Happy 1st Birthday, Hannah!

It's hard to believe that Hannah will be 1 yr. old tomorrow.  It seems as though it was just last week that we brought her home from the hospital.  Although we did not really know what to expect a year ago, I must say that we have been blessed in so many ways over the last year to have Hannah in our family.  In fact, there are many days after work, when I just want to go home and get away from everyone, that I walk in the door and Hannah sees me and gets a big grin on her face because she is happy to see me.  What more could I ask for?

As many people already know, Hannah was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.  We were told within hours of her birth that she had several symptoms of Down Syndrome, but they would have to do further tests to confirm the initial diagnosis.  After a couple of weeks, the diagnosis was confirmed.  We started the new year not knowing what to expect, not knowing how Hannah would grow and progress, not knowing what we were going to go through, not knowing how to react to this situation, not knowing how her brothers would react to her.

Honestly, we started the year out with fear of the unknown.  We did not personally know anyone with Down Syndrome.  We did not know much about Down Syndrome.  No one was able to tell us how mild or serious Hannah's condition would be.  We just did not know where this road was going to lead us.

We did know her heart was fine.  Heart problems are somewhat common amongst people with Down Syndrome, but the tests that they ran on her in the hospital showed that her heart was in good condition.

Hannah did not pass her hearing test in the hospital, and she also did not do well in some follow up hearing tests.  However, as time passed by, and her hearing was tested again, the tests indicated that her hearing was getting better.  I guess the inner workings of the ear just needed time to develop better.  She will be getting tubes in her ears next week to help drain the fluid that is currently puddling in her ears.  This should also help to improve some of the balance issues that she has.

Hannah had her eyes checked, and she needed to get glasses.  I am still not quite sure how they figured this out, but once she got her glasses, we noticed that they really did help her out.  She was better able to grab toys (and other things she should not have been able to get her hands on).  In addition, she looks so cute in her glasses.

We have had the opportunity to have 2 different therapists come into our home and work with Hannah on various developmental aspects.  She has received good reviews from them on her development this far.  She is able to crawl all over the house, and she is doing her best to pull herself up to a standing position.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks, she will be able to do this without our help.

Also, starting this Sunday, she will 'graduate' from the baby nursery to the crawler nursery at church.  This is a big step for her, as she will now be in a nursery with mobile children who are not necessarily that gentle with things (and people) that they come into contact with.  Pam, as well as some of the other ladies in the church, will be in there with her to help her out as she grows accustomed to this new environment.

Through all of this, I must say that I have been impressed with how her brothers have treated her and how they interact with her.  I was fearful that they would treat her like another toy (or worse yet, like they treat each other), but they have been very good with her and to her.  They all play with her.  While they may not completely understand Down Syndrome, they do understand that she is their sister and that they need to take good care of her.  And they do.

As far as Pam and I are concerned, we have our good days and bad days.  At first, the  bad days definitely outnumbered the good days.  But that seems to have changed, and our good days outnumber the bad ones now.  We still have a lot to learn, but one thing we do know is that she is our daughter and we love her very much.

I must admit that I still find myself asking why this happened to us.  Why was such a beautiful, innocent child born with Down Syndrome?  I am not sure I will ever get the answer to that question.  But one thing I do know is that Hannah has taught me so much over the last year.  I have found that I need to be more patient, not just with her, but with the boys (something I am not always good at).  I have learned that I need to watch what I say, because I now see how some of the idiotic things I have said before about people's mental capacity can hurt those around me.

In my freshman year of college, the theme for that year was "God is great.  God is good.  Let us thank Him."  Indeed, God is good to us.  While we may not see it at the time, as we look back to see what He has done for us, we can see His goodness and His providence in our lives.  As I look back on the last year and reflect on what we have been through as a family, I can be thankful for the words written by Ron Hamilton to a song that he wrote after having one of his eyes removed:    "Now I can see testing comes from above.  God strengthens His children and purges in love.  My Father knows best, and I trust in His care.  Through purging, more fruit I will bear.  O rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistakes."

The Ongoing Debacle at Penn State

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last several weeks, you are probably well aware of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse case that is playing out in State College, PA.  Over the course of several years, Sandusky is accused of preying on young boys and engaging in inappropriate behavior (some of which is sexual) with these boys.  The grand jury indictment stated that there were 8 boys making these claims (though as time goes on, this list will probably grow).  Sandusky will probably spend the rest of his life in prison because of this scandal.

Before I go any further, I just want to say that the acts that Sandusky is being accused of are grotesque and heinous acts.  If he is found guilty, he deserves whatever punishment he gets, and then some more on top of that.  To be in his position and take advantage of young boys the way he did is repulsive and predatory, and there is absolutely no reason that any court or any judge should show him any leniency.  Sandusky is the predator, the criminal, the monster.

Now that a few weeks have gone by and the overall anger seems to have subsided a bit, I want to look back at how this all unraveled after the grand jury indicted Sandusky.  There are many things that annoyed and frustrated me as this all played out in public, in the press, and on TV.  And it seemed as though almost all of the anger was directed at Joe Paterno.

Paterno is a legend in collegiate athletics.  He was a football player, who became an assistant coach, and ultimately came to be known as the winningest coach in major college football.  He has been a leader to those he coached, a mentor, someone who wanted his players to succeed, not just on the field, but off of it.  Penn State has a high graduation rate amongst its football players.  In fact, of all of the buildings at Penn State that could be named after Paterno, it is the library that bears his name.

Yet, after all that Paterno has done for Penn State and for college football, people were yelling for Paterno's head as this scandal was breaking.  They treated Paterno as if he was the one who was taking advantage of these children and molesting them.  You rarely heard Sandusky's name in the days following the breaking of this story.  People wanted to hold Paterno accountable for everything that happened, as though Sandusky had given him every intimate detail of what happened and Paterno was trying to cover the story up for his good friend and former assistant coach.

We know from the grand jury report that Paterno was aware of one incident that was reported to him by Mike McQueary.  Paterno reported the incident to the proper two people on campus: the athletic director (it happened in an athletic facility) and the head of campus security and police.  Most colleges have their own security and police and do not necessarily need to rely on the police from the surrounding towns/cities.  Perhaps Paterno could have pushed them harder to investigate this more fully.  I don't know if he did or not.  Maybe Paterno should have gone to the police.  What we do no know is that, according to the New York Times, the information was given to the DA, but he did nothing with it.

Now, how is that Paterno's fault that the DA chose not to take it further?  It's not.  But apparently there are some out there that think that no matter what Paterno did, it was not enough.  The bigger issue here is McQueary.  If he saw this happening, why didn't he do anything to stop it?  Why did he choose to leave?  Why didn't he report what he saw immediately?  Again, the anger was directed at Paterno, who was not even an eye witness.

After a few days of public outcry, Paterno announced he would retire, effective at the end of the 2011 season.  For the Board of Trustees, this was not good enough.  They decided that Paterno had to go.  But instead of meeting with him, in person, they decided to fire him over the phone.  How cowardly is that?  If you are going to fire the guy, at least do it in person.  I do not believe that Paterno should have been fired.  He should have been allowed to finish out the year.  However, if they would have met with him in person to fire him, I could at least have some respect for the Board of Trustees.

Then there was the piling on.  The Big Ten would remove his name from the championship trophy.  The 2 senators from PA would withdraw his name for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  The rumors of his statue being removed from in front of the stadium (this proved not to be true).

After Paterno was fired, the talking heads on TV then turned their attention to McQueary's inaction based on what he saw.  They also started to remember again that this is all happening due to the reported actions of Sandusky.  It was as though their goal was Paterno getting fired.  Now that he was gone, they could go back to focusing on the real story.

Now we will have endless investigations.  First, the PA AG will continue the ongoing investigation.  The State of PA is going to look into it.  The Feds are going to look into it.  And the NCAA does not want to be left out (although this is not part of their charter, as this does not have to do with the athletic program, it just happens to involve someone who used to be part of the athletic program).

Through all of this, there are still several questions that I need to have answered.

1. What was Jerry Sandusky thinking?  First, you ruined your credibility and character.  I am not sure it is capable of being repaired.  But due to you actions and your inability to control yourself, you have also torn down a great coach with a great legacy, you have dispirited a football team, and you have tarnished the legacy of an entire university.
2. Why didn't Mike McQueary stop the actions of Jerry Sandusky?  Why did he choose to leave, going first to his father, then to Joe Paterno, instead of the police?
3. When the athletic director told Sandusky that he would be barred from campus and the athletic facilities, why did Sandusky still have an office on campus and have the ability to use the athletic facilities?  Was he not actually able to enforce this?  If not, then why hand it down as punishment in the first place?
4. Is all of this fair to Paterno?  Was he the one who was taking advantage of the kids?  Other than the one occasion that McQueary told him about, was he even aware that Sandusky was a child predator?
5. Why did the DA choose not to press charges?  Did he not have enough evidence?
6. Why does the media have a feeding frenzy with stories like this?  When did they become the moral arbiters of society?  Is the media hypocritical for going after Paterno, who was not an accomplice in this story and has done nothing illegal, while protecting Hollywood types like Roman Polanski who stand accused of sex/rape of a minor?  Or showing hypocrisy by going after Paterno, yet continually praising a late Senator who also killed a woman via drowning her?

We need to keep in mind that there has not been a trial yet.  As this goes on, we will find out more details, and it is very likely that there will be more victims coming out as this case moves forward.  But we need to remember that Sandusky does deserve a fair trial, which is guaranteed to him by our Constitution. And I want him to have that fair trial, so at the end of the day, everyone can look on this and say that justice was served.  And if he is found guilty of these heinous acts, he needs to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

As for Joe Paterno, if he did know more about Sandusky's actions, then he will need to live with that for the rest of his life.  It is probably hard enough knowing that he was aware of one child being abused and that nothing was done to stop that abuse.  The guilt he has to live with will be a burden on him for the rest of his life, and perhaps that is punishment enough for him.

As for the school, and the football program in particular, life goes on.  It has to.  You cannot let it stop here.  There are some who have said that PSU needs to forfeit the rest of the season, and perhaps just go ahead and forfeit next year, too.  This is not necessary.  Penn State needs to get back on the field and show that they can overcome this.  The football players are not guilty of anything. They should not be punished for this.

For Jerry Sandusky, he needs to pay the price for what he did.  However, he can still have some hope in all of this.  He can know that Jesus died for his sins, too.  He can still ask forgiveness of God, who will grant him that forgiveness should he ask for it.  That does not mean that Sandusky should be set free.  If he would do this, it would mean that his punishment would stop at his death on this earth.  It would not carry over into an eternity in hell.  If God could forgive a man like Jerry Sandusky, perhaps we need to find it in our hearts to forgive him (and others), too.

9/11/01 - 10 Years Later

Those of us who are old enough to remember 9/11/01 are able to vividly remember where we were when we heard of the events of that frightful morning.  I remember I did not have to work that week.  Business was slow, and we were on rotating, mandatory furloughs.  This happened to be my week to be off of work.  I was in bed when the attacks started.  When I awoke, about 9:00 am, I made a phone call to a credit card company (we were having a huge disagreement about a payment).  While I was on hold, I heard Tom Brokaw on what was supposed to be the "Hold" music.  I was confused.  He talked of planes hitting the World Trade Center.  Was this for real?  I turned on the TV and could not believe what I saw.  The World Trade Center was collapsing.  What was going on?

It was a beautiful morning with hardly a cloud in the sky in the eastern U.S.  Then news started to break of an airplane that flew into the World Trade Center.  Was it an accident?  Was it terrorism?  No one really knew what was going on at the time of the attacks.  Then, several minutes later, another plane flew into the other World Trade Center tower.  This time, it was captured on camera by many of the news organizations, who were there to cover the first plane.  Not long after that, we heard of a plane that flew into the Pentagon.  The World Trade Center buildings, under the intense heat, crumbled.  Debris is everywhere on the south end of Manhattan.  Then we hear of a plane crashing in western Pennsylvania.  People started putting the pieces together.  We were under attack.  But who was doing this?  And why did they do this?

In the hours, days, and months that followed, we learned that this attack was made by Al-Qaeda.  Osama bin Laden was now Public Enemy #1.  We heard stories of the brave men and women who rushed to the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to help save the lives of those who were caught up in the attacks.  Many of these first responders perished in the World Trade Center collapse, as they were giving of their life to help others.  We heard of the story of Todd Beamer and those on Flight 93 that rushed the terrorists, and forced the plane to crash in Shanksville, PA.  We saw Americans of all different ideologies come together in unity to decry the terrorist attacks and celebrate the greatness that is America.  We saw what it was like to have a President who would take a stand and tell the enemy that we will find them and deal with them and show them how we, as Americans, deal with our enemies.

For a while, Americans were all but united in our resolve to deal with the enemies that had done this to us.  Flags were flying everywhere.  Prayer services were being held at church.  Members of Congress were able to agree (at that time) on how to deal with terrorists and terrorism.  And Congress and the President were able to come to an agreement on how to unite our intelligence agencies, as well as get them to talk to each other.  When we invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power and to break up the Al-Qaeda network, Americans were all but united behind the effort.  Even when troops were initially sent into Iraq, the vast majority of Americans were behind the effort.

But what has happened since then?  Americans seemed to have come up short in their resolve to defeat the terrorists (which is something that the terrorists had anticipated).  As time went on, Americans did not seem to support this effort for the long haul (as if the terrorists were just going to wave the white flag and give up).  Americans started to question the effort against terrorists.  It is taking too long.  There are too many deaths.  It costs too much.  There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  America is doing this for oil.  Some even went so far as to say that this was an inside job, engineered by the government for some sort of political gain.

Sure, there were speed bumps along the way.  The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib was definitely not a high point.  But let's remember that those who participated in those actions were held accountable.  Then there was the lack of understanding of our mission for the detainment facility at Guantanamo Bay.  The prisoners were treated well, allowed to read the Koran, pray their daily prayers, and fed 3 meals a day (which is much better than their life overseas).

There was the issue of enhanced interrogation, used on only the most dangerous prisoners that we had in custody.  People said we lost the moral high ground for using these techniques, because this is not how America treats its prisoners.  Well, I have a very big problem with that line of thinking.  First and foremost, terrorists are not covered under the Geneva Convention, or more importantly, under our Constitution.  Therefore, the rules are different.  In order to protect the lives of American citizens, we needed to get as much information as we could about potential terrorist attacks.  If that means making the lives of some dangerous Al-Qaeda leaders uncomfortable in the process, then we needed to do this.  The moral high ground was to protect the lives of the American people.  After all, this is the primary role of the government in the first place.

We've learned that Americans have short attention spans.  While there was a tremendous unity in the months after the attacks, that gradually started to wear off.  There was a segment in America that thought we had caused the attacks, because we thought we were so much better than any one else on earth.  There  is a segment that thinks we actually planned and carried out that attacks.  Many liberals started to question the Republican President.  They did not like what they felt was American Imperialism.  Who were we to force our beliefs on the world?  Many Americans have moved on with life, stopping to remember that attacks every year on 9/11, then putting those thoughts in the back of their mind until the next 9/11 rolls around.

Some Americans became embarrassed by our role as the sole superpower.  Who are we to police the world?  Had they forgotten it was the U.S.A. that was attacked and we have a right to defend ourselves?  They were embarrassed by a President that set out a clear missions on how the U.S. would try to defeat terrorism.  He had a firm grasp of right and wrong, good and evil, and he knew that evil needed to be defeated in this war.  Unfortunately, there were many collegiate professors who thought it was their duty to try to indoctrinate students and teach them that America repressed the poor and needy in this world, that we mistreat the Islamic people of this world.  It was the likes of these intellectual elites, liberals in Congress, and a growing portion of the media that it was the U.S. that was responsible for these attacks, because we have created a hostile environment, ripe for terrorist attacks against us.

Due to the abuses at Abu Ghraib, and the prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay, we were told that we were encouraging attacks on the U.S.  However, this line of thinking has always confused me.  There was no Abu Ghraib when terrorists attacked the USS Cole.  Those places were not in existence when we were attacked on 9/11.  So what egregious act had the U.S. committed in order to solicit such a serious attack on 9/11?

We were told that Islam is a peaceful religion.  This could not be further from the truth.  Their goal is world domination.  Sure, when they are trying to get a foothold in a community or in a country, they do their best to blend in.  But eventually, they become stronger in their resolve.  They become more dominant.  Why is that people who feel like outcasts and become angry at the country (and at the world) convert to Islam?  It is because that religion offers what they want - a chance to act aggressively against their enemies.  Sure, there may be peaceful Muslims who want no part of this intifada against freedom.  But the terrorists that we face espouse the religion of Islam and its teachings.  They celebrated on the days of the terrorist attacks.  Imams around the globe teach hatred in their mosques.  This religion is not peaceful.

We are told that we need to allow a mosque to be built close to the World Trade Center sight.  If we do not agree, then we are Islamaphobes and intolerant.  The intolerance is really with those who want to build this mosque so close to the World Trade Center sight.  Yes, we have freedom of religion and you are free to worship as you see fit.  But that does not mean a mosque needs to be built so close to Ground Zero.  This is not the place to build a "monument" to a religion whose beliefs led some of its adherents to kill so many people on that fateful morning.

Evil exists in this world.  There will be a constant struggle between right and wrong, good and evil, until the end of this world.  Many people fail to grasp this concept.  In the age of secular humanism, people believe in a truth that is relative - who are we to tell people that their beliefs are right or wrong (after all, there are still people on this earth who will not declare that Hitler was evil for killing as many Jews as he did).  Much of this is due to the secular humanist doing his best to take God out of society.  They will tell you that if there was a God, why did He allow the 9/11 attacks to happen?  If God was good, He would have stopped it.

Well, I cannot say why God allowed the attacks to happen.  I know that He did not cause them to happen.  Our God does not celebrate when we kill other people (as Islam teaches).  Our God has explicitly told us not to kill others.  I do know that it is a belief in God that has allowed many, many people to cope with this tragedy over the last 10 years.  It is their faith and trust in an all-wise, all-knowing, all-caring God that has comforted them and given them the strength that they need on a daily basis.

So, where do we go from here?  We, as a nation, need to turn back to God.  That may not be easy, but that is what we need to do.  We need to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked, self-serving ways (II Chronicles 7:14).  We cannot defeat evil without God's help.

Let us find some comforts in the words of President Bush, which were delivered to a joint session of Congress, and to a large national audience, on 9/20/11.

"Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its source.  America is successful because of the hard work and creativity and enterprise of our people.  These were the true strengths of our economy before September 11th, and they are our strengths today.  And finally, please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform and for our great country.  Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will strengthen us for the journey ahead.....Freedom and fear are at war.  The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depends on us.  Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future.  We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage.  We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.....The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain.  Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.....In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may He watch over the United States of America."

"In My Seat" - A Powerful Testimony

Which of these occupations does not belong: Pastor, Conference Speaker, Counsellor, Commercial Pilot?  Well, Dr. Steve Scheibner is all of the above.  This past Sunday, he spoke at Faith Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA.  He shared with us his story of 9/11.  We all have stories of that tragic day, but his is different.  Dr. Scheibner's story is different because of events that transpired the day preceding 9/11.

He was scheduled to fly American Airlines Flight 11.  However, he was bumped by another pilot.  What he did not know at that time is that Flight 11 would the first plane to fly into the World Trade Center on that serene, sunny, almost cloudless 9/11 morning.  He knows that he could have been, and possibly should have been, the pilot of the plane on that day.  Can you imagine what that must be like to know that someone took your place on a plane that was attacked by terrorists?  That they would force their way into the cockpit and fly the plane into the World Trade Center?  I think that would haunt me for the rest of my days.

However, Dr. Scheibner has turned his thoughts and feelings from that day into a tremendously powerful message.  He is able to speak about his knowledge of the plane that flew into the World Trade Center, for he had actually flown that plane before.  He talks of one of the Flight Attendants, who he knew and had worked with.  He talks of the pilot that bumped him from that flight, who he knew, but not all that well.  And he is able to relate all of this to our spiritual life - how that someone died for us in our place.

His son, Peter, produced this video of Dr. Steve Scheibner telling his story of the events that happened on 9/10 & 9/11, titled "In My Seat."

Impact of the Current Recession

I wish I could claim this as my own, but I cannot.  I received this in an e-mail from a friend.  But it is rather funny.


The recession is getting so bad...

1. My neighbor got a pre-declined credit card in the mail.
2. CEOs are now playing miniature golf.
3. Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen.
4. I saw a Mormon with only one wife.
5. If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call them and ask if they meant you or them.
6. McDonald's is selling the 1/4 ouncer.
7. Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America.
8. Parents in Beverly Hills fired their nannies and learned their children's names.
9. My cousin had an exorcism but couldn't afford to pay for it, and they re-possessed her!
10. A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico.
11. A picture is now only worth 200 words.
12. Thousand Oaks, California has been renamed as 900 Oaks.
13. The Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas is now managed by Somali pirates.
14. I was so depressed last night thinking about the economy, wars, jobs, my savings, Social Security, retirement funds, etc., I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Pakistan, and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

The True Meaning Behind the Easter Story

If you are in the Lebanon, PA area on Sunday, April 24, I would like to invite you to attend the Easter drama, titled "My Promise to You" at Faith Baptist Church.  There will be 3 services that day, at 8:30 am, 10:30 am, and 6:30 pm.  In this service you will be presented with the real meaning of Easter (and it is not the Easter Bunny or Easter Eggs).  You will be presented with the events surrounding the death of Jesus Christ, which happened 2000 years ago, and what this means for us today.  I look forward to seeing you there.

My Promise To You - A Dramatic Presentation of the Easter Story

My March Madness Favorite - The University of Kentucky

I have decided that since my bracket selections have all been booted from the tournament, I am going to spend the last week of the tournament cheering for the University of Kentucky.  This seems like an odd choice, since I am usually a Duke Blue Devils fan.

There are many reasons that someone will choose to cheer for a certain college sports team.  It could be that it was the school that they went to.  Or it could be the school that they cheered for while they were growing up.  Or maybe they know someone that went to that school and played for one of the sports teams.  Like I said, there are a variety of reasons.

My reason in cheering for Kentucky is slightly different.  Actually, it is kind of an oddball reason to cheer for a team.  It actually has nothing to do with the University of Kentucky.  It has nothing to do with the state of Kentucky.  It actually has nothing to do with collegiate athletics.  Instead, I am cheering for the University of Kentucky because I am a New York Yankees fan.

You may be have just read that previous sentence and said to yourself, "What does pro baseball have to do with college basketball?"  Well, let me explain.  You see, the last 6 times that the University of Kentucky Wildcats have won the NCAA men's basketball championship, the Yankees went on to win the World Series later in that same year.  Yes, you read that right.  When the Wildcats win the championship, so do the Yankees.  This happened in 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, and 1998.

This is quite the obscure statistic, but it does bode well for the Yankees (should the Wildcats win the tournament).  You may say that just because a correlation exists does not mean that one event causes the other, and this is a true statement.  However, I choose to look at this historically, and I do not want to mess with a winning formula.

A Message to Republicans - It's Time to Lead

After the election of President Obama in 2008, the outlook for the Republican Party was not good.  They had just lost the Presidential election.  And to make it worse, they lost seats in both the House and the Senate.  The Democrats had written them off.  The media had written them off.  The Republicans had written themselves off, thinking that they would be a permanent minority party.  All they wanted to do was get along and maintain the seats in Congress that they already had.

Of course, with this attitude, there would be no hope.  The conservatives of the Republican Party were already upset with the out-of-control government spending and lack of leadership that had taken place during the previous Republican majority in Congress.  Because of their disenchantment with the National Republican Party, they either did not show up to vote in the 2008 Presidential election, or they chose to vote for a 3rd party candidate.  The Republicans had lost their base.  The elected Republicans thought it more prudent to compromise on principle rather than take a stand on it.  They had basically compromised their way into a minority.  In other words, they failed to lead.

Then, the President handed them a gift, and that gift was Obamacare.  The President, along with a Democrat-controlled Congress, pushed through a universal health care plan that no one had read, was going to cost the U.S. a lot of money that it did not have, and it would eventually put control of health care into the hands of bureaucrats.  This was not a popular bill, no matter what the media or politicians tried to tell us.  While most people agree that there are aspects of our health care system that need to be addressed and fixed, they knew that a government run system was definitely not the way to go.

Anyway, this bill helped to propel the recrudescence of conservatism in the U.S.  This conservatism was seen most prominently through the Tea Party.  People were finally stepping and saying "We've had enough of this!"  People were tired of the government stepping into their lives.  They were tired of the government spending money they did not have.  They were tired of the arrogance of elected officials telling them what is best for them.  People came to realize once again that the government is "of the people, by the people, and for the people."  They realized that we do not have to accept the status quo.

So the people began to act, and rally, and have their voice heard.  They elected candidates in their primaries that carried the same values that they had.  They elected people that had the same vision for America's future.  They took on many of the incumbents, and they were successful in unseating many of them.  The people were finally getting a chance to see real representation in Washington.  The Republicans won a resounding victory in the House, and they made tremendous gains in the Senate.

Alas, it seems that the Republican leadership has started to fail us again.  I realize that the leaders in the Senate are limited in what they can do, since they are the minority party in that chamber.  However, the leaders in the House have no such excuse.  They have a majority, yet they fail to lead.  Why is that?  Do they not know how to lead?  Are they afraid of confrontation?  Are they afraid that they might upset some people?

Well, this has frustrated me for some time now, so I have several suggestions for the Republican leadership to win back the people that voted for them.  If they lose these people again, they may never get them back.

1. You won because of yor agenda.  Now implement that agenda.  The Republicans need to realize that people voted for them because of the agenda that they ran on.  We voted for them because of that agenda.  We expect them implement that agenda when they get into office.
2. Compromise is not something you should want, or expect.  The Democrat idea of compromise is for the Republicans to agree to do things the Democrat way.  They do not expect to meet in the middle.  They want it their way, or nothing at all.  That is how the Republicans should be.  They won the election in an overwhelming manner.  People wanted your agenda, which is why they voted for you.  They did not vote for you so that you could compromise away the agenda.
3. You cannot make everyone happy.  This should be obvious.  There are people that did not vote for Republicans, and they never will vote for one.  So why even try to appease them?  No matter what you do, they will be against it.  So, you need to do what the people put you there to do - implement the agenda.
4. Don't become moderates.  This is what hurt the Republican party from about 1998-2009.  After they took the nation by storm in 1994, they started to stray from their fiscally conservative ways.  They started spending like the Democrats.  They thought they were undefeatable.  And because of that, they lost power.  The Republicans nominated a moderate for President in 2008.  If not for the conservative VP candidate that he picked, the Republicans would have lost by an even greater margin in the election.  For some reason, the establishment Republicans think that the party needs to be more moderate in order to win elections.  However, why would a Democrat vote for a Republican trying to be like a Democrat?  The answer is that they will not do that.  They already have a real Democrat running for their party.
5. Conservatism will win when it is tried.  When Republicans try to be like moderates, they lose elections.  However, when they run as conservatives, they win.  There is not much more to say here.  People want elected Republicans to be conservative.  When they are not, people will not show up to vote them back into office.
6. Continue to listen to the people that voted you into office.  This is something that no politician has been able to do.  The Democrats don't listen to their constituents, either, but that is their problem.  You are an elected official, put there by the people.  You need to listen to them.  You are to be there doing business for the people.
7. The seat belongs to the people, not the elected official.  When Sen. Ted Kennedy passed away, the media wondered what would happen to Kennedy's seat on the Senate.  The man that eventually took Kennedy's place (now Sen. Scott Brown) answered that (it is not Sen. Kennedy's seat.  It is the people's seat.)  Too often, elected officials forget that they are there to serve the people.  The people are not there to serve them.
8. We want leaders.  A leader makes tough decisions.  They take responsibility.  They take a stand on difficult issues.  They risk losing popularity in order to do what is right, not politically expedient.  All too often today, our elected officials make their decisions based on what is politically popular, not what is right.  We want leaders who do what is right, not necessarily what is popular.  One only needs to look at the state of Wisconsin.  The Republican Governor and Legislature made the principled decision and stood tall in the midst of adversity in order to get difficult legislation passed.  The were leaders, and they refused to be beaten down.
9. Democrats want the power that you now have.  Don't give them an excuse to get it back.  The Democrats will stop at nothing to get power back.
10. Don't start to look at the next election.  One of my biggest pet peeves is people that start to run for office the day after the elections.  These people need to leard that we elected you to enact an agenda, to pass bills that benefit the people.  We did not elect you so that you could spend your time running for office again (and youa re getting paid by us to do that).  People will vote for you if you do the right things while in office.  Concentrate on doing what is right, and the elections will turn out fine.

Americans want strong leaders.  They want people who can make the tough decisions, not just the popular ones.  We do not like it when our leaders compromise on principle in order to get along with others.  You were elected into office in order implement an agenda and represent the people.  And we expect you to do just that.

Freedom of Speech and Fred Phelps

A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church in its legal battle against Al Snyder, who sought to sue the church because of their protest at his son's (Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder) funeral.  He was seeking damages due to emotional distress because of this church's complete lack of regard for him or the sacrifice that his son made for this country.  I do not know of anybody that agrees with Fred Phelps and his family regarding their beliefs.  However, many have come out to defend the Supreme Court's ruling on this matter.

As I paused to think about the decision, I tried to conclude in my own head whether this decision was the right decision to make.  Our Constitution is to be applied to all Americans equally (even though the courts have not always applied it that way).  Decisions from the court are to be based on laws, especially our Constitution.  Court decisions should not be based on one's opinions or emotions.  The more I struggled over this, the more I realized that the court, unfortunately, did get this decision correct.  Just because I do not like what one person (or group) is saying or doing does not mean that they do not have the same freedoms that I have.

The Phelps family (probably emboldened by the recent Supreme Court decision) is now planning to protest at the funeral for 7 children of the Clouse family that died tragically in a fire last week.  Here is a hardworking, blue-collar family who has just suffered such a great loss, and this despicable group of people wants to protest at the funeral.  These people have no shame.  I can't imagine the pain and agony and loss that the Clouse family is experiencing, and the Phelps family wants to make it even worse.  However, just because I find these actions appalling does not necessarily make their actions illegal.

When the founders drafted the Constitution, they were keenly aware of what it was like for the government to stifle speech that they (the government) did not approve of.  The founders did not want that kind of environment here in America.  They understood the need for opposing ideas to be openly debated.  They understood the importance of the ability of the masses to disagree with the elected officials.  They understood the importance of elections, so that if the citizens thought that it was time to change the leadership, then they could make the change via elections.  So they included the freedom of speech in the 1st Amendment.

Due to current events, we can see what it is like for governments to stifle the free speech of dissenters (just look at places like Libya and China).  If these nations do not like what people are doing or saying, they arrest them and throw them in jail, sometimes even executing people who are trying to cause "trouble" for the government.  If the government takes free speech rights away from people, it becomes easier to take away other rights, because the people are not able to speak against the government.

Let's think about this in the context of religion.  The church that I go to preaches an evangelistic message.  They preach right vs. wrong, holy vs. unholy, heaven vs. hell.  Some will find this offensive.  If these few are offended, they do not need to come to the church. They can choose to stay home.  If the government starts to limit what can be preached based on what is offensive to some (and some would argue that they already do), then we, as Christians, would be offended by the government and their usurpation of religious freedoms.  The church will then be severely limited in what they are able to legally preach.  So, just because someone disagrees with what we say or we disagree with what someone else says does not mean that we should stifle their ability to speak freely.  This becomes a Pandora's Box that should not be opened.

This freedom of speech has endured since the founding of our country, but there have also been limitations put on it over the years.  You cannot say things in order to create a panic (this is the "You can't yell fire in a crowded theater" argument).  You cannot knowingly lie about others with the intent to damage their reputation (libel and slander).  These are, in my opinion, common sense measures to ensure that our freedom of speech does not allow us to ruin somebody else.  In other words, along with the freedom of speech, we have the responsibility to use that freedom wisely.

If we decide that free speech rights apply to some and not to others, then we will become like some of these other nations we see today who are persecuting their own people.  We cannot, and should not, stoop to the level of dictators and tyrants.  For America to flourish, we need to be able to express our ideas and opinions about what would make this a better country, which will sometimes work for us and will sometimes work against us.

Now, with this being said, let me say that I in no way agree with the Westboro Baptist Church and what they are doing.  These people are a despicable and appalling people.  God told us through His Word to hate sin, but he did not tell us to hate the sinner.  The Great Commission tells us to reach out to the lost, not to take condemnation and judgment into our own hands.  I believe that these people are neither Baptist nor Christian.  They are a cult.  They do not preach the God of the Bible.  One day, when the shoe is on the other foot, how will they react if, and when, they are treated in this same manner?

Missions Conference 2011

Faith Baptist Church of Lebanon, PA is holding its annual Missions Conference from March 19 - March 23.  This will be a tremendous opportunity to here from missionaries who are working in countries around the world.  They will have exciting things to tell us about their ministry and how God is providing for them and working through them.

If you would like a list of speakers and events for the Missions Conference (as well as directions), please click here.

Please come and join us.  I look forward to seeing you there.

When Down Syndrome Comes Home

"I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." - Psalm 139:14

"I think your daughter has Down Syndrome."  This is what the Nurse Practitioner told us mere hours after Hannah was born.  He told us that she had physical features that were consistent with Down Syndrome.  However, this was not a sure sign that she did indeed have Down Syndrome.  They would have to take some blood and send it out to be tested.

Needless to say, this is not what you want to here in the hours following the birth of your child.  We didn't know what to think.  We didn't know how to act.  We had problems coming to grips with the fact that our child might have Down Syndrome.  Obviously, if she were to have Down Syndrome, this would be a lifelong endeavor.  It's not like it would just go away after a period of time.

We were told that we would have the results of the tests in a few days.  We were hoping to know by the time we left the hospital what the prognosis would be.  Well, that didn't happen.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  We had a Doctor appointment set for 2 weeks after her birth, hoping to find out the results - but that did not happen.  As the time went on and we were not able to get results, I tried my best to be positive about this.  Perhaps the physical similarities were just a coincidence - after all, she was born 2 weeks early.  She definitely did not have all of the physical characteristics that would distinguish a Down Syndrome child.  These were reasons for hope on my part.

However, we received a call from the doctor a couple of days after this appointment confirming what we knew in the back of our heads but did not want to really admit - Hannah has Down Syndrome.  All optimism went right out the door.  We had a couple of weeks to come to grips with this diagnosis, but I know that I still was not prepared to hear it.  Where do we go from here?  What will we need to do differently?  Are they able to tell us how serious her diagnosis is?

In addition to the Down Syndrome diagnosis, we were also faced with the fact that Hannah had a hearing problem.  The hearing test in the hospital revealed that Hannah cannot hear that well.  In a subsequent hearing test, we found out that her ear canals are rather small and they were having difficulty finding out just how bad her hearing is at this time.  Perhaps the small ear canals could be the cause of her diminished hearing.  Perhaps once her ears and ear canals grow a little bit, her hearing will improve.  We have another hearing test scheduled in mid-February to see to what extent her hearing is diminished and to hopefully find out if her growth will help to cause the hearing issues to go away.

In all of this, there was some good news.  Many children with Down Syndrome have heart problems.  While Hannah was still in the hospital, they did an EKG on her, and found that her heart is functioning properly, and that there are no abnormalities.  While that does not diminish the overall diagnosis, we definitely needed some good news and this was cause for hope for us.

Hannah is getting bigger and gaining weight.  She is eating well.  Her digestive system is healthy.  We found out yesterday that her physical development is almost on par with normal child development.  Again, some much needed good news.

Through all of this, I had to learn to ask the right questions.  Initially, all I wanted to ask was "Why?"  Why did this happen to Hannah?  Why is this happening to Pam and me?  Why can't this happen to someone else?  Why can't Hannah be normal?  Instead of asking "Why?", I should have been asking "How?"  How can I use this to be a better Christian?  How can I use this to reach out to those who are not Christian?  How can I use this to bring glory to God?  While these seem like odd questions in the midst of this huge trial, I needed to realize that God allowed this to happen.

Please note that I said that God allowed this to happen.  He did not cause it to happen.  God can do what He pleases, and in His omniscience, He chose to allow us to go through this trial.  We don't know why.  We may never know why.  But one thing that I do know - we can handle this with His help.  In order to get through, we will need to rely on God, not on ourselves.  He will give us the grace and the strength that we need to get through.

Several years ago, Ron Hamilton wrote a song after he had one of his eyes removed.  It is a source of strength and encouragement for me.  Here is a part of that song this really special to me: "God never moves without purpose or plan, when trying His servant or molding a man.  Give thanks to the Lord though your testing seems long.  In darkness, He giveth a song.  O rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistakes.  He knoweth the end of each path that I take.  For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold."  It is very encouraging to know, and to be reminded, that God does not make mistakes and that He is in control.

I am so thankful for Hannah.  She is the most beautiful girl to me.  While she is special in that she has Down Syndrome, she is a gift from God to us.  And because of that, we will do our very best to be the best parents that we can be to her.  We have every intention of helping Hannah every way we can, so that she can grow up to be as 'normal' as possible.  We have the help of family, friends, and a great church family to help us and to encourage us.  We have received helpful information from many people we know, and several that we do not know.  This has been a tremendous encouragement to us.

Through all of this, we still have some prayer requests.

For Hannah...please pray that her growth will continue to be as close to 'normal' as possible...pray for her upcoming hearing test...pray that her diagnosis would be on the mild side and not to the severe side

For Pam and me...please pray for grace, strength, and patience...please pray that we would have understanding, that we would continue to learn about Down Syndrome and how best to deal with it

For the boys...pray that they would understand that Hannah needs more attention because of the Down Syndrome, and that this means that we do not love them any less...pray that they would continue to be good to her and help her

Thank you for your prayers and your encouragement.  They do not go unnoticed.