The Recess Comeback  

     Raise your hand if you had recess in grade school. Hua...we thought so. Yours truly had recess, free to do whatever, for maybe 20 or 30 minutes, in a field large enough to play softball, which we did when we got older. 

     We didn't know kids have been denied recess around the country...or for how long. Whatever, there is a push to restore recess, even for 60 minutes. Three mothers in Tennessee succeeded in getting schools to expand 10-minute recesses to 40 minutes. Twenty states have chapters of their nonprofit. 

     They argue longer recesses should be available to all elementary kids, regardless of good or bad behavior. About the only memory we have of recess is the time Bill saw me - youngest in the class and probably the weakest - and tried to knock me down. I responded without thinking, and Bill was the one on the ground. 

     Multiple studies affirm the necessity of play for children's physical and mental health. Somehow, longer recesses improve academic performance, and problem-solving skills. Really? The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its stance that recesses better children's cognitive, physical and emotional well-being. Really again? 

     Entering grade school four months short of age 6, we knew nothing about cognitive well-being. Did you? As for Bill, we withhold his last name here - and we blog without our last name - lest a reader who knows him tips him off. He might want to get even...really?

      Jimmy  

 

          

Rededicating America to God

     This summer thousands from around the nation gathered for a daylong prayer meeting on the National Mall in Washington. 

     Pastor Craig Moore from South Dakota said, "We get our marching orders from the Lord. We felt like the Holy Spirit was leading us to do this." Several speakers noted it was 250 years ago when the 13 colonies observed a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer in the early days of the Revolutionary War. 

     "Today, friends, we are in a spiritual war," said Gary Hamrick of Leesburg, Virginia. "This is a battle between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and lies, between light and darkness. This is a battle for the very soul of America. Please know that our hope is not lost. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." 

     Other speakers included Robert Jeffress, Jack Graham, Eric Metaxas and Alveda King. "How does rededication take place?" asked Jeffress. "The same way it happened 250 years ago: It starts with prayer. It starts with you. It starts with me."

     Franklin said, "Today there is no better moment than right now for each of us to look deep into our own hearts and quietly repent of our sins and call upon the Name of Almighty God." Cissie Graham Lynch said, "We do this not because we're perfect people; we're not. America is a deep and persistent belief that we cannot persevere on our own - that we need God." 

     President Trump, J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio addressed the meeting by video. Mike Johnson offered the official prayer of rededication: "Almighty God, we ask that you hear these solemn petitions, Just as in the beginning we dedicated this land to your most holy Name, today Lord - in this 250th year of American independence - we rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God."

We have peace with God - Romans 5:1 

     Really? Our world has tensions, emergencies and revolt. There are drones, cyberattacks, sabotage and covert operations. There is persecution, military robots and inhuman weather. 

     Christians flee Islamist attacks in Congo. Violent Islamist groups have attacked, abducted and murdered Christians. Pastors are not trained to deal with this. They themselves suffer physically, spiritually and mentally. 

     Meanwhile, Congolese pastors and Christians are still helping others amid the deadly Ebola virus in eastern DRC. The church remains the only place of hope for receiving displaced people. 

     The Congo is just one area of evil people and disease at work. 

     What about the USA? We have our laws and freedoms...and we have political and other opponents of laws and freedoms. Millions of foreigners who invaded during the Biden administration are still on the loose. 

     In 1968 a man killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. setting off riots as Black Americans had enough of White supremacy. (Living in Toledo, I witnessed some rioting). One Black man, not considered equal in Catholic seminary, quit to join the revolt. He attended meetings run by Marxists and other foreigners. Eventually, this thinker realized America, for all its problems, is the nation he could be at peace with. Democrats hate him. 

     Maybe you've heard of (Black) Clarence Thomas.  

Where Do We Get Our Identity? 

     Columnist Andree Seu Peterson says, "Beware of where your identity is. If it is reputation or identity other than saved-sinner and child-of-God, it will sooner or later backfire."

     "I actually enjoy a good humbling now and then. Not in the moment, of course. It recenters me. And God is happy to supply these moments. No chastening seems to be joyful for the present. Afterword it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those trained by it. - Hebrews 12:11. 

     "Paul remarked, 'But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court - 1 Corinthians 4:3." When you are confident of God's love, the opinion of others can sting but not destroy.  

     "The surpassing greatness of the wisdom and knowledge of God breaks down all pride. We can laugh at the impostors we have been. Even Job got too big for his britches, and God had to review for him the facts of the universe. 'Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding." - Job 38:2-4 

     "Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me." 

  

Higher Education; Lower Results

     A book by Kevin Roberts, Higher Education in America, asks how bad the university system has become. He says, It's worse than you think. Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, says a number of academics and analysts attempt to diagnose what ails America's colleges. 

     "One group of essays take on education's affordability.  As the cost creeped up, the federal government tried to help, making it easier for students to borrow money. So, what did the schools do? They raised costs even higher.

     "Transparency: Under the guise of financial aid, colleges offer various discounts. Families often don't know how much it will cost until late in the process. No one knows who much 0ther students receive in discounts. This lack of price transparency allows colleges to warp the market and squeeze additional revenue out of students. 

     "What schools spend on instruction hasn't risen at the same rate as the cost of attendance. There is bureaucratic bloat, much of it spending tuition dollars on left-wing causes. Recent attacks on Jewish students and problems with DEI (diversity equity inclusion) come up repeatedly. 

     "How do we fix affordability, bloat and the left's stranglehold on higher education? Some say reform. Some say create new colleges and universities. But part of the solution is to remember the purpose of college. Stop thinking about college as job training and the acquisition of knowledge - and think about it as a place to form free and responsible citizens."  

Views: We've learned that numerous leftist graduates have no knowledge to lead them to employment. So they are using the system to gain political power, and if they succeed, to destroy our constitution, senate, and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's what the progressives want: for themselves only. 

            Jimmy

The Apple of His Eye  

     Yesterday from Old Testament Zechariah chapter 8 we listed the Lord's 10 promises to Israel...still in the future. The Bible being truth, Israel will be the center of God's activity for a thousand years.

     Why don't most people believe it? In Lighthouse Trails Research Journal, "Demonic influences have worked their way into the church and altered the way some Christians think about the Jews, Israel and the Word of God. Martin Luther turned against the Jews, and Hitler used Luther's thoughts in his attempt at genocide of the Jewish race." 

     "We find the church having less knowledge of prophecy, especially as it relates directly to Israel. Most evangelical Christians have supported the Jews and the modern state of Israel, but things are changing. The church drifted away from her Jewish beginnings, many believing the church has replaced Israel. But, we see prophecy being fulfilled with God's protection and restoration of the Jews to their land." 

     "God says we are to bless them. 'They have been entrusted with the very words of God' - Romans 3:2. 'Salvation is of the Jews' - John 4:22. God has blessed and prospered them wherever they went (Except World War II). Christians, are we to think as the world thinks?" 

- for whoever touches you touches the apple (pupil) of his eye. - Zechariah 2:8. The Godly remnant of Israel and believing Gentiles will be God's people in the millennium. 

   Priest and prophet Zechariah, 520-470 B.C., receiving God's plan for Zion and Jerusalem 

The Lord Almighty says:

     "I am burning with jealously for Zion     

     "I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem (the city of truth, Holy Mountain) 

     "Men and women of ripe old age will sit on the streets of Jerusalem. Streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there 

     "It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time 

     "I will save my people from the countries of the East and West. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem 

     "You who hear these words spoken by the prophets who were there when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty; let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built

     "Just as I had determined to bring disaster upon you and showed no pity...so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah 

     "The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace

     "Many people and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come. Many people and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty 

     "In those days, ten men from all languages and nations will take firm the hold of one Jew and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you." 

                                                          *

     Zechariah chapter 8. The key to Israel's restoration is Christ's return in glory and begins his earthly reign over all the nations. It's called the millennium - a thousand years. Jerusalem will be a city of truth and faithfulness. The mountains of the Lord will be holy. (They will be rearranged.)  

     Much will happen before Christ returns - a world hatred of Israel - but we're getting closer.