Day 30

Evil is a part of our being human but the word is often wrongly used as an adjective rather than a noun.  A person is not evil but every person has a degree of evil intent.  Wikepedia defines evil as “the opposite or absence of good.  It is an extremely broad concept but in everyday usage is used more narrowly to denote profound wickedness”.  However, that which is profound wickedness to one of us may not be so defined by all of us.

   

May I suggestion one possible broad ranging definition.  Evil is an action on our part as an individual or a group that demeans and limits our own birthright as humans.  Evil is a sin against ourselves, it has everything to do with God and nothing to with religion.  This may sound abstract but this definition is being played out in our current politics.
  

The Godless collective of the political left is advocating for the mother being the sole decider as to which of us live and which of us are destroyed.  The well being of the mother, whatever that means, is their only concern.  Motherhood is now a divine right and the mother is God, according to Governor Cuomo of New York and the Governor of Virginia.  

Can there be a clearer expose'?

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA   

Day 29

These are my favorite TV commercials.

1     1.     Geico camel .. Wed. hump day

       2.    Serovital gal … interested?

       3.    Cascade  What does a dishwasher do?

      

       G. Goslaw 

       Landers, CA

Day 28

Super bowl weekend is again upon us.  How can anyone figure that the Patriots are only 2 1/2 points up on the Rams, something is amiss.  There are two football philosophies that are played out every Sunday during football season.  The Belichick philosophy states that defense wins championships, while the Rams believe that an explosive offense is the best defense.  We shall check out the wisdom of these two philosophies on Sunday but look for Belidhick to blitz the heck out of LA.

This contrast in philosophies also occurs in politics.  The Republicans are defense minded stupidly letting the opposition set the agenda.  Democrats always go on the offense to hide their vulnerabilities, keeping the public and the voter distracted.  The Democratically lead Russia probe of President Trump, illegally enforced by a special prosecutor, is such an offensive distraction to hide the crimes of Hillary Clinton and the collusion of President O’bama with the Russians.  

This is an unavoidable evaluation of our now three-year-old political sporting event that we have been forced to endure.  Only the stupidly Democratic could believe otherwise in view of all the facts exposed to date with more goodies waiting for a just Justice Department. 

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 27

I spit in the tube for ancestry .com last year.  This was both a test of their DNA testing expertise and a test of my understanding of the Goslaw family history.  I don’t trust round numbers, when used they usually indicate an informed guess.  I want more.  The results of my DNA test came back saying that I am 60% English, Welsh and Scottish.  Great, that is the Spaulding ancestry on my mother’s side of the family.  This is no surprise.

Ancestry. com also said that my DNA showed I am 40% western European, close but no cigar!  I am a Polack, is Poland western or eastern European?  How do I know that my ancestors came to America from Poland?  My last name is Goslaw, which is also a small town in northwest Poland.  The Goslaw family or person migrated from Poland to Canada and America in the late 1800’s, there are some records of the Goslaw name in the Quebec area and grave sites in upstate New York but did the original migrants identify themselves by the name Goslaw?

The first adventures of my family to the new world probably had another Polish sounding name.  I’m guessing of course.  I would like to engage them or him in a conversation and ask, why did you make a name change in the new world, or did you?  Did the change make sense because another sir name would sound not so Polish?  Was the change intended to make getting along in the new world more comfortable because of the racial identifies of that era?

If this was your motive for the name change to Goslaw, then you caved to the negative racial attitudes of the time.  The change seems to us to be a denial of who you were and by extension, a denial of our family history.  The Polish people have a proud history, why weren't you proud of it?  I would like to have heard your response to that accusation, I’ll bet it would have stirred a fire in your belly.

 

Would you have shot back, ask me another question, why did I choose my hometown in Poland as my new sir name?

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA

    

Day 26

In the light of what happened to Jesus on the cross, there were and there are no good guys, certainly not the religious communities that put him on the cross.  Even the spiritually hungry who flocked to hear his words turned on him at his hour of crisis.  This is who we are, either we are stuck in a prideful box canyon of religious dogma or we run scared from exercising the faith that is fundamental to spiritual growth.  So, we can ask, who is righteous?  Since there is a God of love, the broad stroke of humanity must have some spiritual meaning, both for the rich and poor, the successful and the failures, the believers and the agnostics, the socially acceptable and the despised, the folk in the church pew and the folk in the bars, the have’s and the have not’s.  The love of God has been extended for everyone, for all.  All is a little word that brings clarity to the scriptures, at least, for me, check it out.  Our drive for spiritual authenticity has always been a part of our shared character as humans and is present in every culture, more often than not, however, religion of every strip, just gets in the way.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA  

Day 25

The millions of Americans who live on the financial margins are the underbelly of capitalism.  This weakness must be addressed before it is much too late.  The low commitment bar of socialism is increasingly attracting the younger generations with false promises and free stuff for all.  In a few years, America will no longer be the economic engine that built our country.  

This is a certainty unless the capitalistic power brokers become proactive in their politics.  It is no longer acceptable to depress the wages of the middle class by exporting jobs and facilitating the influx of cheap labor from South America.  President Trump is working for the change required to keep capitalism relevant but you are not supporting his efforts and doggedly fight Trump capitalism.  By your stubborn selfishness you will empower the socialists in spite of getting your cut in the corporate tax rate and the go away regulations.

The socialist agenda cannot be out rightly defended but the Democrats will ride the Health care train to bring us socialism in 2020, unless the Republicans have an answer to our national health care dilemma.  Healthcare is not working and the status quo will loose on this issue.  I have made this suggestion before but I seriously underestimated the revenue stream.  Democrats and Republicans can both compromise on this issue and fix our healthcare.  

Washington could unite and tax buy trades on the NY Stock Exchange, one dollar per share purchased.  Math is not my thing but it looks to me that this may bring in 40 trillion dollars a year to fund all or part of a new healthcare system.  That seems insane and such a solution seems unrealistic so please check my numbers.  ggoslaw@gmail.com  

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA. 

Day 24

Evil is an infectious human disease.  Evil is an infectious disease that separates the individual, the family, the neighborhood and the greater community.  Evil is the opposite reality of what Jesus identified as love for our neighbors.  Evil is an infectious disease that separates human life into those who are and those who are not worthy of the human label.  The worthy are then not responsible nor to be concerned about the unworthy who deserve to be trashed.  Evil as an infectious disease cannot be treated with alcohol, narcotics, or a hospitalization.  An effective vaccine will never be produced to rid us of this infectious disease.  Evil is in the bones of we humans.  Evil can only be confessed, therefore, there is One to whom confession can be made.  Shall we?

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 23

The assumption that we humans to easily make is that we are in possession of exclusive spiritual truth to which all of humanity is destined to accept.  This is the box canyon of religious dogma.  A canyon of mental assent and group think that shuts us off from the broad swath of humanity.  According to the religious box canyon of religion, the unwashed can only find a hellish reality in eternity. 

Jesus was not burdened with this assumption, for to him, spirituality is not about a list of correct beliefs or actions but a correct relationship to the Father God.  This relationship is exposed in us by how we treat our neighbors.  The religious cliques of the Jesus era, however, were satisfied with the small stuff, dogma and rules of behavior.  They as well as the box canyon of every religion say, "thou shalt be religious".  

The Bible reader must interpret the words of Jesus correctly, first and foremost, Jesus was a religious agnostic as well as a spiritual crusader.  You may want to add stuff on top of this understanding but knowing Jesus begins at this point for this is the context of the entire New Testament.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA.

Day 22

No former President has ever taken up residency in Washington after serving his term as president.  All former presidents have retired to a safe space in order to get out of the way of the incoming presidential administration, whether or not the new president was of the same political party.  Former President O’bama has broken all the fair play expectations adhered to by every other president.  There can be only reason for this decision to resided in a $4,500,000 mansion at 2446 Belmont Rd., Washington, D.C., surrounded by a ten-foot high concrete and rock wall.  Former President O’bama wants to keep a foot in the door of politics, the Democratic Party and at the throat of Donald J. Trump.

 

We all have watched as he, former President O’bama, through the angling of his minions, has done just that, for two years flooding the media each day with attack after contrived attack.  Valerie Jared, his long time political advisor, is still siting behind her desk, close to the former president, directing the anti-Trump propaganda and barking orders daily to every Democrat at every level of government.  She and they are experts at beating up on the opposition but stand for nothing that the majority of the people support.  

Former President O’bama is at war with the American people, but we know that our lives will become tragic under the O'bama vision.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA.

   

Day 21

Some say, “there is nothing really new in Christian theology”.  At the time I didn’t want to hear such a seeming repudiation of the need for a theological education.  Faith found me later in life and the younger learners were motivated to express the approved Christian theology to further their calling.  I wanted to be where they were but a nagging confusion was driving me to first look for answers.  What was wrong with me?  All the other learners seemed comfortable with our theology as presented.

 

It has taken this slow learner a life time to understand what I believe was being said in this statement and how it applied to my quest to understand my new-found faith of forty-eight years ago.  

After years of floundering study and decades of worship experience, the long-delayed understanding that has arrived is one for which I am extremely grateful.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 20

Tomorrow, Monday, January 21, is our national holiday dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King.  The Rev. King was one of my childhood heroes, along with Muhammad Ali and Mickey Mantle.  Martin asked the people of America to give up hate based on skin color, a message ripe for that time.  Love can stomp hate and it did with the great sacrifice he made by laying down his life.

 

I grew up believing that because of Martin Luther King, America was changed, our social order was changed to the point that we could live together as one, not perfectly but the war was won.  That belief held sway until the arrival of Barack O’bama, a black man, and his cohorts, the radical left. 

All of the sudden, America is an overwhelmingly racist country, it is our evil identity, and everyone knows America is evil.  Or do we?  At least, according to the radical left who goes about calling everyone who disagrees with their politics, a confirmed racist.  There is no greater bully than the left who disparages the victory of MLK to only score political points. 

I voted for Barack in 2008 because I believed all his hype about governing from the middle and to benefit all Americans.  It was a lie, to him, governing is about directing the power of government, particularly the IRS and the Judicial Department, against O’bama political enemies.  This black man has taught me to hate, not on the basis of color but to hate the anti-American political left that has overrun the Democratic Party. 

Is my hate justified?  Yes, indeed!  Is my hate less than what God would have me be?  Yes, indeed.  Maybe, when the battle is over, I will listen.

G. Goslaw

Landers, Ca   

Day 19

There are just as many bullies in religion as there are in politics.  Religion of every strip is a human construct that has a top down politic.  Anyone who rocks the boat, gets the treatment!  Most of us shy away from the unavoidable threat of the religious order, wrongly thinking it is not that important.  After all, we say, I am busy getting an education, building a career, starting a family and doing all the stuff that is unavoidable.  Bucking the religious politic is a dumb idea.

This is understandable, however, if I could turn back the clock, if I could change one thing about the events of my lifetime, it would be that I would have heard about the good news of universal Christian salvation at an early age.  The second wish, like the first, is that I would have set aside my theological assumptions and listened.  Instead of a life time of being uncomfortably stuck in the extremes of religious dogma or the extreme of no dogma at all, I might have come out of the fog in time to understand who I am and the power of my birthright, a birthright we all share, our personal spiritual potential.  I might possibly have discovered a belief system that more adequately fits the broad range of human circumstances as well as opening up the Holy Scriptures to a more consistent understanding of the words of Jesus.

According to the scholarship of my religious genre, there is no better person to communicate the words of Jesus than William Barclay.  Mr. Barclay was the most quoted Bible scholar preacher of the more conservative understanding of the original language of the scriptures.  He wrote a series of commentaries on almost all of the New Testament, his words were authoritative, settling any dispute in the mid 1900's.  The last book he wrote was entitled, "A Spiritual Autobiography", I have the Eerdmans Publishing edition, 1975.

On page 58, Professor Barclay states, "But in one thing I would go beyond strict orthodoxy-- "I am a convinced universalist.  I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God".  Some will not believe or ignore the words of Dr. Barclay because we have been so thoroughly steeped in the hell scenario.  After making this shocking statement he goes on to give his reasons for universalism and where the Bible points to it's veracity.  If you care to check it out just google William Barclay and universalism.

I would like to ask, Professor Barclay, why did you wait until your life was almost over, your influence at a low point, to tell us about your belief in universalism?  Could it have been because you would not take on the bullies?  Or, was it more important for you to sell books?

G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

   

Day 18

There are two areas of our lives that have the most bullies per square inch, Religion and Politics.  You must be aware of our Washington political drama, the O’bama bullies have been trashing any and everyone who believes in traditional American values.  These bullies are criminals who have no regard for the law or the truth, only angling for political power.  They routinely turn the tables on this truth, they accuse everyone of being dishonest should they disagree with them politically.  The facts of government abusing it's power are slow to come to the surface, but there are more than enough at this point for everyone to get the dirty picture.

Frankly, I am bored with constant recital of the many offenses by the O’bama club, the truth will not change them!  And justice is not blind, if you are a Democrat for your government will protect you.   

    

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA  

Day 17

Off the beaten track is my preferred methodology.  In trucking it means that whenever possible, the less traveled roads were more enjoyable, at least sometimes.  Leaving the truck stop in Joplin Missouri at dusk on a very wet evening, I made a decision to run one of those winding two lane, unfamiliar roads.  Looking at the map forty years later, the logic of that decision to leave Interstate 44 and wander southeast was stupid as stupid does.  But, being who I am, the freedom to choose was and is an absolute in my life but it does get me into trouble more often than not.  I could never have been a company driver.  Anyway, this night was my most memorable road war story.

 

Memorable is probably the wrong word, it was memorable but terrifying would be more accurate.  The road was very wet and I was comfortable following the lights of that car about a half mile ahead.  The road was winding with many small hills that at times blocks its lights as it crested the next hill.  About an hour into our enjoyable ride, I crested one of those hills to see that car ahead approaching a bridge.  The brake lights of that car lite up and we both started slowing.  Nothing seemed unusual and I probably had my mind elsewhere but suddenly a synapse in my brain lit up.  Call it what you will, an adrenaline rush, fight or flight response, or whatever.  “That car is stopping!”. That stark reality began the most terrifying few minutes of my life.

 

I pulled the trailer brake first, without thinking.  The few words of my driver instructor must have penetrated to my subconscious.  He told us to brake the trailer first in a panic situation to make jackknifing less likely, but my trailer started coming around into the other lane anyway.  I released the brake and the trailer came back, foot brake on the tractor this time, again the trailer hydroplaned into the opposite lane.  Back and forth, trailer brake to foot brake, I was sliding all over the road, my control was marginal.  There was no time to think or consider alternatives, only react.

 

My fourteen wheels had slowed to the point of being able to lock them up.  Now the only question was whether stomping on all the brakes was enough to stop me before running into the back of that car.  It was a station wagon, with small kids in the back window, the car was still sitting there.  Oncoming trucks were crossing the bridge and she didn’t want to get splashed.  It was a woman driver!  There was no where else to go, oncoming traffic, no burn to the right, only bushes, the unknown darkness and most likely water.  Though I was applying the brake for all it was worth, we were getting closer and closer, I could see the panicked look on the faces of those kids in the back window.  Then the entire car disappeared below the window of my cab over truck.

My Mayflower rig had finally stopped inches from that car, bumper up against bumper.  There was a break in the oncoming truck traffic so she went merrily on her way, probably never knowing how close misfortune had been avoided.  I slumped over the wheel exhausted.  I have to watch my heart thee days but I know it was pounding that night in the Missouri hills.  Every recollection of those terrifying few minutes have asked me the question, would you have had the guts to put it in the drink, if there was no other choice?  I have no answer.

Thankfully, the question is irrelevant for somehow, the truck stopped.  At the time of these terrifying moments, saying thank you heavenward was admitting a lack of control but I have since learned better.  I had undeserved help.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA   

   

 

Day 16

Allow me to ask a question of my friend, is there really any difference between one who cuts off the head of another human being in the name of their God and one who condemns the supposed unwashed to an eternity of torment in an unsafe space and at the direction of a vengeful God?  I fail to understand the difference.

Both tragedies result from fundamentalist thinking that is espoused by some Muslims and some Christians.  Radical believers in the faith of Mohammed cut off heads while fundamentalist Christians insist on the hell scenario for the supposed unworthy while each believer takes pride in their own somehow acceptable performance.  

Critics of the hell doctrine ask the obvious question, how can a God of love engineer such a place?  The excuse offered by religion, that the unworthy somehow send themselves to hell is bunk.  Anyone who has been around religious circles understands that there is no religion or no human being that adequately represents divine purity of performance or motives.

G. Goslaw

Lander, CA  

Day 15

Philippians 2:12 & 13  Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--- not only in my presence, but much more in my absence --- continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and do what pleases him.   NIV

Religion and God?  Just Religion?  Just God?  Did the Apostle Paul see himself and his mission as one of promoting religion?

G. Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 14

There are only two types of Americans, producers and beggars, who are you?  I will share one opinion, mine.  The producers are the private sector of our economy, "sometimes called the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state (Wikipedia)".  The state is government at all levels, local, county, state and federal.

The sticky fingers of the state has progressively whittled down the truly private sector over the last seventy five years by regulating it out of viability, supposedly in the interest of the public.  However, when regulation advances beyond the obvious safety of the public, free enterprise ceases to be the engine of our economy and we become as the rest of the world.. 

The regulation takeover of our economy reached it's zenith under the direction of former president O'bama, who gave away billions to the big banks who were responsible for the crash of 2008 and then ramped-up regulations to give government unprecedented control of the private sector.  This control resulted in economic stagnation for eight years..

Enter Donald Trump and his war on regulations and the resulting booming economy.  Surprise, surprise, two plus two does equal four after all.  The private sector again has returned us to a growing economy. 

One might ask, then, who are the beggars?

Those of us are beggars who are voting for Democratic big government agendas.  Those of us voting for career politicians of both parties who go to Washington to cash in.  Those of us who work within the many layers of government, the bureaucrats. These folk work for bigger and bigger government and create bigger regulations to justify there jobs.  Those of us working because of corporate welfare companies, who survive off of government taxpayer handouts.  They are lawyers and doctors, firemen and police, some we the public need but most we don't. 

Beggars one and all!

G. Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 13

Growing up the Bible was just a part of our family environment.  The Bible was quoted three times a week from the pulpit with the preacher claiming this book had a claim on our lives.  I never understood or didn't want to understand.  It was not until I began trucking alone that the really big questions began to bother me.  Questions such as voiced by Dionne Warwick in 1966, "What's It All About Alfie?".  Did my father and mother have the answers that I somehow missed them, captivated by my own arrogance?  Did the Church and the Bible have the answers?  Is the Church an honest communicator of spiritual truth?

Going to Church or sitting for spiritual counseling was difficult if not impossible on the road, so I began to read the Bible and ask questions.  My exploration of the Bible during this time was through the eyes of a doubter seeking a faith that somehow makes sense.  Just accepting any life-faith understanding from a human authority figure was and is a non-starter.  I came to understand that the Bible was the only creditable source for answers to the big questions because there is no where else to go.  The answers had to be there or sadly life must be lived without answers. 


G.Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 12

This is a warning for all those globalist, establishment and duplicitous Republican politicians, "beware what you wish for".  You can hide in your closet and withhold support for the entire President Trump agenda but more and more of we voters are coming to an accurate understanding of your true identity.

The Republican party has always been the party of the rich and big corporations, governing to protect the interests of this minority.  For at least the last forty years, Republican politicians have taken orders from their overlords, selling off America in order to somehow open world wide markets.  The games began when President Nixon opened up China, telling the lie that moving China toward capitalism would change China into a democracy and a friend.  What a fraud!

Under your leadership, the lives and well being of working people have been disregarded and inconsequential.  The Romney's and Bush's care not for the people, with their hands out, they have been paid to deceive the people resulting in depressed wages while the stock market financiers have been the only winners.  Companies have closed their doors to the people, because you made this betrayal financially advantages.  Who got the bailout of billions in the crash?  Big business that cannot fail.  The people only suffered, our financial security trashed by greedy Washington politicians, Democratic and Republican.  You claim to support our legal system while you have made border security impossible for the last thirty years by cooperating with the open borders Democrats behind closed doors.  Your game is simply to depress wages.

Sure, capitalism is the only economic system that works for the people and must be preserved but capitalism does have a soft underbelly.  You, the globalist establishment Republicans are selling out to that underbelly.  Keep it up, what you are wishing for is really socialism.  The Trump Presidency has changed the Republican Party into politics with a heart for the people, all people.  When are you going to get on board?

G, Goslaw
Landers, CA

Day 11

I remember when.  Forty-six years is long ago but some memories stay around.  The year was 1972 and I was kicked loose from the Navy as were thousands of others following the draw down from the jungle war.  Being single and looking for a supposed adventure, I decided to buy a truck and hit the road.  I knew as much about the trucking world as I did about the military when I joined up, it would seem that when your young and dumb, important decisions are a snap.  The draft board forced me into one decision and the other just seemed to be an available opportunity.

The company I choose taught me to drive a big rig in 1 ½ days, loading and unloading furniture in 2 days and all the paperwork in one.   One week and I was on the road by myself, running cross country in all weather conditions, a navigator without GPS, a business person without a secretary and dealing with the retail customer on practically a daily basis.  I didn’t have a clue and could only learn by trial and error.

The first year was a horror show financially, small loads scattered over hundreds of miles resulting in long hours and marginal income.  It was eight months before my monthly hauling statement included a check of any size.  Had I known the statistics of all the startups who quite the business in the first year, had I known the level of commitment required of we owner operators, I would have taken a long vacation on the beach.

No one was out to get me, like every other rookie, I was just a small dingy paddling in a very big ocean, so much to learn and so little time.  Faced with all the negatives of the first year, I had one of those rare life gut check, a decision to persevere.  I have come to understand such a decision is more valuable than money.  

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA       

Day 10

Universal salvation, simply stated in my own words, is the belief that an eternal positive future for all human beings has been set into motion from the beginning of time by the God of the Galaxies.  And that someday, we all shall choose to be rightly joined at the hip with this all-inclusive, all-powerful Supreme Being, in varying degrees in this life and then fully in the next.  Death is not a finality; the judgement of God now and into eternity will always be about preparing each of us for unification with God as our selfish individualism becomes progressively lost in the light of the Divine Presence.  All of humanity will undergo change after death because none of us dies ready or worthy of unification with God.  Some of us are readier than others but despite what the religions of this world broadcast, every last human being has a reason to hope into eternity.  Eternal hope is for everyone regardless of race, religion, wealth, social standing or relative moral goodness.  These are my words and my understanding of our shared human destiny, universal salvation.  

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA     

Day 9

   Can’t you see it?  Washington Democrats are huddled together singing their politics.  Obama, Jared, Pelosi and Schumer, in all their witches Glory, are intent on stirring up their brew. It is a curse that will make America a third world country very soon.  We know, we live in California!

  

     “Double, double toil and trouble;

       Fire burn and caldron bubble.

       Fillet of a fenny snake,

       In the caldron boil and bake;

       Eye of newt and toe of frog,

       Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

       Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,

       Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,

       For a charm of powerful trouble,

       Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

       Double, double toil and trouble;

       Fire burn and caldron bubble.

       Cool it with a baboon's blood,

       Then the charm is firm and good.”

           (Shakespeare, Macbeth)
             

            G.Goslaw

            Landers, CA

Day 8

Religion is one of those settling places.  Religion is one of those settling places that brings a level of comfort, security and community inclusion to the individual, a shelter in life’s storms.   Every continent in our world is a religious place, every people on every continent have some sort of religious practice or belief system.  Even those of us who laugh at the possibility of a reality besides their own, are themselves a religion that some describe as humanism.   We all are religious.

The question that is asked over and over again throughout history is whether our religion is merely a settling place or a means to another more important end?  Revival is a word I heard during my youth, so often that some of us were numb to the reality.  What is revival?  Please allow me to define the word my own way, “revival is an unusual awareness of a reality beyond our own earthy reality that is felt by the individual or the group.  This honest awareness allows positive change in our lives by freeing us from baggage”.
   

My family was greatly influenced by the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, a revival that gave birth to a number of new denominations, new doctrines and practices.  The result over time was the institutionalizing of the revival awareness and ensured it's eventual demise.  All I ever saw was the demising.  The religionists tried to link a new denomination, a new doctrine, a new ethic or practice to the revival atmosphere but the truth is that true revival is, by definition, otherworldly and cannot be manipulated.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA  

Day 7

Some memories are for a life time.  Some memories are positive and some are negative or somewhere in between.  All memories will influence our future to varying degrees.  You and I tend to forget or remember memories as we understand them to be memorable.  Our lives can be burdened by memories or ignited to be the man or woman we want to be, to be our best self.  There are memories that happen to us and those that are self-inflicted, though we are reticent to process our own responsibility.  Some memories captivate us, they seem to have power over us, driving us to repetition.  You have yours and I have mine, what shall we do with them?  Only the individual can decide.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 6

This is a message for the deep pocket Republicans.  Fess up to your duplicitous nature for that is who you are, double minded.  You pretend to be for the people but you have always been an old school Republican who controls public policy so as to advantage big business and corporations, to the disadvantage of working folk.

    

The election of 2016 has changed Republicanism, the new Republican party, lead by President Donald Trump, advocates for the little guy, small business and entrepreneurs.  The group of Americans who are not afraid to get their hands dirty earning a living and supporting their families.  We do not fear competition nor do we run from difficult times resulting from your political games.  We are the backbone of America, proud of that status and after 25 years of stagnation, our wages are finally rising and better and better jobs are out there.

  

President Eisenhower 60 years ago warned the nation to fear the military industrial complex for whom you run errands.  A beggar is a beggar, whether the beggar brings in a few dollars or millions.  Washington is a beggar town for whom we have no respect.  Old school Republicans, along with the Democrats, have entangled America in no win wars, sold off our wealth as a nation and given sneaky permission for invasions by illegals.  

The simple and obvious reason for this duplicity is to suppress our wages, we ask, how can anyone be so shallow?  The Democrats at least have a more honorable motive, they are angling for new voters they can easily manipulate.  The Democratic Party was for the little guy but now they also have surrendered to the power of money from the military industrial complex.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 5

Every last one of us settles.  We search and then put life energy into maximizing our selected “sig factor”, which somehow cements our place in this world.  One of our most prominent "sig factors" is the riches of this world, having more than those among whom we live.  Jesus told a story about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke Chapter 16.  Both Lazarus, the rich man and the poor beggar die.  Lazarus goes to hell to suffer in the flames while the beggar goes to “Abraham’s side”.  It would seem that their eternal destination and the wisdom of God is merely an economic decision.

If we read the story literally, this is the only possible conclusion, but to most of us, something appearing missing.  Their will be divine judgement after death but upon what will it be bases, will divine judgement be fair?  If you or I have settled upon money, riches, career, etc., are we automatically condemned?  I and some credible biblical theologians have suggested that the whole story, the intent of the story teller, may not be a message to avoid settling but rather the message would be don’t “just settle”.

Because we may have more than our neighbors, does not absolve us from the greatest commandment to love our neighbors.  Lazarus was judged deficient for being totally captivated by his riches.   Riches do that to we humans.  Our family had relatives 150 year ago who went to Alaska captivated by “gold fever”, never to be heard from again.  Jesus told us in Mathew 19, “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”.

Why would God put us in such an impossible lose, lose situation in this world? Could it be that God did not ordain our situation but that somehow it has resulted from our own twisted human condition?  Could it be that God may be about fixing all of us, sooner or later?

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 4

The debate rages constantly in politics and has reached fever pitch.  American exceptionalism verses the world order of big government, where national decisions are made in the dark by unseen forces.  The tyranny of big government is the new American remake that President Obama promised.  According to him and the radical left, if the people yield control of their lives to big government, to the dark forces, our lives will be protected and improved.  Shall we believe him or them??  Is it not Obama who promised you can keep your doctor?

Some politicians preach American exceptionalism but few of them define what makes America great or exceptional.  Money and power to influence the world order are not American exceptional credits, so what is?  What is our national pride, the quality that has rung the bell for 250 years?

We older folk were taught our national greatness from a very early age when school was about school.  President Lincoln prayed on November 19, 1863 at the Gettysburg cemetery honoring the 7,000 dead and 38,000 wounded at this one battle of the Civil War.  How could anyone, any president, justify such carnage?  Lincoln did so by giving the Civil War the same status as that of our American Revolution, 100 years earlier.  The sacrifice on that field and his prayer were necessary to preserve our national greatness, an American “government of the people, for the people and by the people”.   Without their sacrifice, America would no longer be America.

Our country has always been about this one revolutionary idea, true democracy.  The life situation of the black man in America was not the central issue of the Civil War but it was the most visible issue.  The central issue was one of economics or money.  Can a few wealthy people so manipulate American democracy to the point that our government no longer represents all the people?   Is our government to be "of, for and by the rich few"?

When politicians of both parties are owned by the rich interests who dictate policy for the people, the voter no longer have a real choice at the ballot box and America fails to be a democracy.  Money in politics is going to force another phase of the American Revolution for we the people have become impotent to influence our own future.  We can hope that the coming revolution will be violence free but don’t count on it.  Our only hope for that outcome is Donald J. Trump, the 45^th President of the United States.

It is indeed ironic that our only hope to preserve our democracy in the 21^st century, is himself a wealthy man who cannot be bought as are all the rest of the gold diggers.  History will have a good laugh, if we stand up for him!

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA   

Day 3

Life for all we humans has a universal bottom line that explains things. When all the muss and the fuss is scraped away from daily living, we all live to find significance in our existence.  Life is a search for this significance.  All that we do, every decision we make, is in some way influenced by our universal and individual search for some quality that makes us worthy of attention.  Life will end when we lose all hope of finding this “sig factor”.   We may be breathing for a short while but without this hope in our gut, we are already dead.

This may sound like cruel news, dark and foreboding but it is our human condition.  It is true for each of us and every day is an exercise in either searching for the sig factor or settling for some temporary fix to avoid the darkness.  Sure, the fix may be a chemical high but just as damaging to the search is settling for the supposed good life, whether that life is a person, place or thing.  By definition, the good life is only temporary.  The Ray Conniff Singers sang about our human temporary dilemma, “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow”.

G. Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 2

Hello to the future, whoever or whatever you are.  Greetings from G. Goslaw on January 2, 2019.  This is a new beginning for I have been silent all of 2018, a year that is now over with no regrets.  As this new effort is begun I shall attempt to avoid being the muller modality that I am, one who will consider constantly.  I call it “mulling”.  Most of the time it is a liability, considering to no end, weighing alternatives and waiting for clarity with minimal results.  Wish me luck in 2019 as a more extemporaneous modality may happen.  I shall try.

G.Goslaw

Landers, CA

Day 1

What the hell!  This is New Year’s Day 2019.  For every day such as this a resolution is warranted. For the first time in my life I would like to state for the record a resolution that I fully intend to keep.  Will this resolution go the way of most every other this worldly decision for change into the coming years? 

Probably, but I shall try again.  Simply stated my resolution is to write something every day and put it out there on the web declaring that I was here, at this time and at this hour, whether it matters or not!   Today is January 1, 2019.

G. Goslaw

Lander, CA