070325 Steeple Article Being Fed Up Is Not Good Enough

On Tuesday morning I asked God to bless those who are protesting and working against what is wrong and evil in our world. A talk radio station in Birmingham, WYDE, organized a rally in front of the Statehouse for people opposed to the state legislature’s self-aggrandizing financial pay raise. On March 8, the second day of the 2007 regular session, lawmakers in the House and Senate decided by unrecorded voice votes to raise their annual compensation from $30,710 to $49,500. The governor has promised to veto the pay raise and is expected to send it back to lawmakers Tuesday. Lawmakers supporting the raise have said they have enough votes to override the governor’s veto. According to the 2004 U.S. Census figures, after the pay raise lawmakers will be making more than the median household income in all Alabama counties, except Shelby and Madison for what is considered a part-time job.
This is particularly disturbing in light of our waning support of U.S. armed forces presence in Iraq and our federal tax dollars paying Blackwater U.S.A. more than $320 million between June 2004 and August 2006 according to “The Nation” in an article published from Government records last year. According to several journalistic sources Blackwater and other mercenary "diplomatic security" services continue to reap increased pay under sometimes massive contracts to those who would profit in the "war on terror," while our duly swore and constitutionally authorized soldiers receive only a small token in comparison for their valor and vigilance to bring peace and security in the world.
Power is an addiction to some people just like drugs or other elements of what drives the human soul to destruction. Without God’s direction and blessing we can only expect more disappointment and tragedy in our public and private lives.
Part of what has fed the mercenary attitude with law makers and those who would defend and protect the right to be governed by laws and not men – is our decreased sense of volunteering to “do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God” (Malachi 6:8).
The Federal Government reports in “Volunteer Growth in America: A Review of Trends Since 1974” that adult volunteering rose sharply between 1989 and 2005, increasing more than 32 percent over the last 16 years. Before that period there was a substantial drop. Even with the increase, less than a third of American adults give their time. It appears that we may have again returned to the slump in volunteerism. But why?
According to the government’s review of trends the teenagers of today between 16 and 19 spend twice as much time volunteering than those at their age in 1989. Baby Boomers are volunteering at somewhat higher rates than did the previous generation at mid-life, but that may be attributable to the larger number of people. Americans over 64 are 64 percent more involved in volunteering than those in 1974. Volunteering with educational or youth service organizations has seen a 63 percent increase since just 1989.
Dear Heavenly Father, we take this time to ask you for guidance and direction about the contradictions of good and evil, help and destruction, righteousness and cursedness, and volunteering to do what is right and expecting high mercenary pay for the same type of service. Please help us to be guided to set the right example in our own lives and ask no more from others than how we respond to Your direction and guidance. In the name of our Blessed Shepherd Jesus Christ who leads us in Your will, Amen.