Dear Reader,
Thanks for joining us in The Three Taverns each week. Here in the Tavern we explore ideas: spiritual, philosophical, political, relational and psychological. All the kinds of things you talk about in any tavern.
After last week I felt like so many around me were exhausted. It was like a collective hangover, no matter if your candidate for POTUS won or lost, there was so much life energy spent leading up to the election. And now preparing for the holidays life has not slowed down.
We just had our 17th grandchild born yesterday to our daughter Caroline and her husband Andrew. Caroline is our 4th child and this was their 4th child. They named her Emmy Jo and we are so happy to have her in our family!
We are so blessed that all of our kids live here in Middle Tennessee so we get to see everyone frequently. But we still like to find lots of excuses to get together and enjoy family time.
I pray that if you don’t have close blood family that you will create your chosen family, people who you can share life and dreams with on a daily basis, and that you will spend some of your time pointing each other toward greater and higher things.
THE NEED FOR TRANSCENDENCE:
You cannot solve racism by focusing on race.
You cannot overcome sin by focusing on evil.
You cannot heal sickness by focusing on disease.
You cannot solve poverty by focusing on the poor.
You must have Transcendence in your life, something greater and higher than what you are trying to overcome.
Greater than the worst of our tendencies.
Once we slip away from Transcendence we lose what makes us great.
What is called “progressive” is actually the worst form of regression possible: tribalism, finding your primary identity in race, gender or class is not progressive, it is horribly backward. It is a focus on the small rather than the Transcendent.
This has been the human condition since time began. Finding your identity in something as limited as race, gender or class will always result in shrinkage in your life, not expansion.
America was and is a bastion of hope for so many because of the Transcendence of the idea behind us.
America has never been perfect. We are in the pursuit of a “more perfect union.”
But America is great because of the greatness of the idea behind the founding of this nation. Written into its very foundation is the knowledge that freedom comes from God, and the role of this government is to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all citizens. You cannot understand the American vision without understanding that scripture stands behind it, informing how this country was founded and her principles formulated. The founders did not make them up! They learned them from the revelation of scripture!
Dr. McHenry said to Benjamin Franklin after the Constitution was ratified: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
Franklin’s response: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
John Adams said: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
This is why the founders were so brilliant to establish a democratic republic (representative government) and the electoral college instead of mob-rule democracy. If we were a true democracy, our presidents would be elected by the Northeast states and California (the very liberal, “progressive” coasts) and middle-America wouldn't have a chance. With the electoral college, each state elects their choice and then gets equal representation by bringing forward their chosen leader.
But WITHOUT TRANSCENDENCE and the pursuit of all that is good, there aren’t enough laws in the world to hold onto the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
TUESDAY MORNING “TAVERN TALKS”
TUESDAY MORNING TAVERN TALKS!
This group of men meeting at The Mission Cigar & Social on Tuesday mornings at 7am has turned out to be incredibly encouraging. Open, honest, unedited is our policy.
"God and man, no religion" to quote David Bowie's song.
Real faith for real men facing the world's challenges.
FORWARD THIS INVITATION ALONG TO SOMEONE ELSE AND INVITE THEM TO JOIN YOU THERE!
One of the things we do on a regular basis is some weeks one of the guys will tell their story, the struggles they have overcome, how they have encountered God along the way. Sometimes tears, sometimes laughter, but always a deepening conviction, enlightenment, understanding and further commitment to Jesus and each other.
THIS WEEK: Jake Letzer. Jake is one of the workers at The Mission, but he is more than that. He is a friend, and sometimes offers a fun quick opinion about something. John Mathis Jr. coined his thoughts as "Jake's Takes". We look forward to hearing Jake's stories.
Bring your coffee, your Bible, Febreze if you go to the office after, an open mind and open heart. You can purchase a cigar as well to enjoy your first cigar of the day.
We are really grateful to Mark, Monte and Willie for opening up The Mission early each Tuesday and participating in Tavern Talks!
KIYOSAKI SAYS “SAVERS ARE LOSERS”
In January 2024 the average price of an ounce of gold was $2,033.85 per ounce.
If you had SAVED $2,033.85 in dollars in January 2024 you would have that much in dollars, minus inflation. So you would be at a LOSS.
If you had BOUGHT an ounce of gold it would now be worth $2,637.49 today (lower than the $2,750 high two weeks ago before the election results). Your gold would have saved you $571.84 today from the loss of dollar value!
In January 2024 the average for Silver was $22.956 per ounce.
If you had saved $2,295.60 dollars you would have that, minus inflation. LOSS!
If you had bought 100 oz. of silver, it would be worth $3,114 today.
You would have SAVED your money from the loss of $818.40 in dollars!
Silver is easier to get started with and it has outperformed gold in growth, but both have HUGE upside expectations next year as the dollar continues to weaken due to massive overprinting by the U.S. Government.
It is IMPOSSIBLE to lose money exchanging fiat for real money!
Did you know that between 2020 and 2022 the remaining spending power of the dollar lost another 24%?! That means that $1,000 saved in 2020 would only buy $860 worth of goods in 2022.
If your security and savings are in dollars in the stock markets, etc., you are losing.
REAL FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS PAY TOO MUCH FOR GOLD AND SILVER! And in our network everyone gets the “friends and family” discount!
So I'm letting you know that our system and network gets you gold and silver, in your hands, drop-shipped to your door (if it's not in your hands you don't really have it) for 10-20% less than anyone else. Period.
If you are interested to know more then let me know then reach out and let’s talk! QUICK!
Looking Up!
Tod Bell
Chief Tavern Host