‘rank indecisiveness bordering on cowardice’

Good morning!

Today I reflect on a dead sea and living water. And giveaway some bumper stickers.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Friday, November 8, 2019

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It’s been two months since almost 300 conservative groups, Republican activists, and grassroots leaders began calling for a special session to institute the Lone Star Agenda [[link removed]] – long-ignored reforms popular with voters across the state. The silence from Gov. Greg Abbott has been telling.

Republican State Reps. Kyle Biederman of Fredericksburg and Tony Tinderholt of Arlington publicly endorsed the Lone Star Agenda yesterday, reports Brandon Waltens [[link removed]].

“I also believe we need to call for a special session. We need to pass a conservative agenda, reform the powers of the Speaker’s office, and elect a Speaker who will successfully bring us through the next election cycle. These things will unite Republicans as we go into November 2020. Liberals are coming for Texas, and we have to push back.” – State Rep. Tony Tinderholt [[link removed]]

Yet most of their GOP colleagues have been noticeably mute. JoAnn Fleming of Grassroots America We The People writes [[link removed]]: “some state representatives and senators have responded to their constituents’ demands to publicly join our call for a special session with silence, excuses, purposeful misinformation, denials, and frankly rank indecisiveness bordering on cowardice.”

Meanwhile, Fleming adds [[link removed]], Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s office has been telling callers they “didn’t know who to contact about” the Lone Star Agenda. ‪Funny; they know who to call when seeking campaign contributions, endorsements, and volunteers...‬ 🤷‍♂️

Democrats had a bad week in Montgomery County. Reagan Reed writes [[link removed]] that after two weeks of disruptive and nasty behavior by left-wing activists at early voting locations, voters in The Woodlands handed Democrats a severe beating, with every candidate affiliated with the Democrat Party pulverized at the polls.

After months of fear mongering, manipulation, and spending tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars on pseudo-electioneering, Reed reports [[link removed]] the Conroe Independent School District saw one of their bonds narrowly pass while a second was defeated. The two propositions were a pared down version of an $807 million bond which the district unsuccessfully attempted to pass back in May.

Voters in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains voted to support bonds for several school districts on Tuesday night, though Thomas Warren reports [[link removed]] some passed by only razor-thin margins. The only major school district bond shot down in the Panhandle area was for Lefors ISD; voters defeated a $3 million school district bond, with 54 percent voting against.

Heading into 2020, we’re looking at the services we offer at TexasScorecard.com. For more than a year, Texas Scorecard has had a robust local sports section [[link removed]]. What do you think we should do: Keep it👍 [[link removed]] ...or... End it👎 [[link removed]]. (Click your answer, and your vote will be recorded.) ​

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It’s really hard to drown in the Dead Sea – not impossible, but hard. The hyper-saline waters have been a tourist attraction for thousands of years. The extreme buoyancy is fun and relaxing [[link removed]] for those with the opportunity to enjoy it.

After just a few minutes soaking in the Dead Sea water, though, you realize you need a bath. It’s fun, but not fulfilling. It’s relaxing, but not cleansing.

But it is worse than that. Situated in the middle of a desert, the Dead Sea is a taunt; drinking its water will kill you as surely as having nothing to drink at all.

Ironically, the Dead Sea is fed by the life-giving waters of the Jordan River. Until very recently the Jordan River provided Israel with most of its drinking and irrigation sources. As the water moves from the Sea of Galilee through the desert, it picks up various minerals. The geological features conspire to trap the water and minerals, creating an inland sea hostile to life.

It is a fitting analogy to life as we experience it. Life, which God called good, now runs inevitably to death. It wasn’t supposed to be that way; we were made to live, not die. Death is an unnatural state in the original design of our Creator. The ultimate cause of death is sin.

Scripture tells us death isn’t permanent, not for the Dead Sea and not for believers. Ezekiel prophesied a day when “swarms of living creatures will live” in the Dead Sea waters.

About halfway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, and a little to the west, is what in ancient times was Samaria. That’s where Jesus met a woman at a well [[link removed]]. As their conversation unfolded, He told her: “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Through Jesus we who are dead are offered living water; He cleanses our sin and gives us life eternal. Eventually, through Him, all things in creation will be freed from the “inevitability” of death.

The day is coming when the Dead Sea waters won’t be as buoyant but they will be refreshing. All creation will sing for joy, and life will be everlasting and abundant.

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We will send you the popular “Texas Cannon” sticker... for free!

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Number of the Day

590,925​

Population of Montgomery County, Texas, as of July 1, 2018. Montgomery County is the 11th most populace of Texas’ 254 counties.

[Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Quote-Unquote

“Being democratic is not enough, a majority cannot turn what is wrong into right.”

– Margaret Thatcher​

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Greg Abbott - R

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Dan Patrick - R

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PO Box 36875 | Houston, TX 77236 The Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day that we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is produced on week days and distributed at 6 a.m. (though I'll probably take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

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