Grant Ramaley

Middle America has long acted as the country’s ballast. When either party drifts too far from the center, the electorate usually pulls it back. That pattern is consistent—and it makes the recent results predictable rather than surprising. The two-year cycle reinforces it. After a party wins unified control and pushes an ambitious agenda, midterms frequently deliver a correction. In 1994, Bill Clinton’s Democrats lost 54 House seats after their early health-care push and other liberal priorities. In 2010, Barack Obama’s Democrats lost 63 House seats after the stimulus and the Affordable Care Act. Since 1946, the president’s party has lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms. Emboldening the left after a victory has repeatedly produced overreach—on policy, culture, or both—followed by a reaction from the center. Certain issues will almost certainly amplify the damage to Democrats over the next two years if they reopen the progressive playbook. Returning to expansive “woke” cultural policies, open-border immigration approaches, or placing biological males in women’s sports, locker rooms, and prisons would be ideological suicide. Polling (including from Pew) has consistently shown broad majorities favoring sex-based definitions of gender and tighter border enforcement. These progressive positions have functioned as a wrecking ball for Democratic prospects before, and there is little reason to expect a different result now. The middle holds the pendulum and continues to prefer ordinary common sense over ideological experiments. Wars are bad. The economy needs work. Punishing Canada—a major, reliable oil supplier—with steep tariffs raises the practical question for many voters: how does this help ordinary Americans? The progressive far left remains the Democratic Party’s biggest liability. With the federal government divided, little major legislation is likely to pass. Expect the left to use the stage for symbolic performances and messaging that may energize its base but will not convince the middle that these ideologies deserve time or support. History suggests the correction will come. The only open question is how costly the detour turns out to be.

My old U.W. Professor is the foremost weather forecasters, so when he says stuff like this, I start waxing snow skis!

The Witch if Endor and the Ghost of Samuel confronting King Saul. A terrifying and true story for your Halloween enjoyment. share.google/0ECRnsGisGyaypD…

Although the love described in 1 Corinthians 13 has many attributes, all of which belong in marriage, the marriage union itself is far more mysterious—both physical and spiritual. Marriage takes a man and a woman and moves them in a common direction toward the betterment of both, the bearing of children, and a life that flourishes under the highest principles of love. That love thrives best when a husband seeks to reflect the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul instructed husbands to love their wives as their own bodies, treating them as Christ treats His bride, the Church. Jesus does not merely “lord it over” us; He invites us to speak with Him often, bringing our wants, needs, desires, and fears to Him. He wants us to talk to Him often and about everything. Communication in marriage is meant to be just like that. We also learn to submit to Him—just as He Himself submitted to the Father, saying “Yet not my will, but yours be done”—and in doing so made the ultimate sacrifice to give us the greatest gift: eternal life. Our Lord does not rule us as a tyrant. He even gives us real freedom to do what we want and, at times, allows us to choose what we should not. Our Lord walks with us through valleys of our own making. Our God is a God of freedom, and He uses that freedom to lead us perfectly into ever-increasing liberty that comes through ever-increasing personal holiness—a liberty and joy that sin promises but can never provide. The challenge of leading a family as Christ leads us is our own sin nature. We are not perfect. Still, as we grow in relationship with Christ and learn to pray in all circumstances with the help of the Holy Spirit, we become better able to love our wives as Jesus loves us. Husbands carry a steep obligation to mirror Christ. Only in this way can a man truly better his own life, which in turn blesses his wife and their children, and becomes the highest form of our living worship. Our marriages are a model of how Christ loves His Church. This is “the mystery” Paul speaks of. Paul’s counsel is not limited to bodily self-care. The love we are called to lead with concerns the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of our wives—minding her desires, her limits, and her unique qualities as a woman. Our purpose as husbands is not self-seeking. Even the call to “lay down our lives” for our wives brings mutual benefit and offers the world a living picture of how Jesus cares for His people. When a husband leads in this way, he demonstrates God’s love, patience, and joy—providing for his family in ways that often exceed expectations and fill both heart and soul. He who cares for his wife cares for himself. Her joy becomes his in an ever-perfecting union that he is responsible to lead. Yet both wife and husband must cope with our imperfections and selfishness, and seek God’s help when these get in the way. I once asked a mature and godly pastor about the husband’s role in final decisions. He was an old Navy man softened by decades of marriage. He smiled and said, “There have been about twenty-five times my wife advised me on how we should handle a situation and I exercised my authority and did it my way instead. Only once was I right.” Once in a lifetime. He had a very godly and submissive wife who taught him humility through her willingness to abide by lesser decisions he had made. Women are essential to men. They are the crowning beauty of creation and true helpmates who often help us make better decisions. Together we have a shared duty to submit to God. As His Spirit leads, we will almost always do what is best when we hold together as one and present our requests to Him together. The old saying “A family that prays together stays together” is absolutely true. Not all our requests are answered just as we ask, but even so, the peace of God that transcends all understanding will settle on us—together, as one person united in Holy Matrimony. Stay faithful and true.

In memory of Sir Patrick Stewart - Despite our difference on Faith, like so many I find so much more in common with such people, and will miss him and his style of wit and wisdom, which can be understood best by the way Charles Dickens moved him so much so by 'The Christmas Carol' Patrick Steward first read a Christmas Carol as a middle-aged man on a rainy day in a country hotel, picking up a paperback copy he had never read. By the end he was in tears—not from sentimentality, but from the force of a story about isolation, greed, and the last-minute possibility of change. That theme stayed with him. Over decades he returned to Scrooge, insisting the tale was serious, adult work about passion, cruelty, happiness, and the hard work of becoming someone better. What he valued in it was never abstract. It was the conviction that a person can open a closed heart, that we have some responsibility for one another, and that cruelty need not be the final word. Those are virtues Christians have long held dear: compassion, charity, the hope of redemption, and the call to care for those who have less. In so many ways Patrick Stewart out-performed so many who call themselves Christians who would not be so moved to tears over such a salvation as Ebenezer Scrooge, ...such a change of heart. If we cannot agree on Who to worship. May we at least agree on those qualities that brought this man to tears.

Since its Pink Dress day, I had my wife pose for this shot. And yes, she knows how to use it.

A full moonrise at my stopover in Chicago. Every camera phone was rushed to the window to capture this.

Many of our ancestors came here because they had lived through centuries of religious persecution across Europe. Mindful of that history, the founders created a place where people of different faiths—mostly the various denominations of Christianity—could worship freely under the protection of the Constitution. We are not as much a Christian nation as we are a melting pot full of freedom seekers. As Christians in these United States we have a responsibility to defend those freedoms, but we must never do so at the cost of loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ. I was recently called “far left” simply for saying that being a Christian means following the teachings of Jesus. Extremism comes from both sides and meet at the same place, I guess. I understand fury. I believe it has a place. Did Jesus overturn tables in righteous anger? Yes, He did. While we are called to love our enemies and yet hate evil, hating evil means opposing and dismantling it. We do not physically attack people... although we are called and entitled under the first AND 2nd ammendment to guard our PEOPLE'S nation from tyrancial governance. As Christians we pray and vocalize, and as scripture says: “...the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God”. In my view there is only an illusion of “Christian Nationalism.” Surely Christians in these United States are free to choose our representatives and to insist that “We the People” actually govern. But we are not alone seeking sanity, and we also attack insanity we observe overseas. What makes our country unique is that God has allowed this nation so many protections with such freedom—including unmatched freedom of speech—so we can express our concerns and act on them more than any other country on Earth. That is not nationalism at work, that is Freedom at work. We The People are not merely reacting to the insanity we see in the USA. We are opposing the loathsome foolishness of broken ideologies that have been prevailing globally. We just live in a country where we can still do something about it. It appears as Nationalism merely because we are able to do it here in this nation alone. So while the world is ablaze with ruinous ideology. Other nations may watch with envy; or even double-down and cling to their failing economic and social experiments. So one of the saddest tools is to apply labels to Christians that are actively opposed to insanity. Labels divide Americans on matters of basic common sense. Is not common sense shared among our fellow irreligious citizens, as well as debout Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Mormons, Hindus, and others. Do we not all agree that wide pen borders is bad for a country? Do any support government waste and corruption? Do we believe those that steal should be punished for robbing? These are not mere "Christian" concerns. Our nation is more united and finally doing something to solve long overdue problems. And what about 2 Trillion in debt?? Many of these concerns are not merely “national issues” or “Christian issues.” They are sane issues. If we could be a light to others, to inspire them to throw off insanity, would we be called "Christian Globalists?" to wish these for others hurting as such harms come to those who ignore such problems? So we are one nation seeking to right problems within the nation where our vote counts and our voices contest insanity. So I would argue that “Christian Nationalist” is a usless, meaningless, divisive label. So never forget that we are Americans of many different faiths trying to make this nation better. Andif we inspire other nations toward such freedom from so many obvious ills, our hope is simply to better the lives of all people endowed with our most inaliable rights, ... to have freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from corruption. May God bless all nations.

Always loved airplanes and photography. Mixing b/w photography with a sun flare using infrared film and red filter, Grok captures photographic instructions remarkably well in this WW1 arial combat scene.

I’ve heard of rounds with 18 birdies. This one featured 11 birdies and a single par. You can figure out why this may be the lowest score in history. And with three young Amish golfers?? Who knew? They played amazing golf and had amazing help from Bryson when they needed it most. There’s an unmistakable, simple sweetness to these three: young men who love the game, love their people, and simply want to be understood as more like the rest of us than we might assume, at heart. There concern for how they are portrayed is real. "Don't believe anything you see on Social Media" we are quite like other people. Clearly they are different, in most ways better than us. The Amish take care of their own. Whether facing medical needs or disaster, they don’t shy away from modern care. They approach technology with a clear sense of 'sensibility'—using it when it helps, refusing to let it consume them. And when hardship comes, their answer is often song. But there’s no singing in this video. Just a record-breaking 45 through 18 holes. This will almost certainly never be beaten. #Amish #Golf #Eagle #Bryson

When I was single, I learned how the most valuable relationship works. I would offer advice that some married people told me was excellent “marriage advice,” even though I never thought of it that way, as I had no experience being married, ...or so I thought. A few decades later I heard the same core principles of my life taught by a renowned Christian marriage counselor. The reasons Christian marriages suffer when they should not are not primarily a failure of a wife submitting to her husband or the husband's failure to love His wife as Christ loves the church, but a failure of either in their submission to the God. We—the church—are indeed the bride of Christ. Even as a single man or woman, we must learn to submit to and trust Jesus. We pray, listen, wait, and trust that God never makes a mistake. We have access to that “perfect marriage” whether or not we marry. And as offputting it may sound to men, we are wives of our Lord Jesus, not just husbands, and Jesus is our example of how to be the husband that He is to us. Those with long, happy marriages use the God-given strengths men and women bring together within this hallowed union. Yet while a genuine "chain of command" exists, our Lord has to held above all. When the three become one, we experience what these verses from Ecclesiastes reinforce. "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. For if one falls down, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to help him up! Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one may be overpowered, two can resist. Moreover, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken". - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Practical problems in marriage have much less to do with whether a wife submits or a husband loves as Scripture directs. It matters most whether they are submitting to God. If that vertical submission is missing, the horizontal roles of Ephesians 5 will not function as intended. We are sinners saved by grace, carrying selfishness, but selfishness must be kept in check, whether married or single. Even so, Men and women have different strengths and needs by design. Love requires us to suffer for what we know our spouse needs. Husbands are expected to endure more suffering than the wife, as husbands are commanded to love the wife as Jesus loves His church, even laying down his life for her. Not merely his last breath, but his own desires and priorities, if that is indeed best for her. So indeed Scripture places the heavier weight of sacrificial initiative on the husband. A good wife communicates the needs of the family, including her own to her husband. A good husband provides for her and what she says they need—even when it costs him, but he also weighs and prays to God for wisdom and resolve to make the best decision for his family. In almost every case a request or suggestion from the wife will be essential to a husband making better decisions for the family. “Wives, submit…” opererates perfectly inside mutual submission to our Lord Jesus. Women have a burden to respect their husband, but the LOVE husbands are commanded to provide to their wives carry all of these attributes; Love is patient (it suffers long), Love is kind (does what is best for the other). It does not envy, It does not boast, It is not proud. It is not rude, It is not self-seeking, It is not easily angered, It keeps no record of wrongs It does not delight in evil It rejoices with the truth It always protects, It always trusts, It always hopes, It always perseveres. Ultimately, submitting to our Lord enables the single or the married couple to endure and secure every relationship that matters.

I get after people for missing out on reading the old testament. Some of the most incredible historical stuff is haunting, such as the encounter of the ghost of Samuel being summoned by the witch of Endor at the request of King Saul. 1st and 2nd Samuel are too of my favorite books. So since everyone is pitching Halloween Stories, here is a very real and terrifying true story of a real encounter with a real ghost that even terrified the witch that summoned him. My guess is, God raised up Samuel to announce to Saul his death at battle that would come the very next day. I often get after people for skipping the Old Testament. Some of the most incredible—and haunting—historical accounts are in it, like when the Witch of Endor summons the ghost of Samuel at King Saul’s request. 1st and 2nd Samuel are two of my favorite books. So while everyone else is pitching Halloween stories, here’s a very real and terrifying true account of an actual ghost encounter—one that even terrified the witch who summoned him.