I dare you see things the way this family does. I double dog dare you!
Our joy is not dependent on how comfortable life is, our joy is dependent on who we are. When we repent, accept the free gift of salvation and are buried through baptism and rise to live a new eternal life - we have every reason to rejoice no matter what life throws at us. Celeste Welch |
Today’s the day! That one time a year when the city of Tampa suspends alcohol and nudity laws to create it’s very own little anarchy zone. Ah the thrill of public intoxication! Using the neighborhoods of Tampa as one big toilet. The lights the sirens. For years Gasparilla has been getting more and more problematic but there are so many city leaders that cherish and participate in the debauchery of this day that they just keep letting it get worse.
This year there have been enough complaints to bother the powers that be into increasing police presence. They have closed parking in the general area on a grander scale than ever which will be very interesting. They have been nagging everyone on the radio in television. They have banned the the coolers full of alcohol so prevalent in the past and have created “wet zones” which conveniently enough will be the only place parade goers will be able to purchase alcohol. I wonder if it will cost more from the vendor than at the local Publix grocery store 
It seems to me they have created a real problem. Your average stumbling drunk is and high school alcoholic going to get pretty testy with all the new tighter regulation when they come down to Bayshore to get all piratey. I bet Tampa has a record number of arrests this year. The police are going to be working in hyper drive if they truly enforce the laws that were so conveniently overlook in the past.
I do not know how much the Hillsborough county taxpayer is out at the end of one of these nasty parades but it is to much. This community need to go back to the Gasparilla without the beer and boobs and spend the money to pay off any deficits our leaders are always complaining about.
Be careful out there today everyone!
It gets a little senseless.
Even the announcers get with the program.
Arrests double for 2010 ,over 400 arrests, and that is on a cold rainy day! It is encouraging that the authorities have been given the blessing of our city leaders to finally do their job but it is a shame that they let it get to this point. We as a community need to stop allowing bad behavior to go unchecked with the notion that it we cannot live without the money that alcohol and gambling generate.
Just returned from an early morning First Priority Club meeting at Madison. I really enjoyed Being there with the kids.
Steve Holland made beautiful music and we sang along.
Here is the motley crew officiating the proceedings for the students.
Our guest speaker related the story of Zacchaeus.
We here in Tampa Florida got a mention last night in his excellency Obama’s foul state of the union address. What a ridiculous kerfuffle it was and he will be here today. I am truly disturbed by these circumstances.
Have you ever asked yourself why Florida does not already have a bullet train? Maybe you haven't but since the question is now fresh in your mind let me tell you the number one reason.
In America, if something will make folks money and the government will leave well enough alone, you know it will come to pass in record time. G-whiz already, this thing would be an absolute money pit with the American tax payer’s dollars being dumped in by the government in truck loads. For you locals you can be sure that we would be paying more to buy and sell goods as well with a proposed sales tax increase to raise an estimated $180 million yearly to maintain the next to useless thing. Why can our “leaders” not learn by other’s mistakes?
It’s not Chinatown but it is Tampa’s little slice of the Orient. The Oceanic Oriental Supermarket is chocked full of exotic consumables and I like to get a different food item every time I visit! Get a few people you enjoy together and make a visit.
Animals have a specific purpose they serve and they serve it. Animals were not design to do anything more than what they do every day of the time they have on the planet. An animal is not interest in recording a history of the world as it knows it. Animals do not keep family albums or have social security numbers. Animals do not pay taxes or have birthday parties with candles and a cake. Animals do not work for money or buy things at the store.
An animal’s life only has meaning in relationship to the one creation on earth that seeks to understand why? You and I are the only living being that is interested in meaning. We are the askers of questions. We loose are way without purpose. We seek to change the world around us in ways animals simply are not programmed to.
Why can’t humanity be satisfied with just eating, drinking, sleeping, waking, reproducing and dying. We want to live forever. What is forever and why do we contemplate it?
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
(Rom 1:17-23)
Approx.10640 sq. miles for approx. 9,035,536 people minus the those killed in the earthquake. An economy artificially sustained by decades of charity and natural resources severely damaged by inhabitants struggling to subsist day by day. A history of corrupt leadership and lawlessness. One powerful earthquake very near the capital city of poorly constructed buildings and what do you get? Misery second only to what awaits the citizens of Hell.
It is amazing to think that the majority of the population have already been living in conditions not so different from the conditions after this quake. For those who survive that next few week their will be more resources than they have ever had access to. For better or for worse and it will be both it will be interesting to see the outcome.
What an amazing country we live in here in America. A government structure founded on Biblical principals that have brought us through 200 years with freedom and periodic prosperity we live a life so many in other parts of the world cannot even begin to understand. Our future certainly holds natural disasters of this magnitude and you can be sure we must be prepared to rely on ourselves to recover.
With God it is about the individual. He desires that not one person be lost to an eternity separated from Him. Haiti has all the signs of being a hopeless mess but each and every individual has an the capacity to turn to God and choose adoption into His kingdom. It is a walk by faith not by sight wonderland.
Tax time is fast approaching and the truth is there is less and less money to go around. With all this lack of funds it is the bureaucracy that throws so much of it around that will find itself lacking more than ever. What to do? Tax more of the peoples money from them to keep the government supplied. If you you have any doubts just listen to our “glorious” leader and his new "financial crisis responsibility fee".
The bailout should have never happened to begin with but it is quite evident it was in large part a ploy by the government to begin a takeover of the economy an any entity that could have at one time been considered privately owned. There is a real battle brewing and after April 14th when they tax revenues are tallied I would image this government which has been spending money the American people do not have since the second term of George W. will continue to take drastic and ever increasingly socialists steps to feed itself. The only thing growing in this country at the moment is government bureaucracy and the ranks of the IRS.
We have a cat. I have been keeping this from all of you for about a month now but I am fessing up this very evening. She is a runt the neighbor girl found in the woods and she is undocumented. We call her Felina and she is coming alone quite nicely.
She was very skittish to begin with but is now master of the interior of the entire house. She pretty much adores mom and is closer than her shadow. We enjoy her company and she is neat little gift from God.
Always keep in mind animals are not people. They are not our relatives via evolution either. They are an entirely separate creation. God has given us a responsibility to be good stewards of His creation but we must never put animals in a higher place than they belong. We are commanded and created to have dominion over all of creation and to never allow creation to have dominion over us. God says all the He has made is good and we are to treat it as good without projecting attributes on creatures which they do not posses. Allow animals to enrich your life but never put an animal before even the most unrepentant sinner.
When the Global warming scam finally blows over perhaps Al Gore can use his superior understanding of the climate and market a line of winter clothing to continue earning a modest living.
I was just a little boy when I found myself outside scraping a thin layer of “snow” off every surface I could find.It was January of 1977! Mom had me all bundled up to the point I could hardly move but the excitement of it all helped animate me inside the warm cocoon of multiple layers. Mom even put socks on my hands. The neighbor boys who were older were having a snow ball fight next door.I was so disappointed to be a little fellow and not able to join in with the same abandon.
Bring on the snow I’m a big boy now!
Here are some news photos of the day.
It’s 2010 and you are fat!
Maybe you are, maybe you're not but you will have to endure a month of the most intense diet related programming the world has yet heard and seen. Why you may ask? Is it because someone knows something you do not about how we all get so fat and how we can all get skinny. No, it is because people who believe they are fat also believe that they can spend their way to a smaller profile.
It ain’t going to happen America. It is all a waste of money. For the next month every type of media will be all about fat and we will all just keep on getting larger regardless. They will say they are interested in your health and try to convince you they can be your hero. They want your money and that is that. Unfortunately they will not be quiet about it and we will all have to hear it over and over until Oprah and the rest give up in favor of next new year when the conditions are just right again or maximum profits.
Eat less and move more in the years to come my friends. Keep your hard earned money and bring an end to all the shysters with their powders, pills, potions and plans. I am tired of hearing all about it on radio,internet and TV. It will free them up to do more legitimate things with their lives.
