Would you pay your enemies to you allow you to fight them? That's what we are doing!

Are we paying our enemies to let us fight them?

A surprising report in the Wall Street Journal this week noted that $3 billion in cash money, shrink wrapped and loaded on pallets, has been shipped to Afghanistan. Much of the money goes to private security firms who pay off U.S. enemies to allow shipments of supplies into the country so that U.S. soldiers can turn around fight the same people we paid off.

Sound crazy?

Maybe so, but there are some in Congress who keep sounding the alarm that young men and women that we know are thinking they are supporting freedom but in actuality are dying so that we can continue lining the pockets of the big guys who run the corrupt government of the country.

Speaking before Congress yesterday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio raised the specter of the $12 billion shipped in pallets from the United States to Iraq just after the Bush administration's "shock and awe" bombing campaign.

"Vanity Fair reported in 2004 that 'at least $9 billion' of the cash had 'gone missing, unaccounted for,'" he noted. "$9 billion."

Kucinich continued: "

Last week, the BBC reported that 'the US military has been giving tens of millions of dollars to Afghan security firms who are funneling the money to warlords.' Add to that a corrupt Afghan government underwritten by the lives of our troops
 ... And now reports indicate that Congress is preparing to attach $10 billion in state education funding to a $33 billion spending bill to keep the war going.

 Back home, millions of Americans are out of work, losing their homes, losing their savings, their pensions and their retirement security.

"We are losing our nation to lies about the necessity of war. Bring our troops home. End the war. Secure our economy."

The thought of so many have lost lives, suffered maimed bodies and destroyed futures so that the rich can get richer is frustrating.

Our only hope is in God. He doesn't like war and wants to see all war end.

Micah 5:10 says, "The day is coming" —GOD's Decree— "When there will be no more war. None."

Those who profit from war won't like that; but right now they appear to be cleaning up and pocketing billions.

God's word lingers: No more war. None.

We rode above the storm.

Life looked so peaceful above the clouds; who would have thought there was a storm below!

My wife and I took a few days off last week and flew to Chicago for a dinner, a movie and some shopping. On the flight I heard the captain announce over the intercom that we would be cruising at 35,000 feet but there was a storm underway in the Chicago area. In fact, he expected the flight to be delayed a few minutes waiting for storm related runway clearances.

If there was a storm brewing below we couldn't tell. Outside our window the clouds floated like puffy white balls of cotton, gliding peacefully and quietly. The plane seemed oblivious to the storm that was forming below and the cotton candy clouds were an awesome display of God's ability to manage our situation while pushing our jet through the skies at 600 miles per hour.

We were riding above the storm nestled in the relative peace and security of the clouds, sipping orange juice and in-flight nick-knacks, while God cleared a path for our plane to land. The captain said there was a storm below; he didn't seem to worry about it, we didn't either. We read the sky mall magazine and laughed as we floated on the jet stream.

I remember a passage from Psalms 36:5 that says, "Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds."

God controls the storms of our lives. If we will trust him he will hold us above the storm, then reach into the clouds and guide us gently to the ground, Hallelujah.

When our plane touched down, the storm had passed and the sun was shining. As we stepped off the plane we heard two captains say, "Have a great day!"

Two captains: One flew the plane and the other held it in the air.

They shot back!

I promised not to throw rocks any more!

As a child I enjoyed throwing rocks; sometimes at other boys. Once I was disciplined for doing just that. It seems that I threw rocks at them and they threw rocks at me. I had to promise not to throw any more rocks, so I did. However, I didn't promise that I wouldn't use my sling shot and I popped all of those guys one more time.

I thought about that when I read about President Obama's efforts to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world. Russia has approximately 2,780 deployed strategic warheads, compared with around 2,100 in the US. Each country is promising to stop using nuclear weapons, but each one plans to keep 1,500 on the side just in case.

It only takes one big nuclear bomb on each side to wipe us all out but we'll keep 1,500; Russia will keep 1,500 and the Iran and North Korea are busy trying to get one bomb each that could blow the whole world asunder.

We are struggling trying to achieve it, but the day of peace is coming. The prophet Michah prophesied it in Micah 4:3 "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

I never threw rocks at those boys anymore. They didn't throw back either. I shot at them with my slingshot.

..and they shot back!