A Family of Goldfinches

This morning ,while drinking my coffee, I noticed something very unusual at the bird feeder. There were probably 7 or 8 small goldfinches trying to land on the feeder. It appeared that they really had no clue as to what they were doing or even why they were there. They were trying to settle on the roof of the feeder, the shepherds rod holding the feeder, and even on the wind chimes. A few managed to actually make it on to the rail of the feeder but then they just sat there looking around as if to say”we're here now,now what?” It was then that I realized all of them were young birds, they had no clue what to do because they had never been shown. Then mamma and papa showed up. They landed on the feeder and reached in and grabbed seeds and proceeded to feed the young ones. After they had done this a few times the young birds caught on and started to do it themselves and before they left they were all fat and sassy and I suspect they will be back.
What is fascinating to me is that they didn't know what to do. We tend to think of animals and birds as running on instinct and just doing things automatically because they were bred that way, apparently that's not true in every case. They have to be taught some things because they simply don't know what needs to be done, and who taught them? The parents.


There is a lesson to be learned from this.


Children can't just learn through instinct, they need their parents to be involved and to teach them. If we as parents don't teach them right from wrong how are they to learn?


I'll give a personal example. I taught my children, when they were young, that guns were not toys, they were tools that, when used properly, had a purpose but when not can kill. I taught them how to handle the guns and how to shoot. My wife learned as well and she had never handled a gun before meeting me. Now my kids, both teenagers, will not touch them with out my permission or supervision. I taught them a basic principal of right from wrong.


This is not about guns. It's about our society as a whole.


It's as simple as this. We, as parents, need to get back to being involved in our children lives. We need to go back to teaching them right from wrong and disciplining them when needed. We need to stop letting modern society, via the government or the media in all it's forms, determine what is the best way to raise them and take it upon ourselves to teach them.


If Goldfinches can figure it out so can we.

Now It Shall Come To Pass

Friday was a very stressful day for me. Every three months the VA sends a nurse and social worker to check up on me to see how I am doing and to make sure that my living conditions are good. This always stresses me out. When I got up, I found that my cats had made a mess that had to be cleaned up before someone stepped in it. So in the course of doing that I completely forgot to take one of my meds for blood pressure. I took some for arthritis and made my coffee but totally forgot about the other. Long story short by the time they arrived I wasn't feeling very well but really didn't know why. When the nurse took my blood pressure ,it was so high that she wanted to call an ambulance. It was only then that I realized that I had forgotten to take it. I took my med along with some aspirin and after a few hours it returned back to normal. Basically put I came real close to having a heart attack or a stroke. I have been tired and worn out all weekend and have had a lot of time to think about things going on in the world and on social media.

First of all life is way to short to continuously panic and argue over everything from politics to war. One of the most amazing things to me is to read folks doing battle over the internet over issues that reality says they have no control over. I promise you this: When you are on your death bed the last thing you are going to even begin to think about is politics and, as a well known Christian musician once said ,“when your dead all doctrinal differences come to an end.” Some of you, my friends, need to take a serious chill pill and start looking around at the things that are truly important before they are taken from you.

I am guessing that God isn't going to be asking any of us about how many political battles we won or how many people did we convert to our religious beliefs. I suspect that He will want to know how we treated the poor and the needy. Did you love your wife and children did you give all of yourself for them. Did you honor me with your heart and your actions and not just with your lips? These are the things that are truly important.

Secondly, referring to politics ever so briefly,what the politicians want to happen is going to happen unless God intervenes. If they push for another war in Syria and possibly kicking off WW3 they will do so and we don't have the collective will to stop them. Not to mention the bible would suggest that it's going to happen at some point anyhow.

One of the things that the three biggest religions can agree on is that the end is coming. Islam believes that there is to be world wide destruction in order to usher in a world wide caliphate and some radicals believe that if they instigate it that they will be heroes in the life to come. Christianity believes that there will be world wide calamity and destruction as well before the return of Christ, though it depends on which denomination you are as to just how that happens, and in Judaism these massive wars will end with the Messiah reigning in Jerusalem and Israel will back into favor with God and the world. This,of course,is uncle Iggy's condensed version.

The Old Testament of the Bible has many last day prophecies in it. Much of which has come to pass ,as was foretold by the prophets, going all the way back to the time of Moses. Moses warned the people, just before his death, that if they were not careful to obey God's commands that they would ultimately be scattered to the four ends of the earth. It happened,several times over, in fact. But God also promised that there would always be a small remnant of Jews in the land and that some day, after the people had turned their hearts back to Him,they would return in droves. It's happening. Even as I write this, Jews are returning to Israel,despite predictions by the Catholic church that it would never happen, it has. Better yet is God also told them that when they returned the land would once again be filled with milk and honey and that the barren lands would become fruitful again and it has happened. All the nations that tried to rule there couldn't do it ,but in my life time, the desert has produced fruit. This was predicted it has happened.

I take comfort in this because it also speaks of a time when all of Israel will be united, when all of the tribes are brought out of exile,people who don't even know that they belong to Israel will return, not all will be happy about it, but they will come. It has been predicted it will happen.

There are some other texts as well that perhaps speak of events that are happening today.

Isaiah 19:2 “I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian: They shall war with each other,every man with his fellow, city with city and kingdom with kingdom.

Up until this whole thing with Syria, Egypt was the center of attention as the people have literally turned on each other in two bloody coups in the last two years. Literally brother against brother. It was predicted and it's happening.

One that really has caught my attention is what is known as the “Damascus Proclamation” found at the beginning of Isaiah 17 “Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city; It shall become a heap of ruins.” That's found in verse one. Now I don't know all the history of that region and this may have happened at least once already, yet here it is and just like the Egyptian prophecy it appears that it may just happen soon.

I have been reading many articles and posts on various news and social web sights and one thing is very clear; We have an administration that wants to bomb Syria and an American population by a huge margin dead set against it. I personally am against it. I am tired of endless war and those who seem to want it the most are not the ones who will suffer and die. I have been to war and all I can think is that there has to be a better way to deal with this.

Problem is, eventually it's going to happen. It may not be today or this month but it has been predicted: It will happen. Many nations ,including Russia and the United States,have war ships and submarines just waiting for the first shot to be fired. Syria and Iran has said that they will fire on us and Israel and Russia has made no bones about backing Syria.

Now as I am updating this it would seem that Russia may have worked out something with the Syrians, only time will tell.

So as we see all these things happening I have just a word or two of advice for all my religious friends; Stop going after each other over doctrinal issues and the nuances of wording and start praying for each other and with each other. We are on the brink of world wide destruction we need prayers not lectures on who's doctrines are more Biblically sound. I disagree with you on many issues yet I would rather focus on what we agree on and pray for each other,especially now, then fight and argue.

My friends in Israel, you already know that these things will happen, you are more familiar with it than the rest of us are, I am sorry for what I think is going to come but I take comfort in the knowledge that G-D has you in the palm of His hand. No matter what happens the children of Judah will survive. It has been predicted it will happen.

For the rest of you who have no beliefs or your more into politics then religion all I can say to you is that no matter the party, you can't trust them. If you put your faith in them and ignore the clear biblical warnings, even if it doesn't happen today,please understand the bombs will fall, and you will have no where to turn because you put your trust in the wrong place.

In ending I just want to tell you all that I love you and I pray for the best for all of us. I know some do not believe that we can ever fall. I don't think the Romans believed it either until it was to late. As long as we keep bombing people we can, and likely will, get hit back.

But let me leave you with some comfort, this is a passage that gives me hope for the future of the world even though I know there are dark days yet to come.

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills;And peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say,“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.”For out of Zion the law shall go forth,And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples,And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God. Hosea 4:1-5 NKJV

What would you ask of G-d?

I read an article recently, written by a Rabbi, that asked the question; What would you wish for yourself over the course of the next year until next Rosh HaShanna? I found it to be a very interesting question because I can name all sorts of things that I would wish for my friends and my family but I don't do so well for myself. I am so bad at stuff like that, actually my wife is too, that we have to buy things for each other even when they are actually needed. So for me to think about what I would wish for and actually have the honesty and courage to ask G-d for is quite an unnerving thought. Because these are the days of awe, when G-d decides the fate of everyone on the planet, culminating on Yom Kippur,I don't really believe that it's meant to be taken lightly. So what would I ask for?

First I would ask for the added desire to live a more Jewish life. I am not Jewish, at least nothing I can prove, but still the pull is there. I desire to live my life more in harmony with the ways of HaShem and the Jewish people and more quickly identify myself with their beliefs. I understand that there are already laws in place for Gentiles but my hearts desire is to be more. That would be my ultimate request.

Then I would ask G-d to help me be a better husband to my wife and a better father to all my children. That is something I have failed at more often then not. Truly I want nothing more than a happy simple life for my family.

Last, I think I would ask G-d for a small home in the country with a plot of land to have a garden and where we could watch nature. I don't want anything fancy, just a place where my family and I could stay for awhile, and my wife and I could grow old together, in our own little Hobbit home.

That’s it nothing fancy. I don't desire great wealth or a mansion, not even better health ,because I know that this life soon passes, and none of it comes with me.

So with that thought in mind,I wish for all of you a happy new year and a blessed year as well.

Shalom.