Good morning,

When we make our lives about ourselves, it is easy to find reasons for woe. So I end this week reflecting on the need to remember that we are never alone.

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, October 20, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Paxton Names Legislators Who Made Colony Ridge Possible

• Known nationally as a housing development for illegal aliens, Colony Ridge’s explosive expansion was made possible by a seemingly innocuous piece of legislation pushed quietly through the Texas Legislature in 2017.

        

• Gov. Greg Abbott has asked lawmakers to pass “Legislation concerning public safety, security, environmental quality, and property ownership in areas like the Colony Ridge development in Liberty County, Texas.”

      
• Based on the legal research done by his office, Attorney General Ken Paxton asserts that the Colony Ridge development was able to take its present form as a haven for illegal aliens because of legislation pushed by State Rep. Ernest Bailes (R–Shepherd) and State Sen. Robert Nichols (R–Jacksonville).
       
• Thanks to Bailes and Nichols' legislation, the head of Colony Ridge and three of his employees serve on the five-member board of a "Municipal Management District" encompassing the development. This arrangement allows them to levy taxes and issue bond debt on their residents. 
      
• “I am beyond disappointed in Senator Nichols and Representative Bailes for apparently working to enrich specific developers at enormous expense to the rest of the public and reducing the quality of life for their own constituents,” wrote Paxton in a letter yesterday to the state's congressional delegation.

Is School Choice in Peril?

• The third special session of the legislature started last Monday, and as the clock ticks down, concerns are growing that the Texas House may not address school choice. Brandon Waltens breaks down the timeline inside the Texas Capitol.

    

• When the House met on Thursday, they did so for six minutes. The short meeting wasn’t out of the ordinary for the chamber. Since the special session began, the House has only met four times and has thus far passed none of the legislation Gov. Greg Abbott placed on the agenda.
       

• The Texas House has adjourned until Monday afternoon.
       

• At the top of the special session agenda was Abbott's call for “legislation providing education savings accounts for all Texas schoolchildren.”
       

• Last week, House Speaker Dade Phelan referred the Senate’s ESA legislation to the House Select Committee on Educational Opportunity & Enrichment. Notably, most of the members of that committee either voted against or refused to cast a vote on school choice during the regular legislative session earlier this year.
       

• The House has no hearings yet scheduled for the Senate's ESA legislation.

Report Finds ‘Multiple Failures’ in Harris County Election

• Preliminary findings from an audit of Harris County’s November 2022 election show “multiple failures,” according to Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
       

• Harris County, the largest county in the state, was one of four counties chosen at random to be audited by the secretary of state’s office under a new state law passed in 2021.
       
• The report reveals problems with the county's voter registration data, failure by the county to provide necessary supplies to polling places, equipment issues, and incomplete paperwork.
      
• In addition, the aduit revealed Harris County’s voter registration system included more than 9,000 additional voters than were reported to the statewide voter registration system. Almost 3,600 mail ballots were sent to voters but not reported to the state.
        
• “Complaints about Harris County elections have proliferated since its move to countywide polling and politicization of election administration. We need the legislature to act urgently to restore trust in elections,” said Christine Welborn, the executive director of Advancing Integrity.

Dallas County Plans To Sue Over Texas Border Security Measure

• Dallas County Commissioners said this week they would sue the state if a proposed border security measure becomes law. Emily Medeiros has the story.

         
• Senate Bill 11 by State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R–Granbury) creates a criminal penalty for improper entry from a foreign nation.
      
• The Democrat-controlled Dallas commissioners claimed Birdwell's legislation would fill up county jails across the state without any attached funding.

$11 Million Worth of Illegal Narcotics Seized at Border

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized $11 million worth of methamphetamine during two stops on the Texas-Mexico border. Soli Rice has the details.

       
• CBP stopped a tractor-trailer arriving from Mexico on the Pharr International Bridge, referring it for further inspection. It was supposed to be transporting fresh jalapeno peppers. Instead, agents found more than a thousand pounds of methamphetamine.
      
• Meanwhile, in Brownsville, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen was driving a 2019 Dodge across the border from Mexico. Three packages were hidden in the vehicle containing 100 pounds of methamphetamine.

Friday Reflection:
Woe Is Me

There is no end to the discouragement we can find if we look at ourselves long enough. Self-pity is a bottomless pit when we make our lives about ourselves.

Consider the ancient prophet Elijah. In 1 Kings 18, he was witness to an awesome display of God’s power. He saw the prophets of Baal defeated on Mount Carmel. He watched the people rise up and seize the priests of the false gods.

Leaving that place, though, Elijah got word that the evil Jezebel intended to kill him. She, after all, was a cheerleader for Baal. So, it’s easy to see why she was mad.

What is less easy to see is Elijah’s response. Scripture describes Elijah as being afraid and scurrying off into the wilderness. He tossed himself into a pit of despair, believing himself to be alone.

Elijah sat under a bush and prayed that God would kill him. Instead, an angel told Elijah to go to Horeb, also known as Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

He had to be convinced by an angel to get on his way, but he finally went. There, Elijah complained that there were no other men of God in Israel.

“I am the only one left, and now [the people] are trying to kill me too.”

Hogwash! He had just seen God defeat Baal and watched the people rise up against the false prophets. By focusing on himself, Elijah managed to turn God’s victory into his own defeat.

And so God gave Elijah something to do and to think about. Elijah was told to go and anoint a couple of kings and appoint a successor prophet. More importantly, God addressed the “woe is me, I am all alone” nonsense.

God told Elijah that there were 7,000 men in Israel who had not worshipped Baal. Elijah was never alone.

The same goes for us. We just have to be willing to look beyond ourselves. Rather than star as the martyrs in our self-devised tale of woe, we should actively look for allies in the redemptive story that God is working out in our lives.

To borrow from St. Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Whatever else might be true, we are never alone.

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