Sunday, August 19, 2007

of Bishops

What does the Bible say about bishops? Paul wrote a pretty concise and clear set of qualifications to Timothy in Chapter Three, he said:

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Bishops are not only to be the commanders, but more importantly the leaders of the Church. They are to “Go forth and preach the Word of God!” They are to be exhort their followers to follow them towards God, to do His Will, to serve the Lord in all they do. Understanding that, do you know how many bishops lead their flocks from the heresy of the TEC? Zero, that is how many. The so called “conservative” bishops who remain in the TEC have a plan for their flocks, they just cannot tell anyone. They would rather be collegial with their fellow bishops or bishopettes than “Go forth and preach the Word of God!” They are willing to associate collegially with those who publicly admit they do not believe in God, that they do not believe Jesus was the Son of God.

What did Jesus say about this desire to “just get along”?

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his church, and the deacon against his priest, and the bishop against the arch bishop. And a man's foes shall be they of his own church. He that loveth his place in the church more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth priest or bishop more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. Matthew 10:34 – Slightly modified

If you look around the Anglican and so-called Anglican Communion, you will see how fortunate we are to have Bishop Boyce. He is a follower of God, a good man and a leader. He knows what he should do and he does it, regardless of who is looking. Such are few and far between.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train!

For the first time in recent memory, we see a government official with her head other than up and locked. Kudos to Gina Marie Lindsey, Executive Director of Los Angeles World Airports.

With regard to the recent incident, discussed in an earlier posting that stranded 17,000 thousand passengers at LAX due to a Customs computer outage, with no real backup plan, Gina Marie told the Los Angeles City Council, "It was unprecedented and unacceptable,"

Lindsey and several council members agreed that one reason for the delays was that the federal government's backup system could not handle more than a fraction of the passengers typically processed by customs. It remains unclear, however, whether the backup system will be upgraded.

Homeland Security, on the other hand, has refused to acknowledge their lack of pre-planning, nor have they come forward with a solution. They are quite content to tell people they "have to sit quietly and wait for the problem to be resolved," while continuing to conduct their own shift changes without interruption. Thus making it clear to all that the taxpayers being told to sit quietly are simply sheep to be fleeced and when their fleece runs out, eaten. They need to sit and suck it up. Anything less will require union mandated break time to be interrupted.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Out of Control: Stick - Forward; Rudders and Ailerons - Neutral; Aircraft Unloaded - Recover from ensuing dive

Homeland Security - Border Patrol - Customs and Immigration
Out of control and part of the Big Government problem.

You want to go home. Their "computer is down", so all the taxpayers get to sit on airplanes at the gate. No problem. You don't need to be let in to a comfortable lounge. A coach seat is good enough for you. Afterall, you are nothing but a citizen who pays their salary. One of the sheeple. On the other hand, let them miss one coffee break and by God you will hear from the union. I am not picking on Homeland Security, they are no worse than anyone else who doesn't give half of a rat's hind end.

Look at this story:

Alaska Airlines Serving LAX Passengers Holding on Ground During Customs Computer Malfunction
Sunday August 12, 3:39 am ET

SEATTLE, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A U.S. Customs and Border Protection computer malfunction affecting all international flights arriving after about 1:30 p.m. yesterday at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has prevented Alaska Airlines passengers from deplaning and going through customs. The following flights with a total of 976 passengers onboard were impacted:
-- Flight 207 - La Paz-Los Angeles - arrived 4:33 p.m.
-- Flight 283 - Mazatlan-Los Angeles - arrived 4:36 p.m.
-- Flight 291 - Puerto Vallarta-Los Angeles - arrived 5:18 p.m.
-- Flight 277 - Los Cabos-Los Angeles - arrived 5:58 p.m.
-- Flight 211 - Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa-Los Angeles - arrived 6:25 p.m.
-- Flight 289 - Los Cabos-Los Angeles - arrived 7:35 p.m.
-- Flight 231 - Mexico City-Los Angeles - arrived 8:05 p.m.
An eighth aircraft, Flight 225 from Cancun to Los Angeles, was diverted to San Diego, where passengers went through customs. The flight departed again for Los Angeles and arrived at 11:09 p.m on Saturday.

During the holding period for aircraft at LAX, all airplane lavatories have been serviced and the airline has provided food and beverages to passengers. Diapers and baby formula also have been delivered to the aircraft, as well as extra pillows and blankets.

Flights 207 and 283 were released by customs officials to deplane at 9:50 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. respectively on Saturday and passengers on these flights are currently proceeding through customs. The airline expects the remaining five flights to be released by customs officials within the next three hours.

"We will deplane remaining passengers as soon as customs officials allow us to do so and continue to do all we can in the meantime to keep passengers onboard these aircraft comfortable," said Glenn Johnson, Alaska's executive vice president of airport services and maintenance and engineering.

The airline also is working to reschedule passengers who missed their connecting flights due to the ground hold.

Alaska Airlines and sister carrier, Horizon Air, together serve 92 cities through an expansive network throughout Alaska, the Lower 48, Canada and Mexico. For reservations visit alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at alaskaair.com/newsroom.