A day in Houston

Gail and I drove to Houston Texas last Saturday morning to visit with some friends we had not seen for a year or so; Anna and Rene.  They are the folks I wrote about in my Nov, 2011 posting titled “Birthday Extravaganza,” which you can read about in my blog archives if you are interested.  As usual, a day with these two people is anything but ordinary.  They both looked the same and Rene, although he speaks perfect English, was still vexed by the inability of his I-Phone to respond properly to his Puerto Rican accent!

The day started out with an introduction to the City of Houston and its amazing population of Doctors and nurses.  It seems that Houston is built around a core of health care professionals that has caused it to become the most populous city in Texas, and the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. with over 6 million people.  Houston’s crime rate is amongst the lowest in the U.S. and only New York City is home to more “Fortune 500” companies.  Houston is also home to NASA’s “Mission Control Center.”

The introduction to Houston was followed by dinner at Maggiano’s where Anna worked her magic to get us seated ahead of a “standing room only” crowd that had arrived well ahead of us.  We were delivered to Maggiano’s by a South African taxi driver who, I am sure, was specifically selected by Rene to provide our pre-dinner entertainment.  The short trip to the restaurant was an “E-ticket” ride that I will never forget.  Our driver raced through the crowded, narrow streets of Houston at speeds that would have caused heads to turn at any motor speedway.  He jockeyed for position with the agility of the gazelle’s of his home country of Africa where, I’m sure, he learned this talent.  We had not traveled far before we were all tightening up our seat belts and looking at each other as if it was going to be our last visit together.

Don't be fooled again!

To all my Mexican/American friends.  I have worked and played alongside you for many years and have always found you to be an honorable, industrious and friendly people.  Do not let the man in the White House mislead and use you to further his own agenda.  He will try to get your votes by making you to believe that the Republicans are anti-Hispanic because they want to seal the border, but that effort is not an attack on Hispanics as much as it is a protection against the criminals and terrorists who want to bring their mayhem to our very doorsteps, including yours.  Do not let Obama use you!

In the mid 1930’s, Hitler used the same tactics with the Jewish population and once he established his power base he turned on them and you know the results of that calamity.  Let the case of George Zimmerman be a warning!  The Obama controlled main stream media worked hard to make Zimmerman appear to be a “white man,” when in fact he has Hispanic origins.  Obama did this so the Mexican/American community wouldn’t relate to Zimmerman when the administration made a special effort to get him convicted.

Obama’s comment about a son who would look like Treyvon Martin was the first step in that effort.  Obama even went so far as having the judge offer the jury the option of lesser charges if it would bring a guilty verdict!

All these clues should set off some alarms in your early warning system and give you a clue about the people Obama really cares about; they are Black or they are Muslim.  If you are one of his chosen people you are a Black/Muslim.

It is not the intent of the Republican party to deport all illegal aliens and their children as Obama would have you believe.  That is a scenario that is abhorrent to all Republicans.  A controlled border first, and then a path to citizenship is all Republicans want.  Don’t let Obama destroy all that with his orchestrated campaigns.  If anything has become clear about Obama, it is that he manipulated the voting population by making use of his data collection and he will try to do it again.  Don’t fall victim to this tyrant!

Feeling helpless? Out of Control? Jesus has the answer.

I have been reading a lot of religious history lately and I’ve come to the conclusion that, when Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross at Calvary, the most difficult part must have been knowing that he was leaving his legacy in the hands of relatively weak men.

As honorable as the Apostles were, they did not compare to the savior and although Christianity survived it was not in the condition it would have been if Jesus had remained with us a while longer.  The deterioration, although minor at first, continued through successive generations of the church hierarchy until we have the many branches of Christianity that we find today.

It seems that, to find the true path to salvation, one needs to, as my cousin Richard says, “Read the Red.”  Read the actual words of Jesus, as transcribed by the Apostles, and add to that his miraculous works, and build on that.  It is the same tact that Martin Luther, John Calvin, and even the Puritans took.  They wanted to cut through all the pomp and ceremony that had become attached to the church and “get back to the basics,” but even they did not take it far enough.

With much effort, including an austere lifestyle, fasting, and other disciplines, Jesus made some amazing discoveries regarding our purpose here on earth and ways to overcome the earthly obstacles that tended to debase most of human existence.  In the book of Genesis, after God created our world, he gave man Dominion over all living things, which is to say he gave us control over nature.  Jesus had control over nature when he calmed the tempest while crossing the sea from Galilee to Gerasenes.  Do we have Dominion over nature today?  I think not, but Jesus showed us how to get back to that position of Dominion.  We only need to do as he did, walk in his footsteps, believeth in him.