Withered

In Mark 11:12-14 Jesus cursed a fig tree. He was on His way out of town, was hungry, saw a fig tree, and went to the tree for fruit. There was no fruit.... only leaves. He said, "may no one ever eat fruit from you again." The next day as they walked past the same tree, they saw that it was withered from the roots up.

The lesson is, Jesus expects everything to bear fruit after it's own kind. A peach tree should bear peaches, a tomato plant should bear tomatoes, cattle should bear cattle, and so forth. This also applies to Christians. As Christians we should bear fruit. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us what kind of fruit. Bearing fruit makes the Christian life interesting, worth while, and profitable for both us and the kingdom of God.

Each of us should ask ourselves what kind of fruit we will be bearing today. Bearing the fruit of the Spirit will cause us to be happy and prosper. Bearing no fruit at all will cause our souls to wither.

Stock Picks for July

British Petroleum has done a number on the oil industry, and so have the problems in Europe. Of, course, President Obama's moratorium on deep water drilling has had a big part in contributing to the sagging oil industry. Many of these oil stocks are down as much as 40-50 percent over the past couple of months. Thousands of oil workers are out of work because of the moratorium. Pretty sad, isn't it?

However, what our president and other environmentalists fail to understand is that our country and our world is still dependent on oil. It is still one of the cheapest and most readily available energy products.... and our world is still set up that way. All of that leads to this: There is going to be an oil shortage, which will then push up the price of crude oil. The result of this is that oil companies will once again see increased profits..... but this time with less production. Oil stocks are poised to go up. Want to make some money? That's where I would invest..... am invested.

Of course, if you want to buy the best and most dependable stock, you can always buy Apple (AAPL) at nearly $275 per share.

Knock Starbucks if you want to. That's the other black gold (black coffee). Or you can buy some Starbucks stock, buy a cup of coffee, and watch your stock go up. They are recovering nicely and most Starbucks shops I go into are constantly busy. And I visit a lot of Starbucks. If people have to choose between coffee and food.... they must be choosing coffee.

Who Did They See?

"Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them, except Jesus." Mark 9:8.

Jesus took Peter, James and John up a hight mountain. There He was transfigured before them and his clothes glowed whiter than any bleach could get them. While on the mountain they saw Jesus talking with the prophet Elijah and Moses. Then a mist came over the mountain and when it cleared they saw only Jesus.

The message here is that we often get our eyes on the wrong thing. Elijah was a great prophet and Moses was a great leader. When there are great prophet and leaders there is a tendency to promote these people to an almost godlike position. But the Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ should be the focus of Christians everywhere. Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind of fire. Moses, God's servant is dead. But Jesus Christ lives forever more.

When we take our eyes off Jesus we can also get off-track very easily. And while we are going off-track we can rationalize what we are doing. At these times we are living in the mist that not only hides Moses, and Elijah from us (or anyone else we may have set on a pedestal) but the mist also hides Jesus and his will for our lives from us. Once we re-focus our eyes on Jesus the mist will clear and we will once again see Jesus only as our Lord, and His Word as the guide for our lives.

Once we get re-focused we can then see how far off track we have been. This calls for sorrow and rejoicing. We have sorrow over our wayward ways and the damage and hurt that it causes. But we have joy that we have been restored. There is a bittersweetness here. But this is better than only bitterness that comes with staying with our waywardness.

"Turn you eyes upon Jesus,

Look full on His wonderful face,

And the things of the earth with grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace."

Who did they see on the Mount of Transfiguration? In the end it was only Jesus. Who is it you see guiding your life?

Boycott

Boycott, Boycott! Folks any one can boycott anyone or anything for any reason. That doesn't mean that it's always the right thing to do. Arizona is now getting boycotted by several places for their newly adopted immigration law. Notwithstanding that the law mirrors Federal law and is the correct thing to do. The City of Boulder Colorado is boycotting Arizona and so is the City of Los Angeles. I think Arizona will count the cost and stand by their guns.

Arizona has a large border with Mexico where Mexican workers seem to think they can come and go at will. They are here working illegally, not paying taxes, and straining Arizona's health care and social services systems. They are getting a free ride while legal immigrants and American citizens are footing the bill through the taxes they pay, and the jobs they are losing to the illegals.

I think Arizona should put the illegals on trucks and ship them to LA and Boulder, and other such places and let them pay the expenses for these illegals. It's easy to bitch about Arizona's immigration law when you are several hundred miles away and don't have to deal with their problems, but it is another thing when they are in your own back yard, taking your job, and stressing your welfare system.

Do these politicians have no shame, or do they have no brain? Actually, they do have a brain but have no shame. Their re-election depends on catering to the illegals and those who receive welfare. Figure it out, only 50 percent of Americans are net tax payers, which means the other 50 percent are net tax receivers. The leaches of this country generally vote for democrats. Thus the boycotts. These politicians have to show their welfare recipients that they are earning their keep.

But let's think about this realistically. There are hundreds of thousands of others who would like to immigrate to this country from Europe, the middle east, the far east, Africa, and so on. It is very difficult for them to immigrate here. They make the proper applications, undergo a background check, have to be interviewed, and have to have a very good reason to immigrate here. But with our Mexican neighbors it seems that none of this is required. They don't even have to register, although they are here illegally. I don't think it is too much to ask for them to come into our country through the proper system. Why are we punishing Arizona for enforcing a law that mirrors Federal law? I think it boils down to this: votes. Ya, I know that you are supposed to be a US citizen to vote. But I'm not stupid enough to believe that it actually works that way.

One of my favorite cities in the US is San Diego. But I am boycotting San Diego until this California city puts enough pressure on LA to lift their boycott of Arizona. I know it doesn't mean much, but, hey! as long as we are in the boycotting mood. Also, I don't think I will do business in the Republic of Boulder, either.

Now, after reading the above you may think that I am against Mexicans coming into this country. Actually, I'm not. I'm all for it. Let's just make sure they are here legally, and when they work, they pay taxes also.

Enjoy your Starbucks folks!

Ever Hear of LeRoy Brown?

Some of you older folks know how the song goes.... "Ever hear of LeRoy Brown? Meanest man in the whole darn town." That takes me back to the days when the Democrats were calling the Republicans "mean spirited." Because the Republicans didn't go along with every welfare program, they were considered mean spirited. And of course the most mean spirited of all was Rush Limbah.

But as I listen to the Democrats now days, I believe they have become the epitome of mean spiritedness. The chant their "no way, no how." every chance they get. They rail against the banks, the car manufacturers, WalMart, stock brokers, insurers, oil companies, coal companies, loggers, doctors, hospitals, and just about anybody that makes any money. That is everyone who makes money excepting themselves. The likes of Pelosi, Wrangle, Reed, Frank, Emmanuel, and of course, the famous Hilary Clinton, herself. They strong arm a coerce. They use unconstitutional means to get bills passed. They have no respect for their constituents, unless, of course they are the one-third of Americans that think the way they do.

The LeRoy Brown of this generation is Barak Obama. He tries to sound nice while playing dirty. Fortunately Americans have caught on. He could be the best thing that has happened to the Republican party in decades. The elections this fall will be sweeping landslides toward the Republicans. That is, of course is if those bone headed Republicans can manage to stay out of trouble. They keep asking me for contributions, but they aren't getting it. Prove to me they are truly conservatives with a moral compass, then I will consider contributions.

Hey, I just joined Starbucks Coffee club that seems to have a lot of rewards. The more I go to Starbucks, the more blogs. Lucky you! LOL. Enjoy a cup of Starbucks while you buy a bunch of Citigroup..... the next big gainer on the market. $4.40 a share, what are you waiting for?

I Broke My Rules and Paid

Yesterday I laid out 8 rules to trading options at hard times. Rule #3 said not to buy options when there is a sharp upturn in the market. And Rule # 8 said not to hold options over night. I broke both these rules and paid. I bought options in Ford Motor because they had just come off a small downturn and it seemed like market conditions were right. So I bought them at the end of the day and held them over night.

This morning the pre-market was trading up. Even the Wall Street Journal said that stocks were pointing to another positive day. In the pre-market trading Ford Motor was up 14 cents. The minute the market opened stocks started tumbling.

The reason for the tumble is this: our Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanski got up and mumbled something in public about raising interest rates. These guys have two problems: 1) Every time they open their mouths the market goes down. 2) They are addicted to raising. That's right. They always want to raise something. If it isn't interest rates, it's taxes, or fees, or something else that makes your life a little more miserable. It just doesn't sit well with investors.

Now, I understand that a lot of people don't like investors. Why, I'm not sure. I think it might be jealousy. But folks, our economy is lubricated with investors' dollars. People willing to take the risk to finance a company that produces a product that creates jobs. A lot of people don't like the guy that provided their job. That's OK. take away the investors and there will be fewer jobs.

What? No Coffee!

One of the things I am very fond of is a good cup of coffee. Starbucks does this reasonably well. I like their coffee, I like their atmosphere, and i like it that they have broadband service. I even like their paper cups. Oh, and they make real cheap office space.

When I see a sign for a coffee shop I am reasonable sure that I can get coffee there. But it seems the last few times at a certain Starbucks, coffee is not a priority. At this particular Starbucks I can almost count on them not having any coffee ready. It happened again this evening, making it my 4th trip in a row to this store where I've had to wait for them to brew a pot.

In fact, one time I had to wait for them to brew two pots. Yes, that's right, two pots!. I placed my order and was told they needed to brew some, so I watched them brew, they poured it up and gave some to two other customers and i was told that they had to brew another pot. Now, wait a minute! these are big urns! Why were they out of coffee? I was told that they brewed only a quarter of an urn the first time. I'm not sure that all the people that work at Starbucks have all their marbles. Some of them are two cards short of a full deck.

Well, anyway, I had to wait 15 minutes for a cup of coffee at a shop that specializes in selling coffee. I just don't get it. Audrey was finished with hers and waited while I enjoyed mine.