Pilgrim's Map of the Day (with a MUST-READ article)

Well, eventhough many of you who I know read this blog may be disappointed today over a certain election, we must continue to travel on. Hopefully this map of links will help get us there.
* Hey Christian Americans: wanna continue to blame the Democrats and the "liberal agenda media" for abortion in the United States? STOP. Jill Stanek points that the real reasoning that abortion continues to be allowed in this nation lies at the foot of the church. READ THIS COMMENTARY!!! Life will not go on.
* Ever think about how important your friends are to you? Jim Martin has and points out that importance in this excellent writing.

An Election Day Prayer

Dear God,
You are so wonderful. You have filled my life with happiness and joy even though I do not deserve it. You have blessed even though I have made choices in the past that were worthy of your punishment. I am unequipped to fathom the depths of your love, knowledge, and power. You have shaped the world around me to be one in which I can glorify you and have given me the wisdom to know that I must. You are amazing.
I come before you today as a sinner who falls short in so many areas each day. Specifically today I confess the sin of not trusting in you totally. God I have allowed myself to be caught up in the political fervor of our age and of not allowing my faith in you to shine through when discussing the election. Father, when trying to inform people of the facts in this election I have failed to remind people, including myself, that a true faith in you should prevent any fear or concern over what will come on this earth. I have allowed my unfaithfulness to be covered behind the guise of fear for my children's future and I have not taken the time to explain to my children that no matter what happens, it is Your great and Holy will. I have failed to take the opportunity to share my faith in You during each individual conversation I have had regarding this election and I have not reminded my fellow Christian brothers and sisters that no matter who is elected we are commanded by You to respect and follow that man or woman. Please forgive me Father.
Holy God, thank you for allowing me to live in a country where I can pray these words with no fear of state repercussions. Thank you for blessing my life with a wife and children who not only help me to love You but who I can see You in. Thank you for giving me this much time on this Earth and for making Yourself known to me and giving me a mission. Thank you for Your Holy word and the knowledge and comfort that is provided within the Bible. Thank you for giving me a church family that listens to Your will and that strives to make Your presence known on this Earth. Thank you for making me part of the kingdom. Thank you for the blood of Your Son and for it's ability to not only restore me but all who are willing to come to You with a humble heart.
Father, I ask You today to please bring me closer to Your will. Give me the peace to know that no matter what happens in the election of today that Your will is shining through and let me know Your continued will for me as an individual in this nation. Father, please help me to remember that my citizenship is not in this town, state, country, or world. Please help me to remember. Please help me to serve. Please help me to remain respectful of my country's leaders and to allow Jesus Christ to shine through my attitudes and words used when discussing such. Father, please allow my family to continue to grow in Your grace. Father, help me to love you, make me a servant, and use me up for your purposes.

In Jesus' holy and pure name
Amen

Pilgrim's Map of the Day

Here's today's map:

* Check out this post over at ...And Another Thing and let me know if you too can see the idol worship. Make sure you read the listed scripture.

* Should elections matter to a Christian? Listen to Brian Nicklaus' thoughts on this matter in the sermon he delivered at Echo Lakes Church of Christ.

Neal Boortz Sums it Up

Tomorrow is election day and for the first time in the 13 years I have had a right to vote I am actually afraid of the outcome. I do not use the term "afraid" lightly. I have a genuine fear that my walk through this pilgrim land is soon to meet a resistance.

Today I feel it necessary to post a writing by Neal Boortz. What you will read below are a series of FACTS that Neal posted today that any voter who wants to consider themself INFORMED should read. Enjoy:

WHERE DO YOU START?
I chose that opening line rather than "what's the use." Election day is tomorrow, so there's definitely a chance here to prevent perhaps irreparable harm to our Republic ... maybe not a huge chance ... but a chance.
Never in the last 100 years has someone so completely inexperienced and so far to the left been so close to becoming our president. It is beyond imagination that we've come to this.
I really don't have the time before I go on the air to craft (if that's the word) a lengthy narrative on this campaign and the importance of our vote tomorrow ... so we go with bullet points. They don't necessarily flow together all that well ... but each gets a point across that is, I think, important.
Who knows ... maybe someone will read some of these points and tell themselves that they just can't pull the trigger for this dangerous leftist when they get into the voting booth. Others will read this and just have their feelings about how much trouble freedom and economic liberty in this country are in totally reinforced.
--One question about Obama that has never been satisfactorily answered is "What has he ever accomplished?" The best his supporters can come up with is "He was elected to the U.S. Senate." So was John McCain ... several times. Besides, take a look at his election. He had two opponents self-destruct with scandal. The GOP had to go to Maryland and talk Alan Keyes into moving to Illinois to run against Obama. Trust me, that win was no sterling accomplishment.
--Don't argue with me here. You'll lose. There is NO constitutional right to vote in a presidential election. We're going to learn in a few days just how smart our founding fathers were in this regard.
--Obama is a product of the Chicago political machine. Several times during his political career Obama had a chance to either cast a vote or make a statement against the corruption that permeates Chicago's machine. Never – not on one occasion – did he do so.
--The fact is, Obama has benefited from corruption (Tony Rezko?) but has never fought it.
Do you know how Obama won his first election in Illinois? He had campaign operatives go to the voting office and work hundreds of hours pouring over petitions to have his opponents thrown off the ballot. I guess that means that this is the first real election battle he's ever been in!
--I guess it's just me, but all this time I thought that the government used its power to seize property ... i.e., to tax ... in order to fund the necessary and appropriate functions of government. Now, under Obama, we've learned that one of the appropriate functions of government is to take from those who have and give to those who have not. I prefer a different phraseology: Take from those who achieve, and give to those who achieve not. Karl Marx was of a like mind.
--Obama's "spread the wealth around" mantra means that he believes that we do not leave our homes every morning to work for ourselves and our families. We leave our homes to work for the government. We belong to government, not to ourselves. The government will determine how much of the money we earn we deserve to keep .. the rest goes to people the government believes to be even more deserving of the fruits of our labors.
--Obama's candidacy would have faltered before an educated electorate. Why do you think Democrats love government schools so much? Do you want examples? I've got examples.
--Obama says he's going to give tax cuts to 95% of Americans. Americans don't realize that over 40% of their numbers don't pay income taxes; and since they don't realize that, they aren't asking themselves how Obama can give a tax cut to someone who doesn't pay taxes.
--Obama has effectively change the definition of "tax cut." From now on any government handout to any worker is a tax cut. Changing this definition may well be one of their greatest accomplishments in this election and that new definition will cause us problems for decades.
--Obama constantly rants about those dirty corporations who shipped "our jobs overseas." An educated voter knows that those jobs belong to the employers, not the employees. Workers look for jobs. Employers with jobs look for workers. Pretty simple, really.
--Obama also tells us that 95% of small businesses out there will not have their taxes increased. The only reason this line works is because our government educated voters cannot grasp the idea that it isn't the percentage of small businesses hit with tax increases that counts; it's the percentage of small business employees represented by the unfortunate 5% that counts. Tomorrow thousands of workers – perhaps tens of thousands of workers – employed by what we call "small businesses" will cast a vote that, a year or so down the road, will cost them their jobs.
--Over the weekend Obama promised to bankrupt the coal industry if they tried to build any more coal-fired power plants. Can any of you think of a time when any president has ever made an overt threat to bankrupt a large American industry?
--Obama says that his "cap and trade" policy for controlling greenhouse gas emissions is going to cost electricity prices to "skyrocket." Oops ... there goes some of that middle class "tax cut." Guess he'll have to transfer some more wealth to help his constituents pay the increased price.
--There are literally millions of Obama supporters out there who think that once Obama becomes the president their lives are going to become sweetness, roses and light. One woman at an Obama rally
--Remember Obama's 30-minute infomercial? If a foreigner with no knowledge of our country or our people were to see that program they would think that America was a country mired in abject misery and depravation. Thanks, Obama, for the nice positive message.
--How long after the election, whether Obama wins or loses, do you think it will take for that America-hater Jeremiah Wright to surface?
--The top 10% of income earners in this country pay over 70% of all income taxes. The top 1% of income earners earn around 19% of all income, but they pay almost 39% of all income taxes. When these people don't want to give up a larger share of their earnings Obama call's them "selfish."
When someone is content to sit on their butts and wait for Obama to transfer some wealth from someone else to their pockets they are not "selfish."
--Every one of the points I am bringing up here is "hate speech" to an Obamacon.
The great Democrat goal is to have more than 50% of the voters living, at least in part, on the efforts of the minority of voters. When we pass that tipping point ... and we're nearly there ... game over.
--In every election since 1952 Democrats have told the voters "vote for the Republicans and they'll take your Social Security away." In every election after 2008 the Democrats will say "Vote for the Republicans and they're going to make you pay taxes." Then if Obama wins again, in every election after 2012 Democrats will say "Vote for the Republicans and they'll make you pay for your own Social Security and Medicare." How long before we hear: "Vote for the Republicans and they'll make you work for a living!"
--Obama will definitely destroy your right to be armed outside of your own home for your own protection. The question is whether we count the time until he accomplishes this in days, weeks, months or years.
--Do you see now why politicians, especially Democrats, aren't fond of the FairTax? Without playing his tax scam and wealth envy card Obama would have been toast by Super Tuesday.
--Surveys in Israel show that 76% of Israeli citizens want McCain to win. American Jews will vote for Obama by pretty much the same percentage. What do Jews in Israel know that Jews in America do not?
Peter Nicholas is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. He has been traveling with Obama for almost the entire campaign. Nicholas writes "After all this time with him, I still can't say with certainty who he is." Nicholas doesn't know him, but so many voters are so sure they do.
--Obama wants a national civilian security force that, in his words, is "just as strong as our military." Who would they serve under? What would their mandate be? Would they be unionized? (oh HELL yes!). Would this be like the Soviet Union under Communism where neighbors ratted on neighbors for anti-government statements? And what does he mean "as strong as our military?" Would this national civilian security force have nukes? Tanks? Fighter planes? Are we just talking about a glorified national police? (Show us your papers!)
--Obama has talked about reducing spending on our military. One leading Democrat Senator has suggested a 25% spending cut on defense. Do you feel comfortable with that? You do know that all of the savings would be spent on buying votes, don't you?
--Do you home school your children? Obama has called home schooling a fraud. Put him in office and you'll be putting your kids back in government schools for their indoctrination.
--Do you run a small business? If Obama wins start planning immediately to lower your work force. The best way to do this would be through efficiency measures and temporary staffing agencies. Not only is Obama going to make it easier for your workers to unionize ... he's going to expand onerous measures such as the Family Leave Act. You will end up paying your employees a good portion of their salary to lay out for weeks on end.
--Maybe you shop at Wal-Mart. Get ready for higher prices. Obama's instant unionization bill will surely result in the unionization of Wal-Mart's workforce. In fact, as much as Democrat politicians hate Wal-Mart, it's safe to say that Wal-Mart is target number one. The result? Higher prices for you. If Obama can call a government handout a tax cut, we can call higher prices a tax increase. This will be Obama's tax increase on the poor and the middle class.

A Million Thanks

WOW!!!! That is all that Joy and I can think to say. WOW!!!! because of the outpouring of gifts, love, and individual talents on display at Kingsville Church of Christ tonight. With Baby Kip less than one month away the ladies at Kingsville held Joy a baby shower tonight following church services. The amount of gifts given is extraordinary and we will be without want for quite some time now. How blessed we are to be members of the Lord's kingdom and to be part of a community who takes such pleasure in helping one another. Also, thanks to you guys who helped me load the SUV down with all the gifts. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!