Words of Truth

Let’s say you are an entrepreneur. Let’s say you invent something that improves the world, and makes people’s lives better. Let’s say that you then help found a company. Let’s say that eventually you become the CEO of that company. And now let’s say that 11 days later you are pressured to resign because six years ago you donated money to a political cause that over half the people in your state supported. How do you feel?

All that happened to Brendan Eich. He invented the Java programming language. He co-founded Mozilla in 1998 and worked there for over 15 years before becoming the CEO 12 days ago on March 24th. Yesterday he was pressured to resign because it was revealed that in 2008 he donated $1000 to the Proposition 8 campaign in California, which was a statewide referendum (that PASSED) defining marriage as between a man and a woman only.

Why did he resign? Because he didn’t toe the party line with the liberals and the gaystapo. Because he took a stand on a nationally divisive issue. He didn’t even make a statement in 2008, he just gave them some money, and for someone who makes as much money as he probably does, $1000 is pocket change. But he wrote the check. And that’s unacceptable.

I understand that people who practice homosexuality feel that they’ve been discriminated against for decades (I’m not saying centuries, because none of them have been alive that long). I understand that gay people have been murdered because they were gay. I understand that they have suffered because of their “gayness” (if that’s a word).

However, I don’t believe they deserve special status. This would be like me deserving special status because I prefer Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. Whether my preference is genetic or my own choice doesn’t matter, I use MW. Does this give me the right to castigate those who use mayonnaise? Am I now able to get people fired from their jobs who don’t support Miracle Whip?

Now I know that’s silly, but it’s just an analogy. As I’ve said before, at first, gay people just wanted to be left alone. Then they wanted acceptance. Then they wanted approval. And now they want endorsement. Pretty soon, if you don’t actually “come out” and say that YOU are gay, you will be looked down on.

Let me say it simply: persecuting people because they believe homosexuality is wrong is just as bad as persecuting gay people because they believe homosexuality is right.

by Chuck Asay

Brendan Eich lost his job because he agreed with a majority of the citizens of the state of California, but disagreed with a small, goose-stepping, brown-shirted minority.

Tell me again how gay people “just want to be left alone.”

I was surfing the net (does anybody say that anymore? I guess I just did, so nevermind) on March 19th, and saw that one of my Facebook friends, Steve Deace (the nationally syndicated conservative talk show host and Washington Post columnist) was holding a contest. He said that Hillary Clinton was writing a new book, and she said she hadn’t thought of a title yet. The contest was this: come up with a good title for Hillary’s new book, tweet it to Steve’s show, and the best title would win a free copy of Steve’s new book “Rules for Patriots: How Conservatives Can Win Again.”

I started tweeting book titles. Some were funny, some were silly, and some were biting. Over the course of the next few hours, I submitted 52 book titles. My favorites were:
• How to Hit Reset to the 1970’s
• Charlie and the Great Glass Ceiling.
• How to Kill a US Ambassador in 3 Easy Steps
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Wants Socialism
• It Takes a Woman
• The Four People You Meet in Benghazi
• The Girl Who Played With the Economy
• President Carter the Third
• All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Benghazi.

My favorite title not written by me was “Are You There, Hillary? It’s Me, Chris.”

Evidently Steve Deace liked two of my titles enough to award the contest (and the free book) to me! Here were the two deciding titles that he liked the most:
• The Communist Manifesto: The New American Standard Version
• Where the Red Star Grows

He mentioned me by name on his radio show as the winner, and he. Pronounced. My. Name. Correctly. Wow!

Fast-forward to yesterday, April 2nd. A package came in the mail for me.

Said Package

Inside the package: a copy of his book.

Said Book

Inside the book, a dedication to me signed by Steve. Sweet.

Said dedication. Did I mention he’s a brother in Christ?

Thanks, Steve! Now I just need to carve out some free time to read it.

DirecTV has lost a customer.

Money has been tight for the past few months, and we called DirecTV a few months ago to have them stop the “auto-bill pay” that we had set up with them (to get a $10 off per month discount), but they kept taking it out. Well, right now we simply can’t afford the TV service, so I called to tell them that we were going to have to cancel the service unless they drastically reduced the price. Before I called, I did some research.

Right now DirecTV is offering new customers the following deal on the same channel package we have:
• $40 a month for the first 12 months, then $75 for 12 months.
• $100 Visa gift card
• All the movie channels for free for 3 months
• 2014 NFL Sunday Ticket
• Upgrade to their Genie DVR box
• $10 off your bill for the entire 24 months.

We have been DirecTV customers for several years. I figured that should count for something. I called, armed with the information above. I asked to speak to the retention department because I wanted to cancel my service (this is the best way to get the best deal from any company). I got a very nice guy to whom I explained that I was considering canceling my DirecTV service and moving to Comcast, because they have a deal where I can get the same channels that I’m getting right now, and it would only increase my bill by $50 since I’m already paying for my internet through them. This means that if I switched to Comcast from what I have right now, I’d be saving about $40 per month. I like my DirecTV service, and I really wanted to stay.

Short answer: no dice.

Long answer: the promotional deals are for new customers only. Who is a “new customer”? Someone who has either never had DirecTV or hasn’t had it for 24 months. What did he offer me as a loyal longtime customer of about 7 years?
• No reduction in price
• No Visa gift card
• No free movie channels
• The possibility of “having a conversation this fall about getting the 2014 NFL Sunday Ticket free” (but no guarantee)
• Upgrade to their Genie DVR box, which I qualify for anyway

So we can either continue what we have now: $38 to Comcast and $100 to DirecTV ($138 total), or we can switch to Comcast and get higher internet speed and the same channels as DirecTV for $98 per month total. Seems to me that saving $40 per month might be worth switching.

No matter what I said, the DirecTV guy wouldn’t budge on anything. The only thing he offered was giving me a package with fewer channels to lower my bill by $10 per month. So I told him I’m calling Comcast to set up our new service, and when it’s set up, I’ll call back to cancel. I can’t believe they would just give up $1800 over the next two years just because they don’t want to give me a discount that would total $420 over the next year. So instead of getting my $1380 (the difference between the two), they’re getting exactly nothing.

Comcast is going to set up our new service next Friday. I’m going to call DirecTV next Thursday evening and give them one last chance. Kim is hoping they budge, because she hates change, and she’s used to DirecTV.  We’ll see what happens.

Psalm 119:111 says

Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.

I started thinking about this verse today, and exactly what it means to me. The word for “lamp” is the Hebrew word “ner” and it refers to a handheld lamp with a wick. A modern equivalent would be a kerosene lantern. My dad had one of these, and when I was a kid he would light it when we had a power failure. It didn’t put off much light, but the light it did put out was enough to see within a small area.

This morning I realized that this verse means that God’s Word is not a set of high beams on a car. This verse does not say “Your Word is a sun to my feet.” His Word is not meant to tell us everything that’s going to happen in the future. The Bible is given to light our path, not illuminate our destination.

I am a deer hunter. The best times to get a deer are the half hour before and after sunrise, and the half hour before and after sunset (and at noon, if you are in an area where hunters leave for lunch…sometimes they make the deer move when the hunters leave the woods.) The lazy hunter gets up in the morning and wanders out to the woods when the sun is already up. I like to get up and go to my spot in the woods while is still dark. And when I say dark, I mean that if I’m not in my blind an hour before sunrise, I’m late. I want to get to my spot, get in my blind, and then let the forest forget that I was even there, so that when the deer wander through my area, they aren’t warned to my presence.

Now the trick in walking through the woods when it’s pitch dark, as my dad’s woods are, a to have a good light. There are many obstacles in my path: dead tree limbs, rocks, barb wire fences, trees, honey locust trees with two inch thorns, and random detritus blown in from all over the county. If I don’t point my light directly in front of me, I will certainly trip over something, get hurt, and get lost. If I turn my light off, then I will fail.

When you walk a dark path at night, you need a light, or you will go off course. Your way will be harder, take longer, and you will not be as successful as you could have been.

The Christian life is like that. We are walking a dark, dark path in this world, and we have only the light of God’s Word to illuminate the steps right in front of us. If we don’t read God’s Word every day, it’s like we are walking in the dark without a light. God doesn’t give us enough light to see far ahead, but He does give us enough light to see what we need to right now.

Proverbs 6:23 says:

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light.

Don’t set your lantern down. It’s the only light you have.