My spin is on walking, can we raise the bar?

^{Luke 20:20-26}

^"20 So they watched Him, and sent spies ( Pharisees and Herodians,Mark 12:13) who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. ²¹ Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: ²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” ²³ But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me?^{[d] 24} Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵ And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶ But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent."
This story is as fresh as as this weekend's headlines. The game of politics has been going on for a long time. The people who get to the top are very good at it. To do so they often make alliances of former opponents to get to their objectives. The Herodians and Pharisees here are usually opponents, but they feared Jesus may upset the statuesque with Rome about his growing popularity as a possible Messiah. Jesus knew He was headed for the cross and He knew He was already rejected for the Kingdom He was offering. So these spies put on an act and used flattery to pose Jesus a question to put Him at odds with the people or Rome. Their hopes were to find grounds to have Rome put Jesus to death. Later in Luke 23:1-5 they report to Pilate spinning the story for their purpose of destroying Jesus.

hard to be wise

In the US both political parties are very good at such spins. Both parties are looking for a picture or a sound bite that they may use to destroy the other candidate. I imagine the same techniques are used throughout the planet. Jesus saw through the guise and raised the discussion with a helpful response. With a use of a danarius which had the image of Tiberius on it, Jesus pointed out we are obligated to pay taxes for the service governments give. Governments have a purpose on the planet. But we are to give to God what belongs to Him.
In the US we are obligated to practice our citizenship with intelligence and wisdom. We can raise the bar by knowing our history, our Constitution, our participation and vote.  Miss Marple always doubted what potential suspects said. It is a good axiom for crime fighting. It is also good for us to not take politicians at face value either. They need to be accountable and face hard tasks ahead for all of us. The press needs to raise their bar as well. We need less editorializing and more facts. Checks and balances may be the best part of our democracy.
A Christian has dual citizenship. Here on earth and our citizenship in heaven. If in conflict we choose our eternal citizenship. So in the upcoming election see through the deceptions both sides use raise the bar for yourself.
My spin in this blog is about walking. Does walking improve health care? Walking helped me recover physically from serious surgery. I know it improves our mobility and gives us improved health numbers like blood pressure, cleaning out the soft plaque in our arteries, improves our blood sugar, raises our good cholesterol and lowers our bad cholesterol, improves heart and lung fuctions and helps us burn calories. I won't tell you how to vote, but I would encourage you to see through political schemes and be wise. Keep walking