Lately I’ve been struggling over a desire to return to political blogging. I don’t really want to turn this back into a political blog again but I’m going to have to post some on politics. It is, after all, that season.

For now I’ll just do a little update.

My lovely wife has gotten hit by the Bank of America lay-offs. Her last day will be Oct 31. Thankfully she will get a decent severance and she has good prospects for new employment. In spite of all we’ve been through we feel especially blessed.

Our church search ended up at the church I grew up in. This is a church that has been in decline for years and I never imagined myself as a member there again. But God, it seems, had other plans.

I’m also getting involved in student ministry again for the first time in 10 or so years. Our high school boys small group is meeting at our house on Sunday evenings.

I think I’ve fully adjusted to my vision situation. I’ve found many ways to function a little differently so I can do many things and I virtually never feel sorry for myself any more. It’s been almost a year and a half and I’m used to the new normal.

So the next post will likely be political and for the next year plus there may be more political than non political posts. But I will also be posting about what God is doing in my life and how He uses my circumstances to grow me.

I’m experimenting again with Windows Live Writer in the hope that it will solve my problem.  I’m writing this post with it but so far I have not found a way to make the text bigger and I can just barely read it on this 47″ screen.

If anyone is aware of a blog writing/editing tool that helps the visually impaired, by all means, please let me know about it.

Another example of the changing reality is trying to follow package directions on food.  I keep a large magnifier in the kitchen for reading package directions.  The problem is, so many food labels are printrf with very poor contrast.  Like whitr trxt on an orange background.  I can’t make that our no matter how much I magnify it.  So I end up calling my wife to the kitchen to read it to me.  It’s really very frustrating.  I know that food companies aren’t just messing with the vision impaired but they aren’t exactly thinking about us either.

I remember reading several years ago about standards for web design that make reading web pages much easier for the visually impaired. The problem is, no one thinks about it unless they or someone they are close to is actually visually impaired.  There have been moves to address the problem but so far as I can tell, none have met with much success.

So if you’re reading this and you have a web site or you are in any way involved in producing any kind of copy intended for wide consumption, please give so thought to those of us who struggle to read what you write.

Note: Please excuse any typos you may find in this post.

I’m a fan of Rush Limbaugh and I’m not ashamed to say so but I don’t always agree with him.  For example, I don’t share his optimism when it comes to this country.  Rush is convinced that America is so great that no President and no Congress can bring it down.  I believe America has been a great country but we’ve lost much of what made us great.  Would I like to see us regaini that greatness?  Of course!  Do I think we can do so?  I don’t know.

We’ve gone so far down this road.  I argued before the election that the rate of change was slow enough that most American’s didn’t notice the slow march left and that, perhaps, what we needed was an acceleration of that march so that the American people would wake up and take notice.  I predicted that Barach Obama would be an even worse President than Jimmy Carter and it took a Jimmy Carter to get a Ronald Reagan.

Well, we got Obama and he and the Democrats are moving at breakneck speed to turn back any and all conservatives gains over the last eight years.  They are taking advantage of the current economic situation to shove through every liberal project they’ve saved up for the last 20 years.  I now few that they will take us so far that even a conservative resurgence in 2010 will not be able to turn us back.

It’s true that conservatives across the country are becoming more and more active but it’s also true that many Republicans in Congress have learned nothing from the last two elections.  The current omnibus spending bill working its way through the Senate is a case in point.  Even Alabama’s Richard Shelby, along with several other Republicans, is supporting the bill that is stuffed with pork.

The future of America looks pretty bleak to me.  But, as I’ve been saying to people around me for a while, regardless of what Obama or the Congress do, I am consoled and lifted up by the fact that God is still in control.  That doesn’t necessarily mean a rosy future for America or Christians but it does mean that God will walk with us through whatever is to come.  I believe, for example, that God will use what’s coming to strengthen His church and that can only be a good thing.

For far too long the church in American has been virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding culture.  There’s been little to no cost to claiming Christ here and we’ve grown fat and complacent.  That’s not healthy and I believe God will use what’s coming to change it.  It may be a painful process but it will be worth it.

Everything Christians beleive is under attack in America today.  I believe it won’t be too long before Christians will be actively persecuted in America.  If you think that can’t happen here, ask yourself what things are true today that a few years ago you said couldn’t happen in America.  No friends, it can happen it if we continue on the road we’re on, it will happen.  But remember that the church is strongest where it is persecuted.  That is true the world over.

We are approaching a time where Christians will truly have to “count the cost” and many will decide the cost is too high.  Those who are willing to pay the cost will grow stronger.  That will purify the church and make it stronger.

I’m sure many reading this will take me to be a complete crackpot.  I can live with that.  But one thing I’ve learned over the last few years is that political philosopy, as important as it is, won’t save us.  I’ll be involved in the political process and I’ll work to elect solid conservatives but I will not place my faith in that process.  When I do that I am always disappointed.  Only by keeping my faith in God alone can I stay focused and positive in the face of a deteriorating future.  Because no matter what’s ahead in America, I know that God will be with me and my family and He will provide what we need.  Only then am I no longer bound to circumstances to determine my joy.  I can be joyful regardless of the circumstance.

So I’ll be writing again here but it won’t just be the same old political analysis.  Yes, the analysis will be there but it will be filtered through the lense of God’s power and control over everything.  I hope some will appreciate that perspective.  Many won’t be that’s okay.

If you’re interested in this plugin you can find it at http://lesterchan.net/wordpress/readme/wp-print.html. In addition to uploading and enabling the plugin, you also have to edit your index.php and single post.php files to insert the link into the posts. It’s pretty straightforward and the author gives pretty good instructions. I, of course, didn’t read the instructions until after I’d installed and activated the plugin and nothing happened. Then I read the instructions and saw what else was needed.

So now, if you want to print a post from this blog, just look below the post and find the Print This Post icon and link. Hope this helps mom!

I’ll be watching this situation over the next few days and making contingency plans for my blogroll. I’d really hate to give up on blogrolling.com but I and lots of others may have no choice. This isn’t the first such service that bloggers found very useful that suddenly stopped working and never really recovered. The Truth Laid Bear went the same route. It stopped working for several months, then suddenly an announcement went out and it was fine and support was responsive. Just as suddenly, NZ Bear opened a new site and TTLB never worked again.

Bloggers like me are going to have to start moving things in-house and become less dependent on free outside services like these. While it may be inconvenient to build my own blogroll, it is far more trouble to build it on blogrolling.com and suddenly lose it completely, then have to start over.

So I guess I’ll start rebuilding my blogroll in WordPress. It’ll take a while since I don’t have access to my blogrolling blogroll so I’ll have to recreate it from scratch and try to remember all the blogs I had on it. If you were on my blogroll and don’t see me add you back, please drop me a note and let me know. I’ll take care of it promptly.