Back from Christmas break! It was really good to see the family. I hope Chowon enjoyed her time overall. She came with me to Reno this time, and it's such a joy to see her when I get done with work. I'm praying for her patience with me while I get this done.

I'm blogging on my lunch break. Work today hasn't been overly difficult, and I've been keeping a solid, good attitude outwardly, I think, but I'm feeling very stressed.

I listened to the radio on the way to work today because I forgot to bring my aux cable again and the rental doesn't have bluetooth. I found a Christian station with a talk show running which was discussing various world events, the middle east in particular. I thought it would be nice to listen to a Christian perspective, seeing as I often hear the nonChristian perspective on things happening there.

They proposed predictable right-wing solutions to whatever things they mentioned, and included off-hand the common fear inherited by Christians that history could repeat itself with widespread antiChristian persecution. However, one aspect of the show stood out to me in particular (my turn to be predictable):

They singled out the Muslim state as a bad thing. I agree, it's terrible and it exemplifies the judicial inadequacies of Islamic law. However, when they summarized their objections to the Islamic system, they seemed to emphasize that it is an authoritarian theocracy.

It made me want to ask them... "who is your king?" And when they say "nobody. I'm American." I want to ask, "who sits on the throne of David as ruler over covenant Israel (that's Christians), wielding all authority in heaven and on earth?"

My point is, if we are going to object to the Islamic state, as Christians, then our objection should not simply be that they are wrong to follow the commands of their god, but rather that they are wrong about who God is. They are not following the commands of the living God. Something in me doubts that all Isis simply loves and enjoys what violent things they do, and I'm almost inclined to commend them for their commitment to their convictions.

This leads me to my second point: the Christian radio show didn't include the gospel as part of their strategy to end Isis. Their strategy was entirely political. I'm sure they would not object to missionary work, and I well know the argument that we don't need to be constantly including the gospel in all our public presentations, and I don't necessarily disagree with that... But is there any better thing to do than tell the gospel all the time?

To be fair, I say that, but I don't do it. I aspire to overcome my social scruples in order to be more consistent in presenting the gospel to literally all creatures with which I come into contact. (Mark 16:15 bring the point of reference there).

Anyway, I think that political strategies rooted in an unbiblical political system can not yield perfect results, but sharing the gospel leads invariably to victory and is the best strategy in the ultimate sense.

So, to that end, reader, know that Jesus Christ, the son of God, died to take the penalty due to us for our sins, and He rose again on the third day to demonstrate that he is Lord over all things including death. His forgiveness is a gift to you if you only repent of your sins and believe that Jesus is Lord. Whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life.

"We make more than our share of mistakes."