In 1716, the first American lighthouse lights up in the Boston Harbor in Massachusetts.

I’ll admit it—I’m a raving fan of change. I’m delighted that I can “Google” information, watch HD-TV, take pictures digitally, and send and receive e-mails. At 55, I have worked with computers that since the 70's. However, one of my all-time favorite inventions is the dishwasher. Early in our marriage our dishwasher was me! Believe me, getting a dishwasher that we could keep under the counter was a big-time welcome change. And add to my list the TV remote!

But, being an unrepentant cheerleader for change, there are some changes that challenge my comfort zone. I find myself troubled by the changes in the moral foundations of our nation as well as our government. Changes in attitudes about Jesus and His claims bother me. Changes in perspectives on marriage, sexuality, and modesty no doubt bother you as well. And it’s not only what is happening “out there,” I feel unsettled about the fact that many Christians have seemingly lost their zeal for pure and holy lives. And while I feel that it’s right to be bothered by these changes, being against them always makes me feel seriously out of step. I feel like people write me off as being too retro, an nut, leaning slightly to the right of Attila the Hun. Let’s face it, holding our ground against popular cultural change can be very intimidating.

So, what should we do when so many things that we cherish seem headed for the Dumpster? In Psalm 11, David asks the same question when he says, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (v.3). He goes on to resolve our dilemma by affirming three important things about God.

First, he reminds us that “the Lord is in His holy temple.” God’s continuing presence in His holy temple assures us that His moral standards are not based on opinion polls, current trends, or popular perspectives. His holiness is unthreatened by an unholy world. And, in the end, His holiness will be the standard against which every thought and popular opinion will be judged.

Secondly, David remembers that “the Lord is on His heavenly throne.” God rules! Changing things here does not change His reign as the eternal King, nor does it threaten to dethrone Him for a trendier god. His righteous authority will be in place long after our world’s fleeting perspectives have gone up in smoke.

And, lastly, our text reminds us that “He observes the sons of men; His eyes examine them.” Knowing that a holy King is very much aware of all that is going on is either a scary thought or a confidence-building reality. It’s a scary thought if I have been in any way a part of a rebellion against God’s righteous ways. But as I live to affirm His ways, it builds my confidence to know that as I stand with Him—regardless of the pressure—He is watching over me.

As intimidating as it might be to stand against the change in a classroom, at the water cooler, or in a casual chat with a friend, the intimidation begins to lose its grip when we see these changes in the light of our changeless God.

A friend of mine says, to be successful in this world you have to know what things must change and at the same time keep a tenacious grip on the things that should not change.

Great advice!

In 1776, The British Army entered New York City after defeating the Americans at the Battle of Long Island. General George Washington led the retreat.

Reading the mainstream media's reviews of Tim Weiner's "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA", one would think the book has become the definitive history of the intelligence agency. Not so fast, say Jeffrey T. Richelson and Nicholas Dujmovic. Writing in separate reviews, they blast the book as no real history at all. Richelson writes:

The nearly-unanimous praise that greeted Legacy of Ashes underscored the presumption that here was a book which would convey an extraordinary understanding of the agency. ...The near-universal praise is perplexing, if only because Tim Weiner’s book cannot be even remotely characterized as a history of the CIA. ...Weiner is very parsimonious when it comes to describing successful CIA endeavors. A history of the agency, according to Weiner, need only provide the vaguest details about the intelligence these assets supplied, and even less about its value and impact.

Dujmovic weighs in:

Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes is not the definitive history of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that it purports to be. Nor is it the well researched work that many reviewers say it is. It is odd, in fact, that much of the hype surrounding the book concerns its alleged mastery of available sources. Weiner and his favorable reviewers - most, like Weiner, journalists - have cited the plethora of his sources as if the fact of their variety and number by themselves make the narrative impervious to criticism. But the thing about scholarship is that one must use sources honestly, and one doesn’t get a pass on this even if he is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the New York Times. ...anyone who wants a balanced perspective of CIA and its history should steer well clear of Legacy of Ashes.

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In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr was acquitted of a misdemeanor charge two weeks after he was found innocent of treason.

VolunteerVoters.com blogger A.C. Kleinheider does some fine journalistic work and surfaces an interesting factoid: state Rep. Rob Briley's lawyer, one Mary Littleton, also is the registered lobbyist for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. Now, who is the lobbyist for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association most likely to lobby? The state legislature, especially the Senate and House judiciary committees. And who chairs the House Judiciary Committee? Rep. Rob Briley.

Bill Hobbs

In 1814, Francis Scott Key wrote his famous poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Maryland.

Georgia, with it's voter ID law set to be enforced for the first time Tuesday, state election officials are pushing to get voters ready for the change. To let them know they need a picture ID to vote, the state has sent out 250,000 pieces of mail, paid for hundreds of radio spots, created a toll free hotline and website, and trained poll workers and elections officials.

Governor Deval Patrick tried yesterday to fend off criticism he has received over his Sept. 11 memorial service speech, when he said the terrorist attacks six years ago resulted in part from "a failure of human understanding."

"Frankly, I was taught in my church that all violent attack is a failure of human understanding," he said during an appearance on WTKK-FM radio yesterday. "The families, in the time I spent with them that day after the ceremony, were just absolutely lovely and appreciative."

The Massachusetts state Republican party has named a new executive director, turning to 29-year-old Robert Willington, who was serving as interim executive director since Brian Dodge left the job in mid-August. Willington is known for his management of the VoteOnMarriage.org campaign that sought to ban gay marriage. The party suffered its first gubernatorial loss in 16 years last year.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett is investigating whether taxpayer-funded bonuses were meant to compensate staffers who worked on campaigns last year, which is illegal. House Democrats handed out $1.9 million in bonuses last year, four times as much as in 2005, a non-election year, and $700,000 more than the other three legislative caucuses combined.

Ron Paul has not based his White House run on the GOP party line.

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Justice David Souter contemplated resigning from the Supreme Court because he was so upset by the decision that sealed the 2000 presidential election for George W. Bush, a new book says.

The deaths of two patients prescribed a powerful painkiller as a headache treatment were among four fatalities linked to the recently approved drug, its manufacturer reported Thursday.

Prosecutors took the unprecedented step this week of charging a 46-year-old Easthampton father with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of his daughter's 15-year-old friend, who died in February after an hourlong drinking binge.

Timothy E. Parent is the first Massachusetts resident to face such a charge in the death of a minor who died as a direct result of drinking, said Elizabeth Dunphy Farris, deputy first assistant district attorney for the Northwestern district attorney's office.

In 1901, President William McKinley died in Buffalo, New York, of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President, becoming the youngest at 42 to ever obtain the office

A Yorktown (Texas) High School student and her family plan to sue the local school district because the girl was cut from the junior varsity cheerleading squad.

Incoming freshman Wycoda Fischer didn't make the six-girl squad. Seven girls tried out. Wycoda's father, Billy Fischer, took his complaint to the Yorktown school board, which voted 5-1-1 to uphold the decision to keep six spots on the squad.

Billy Fischer argued that the junior varsity squad should be expanded to include one more girl, as was the case with the varsity cheerleading squad. At the hearing, Superintendent Deborah Kneese explained that the varsity squad was expanded due to a mistake made by the sponsor who mistakenly thought one of the 9 girls trying out for the 8-girl squad had dropped out. "The decision was made to allow nine cheerleaders on the squad despite the provision in the constitution. The district was not going to penalize the student for its own error," Kneese said. "No such mistake was made during the JV tryouts."

According to new reports, the Fischer family has hired San Antonio attorney Lisa Duke to file a lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks to find out why Wycoda was singled out as the only girl not to make the squad and that because an exception was made for the varsity cheer squad, an exception should be made for the junior varsity squad.

In standing firm on her school's position, Kneese added, "If an exception was made in this case, I am concerned that there will be a slippery-slope affect, and I will find myself faced with more and more parents and students asking for exceptions to the rules that they do not like or are not convenient for them."

The Fischer's attorney disagrees. "The school district nor the superintendent has offered a satisfactory explanation as to why Wycoda was singled out," said Duke. "We have no other option but to move forward with the lawsuit."

Contact your Representatives asking them to vote "NO" on H.R. 811, the so-called Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.

This bill is supposedly about verifying votes via a paper trail, but the 62-page bill is packed with federal controls that would make the EAC (Elections Assistance Commission) into a federal regulatory agency over US elections. Over half of the states have already begun to require a paper trail in voting, so why should the Congress add federal controls at the same time? Congress could constitutionally pass a resolution informing the states of the dangers of not having a paper trail and that it could refuse to seat a member in case of a questioned election where such votes exceed the plurality.

JBS

May God Bless and  Keep You This Day Till Tomorrow