Despite Ourselves

I am a Christian, yet I am terribly flawed. As a disciple of Christ, I know what my Lord expects of me. Yet, try as I may to be what God wants me to be, I continue to fail miserably. I am indeed fortunate that God is faithful and just and will forgive my sins, because I need to ask for His forgiveness over and over again. I am often a poor example. Many who see my faults, cite those shortcomings as excuses to not accept Christ and not engage in fellowship with the church. I am to be an ambassador for my Lord and people are watching, and they often don’t like what they see. I am judgmental. I criticize what I perceive as the inadequacies of others, but fail to recognize my own shortcomings. I will look down upon those that are different or have opinions that are different than mine. I hold an inflated opinion of myself and will perform my good works in a way that others can see, so that I can take the credit for those good deeds.

I am a Christian, yet I am selfish. I will, more often than not, ignore that little nudge from the Holy Spirit to complete a task for our Lord, and instead, take the easy way out and do what it is that I want to do for myself. This is my biggest failure and my gravest sin against my Lord. For when my wants and desires take precedence over my Lord and Savior, I deny Him and worship myself, my identity and my possessions. I fail to remember that everything that I have, even life itself, is a gift from God. When I fail to welcome others, to share what I have with those in need, and to give of my time to those who are lonely, I also deny my Lord and Savior. Mark 8:34-38, “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

I am a Christian, yet I continue to commit sins against my Lord. My proclivity to feed the desires of the flesh, more often than not, cause me to err and to fall into sin. I take for granted my gifts from my Lord and I am often much too eager to accept the praises of others when I step out and serve the Lord. I fail to acknowledge God for the gifts He has given me and then selfishly keep them to myself. I am called to tithe, to give to my Lord only one tenth of what He has given me, yet I often only place a few dollars in the offering plate. Leviticus 27:30, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD”. My world revolves around myself, not God, making me an idol worshipper, lifting myself up as the idol.

We are Christians and children of God. No matter what it is that we do, despite all of our faults and failings, our God loves us all beyond our understanding. There is nothing we can do to earn His love. There is nothing we could do that would cause Him to not love us. 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I am made perfect in Christ." Colossians 1:22-23, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” Jesus took upon Himself all of our sins, suffered and died on the cross in our place, and defeated death so that we may be granted salvation and eternal life with our Lord.

We are Christians and we are saved. We can be eternally grateful that our Lord and Savior forgives us unconditionally despite the errors of our ways. Hebrews 9:15, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” The truth  is that God wants all of His children to believe and be saved, that everyone comes to Him through faith in the Risen Savior, Jesus Christ. There is much sacrifice to be made by a disciple of Christ. There is nothing easy about the tasks our Lord sets before us. But, when we obey our Lord and trust in His will, we will be made perfect in His sight. All of us unworthy, sinful human beings are sanctified in God’s eyes by the blood of our Savior. And the cost to us to be able to receive this offer of grace from our God; nothing more than faith in the Risen Christ. Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

May everyone have a blessed Easter, remembering what Christ did for us, to grant us the gift of salvation, opening the door to eternal life in paradise with Him!

Gerrymandering???

Gerrymandering is defined as a process used to manipulate the boundaries of an electoral constituency so as to favor one party.

Redistricting is the process by which new congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn. District lines are redrawn every 10 years after the United States census is completed. The federal government requires that districts must have nearly equal populations and must not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity. In Wisconsin, the Legislature is responsible to set the district maps. These maps have been a point of contention between Democrats and Republicans for over 50 years as each party has used the courts to protest the party in power’s redrawing of district boundary lines.

Now we hear the impassioned cries of the left: “Gerrymandering is wrong.” “Gerrymandering is not fair.” “Gerrymandering is not the will of the people.” “Gerrymandering is used by the Republicans to cram Democrats into smaller, more disbursed districts that isolated them into smaller voting blocs.” These complaints, are not just simply a false narrative, they are inherently self-serving. In Wisconsin, we do not have the benefit of an electoral college for our statewide elected offices. In Wisconsin, the voting populace chooses the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General and Treasurer by popular vote. Our most populated regions can drive that narrative, as they have sufficient voting power to impose their will upon the entire state to elect those offices. Wisconsin elects its representatives in the State Assembly and Senate in a different manner. District lines are drawn to properly represent different geographic regions, by population, throughout the state. Wisconsinites living in rural districts have needs and concerns that may not be on the agenda of the more heavily urban areas. The State Assembly and Senate are elected as a check and balance to the power of the office of Governor and to represent those citizens and issues that affect those communities.

So, what would we need to do to create more fair and balanced voting districts in the State of Wisconsin cited as necessary by the left? How do we create a system that is fair and equitable and accurately represents the will of the people by equalizing the voting power of the left and the right? Almost one third of our population resides in two counties, Milwaukee and Dane, in an area less than 1/26th of the State. Continuing to organize as geographic districts is no longer plausible in order to achieve the effect advocated for by the left. Milwaukee and Madison would need to have portions of their populations carved out and placed into other districts throughout the State, to “equalize” the voting power. Even though the left declares otherwise, Democrats have not been forced by Republicans to “cram themselves into smaller geographic areas that isolated them into smaller voting blocs”. Many Democrats have simply chosen to live in predominately urban areas that have concentrated populations. The left’s “fairer” allocation of voting blocs would give urban areas the unrestrained ability to elect those with similar views and values, especially if those districts were drawn to encompass a greater population of those urban regions. The issues that are important to your geographic community may become an afterthought to those who control the vote, since they will not be personally affected by those decisions.

Historic changes to district lines are subtle to the naked eye and the basic design has changed little as each party in power has chosen to redrawn them. While there are a few districts that have boundaries that tend to favor one party over another, making district boundaries that will make it “fair” enough for the left are not physically possible. The left is not advocating for the elimination of gerrymandering, they are simply attempting to tilt the scales in their favor. In actuality, the left is attempting to impose their own form of gerrymandering. If the left gets their way and eliminates geographic districting, everyone else in the State will be marginalized and Milwaukee and Madison will be able to effectively control the narrative, enact the policies they want, and leave the rest of us behind. The system in place allows everyone to have a proper voice in how our State government is run. Don’t fall for the left’s design to create a Wisconsin in their own image.