"Dead-Fish" Rahm Vs. Chick-Fil-A

To set the historical context of this sorted tell of Chicago politics let us go back to the Presidential Election of 2008 after President Obama won and Rahm Emanuel was named Chief of Staff to the President. The sending of a dead fish is what gangster folk-lore is made of. In an article in the Huffington Post Rahm has a "dead-fish" handed to him as a parting gift when he resigned from being Chief of Staff at the White house to run for the Chicago Mayor's position. In this article there is a reference to Rahm sending a dead fish to a pollster that he did not like. The whole dead fish illustration is an allusion to the Emanuel legend of his sending a dead fish to a pollster for whom he didn't care, replicating the scene from The Godfather when the Corleone's were alerted of Luca Brasi's death with a dead fish wrapped in Brasi's bullet-proof vest [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/01/rahm-emanuel-dead-fish_n_746738.html]. With his propensity of gangster folk-lore Rahm is right at home when he makes the following statement; "Chick-Fil-A values are not Chicago's values" [http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/cities-move-to-ban-chick-fil-a-supporters-launch-day-of-support.html]. Rahm's statement was in response and in support to Alderman Procco Moreno's statement that he would block the development of a new Chick-Fil-A in the first ward because he felt that Chick-Fil-A was discriminating a segment of the Chicago population.

Many are calling this "strong-arm" politics. Having grown up in Northwest Indiana/Southeast Chicago area, I would see this as business as usual in Chicago going back to the "Mayor Daily Machine." I do not think the mayor counted on the backlash from the evangelical community. Dan Cathy President of Chick-Fil-A stated that marriage is one man and one woman. Because of this, Chicago is strong-arming a business because of the rightful voice in the market place. Franklin Graham has spoken in favor of Cathy by stating, "I applaud the courage of Cathy and Chick-fil-A to take a bold stand for the biblical definition of marriage between a man and woman in a culture that has grown openly hostile to the Christian faith and its followers." [http://billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=8820]. Dr George Woods, General Superintendent of the Assembly of God had some powerful questions to ask in an interview with Charisma News: ““Are you saying that the Catholics are also unwelcome in Chicago because they don’t have Chicago values? That evangelicals aren’t welcome? That Muslims aren’t welcome? That Orthodox Jewish people are not welcome? “That other persons who have religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman don’t have Chicago values and therefore they are excluded from your community? Do you intend to discriminate against persons of faith? Do you intend to marginalize them? Are you becoming, in your view, intolerant of persons of religious faith? [http://www.charismanews.com/us/33867-assemblies-of-god-speaks-out-on-chick-fil-a-controversy].

Mike Huckabee is calling a for a day of support, August 1, 2012 from his website [http://www.mikehuckabee.com/]. I think that is a good thing. Not because that I happen to like there chicken sandwich, but rather because Francis A Schaeffer alluded to the idea that Christian theology must be studied because bad theology demands an answer. The secularism of Chicago politics demands an answer.  Enjoy your sandwich!

"Living With A Sense of Loss"

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4

The wise person is reminded of the fact that he will ultimately die. He thinks about it momentarily and then he moves on. He understands that all will at some point die. He "THINKS" on it, but does not "MEDIATE" on it. The foolish person however, never thinks about death – to him all things will continue as they are in the present.

Listen to the words of the Old Testament preacher in Ecclesiastes 7:1-4[ESV]; "A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."

We all have faced loss on some level and we will continue to face loss as time moves forward. The issue is not whether we will face loss but how do we live with a sense of loss? The preacher of Ecclesiastes gives us four principles on dealing with a sense of loss.

1.     We live in a universe in which God us ultimately in control – Eccl. 7:13 "Consider the work of God, who can make straight what He has made crooked?

2.     Be obedient – why bring your headaches/heartaches to your life through disobedience that you are going to face anyway. Ecclesiastes 10 is filled with illustrations of this fact. Listen to v.1; "Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor."

3.     Be active – today's talents have significance for today, not the future. Eccl. 11:6; "In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good."

4.     Enjoy life even though you are under the sentence of death – Eccl. 3:22; "So I saw there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?"

Life is sweet but the days of darkness are many [Eccl. 11:7,8].

Become A Lion Chaser

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out  problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and take risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lillies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion!
"In The Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" - Mark Batterson

Stress Is A Choice

An excerpt from Stress is a Choice by David Zerfoss

Several years ago while listening to my pastor give a Sunday sermon, he spoke about how life is made up of a series of choices. It made me realize that my hectic professional and personal life was of my choosing. Therefore, a life of stress had become my choice. Many of us hurry through life going from one place to the next, focused on conquering the next mountain, making the next deal, running the next errand, and believing we will never have enough time to do all the things we need to get done. Yet, there is all the time in the world if we just realize that we are the creators of this life we choose to live. That's right. Life is a series of choices and being free from stress is one of those choices. Whether your business life is overly complicated or your personal life (or both), you have chosen this current system of chaos. The world is a tantalizing swirl of getting the next "fix," tempting us to fit more and more things, people and processes into our lives, personally and professionally. And because we are so busy being busy, it's easy to be lured into the fray, with our lengthy to-do lists. Yet, the greatest achievements have often come from the simplest of ideas and in the simplest forms. To experience a simplified life, we first have to learn to slow down long enough to see through all the clutter. We need to realize that we are powerful magnets that attracted this life to ourselves—no matter what—good or bad.