Daily Grit by Wes Thorp

Doing this is probably more important than voting this year

I know that our country is in trouble and my first reaction for a solution is to troll through the list of candidates for the answer and this time I'm not finding it.

I found this page at the Billy Graham website asking for people to commit to praying for country and saying that our people have veered away from God and that our problem is one that will be solved only through changed hearts.  

Hearts aren't changed for the better through politics.  That only happens through God.  It posted this Bible verse:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV).

This is the answer, I know.  Oh, I'll still vote, but I don't want to get distracted from the source of the real answer.  It's God.  That's the only way we will get real change in this country.

Here's an answer to all the political and cultural acrimony in our state and country

It's really easy to become discouraged with all the polarization and acrimony in our culture today. Whether you're in church or in a coffeeshop, bring up the economy, unions, the Right, the Left, the Legislature or the Congress, you feel like you're in the middle of a firefight in a war zone.  

There's minimal respect for other points of view and there's name-calling that would never be allowed on the playground.  It seems like everything that can possibly be done to discourage sincere interest in politics is being done.  What's the answer?

While I was going through the various offerings for today on the Radio Bible Class website, I found this video by Joe Stowell, the president of Cornerstone University.  He talks about the importance of not being distracted by the noise of the world from the fact that Jesus Christ is coming again.  We are to stay centered on him.  The challenge is how do I work this into the fabric of my thoughts and actions.

 

I was just looking for an excuse to buy the book "Inside Apple" for my son

In a post yesterday, I pondered whether my son Justin read my blog and whether he would read that post where I offered to buy him a book about the corporate culture at Apple computer.  It's a book that had him written all over it.  He's always been fascinated by organizations and how they work and how they stay viable.

And I knew he's a Kindle user on his iPad and that he reads a lot particularly on his bus ride to and from work.  I was sure he had heard of "Inside Apple" by Adam Lashinsky of Fortune magazine, but I knew that he probably had a stack of unread books on his iPad.

I still thought it would be a neat gift for those days when the bus is caught in traffic.  So, I got him the book by purchasing a gift card where all he had to do to get the book was click on a link.  It's a great way to buy somebody a gift.

Yes, he does read my blog.  I knew that.  And I'm happy that we have that point of contact through blogging.

Next, I have to find out about kid's books on the Kindle.  My almost two-year-old grandson in Bosnia is a prime candidate.  Then there's my daughter, my daughter-in-law and my son-in-law.  I love buying people books.  

A snow blower video for my 19-month old grandson Xavier

Our grandson Xavier lives on a mountain side in Eastern Europe and our visits have been great, but mainly over the web on Skype.  They recently got a big dump of snow and he got a chance to use his own snow shovel.

He's a kid who loves big trucks, engines that make a lot of noise and he would be a fan of snow blowers if he was around.

To deal with our hard winter which we haven't had, I bought a new snow blower.  I made a video to show him how it works.  Here it is:

 

Checking to see if my son, Justin, reads my blog

Actually, I'm pretty sure that my son Justin, at least, checks the titles on my blog posts and reads some

along the way and as he has time for.  But, to see if he's reading my blog this morning, I have an offer for him.

I read an excerpt of a book this weekend that he would absolutely love, Inside Apple by Adam Lashinsky of Fortune magazine.

It outlines the corporate culture at Apple and gives great examples of how it works and anecdotes about the premium it puts on secrecy.  Wow.  It even keeps employees from different groups from talking with each other about what they are working on.  The place doesn't sound like much fun.  It sounds more like one big closed-up religion.

It reminds me of the first twelve episodes of Homeland with Clare Danes that I watched on Showtime. There's plenty of reason to be paranoid, apparently, if you work at Apple.

My deal for Justin:  If you read this and you haven't read the book and if you are interested in reading it, can I buy it for you on Kindle.  It would be a for national "You're a Great Son" day.  And then you can lend it back to me when you're done.  Looks like a great book to read on the beach.