuvers in the parking lot, ending the test early.  Perhaps her vision was partially obstructed.

That day I went into the office and asked the young secretary if she knew why people cover their rear wipers with plastic bags.  "I think it's to protect them from ice" she replies.  That didn't make sense to me because I happen to have a rear wiper on my little Toyota Matrix which I park outside and I've never noticed the wiper covered with ice on a cold morning.

Undeterred by my objection Annie gets on the Internet and asks:  "Why are there plastic bags on rear wipers?"  One of the first answers provided was, and I'm serious here, that they identify people from a particular religious group and they also protect the wipers from ice.  "See" says Annie, "I was right."  I try to reason with Annie.  "So you're going to be driving along, plastic bag on your wiper, and you start to get freezing rain.  Either you use the wiper with the plastic, doing your windshield no good, or you have to stop and get out into the freezing rain to remove that stupid bag."

Annie then says "Oh here, car washes put them on to protect the wipers from rotating brushes, which sometimes grab onto the wipers, thus damaging them."  Now that did make sense.  People from that religious group want to practice safe car washing.  Afterwards they just forget (I think) to remove the bag.

Now, I'm not the brightest car in the lot myself.  Several years ago my daughter Missy's auto was run into at a four way stop by a 15 year old girl who ran the stop sign.  Missy was OK but her little Nissan needed a lot of body work.  Her insurance paid enough for her to use any rental car on the lot and she picked a Chevy Tahoe.

Excitedly Missy said "Dad, you can borrow it any time you want" which I needed to do one day.  She left the keys for me inside her door.  I started the Tahoe and just began backing up when I heard a "RUPP RUPP" sound.  Stopping and looking back I see nothing.  As I begin again I hear the same"RUPP RUPP".  Again I look back see nothing.  This went on for a couple of minutes before I realized that the rear wiper was set on the interval setting.  It was never on when I looked back.  Like all good women in my family Missy had left the wipers on when last stopping.  It was raining then but not when I borrowed the vehicle.

Cutting The Cord

About a month ago we got word that our nephew Matt Johnson was lost on Mt. Fuji.  That night Jackie and I met for the first of what would be many nights with family at Matt's parent's house.  We prayed, we worshiped, we did what family does when something like this happens.  That first night one of Jackie's sisters was working on another one of her beautiful and highly prized baby blankets, and because we knew that Matt had a tent that was grey and orange she was incorporating a strand of orange yarn into one of the patterns in honor of Matt.  Some of us asked Jill for a strand of the yarn which we then tied around our wrists as a visible reminder to keep praying.

Day after day we prayed.  For Matt, for his family, for the search teams and with and for the many thousands that joined us and greatly encouraged us in prayer.  We had hope for many days that one way or another Matt would be found.  When the local search teams came up empty Matt's dad and a brother-in-law flew to Japan to work with a search team of professional climbers.  That too came up empty and as I write Jerry and Gerry are in the air on the way back home.

Even though we know where Matt's spirit/soul is, and even though we know that we did everything we knew how in both the physical and the spiritual to find Matt, and even though we know it is highly possible that Matt is now buried deep within a heavy layer of snow, we still wonder why he has not been found.  We still wonder, with all the prayer, what is going on?

I woke up the night before last in the middle of the night.  In my evening prayers I had asked God once again to show me where Matt's body was.  When I woke that night I said, "Well God, where is Matt?" and immediately the thought "Matthew 18:21" came to mind.  I repeated the number several times, went back to sleep and checked it out in the morning.  The verse reads Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?".  Well, that didn't seem to offer any clarity, even when adding the next verse where Jesus replies that forgiveness should extend to seventy times seven.

This morning I got up with the thought that after church today I would cut the orange yarn that was around my wrist and that the subject of my next blog post would be about the hope that we still have in the midst of a lost.  I thought of daughter Ceci with baby Gracie, of daughter Carrie with baby Hudson and baby James and of the plot in a little cemetery in Holland that they still visit with tears.  I thought of daughter Becky who just yesterday had her anniversary with baby Bailey, and Bailey's snow covered plot.  I thought of my sister Carol and her husband Ed and of their son Kevin, drowned at age 21.  And I knew that the title should be "Cutting The Cord".  My thought was not that by cutting the cord we are forgetting but that in all things we don't understand we have to release it to God and trust.

Well, God kinda freaked me out this morning at church.  The sermon series is on marriage but the title of the sermon today was "Cutting The Cord".  Pastor Dave starts right off by saying, "Turn to Matthew, chapter 18", and begins with verse 21!  I actually said under my breath, "Oh my God!"  The cord that Pastor Dave talked about was one of unforgiveness.  I know that subject doesn't apply to our current situation with Matt but I am grateful for the confirmation.  He did not show us where Matt is but at some point we need to release it to God and trust that He has been hearing our prayers, that He is in control and that we will somehow make it through the pain.

I would like to conclude by quoting from Psalm 18.  One day years ago my father-in-law Harry gave me a book titled HINDS FEET ON HIGH PLACES.  The book is a metaphor of our spiritual journey.  After I read it and gave it back to him he asked me what I thought.  "I really liked it".  "Well good" said Harry.  "I'm glad someone does.  I think if you are going to say something you should just come out and say it".   Ha.

When I read this passage it reminds me that the battle is indeed the Lord's.  That in this physical life when we aim to climb high we sometimes slip, but the Lord who made the mountains is still with us.  That the victory is and will be His.  That He will not leave us.  That we can trust Him.

With the kind You show yourself kind.  With the blameless You show Yourself blameless.  With the pure you show yourself pure.  And with the crooked You show Yourself astute.

For You save an afflicted people.  But haughty eyes You abase.  For You light my lamp.  The Lord my God illumines my darkness.  For by You I can run upon a troop.  And by my God I can leap over a wall.

As for God, His way is blameless.  The word of the Lord is tried.  He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.  For who is God but the Lord?  And who is a rock except our God?  The God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless?

He makes my feet like hinds feet.  And sets me upon high places.  He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

You have also given me the shield of Your salvation.  And Your right hand upholds me.  And Your gentleness makes me great.  You enlarge my feet under me.  And my feet have not slipped.  (Psalm 18: 25-36)

What I Know About Mormonism

Our country has had Presidents that were Episcopalian (11), Presbyterian (10), Methodist (4), Baptist (4), Unitarian (4), Disciples of Christ (3), Congregationalist (2), Quaker (2), Dutch Reformed (2), Catholic (1), Church of Christ (1) and Jehovah's Witness (1) (Eisenhower, who became Presbyterian soon after his 1st inauguration). Jefferson was a deist and Lincoln did not claim a denomination. Many of these men, including Washington, and in recent history FDR, Truman, LBJ, and Ford, were also members, and some quite high leaders, of Masonic lodges. It seems that lodge membership was the type of thing that many wealthy and/or ambitious men saw as a way to advance their financial and/or political careers.

It bothers me that there are occult symbols throughout everything Masonic, and that various Egyptian and other false gods are honored, with oaths given, through each level of advancement. I believe that evil spirits hang around those symbols and that invoking those names give those spirits certain legal rights to latch onto anyone who does so. Most of the denominations listed above have warnings about occult involvement. Yet many of the men involved may have belonged to a church for the same reason they belonged to a lodge. Perhaps they actually were ignorant of the spiritual dangers involved with their activities. I hope so.

We have not yet had a President who was Mormon, but with the current political environment I thought it might be interesting to know a little bit more about that religion.

The Mormon religion carries with it a mindset of deception that began with the circumstances of its very beginning and which carries through even to today. The religion was created by a man, Joseph Smith Jr., who came from a family that was heavily involved with occult practices, who incorporated occult practices and symbolism into the activities of that religion, who communicated with demonic spirits, and who had at least 30 wives, many of them quite young and many who were still married to other men. He encouraged his followers to engage in this adultery and polygamy. To get away with this they would only legally record one marriage with the State, an example of an early incorporation of deception into the fabric of the religion.

Most of the first followers of Smith were also heavily involved in the occult, as was Brigham Young who became the Mormon leader after Smith was killed in 1844. Young moved most of the followers to the Utah territory and saw to the design and construction of the early Mormon temples, the first being the current one in Salt Lake City. This temple has many occult symbols, and the temple ceremonies have many Masonic/occult features. Almost no one could advance in leadership positions in the church of the Latter Day Saints (LDS) without having "plural" marriages, with incestuous arraignments not unheard of. This officially continued until 1890, when wanting the Utah Territory to become a state the LDS leaders "agreed" to end the practice. Privately it was still encouraged by the leadership at least until 1915 or 1920, and perhaps even much longer than that.

As a young man Joseph Smith Jr. and his father engaged in something called money digging. This was a combination of folk magic and scamming, the purpose being to make people think there was something of value which could be found. The process worked this way. After being paid a certain amount Mr. Smith would make an animal sacrifice to confuse the guardian evil spirit over the treasure and then gaze into his sear stone. The sear stone would indicate where the treasure was (previously salted by Smith) leading them to find enough so the person would pay again, hoping to find more.

The term used in that day which applied to people who did this was called "juggling". It is defined as "manipulating and practicing deceit in order to achieve a desired end". I believe the formation of the LDS scriptures are a result of both the influence of evil spirits as well as the practice of juggling.

I have a relative who knew Brigham Young and some of the early leaders of the Mormon faith in Utah. Here is an excerpt from EARLY STEAMBOAT NAVIGATION ON THE MISSOURI RIVER by H.M. Chittenden which writes about my great great grandfather Captain Joseph La Barge. “While in Salt Lake City the Captain renewed his acquaintance with Brigham Young and other Mormons whom he had known on the Missouri. An old friend of his of the name of Hooper, who had turned Mormon, and later became a delegate from the Territory to Congress, called as soon as he heard that La Barge was in town. He also found there another friend, Hopkins by name, whom he had known from boyhood. Hopkins tried his best to induce La Barge to join the Mormons. He assured the Captain that if he would sell out in St. Louis and come to Utah it would be his fortune. As proof of this, he referred to himself and others, who, he said, had gone into Mormonism, not for any love of the doctrine, but as a simple business proposition.

The Captain called on Young several times. That dignitary received him very hospitably, took him to the Tabernacle and other places of interest, and presented him to several of his families. They went to the theater together, where they sat in a box with Young's favorite wife, the other wives being ranged in seats below. Young never said anything intended to convert La Barge to his religion. Other members of the Church did, and particularly Orson Hyde, who was a man of education and a very persuasive talker. La Barge heard a sermon by Herber Kimball – a rough old fellow who took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and waded in. His language was coarse and vulgar, and would not bear repetition in refined ears.” (pg. 333 - 335)

Mormon theology is derived from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price and the Documents and Covenants. The Book of Mormon came from gold tablets that were either found in a field in Upstate New York or given to Smith by an angel (the story varies) and translated by Smith while he had a blanket over his head. The tablets (which no one but Smith ever saw) seem to be along the same line as a sear stone. All of the original Mormon ideas can be traced to writings that came from within a 50 mile range from where Smith lived, or from ideas, theories, or beliefs that were common in the time and area he lived. And if there was a problem with what he claimed an angel or God told him (could be either because there are at least 3 documented versions of his first vision, a keystone belief for most Mormons), it was revised without objection from his followers.

One of his biggest tricks was to claim the Bible as a Mormon sacred scripture and then announcing that all  translations and interpretations of those translations were corrupt and could only be correctly understood by God's prophet (meaning Joseph Smith Jr. and his successors). So even today revelation from Joseph Smith can be revised because God can speak to the reigning prophet (president/apostle), trumping any past revelation. That is why polygamy and the idea that blacks are a cursed race could later be changed (at least "officially").

Today the LDS officially condemns occult practices. The problem here is that Mormon ceremonies include many things that I would consider occult but which they do not define as such. Examples would be the symbols in and on the Mormon temples and temple clothing, and the objects and words used in the temple ceremonies. Many of these are borrowed from Masonic imagery. Mormonism claims that the Book of Mormon has a "familiar spirit", but officials do not see anything wrong with that.

Mormons say that they listen to the spirit but theologically they are not talking about the same Holy Spirit that I would. When Mormons say that salvation only comes through Jesus they all know that Mormonism defines Jesus and God the Father much differently than traditional Christianity does. Salvation for a Mormon has a totally different meaning than with other Christian traditions. In their missions and everyday dealings with Christians Mormons initially disguise the true meaning of their spiritual language in order to gain acceptance.

A basic Mormon belief is that we can become like God the Father (who is god of our particular universe) and someday rule over our own planets and maybe even our own universes. They believe that their status in the next life will be enhanced by you becoming a Mormon. This was one of the keystones beliefs behind multiple marriages and missions. It is multi-level marketing to the extreme. Mormonism is intentionally deceptive to the outside world in order to juggle you.

Perhaps this is what bothers me about Romney. He is known for changing and shaping his views to best appeal to the people who might vote for him. True, other politicians are known to do the same. And in this regard I believe there are evil spiritual beings that help maneuver many men and women into positions of authority. I have a feeling that there is a particularly strong spirit involved with Mormonism which has been wanting to push someone to a critical position in our country for a long time.