"The great event on Calvary is a telescope through which we look out into the long vista of eternity and see the love of God breaking forth into time. It is an eternal reminder to a power drunk generation that love is most durable power in the world."
Martin Luther King, St. Paul’s Letter to the American Churches, November 4, 1956
"For your love for me disappears as quickly as a morning mist; it is like the dew, that melts away early in the day. That is why I send my prophets with messages of judgment and destruction, to strike them with the My words. My judgment reveals them like lightning. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and a faithful knowledge of my ways, more than burnt offerings."
Hosea 6:4-6
"This is how we know who are the children of God and who are the children of the Satan: anyone who does not do what is good is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their neighbor."
1 John 3:10
"What is surprising is not that we are called to do so much, but rather, so little. And so often we grudgingly fail to do even that, or do something else in the way that we please and call it a sacrifice.
Love and be grateful to God, treat people as you would like to be treated with respect, kindness, mercy and forgiveness."
Jesse, The Gradual Seduction of Evil, 30 June 2017
"Then the angel said to me, 'Write. Blessed are those who are called to the wedding supper of the Lamb. These are the true words of God.'"
Revelation 19:9
Stocks apparently did not like the look of things this morning, and headed south.
And they continued to decline in a big way, going out near the lows.
We are now at the point where we begin to decide whether this is a stiff correction, or something more involved.
Gold rallied further, being pressed down from the 3100 level.
Silver took a hit, in sympathy with stocks. That's often how it goes.
Bitcoin got bit-punched down a bit. It's still wildly overvalued, but all things with time.
VIX of course rose sharply.
I'll relate this even though I wasn't going to say anything, because I think it's funny.
Yesterday I resolved to give up trading for today, as a bit of a Friday sacrifice for Lent. Yes I abstain from meat, but I don't view that as much of an effort.
So I closed out all my positions before the close, and vowed not to trade today, not to even put on positions at or after the close for the weekend.
Well, you can see what happened. My favorite positions would have had a fairly large return. Not enough to buy a new car, but enough to feel pretty good, and maybe even tempted to be a little bit proud. Whenever I lean in that direction, God tends to stomp me to the curb.
Sometimes you just have to laugh. I made an offering, and God piled it high, and tamped it down for me.
But in all of this we remember that God does not 'need' anything of ours: not our possessions, not our obeisance, not shows of our regard.
What he wants is to love us. And he leaves it up to us to accept his love.
And so we are commanded to do things, not in the way that a human ruler commands, but in the way that a loving mother tells her children to do and not to do things, for their own good.
It's hard to grasp, because we have such a gulf in intellect between ourselves and the eternal. But if we keep his commandments, making him and his love our first priority, we might come out all right in the end.
God clearly wanted me to conquer myself, to put things important to me here in the world in their proper place.
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:28-31.
And for this I am grateful.
But, ouch.
Donny is providing some real fireworks and I just have to wonder how long he can keep this up before he and his Merry Pranksters break something important.
The West in general seems to be having bad luck with leadership, for quite a few years now.
Perhaps this is a reflection of us.
Have a pleasant weekend.
