10 February 2005--3 a.m.

Well, for anyone who is ever going to read this post, it is coming to you at a time when Gail and I seem to work harder than we ever have, yet, for less. But I refuse to be bitter. It is said truly that one is perfected by suffering, one learns through what is suffered obedience to God's purpose for their life. I am not going to try to debate with anyone about religion or non-religion. I am not concerned about religion. I almost never attend church anymore anyway. Though we are devout Christians, Gail and I spend our Sundays simply worshipping together, discussing what truths we have learned that are most on our minds.

I don't really like what goes on in the religious world. That includes what passes for Christianity. I am not as old as many, but I have already seen enough. And it is only exceeded by what I have witnessed by all the other faiths. And that includes the faith of atheism. For them, their disdain for faith in the Supreme One is just a smokescreen to be arrogant in their professed rationality and self-reliance, while refusing to face the fact that nobody lives their life believing as though they don't matter, or there is no future for them, or that they don't need anybody else in their life. My goodness, anytime someone goes to market and purchases a bottle of milk they show that they depend upon someone they can't see for their survival. Why is it strange to believe that One is greater than us who makes us all and loves us all? That should be rational to accept, irregardless of whether evolutionary theory has credibility in explaining the origin of the universe and of man.

But as to suffering. I am dealing each day with the fact that I never have enough time to even start what I need to do, or so it seems. And the lack of money in our home is probably as oppressive for us right now as it has ever been. But I recognize the greater suffering of others: the victims of the tsunami jumps out at you so dramatically; the suffering of those living under political or religious oppression; the masses of people dying of AIDS, or living with HIV; the struggle of those in a poverty far greater than mine.

I just read several articles today in the Wall Street Journal that have to do with suffering and courage. Two of them stand out. One was the editiorial commenting on the new report by the U.N. investigation on the Iraqi Oil for Food scandal engaged in by Saddam Hussein and many guilty people around the world, and within the U.N.'s highest leadership. The amount found to have been stolen from the children of Iraq turns out to be worse with each report: now amounting to at least $100 billion. Unimaginable, taking that wealth, knowing that children would die by the hundreds of thousands.

The second article was written by Peggy Noonan, who is a senior columnist for the Wall Street Journal, and who has served as speech writer and advisor for U.S. President's Reagan and both George H.W. Bush and the present President Bush, during his campaign. She commented upon the suffering during the declining health of Pope John Paul II. Noonan recalled when she attended a papal audience 18 months ago, when she beheld him conducting a service while suffering advanced Parkinson's disease. The comment she made that impressed me was that John Paul was a symbol, that even those who suffer, who appear ugly, or deformed, who live under terrible limitations, all have value, inestimable value. That God does not discard anyone. I have always been a great admirer of the pope, though I have never been, nor ever will be a Roman Catholic. Ms. Noonan's article catches the soul of the man, and what God uses his suffering to teach us quite poignantly.

If you want to look at the Oil for Food column, click here. If you want to read the Peggy Noonan column article about Pope John Paul II, called 'Victim Soul,' click here .
I have more to want to blog about, but I'll have to call it off for now. They'll be about more mundane subjects, like things that I hope will pay the bills. Later amigos. Bye and God bless.