The Dinner Roll

So... I know it has been awhile, but I came across this today and thought that really this is so true...



Once upon a time I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President.

I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics.

There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a FREE country. There's nothing that the government can do to me if I've broken no laws. My wealth was EARNED honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.

I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room.

We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner.

The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen..

"Sorry 'bout that," said the President. "Andrew is very hungry."

"I don't appreciate..." I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. It was just a dinner roll. "Of course," I concluded, and reached for my glass.

Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp. "And his brother, Eric, is very thirsty," said the President.

I didn't say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I withheld my comments and decided to play along. I don't want to seem unkind..

My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite.

"Eric's children are also quite hungry."

With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me.

I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room.

And their grandmother can't stand for long."

I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool. Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken.

I turned back to the President.

"Their grandfather doesn't like the cold."

I wanted to shout, "that was my coat!" But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled.

Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table.

I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my wife had been thrown out of our home.

Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in. The President hadn't moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.

"Andrew's whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven't planned for retirement and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a subprime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do."

My hands were shaking. I felt faint I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor.

The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak, and drank his wine. I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.

"By the way," he added, "I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories.

I'm firing you as head of your business. I'll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind.

There's a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can't come to you for jobs groveling like beggars...we need to spread YOUR wealth around..."

I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his crème Brule.

He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair.

He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if it were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss.

I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle.

Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us.

What had I done wrong?

As if answering the unspoken thought, President Obama suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands.

"You should have stopped me at the dinner roll," he said.

It's A Religious Opinion

It could be easy for me to give any excuse as to why I haven't posted anything new for awhile. For the last few months I simply haven't had the desire to give my opinion in written form, but in person, that is another thing. =)
For the last few years I have continued to define who I am and what my opinions are. Like anyone, I continue to evolve and expand in all areas of my life. However, there are still quite a few things that I wonder about and that I just can't find answers to. Personally it is hard for me to just "wait" to ask God about when I am in heaven. So I am asking for your help for your opinion. Let me know if I am on the right track or maybe if I am simply just thinking too deeply. Soooo.... Here we go...

WARNING - WARNING - DEEP THINKING AHEAD

I am going to start with proclaiming my faith in Jesus. For me this is not an arguable issue. No one will sway me into believing that there isn't a heaven or hell or a God or a Devil. So I am going to assume that we all agree that Jesus, God, heaven and hell all exist.
There is good and bad. There is God and the devil. Since Satan was cast out of heaven to the earth because he wanted to be God, wouldn't you assume that his urge to be Him still exists? Do you think his desire to be like God or be God would just simply go away? Do you think that Satan was or still is a bit ticked off that he was kicked out of heaven? God created man for His pleasure. He created us to worship Him. Satan knows this, don't you think? Do you think that Satan would be a little peeved at this? So I just had to ask myself, "If I was Satan, what would I do?" Yeah yeah.. sounds strange. But think about it. Do you think it is possible that Satan decided to try and mislead every human being as possible? How would he do this? Could it be by having humans create other religions? A lot of people have thought that "alternative" religions were created by man in attempt to search for God. Some have even gone so far as to say that "all" religions lead to God. Now I will be absolutely clear... I am not a universalist. But couldn't it be possible that these "alternative" religions were placed on the minds of people by Satan?

Because Satan was so absolutely ticked off at God, do you think that he would go to the ends of the earth coming up with ways to steal as many people away from God as possible?




Think about all of the religions of the world: Islam, Jehovah Witnesses, The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Wikka, Budhism, and Hinduism. These are just to name of few. What is in common with all of these? They all believe that Jesus was a great philospher and human being. What is the fastest growing religion in the world? Islam. Why do you think this is? To me, I see Islam as the perfect alternative to Christianity. What better way for Satan to steal the hearts of so many? Islam is the perfect vehicle for Satan to lead so many to hell. Do you think that is mean? Why do you think there is so much hatred between the two religions if this weren't the case? I am not saying that every person who is a follower of these religions are bad people or are evil, but that doesn't mean that their religion is evil. These two things are completely different.

Most people go on with their life and don't think of the ways that Satan is intertwined with this earth and our society. There is a constant battle...a spiritual battle going on. Do you think that Satan's hands...or claws... are in the support of political correctness? Or how about Hollywood? Or how about our music industry? How about.... our churches on street corners? Hmmmm... Something to think about? Don't think that this is true? Because so many believe that the Bible is outdated, homosexuality and other sins are accepted in some churches. Still don't see it that way? Why do you think there is so much bickering between denominations within the church? What about the attack in our public schools? Why can't kids wear a shirt at school that says "Jesus Saves" but another kid can wear a shirt that has a cross on it that is crossed out and has the words written at the top, "Evil Religion"?

I realize that to some I could be coming across as a religious conspiracy theorist. No... if that was the case I would get rid of every secular CD that I own or every movie that has premarital sex or murder in it. The point is... why is it so hard for someone to believe that Satan is more involved in our every day life than what was previously believed? Why do you think the Bible tells us to put on the Full Armor of God if we weren't going to battle for our lives... literally... on a daily basis?

So the question is... what can we do about it? How do we reach out to those who disagree with Christianity? How do we walk the line of Christianity without turning away those who are on the fence?

My Realtor

I have a wonderful realtor. He is just a natural salesman! You should hear him when he gets going and reads what is on his mind! One day he stopped in one evening to try to sell me a house. This is what he said, "Justin, I want you to trust me. I have a house for you that I know that you will love. It is a nice big house with adequate living space that I think you will just love! It is just the size that you need... I just know it!" He then said, "On top of that Justin, I have built it myself... Well actually the construction hasn't started yet. I have my team of contractors that haven't successfully built anything recently. Once it passes the inspection phase I know that it will be MUCH better than other builders... my competition."

So you can probably see that I was pretty pumped! This guy has only been my realtor for 9 months and already he is saying he is looking out for me and wanting to build me a house even though he has little to no experience in that area... This guy must be looking out for me right?

Anyways... he continues talking to me saying, "Justin, no matter what you say, even if you disagree with me, you need to buy this house from me. I am determined to get you this house even though you and your family have told me that you don't want it. You tell me that you don't trust me, but I am asking you to trust me with this. Besides... you can't handle it yourself... You need me! Even though 80% of your family is completely satisfied with your current house I REALLY want you to consider moving into my house! There will be long hallways with really large rooms. You will have a basement where people off the street can come in and live with you. You will have a back yard where people can just come and hang out...at your expense!"

At this point I had to tell him that he was a liar! I called him out on this, but he just told me that I was wrong and that he wasn't a liar. My neighbors were overhearing this and they thought that I was rude for calling my realtor out like that! (I later learned that they were wanting to kick me out of the neighborhood because of this.)

After I said this, he said, "Justin, I know that there are a lot of specific details that need ironed out, but trust me on this... you will love it!"

In the past, he has given me blue prints of a house but then he threw those away. Then he had another set and then threw those away. So right now I know that he doesn't really have a plan for this house.. just ideas! He then told me, "Justin, on top of that, this house you won't add anything to your debt. The house costs $90,000 dollars. I know it isn't money that you have but I won't let you buy it unless you are able to pay for it. What I recommend you to do is stop paying your car loan and your credit card bills because we know that is going into the crapper anyways and use that money to pay for your $90,000 house! You see Justin, you will have a balanced budget! You are swapping your payments from your $90,000 in car loan and credit card debt and just paying on a $90,000 new house! See how easy that is?"

Well... the point of this story is that someone who thinks they know me, my family, and my neighbors, thinks that my family and the rest of my neighborhood needs a better home. He is hoping that the rest of the neighborhood will stop on the side of the highway and pick up the homeless person off the street and put them up in our basement and take care of them... at our own expense.

So far my realtor hasn't proven to me that he can do a sufficient job in handling his current affairs. He has already broken promises. When I tell him I disagree with his past decisions I am told that I don't understand good business and that I should either agree with his decisions and proposals or come up with a better solution. I recommend that I just want to stay in my current home for right now, as we plan for a different solution. I tell him that I don't want to be pressured into making a decision right now especially since it will be 4 years until my house is going to complete.

This is what I am afraid of... I am afraid of promises that can't be kept. There isn't a blueprint ready to be approved by the architects. All I am hearing is a promise after a promise.

I am afraid that my new house will be something else entirely than what he promises me because so far he has absolutely nothing to show me that he is true to his word. I am afraid that the house will turn out to be this:

If you haven't picked up on it yet, my realtor is Obama.

A Friend's Blog Giveaway

I know it is kinda short notice, because the entry for this blog giveaway actually ends today! One of my friends, Amy is giving away on her blog a heart rate monitor!!! If you are into working out like I am, you know that you can't work out without a heart rate monitor!! Check out her blog at: http://www.dustyandamy.com/
Remember it ends today!