The Dream Factory

Winning in a Time of Foreclosures

Foreclosure filings nearly double

LOS ANGELES (AP) Foreclosure filings across the U.S. nearly doubled last month compared with September 2006, as financially strapped homeowners already behind on mortgage payments defaulted on their loans or came closer to losing their homes to foreclosure, a real estate information company said Thursday.

read more | digg story

Proverbs 22:26
"Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge  or puts up security for debts."

There are legitimate reasons for borrowing and lending, but the biblical bias is always cautionary.

Matthew 18:25
Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

We do not live is such draconian times, unless one considers the threat of homelessness and bankruptcy as a form of slavery imposed upon our children. Certainly there is nothing new about the dangers of out of control, unsecured debt.

Paul's insight goes deeper than that of economics:

Romans 13:8
[ Love, for the Day is Near  ]  Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

The remaining reality is that there is some real suffering rising to the surface in the tide of our current human experience and the remedies are illusive.

You and I know that there is no significant bail-out coming from the outside and that we must each take control of our financial well being. There are only these possible solutions and like most things in life, it take a balance of all of them working in concert to effect change:

1. Spend less and borrow little. - There is never a bad time to be more careful about spending, especially on non-essentials in relation to credit. America's credit card debt is out of control. Spend what you can pay for on what you need. Ben Franklin was write in Poor Richard's Almanac when he observed that a penny saved is a penny earned. There is a biblical word for over-consumption and it is "gluttony." Through it, much debt is incurred because we believe we really must "have it now," and the credit card companies tell us we can and should:

Proverbs 23:2
... and put a knife to your throat  if you are given to gluttony.
Proverbs 23:21
... for drunkards and gluttons become poor,  and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

2. Save and invest wisely. Whatever you can save, save. When you have an opportunity to invest, do so with a eye toward the potential return. What investments will produce income? Study, learn, and do. The wise and virtuous woman in Proverbs was an investor:

Proverbs 31:16
She considers a field and buys it;  out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

3. Make more. One area where it is wise to spend is on your own development - especially, from a financial point of view, your financial, business, and professional education. There are many ways to make more money. One is to work harder and that can be good. Another is to work longer and that might be necessary. A third is the one you need to move toward and that is to work smarter by leveraging your time, energy, and knowledge. That is the core genius of network marketing and other concepts in marketing. The Proverbs elevates the value of work:

Proverbs 14:23
All hard work brings a profit,  but mere talk leads only to poverty.

For a list of business opportunities I recomend, check my links here at The Dream Factory.

Of course, you may have already found your vehicle and, if you have, it would be my honor to encourage you along.

These are financially critical times, but you can succeed with informed output of energy and commitment. Dream great dreams and move forward. Keep a positive outlook. Keep your hand and hearty open to others, and be confident enough in the future to be generous in your giving. Consider it an act of faith and move forward:

Proverbs 11:25
A generous man will prosper;  he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

As John Wesley said:

Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.

You are on the winning team.

Don't Forget Saturday!

Just a reminder for all who wish to be informed about this great story and opportunity:

If you missed the article, read it here: 

Justice for All

For more information on Pre-Paid Legal services, click picture or go to my site.

If you are interested in Identity Theft protection, check out the IdentityTheft Shield site.

If you are interested in referring others or developing your own business as a Pre-Paid Legal Independent Associate, go to the Get Paid Daily on the Internet site.

Spring Forward Reminder

It's early this year:

Remember when you go to bed
To set your clock and hour ahead.

Don't be late for church!

Most Recent Rant on Fresno Famous

Hyperbolic Emissions is my most recent attempt to express myself on Fresno Famous. I don't dislike politics. It is how people come together in community to govern themselves. I just  don't like out-of-control partisanship that draws impenetrable lines over which people are discouraged from crossing and tries to label people and entire states with pre-packaged definitions.

What I love is people who defy such definitions and con-fuddle the pundits with their  seemingly slippery self-portrayals.

Beyond that, anyone who loves accuracy and honesty will come to the same conclusion about hyperbole. It obscured truth in the interest of mass appeal. Truth is not complicated, but it is complex. To deny that is to avoid the hard work of truth search and ultimately, to offend the God of truth.

Amazing Grace Sunday

Scandals and Sandals

We've got another scandal in Washington - the kind we love, juicy, sexual, tawdry, and polarizing.

And the Man in sandals walks among us unshaken, knowing what He has always known - that we are vulnerable and flawed and ever so needy of His grace and mercy.

Here is what we do, and this is not to minimize the shock value or the horror of young people being victimized: we polarize. We let the nasty news back up what ever position we have already entrenched ourselves in:

"See, I told you that all fibberwidgets (Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, political "liberals," political "conservatives", etc... ) were ignobilities."

And, if we happen to be elected to something and affiliated with a party, we will gravitate in one of two directions:

(1) Make political points from it.
(2) Avoid or minimize political damage from it.

And this is where the hypocrisy lies whether we were Republicans lam-blasting Clinton or Democrats roasting Foley. We take the sinless stance and gather a handful of stones. And if we happen to be related by party or ideology, we distance ourselves and change the subject.

All the while, this has absolutely nothing to do with ideology, party affiliation, or public policy. It is about human flaws.

Then we buy into the culture of cynicism and dehumanize the offender. For good insight into a piece of this, see and hear Judy Muller's commentary on NPR's Morning Edition this morning: Foley Alcoholism Should Be Treated with Care.

This would be a start: The "opposite party' keep its mouth shut and quietly communicate with the party of the offender that it wants to give it a chance to take the lead on the housecleaning. wouldn't that be something? Give the points away.

My goodness, that might actually be civil. we can't have that.

And the Man in Sandals walks among us and shakes His head.

We are entering one of those disgusting seasons where every opportunity for statesmanship is about to be shunned for good old fashioned mudslinging after which the culprits will try to convince us that because they wear nice suits and have titles such as Senator and Congressman, they are deserving of our respect and we should consider them intelligent and conscientious patriots. We are to expect them to respect us and work for our best interests when they can't even treat each other with respect, good will, and decency.

And when one of them falls in a big way, I almost gravitate toward him with sympathy because at least he is no longer actively assassinating the character of his opponents, maligning their motives, or labeling them with meaningless terms in an attempt to avoid honest debate.

Mr. Foley has done some awful things, but not because of his Republican politics. President Clinton had moral failures, but not because he was a Democrat.  Is anyone praying for Congressman in public? I am sure someone is, but I doubt that they are standing for election.

The Man in Sandals walks among our scandals, but is not scandalized.

____________________________________________________________________________________

	Web YOUR DOMAIN NAME

Several of my recommended products:

For Your Health
Nutritionals  - Natural from Nutrilite
Give the Perfect Gift - Let Them Choose

Something that is working well for my church and a non-profit on whose board I serve:

Fund raising program. We are have seen success and potential with Magazine fundraising with this link.If you don't need a fund raiser and just want to help an inner city church, click this link.

Brian Mclaren in God's Politics

Without letting on to any hidden information about his voting preferences or party affiliation, Brian McLaren gives three categories of concern for Christians in determining how they will vote. As a guest blogger on Jim Wallis' "God's Politics," McLaren addresses "Three Values for Voters to Consider."

These, he explains are first, the earth, second, the poor, and third, war.

Regarding the earth, he states that because of our stewardship over and dependence upon the earth, "we must intervene when human beings through greed or  ignorance damage the earth"

He does not spell out specifically what that looks like, but points the light of scripture at the reality as an area of important consideration for followers of Jesus.

Regarding the poor, he leans in the direction of a time honored biblical position that God, the champion on the poor, mandates that His people be concerned with justice toward them.Commenting on the growing rift and gap between the rich and poor of the world, he posits that we must narrow the gap.

How that gap is to be narrowed continues to be a point of contention between economic "conservatives" and economic "liberals," but no honest Christian upon examining the scriptures can be indifferent to the need and disengaged from the search for solutions.

McLaren will, no doubt raise eyebrows and ire by not incl duding corporate concern for matters of personal and familial morality. No doubt they are of interest to him, but they do not make his top three.

Of course, one might slide the abortion issue into that category. Perhaps any number of social issues would find a home there.

In the third slot, he places war and reconciliation.

"The growth of religious, ethnic, political, and racial hatred contradicts and conflicts with the message of Jesus, which is a call to reconciliation with God and neighbor and enemy ."

Crime did not make the list (unless it is a subcategory of poverty), nor did many of the other favorite causes of Evangelicals.

Concerning the mater, "Huck Finn" commented, " A "justice" agenda that ignores the shedding of innocent blood (i.e. the killing of unborn babies for convenience) is a sham."

Brad said, " Why ignore abortion, the death penalty, etc.? Is avoiding war really the only life issue worthy of consideration?" He went on the suggest that, " ... he entire spectrum of the Catholic "seamless garment" (including war, the death penalty, etc.)"be added to the list.

In the realm of politics, any simplistic  language is likely to leave important issues and considerations in the dust. Let that be a warning that we are in for another two years of least-common-denominator thinking, meaningless sound bytes, deceptive labels, manipulation, mudslinging, and lesser of evil choices.

At least someone is addressing issues without regard to party or candidate. Perhaps one contribution that intelligent Christians of all stripes could make would be to lift the national dialog to something resembling intelligence and an honest search for truth.

Dumbing Down Dubai and Other Dangerous Diddlings

A number of days ago, I wrote an entry criticizing the President for asking us to trust the government to always act in our best interests without checks, balances, and  oversight.  It wasn't about him - but IT, the government. It was a philosophical and constitutional concern. The context was the ballyhoo over the private company in Dubai with an American CEO contracting to operate ports in the United States.

I like the President. I appreciate his faith and courage. The problem in my opinion was the resistance to accountability and insistence on trust.

We can't offer unconditional trust a leader to operate in the dark just because we like him, agree with him, are affiliated with him by partisan membership or even through the same religious faith. When he steps into the role of civil leader, he gets a great deal of trust entrusted to him, but he can only be part of one branch of government at a time and there are three - each equal to the others, intricately designed so that trust can be limited and, as Ronald Reagan said, "verified."

Having said that, I am going to jump over the fence to the other side. The President is actually right about this Dubai thing. The homework has been done; the contracts were sound; the protections were in place. It is too bad that he does not have the trust capital he is insisting upon for people to believe that - because, in this case, he is right and we ought to be able to trust the process.

He did not lose trust by being a dishonest man. I think he is honest. It was not through any character flaws. It was as a result of blind unilateralism and unwarranted secrecy. Some secrecy is necessary, but this crowd has taken it to the extreme - and it did not start with this one. It has been progressive.

I can't stomach opportunism from the left or the right. In this case, it was the thorough reporting of the often maligned-by-the-right NPR on this Dubai matter that brought me back to the administration's stand on the issue and against most of the Democrats and Republicans who cater to the simplistic rants of a public that continues to be moved by sound bytes and shock jocks.

As the Corleones used to love to say, "It's just business."

And it is. It is no more a matter of national security what company operates these ports than what I eat for breakfast. They are regulated, inspected, and observed. Dubai as capital of the UAE is not only not a terrorist state, its values are antithetical to those of terrorists. It is the Delaware of the Middle East, existing as a tax-free zone for the proliferation of international business. It has bought into Western capitalism lock, stock, and barrel.

Sure, it would be best for American companies to operate our ports, but there are not enough and they are not bidding on them. Like most political grandstanding issues, this is much ado about nothing.

So, what is the administration's responsibility in this? It is creating the hyper-secretive, trust-me atmosphere that fuels the fires of suspicion - and in this case - over nothing.

And they are responding to our fear factor. Shame on those of us who follow the Way that we are more concerned with security and safety than faith and freedom. How much of who we are are we willing to sacrifice to stay alive? What shall it profit a man?

We are well into a dumbing down process. It happens before every election. It ought to humiliate our Harvard/Yale educated elected folks to participate in it, but they seem OK with it. There's is not a dime's worth of difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to dumbed down sensationalism, propagation of half-truths, villainization of opponents, and appeals to visceral  ignorance in the quest for votes.

And Americans love it.

If we do not participate by thinking more deeply, asking more questions, and challenging the system, those of us who live in two kingdoms are not rendering unto Caesar because our taxation is primarily participation. We are Caesar and we are renderers and we need to start behaving that way. Let us commit to loving God with our minds at a higher level, rising above political partisanship, and slogan-ism to be the salt-light citizens we are called to be.

This is a rant. I have to do that sometimes. When it comes down to the it of it, I am not bothered with whether you agree or disagree with me on these points as much as that we are free to share our views and exercise that freedom along with others. If it is ever taken away, we shall remain free in Christ. At the bottom line of all things, that is the only thing that really matters and shall matter for eternity.

Trust Me

I heard our President ask us to trust him again today. It caused me some concern - especially for a guy who does not like to polarize himself or others politically. I think most of the distinctions we draw are unnecessarily divisive and intrinsically false.

But he said, "Trust me," and it  struck me as troubling. It was nothing new. He asks that of us a lot. But he really is asking a lot and needs to know that.

This time it was about foreign control over East Coast ports. President Carter agrees that we should trust him and the process. Most governors and congressional representatives of both major parties seem to disagree.

So the appeal has gone out to the American people to step up to the plate again and trust their government. After all, the government always has our best interests at heart and the government is always honest - even with itself - and never mistaken, not to mention all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful.

It seems that "trust me" is the one thing Americans should not be asked to do by a democratically elected government. The founders assumed that we would elect good leaders who had a strong moral compass. Yet, they understood the ambiguity of power and the need for checks and balances. So they built them into the system.

I like the President and respect him as a man of integrity and good intentions. I tend to admire presidents and always hold them in high esteem for the sake of their office, responsibility, and sacrifice. The President is a good man. I agree with him on quite a few issues including his stand against abortion and for faith based initiatives. I think less government is better ... wait a minute ... Is that one of his positions?

It seems that he is gravitating away from the traditional conservatism of less government toward more government as long as it is in the interest of "national defense."

He is not a state's rights advocate as he federalizes more and more crimes that ought to be handled locally or as he sets national standards for everything from education to drug policy. State's rights used to be a conservative position.

He is advocating less government oversight and more presidential power to be trusted to take care of everything.

The problem is with precedent. You can never get the horse back in the barn very well. Faces change; leaders come and go. Give your government an inch and it will take a mile of trust. Connecting patriotism with this blind trust is disturbing, but even now, as I question the politically correct assumptions of the day, I fear being labeled unpatriotic,

Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death."

The current trend is toward, "Liberty is worthless if we are dead."

I thought those who were willing to lay down their lives for liberty were the people we called patriots. Is the Patriot Act really the Anti-Patriot Act? I would not want to apply that label or any label to those who disagree with me.

Conservatives of yesteryear touted, "Better dead than Red." Where did that go?

"Trust me," he says with all sincerity and the best of intentions. And he has done a lot to help us and there are many conveniences and "freedoms" that we should be willing to voluntarily and temporarily relinquish - but to trash the Constitution and Bill of Rights for safety? Is that what America is all about?

I don't think the President really understands what he is asking. If I thought he did, I'd have to reevaluate my high opinion of his morality and ethics. But I really think he is caught up in the responsibility of the moment to protect us - so caught up that he cannot and will not rein himself in. It is the checks and balance system that must do so. His job at the moment is to push the envelope as much as possible.

If we just sit back and trust our government, we are relinquishing our authority and responsibility as citizens. We are the line drawers and the line holders. We are the conscience of the nation. We are buck stoppers and fire starters. We are the citizens and we need to be able to look over the shoulders of our government.

Apparently, the President does not trust the judges on his own secret courts because he refuses to follow procedure that enables him to get a warrant after the fact. I can't imagine any other reason for not complying with an already accommodating set of rules in the war on terrorism.

If he cannot trust the government (Yes there are three branches), why should he ask us to do it.

Again, I stress that this man is a hard-working, morally sound, ethically driven, good natured, kind leader who is my brother in Christ. I doubt none of that. I would trust him with my wallet ,or my wife, but I cannot give him the rope to hang himself with unrestrained absolute power. It is not right and it is not American. It is certainly not patriotic in my understanding of the term.

I am praying for the President of the United States and our troops. May the heroes return safely to their families and may freedom ring throughout the earth. God bless America.

Just my opinion.

A New Approach to Terrorism

Over the Newswire

TBS News Service - Dateline,   Washington  D.C.   2-15-06  - © 2006,  Thomas B. Sims

 The White House announced this afternoon that it is taking a new approach to the war on terrorism. Instead of fighting all-out war, the President has decided to take a “friendlier approach.” Following his father’s lead to create a “kinder, gentler America, ” the President has decided to try and make friends with some of the known terrorists including Osama Ben Laden if he is willing. In fact, the President said today, as a sign of good faith, Vice President Cheney has invited some of the key leaders of Al Qaeda to join him on a weekend hunting trip.  --- Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

On a serious note, we are praying for Mr. Whittington's full recovery.

Homeland Security

Thanks goes to Father Jim Parker in the Christian Fellowship Forum for posting the following:

I just wanted to let you know that the new Homeland Security Bill has passed. Things will be different now and Internet surfing will be tracked by what the FBI calls a "non-intrusive method."

 

The FBI says you will not notice anything different. For a demonstration, click on the link below

http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI_eyes/

It's getting pretty scary! <G>