New Hope for the City of Mobile

On Tuesday, August 27th, Mobile, Alabama will be electing a new leader the city desperately needs. It's been said that everything rises and falls on leadership. Our current Mayor Sam Jones is finishing his second term in office. 8 years is a long time to effect change. In his 8 years in office we've seen numerous serious mismanagement which Mobilians would be wise not to forget when they vote.
1. Ladd Pebbles stadium financial mismanagement . (City owned property)
2. Bay Bears stadium which is a city property received no rent payments for years from the privately owned Bay Bears Company.
3. The city owes over $20 million dollars on a cruise  terminal with no cruise ship. Carnival cruise lines pulled out suddenly and was not under contract leaving the city with massive debt.
4. Over the last 8 years the Mayor has had only one singular vision....increase the sales tax to 10 percent. At one point the council agreed to a 'temporary' tax that when it expired had the Mayor a week later insisting we could not survive without a reinstatement of this 'temporary tax'. We again now have the 10 percent tax in place after numerous votes, threats and scare tactics were employed including threatening the public safety by both the Mayor and one Council Member (Fred Richardson) who predicted Mobile was 'going down in flames' unless the tax was passed.
5. In 8 years time and even with increased revenue from the sales tax our public safety employees who were threatened with lay offs have received no significant increase in their pay or benefits. The Mobile police department is paid less than any other department in the region....thus leading to a continuous exodus of experienced and talented officers out of the area.
6. Over the 8 years the Mayor has been in office his communication with both the public and city council has been very controlled and difficult. As council members and concerned citizens seek for answers concerning budgetary issues they have met with delay and in some cases denial of their requests.
7. Even in the management of his own campaign fund the Mayor had numerous discrepancies that caused him to refile his reports and pay back funds which had been inappropriately used for personal or inappropriate items.

All of the things mentioned in this blog show a pattern of mismanagement and a lack of strong leadership skills. We've given Mayor Jones eight years in office and it's my firm conviction that we need someone with a stronger commitment to good management and visionary leadership to take Mobile forward. Sandy Stimpson has decades of business and management experience and he is committed to assisting small businesses to get the same attention that has been paid to the big businesses recently arriving to our city. Sandy also wants to make government more accessible to the people and on day one will remove the door to the office of the Mayor as a symbol of transparency and accountability. Sandy is committed to making Mobile a safe city by working hard to ensure our public safety workers receive the pay they deserve and the equipment they need to serve the public well. The quality of life in Mobile is impacted by the quality of leadership that it receives. Now is the time for Mobile to embrace a proven leader with a clear vision for Mobile. Elect Sandy Stimpson on Tuesday, August 27th and bring new hope to Mobile, Alabama!

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It's Time for Change in Mobile!

In August, 2013 the city of Mobile will have the opportunity to elect a new Mayor. During the last several years while our national economy has teetered our own local economy has suffered as well. Our current Mayor Sam Jones pushed hard over the last two years to enact a 25 percent increase in the sales tax in the city. We were led to believe that the 10 percent sales tax would be a panacea for our city budget. Despite the University of South Alabama economist Dr. Semoon Chang warning us otherwise, the Mayor and council after much bickering, debate and repeated votes approved the tax in the fall of 2012. Now several months later the evidence is in that the sales tax increase has produced declining revenue. In tough times, people make every effort to save money. By increasing our cities sales tax to one of the highest in the nation, our city has priced itself out of the market of choice.
For several years I've followed the budgetary and leadership issues confronting our city. Our police and firemen are underpaid. Our city projects and property are poorly managed and cared for. We carry significant debt from years of failed public-private partnerships like the cruise ship debacle and the current maritime museum. Our Police pension fund is underfunded by $120 million dollars and counting. And now though we have unprecedented opportunity with the arrival of Airbus and related suppliers, we have to ask the question if our current Mayor is up to the task of leadership over the next 4 years. I have come to the conclusion that it is time for a change in the Mayor's office. I hope that you will join me in voting for Sandy Stimpson who is running for Mayor. Sandy is a life long Mobilian with a strong history of success in private business and management. He has successfully navigated downturns in the economy and offers us a new face and a new vision to lead Mobile into the future. See his website www.sandyformayor.com for details! I firmly believe it's time for a change in the city of Mobile. Join me in welcoming that change and hope for a bright and prosperous future in Mobile!

Unseen Hand

Help me God, to really see
The beauty that is mystery
The unseen hand, the hidden heart
That reaches down to pierce the dark

When trouble comes, I'm not alone
I feel his hand reaching out to heal my pain
The warm embrace comes just in time
To take away darkness and shame

Too many times, I've run away
I've hidden all my secret shame
But love's long reach has found me still
                                                  I'm not alone when darkness reigns

When darkness comes, I'm holding on
To Father's hand which never leaves
The warmness calms my inner chill

I won't let go, He loves me still

Unseen Hand

Help me God, to really see
The beauty that is mystery
The unseen hand, the hidden heart
That reaches down to pierce the dark

When trouble comes, I'm not alone
I feel his hand reaching out to heal my pain
The warm embrace comes just in time
To take away darkness and shame

Too many times, I've run away
I've hidden all my secret shame
But love's long reach has found me still
                                                  I'm not alone when darkness reigns

When darkness comes, I'm holding on
To Father's hand which never leaves
The warmness calms my inner chill

I won't let go, He loves me still

Inspiration for a New Year

Inspiration is a word whose root meaning flows out of the physiology of the body. Inspiration at its root means to "breathe". To take in oxygen by inspiration and to remove carbon dioxide (the waste products) by expiration enables physical life to go on. Without a fresh supply of oxygen you will die within minutes.

Life is dependent on an ongoing intake of "new" air both to energize and supply the body but also to remove that which is no longer alive.... The new thing DEMANDS the removal of the old. If we hold onto Carbon Dioxide too long we will also die.
As it is in the physical realm so it is in the spiritual realm. Our financial provision flows out of an exchange in time and energy... When what we do brings added value to the world in which we live we are compensated/rewarded for that exchange. When the world changes suddenly and what we do no longer adds value, the compensation either diminishes or is eliminated. This is how the world works. When we fight against this we are wasting time. The world rewards a fresh supply of life and responds accordingly. When we live in the past we can count on diminished returns and lack. God allows us to hunger and thirst and even suffer to some extent so that we will embrace the new things he is trying to do in the earth. Let's reflect on the powerful word from the prophet Isaiah 43:18 and beyond, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. ....".

When we hold onto last year's provision, profession, idea or memory we deny God the opportunity to provide for us with fresh creativity and inspiration and we ensure our personal lives, families and communities will become a wasteland. God wants to restore, refresh and bring life to barren souls and communities but first we have to take a risk... open our hands and grasp the new things from God. Turmoil breeds distrust and paralysis. Risk apart from knowledge of God's will is futile and foolish. But when we cry out to God and he "impresses" our hearts and minds with a vision and plan we MUST MOVE with him into his future... the only secure place on the planet. Are you willing to move with me as I follow God?
Jim

A Christmas Message from Oswald Chambers

 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being, He is a Being Who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest, and the Holiest entering into the lowest door. Our Lord's birth is an advent.

"Of whom I travail in birth until Christ is formed in you." (Galatians 4:19)

Jesus as our Lord came into human history from outside, so He must come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a "Bethlehem" for the Son of God?  I cannot enter into the realm of the Kingdom of God unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth. "You must be born again" ~Jesus  This not a command, it is a foundation fact. The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield so completely to God that Christ is formed in me. When Christ is formed in me, His nature... his life....begins to work through me.

Merry Christmas!

Crossing Over into your Future

Our hopes and dreams for life often lead us to a place of seeming impossibility. In the Old Testament book of Joshua we see God challenging the people of Israel and the leadership of Joshua with a transformational moment. They are on the edge of entering their 'promise land' when they face the raging waters of the river Jordan. How would they respond to this obstacle standing between them and their hopes of a land to dwell in and call their own?

As it was in example of Joshua and the nation of Israel (see Joshua chapter 3), God is doing something when he takes us to difficult places in our journey toward purpose and dream fulfillment. Our lives are ultimately not our own. We are not on the planet to glory in ourselves. God will often honor us as we honor him with obedience and trust, but ultimately we are meant to reflect his power and love to a doubting world. There comes a time when we need to know that God is really with us in our life's journey. In Joshua chapter 3 and verse 10 we see God speaking to and through Joshua, "Here s how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap."

God wants to do something in us and through us that is nothing short of miraculous. He knows that we will need great faith to walk out his purposes for our lives. God places himself in the midst of our seemingly impossible life obstacles.....and at the critical moment makes a way where there seems to be no way forward. So many people that I know and love are at a crossroads in their life. They've pointed their lives in the direction of change and newness. And now just before God's promise to them becomes reality they hesitate at 'water's edge'. There is a huge difference between a faith journey and presumptuous risk. In the story of Joshua and Israel we see a relationship at the center of direction and purpose. God is under no obligation to bless a vision and direction that we initiate and birth apart from him. But when God is guiding and empowering our dreams, vision and purpose he makes himself fully available to complete that which he has birthed in our souls. He is with us in this life and in many ways will prove his love and commitment to us.

Perhaps today some of you reading this are stuck in a place you know is not God's ultimate purpose for you. You've tried to make the next step in your life but you've either hesitated or been thwarted in your attempts to move on deeper into your dream. There are a few keys revealed in Joshua chapter 3 to keep you on track. First you need to be living in the context of Godly community. Joshua was leading a people of covenant into a God revealed direction and purpose. Too often we're seeking dreams and visions birthed out of our own badly informed concept of identity. When you don't know who you are, it's easy to get lost in life.  When God reveals himself to you he also brings us into community with people he has touched with his gift of life. You don't get to where you need to go in isolation. We were born for relationship not just with God but with a spiritual family who will 'have our back' during times of adversity but also hold us accountable when we are tempted to 'go back' in the direction of selfishness and sin. Joshua and his appointed leaders from the various tribes were the "Pastors" guiding the flock of Israel into God's appointed destiny. God still uses spiritual leaders in our lives to keep us on track in the day by day guidance we need in life. Don't allow yourself to become spiritually and relationally isolated!

Let's pick up back in the 3rd chapter of the book of Joshua , "So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over to Jericho."

God came through. His purposes never fail. We need to make sure we are going where he is going to ensure we too are getting to the places in life marked out for us before we were born. Remember Psalm 37 and verse 4, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." So often we get lost in life when our hearts fail to acknowledge and worship God properly. When your heart is right, you always get to where you need to go in life.

If you've come to a crossroad in life it's time you fully surrender your next step to the God who made you. He knows you.... He created you....and He won't fail to provide a way forward even when there seems to be no way.