Good morning!

As this week ends, I reflect on how thick a wall needs to be to keep God out of our lives.

But first, here is today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, October 22, 2021
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Jobs Getting Railroaded

• Thousands of Texas’ railroad workers are facing termination for refusing to take one of the COVID shots. Griffin White reports Union Pacific issued the order affecting 5,517 employees in Texas alone.
   
• Gov. Greg Abbott has not addressed the railroad’s defiance of his executive order, nor has he spoken about the Texas Legislature’s refusal to bring up employer vaccine requirements during the recently concluded special session.
   
• Texas’ No. 1 material received by railcar is coal. Coal is needed to operate power plants when temperatures rise or fall, and to operate massive refining plants in the bayou that employ thousands of Texans. If Union Pacific suffers walkouts like Southwest Airlines suffered last week, significant portions of the Texas economy could be at risk. 
   
• The railroad company is receiving heavy opposition from labor unions over the mandate.

DeSantis Calls Florida Lege To Action

• Even as Gov. Greg Abbott ignores the issue in the Lone Star State, Florida’s Ron DeSantis has called his legislature into a special session to void employer vaccine mandates on employees. Brandon Waltens has the story.
    
• “We will be calling the legislature back for a special session,” DeSantis said, surrounded by signs proclaiming, “Don’t Tread on Florida.” 
    
• Despite the growing threats to Texas’ economy over the Biden-inspired vaccine mandates, Abbott has said there is “no need” for a special session right now.

Abbott (Finally) Fills Secretary of State Post

• With the Texas Senate safely adjourned, Gov. Greg Abbott yesterday appointed Fort Worth trial lawyer John Scott as the new Secretary of State. While the position handles numerous business-related filings, the office is most known for overseeing the state’s elections. Erin Anderson reports Scott steps into a position that has been vacant for five months.
     
• Abbott’s last two appointees, David Whitley and Ruth Hughs, failed to get confirmed thus requiring them to resign. Unless the legislature is called into a special session between now and the end of 2022, Scott will not face a confirmation hearing until 2023.
     
• Scott has a background as a civil litigator in state and federal courts. He previously served under then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, overseeing all the state’s civil litigation.

Union Jumps Early Into GOP Race

• As the race for state representative in Central Texas-area House District 19 heats up, a five-year-old city council debate has emerged as a point of contention between Republican candidates Ellen Troxclair and Justin Berry. Adam Cahn has the details.
     
• In a statement endorsing Berry (the Austin Police Association’s former vice president), the union accuses Troxclair of cutting “a deal with the far-left” and then walking out of a “critical” vote on police funding.  Troxclair served a term on the Austin City Council but did not seek re-election.
     
• The union’s assertions are hard to follow, originally saying their contention was over a 2018 vote – in which Troxclair sided with them. Later, they revised their claim to say it was a 2017 issue involving the provisions of the union’s benefits and pension. 
     
• “This is dirty politics by the Austin Police Association,” Lori Granados, president of the Central Texas Republican Assembly, told Texas Scorecard. “‘Defund the police’ is a national movement that came to town almost two years after Ellen Troxclair left office. To equate her advocacy on behalf of taxpayers with the former is gross.”

Republican-Drawn Districts Are Always ‘Racist’

• In a new commentary, Robert Pratt explains the “predictable” slur leveled by Democrats and the media against newly drawn districts.
   
• “Republicans should recognize that they do not stand a chance of a fair shake in the press and not let press coverage influence their decisions.” – Robert Pratt

Friday Reflection

How sturdy must a wall be built to keep God out? And why are we so insistent on trying? Those questions weighed on me at Mount Olivet, looking toward Jerusalem’s ancient city walls.
   
Though today it is covered with family crypts, 2,000 years ago, the hillside was dotted with olive groves, producing its name and the region’s most important fruit. But its place in history is even more significant.
   
Before Jesus entered Jerusalem in the last week of His ministry, He looked out over the city from the Mount of Olives. Before being arrested, Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is nestled on the hillside above the Kidron Valley.
   
For modern visitors, it’s a convenient point from which to photograph the ancient walls of the Old City, the Temple Mount, and the golden Dome of the Rock Islamic shrine.
   
One detail jumps out. From the Mount of Olives, you are looking directly at the Old City’s wall. There you see the outline of what would have been the massive Eastern Gate. Also called the “Golden Gate,” it was permanently sealed in 1541 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, a Muslim.
   
The Jewish crypts blanketing the Mount of Olives were placed there for the same reason the Muslims sealed the gate: this is where, in the Jewish Talmudic belief, the promised Messiah would enter Jerusalem at the end of time, resurrecting the dead in His wake.
   
The Jews wanted a good seat, and the Muslims wanted to block His entry.
   
Did the sultan think that through? If he were concerned enough to seal the gate, maybe he should have considered that a few feet of stone wouldn’t cause the divine and victorious Messiah to even break His stride.
   
Fifteen hundred years earlier, and less than a mile away, a similar decision was made. The Roman prefect overseeing Judea sealed the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid, pacifying the Jewish political leaders. Just as those efforts proved not to be an impediment to the risen Jesus, neither shall the work of 16th-century Muslim masons.
   
It’s easy to laugh at sealed gates and heavy stones, but reflect on how often we create similarly meaningless barriers to God individually and corporately. Whether it’s the unconstitutional “separation” of state from church with bans on school prayer, or simply an adamant (and arrogant) denial of God’s very existence, our flimsy barriers have no impact on His reality.
   
The God who spoke the universe into being goes where He wants. All we do is deny ourselves the joy of knowing Him.
    
In sealing up our hearts to God, we imprison ourselves.