Carroll's Blog

In watching a report on the show 60 Minutes tonight, I was pretty disgusted with the way our Veterans are being treated, or should I say mistreated.  It showed where the priorities for our government really are when it comes to money.

The story detailed how many of the men and women that have served our country are having their claims for compensation for injuries that occurred in combat, are being delayed or in many cases denied by the VA.  In many of the cases former soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War are still awaiting fair compensation for combat related injuries they still suffer today.  They are being force to prove they were even in combat and not just in the military, because the government says they have not record of them in the war. The story detailed the backlog of paperwork from claims filed years ago that have not even been reviewed.  They covered the incentive program that was setup to increase the turnaround time in getting claims filed, and how that program has been the cause of many mistakes and even denials in compensation.  Workers that were in charge of processing these claims were more interested in getting the bonuses for getting the claims filed, that they failed to properly review the claims before submitting  them.  This also caused delays in soldiers even getting an initial response back on their claims.  Many soldiers from the most recent wars are being denied because they have to prove they were even involved in the war.

Now what bothers me the most about this lack of organization in paperwork is that they never seem to have these issues with the Internal Revenue Service.  If you owe money for taxes, that paperwork is processed so rapidly it’s not even funny!  They can tell you in an instant if you owe money for taxes from 20 years ago at the stroke of a key on their computers.  I mean, the tracking of taxes has to be as just as difficult as tracking someone’s military time and status.  We even get our tax refunds in a timely manner.  Why can’t we get paperwork at least reviewed in that same manner for the men and women who have fought and suffered injuries for this country?  Is it not just as important?  How long does it take to file the retirement benefits and compensation for a retired staff person of the VA?  I am willing to bet they are not having backlogs in filing that paperwork!  I do understand that the scale in which we they are getting these claims for veterans is way more than those retiring from the government or VA, that goes without question.  But we owe our veterans more than this.  We owe more to them than to treat them like some used piece of gum you just throw away when you are finished with it.  Look what they are giving up to protect us from what so many other countries have to deal with.

We owe it to our Veterans to fix this…

Christians around the world will be celebrating Christmas this week on December 25th, as the birth of our Lord and Savior.  Many around the world will be celebrating Christmas for many other reasons.  They will be celebrating the days off from work.  The wonderful dinner time that will be spent with relatives that they may not have seen throughout the year. The great holiday music, and movies that will be broadcast on seemingly all the relative stations from morning to midnight.  They will celebrate by opening the gifts that were beautifully wrapped and placed under the tree.  Some will enjoy their eggnog and warm apple cider as they sit in front of the fireplace…All of these things are fine.

But my question is this, how many of us will celebrate by talking about the love that is the reason for this day?  How many of us will talk about Jesus.  Even as Christians it is so easy for us to be caught up in the pagan rituals of Christmas, to actually remember that Christmas is about God’s love for us.  About how God loved us so much that he wanted to make a way of escape for us through the gift of eternal life.  The expression of giving gifts was first provided by God, as he delivered himself to us as Jesus. (Let me stop there with that point so a Theological battle or discussion does not take place)

More and more the significance of Christmas has been replaced with examples pagan worship by those looking to separate the celebration from God.  Santa Claus and the Christmas tree were created.( rearrange the word santa and I think it shows who he really represents ) Stories of Rudolph the red nose reindeer were written to take the minds of children and distract them from the fact that the celebration was actually about the birth of Christ.  Scenes of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus, were replaced with Santa and his sleigh and Frosty the Snowman!  Signs of Merry Christmas have been replaced with Happy Holidays, or Merry Xmas. Anything to remove Jesus from the minds of those who do not want to accept Him as the true gift of Christmas.

Resist the worlds push to remove Christ from Christmas.  Do your part to make sure that the true reason for the celebration is always brought to the minds of us all.  Remember Christ on His birthday.  Let’s not just celebrate Christ on Christmas, but let’s celebrate Christ every moment of everyday.  For what He means to us, it’s worth it!!

Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” They can do what God’s people have always done. They can come together to rebuild the foundations.
The foundation of this nation established by our “Founding Fathers” is our Christian belief. That commitment to God has sustained this country and allowed it to prosper like very few others. No matter how many try to deny it, this country was built on true biblical principles with God being the focal point.
There are many groups in this country looking to strip our country of the moral values it was built on. They look to take God and put him out of our view, to avoid facing their convictions from their lifestyle decisions. Attempting to force us to compromise our beliefs and embrace their lifestyle that is totally contrary to the bible we believe in. Thou we love and care for those who do not believe in the Christian lifestyle that we do, we cannot allow the biblical foundation of this nation to be removed or compromised. If that happened it would surely bring judgment from God, and rightfully so. We would be force into the same fate at Sodom and Gomorrah, and reap the same destruction.
Therefore, do not be fooled by the attempts of groups with bills and amendments, such as the present Hate Crimes Bill that is currently before our Senate!! This is another attempt to deceive us, and destroy the foundation of this country. Our protection for God comes from our belief and trust in Him. Without that protection, this nation is open to the destruction of our “true” enemy.
It’s time for God’s people to stand up, take there place in the restoration of this country’s foundation!!
http://www3.capwiz.com/afanet/callalert/index.tt?alertid=13736111
http://action.afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147485920

As I sat here today in the midst of an ever present weight of stress,   I was driven to a Christian chat room that I was inspired to create for encouragement.  There waiting for me were words of encouragement from a friend and church member.  The words that I was given were of a positive reminder, that the victory over any situation already belonged to me.  This simple reminder of the Promise based on the Word of God, was all that I needed to overcome my present situation.  It’s amazing how quickly we can let world and the attacks of the enemy, cause us to forget the promises made to us by a God that does not lie, or fail us!!  But that is why it is so important to stay in remembrance of His word, be either keeping it in front of us an often possible.  Or by having things like Christian Chat rooms where we can go to encourage and be encouraged.  A friendly reminder of the victory that we already have does wonders for your situation.  Anyone can be distracted by the events of our day, or attacks of the enemy.  The one thing that is always constant is the Word of God.  When we stand on It, things just get so much better…..

Lord today as we celebrate Easter and the day of your resurrection, I am in remembrance of your greatest miracle, Your victory over death and hell to save me. You took my place in death, yet rose again in victory just because you loved me. You saved me from an eternal death, and ascended into heaven to prepare a place for me. Lord because of this I vow to live a life of worship and praise of You. To do everything I can to spread the “good” news, that You died and rose to save all of us!! This is the only way I could ever repay you!!

More and more we are hearing people talking about how our Presidents are or have handled many of the major issues that affect our country.The economy, the war, the $750billion bailout, and the banking system, are all hot topics for our country.As we find ourselves struggling through the financial times in our personal lives, we tend to depend more and more on our jobs and our possessions.We spend countless hours trying to figure out how to hold on to all those things.We sometimes struggle finding reasons not to compromise our moral values and ethics, to hang on to what we work for.Do I fudge a little on our taxes to get more money back?Do I add un-worked hours to my timesheet to gain some extra finances?These are all questions that we can be forced into on a daily basis.

We have tried to depend on the government to cover or support us as we battle through the struggles of the economic times.We would love for them to say that they are going to give us unlimited funds to bail us out of our situations.We want our President to come up with a magical plan that he can snap his fingers and all of the financial woes of the country are gone.This just is not going to happen!

The fact is that we have become too dependent on our jobs, our government, and ourselves.Our greed and selfishness has led this country to be in the position that it is in, and God has sat back and allowed it all to happen.We have push Him aside and tried to do it all ourselves, and we see where it has gotten us.We have been given all the warning signs that we should have needed, and we have totally blown them off.President Bush could not have saved us from 911, which was one of the first warnings.President Bush was in a situation that was basically a, lose – lose.Had he not chosen to go to war, we would have complained he was being a wimp and not defending us. But when he chose to go to war we called him a war monger!! We are all over President Obama about how he is handling the economic situation with the stimulus packages, and giving money to the major corporations. The falling stock market and financial crunch, I believe this is our second warning from God.

The bottom line is that we are failing to do the one thing that we have been designed and created to do.Trust and depend on God as our source.The bible tells us that one of the redemptive names of God is Jehovah Jireh, “The Lord God that provides.”This clearly shows that God shall provide for us.The key is that we have to trust in him.We as a country need to pray for our leaders to seek the wisdom of God and learn to trust in Him for direction.He will clearly lead them if they trust Him.We also need to learn to stop putting out trust in our jobs, money and ourselves, and learn to trust and follow God will all our hearts.

That is how we start seeing a turnaround in this country, and its people.

As I sat watching our 44^th President being sworn in, I watched our 43rd President George W. Bush standing there as a man trying to be lost in the shuffle.My heart went out for President Bush.Here was a man leaving the most important office in our nation, but more than that, a legacy around the world.I thought about the legacy that President Bush was leaving, and I wondered how it would affect him.Here was a man that gave what he had for two terms, and leaving probably feeling totally unappreciated by the nation he vowed to lead.

I think what is forgotten by all that criticized him, was that President Bush first and foremost, was just a man.A man that is prone to make mistakes just as we all do every day.He was prone to errors in judgment just like many of us are.The office of President does not make you immune to making mistakes.It actually takes your mistakes and magnifies them to the world.Add the weight and responsibility of leading a country  during the critical times he endured just as he was settling into office, and there are many who would not have survived through two terms!!President Bush was dealt a very tough hand with 911 happening less than 8 months after taking office.He was in a position where he basically was going to fail no matter what direction he chose.Had we not gone after those who attacked us, he would have been judged a coward for not doing so.But when he made the choice to pursue the terrorist, he was branded a war monger.

It really saddens me to know that the legacy of President Bush will be labeled as a failure according to the worlds’ standard.That he will be cast down further than any other President in history.Even though he was never impeached for improper behavior, or for selling secrets to the enemy.He did not resign under any pressure of investigations of misconduct.Yet his name is being dragged and tossed about, as he is called the worst disgrace in the history of the office.

I have no idea how this affects President Bush inside, but I can only imagine.Just think about spending 8 hours preparing the greatest meal you possibly could, for family members that chose you to prepare it.You put everything you had into preparing this meal to satisfy your family members.They came in, ate, and then told you that you were the worst cook they had ever had prepare a meal for them!No how would you feel!!

I pray that President Bush has the peace of God for the two terms he served the people of the United States of America.No matter how much any group of people, try and take from his terms of office, the one thing that they can never take away from him, was his service to this country. No matter if people felt he did a good job or not, he served this country in the highest ranking position possible, and that position was the 43rd President of this country.Who else can say that??

Tomorrow January 20^th, 2009 will go down in history as one of the most significant moments in the storied history of our country.It marks a moment in time, when the issue that has single-handily divided our nation, will be put aside.A day that many who lived before us could have never dreamed would ever come.The nation will swear in its’ first Black President to lead us for at least the next four years.

Now even the many that did not vote for Barack Obama, have to be in awe of the moment in which we are experiencing.This moment represents a move of our nation in the direction that brings hope for its’ future.Not just because of the election of Barack Obama, but becauseit means that enough people in our country put aside the difference of race and culture, to elect the man they felt best qualified to lead us in these most critical of times.I say this based on the numbers from the voting polls.Though the number of Black Americans that voted in this election, dwarfs the number of past elections by a laughable number, and the number of first-time voters was more than any other election in history.The Black and Hispanic vote still only made up 52% of Barack Obama’s total votes.This means the other 48% came from White Americans who saw enough in Barack Obama to look past the color of his skin and choose him as the best candidate for the highest ranking position in this nation.The position to represent our nation to the world!To me, a Black American male, this speaks volumes about the direction our country chose to move in.It said to me that America is willing to look at us differently, when we represent ourselves the right way.But representing ourselves the right way is the key!We have to demand respect by first respecting ourselves.If that means speaking in a way that everyone else understands, and dressing the way that commands respect in the corporate world, and guarding our name and character with integrity.By doing those things does not mean you are compromising our heritage, or turning your back on your culture.What it means is that you are putting yourself in a position where others want to respect you.Where America can look past your skin color and consider you on an equal level.This also goes a long way with the younger generation in our country.They no longer have to look at the influences of Jay-Z and 50 Cent, and have them as their only role models.They dream about living their lives because of the money and fame that they have.Not realizing that their fame and money represent a small percentage of those that have entered into the music industry.Our children don’t have to be drawn to and in many cases, the compromise of moral values that the music industry requires.Now I am not knocking Jay-Z, 50 Cent, or the music industry one bit.But I am proud that our children have a chance to take on a role model that shows what doing it a different way can accomplish.What not conforming to the cultural pressures, and the need to fit in, can accomplish.I am proud that our children have a representative in the highest ranking office in our nation, to choose as a goal for themselves.They now can say without any fear of sounding ridiculous, “I want to grow up to be President of the United States of America”

What a great moment in the history of our nation!