Why Must Tragedy be the Precursor to Change?

Yesterday I waited outside for twenty minutes for my daughter’s bus to drop her off from school. While we were waiting my son and I refilled our water and drank it all down by the time my daughter came home. The bus pulled up and my daughter slowly got off the bus and slowly came to me. Her hair was sticky with sweat, her shirt where her backpack was sweaty, but her face was red and her skin was hot and dry. She was in the first stages of heat stroke. She was dismissed from school at 2:45 pm and was dropped off at my home at 3:40 pm. She spent approximately 40-50 minutes in a hot bus that the windows did not open, no a/c, and she had no water. The real temperature at the time was 97 degrees with a heat index of 110 -115. I rushed her in the house gave her water to drink, had her run her wrists under cold water, fed her watermelon . She cooled down quickly and she is fine. I need to praise the Lord for that!

Yester day I decided to write her principal an e-mail:

            Dear Principal (his name),

My daughter (her name) was dropped off earlier today by bus (X). She was red in the face, her hair and shirt were wet with sweat and she was showing signs of fatigue. She had been in this oven for over 45 minutes and these are early signs of heat stroke. The temp outside was 97 degrees with a heat index over 110 degrees. The bus that dropped her off has no A/C and does NOT have proper ventilation (windows do not open) for these kinds of temperatures. I need to ask one common sense questions that should have been asked by the school board before hiring Durham Bus Services. Iroquois is a year round school, are you prepared to transport children safely in extreme heat?

My wife spoke to you or one of your staff this afternoon expressing her concern and she was dismissed when you or your staff said, "We told the driver to open the windows." She was unaware at the time that the windows DON'T OPEN on the bus my daughter was on. My wife will be dropping Makayla off for school tomorrow and plans to speak with you. I expect you to have a resolution at that time. Over the next month and a half their are sure to be more extreme temperatures to come. With all the headlines being made by bus companies and children dying in them because of heat related injuries I would expect a higher level of care.

Best regards,

Dennis Chance

My wife took my daughter to school today and spoke with the principal. The big solution is: 1. Kids can have water on the bus. My question is will the school supply water to kids that don’t have water?  2. Teachers will make sure all busses have windows that open. My question is if that was always their policy how did the bus my daughter was on slip through on the hottest day of the year? This is School district 62 answer to the problem. I am not satisfied. I was reminded that bus service is an optional, so my daughter will never ride the bus in this kind of heat again but I am still not satisfied.

The Principal is on our side but only with words and not with action. He forwarded my e-mail to the school superintendant and Durham Bus co. He is pushing to have the routes shortened but that’s as far as he would go and he doesn’t have that kind of pull anyway.  When he was approached with possible solutions he towed the district line and said it’s not in the budget. One of the points I was trying to make is this; A year round school needs an emergency plan in place for days for extreme heat. They plan for snow, they plan for fire, and they plan for tornadoes. Did you know according to the CDC there are more weather related deaths due to extreme heat exposure than any other weather related cause of death? This is serious and I believe School District 62 needs to count the cost with that in mind. For an example Huntley Schools do not allow Children to be on a non ventilated bus in extreme heat for duration over twenty minutes. Can district 62 make a requirement for expanded bus service on dangerously hot days? I’m sure they could have if they counted the cost. Here is another possible solution; Iroquois school operates in July and August when most schools do not. Can Durham bus Company whose claim to fame is they are the second largest bus company in the United States be compensated for busses with a/c for July and August and they have those busses returned to barns in the southern states for the regular school year. Yes there would be an increased cost of transportation and use of fuel but there would be no need to purchase new equipment when current equipment sits dormant waiting for new school year.

I am no longer continuing this fight on my daughter’s behalf. I stated before she will not be taking the bus on hot days any longer. I am keeping this up because I learned through my wife’s conversation with the principal is the 40 min my daughter spent on the bus is not the current school record. There are children riding these ovens for up to an hour and a half (1.5 hours). Does a child have to die before School district 62 counts the cost? Is that what it’s going to take for a school employee, a teacher, or principal, or parent volunteer to say this is not safe and refuse to place children on hot busses? Is this what it is going to take to get a dispatcher or driver to refuse to load kids onto oven? I hope not. I pray district 62 counts the cost.

Help me make this letter go viral to all in district 62.

District 62 Telephone: 847-824-1136

Was Caught Speeding

The other day I was driving on a two lane highway the speed limit was fifty-five miles per hour. The next thing I knew a police officer flashed his lights at me. I stepped on the breaks and slowed down my vehicle. The officer never pursued me; he had given me a break. I was speeding. I did not realize where I was until he flashed his lights at me. I had entered a small town and the speed limit had dropped from fifty-five to forty miles per hour. I flashed my lights back at the officer and thanked him for the break. I was thinking about this for some time later. This small incident can be an illustration of God’s Grace.

Let’s start with this; I did not realize where I was. How many of us in life do not realize where we are? All of us are or were hopelessly caught up in sin and don’t even realize it. Many of us are on a wide fast moving road. We’re going wherever it leads us and we’re just following the crowd in front of us. We have whatever we want sex, money, alcohol, pornography and whatever other distractions this life can hand you. For a while we’re going down this path and we’re having a great time lots of friends, good times and laughs. All of a sudden, bam, you see the warning lights. This could be in the form of broken relationships, an unwanted pregnancy, you find yourself addicted to alcohol or drugs or you finally feel that the life your living is leaving you empty inside. It really doesn’t matter what’s your warning sign. What matters is what do you do now that you realize where you are? Do you hit the brakes? Or do you keep going even after your warning. I received a break (grace) from the police officer after he warned me because I realized I was speeding (sinning) and slowed down and obeyed the law (repentance).

What would have happened if I ignored the warning? The police officer would have come after me and given me a ticket. What if I would have ignored the police officer coming after me? He would have chased me and even called more police to get me. Now when they catch me I will be arrested. What if I continue to flee even after more police are called to pursuit? There could be road blocks, the police could try and disable my vehicle and if I keep fighting it could end with injury or death. OK I know it sounds far fetched to take a speeding violation this far but I don’t think you realize at any given moment we are only a few stupid decisions away from dying and it doesn’t even have to be our decisions. There is no guarantee of a long life. You do not have plenty of time to get right with God. The next breath at any time could be your last. Now what are you going to do with the warning signs God has given you?

OK this is the moment. You have received your warnings and you realize you need God’s grace but how? You must admit that you are a sinner and cannot be reconciled with God by anything you can do or earn. Jesus who is fully man and fully God lived a perfect sinless life. He freely gave his life and was crucified. He suffered anguish and pain and took the full measure of God’s wrath against us upon himself while on the cross. He died and was buried and three days later he rose again defeating sin and death forever. Everyone who believes receives God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We are no longer sinners in the eyes of God but have been made new through the Blood of Jesus and are clothed in HIS righteousness.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  (Romans 3:23)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 5:12)

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:10)

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:5)

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  (Acts 17:30)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:8)

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  (Romans 10:9,10)

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  (John 1:12)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  (2 Corinthians 5:17)

PLEASE CONSIDER WHAT GOD HAS FOR YOU AND RECEIVE JESUS AS YOU SAVIOR: Send me a message if you need to talk or pray about it.

Be honest: “Not in the name of Jesus”

The gospel has been transforming lives for over two thousand years. Lost sinners have been sought out by believers, received the Gospel of Jesus Christ, repented and gave their life to Christ and have become a new creation by the power of the Holy Spirit. What is the Gospel? In order to appreciate the good news I think we should start with the bad news. The first man “Adam” disobeyed God and caused sin to enter into creation. The wages of sin is death. Everyone will face judgment. “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:15).”  This is God’s Judgment eternal suffering. Now you might be thinking God is so cruel. Why would God send people to hell? Most people are “good” right? First “’No one is good—except God alone…’” (Luke 18:19). Second God is NOT cruel. God is Holy and sin needed to be atoned for.

Here is the good news. God atoned for your sin. Yes, Jesus left the splendor of heaven and came to earth (his creation) in the form of a servant; He was born of a virgin, He lived the perfect sinless life we could not live, He was rejected by man, He suffered until death on a Roman cross, He was buried, and three days later He rose again from the dead. While on the cross He received the full measure of God’s wrath against the sin of man. By His resurrection He defeated death and sin forever. Jesus (HE) did it all for you!

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:16-21

You have read the Good news and the Bad news. Why did I name this blog “Be Honest: Not in the Name of Jesus?” Jesus called us to REPENT! We are to become a new creature in Christ Jesus.  There is an evil that has come into the body of Christ and has declared open war on the Word of God. It used political correctness to assault God’s own Word.  The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has become the fourth Protestant denomination in the U.S. to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy along with The United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church. Not only are they allowing gay ordination but in states that allow homosexual civil unions these churches can perform same sex marriages. What does the word of God have to say about this? First God’s plan for marriage is one man and one woman, “²⁴ that is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24) Understand God wrote this to future generations and not Adam and Eve. Adam had no mother to leave. God made this statement as an example to their descendants.  Second God calls us to him as we are. Jesus beckons us while we are still in our sin but you cannot mistake he calls us to repentance. We are to put off our old selves and put on his righteousness. We are to turn away from our sins. The Gospel is supposed to transform our lives but, when the lives of men try and transform the Gospel I have to declare “Satan you are a liar and the father of lies”. Please my brothers and sisters Repent cleave to the word of God. Turn to Jesus. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2) Please realize when the still small voice in your head does NOT conform to the written Word of God it is NOT the Holy Spirit it is Satan.

People have told me that all sin is wrong and no sin is worse or better than any other. I agree with this statement but sin cannot be allowed to change the church.

"One Nation Under God"

I want to start by wishing everyone a Happy Independence Day. Two hundred and thirty five years ago a new nation was blessed by God. A great experiment in the form of a democratic republic was born. A nation based on the reality that all men were created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The guarantees of these rights are in forced by our constitution which is based on the rule of law and the rule of law was based in part by God’s law (the Ten Commandments). The founders of our country knew that religion and morality were necessary cornerstones in the success of a democracy.

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest prop of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge in the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle... Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?” George Washington’s Farewell Address, Sept 17, 1796

Our nation has truly been blessed. For all these years this nation has been a beacon of religious freedom throughout the world. The land which came to be known as the United States was established by people fleeing religious persecution. The Puritans believed Church of England doctrine needed to be purged of all non-biblical practices. This premise was severely rejected by Charles I, who ruled England, believing in “Devine Right.” He severely punished dissenters for speaking out against the established high church party. Religious freedom is what brought the Puritans and then the Quakers from England. This opened the door for many other groups from other countries seeking freedom to worship like Anglicans, Calvinists, Catholics, Huguenots, Lutherans, Mennonites, Amish, and Jews. Churches, communities and governments were established by these emigrants from Europe. These are the people that persevered and then prospered and formed this country with belief in God’s Law, self government, equality and basic human freedom that lead to the Declaration of Independence, The American Revolution and then the Constitution of the United States of America. People who followed Jesus laid the foundation of this nation.

Now here we are in 2011 and in this era of political correctness God is slowly being purged from this nation based on the premise of separation of Church and State. This was a phrase taken out of context from letter written by Thomas Jefferson. This idea was not in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution or any other founding document. It was an idea not that religion shouldn’t influence government but that government should not influence religion.

 “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’thus building a wall of separation between church and state.” Thomas Jefferson 1802 in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association.

As a result any reference to the Ten Commandments has been removed from court houses; prayer has been removed from public schools and openings to public meetings. At one time school and church were held in the same building. Now in New York State Schools can no longer rent space on the weekends to church groups even though they can freely rent to any other group. God and morality are under assault by law makers, liberal biased judges and by special interest groups through lobbying and law suits.

Proposition 8 was passed in California by a majority of voters. This was to insure marriage was to remain exclusively a union between one man and one woman. This was just as God had designed marriage. A law suit was filed the day proposition eight passed and it was repealed by a liberal activist judge who was engaging in a homosexual relationship. This decision was appealed and held up in appeals. On June 24, 2011 New York State joined five other states in passing same sex civil union laws. Homosexual marriage is a reality in the United States. There will be law suits but I believe the tide has turned. June 30, 2011 Kansas an injunction was filed to halt a new Kansas law to end abortion. Things are just so slanted. Even when law makers are on the side of morality the activist judges intervene and moral laws are declared unconstitutional or endangering. Where in the constitution were judges given the right to make laws? Everything seems to be turning upside down. God created marriage and man has changed the definition. Where does it end? Now it’s one man one woman, a man and a man or a woman and a woman. What’s next multiple men and/or woman? Then what is after that? I don’t want to think about it. God created life and man has decided that life does not begin when God says it does and millions of innocent lives were legally murdered. Now with government funding and new health care laws we the people are paying for these murders. The blood is on our hands like it or not.

Make prayer part of celebrating Independence Day. How long will God bless this country? Pray that our leaders, judges and our nation as a whole repent. Pray for this just as if it was your own sin Just as Daniel prayed for Israel as if it was his sin.

So I gave my attention to the LordGod to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deedswhich they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets.Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him (Daniel 9:3-11).

Pray for this and fight for this country but remember Ephesians 6:12: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places". 

God Bless You and God Bless America