Carlos Caso-Rosendi
I do not have much of a new year resolution mainly because I know that, in my case, those resolutions don’t goo too far but I started the year with a brand new pair of sneakers.
How graceful upon the mountains
are the feet of those announcing peace,
those bringing good news,
those proclaiming salvation,
those who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’
Isaiah 52:7
I do not know what 2018 will bring. Since November 2016 it seems we have been given a reprieve, a moment to gather our thoughts and look forward with hope. Something is happening in the camp of evil — they seem to be destroying their own — after all, that is their way of doing things at least since the days the Assyrian army was destroyed during the siege of Jerusalem. Evil always self-destructs.
That very night the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. 2 Kings 18:35
So we are entering the eye of the storm, the deceitful calm. For those who know, this is a time to prepare and get strong because the most destructive part of the hurricane is still ahead. This will be a good year to regroup, check our equipment and get ready for the days ahead. The days of confusion will soon be over for good.
Therefore hear this, you the wounded,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
from the bowl of my wrath
you shall drink no more.
And I will place it in the hand of your tormentors,
those who have told you,
‘Bow down, that we may walk on you!’
Isaiah 51:21-23
Malachi’s promise …
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
Malachi 3:1-7
A blessed 2018 to you all.
Carlos Caso-Rosendi 
Snazzy kicks, Carlos. Have a blessed New Year. I agree … we are in the eye of the storm!
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A blessed 2018 for you and family, dear Cathy!
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New Sneakers!
Congratulations. Modern shoes do not usually have to be broken in, but a new pair is always a blessing tinged with adjustment. No new wine in old skins. But at the same time, whenever I get new shoes, I look with shock on how worn and broken the old shoes are in comparison and yet moments before the purchase, they seemed just fine. So it is with changes in the zeitgeist.
While history shows that evil never self-destructs in the sense of withdrawing from the field, its institutions (the Third Reich comes to mind, but there are thousands of examples) in which people have invested their fortunes, hopes and dreams come often to the sorriest of ends. The spirit, not tied to bricks and mortar, moves quickly to the next opportunity: the cold war comes to mind. No sooner had the soviets hit their brick wall and the American president began spending “his” peace “dividend” than new plotters under the eternal black flag began making preparations to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993.
The American political party that booed the mention of the name of God at one of their recent conventions has seen a completely unexpected turn of events. The events forced their hand, revealing the aces up the sleeve, the marked cards, the bluffing. What the left has lost for the moment (and the loss is “yuge”) is the appearance of probity. After using a posture of high moral purpose to manipulate and browbeat the rubes in flyover country with guilt as their cudgel, they have been temporarily revealed as single party totalitarian scrappers of stunning hypocrisy and not well hidden stupidity. They may jail and threaten their way back into power, using the time tested methods of tyranny, but no one can ever take them at their word again, nor seriously as offering a program of betterment. When they have boiled off the last of majority guilt using overheated rhetorical gas, they will lose their most effective lever. Only the raw exercise of power will remain for them. The problem (in all ages) with the Herod option, is that the tyrannical machine gets tired. It’s hard to remain lean and hungry when one is helping oneself to other people’s goods. The spirit of the Antichrist must search out new, hungrier, more ruthless souls.
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Those are not my feet, just some photo I picked up from the web but those are the shoes. There was a 3×1 pair deal in a store nearby — most likely laundering money of dubious origin — Someone picked two and let me have the third pair. Nice Fila kicks made of some sort of micro fiber that lets air get through, very comfy. You see the reading of Malachi 3 was very apropos: we are not to believe these partial triumphs too much. The meanies are still out there like you said, number crunching and working overtime to come back with a vengeance. That is the way God is parting the flocks: sheep on one side, goats on the other. The goats are confused now. They keep repeating their mantra of lies hoping for an indignant reaction and … nothing happens. It will take them some time to regroup but we have to use this break in the battle wisely, more or less in the vein of that quote from T. S. Eliot seen on the right column of this blog: they will fail in an epic way — like the Soviet Union — but we have to keep preparing for reconstruction.
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Forrest Gump quotes on shoes:
“Those must be comfortable shoes, I bet you could walk all day in shoes like those and not feel a thing.”
“My mama always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they going, where they been. ”
“I’ve worn a lots of shoes.”
~~ Forrest Gump (1994) – Quotes – IMDb (Movie)
And from Deuteronomy 8:6
“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.”
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
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They are comfy even on a hot day. They are having a special 3 pairs for the price of one in store nearby. One can have the three pairs for about US$90 not a bad price for BA these days. Happy New Year!
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