Retired & Thinking

Got a deacon who is fond of saying, "a billion here, a billion, there...pretty soon you're talking some serious money. H/T to Soundslikelife a pastor who moved to Mississippi posted a great visual to help us think about our economic life. Hope you enjoy it, pray over it and come to grips with what our grandchildren owe the world. http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html . Have a great Sundayjavascript:void(0) Alan

We all have friends, family, worshipers and the like that need our prayers. I want to ask the blog community to be in prayer for Will Jackson and his family. Seth, his son, is need of a touch from our Father. You can read about it on his blog . Peace Alan

Just noted the recent tallies on voting for 08-b and seeing how badly it was passed this past weekend by the Presbytery of the Cascades. The vote wasn't a surprise; the presbytery is blue across the votes. What did catch my eye was the number of those voting. I couldn't help but wonder why a loss of 210 voters over 11 years. We have had a number of deaths among retired ministers but have also gained more than a few who want to come to the Pacific Northwest. Maybe people are just tired of the fight. Some are just too busy being a pastor to their members. Saturday afternoon I ran into one member of Presbytery who didn't attend the meeting at an event for one of his members because being with his member was more important. Sadly, I might assume that some figure if they don't go they're not to blame for what happens. With a presbytery of some 65,000 square miles the place where the vote is held might be an issue as well. The largest turnouts for meetings take place in ...

From the " Transparency Website " we see listed 288 billion under "Tax Relief" has an * that says: "Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science , $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable , $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy." There are 214 references to "train" and Training. Linking that with "taxes" and I can find no references where the two words are in proximity to one another. There is some reference to training people for jobs but I did not note anything about "tax" incentives in that section of the bill. Section 1828-1833 starting on page 267 is one of the most detailed on "training" I could find. In this section the part dealing with "relocation" section 1833 seems to speak of changing allowances for those who move due to ...

From the " Transparency Website " we see listed 288 billion under "Tax Relief" has an * that says: "Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy." BTW the repetition is in the actual footnote on the website??? Why is this "tax relief? " Protecting the Vulnerab le doesn't appear in the bill at all. In fact " vulnerable " appears nine (9) times of which four (4) deal with television converter boxes or access to broadband; and another three (3) are aimed at HIT "Promotion of Health Information Technology" section of the bill. Two of them do seem to deal with emergency monies for those on TANF "State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Programs" but that isn...

Jack Haberer wrote an interesting piece on the PC(USA)'s ongoing vote. In the interest of full disclosure, I no longer have a dog in this fight, but if I were still part of the PC(USA) I'd push to change the wording and here's why? 1. It would stop the fighting. The liberals would have finally won and the denomination would have a pretty clear picture in what direction lies its future. 2. It would stop the spin cycle from the right. There will be NO constitutional reason to deny ordination to practicing gay and lesbians, Buddhists or anyone else. 3. Many congregations will face the hard choice which they have not wanted to face before. Leave or stay and be less than they were called to be. 4. Some "tall steeple" pastors will have to decide if they are willing to spend the energy, time and theological work to lead their congregations into a new place or to wait out their years till retirement. Here is what I pray happens in the PC(USA). First, as the amendment pass...

H/T to Dave Fischler over at The Reformed Pastor for the posting the great video and insight re: the arrangement of political constellations this past week. I'll let you read his comments. You can watch the video either on his site of below. Makes you sort of stop and think doesn't it. Peace Alan