Ignorance Isn't Bliss When It Comes to High School Mascot

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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Ignorance Isn’t Bliss When It Comes to High School Mascot

(John 8:31-32; 14:6)

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“If you’re wrong, you can’t afford to argue.

If you’re right, you don’t need to argue.”

Nuns in Catonsville, Maryland

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          Judge Robert W. Penn went home to Jesus on April 30, 2015 at the age of 93.

          A graduate of Tuskegee Institute and Case Western Reserve University Law School, he served on the Toledo, Ohio Municipal Court from 1984 to 1995.

          We met when I was the pastor and he was an elder at Toledo’s Grace Presbyterian Church in the 90s. 

          The church was positively and prophetically biracial with about a 60% African-American and 40% Euro-American membership.

          Though I often referred to him as my “blind justice” because of severely impaired vision for much of his life, he could see farther and deeper than most folks if you know what I mean in a Colossians 3:1-2 kinda way.

          The son of a well-respected and successful sharecropper, he rose above America’s racial sins because of a deep faith nurtured by mom and dad who kept their baptismal promises.

          Clearly, consistently, and often courageously, Jesus was the foundation, focus, and filter of his life.

          I’ll never forget complaining to him, “Judge, ___ hates me because I’m white.”

          Looking back, I realize how absurd it was for a white guy like me to complain about a black woman with prejudice against me because of the color of my skin; and if I have to explain that to you, you may not have dealt with your own racial sins and the understandable if not always just suspicions of black America toward white America.

          Anyway, Judge Penn said matter-of-factly, “She’s just ignorant.”

          It was a Lily Tomlin moment: “And that’s the truth!”

          Some people are “just” ignorant; and they cause a lot of pain and misery for so many others.

          Racists who forget God likes rainbows because He made them always quickly come to mind.

          Denominational jingoists who forget God came in Jesus so that we can overcome humanly to darkly inspired separations through, in, and for Him always quickly come to mind.

          People who distract, discourage, divide, detour, divorce, or destroy the peace, unity, and purity of churches always quickly come to mind.

          They are more than “just” ignorant because ignorance is never blissful.

          Ignorance is too often beastly; as in being inspired by satanos.

          Always remember satanos and its accomplices tear down, pick apart, burn bridges, fracture families, separate, segregate, distance, degrade, denigrate, devastate, destroy, and always say, “You’re no good.  You’re bad.  You’re useless.  You don’t belong.”

          Always remember God and His accomplices build bridges, relationships, and families; forgiving, reconciling, healing, helping, inviting, welcoming, including, elevating, encouraging, and always say, “Come to Me, all and everyone who are weary and burdened, and I will take care of you.”

          One of the greatest lessons of the Reformation was the need for an informed faith so we can escape the hellish perils of ignorance.

          Jesus liberates us from ignorance: “I am the way and truth and the life…and the truth will set you free.”

          I’ll get back to Him after addressing a little ignorance about a high school mascot in Belvidere, Illinois.

          Belvidere Bucs!

          Belvidere High School’s mascot is a swashbuckling skull for Buccaneers.

          How the Bucs got from the Caribbean to the breadbasket of America is beyond me.

          It’s like trying to figure out why they’re called Freeport Pretzels when trying to find a decent pretzel in Freeport is like trying to find fans at a White Sox game or Republicans in Chicago or Democrats in Utah.

          Anyway, when a big Buc was pasted to one of the school’s main entrances, I got a call from somebody who complained loudly along with insisting that I fire the bullet that she was making, “You need to go to the school board and demand they take down that awful skull.  You more than anybody should know skulls are for the devil.”

          “Well,” I said, “uh, actually, the skull has often been used as a symbol for bad things; but it’s also been used as a symbol for faith by many Christians for centuries.”

          I didn’t say anything about her being “just” ignorant; because she goes to a hair parlor in town with a lot of our members and…

          Truth is skulls have been used as symbols for bad things; but Christians have also used skulls – some Christian scholars even used them as paperweights – to symbolize fearlessness about death because of the eternal life guaranteed by grace through faith in Jesus.

          Yes, skulls were a big part of pirate culture to send shivers through soon-to-be conquests; and there are people from the dark side who like them.

But skulls like Chris Kyle’s Punisher have also been used to tell Islamofascistnutball savages that we’re not afraid of them.  Harley-Davidson uses them because bikers aren’t afraid of death; which is really true because it’s always in the back of our minds when we mount up.  Surely, a person wearing a skull is saying, “Don’t mess with me!”  And all of those reasons seem consistent with Matthew 10:16 as well as the resurrection certainties of Christian fidelity.

Oops.

Now that the anti-Christian movement in America and in our neck of the woods know the skull is also a Christian symbol, BHS may have to find a new mascot.

If you think I’m joking, you haven’t been paying much attention to the

PC thought police in America who seem to have strangled common sense along with our roots in Biblical revelation.

          Moretheless, just like part of the symbol warns predators about treading in the wrong places and on the wrong people, Jesus has a promise that’s also a caution: “I am the way and the truth and the life…and the truth will set you free.”

          To be existentially and eternally secure, we trust Jesus to be the way to it, truth about it, and life resulting from it.

          His truth keeps us from being enslaved to less than His best by worldly bigots.

          Judge Penn knew that/Him.

          He knew being “just” ignorant keeps us from the only One who can bring us together…blissfully.

          Truth saves relationships, souls, and even mascots.

          I like BHS’ mascot.

          It symbolizes lots of important truths that help me not to be so ignorant.

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Blessings and Love!

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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!

Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!

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Why I Like But Don't Have Tattoos

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Because of my mom, wife, and being a weenie about pain (Whenever I go to the doctor or dentist, I write P-A-I-N where it asks about allergies!), I haven't been inked.

    If it weren't for that, I'd have a lion tat on a bicep; though I'd be careful because muscles tend to sag over the years and I'm afraid my lion might look like a caterpillar over time.

    Hmm.

    Why a lion?

    Haven't you read the Bible or seen The Lion King?

    Besides, a lion is the mascot for my college.

    Anyway, except for orthodox Jews, nobody pays attention to that ink proscription in Leviticus 19:28 just like nobody pays attention to OT dietary laws or Red Lobster would be out of business and vacationers wouldn't be big on Maine.

    Older generations who aren't into 'em tend to be more than a tad judgmental about our younger generations who are really into 'em; betraying they never learned anything from Steppenwolf about the monster in 'em: "We don't know how to mind our own business 'cause the whole world's gotta be just like us."

    How easy it is to forget God likes rainbows and varieties.

    Just like everybody else, I'm nosey; so when I see some ink, I ask the person what it means to 'em.

    Try it some time and you'll escape that terrible generational bias that assumes - and you know what assuming does - "our thing" is better than "their thing" as we discover the depth of meaning and inner beauty being expressed in their ink.

    It's always better to ask than assume if you don't want people to think you're an...

    It's like Martha Young, the first African-American elder in the history of Winston-Salem, North Carolina's First Presbyterian Church, said to me after I presided at her ordination, "You love 'em and let God judge 'em."

    Psst.

    Don't forget imposing our bias on others as the basis for judging them means He's gonna judge us in the same way: "The measure you give will be the measure you get.  You will be judged just like you've judged."

    Too many people, especially in too many churches, seem to forget the Bible is bigger than their favorite parts.

    It's the tragic lesson learned by Billy and Wyatt in Easy Rider as George Hanson warns, "Well, you boys don't look like you're from this part of the country...Well, they got this here, see, scissor-happy 'Beautify America' thing goin' on around here.  They're tryin' to make everybody look like Yul..."

    That's never been God's way of doing things.

    Again, God likes rainbows and varieties.

    He, uh, made 'em.

    Most of the time, Ray Stevens is right: "Everything is beautiful in its own way."

    I'd paraphrase that: "Everything is beautiful in His own way."

    Maybe we just need to learn the lesson of the watch.

    It it's not working, don't look at the hands.

    Look deeper!

    Instead of judging people by...[Don't fill in the blank!]..., let's look deeper and listen longer.

    King was right.

    It's the content of a person's character not the skin color or ink that matters.

    While I may never get that lion on my bicep because of mom, wife, or allergy and you may not like it if I do, it's not about me or you but us and everyone else who have the freedom to be who He designed us to be.

    When we're free to be who He designed us to be, no one has the right to judge us; but, rather, the privilege to praise God for the beauty of His design.

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Blessings and Love!

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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!

Look up! Speak up! Stand up! Act up for Jesus!

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Reunions

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Not long after arriving in Belvidere nearly a dozen years ago, I had lunch with my favorite mayor of all time at the Huddle.

    Best chicken Caesar salad ever!

    Trying to get to know Belvidere and Boone County a little better than I'd always appreciated since moving to the stateline area about five years before that, I asked, "Tell me, Fred, does Belvidere identify more with Rockford or Chicago?"

    Immediately without blinking with a calming smile, he answered, "Belvidere."

    Now that Fred's not doing that anymore, it's safe to betray a confidence that he shared avec moi as District 100 was being split into North and South; and it's also now safe for me because my boys have matriculated on to law school and college and I can root for the Thunder and Bucs with almost equal passion.

    "Tell me, Fred, though you can't say it publicly as mayor of a town that's now got two high schools vying for money, attention, and loyalty, how do you feel as a graduate of BHS?"

    "I'll always be purple and gold," he replied without blinking and with a calming smile.

    Loyalty.

    It's a really important quality that's vanishing in America and so many of her churches.

    If you're "thundering" up North or "swashbuckling" down South, don't pretend you've got mixed loyalties if you don't.

    It's like I tell employers of all persuasions, "Assuming call and competence, the three most important qualities of an employee are loyalty, loyalty, and loyalty."

    Maybe that's why I have so much trouble with flag-burners, Democrats, Republicans, Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, and...

    How can we trust anyone who forgets the most primary loyalty in life and eternity?

    If I have to explain that to you, God bless your soul.

    The preceding came to mind because somebody just called me to go to a seminary reunion.

    40th.

    Ouch.

    Though I've got more diplomas in the cellar collecting dust than cigars in my humidor that used to hang on the walls of my study before I got the first few of the big ten, I've only been to one reunion.

    It was my 10th high school version.

    First and last.

    Aside from having no interest in going back to my college or seminary or other places where I picked up parchments because of how they've increasingly distanced themselves from who they pretend remains the reason for their genesis, I had two experiences at my first and last reunion that have soured moi on the whole thing.

    First, everybody was hopping around to Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" like Cub Scouts in heat.  It was almost as awful as going with Billy and his sweetheart to a dinner dance and listening to rap music for three hours.

    When I think of reunions, I think of Frank Drebin who said in Naked Gun 2 1/2, "Real nice party, Hapsburg, I see a lot of familiar face-lifts."

    Second, within seconds of the music heating up everybody, Ruthie, my first real girlfriend of consequence who dumped me for a guy who later became quarterback for the Giants and Eagles, came up to me and said, "Bobby, save the last dance for me."

    Internally, I said, "Feet, do your duty!"

    I left before Meatloaf got to "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad."

    Of course, I am into some reunions, especially the biggest one, and I'll get to that after a few more paragraphs.

    I like those small reunions in time; when people overcome what has separated them, make up, and move into the future to prove reconciliation isn't just for love stories by Erich Segal starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal.

    Love means more than saying you're sorry.

    It's acting, more than less, in ways that prove you're sorry.

    Of course, that doesn't always happen in time.

    Some relationships never recover and remain broken.

    Fortunately, in heaven, there's no room for any of those pejoratives.

    That's because, as Jesus said in describing heaven, it's paradise.

    When young all-star pitcher Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins died so tragically back in 2016, a friend said, "Those memories will never fade and one day I will see you again.  I truly believe that, then we can talk about everything we didn't get the chance to."

    Yeah, there are some really good reunions in time.

    But the biggest and best one is coming.

    What's so good about the biggest reunion by grace through faith in Jesus is everyone will be reunited, reinvigorated, reconciled, and rejoicing.

    It will be...paradise...and, unlike every other experience in time, it will last forever.

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Blessings and Love!

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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!

Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!

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If You Don't Think Your Vote Counts

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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Friends,

Two days before the last successful campaign of my favorite mayor of all time, Belvidere legend, patriot, eschatologist, and pastor Don Norek called and said, "This is a strange year in American politics.  Fred is in trouble.  We've got to get out the vote.  Start talking.  Start calling.  It's going to be close."

We did.

Conscious citizens will recall it was close; and 4-term Mayor Fred Brereton who proved to be Belvidere's most popular, stabilizing, faithful, honest, and trustworthy public servant won by 12 or 13 votes.

12 or 13 votes!

Back then, things were so crazy in America that my favorite and many other's favorite mayor of all time almost lost.

Anyone familiar with that election knows that a loss by Fred back then would have been catastrophic for Belvidere and Boone County.

I praise God for many things about Don Norek.  He continues to inspire me not to be like other pastors who choke on the name of Jesus and forget they're part of His salvation army and not some glorified social worker.  Hey, social workers are great!  But women and men who claim to be Christian pastors should talk about Jesus by name and not become suspiciously ignorant, deceived, defiant, apathetic, or darkly co-conspiratorial about what they don't really believe or never believed or unfaithfully abandoned.  And I praise God that Don reminded me back then that every vote counts.

Anyway, I've attached something that I want you to read that includes two important things about Ric that have not been mentioned anywhere else.  It's especially important for geezers like me to acquaint ourselves with these things.

While I won't be talking about this from the pulpit, I am a citizen just like you and did not forfeit my American rights and responsibilities on May 8, 1977 when I was ordained.  I don't agree with the last person that I've talked to like a bad sentence ending in a preposition or pastors who forget their civic responsibilities because they care more about pension credits and being liked than loving for Christ's sake by the book.  And anyone who thinks God's people have not looked up, stood up, spoken up, and acted up for Jesus in public is Biblically ignorant, deceived, defiant, apathetic, or darkly co-conspiratorial.  Don would say, "They're pathetically weak and irrelevant to challenges before us."

The election is now just two weeks away.

Your vote could determine Belvidere's future.

Blessings and Love!

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Why February 28 is Bigger Than November 8 in Belvidere

            Not long after arriving in Belvidere nearly a dozen years ago on the corner of Lincoln and Main as undershepherd of our family of faith occasionally known as First Presbyterian Church, I had lunch with Mayor Fred Brereton at the Huddle.

            Parenthetically, we both had chicken Caesar salads that were off the charts; and if you’re like us, you miss that symbol of Belvidere’s best traditions and communal stability.

            Anyway, though I had spent a lot of time in Belvidere before landing as a referee of the franchise because the church was being torn apart by so many members and staff who were trying to take the church away from Jesus in almost every department of its life and ministry and the local denominational folks who had been trying to help had made things so much worse which seems to be its SOP these days by commission or omission, I figured nobody knew the town and county more than the man who history has proven to be its most popular, stabilizing, faithful, honest, and trustworthy mayor.

            So I asked, “Tell me, Fred, does Belvidere identify more with Rockford or Chicago?”

            Immediately without blinking with a calming smile, he answered, “Belvidere.”

            While no one is pure and perfect in every way which is why everyone needs Jesus as Lord and Savior, I’ve become a part of Belvidere and Boone County’s fiercely loyal and protective culture; and now that my boys have matriculated from District 100, I root for blue, red, purple, and gold with almost equal passion.

            With that inherited mess cleaned up on the corner of Lincoln and Main, we’re making our own messes these days; but I thank God for the privilege of being with faithful women and men of faith who really love Jesus and really want to worship, work, and witness together for His glory, laud, and honor by the book.

            Unlike interlopers who’ve crashed the political, educational, and ecclesiastical scenes who want to change Belvidere and Boone County into someone/someplace else, I’ve learned from patriotic citizens like Fred, Jim Turner, Ginny Worrell, Don Norek, and so many others that there’s no place like home for me in Belvidere and Boone County; or as I’ve said, I will be here until I’m assassinated by an Islamofascistnutball savage or die of my Grandpa Jacob’s cancer genes. 

            I’m even starting to like the pizza.

            I guess that’s why I like Ric for February 28.

            Don’t get me wrong!

            I like Mike.  I think he’s been a good mayor.  He’s my friend.  I have really liked working with him; and if he gets another term, I will work with him with enthusiasm and without reservation; even though he may be mad at me for writing this.

            The reason I’m supporting Ric with such enthusiasm and without equivocation is because he reminds me so much of my favorite mayor of all time aka Mike’s predecessor.

            While I  could talk about those qualities and mention Ric must be doing something right in his party as Boone County Republican Club President and city chairman for the Boone County Republican Central Committee, I’d like to mention two things that I haven’t heard mentioned about either the incumbent or challenger.

            First, well into my second decade of life and ministry in this neck of the woods, Ric has always responded to my inquiries and requests in less than 24 hours with precision and performance as well as promise.

            Second, he’s a Gideon like his dad.  The courage to be a Gideon in our culture where media, entertainment, classrooms, courtrooms, commerce, and even some churches have distanced and often divorced themselves from Jesus by the book is compelling for election.  Not afraid to pass out Bibles and look up, stand up, speak up, and act up for Jesus as the only One who can bridge the color, class, and cultural distinctions and separations in America means Ric will have the courage to go against partisan politics and popular opinion to retain the best of Belvidere and Boone County as promised by God in Holy Scripture: “Return to Me and I will restore you!”

            I also like his youth.

            As a Bible student, I know our Lord has a habit of passing the mantle from one generation to the next if they are consistent with the best of the previous generations.

            Churches often get into trouble when geezers like me resist and refuse to encourage future generations to step up to the plate and go to bat for Jesus.

            Communities and counties are the same.

            I am convinced Ric will build upon the best of the fine mayoral traditions and performances of Fred and Mike with a youthful yet convincing maturity.

            Many years ago when President Reagan was doing his thing in Central and South America, I was asked what I thought about it by a nice church lady; and I said, “Nobody called me.”

            Well, going back to my first conversation with my favorite mayor of all time, I had my hands filled with my local church and really had to focus on where God had planted me.

            I like Mike and I’m supporting Ric’s candidacy because it’s in his DNA to be my next favorite mayor of all time.

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Blessings and Love!

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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!

Look up! Stand up! Speak up! Act up for Jesus!

@#$%

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Where Have the Liberals Gone?

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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    Some of my slightly left of center and moderate and to the right buddies keep saying, "Liberals are killing America."

    Wrong.

    Liberals have died.

    There aren't many liberals left in media, government, politics, classrooms, courtrooms, entertainment, or even mainline denominations like the PCUSA.

    They're gone.

    Dead.

    Let me explain.

    When I was working on one of my worthless advanced degrees so I could get a better seat in restaurants and pump up my pension credits, my truly liberal professor at Drew wrote on the last page of my qualifying paper to start my dissertation, "A...but I wish you would move out of the 16th century."

    Now that's a liberal.

    He had room for theology and ideology and feelings different from his own.

    Yes, there was a time when liberals could be trusted for not standing for anything of absolute value just as conservatives could be trusted to make Pharisees blush.

    Today, liberals have been replaced by progressives with the PCUSA being a poster child for 'em; progressively moving away from any lasting constitutional American values in society and any even coincidental kinship to over 2K years of Biblical, confessional, constitutional, historical, and common sense Christianity in most mainline denominations and even too many sideline ones.

    Today's progressives have abandoned their inclusive predecessors as exclusion, silencing, shouting down, undermining, name-calling, cruelly caricaturing, violently protesting everyone's rights but their own like Islamofascistnutball savages in heat, and wishing death along with their pathetic whining when everything's not going their ways - Bring out the comfort dogs and St. John's Wort! - for, uh, everybody but them.

    For example, do you remember the genesis of Blackhawk Presbyterians for Fidelity?

    If not, check out the archives of www.churchandworld.com, www.layman.org, or www.koppdisclosure.com.  Psst.  Don't bother looking in www.pcusa.org because its run by progressives who don't publish anything/anyone that hasn't passed their progressive litmus tests.

    Anyway, even though our presbytery is still, uh, O.K. and kinda friendly, our officers and chairwomen (not many men anymore) and committees meet and talk about the members of BPF behind their backs with disdain, disgust, and a determination to wipe 'em out...or, at minimum, discredit 'em as disloyal to, uh, their, uh, uh, uh,...whatever.  God only knows what they don't believe anymore.

    In other words, we don't have many liberals left even in a decent and orderly presbytery like Blackhawk.

    Of course, there aren't many conservatives left either; conserving constitutional values in American society and over 2K years of...in most mainline denominations and even too many sideline ones.

    Nope.

    Now we've got traditionalists longing for the way things never were or maybe were but are no more.

    My daddy always said, "Conservatives hate to see anything happen for the first time and liberals, when you look 'em in the eyes, betray a vision of God or that they've just wet themselves.  They've got two feet planted firmly in the air."

    Sorry, dad, but those good old days are gone.

    Not to worry!

    The progressives and traditionalists do have something in common.

    They're equally fascist.

    They are my-way-or-the-highway haters who are wolves in sheep's clothing.

    Maybe that's why I rarely hear them talking about heaven.

    That's because they're raising hell in media, government, politics, classrooms, courtrooms, entertainment, and even...

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Blessings and Love!

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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!

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Look up! Speak up! Stand up! Act up for Jesus!

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February 28

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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Why February 28 is Bigger Than November 8 in Belvidere

            Not long after arriving in Belvidere nearly a dozen years ago on the corner of Lincoln and Main as undershepherd of our family of faith occasionally known as First Presbyterian Church, I had lunch with Mayor Fred Brereton at the Huddle.

            Parenthetically, we both had chicken Caesar salads that were off the charts; and if you’re like us, you miss that symbol of Belvidere’s best traditions and communal stability.

            Anyway, though I had spent a lot of time in Belvidere before landing as a referee of the franchise because the church was being torn apart by so many members and staff who were trying to take the church away from Jesus in almost every department of its life and ministry and the local denominational folks who had been trying to help had made things so much worse which seems to be its SOP these days by commission or omission, I figured nobody knew the town and county more than the man who history has proven to be its most popular, stabilizing, faithful, honest, and trustworthy mayor.

            So I asked, “Tell me, Fred, does Belvidere identify more with Rockford or Chicago?”

            Immediately without blinking with a calming smile, he answered, “Belvidere.”

            While no one is pure and perfect in every way which is why everyone needs Jesus as Lord and Savior, I’ve become a part of Belvidere and Boone County’s fiercely loyal and protective culture; and now that my boys have matriculated from District 100, I root for blue, red, purple, and gold with almost equal passion.

            With that inherited mess cleaned up on the corner of Lincoln and Main, we’re making our own messes these days; but I thank God for the privilege of being with faithful women and men of faith who really love Jesus and really want to worship, work, and witness together for His glory, laud, and honor by the book.

            Unlike interlopers who’ve crashed the political, educational, and ecclesiastical scenes who want to change Belvidere and Boone County into someone/someplace else, I’ve learned from patriotic citizens like Fred, Jim Turner, Ginny Worrell, Don Norek, and so many others that there’s no place like home for me in Belvidere and Boone County; or as I’ve said, I will be here until I’m assassinated by an Islamofascistnutball savage or die of my Grandpa Jacob’s cancer genes. 

            I’m even starting to like the pizza.

            I guess that’s why I like Ric for February 28.

            Don’t get me wrong!

            I like Mike.  I think he’s been a good mayor.  He’s my friend.  I have really liked working with him; and if he gets another term, I will work with him with enthusiasm and without reservation; even though he may be mad at me for writing this.

            The reason I’m supporting Ric with such enthusiasm and without equivocation is because he reminds me so much of my favorite mayor of all time aka Mike’s predecessor.

            While I  could talk about those qualities and mention Ric must be doing something right in his party as Boone County Republican Club President and city chairman for the Boone County Republican Central Committee, I’d like to mention two things that I haven’t heard mentioned about either the incumbent or challenger.

            First, well into my second decade of life and ministry in this neck of the woods, Ric has always responded to my inquiries and requests in less than 24 hours with precision and performance as well as promise.

            Second, he’s a Gideon like his dad.  The courage to be a Gideon in our culture where media, entertainment, classrooms, courtrooms, commerce, and even some churches have distanced and often divorced themselves from Jesus by the book is compelling for election.  Not afraid to pass out Bibles and look up, stand up, speak up, and act up for Jesus as the only One who can bridge the color, class, and cultural distinctions and separations in America means Ric will have the courage to go against partisan politics and popular opinion to retain the best of Belvidere and Boone County as promised by God in Holy Scripture: “Return to Me and I will restore you!”

            I also like his youth.

            As a Bible student, I know our Lord has a habit of passing the mantle from one generation to the next if they are consistent with the best of the previous generations.

            Churches often get into trouble when geezers like me resist and refuse to encourage future generations to step up to the plate and go to bat for Jesus.

            Communities and counties are the same.

            I am convinced Ric will build upon the best of the fine mayoral traditions and performances of Fred and Mike with a youthful yet convincing maturity.

            Many years ago when President Reagan was doing his thing in Central and South America, I was asked what I thought about it by a nice church lady; and I said, “Nobody called me.”

            Well, going back to my first conversation with my favorite mayor of all time, I had my hands filled with my local church and really had to focus on where God had planted me.

            I like Mike and I’m supporting Ric’s candidacy because it’s in his DNA to be my next favorite mayor of all time.

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Blessings and Love! 

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Salt! Shine! Leavenate!

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