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GROUNDHOG DAY

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Random Ramblings from the Resident Raptor
Insight from the Journey across the Sky


2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (GW)
Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others.


In the Harold Ramis film “Groundhog Day”, TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is forced to cover the “Groundhog Day” ceremonies in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for the fifth year in a row. It is an assignment he truly despises, but this year something truly bizarre happens: When he awakens the next morning, eager to leave, he discovers it’s “Groundhog Day” all over again.

When the same thing happens the next morning, he thinks he’s going insane and wreaks havoc throughout the town. More mornings pass, all of them “Groundhog Day”, and with each, Phil grows angrier. Desperate to escape, Phil attempts suicide, but yet another “Groundhog Day” dawns.

As Phil starts realizing that his exploits are not making time march on any quicker, he begins to change his behavior.  By observing life around him, Phil becomes aware of the needs of others and along the way learns more about himself than he ever thought possible.

Although a lighthearted film, “Groundhog Day” offers the viewer opportunities to look deeper into the meaning of life. Punxsutawney Phil, not the groundhog, has become trapped in a prison of his own making. After four trips to this tiny, western Pennsylvania town, Phil has had enough. He feels that his talents could be better utilized in a larger more prestigious station or network. Instead he is stuck in a tiny station, in a tiny market, covering a tiny animal, coming out of a tiny hole in the ground. By diminishing himself through the belittlement of others and his surroundings, Phil gets to relive his worst nightmare-“Groundhog Day”.  Phil Connor’s life became what he disliked the most.

Imagine having to live the worst day of your life over and over and over again. What if no matter what you did you could not change the outcome of that day. How would you handle it?

Romans 7:24 (BBE)

How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death?


To those who deal with emotional scars and the ravishes of sin, perhaps you can see yourself in Phil Conners. Although trapped in a time warp, Phil was making progress.

Continue reading “GROUNDHOG DAY” →

Tell A Vision

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

Then the Lord answered me, “Write the vision. Make it clear on tablets so that anyone can read it quickly. Hab 2:2 (GW)

Most homes have at least one of these boxes setting in their living rooms as well as bedrooms, kitchens, dens, bathrooms and basements. First they were black and white with only 3 or 4 stations of programming signing off at midnight. Later there was color, and UHF bandwidth added more channels. Then came late night TV and eventually 24 hour a day formats. Today we have HDTV with over 16 million colors and hundreds of programming choices.

Television has impacted the American home like no other appliance. Where once we would listen to a radio story teller engage our imaginations with stories like ‘The Shadow’, ‘The Avenger’, ‘Blondie’, ‘Captain Midnight’, ‘Father Knows Best’, ‘Flash Gordon’, ‘Gunsmoke’, and ‘Hopalong Cassidy’, with the advent of motion pictures many of these radio classics came alive at the cinema. Today the cinema has come to the home.

With the advent of television, story telling was taken to a whole new dimension, no longer must you engage your imagination to envision the story because the story teller has already taken the time to paint the picture for you. Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and others were admired for their visual representations on canvas. Now Oscar and Emmy awards are given to those who paint visual pictures, and tell visual stories on an electronic canvas.

We can no longer dismiss the impact that these moving pictures have had on our society. “As Seen on TV” has turned into a brand-name marketing concept. Toys and merchandise populate store shelves during a major motion picture release. Licensed merchandise, resembling movie story characters, are all the rage at fast food establishments across the country. All this merchandising proves the powerful effect the moving picture has had upon the culture.

With all these stories being told to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is no wonder our culture is being desensitized towards the things of God. For the most part, these moving picture producers are telling a story far different than the age old gospel story. They display a worldview devoid of Jesus and tell the story of a world where there is not one God but many gods and goddesses.

Telling the age old story of salvation was given to the church, the gospel of the Kingdom of God was given as the means by which the works of darkness were to be dispelled. We have been given a commission to take this gospel into all the world, preaching, teaching, and making disciples. We, as a church, are charged to tell the story, in all ways, to all people, for all time.

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Black and Whites

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org

I saw a large, white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence, but no place was found for them. 12 I saw the dead, both important and unimportant people, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened, including the Book of Life. The dead were judged on the basis of what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead. Death and hell gave up their dead. People were judged based on what they had done. Revelation 20:11-13 (GW)


They can not be bribed, cajoled, intimidated, pressured or bought off. Although they can be challenged, for the most part their judgments are undisputed. You see them everywhere-from the school yard to Camden yards, in little league, minor and major leagues. The officials wearing black and white stripes on the field are there to enforce the rules of the game.

Much like the sports referees are the sitting Supreme Court judges. Their judgments set the course of legal precedent for the whole nation. Whether they wear black and white stripes or black robes, their roles are much the same. Enforce the rules of the game.

My first recollection of a police car was a black and white. Television programs where in black and white in those days. There were no 24 hour stations and only a handful of networks to watch. Most of them would sign off at midnight after the news broadcast by playing the National Anthem.

Gone are those simple times. In those days it was simple living, for everything was seen in BLACK and white. There were shades of grey but for the most part there was right and there was wrong. You would attend church on Sunday and did not sass your parents. You respected your elders and police officers in black and white cars.

We now live in a world of full color. HDTV has taken the place of the old black and white television sets with promises of 7 million colors. Televisions broadcast programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week in high definition detail and color. There are hundreds of programming choices from which to pick. Even the modern day police cars have many colors on them, some even advertising sponsors. They look more like a Nascar racer than a police car which enforces black and white laws.

Our court system has become polluted with slick lawyers who find many ways to color a crime. The guilty are painted up to look innocent while the innocent are degraded to look like the guilty party. Victims become the criminals and the perpetrators are colored to become victims themselves.

Once upon a time, not going to church was a sure fire sign that you were going to hell. This was a crime worse than death itself. Gone are those simple days where there was only black and white.

Dressed in white Jesus will enforce the rules on the field as well. He can not be bartered with, bribed, or otherwise bought off. His judgments are final and his sentences are sure.

There are none to challenge Him. No amount of coloring the truth is going to advance your cause. For it is written in black and white, anyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved, if you do not, then you can not. It is as simple as that, black and white, in or out, saved or lost. There are not many channels on the airwaves to heaven, you must tune into God’s word and plug into His Spirit in order to receive your heavenly call.

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)
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Straight Talk

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

Insight for your “Journey across the Sky”
A View from the Nest www.eagleviews.org

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. – Matt. 5:37

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Tim 4:3-4 (ESV)

In his book “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business“, NeilAmusing Ourselves to Death Postman warns us of the danger of a world of information overload…

He reminds us of a chilling futuristic vision-‘Aldous Huxley‘s Brave New World‘, which describes a world thoroughly flooded with information. But that data is manipulated so that none of it has any significance.

It would appear that perhaps we have entered into that time talked about in Neil Postman‘s book. A time when sound reasoning and even common sense as been tossed out the door and replaced with myth, hyperbole and equivocation. Truth has been replaced with half-truths and fables. Despite any actual proven facts these fables are bantered about as truth and the truth is maligned as old-fashioned or too rigid.

In a society that seems to nuance all public speech into politically approved sound bites it is unusual to actually hear someone speak forthrightly. For someone to actually stand up and speak a word or two without spin or political posturing is a rarity indeed. Bloviatian abounds in our society, pontificating endlessly on this or that. Goobledegook is no longer confined to the political class for it has infiltrated the public arena as well. No longer do we hear the simple plain talk of a by-gone era. Simple speak has been replaced with well rehearsed homilies filled with platitudinous pomposity, or much ado about nothing actually.

Whoever can tell the best story in the most fanciful manner has taken the place of straight talk, honest discourse, and thoughtful communication. Instead of factual information being the driving force behind these discourses, they create stories based on falsehoods or biases. Pick a side and then argue your cause eloquently without regard to actual facts, just make sure it sounds good and tickles the ears of the listeners. Tell them their felt needs and trigger an emotional response. This is how we motivate and influence people in our intellectually challenged society. Institutes of higher learning have become propaganda camps for liberal philosophy and new age world views. Godlessness is espoused as the ideal and self-gratification is held up as the goal. The ends justify the means. Anything goes in your personal quest for self-fulfillment. Personal responsibility has been replaced with the phrase ‘it’s not my fault’. Continue reading “Straight Talk” →

Truth or Consequences

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)

truth1From the very beginning of time certain activities were considered off limits. The very first inhabitants of this planet understood that there were things they could and could not do. God had set in motion immutable laws that continue even through today.

From 1940 until 1987 an American quiz show originally hosted on radio by Ralph Edwards became a hit television show. That show was truth or consequences. Hosted from 1956 until 1975 by none other than Bob Barker of Let’s Make a Deal fame.

The idea of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts. On the show, people had to answer a trivia question correctly (usually an off-the-wall question that no one would be able to answer correctly) before “Beulah the Buzzer” was sounded. If the contestant could not complete the “Truth” portion, there would be “Consequences,” usually a zany and embarrassing stunt. In addition, during Barker’s run as host, “Barker’s Box” was played. Barker’s Box was a box with 4 drawers in it. If a contestant was able to pick the 3 boxes with money in it, they won a bonus prize.

In many broadcasts, the stunts on Truth or Consequences included a popular, but emotional, heart-rending surprise for a contestant, that being the reunion with a long-lost relative or with an enlisted son or daughter returning from military duty overseas, particularly Vietnam.

Citation: Truth or Consequences. (2007, September 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:17, September 12, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Truth_or_Consequences&oldid=156188604

Although it made for entertaining TV the idea that wrong choices yielded sometimes unpleasant surprises was not a new concept. Most people if honest will admit to times in their life where a wrong turn, a wrong choice, a wrong answer landed them in less than favorable conditions.

The embarrassment of being seen on TV not knowing the right answer to some obscure game show question is not as important as not knowing the right answer to a midterm test question.

Although both wrong answers had consequences one could be considered more life changing then the other. Getting blasted with whipped cream on the game show although embarrassing was not life altering. Missing questions on a midterm exam could mean the difference to passing or failing.

Making the wrong turn while driving could get one hopelessly lost. Thank God for GPS units which are ever ready to help a hapless driver find his or her way back to civilization. Heading the wrong way on a one way street could cost you a handsome fine or loss of license.

Choosing to drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs could end a life, yours or someone else.

In a culture which hates consequences there is an ongoing attempt to remove all truth, all absolutes in order to eliminate consequences of wrong choices. IF there are no wrong choices then logically one could assume there are no consequences. Morally if there is no RIGHT or wrong then no matter how I choose to live my life there is no consequence.

Man’s best efforts to root out all laws and opposition to wrong choices only end in futility each and every time they are tried. There are certain laws in place that just can not be avoided. Take for instance the law of gravity.

Even if one wishes to ignore the laws existence it does not take a person long to know that jumping from a high elevation without the aide of wings or some other flying apparatus plummets them to the earth where they will meet another law, that of an irresistible force and an immovable object.

History is riddled with humankind who have chosen the wrong direction and learned the consequences of such action.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, legendary early American writer, penned these prophetic words in “The Golden Legend”:

“No action, whether foul or fair, longfellowtheman
Is ever done, but it leaves somewhere,
A record, written by fingers ghostly,
As a blessing or a curse.”

All of us leave footprints in this world a record of where we been and the direction in which we are headed. The question that needs to be asked if someone was following in your footsteps would they find blessings or curses along the way? Would the path you are leading lead others to a greater good? Does the road you are following lead to greatness or disaster?

There is a way that seems right to a person, but eventually it ends in death.
Prov 14:12 (GW)

Each day we are faced with choices and each day we need to choose a path. But choose wisely because a wrong choice will have consequences. In this life the consequences may not seem too unbearable but in the life to come a wrong choice could land you in a destination unfit for human habitation.

A gullible person believes anything, but a sensible person watches his step. A wise person is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is careless and over confident. Prov 14:15-16 (GW)

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