Day: August 30, 2012

Rice on World Leadership

Peanut Gallery – What role should America play in the dangerous world in which we live… lead, follow, or get out of the way? Condoleezza Rice made a compelling case for America to resume its role as a world leader.

Personally, I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to be the parent of the last service person killed in Afghanistan before we leave that miserable place. Right now, my USMC son and his family are potentially in harm’s way in the Middle East. So I have a stake in American foreign policy.

The problem, as I see it, is that the current administration doesn’t know what it’s doing or why it’s doing it. When was the last time you heard the president explain why we are in Afghanistan and the terms for measuring success or failure?

Ron Paul’s idea of bringing everyone home and minding our own business is appealing… but delusional. World leadership is a dirty business. But if not us, whom? Iran, China, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, Europe?

Nature abhors a vacuum. If we don’t fill the current world leadership vacuum, some one else will… and it won’t be pretty.

Check out Rice’s speech here –

Santorum on Life and Family Values

Peanut Gallery – Rick Santorum’s speech on Life and Family Values went largely unnoticed in Wednesday’s crowded GOP Convention schedule. But it was important because it clarified some of the social policy choices facing us in November.

“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are not competing American values… they are complementary. And they are the foundation of a civil society that values education, marriage, family and hard work… in that order. Santorum points out that following this simple traditional roadmap greatly increases one’s chance for happiness and economic properity.

Santorum essentially told the convention what Christian parents tell their kids – you can do it your way, or God’s way, but these two choices have two very different consequences. I’ve included the entire speech here so that you can hear his remarks in context.

Please pray for believers in Palestine

August 30 | Israel & Palestinian Areas – Pray for the summer activities of the reconciliation programs of Musalaha. Pray that the participants will get to know the love of Jesus deeper, and through that, learn to practice reconciliation in everyday life.

The decline in the number of Palestinian believers is accelerating. Many have emigrated because of the increasing influence of Islam, as well as political and economic factors. Indigenous Christians have the right to practice their religion, providing they don’t try to evangelise Muslims. Believers from a Muslim background face discrimination from family and community when their faith is known. In Gaza, believers are also oppressed by radical Muslim groups. On the West Bank, although there is no official persecution, Christians face some discrimination.

Please read more here – at Open Doors.

“That they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.” (Col. 2:2)

Morning Reading: John 4.25-29 NLT

The [Samaritan] woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming—the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”

….The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?” So the people came streaming from the village to see him. John 4.25-29 NLT