Red Skelton - The Pledge of Allegiance

What makes a good life?

"A good life makes a man wise according to God and gives him experience in many things, for the more humble he is and the more subject to God, the wiser and the more at peace he will be in all things." - Thomas A Kempis


What is it that makes a good life?  We often use the term to refer to the attainment of great wealth that enables a life of leisure.  But so often the people who are idolized for attaining that "good life" seem to lead desperate and unhappy lives without peace or joy.  Is life good without peace or joy?  Can misery be assuaged with money or does your soul long for a higher purpose?  I am convinced that many of us are missing the true good life because we are pursuing a false one.  


Wealth is not bad or evil; the problem is that many of us lose ourselves in the pursuit of it.  The wealth becomes the goal, rather than the opportunities that come with it.  Why do we seek wealth?  The most common answer is that we want to spend more time with our family and friends.  But most of us spend so much time pursuing wealth that we don't take any time for our family and friends.  


The purpose of wealth is to share it, not by a mandate from authority, but joyfully and with a spirit of giving.  That is why our greatest wealth is found in giving of ourselves.  It brings us great joy and real peace to share ourselves because it is what God calls us to do.  That is what makes a good life.

Are you struggling?

"A good and devout man arranges in his mind the things he has to do, not according to the whims of evil inclination but according to the dictates of right reason. Who is forced to struggle more than he who tries to master himself? This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue." - from "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis

My pastor recommended that I read The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis.  It was written sometime around 1400 AD.  So far, it is one of the most thought-provoking devotionals that I have ever read.  I'm taking a slow, meditative approach to reading it, and I am really enjoying it.  I try to read a section each day and then meditate on it.  That's meditate, as in think deeply about, not "ooohhmmmm" meditate.  I thought that I'd share some of it with you as I go.

Enjoy! and God Bless

God Bless You and Merry Christmas

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I pray that God will bring you and your family, and our nation, many blessings in the new year.  Please take a moment to pray for our service men and women who are overseas fighting to defend our freedoms.  Pray for their families, too.  There are a lot of folks out there who aren't able to celebrate Christmas with their families.  Don't take their sacrifice for granted.

In God We Trust


Scott A. Baker

Tomball Illegal Immigration Protest 09-10

Property Rights and Free Markets: Economic Principles of America's Founders

Property Rights and Free Markets: Economic Principles of America's Founders: "Although there are many scholarly treatments of the Founders’ understanding of property and economics, few of them present an overview of the complete package of the principles and policies upon which they agreed. Even the fact that there was a consensus among the Founders is often denied. Government today has strayed far from the Founders’ approach to economics, but the older policies have not been altogether replaced. Some of the Founders’ complex set of policies to protect property rights are still in force. America has abandoned the Founders’ views on the gold and silver standard, the prohibition of monopolies, the presumption of freedom to use property as one likes, freedom of contract, and restricting regulation to the protection of health, safety, and morals. But in other respects, America continues to offer a surprising degree of protection to property rights in the Founders’ sense of that term"

Charles Krauthammer - Those troublesome Jews

Tongue in cheek title, but brilliant analysis.

Those troublesome Jews: "The world is outraged at Israel's blockade of Gaza. Turkey denounces its illegality, inhumanity, barbarity, etc. The usual U.N. suspects, Third World and European, join in. The Obama administration dithers.