"Appearance!"

Is your appearance before others more important than your personal responsibility? I am a regular church attender , not because it is a weekly social event , but , because it is an honor and a duty to spend time as a body of believers to gather and praise God . My usual routine on Sunday morning is to get up around six , walk and feed the dog , shave and shower , then get dressed. As my wife and daughter will attest I'm pretty basic when it comes to dress , jeans or sweat pants , t-shirts or sports jerseys , and I'm ready to go. On Sunday I abandon my casual attire for a more formal appearance , I'll opt for a coat and tie , shined shoes , and my "good" watch. Not to blow my own horn I teach Sunday School and have served on the church council for a number of years , believe me this is not a position of status , it is work that can sometimes be very difficult . Making decisions on any level isn't always fun , when you are making decisions that are for a church is much more difficult . Your first responsibility is to God , every time you make a decision you pray and ask for His help. Regardless of any decision one makes there is always somebody who won't like it. People who have attended a church for a number of years have a tendency to take ownership of that church. The truth is that the church belongs to God not the congregation.I have spent many hours trying to explain the workings of the council to disgruntled church members , at times council members bear the brunt of much criticism. We could easily just give in on unpopular decisions , but then we would be denying our responsibility not only to the congregation but to God. It seems our government has forgotten it's responsibility to the American people . Presently our president is in Japan talking about nuclear proliferation , giving up more of our nuclear capability . He wants the rest of the world to see us as a nation determined to move to the background of the world power structure. It seems every move that has been made by the Obama administration on foreign policy has been to weaken our position as a world leader. We have given up our nuclear umbrella in eastern Europe , and done little to nothing about Iran and Korea , we are sitting on our hands about sending troops to Afghanistan to aid our armed forces. Obama reminds me of a dog that lies on it's back , submitting to it's master, giving up it's freedom , to yield itself ! Obama's responsibility is to defend and protect the constitution and the people of the United States Of America , yet he seems more determined to impress the rest of the world with our passivity. Barack Obama , through his actions is derelict in his responsibility to the American people , he is leaving us in a submissive posture before those who wish the United States failure and collapse . As we have seen through Obama's total disregard for the will of the people in his domestic policy he is only interested in himself and his appearance to the rest of the world. How much more can our nation stand , all for the sake of the "Messiah's" image!