Common Sense Reborn

Checking In, Again

²³“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law-justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.” (Matthew 23:23)

Hello family. I hope you are doing well. I just wanted to hop on here and check in with y’all. It has been over a month since I last posted, and not much has changed. We still have a horrible president doing horrible things. I have not felt the urgency to get on here and post, because everything I read suggests the veil has been removed and there are countless heroes sounding the alarm every time trump does something vile again. By now, I am sure that I do not have to bring to your attention the amount of insider trading the fat, orange monster has been doing lately. Nor do I have to write about the corrosive corruption of his “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and the thought that $1.776 billion dollars could go to insurgents who stormed our nation’s capital. Criminals who had been held accountable for their traitorous actions, until being pardoned by their precious leader. Of course, that slush fund has already faced legal challenges and will hopefully be put to actual good use. Here are just a few things $1.776 billion could do for the people of this country (according to GOOGLE):

Veterans Affairs: Hire thousands of mental health professionals and support staff to reduce claims backlogs and treat veterans across the Veterans Health Administration.

Healthcare & Research: Fully fund the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) annual budget for Cancer Moonshot initiatives, or provide a full year of healthcare for roughly 235,000 low-income Americans through Medicaid.

Childcare: Erase the early learning and childcare deficits for approximately 250,000 children by fully funding a year of Head Start or heavily subsidizing state-level preschool programs.

Education: Pay the annual salaries for over 25,000 public school teachers, helping to address chronic nationwide educator shortages.

Infrastructure: Build or repair hundreds of miles of vital interstate highways and bridges, addressing the country’s aging civil infrastructure needs.

I am sure you are all aware of these facts. I mean, I see them multiple times whenever I get on social media. My algorithm is locked in and the best page to keep me informed by far is “Paper Planet”. Paper Planet describes themselves as “A newspaper for the people”. Their computer artwork and reporting are outstanding. Check them out by clicking here.

I did discover something new today that I really felt the need to share: the story of Jason Riddle, the only J6er who not only rejected trump’s pardon, but has vocally stated he would not take any money from droopy don’s criminal slush fund. Riddle’s name was listed in an AP news article about the fund, and it led me to read Riddle’s story. In reading Riddle’s story, I learned that there are an entire community and movement for those who have woken up, come to their senses, and left maga. They even have their own .org: https://leavingmaga.org/. You can click on there and read all the stories of how most of these poor people were brainwashed into the cult. It is also a great resource to point anyone you know that may still be under that spell.

It has been refreshing to see so many taking the charge to stand up against the tyranny of trump, that I have been able to step away from this platform and focus on what I need to in my own personal and professional circles. I am still listening to plenty of new Christian music, and what I have heard lately are a lot of songs about the “worthiness” of God. From TAYA‘s “Simply Worthy” to Tiffany Hudson and John Wilds‘ single, “Room“, where they sing “Everybody cries ‘holy’. Everyone cries ‘worthy'”. Spotify’s “Worship Now” playlist has been excellent lately. But listening to all these songs, while they are an uplifting reminder about the worthiness of God, it got me thinking. We sing about how worthy Jesus and God are of our worship and praise, but what about our worthiness? Are we living lives worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus? I know that the cliche answer is that we are all worthy of the grace of Jesus Christ (even the orange monster). But my question that I have had for myself is this: is my life truly worthy of the Cross? Are the things I am doing everyday worthy of the praise of God and Jesus? Am I letting justice, mercy, and faith lead my life, or am I just a white-washed tomb like the Pharisees whom Jesus denounced in the verse above?

We are almost halfway through 2026; how worthy has your walk been with Jesus this year? What can you do to improve that walk? I know personally, I have a lot to improve on. Those in need in our country grow in greater number each and every day. From the immigrant to the orphan to the widow, these are just some of the most vulnerable that Jesus cares the most about. And while I often speak about how we should be looking out for the least of us, I do little more than just write about it here. As James, the brother of Jesus wrote, “faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless”(James 2:17). I need to be producing much more good deeds, much more good fruit. Enough with the typing and griping. Time to live on earth as if I were in Heaven. Time to bring Heaven down here. Who’s with me?