G’day RedStaters, and Thank God it’s Friday!  The end of another week given to us by the grace of God, who being complete and perfect does not NEED us.  But by His grace he has made us, given us this day, and this week, our past, and all the days ahead of us.  An infinite palette to enjoy as his gift.  What will we do with this gift?

Open Letter To Kevin Spacey

Mr. Spacey – I’ve seen reported this week that your brother Randy Fowler fears that you might commit suicide due to guilt about what you have done.  First, I don’t know the truth about what you’ve done, and know firsthand that accusations are not necessarily the truth.  If the accusations are in the ballpark of the truth, you may be dealing with a huge weight of guilt and shame.  Which would make you … human.  Much as many like to believe that the natural state of man is good, and only a few people have any cause to feel crushed by the weight of what they have done – the reality is that ALL humans sin, and ALL the sin is offensive to God – punishable by death, eternal punishment for the wrong that we have committed.

We are murderers, liars, adulterers, and thieves.  There is not one of us that has done it right.  If God would not punish the wrong we commit, he could not punish the wrong that is committed against us, and then where is the justice.  Justice demands that the wrong be punished.  If this was the end of the story, we would all be separated from God for eternity, and justly so.

But thank God, this is NOT the end of the story.  God offers us a way to make good on our failings, without sacrificing justice for the wronged.

Imagine a judge who finds his son in front of him in the courtroom, guilty of a crime that warrants a huge fine – a fine the son has no way to pay.  Does the judge let the son off?  No – justice must be served.  The judge pronounces the sentence.  The mandated fine will be applied in full.  The son will be jailed until the fine is paid – effectively forever.

Later at the conclusion of court proceedings, the judge closes the court, removes his robe, and goes to the court cashier.  The judge writes a check for the full amount of the massive fine out of his own account.  Justice was served, AND mercy was given to the son who could never pay.

In the same way, in response to the wrongs that we have ALL committed, with no way to make amends on our own behalf, God does not ignore the crimes – justice must be served.  But in His mercy, God allowed his innocent son Jesus to take the death sentence that we had earned, and then offers Jesus’ righteousness to us if we will simply repent of our sin and believe in His son.

I was blown away at the weight of sin removed by Jesus’ forgiveness.  Mistakes that I could never reverse.  I pray that you may avail yourself of that same forgiveness, and drink deep of the same peace that I have found.  Find a friend who can help you pull on this thread should you choose to.  God bless.

Jexit

You’ve heard of Blexit (Black and Latino Exit [from the Democrat party]), and potentially even read about it here on RedState courtesy of our Alex Parker.  Well, with all of the antisemitism underway in the Democrat party, a Jexit would be long overdue.

Halfway Back

OK, it’s nerdy.  If you don’t dig trig, you can skip this one.

Equinoxes on March 21 and Sept 21.  Length of day = length of night = 12 hours.  Summer solstice 6/21.  Longest day.  Winter solstice 12/21.  Longest night.  Where I am at about 38 degrees north latitude, my daylight hours go up or down by about 3 hours versus the equinox, ranging from about 9 to about 15 hours of daylight.

So we already know the length of four days in the year.  With just 2 rules of thumb for trig I have a good approximation of the length of the day on every 21st of a month, and from there I can estimate the length of a day for any day in the year – check this out!

With 12 months in a year, each month takes us 30 degrees of the 360 degrees around the sun.  If we start the cycle on Dec 21, then the length of a 21st is given by Cos(X).  We covered four points above where X=0 on 12/21, 90 on 3/21, etc.  You know the length of all the days on the 21st of every month if you remember that Cos(30) = about 0.9, and Cos(60) = about 0.5, and use symmetry to deduce the rest:

•  12/21 =  shortest day = biggest deficit
• 1/21 = 0.9 * the deficit of the shortest day
• 2/21 = 0.5 * the deficit of the shortest day.  Or as I call it now, “halfway back”
• 3/21 will be 0 deficit, or as normal people call it, “equinox”
• 4/21 will be 0.5 * max gain
• 5/21 will be 0.9 * max gain
• 6/21 will be 1 * max gain = longest day.

The other thing to notice, is that the change in length of the day is very slow by the solstices and very rapid near the equinoxes.  I think of the range +/- one month from the equinoxes as being when the days are getting shorter or longer most noticeably.

So you can enjoy both 1) being halfway back, and 2) having the days become noticeably longer over short periods for the next two months.  In one month, it will be spring.  Thank you God for the seasons and the fact that it will not be winter forever!

No Moons like Snow Moons?

I heard a new one last week – our full moon was dubbed a “super bright snow moon”.  Whatever you want to call it, it was sure beautiful where I live.  Somewhere between clicks I came across this great moon photography which is not a full moon, but it is stunning.  Hope you enjoy it as well.

Enjoy The Gifts

Whatever the gifts that God has given you – it is all grace.  How will you use the time and the resources that you have?

Mike