Suicidal Deer

I can hardly wait for school to start! I just picked up my books today, and am reminded how blessed I am to have received financial aid. The total was over $800! Truly God has helped me through all of this. I could not have done this without Him, and the people He has moved to support me.

I am reminded of my first semester of college and how scary yet exciting it was. One class in particular - public speaking - I was terrified to take. Yet in the end it was truly one of my favorites. Here is just one of the many speeches I had to give.

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   It's 8:00 at night and the moon starts to rise just above the tree line. It's Christmas Eve and anxiously Billy heads home to his family. Over the frozen pavement his headlights beam, showing him the way. Intently he watches for black ice.

   Suddenly out of the middle of nowhere something leaps from the dense woods and onto the highway only several feet from his Dodge. It's a deer and steadfast it remains, its feet planted firmly in the middle of the road. Grabbing the wheel with both hands Billy steadies the vehicle and prepares for the collision. Of all days to hit a deer.

   We all experience a version of this sometime in our driving career. Perhaps we manage to swerve out of the way or break just in time. Perhaps we hit it instead and total our cars, sending us or a friend to the hospital. Living in a rural state such as Montana we are bound to find ourselves in some sort of wildlife accident.

   How can we stop this? How can we solve this ongoing issue? Every year, we spend $1 billion solely to vehicle damage. 10,000 people are seriously injured and 150 killed due to deer collisions in the US. Montana alone ranks #5 in the top states for such accidents.

   We need to put an end to this. The solution is simple. No deer near the highways, no more hits. As one sign posted along a back road, “Suicidal deer. Please drive slowly,” such cautions would no longer exist.

   Imagine how much safer we would feel driving down the roads at night. We wouldn't have to worry about our loved ones tangling with a buck leaping from the shadows. We wouldn't have to pay all those medical bills fixing our broken bodies because we swerved and flipped our car. We wouldn't have to spend $1 billion at the autobody and mechanic shop. We could drive confidently and at ease. Our only problem left would be drunk drivers!

   So let's take care of this! How? We all know deer hate the hunting season. They run at the crack of a shotgun. They hide deep in the forests, watching for the bright color of hunter orange. So send your cars for a paint job and upgrade your horn to the sound of a 30 out 6. Who says we have to stand for this nonsense?

Found this devo this morn on Through the Bible Daily Devotionals. In short I didn't have time for my own study. (The couch which I have been sleeping on for the past few weeks was just far too comfortable. Lol!) Thought I'd share this one with you. Indeed, when we choose to stray from God, He has no choice but to let us. For He is a God who grants us free will. We are not puppets whereby He pulls our strings and we do His bidding. He calls us and lets us choose if we want to follow Him or not.

How gracious and blessed IS our God for restoring us to Himself when we repent and seek His presence. In truth, His well of mercy never dries nor is limited. How great is the love of our Lord toward us!

2 Chronicles 12:1,5 (NIV) 1After Rehoboam's position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD...

5Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the LORD says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'"

Rehoboam began with greed and immediately lost two-thirds of the nation. That did not humble him. He continued in his pride. After strengthening his army and defenses, he abandoned the law of the LORD. As the leader went, so went the nation. They followed his bad example in forsaking God.

An innumerable army, led by the king of Egypt, came against him and captured all the cities he had fortified and armed. One by one they fell. Then the prophet Shemaiah came and told Rehoboam that since they had abandoned God, God had abandoned them. Since they wanted to proceed without God, God allowed them to. What would our life be like without the protection of the hand of God? When a man or family or nation is walking in the fear of the LORD, they are surrounded by a protecting influence. You will never know all the things the LORD spared you from that the enemy planned against your life. That is why the end of the LORD's prayer says, "Deliver us from the evil one."

When we step outside of a trusting dependent relationship with God, that invisible hand of protection is lifted and the enemy is allowed in to bring us to our senses. It worked for Rehoboam. He and his leaders humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is just." Then God could have mercy on them and allowed Jerusalem to remain, though subjugated. All the treasure amassed in the temple was carried away by the enemy. Sin has consequences, and though we are allowed to continue and are restored relationally, there is a great loss because of our rebellion.

Consider: Draw near to God now so that He does not have to use tragedy to draw you back.

Bias in the News

Bias opinions influence the media and news tremendously in today's society, victimizing minority groups, the elderly, young adult, even whole countries in the name of free will and freedom of speech. Their literal goal is to shepherd their audience into conforming their opinions into agreement with their own. In the news, such bias reporting can negatively influence and distort the actual story, and that is why it is so important for people to be on their guard when listening to the news and media.

According to a Wikipedia article (2014) titled "Media Bias in the Unites States", in the 19th century, “News reporting was expected to be relatively neutral or at least factual, whereas editorial sections openly relayed the opinions of the publisher. Editorials might also have been accompanied by editorial cartoons, which would frequently lampoon the publisher's opponents.”

To this day, editorials continue to take on a more personally biased approach, but the news as well has become similar in reporting their stories. Such forms of persuasion might take that of liberal, conservative, mainstream or corporate bias.

It becomes clear that certain boundaries or limits must be installed in order for the truth to be preserved. Such organizations like FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, Inc.) and Media Matters for America, are just two of these groups focused on protecting the public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints

When strong bias do seem to slip past surveillance it is groups like hispanics, poor African neighborhoods, youth and the elderly that are targeted. Countless stories arise with negative opinions concerning certain races and age groups, like the immigration of Mexicans crossing the border, the all too common unmotivated high school graduate, those dependent on food stamps, and even the tension between the Palestinians and Israelis.

We are surrounded by such controversial reports as these. The task to seek unbiased, unmasked, raw news becomes more difficult with each passing generation. The line becomes blurred as to what is an expression of freedom of speech and what is false reporting. It shouldn't be a chore of the general public's to have to regularly critique the news we hear. As in the 19th century, there should be a difference between an editorial and news report, and the minority groups and those more vulnerable should be protected somehow from the continual cliche criticism they receive.

Imagine a world where bias opinions no longer existed. We could trust news sources full heartedly, knowing that there service was not an attempt to persuade us but inform us. We could actually believe what they said, displacing our skeptical minds for educated and knowledgeable minds. We would have the right to form our own opinions about the world, free from anyone telling us what we should think. A world without bias, or perhaps more obtainable, a news system with neutral views would be the preferable, most beneficial, most American approach to reporting. After all, isn't the golden promise of the United States is that of free will and independent opinion? Such cannot be obtained if we are continually influenced by the professional sources we are told we can trust.

We are faced with a dilemma however, as we do not live in a bias free world. To say that we will not eventually obtain such is unknown to us, but what we can know is what we will do about it. We the people of the United States have a voice. The general public is the United States. If we made an effort to avoid bias in our own lives, on a smaller scale, perhaps we could start to bring about a neutral medium to everyday life in America. It starts with you and me making a difference in the small things. We may not control the big shot news companies, but we can control our tongue. It is not to say one cannot voice their personal opinions, but when doing so make it clear that they are one's own, and never distort the truth. If one truly believes a certain way, one should not have to rely on false representation in order to convince their audience.