Gaining perspective means maturing as a Christian

I forgot what real cold was like even though I spent three years in Alaska, but pumping gas New Year’s morning with the temp at minus-8 was a quick reminder.

I was leaving O’Fallon, Missouri after a holiday visit with friends. The cold was so intense it froze the gas pump number pad making my credit card unusable. I had to go inside to pay, which served to emphasize how much I didn’t want to be outside.

I needed gas again a few hours later in Forrest City, Arkansas where the thermometer read 19. The air felt balmy even though it was still 13 degrees below freezing.

I’m getting tired of manipulation by sockpuppets

By Elke Wetzig (elya) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

A member of the Texas House of Representatives is being criticized over his use of sockpuppets and no, he wasn’t playing with children’s toys. He used an anonymous Facebook page to fight against a bond election in his hometown and the mayor is not happy.

If you haven’t heard the term before, a sockpuppet is a fake online name or identity created by someone for a particular purpose — such as winning an election, for instance.

Some people can run an entire cadre of sockpuppets arguing both sides of an issue, having them debate each other in an effort to change the minds of readers. This was a key idea in Russia’s disinformation campaign during our last election.