3-7 So Jesus spoke to them, using this parable: “Wouldn’t any man among you who owned a hundred sheep, and lost one of them, leave the ninety-nine to themselves in the open, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will put it on his shoulders with great joy, and as soon as he gets home, he will call his friends and neighbours together. ‘Come and celebrate with me,’ he will say, ‘for I have found that sheep of mine which was lost.’ I tell you that it is the same in Heaven—there is more joy over one sinner whose heart is changed than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need for repentance. Luke 15 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
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On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states should be free as of Jan. 1, 1863.
Source
It has often been my conviction that Lincoln freed the
blacks ......and the blacks freed me. In brief, by helping me “come out of my shell.”
I’m probably the last reader of my blogs who has not made
the connection of this Emancipation date (Sept 22) with the decisive and conclusive date in the movie Evan Almighty. How might this apply to our current developing story? One way of viewing the structure is that of a
collapsed tower—Trump Tower. (Important: please find structure here including description of source)
All's Well that Ends Well if (and only if) the towering arrogance of Trumpism (the Liar-in-Chief and his acolytes) repent and seize that great American cultural gift of second chances.
I have mention that when Dad was pastor at Bowling Green Fl--as a member later told me--Dad brought into the church family some famously intractable men of the town (including the one telling me). He remembered Dad as an honest and courageous man whose personal power was always held in check by a simple humility (Dad's example was just what he needed, he said).
After the Civil War deep resentment took expression in Jim Crow Laws while Ruthless Repression became the ultimate enforcer.
It is my prayer, that after Trumpism, the American Eagle will straighten up and fly right in total friendship with joy, creativity, and generosity--her Lamp of Liberty piercing the night with ever-showering Fourth of July celebratory brilliance....Ever remembering that though we are richly blessed by God---the presumption that we ourselves are god may ultimately rest in sheering personal pain relieved only by compensatory compulsive behavior translated finally as anti-social arrogance. May God bless us in understanding and curing this disease as a service to God and the human family.
