Good Morning!

Edmund Burke, the Irish-born British statesmen, once observed:

“Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could do only a little.”

We begin with a recommendation little in effort but large in significance:

1.   Help Protect Traditional Marriage and People of Faith – Oppose the So-Called ‘Respect for Marriage Act’ 

From the Daily Citizen:

The Senate is expected to vote soon on the deceptively titled “Respect for Marriage Act.” HR 8404 was rushed through the House earlier this year – without any public hearings.

It would codify in federal law that marriage is between any two individuals that a state allows to marry. It also forces states to accept any marriage recognized in another state – including plural marriages, open marriages, marriages involving minors “or any other new marriage definition that a state chooses to adopt.”

Given the significance of HR 8404 and its negative effect on people of faith, it’s vital for concerned believers to speak out against this legislation.

As Focus on the Family President Jim Daly wrote, the act “diminishes, undermines and disrespects the very thing it claims to protect.”

“Those who voted for this act in the House didn’t vote to protect marriage – rather they voted to protect the recent invention of same-sex marriage,” he explained.

Daly also signed a letter – along with a coalition of leaders from dozens of other state and national pro-family organizations – opposing the act.

It’s critical for concerned citizens to contact their senators and speak out against this harmful legislation.

Here are three simple ways to contact your senators and voice your strong opposition:

• First, our friends at Family Policy Alliance have created an action page that makes it easy to contact both your senators via email. It takes about a minute to explain your opposition and send two emails at once.
• Second, If you know who your senators are, you can call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be transferred to their office so that you can speak to one of the senator’s staff members. Please be polite and simply ask them to relay the message that you want your senator to vote “NO” on H.R. 8404.
• Third, you can find your senators here and send them an email here.

You can also take action by sharing this information with friends, family and church leaders, urging them to oppose HR 8404.

This is URGENT. Please contact your senators TODAY.

2.   The 2022 Midterm Voting Is Already Beginning 

From the Wall Street Journal: 

Election Day this year, Nov. 8, is still eight weeks away, but modern America has Election Months, which began Friday. That’s when officials in North Carolina started mailing general-election ballots to the 50,000 people who had requested them so far. But caveat emptor, since the state advises: “Once you return your ballot, you may not change or cancel your ballot.”

Yikes. Someone who casts an early vote might regret it. That candidate could withdraw amid a health crisis. And what about debates? North Carolina has a Senate election this year that could decide which party controls the chamber. It’s a winnable seat for Republicans but far from a gimme. The GOP nominee, Rep. Ted Budd, has agreed to debate the Democrat, Cheri Beasley, but local news reports say it probably won’t happen until early October.

Sending mail ballots shortly after Labor Day to anyone who asks diminishes the campaign season when candidates and the media are most engaged. Stretching that timeline into Election Months also hurts challengers who are usually less well known with less money and can’t afford to spread their advertising out over many weeks. It’s hard to argue that weeks of early voting have made Americans feel any better about elections or their choices.

3. Disney CEO Bob Chapek declares victory in ‘Don’t Say Gay’ controversy 

From the NY Post:

The chief executive of the Walt Disney Company said that the House of Mouse “stood our ground” against a “barrage of attacks” from “certain political constituencies” during the “Don’t Say Gay” controversy in Florida.

Bob Chapek, the CEO of Disney, responded to the political brouhaha which prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to strip the company of its self-governing, autonomous status in retaliation for its opposition to a controversial law governing the teaching of sex education to youngsters.

Disney initially sought to stay away from the issue and not take a position, but a vocal segment of its workforce demanded that the company come out in opposition to the legislation.

When management issued a statement condemning the law and vowing to help defeat it in court, the GOP-dominated state legislature moved against Disney – one of the largest private employers in the Sunshine State.

RELATED: 

Department of Education Receives Record Number of Comments on Redefinition of ‘Sex’ as Parents Sound Off. It’s Not Too Late to Add Yours. 

From the Daily Citizen:

Fox News is reporting that as of Monday, September 12, a record number of public comments – over 184,000 – have been received by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) concerning its proposed new rule regarding the redefinition of “sex” in Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination in education.

The proposed rule, first announced in June, seeks to alter the historic and natural definition of “sex” as it has been understood throughout millennia, including since the 1972 law was passed, to now include “sexual orientation,” “gender identity” and “pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions.”

Many parents are outraged at the proposed rule, which undermines the original purpose of Title IX – to provide a level playing field for women in educational programs, including sports.

DOE’s new rule redefines humanity in a way that erases women, endangers privacy, and does violence to the biblical and natural understanding of the importance of male and female, as well as to the sanctity of life.

4. Private School Grad Katie Hobbs Releases Anti-School Choice Plan 

From the Daily Wire:

Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for Arizona governor, released her education plan on Sunday, which doubles down on her opposition to school choice.

Hobbs, who is currently Arizona’s secretary of state and herself a private school graduate, said her education plan for Arizona includes cracking down on the state’s school voucher program.

“Too often, Republicans have completely disregarded public opinion in an effort to defund our public schools. At every turn, they have moved to expand school vouchers without common-sense measures of accountability, with the clear intent to eventually do away with our local public schools,” Hobbs said in her plan.

Arizona expanded its school voucher program over the summer. Governor Doug Ducey (R-AZ) signed a bill in July allowing every Arizona student to get a taxpayer-funded Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) account to pay for their education at a private school, about $6,500 per child for grades 1-12.

5.   MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough Says ‘It’s Heresy’ to Say Jesus and Christianity Oppose Abortion. 

From the Daily Citizen:

In a predictable post-Roe tirade from central scripting about how dangerous pro-lifers are becoming of late – name a time when major media voices ever thought pro-lifers were honorable and reasonable? – MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough invoked Jesus on the ethics of abortion this past Friday morning. With all the passion of the finest fire-and- brimstone preacher, the Morning Joe host told his viewers,

As a Southern Baptist who grew up reading the Bible, maybe a backslidden Baptist, but I still know the Bible, Jesus never once talked about abortion. Never once, and it was happening back in ancient times. It was happening during His time. Never once mentioned. 

The clear implication was that Jesus’ followers have no business talking about it either. But Scarborough wasn’t done telling Christians what to think. In fact, he says, “it’s heresy” for Christians to be uncompromisingly pro-life.

And people perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ down to one issue, it’s heresy. If you don’t believe me, do something you haven’t done in a long time and open the Bible, open the New Testament, and read the red letters. You won’t see [abortion] there. 

6. Biden hopes ending cancer can be a ‘national purpose’ for US 

From the Associated Press:

President Joe Biden on Monday urged Americans to come together for a new “national purpose” — his administration’s effort to end cancer “as we know it.”

At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Biden channeled JFK’s famed moonshot speech 60 years ago, likening the space race to his own effort and hoping it, too, would galvanize Americans.

“He established a national purpose that could rally the American people and a common cause,” Biden said of Kennedy’s space effort, adding that “we can usher in the same unwillingness to postpone.”

Biden hopes to move the U.S. closer to the goal he set in February of cutting U.S. cancer fatalities by 50% over the next 25 years and dramatically improving the lives of caregivers and those suffering from cancer. Experts say the objective is attainable — with adequate investments.

7. How cleaning helps young adults launch 

From the Deseret News:

Emerging adults who can manage their own space and have skills to organize and clean will have less anxiety and depression and a greater sense of confidence and mastery — not to mention an easier time finding their keys so they can get to an important meeting or class.

While 92% of college students recognize that they are at their best physically and mentally when their room is clean, more than 7 in 10 said they were less than prepared to clean on their own when they got to college, according to a survey by the American Cleaning Institute and Wakefield Research.

Brian Sansoni, senior vice president of the American Cleaning Institute, the trade association for the cleaning products supply chain, said it’s important for young adults to not only know how to clean, but why it’s important to their overall health. And he noted that 71% of roommates said they argue over how to clean.

Even if you’re not arguing, relationships are less strained in clean surroundings, said Sansoni.

8.   Meal Times Are God Times: Cultivating Fellowship at the Table 

From Desiring God:

There is something profound about sharing a table of physical food with others, because it represents a deeper fellowship. Paul even warns the Corinthians that they must not eat with a man who professes Christ while he persists in high-handed sin (1 Corinthians 5:11–13). Physically eating together as Christians is a signal of our spiritual fellowship with one another.

This means that every evening meal is an opportunity to welcome children (as well as neighbors, friends, and strangers) into the fellowship of Christ that exists between father and mother. It is an opportunity to offer physical food that nourishes and delights, as we daily hold out the eternal food of Christ that endures forever.

If this sounds like an all-too-picturesque goal, like a Christian version of a Norman Rockwell painting, let me disabuse us of that ideal. Family meals are full of real people. And real people spill, cry, bicker, and can be picky. But remember, practice makes perfect — or if not perfect, greatly improved. My cooking skills didn’t improve without lots of trial and error and years of work.

Family meals don’t become joyous occasions of fellowship just because we all sit down at a beautiful table at 5:30 p.m. Fellowship is work. It takes practice and patience. It means keeping short accounts — repenting of petty sins, asking forgiveness, granting forgiveness, following up on a bad attitude, refusing to be lazy or neglectful as parents when our children need loving discipline. Partaking of physical food and the food of God’s word together around the table is plodding, repetitive, but eternally rewarding good work.

9. Don’t Let the Bad News Steal Your Joy 

From the Daily Citizen:

Does this sound familiar?

“It is a gloomy moment in the history of our country. Never has the future seemed so incalculable as at this time. The domestic economic situation is in chaos. Prices are so high as to be utterly impossible. The political caldron seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. Russia hangs as usual, like a cloud, dark and silent upon the horizon. It is a solemn moment. Of our troubles no man can see the end.”

Today’s New York Times? The latest report from Fox News or link on the Drudge Report? A political press release?

It’s actually a passage from Harper’s Weekly – in October of 1857.

Headlines have been causing headaches and heartburn forever, of course. It’s been the case ever since Eve ate the forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam (Genesis 3:6), soon followed by Cain murdering his brother, Abel (Genesis 4:8). Keep reading and there’s no shortage of bad news in both books of the Bible.

The very best part of being a Christian isn’t ignoring the bad news – it’s knowing the best news is yet to come. It’s why the apostle Paul could write to the very first church at Philippi, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:5-6).

This form of “stern optimism” should fill us with confidence and embolden us to action. Good days are coming. The lies and liars won’t last. Troubles come, and troubles go – but it’s the Word of God that will last forever.

God can be trusted. God’s promises can be believed.

10.      M*A*S*H @ 50: Alan and Arlene Alda Celebrate 65 Years of Binding Up One Another’s Wounds 

From the Daily Citizen:

The award-winning television show M*A*S*H debuted fifty years ago this coming Saturday, a war-comedy based on a movie, based on a book – which was based on the Korean War. The hit series would go on to garner 14 Emmy Awards across 11 seasons and 256 episodes.

In the middle of his fame on M*A*S*H, an interviewer asked leading star Alan Alda if he was ever tempted to stray from his then 16-year marriage to Arlene,  given all the glamour and the sexual temptations of the entertainment industry.

“Why would I want to do that?” he asked incredulously.

“People make a promise to get married, stay married, live through thick and thin, and that when things get tough … a deal is a deal.”

But isn’t it a lot of work?

“It’s work,” Alda responded. It’s work to have an intimate relationship with somebody. But we shouldn’t be afraid to work. Work brings pleasure. The successful completion of work is wonderful. There’s nothing like the joy you get from being with someone you’ve worked through things with and who you’ve been with for many years.”

In the 106^th episode of the program titled, “Hawkeye Get Your Gun,” Colonel Potter, played by Harry Morgan, orders Alda’s character to return fire on an enemy combatant.

“Look Colonel,” he responds. “I’ll heal their wounds, treat their wounds, bind their wounds, but I will not inflict their wounds.”

It would seem Alan and Arlene have enjoyed such a long and harmonious marriage because one, God has allowed it – and two, both have committed themselves to binding up one another’s wounds as needed.

There’s a lesson there for all of us – and it’s a story with a much-needed happy ending.