God's Love is Permanent

November 27, 2009

Psalms 103: 15 & 16

As for mortals,their days are like grass;

they flourish like a flower of the field;

The wind blows over it and it is gone,

And its place remembers it no more. (TNIV)

The “it” of verse 16 is you and I as a miniscule part of the entire human race. The Psalmist probably missed the immensity of the human experience but he saw the effects of the blowing wind. Every day the winds changed the hills, the fields, the flowers and the deserts. From our scientific mindset, the wind is a change agent in the never ending process called erosion. Can there be any better word picture of our transitory existence? Human life is temporary, as individuals we are eroding daily, even hourly.

Ollie Hardy would blame Laurel for each desperate and awkward situation they encountered. He popularized the expression, “ it’s a fine kettle of fish you’ve gotten us into now (circa 1935)”. We, as humans, are so situated. The only exception is that we have no one else to blame for our temporary kettle of fish. This is the truth presented in the beginning parables. This truth cannot be argued for we are human beings. You and I, all of us, will reach some accommodation with this fact.

How shall we face the fact of death? Overwhelmingly the most popular tact is denial, death only happens to the other guy. This is a young peoples game but some of us never quit trying. We hide in the bushes to avoid the fact of death. Maximizing the many life options seems to relegate our temporary state to an avoidable consequence. Staying busy is one of these options. Working hard for a supposed future is another but sooner or later we begin to face the fact that our existence is temporary.

The mature tactic is to accept our brief humanness, it is what it is. The populist mantra to “live in the now” is good advice. Aware of our temporary state we can become thankful for the opportunity to experience and value each hour of the day. Today becomes measured. A foundation is established for positive growth both as an individual and a community. Our ethic becomes measured upon the good to be transferred to our children’s children. As positive as this may be, is more possible?

Into the deep recesses of time, in every culture, mankind has extended himself to reach for permanency. Most of these efforts have been minimal coping mechanisms with religious connotations. However, biblical history records a succession of individuals whose lives have trusted in the availability of permanency. Do we have the courage to so explore? Jesus challenged the loyalty of the twelve in John 6:68 to such a journey. Peter responded, “to whom shall we go?” Peter believed that by following Jesus, and only Jesus, permanency or eternal life could be his. This is the place that God has prepared for us.

Are these perfect people, are they spectacular people? No, they are just every day folks who have been given the courage to touch the permanent love of God by faith. Those who actually make the connection, reflect God’s permanent Love by having the strength to give their lives away without notoriety. Human selflessness is indeed a rare occurrence in this American culture. Sadly, the church to often reflects the self centeredness of the culture and not the words of Jesus.

In closing this writer would like to depart from past practice and quote a favorite Scripture that reflects the testimony of the unknown author of the letter to the Hebrews. This passage is relevant and undervalued. He is quoting Psalm 102.

Hebrews 1: 10 thru 12

And,

"Thou, Lord,in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth,

And the heavens are the works of thy hands;

They will perish, but Thou remainest;

And they will become old as a garment,

And as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up;

As a garment they will also be changed.

But Thou art the same,

And Thy years will not come to an end.”

G. Goslaw

Victorville, Ca

Accountability

Open Letter to the Board of Directors

Spring Valley Lake Association

13325 Spring Valley Parkway

Victorville, CA 92395

Mr. Glen Goslaw

Proxy to represent Mrs. Marjorie Goslaw (AC360)

7983 SVL Box

Victorville, CA. 92395

November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving Day

Dear Board of Directors:

Thank you SVL Board of Directors for your leadership toward association fiscal credibility. Tonight’s main agenda item, an audit of the past year, is critically important to all our fellow members who pay into the system. Can we have confidence that the pool of association funds are being expended for the benefit of all of us? As you know, that confidence is an absolute necessity going forward.

There seems to be a great deal of mistrust in our community toward board oversight of this issue in the past. The million dollar perceived deficit is the current talking point. The number did arise from a lack of financial statement expertise. However, the lack of trust that generated the misread, can’t be so easily dismissed by ridiculing questioning homeowners. Our association should welcome engagement by all members, positive or negative, not just the fifty of 4,000 who show up for board meetings.

Mr. Haney, the newly hired association accountant, has been meeting with we few interested members who wish to improve our financial statement skills. We are grateful for the boards direction in giving us this opportunity. In two sessions some of us have concluded that a lot of mistrust has been earned by the sloppy numbers. Instead of a million dollar outcry, we should be demanding an answer to the question, “where are the boats”. Last year $173,000 of our shared funds were spent on boats or related items. Where are the boats? Are they in the marina? Are they in some board members garage? Are they on sale in the weekend corner fire sale? Where is the documentation that will answer these questions? Is this a real number?

The problem is that it is not just boats, but furniture for $163,000, recreation for $131,000, technology $277,000, and vehicles cost us $631,000. How is this possible? The security department must be driving luxury cars. Should we write this off as sloppy bookkeeping? Or is there another scenario, fraud. It is coincidental that when the board reduced the prior general manager’s spending limit from $5,000 to $1,000, he abruptly left. This is at least suspicious. I hope to be wrong.

My question to this board, will accountability happen? Yes or No, will you answer this time, please.

Glen Goslaw ( The lone voice )

Life and Death

Dr. Ed Young in his ministry, The Winning Walk, presents the only biblical and culturally relevant gospel message on TV. Sadly, he has now sunk to the biblical manipulations of all the other TV preachers. The latest Promo book is entitled, "Standing on the Promises", which seems to solicit engagement by we humans in search of all the life goodies. In juxtaposition, the Bible instructs us, the believers, first and foremost, in how to die. The winning walk should be a God empowered death march.

Sunday,

November 22, 2009

G.Goslaw