Good morning on this first Saturday of August. Yesterday Standard & Poor's, a credit rating agency, announced they were cutting the rating of the United States from AAA to AA+, a one step downgrade. This is the first time in the nation's history we have received such a downgrade from a major rating agency. The downgrade occurred primarily because the national debt of the U.S. is now greater than the nation's total Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total annual production of all our nation's goods and services. Our nation's debt is now 14 trillion dollars and is increasing substantially every day. Other major rating agencies may follow Standard & Poor's lead in the coming months. There is now much finger pointing among the politicos with the usual accuse/excuse syndrome. But regardless of the history and blame, this is a wake up call to right the ship of state. It seems to me that the solutions for our government are similar to the solutions which must be put in place when a family household is swimming in debt.

(1) Stop Excessive Spending: Carefully prioritize spending requirements, eliminate all unnecessary spending (cut up the credit cards), prepare an austere budget, and take steps to stick to it at all costs. Downsizing is often required involving driving an older car and/or moving to a smaller house.

(2) Look For Additional Sources Of Revenue: Members of families frequently have to get a second job, work overtime if available, do odd jobs, and collect monies owed to them by borrowers if any. Our government has plenty of fraud, fat, and waste to cut and many loopholes which should be closed.

(3) Establish Accountability: Take steps to ensure compliance with the steps outlined above. "People don't do what is expected but what is inspected," is an adage which must be put into practice by rigid oversight, monitoring, and corrective measures.

Taking these common sense steps alone would go a long way toward repairing our fiscal balance sheet and restoring our credit rating.

Tomorrow's sermon is another message in the series on Heaven. It is entitled, The Heavenly City - New Jerusalem. I hope you can be there to hear it.

Mel Brown