I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Philemon 1:5-6
Hello, dear reader, I am grateful to once again be writing to you about living faithfully to our lord and savior Jesus Christ in today’s world.
This week I would like to focus on this small excerpt from Paul’s epistle to his fellow laborer Philemon. This epistle is notable in its appeal to grace, forgiveness, and kindness, which is exemplified in the primary subject matter of Paul petitioning Philemon to forgive the prisoner Onesimus.
We see Paul calls to remembrance Philemon’s past ignorance when he himself was lost on the spiritual path before coming to know Christ. By reminding Philemon of his own need for grace and love, he encourages his fellow believer to extend the same grace and love to Onesimus, who was in similar need.
In his recent letter to The Courier News, Mr. Ernie Gonzales provides quotes from the Tennessee secretary of state, the Heritage Foundation, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton.
They all assure us that Tennessee has the “most secure elections” in the country. Mr. Gonzalez provides NO evidence to the contrary.
However, he sees a “warning flag” in the fact that only 20-percent of eligible county voters participated in the recent primary and general elections.
Thus he says that we need “an Anderson County Election Integrity Committee.”
What??
Excuse me??
Does anybody really believe that voters in Anderson County didn’t vote because they didn’t have “confidence in the security of Anderson County’s election process?”
No, it’s much more likely that many citizens don’t vote because they have complicated work and family schedules or have just withdrawn from political life.
Politics has become “hateful” to many.
I have voted here since about 1970 and I can assure Mr. Gonzalez that our “Board of Elections commissioners, our election administrators and even our poll workers … are fully accountable of (sic) carrying out their lawful duties.” Furthermore, as recommended by experts on election integrity, Anderson County will have a paper-based voting system by 2024. That system makes any necessary recounts or audits easier.
Finally, I hope that his real agenda is NOT a Gestapo-style election force to intimidate voters who don’t agree with him.
That would certainly not increase voter participation.
Gus and Julia Loeb were returning home from peddling “beans, new taters and green tomaters” from the back of their one-horse wagon in the mountains of Harlan County, Kentucky in the late 1880’s.
Times were much different then.
Easy transportation wasn’t available to take housewives to run to a store for their needs. Gus raised a large garden and on Mondays and Friday’s area residents expected them to drive by with their vegetables and fruit. It was Gus and Julia’s source of income that was needed to buy items for their house and farm.
Buford Overton, not much more than a kid, was born and raised in Hancock County, Tennessee. While in his mid-teens he stole a horse and headed to Georgia with a young lady.
They rode all night as Buford wanted to put as distance as possible between them and the law. Mid-morning of the following day they laid down by a spring and fell asleep.
