1st Fruits farm

"When I think about a life of greatness, I think about a life of service," says Jason Brown.

At the age of 29 he quit playing NFL football for the Rams (and also quit earning millions) to be a farmer in North Carolina.  He knew nothing about farming.  He learned how to farm on  . . youtube.

This year he gave 100,000 pounds of sweet potatoes to food pantries.  That's the plan for every year, to give away the "first fruits" of his harvest, and he sounds excited about it.

See Jason's story at CBS News here.

Giving thanks

Giving thanks, gratitude, is valued by people all over the world - and it's the reason for a national holiday in America.  That's a good thing.

Consider today the good things you enjoy, and I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Still a holiday

"Here’s some heartening news for those of you who can’t think of a worse way to spend Thanksgiving Day than bargain hunting at your local mall: you’re not alone."

Consuming/buying/selling is so not the ultimate American value.  Lots of Americans object to the shopping rush starting "while shoppers’ turkeys [are] still warm."

There are petitions you can sign and facebook pages you can like.  Some object to employees leaving their families to go to work (I did it once and it was awful).  Some say that the giving of thanks as a long valued tradition is worthy of honoring with a whole day.

My feeling is . . ditto to both the above.  It won't even cross my mind to go shopping on the evening of our national holiday.  Retail can wait a few hours.

General's thanks

George Washington initiated the first nation-wide American Thanksgiving in 1789, his first year as president.  He recommended :

". . a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness . ."

Americans thanked God passionately for their new nation for many years after the fact.  It's often said that their victory over Britain in the war was a miracle. 

According to historian David McCullough in his book 1776, "Without Washington's leadership and unrelenting perseverance, the revolution almost certainly would have failed."

And what enabled the General to persevere when most would give up hope?  "[W]ith everything around him falling apart, Washington was able to see by faith the bigger picture of what God was doing . . "

French thinking

Three weeks ago I asked why France would "slash" their nuclear program.  It could also be asked, how were they able build such a large and successful nuclear industry at all?  Its scope is beyond any other nation's.

A PBS producer interviewed France's General Director for Energy and Raw Materials at the Ministry of Industry, M. Mandil, to find out.  He had the answers. 

Primarily, it seems the French think in a practical way about their energy needs and resources:  "no oil, no gas, no coal, no choice."  Not having significant natural energy resources themselves, they were dependent on outside circumstances and therefore vulnerable.  

But they are well aware that there are risks that must be handled with great skill.  A small-town baker reacted to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster with confident French thinking about their own expertise:

"the Russians, he says, were not "up to the task. But the French scientists and engineers are."

Some escaped

"Anna" was a student at Chibok Boarding School in the Nigerian town of Chibok last April when Boko Haram arrived.  They took her and 275 other girls away to be coerced into Islam and into marriage (or female bondage).

But "Anna" and 57 others were blessed with the opportunity and courage to leap out of those trucks carting them away from their homes.  Now 21 of them are enrolled at American University of Nigeria due to a free offer to continue their education, in defiance of Boko Haram's claim that Western education is "sinful."

“I feel very excited to have a chance to be part of this university and to continue my education,” said Anna . . in an interview by telephone with The Sunday Telegraph last week. “I am studying science now and I hope to become a doctor after graduating."

"Indeed, had Anna remained in Chibok, she might be contemplating a very different future right now. For only last Thursday, Boko Haram militants attacked the town yet again, sending its residents fleeing into the bush once more . ."

Attacks increase

Somebody actually keeps track of the worldwide number of people dying in militant attacks every year, attacks like those described in this week's posts.  

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP),  the number "jumped more than 60 percent last year to a record high of nearly 18,000 and the figure could rise further in 2014 due to an escalation of conflict in the Middle East and Nigeria, a report showed on Tuesday."

"Four Islamist groups operating in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria were responsible for two thirds of the 2013 attacks and the vast majority of the deaths occurred in those countries," with "two dozen countries seeing more than 50 deaths in 2013."

Nigeria & sharia

(cont'd)

Having created overwhelming fear among Nigerians - for their children's lives, for their own lives - Boko Haram may be moving on to the next step in pounding them into submission.

"[T]he Islamist rebels' latest video [is] aimed at showing an unidentified community happy to be under their control . .  a departure for a group whose trademark has been brutal hit-and-run attacks against defenceless civilians."

Their strategy may be "trying to persuade people that they will be safe under its so-called caliphate, provided everyone adheres to the group's medieval interpretation of Islamic law."

"Residents in the affected areas have told AFP that people are desperately seeking the chance to flee, sometimes under the cover of darkness, after watching their neighbours suffer brutal corporal punishments administered by the new rebel leadership."

Nigerians a target

(cont'd)

Boko Haram has enslaved or injured children and routinely killed and maimed thousands, all in a "brutal five-year uprising to create a strict Islamic state in northeast Nigeria."  Yesterday I asked, how could they think that doing this kind of evil could motivate citizens to approve or accept their leadership in government?  

Looks like I was thinking of government that exists at the "consent of the governed."  (And so it does for us in America, African Fred Swaniker says, because our laws and institutions stop this sort of evil from succeeding.)

But terrorists have no interest in the legitimate foundation of government.  They seem very confident that they can force government on the governed if they create enough overwhelming fear.

How long can Nigerians dare to send their helpless kids to school, when schools are such a target?  

Nigeria's grief

Last Monday, 2000 Nigerian students gathered in assembly to hear the principal of the school.  At 7:30 a.m. an explosive device sewn into a popular type of backpack detonated.  About 47 individuals never went home to their families again, and another 79 were injured.

It is thought that the brutal attack was one in the series of attacks carried out recently in that region by terrorist group Boko Haram.  

In the town of Chibok, 276 school girls were kidnapped last spring by these terrorists - and they have recently taken over the town.  

Why are they doing this?

"Boko Haram is seeking to establish an Islamic state in northern Nigeria."  So then the next  question must be asked:  how could the murder of school children possibly help them establish an Islamic state?

More tomorrow.

Saeed Abedini

Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, 34, is originally from Iran but became an American citizen in 2010.  In 2012 he was back in Iran supervising the building of an orphanage when the authorities arrested him for "creating a network of Christian house churches."

photo:  noticias.gospelprime.com.br

His family holds on to hope for his release but there's been a setback.  While his parents were visiting him in a hospital (where he'd been sent to recover from beatings), he was forcibly taken and beaten again then thrown back into an Iranian prison.

Pray for Saeed's freedom, his physical health, and his family who wait for him.  You can also take part in a campaign to ask our government to use their influence to get him out and back to home and safety.

Young unemployed

Bloomberg Businessweek reports that overall European unemployment of young workers under the age of 29 is at 19%.  In Spain it's 42% and in Greece 49%.  The longer a person is unemployed, the more unemployable he/she becomes.

Three points of view are offered as options to help these people find jobs.  Strategies suggested are:  gov't vocational training, gov't welfare entitlements, gov't retracting budget cuts.  

But jobs must be created by businesses that create wealth.  Maybe the strategies that would help are those that empower existing businesses to grow, or enable new businesses to start up.

As one discouraged biomedical physicist/real estate agent in Spain says, an economy that has no use for physicists can't be sustained long term.  Somebody somewhere in Spain should come up with a great idea for a biomedical business, and then hire him to help fulfill the idea.

The wealth of a nation depends on its people working to create value/wealth.  These people are being wasted.  They have talent that their countries need.

Veteran stories

Howard Schultz, founder/CEO of Starbuck's, had never spoken to someone in military uniform.  He went to West Point to speak, took a tour, spoke to people in uniform, and experienced a transforming moment.

“My visit,” he wrote, “revealed to me just how disconnected I had been from those fellow citizens who have dedicated years of their lives to defending the freedom I hold dear . . . "

Since then, he's visited more military bases and spoken to more folks in the service - and they inspired him with their character and their stories.

"“For too long,” Schultz writes, “too many of us have paid scant attention to the commitment of the brave few in our midst. It is unhealthy for a nation to become detached from those who secure it.”  He's committed Starbucks to hiring 10,000 veterans.

His new book, For Love of Country, tells some of those veteran stories.

Frankly atheist

Atheists claim that there is no supernatural, no God, only a material universe.  Their debate with believers has gone on throughout history and it is alive today online.

Christians often argue that there's no foundation for morality if there's no God as ultimate lawmaker and creator.  Atheists then protest that they can have morals without God.

But someone named John, who is frankly atheist, thinks that's "rubbish."  He wrote an open letter to his fellow atheists saying, "Maybe it's time we Atheists were a little more truthful and let the chips fall where they may."   

"We believe that the Universe is a great uncaused, random accident . . While we acknowledge concepts like morality, politeness, civility seem to exist, we know they do not . . Outside of my greedy little gene's need to reproduce, there is nothing in my world that stops me from killing you and reproducing with your wife."

There you are - an atheist just trying to be consistent with his beliefs.

You voted

"[W]e as Christians, out of love for God and our neighbors, must stay involved in the political process."  If you are an American and you voted three days ago, then, well done.  As the late Chuck Colson said, it's part of your Christian duty to be a good citizen.

Chuck Colson photo: www.livenet.ch

It's part of that duty to speak up locally, to be "salt and light" on your community boards and commissions - "in other words, [among y]our neighbors! People we can relate to and care for and persuade."

"Poverty, prisoners, community brokenness, education problems—these things won’t be solved by another government program, but by Christians living redemptively in our own neighborhoods and our towns."

(From an excellent article by John Stonestreet at breakpoint.org)

Tax share

Most U.S. citizens think that those who earn higher incomes should pay more than others do for the services that government provides.  And that's exactly what we have.  It's called "progressive," meaning that the tax burden is a higher percentage for those who have more money.

Here's an animated story explaining the concept:

Slashing nuclear #2

Germany's energy policy came with a very high price.  The policy is called energiewende, or energy transition, a move from fossil fuels and nuclear power to much-increased reliance on "renewables," primarily wind and solar.

In 2011, eight of their 17 nuclear power plants were just switched off (a huge capital investment drain in itself).  The remaining nine plants will be phased out from 2015 to 2022.  "Ironically, since shutting down some of their older nuclear plants in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, they now have to import nuclear power from France and the Czech Republic."

To pay for subsidizing those renewables, German households pay about 3 times as much for electricity as Americans do.  About 300,000 households have to cope with power shut-offs per year due to unpaid bills.

Is it all worth the effort and the price the German people have had to pay?  One of the founders of Germany's environmentalist movement, Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt, says the alarm raised by the U.N. committee on climate change was wildly exaggerated.

Slashing nuclear

At a time when France's economy is doing badly, you'd think they would want to retain a certain export, namely nuclear electricity and technology.  But France's president and parliament have voted to reduce the share of nuclear-powered electricity from its current level of 75% down to  50% by 2025.

Environmentalist opposition has been strong for five decades - now the additional factors of aging plants and pressure to invest in renewable energy, a la Germany, have converged to make headway against France's nuclear industry.

On the other hand, it 's not clear how Germany's example of shutting down nuclear while investing heavily in renewables could motivate anyone.  "France's economy may be doing badly but Germany's energy sector is a disaster," according to a spokesman for a French energy company.

Read here for a summary of the state of Germany's energy sector.

French nuclear

Would you be surprised to learn that France gets three-quarters of all its electricity from nuclear power plants?  (As a comparison, the U.S. gets only 19% of its electricity from nuclear.) French energy policy sets energy security as a priority.

www.geni.org

They do not have to worry (as much as the rest of Europe does) about Russia's threats to restrict the flow of natural gas, since so much of their energy production is in their own nuclear plants.  In fact they export their abundant/cheap electricity - and pocket 3 billion euros per year doing it.  

France also exports nuclear technology, and they "pioneered waste reprocessing," 

Now - would it surprise you that France plans to slash this super successful nuclear industry?  More tomorrow.