Happy Easter--He Is Risen!

 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice! --Philippians 4:4

Believers in Jesus should always be joyful regardless of our circumstances because Jesus lives and has paid for our salvation with his death on the cross for us!  There are hassles, strife, day-to-day problems, grief, war and terror attacks in this world; however, all these things are temporary.   

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  --Romans 8:18

We can take all our concerns and worries to God in prayer knowing that he loves us and cares for us and will give us peace.  (See Philippians 4:6-7 & Ps. 145:18)

I hope you will join me in celebrating Jesus resurrection this Sunday and can also say:

I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

If not, but you do believe Jesus died for you and rose from the dead (Romans 10:9 & 10, 13) and would like to receive Jesus as your personal Savior and be forgiven, just pray to Jesus right now.  Simply thank him for his death and resurrection for you, ask for forgiveness for your sin and to be your Savior and Lord, letting him know you are willing to surrender your will to His.

I'm just going to end this post with my two favorite verses which are I Corinthians 15:57 & 58:

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 

I look forward to our Easter puppet presentation called "Nic at Night" based on John 3 for the children at 9:30 and 11:00 this Sunday at Parma Heights Baptist Church.

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Puzzling Political Elections

I admit I am no authority by any means on politics, but the 2016 Republican Presidential campaigning and elections are puzzling to me.  Here is a list of things I don't get and would like some answers to or hear your thoughts on:

• We have one nation, the United States of America, yet the election process differs from state to state!  Some have open primaries where anyone can go vote regardless of party.  I just realized this an am so shocked.  I think it is crazy that some have open primaries and others have closed.  I thought up until recently, that all primaries were closed.  Maybe just because I live in Ohio and that is how our primaries are done, I assumed it was done that way nationwide.  I personally think open primaries are outrageous! 

• The whole delegate system rubs me the wrong way too.  I do not understand how the delegates are awarded to the candidates.  I get that in closed primaries, all delegates go to the winning candidate in that state; however, I do not get how they are split among the candidates in open primary states.

• I am also baffled by the fact that Mr. Trump is the forerunner out of the Republican candidates so far.  It seems he just yells a lot and people vote for his toughness, confident attitude and like when he puts others down, even his fellow Republicans!   Why people think he will get things done simply because he is a good businessman is beyond me.   His behavior and talk do not seem very Presidential to me--is that why people vote for him? 

• To make it even more confusing, some states have caucuses where the people actually meet and get in different groups to support the different candidates.  I'm not even sure how this works exactly, but I do know it was at one of these where Ted Cruz's campaign workers spread the word that Dr. Carson was dropping out when he really wasn't (at least not at that time).  I really liked watching some of the town hall meetings where there was just one candidate there answering questions from ordinary citizens as well as some from the host.

• Finally, I enjoy watching the debates but do not understand whey the moderators do not give all the candidates a chance to answer the question.  They allow the candidates to break the rules over and over again that they all agreed to at the beginning.  If they interrupt someone, they should have a penalty called and get a time out.  If they talk during their timeout, they should be asked to leave the platform.  As it is now, it is a joke!  When they interrupt and insult each other, they get all the time they want.  If they talk too long and the buzzer sounds, they still go on as long as they like.  

•  Furthermore, on the debates it seems as though the first question is always directed to Mr. Trump and it's not even always about the issues.  It's often about his response to what somebody said about him.  To me this just seems completely unfair to the other candidates and certainly does not set a good tone for sticking to the issues.

What do you think about the primary elections and the debates?  

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