I kind of feel like my head is spinning.  Everyday brings something new into our lives.  Trouble, trouble, everywhere.  And everyday, the headlines warn of more trouble.  Where will it end?

We know Obama wants to be president and so does McCain.  Newsflash right?  And for any THINKING person, we also know that there is no way Obama could be a good president…..even IF he had good intentions…..  As for me, I can’t even listen to Obama.  I have no respect for anything that comes out of that mouth…….especially knowing that if it sounds halfway coherent, he didn’t come up with it.

I was never thrilled with McCain either.  The absolute best thing that he could have done for himself, he has done.  He has chosen Sarah Palin as his running mate. 

As for George Bush, someone has done away with his brain.  He has folded like I never thought possible.  What else is there to say about that?

Iran is WAY out of control.  Ahmadinejad calls for the destruction of Israel on any given day that he can pull together an audience.  Russia has been helping them build their nuclear arsenal and with Russia’s help, they now have nothing to fear from Georgia.  Israel had planned to use Georgia’s airports to launch a strike against Iran.  It was an agreement that both Georgia and Israel came to months ago and was being implemented.  That, of course, is now no longer the case.   Some believe that was the reason for Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

Prime Minister Olmert came out and declared that everyone needed to “Forget Greater Israel.”   The full article can be found here.  Part of me felt sorry for him.  Was he just tired?  Maybe he just doesn’t have the strength to fight anymore.  But that makes it a bigger tragedy.  He has denied his G-d.  He has forgotten the G-d of Israel who has always fought the battles for the Children of Israel should they decide to repent and just ask.  I think that we can “grieve” G-d sometimes.  He surely must have been grieved that day.

And then I look closer to home.  Natural disasters on all sides.  Hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes……and the economy.   We are the most blind here.

There is a Midrash that says that before G-d destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, there were earthquakes daily.  But no one understood.  No one recognized the reason for the earthquakes.  No one saw them as the warning they were.  And then the day came and G-d wiped them out.  If only they had heeded the warning.

I used to believe that the ancients were people who were superstitious…..foolish, and uneducated.  But I realize now…..and not because I am so smart I figured it out on my own, but I understand now that, that just wasn’t the case.  In spite of the blindness at Sodom and Gomorrah, they were people who RECOGNIZED G-d.   Or at least A god.  Someone or something greater than themselves.  They could see the EVIDENCE of that everywhere they looked.  Now granted, they didn’t always give G-d His rightful place and they lumped Him together with the many but they did recognize.  And the reason they recognized many was for fear of leaving one out.  They understood that Someone had power over them.

Many don’t even recognize that today.   We are our own gods.  And when confronted by all of the evidence, we simply say……”I don’t believe it.”

I have spent so many hours contemplating that answer.  And the only answer I can come up with is…….So?????  Who really cares if you believe it or not?  No one can make reality go away simply by not believing!  I read an article by Rabbi Daniel Lapin that said, “Don’t you agree that gravity is a nuisance? Think of the dropped items that wouldn’t break, and of the tumbles we would never take, if only Sir Isaac Newton, the 17^th century British scientist who stated the Law of Gravity, had never been born.  Life would be so much better without gravity, right?   Wrong. Does anyone really think that until Newton stated the Law of Gravity, Englishman were free to float around above the countryside like untethered children’s balloons?  Of course not.  Newton described gravity; he didn’t invent it. Gravity was never optional. Through Newton we understood it.”

I have to fight with myself as to whether or not to post the entire article because I really like pretty much everything he writes. 

But he makes so much sense.  Gravity is here…..and we deal with it everyday….whether or not we understand it OR BELIEVE IT. 

There was a time when the common thought was that the earth was flat.  That belief did not make the world flat.  These examples go on and on.

We live in a time where we believe ourselves to be so advanced……so cultured and educated and knowledgable……but when the hurricanes and the earthquakes come, we get out of the way.  Because the One who controls these is so much greater than we are.  And we can’t hope to stand in His path.

We are once again being warned all around us.  G-d is again sending us the warning signs.  He has shown us that we are vulnerable to the problems that this world brings.  When the economy goes, we will all suffer along.  When the hurricanes come and the earthquakes and tornadoes…..and even illnesses that most believed had been eradicated long ago come, we will all be affected.  For all of our “knowledge”, our “culture”, our “education”, we are still all subject to the problems of this world.   So really…..we need to stop believing that we are “it.”  And that we have the answers. 

Neither Obama nor McCain have the answers to the economy.  It is beyond them both.  What fools we would be to believe in either one of them.  How short-sighted we would be.

There is only One.  And whether or not you “believe,” doesn’t change a thing.  But common sense should tell you……there is “Something” out there.  And if that “Something” controls every happening on this earth…..then you better figure it out.  Because that also means…..He controls you.   And what He says will be……will be.  Believe it or not. 

We were watching Andy Griffith the other day-don’t you love that show?  Anyway, Andy was handling a common parenting issue and Barney started explaining how he thought Andy was wrong in how he handled the situation.  I LOVE that exchange because we get that in real life.  People who have either, never had kids, or never taken care of the ones they have….feel the need to be ‘parental’ to someone else’s kids….that takes some chutzpah. 

Personally, I have always wanted to be the one to bring my kids into line so no one else would have to.  Then there are those family members that I have always known love my kids and would never be mean to them so I don’t mind them either.  (Grandma, Nana, Aunt Lorry etc.)  But that list is VERY short and really, other people don’t have any business trying to impart discipline.  That is my job.  I have had issues in the past where I had to put my foot down about who can be the authority figure for my kids.  It’s just too bad that it isn’t obvious to some of these people that they really don’t have any place in that position…..I guess they just need some discipline of their own????