Not Again

As a youth pastor, how do you be what your students need when THIS happens?

Bittersweet Vindication

HT to Sullivan for this nugget. Peter Schiff went on every network news program he could 2 years ago trying to warn people of the EXACT economic crisis we are in today.

No one would listen.

The yahoos at FOX News even laughed at him (3:50). What jerks and what a clear indication of the conservative implosion at hand.

Ben Stein was just DEAD wrong (4:17 and 6:15)… not the first time.

Anyways, Mr. Schiff… you were right.

I hope your “right streak” is over…

Strange Dinner Pics

We went out to dinner last night as a family and saw a couple of strange things worthy of the iPhone cam and a posting here.

First, someone not only parked a motorcycle in a car space, but he TOOK UP TWO SPOTS with it! My wife wanted to wait for him to come out and then confront him about it… we didn’t.

Next, we noticed this sign had a type-o on it… except it was on both sides of the sign which means someone actually thinks this is how you spell “delicious”. Delicius sound more like the name of an obscure Roman emperor… “All hail, Ceasar Maximus Delicius III !”

8 Things You Hate

What is that thing, that type of person, that saying, that just really angers you or makes you feel uncomfortable? I have several which I am glad to list. This, however, is not a pessimistic post. I am a firm believer that it is best to know what bothers you and why it does… its part of the whole self-counseling thing. This is more of a Dr. Phil post… I just lost you didn’t I?

Here are the 8 Things I Hate:

1. White socks - I can stand white socks, I have Michael Jackson and Pee Wee Herman to thank for this
2. Anonymous comments - if you frequent Rethynk, you know this. If I can track your IP to an address, I will and I will post your REAL NAME every time for you… or delete it.
3. Other parents at my kids sporting events - like the db dads who scream at their 6-year old boys to “get me some flags!… or else” or the jerk coach this last week who had his team up 56-0 in the 4th quarter but was STILL sending his whole defense to blitz.
4. Internet Explorer - enough said
5. Bluetooth earpieces - give me a break dude, NOBODY is that important… I don’t mind it when you are driving, but when you on a date or standing in line at bank? I always crack up when parents have these in and are yelling at their teenager for wearing earphones constantly.
6. Slightly tinted glasses - not sunglasses but the creepy ones that are tinted just enough to make you wonder if the person wearing them is the Unibomber or not.
7. Animated GIFs - those pretty much died with the invention of Flash… let it go and move on.
8. MIDI on websites - or any music/sound that starts playing as soon as the site it is on finishes loading… it really scares me when I am wearing headphones and am not expecting it

So, thats mine… what are yours? If you dont have 8, share what you DO have…

In case you missed it

The daily show was pretty funny last night…

Post election rehab

Its over. What will I do with my time now?

In the next few weeks to come, we will see the close states be called electorally, the closer senate seats resolved, the newness of this present milestone wear off, and the shock of horror on the faces of the right to succumb to reason and a logical sense of peace.

I hope.

Here are my reactions to the whole thing:

1. Just 40 years ago, in my parents lifetime, systematic racism was acceptable in most of America. Blacks using separate restrooms, schools, and public places… today, we have elected a black president whose roots can be traced to a small, rural, poor village in Kenya. Wow.
2. The McCain I voted for in my life disappeared this campaign and was replaced with a grumpy, crusty, attacking old man.. he returned last night. The John McCain I know and respect sprinted to the stage faster than I have ever seen a presidential candidate about to concede defeat. His speech was gracious, classy, and full of the same American unity that Barack’s was. Unfortunately, the crowd within earshot of him was as nasty as he was classy. I hope that is not the future of Republicanism.
3. NBC had the best coverage and the easiest graphics to understand.
4. This was the year of the uneducated voter and the over-use of election night 3D graphics and technology.
5. I can not believe that a woman just ran for VP of the USA with out EVER releasing her medical record and never giving a press conference… why is NOBODY talking about this?
6. I couldn’t figure out the Palin pick until last night during McCain’s concession. The Reps knew in September that they couldn’t win this election. So they looked at who the future of the party might be a decided to begin grooming one of them for 2012… hence, Sarah Palin. The bad part about this is that the future of the Republican party is a woman who is governor of state who just elected a convicted felon to the U.S. Senate.
7. I can not wait until 4 years from now to rub in the faces of right wing radio and emailers that all the doom and gloom scenarios and fear campaigns did not materialize. I had a longer post about this, but my better senses kept me from publishing it.
8. Say what you want, but I actually do believe this election, by itself, did accomplish something already. I can not empathize, but judging by the tears and emotion last night, it seems the result was in many ways closure for black Americans.
9. Turnout was at an all-time high and the youth vote showed up. For those of you who mocked me for saying this, I say “See I told you so!”
10. I am disappointed in Arizona. We passed some dumb legislation, re-elected some major jerks, and continued to allow a fascoracist enforce the laws of the third largest county in America.

I wish I had more to say in a more poetic way other than bullets, but I don’t. My hope is in Christ to do his redeeming work in men, not in men to do a redeeming work through government. But I will pray the latter happens.

To trick or treat or not?

Today is Halloween, the day of “trick or treating”, neighbors actually TALKING to eachother, families enjoying eachother’s company, and Christmas for dentists.

But if you are a member of American Christendom, than you are aware that the holiday also brings some controversy with it. Some more conservative churches use this time of year to speak out against what they consider a neive way of inviting satan into their parishoners home. They say that the vague similarities between the ancient, pagan celebration of Samhain (harvest feast) and todays commercial practice of Halloween are almost equivalent to worshipping the devil. I understand this argument, but after some parental research and common sense thought, I disagree with it.

Mainly, it is an ENTIRELY inconsistent position for Christians. Read more

Focus on the Fear

I grew up with Focus on the Family. I remember long car rides made pleasant because of the Adventures in Odyssey tapes. I know that my parents gained valuable parenting skills from some of the publications that Dr. James Dobson produced.

That being said, Focus on the Family is NOT what it used to be.

It started a decade ago when Dobson entered the realm of political action groupage and pundicy. It has sadly taken a turn for the worst with THIS. (its a PDF).

Basically, it is a document designed to envoke fear into the minds and hearts of the weak minded and uninformed. It is called, A Letter from 2012. The letter, which is creatively written from a person in 2012 after Obama has been president for two terms, lists both ridiculous and legally impossible circumstances, for example:

1. The U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq prompts a take-over by Al Qaeda, which in turn has carried out terrorist attacks on four U.S. cities.
2. Home-schoolers are forced to use state-approved curricula, and rather than do so, many emigrate to New Zealand or Australia where they may teach without restrictions
3. The Supreme Court declares that “proselytizing speech” does not have the same protection as other speech, and Christian ministries are banned from college campuses
4. The FCC nullifies all restrictions on obscene speech or visual portrayals on TV, and it’s now a 24-hour non-stop diet of explicit porn

And the list goes on. I am fine with people who disagree politically and I have plenty of friends and family who are as conservative as they come and they would even cringe at this behavior on the part of FoF. I am saddened that such a once-powerful ministry that was used by God to equip parents has now shrunk to this. I hope they can find their bearings.

One last time

I have taken a lot of hits from people about my vote this presidential election. I have had my faith questioned, my intelligence challenged, and have been stereotyped as “falling prey to the lies of the liberal media.” Because of that, I am looking forward to this election being over.

Truth is, I used to be one of those people who said these very things to people. For me, politics was a generator of hatred and anger against people I never met, nor ever wanted to. I remember watching Donald Rumsfeld’s promised “shock and awe” on the big screen projector at my old church back in 2003 and cheering it on with a soda and popcorn in hand. Today, I am ashamed at myself and the amount of pleasure and entertainment I took from watching bombs fall on people’s homes on the other side of the world. It wouldn’t be until years later that the military would fully disclose the number of innocent families destroyed that night.

I used to tell people that I was for an immigration policy that would involve rounding up all illegals and dumping them in the ocean… I was kidding but such a joke came from a dark place deep in my soul. There was a time when I assumed that all Hispanics in my city were criminals and they owed it to people like me to prove otherwise.

There was a time when the ONLY issue that mattered to me was abortion. Not because I believed in my heart that only God can take a life, but because I could not stand the type of people who were for it… hippies, gays, just sinners in general. Basically, all the people Jesus tells us to love… I know, right? Back then, abortion was purely a political issue for me and not a problem that desperately needed a solution.

Not too long ago in my adult life, I used words like “socialism” and “liberal” like they were 4-letter word insults. I used to genuinely believe that democracy was God’s chosen form of goverment and anything else was evil. Seriously.

But that WAS me. I changed. God changed me.

For me, God breaking my heart meant a change in opinion with regards to American politics. That is not to say that people who have differing opinions from mine now are wrong or somehow not on a journey with Christ… that is just what it meant for me. I know lots of people from the Right, who I respect as people of faith who truly love God.

The opinions I have about politics are just that, opinions. None of them are final and most of them are a work in progress. As humans, we are not justified by how we vote, instead we are saved only by God’s grace and His love for us.

Senator Obama addressed the “abortion issue” during the debate the other night. For most of his response I cringed and argued with my wife. (long story) But at the end of his rehearsed answer, he added this which seemed to me, to be from his heart:

“Abortion is always a tragic situation, and we should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred … and providing options for adoption and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby. … Nobody is pro-abortion. … We should try to reduce these circumstances.”

Does anyone disagree with that statement? I know that reasonable, cool-headed people on both sides of the abortion debate can agree that given the current state of American politics and legalities, abortion is not going to completely go away any time soon. With that in mind, I pray that a day will come when such people can sit down and work on practical, tangible steps to limit the number of unintended pregnancies and decrease the number of aborted babies.

Up until now, the abortion debate has been so passionate and emotionally charged, that the two opposing sides refuse to speak to each other or an “I’m going to take my ball and go home” policy has been invoked. This will not solve anything and given that abortion is currently legal in the U.S. it certainly won’t bring it to an end.

I know Obama is pro-choice. But this is the first time since I have been interested in politics that a liberal, pro-choice senator seems apologetic and willing to put a somber, spiritual take on abortion… during a presidential debate no less! As Christians who are TRULY pro-life (ONLY God can take a life), we should jump at the opportunity to at least, in the meantime, work with those 4 letter-words (liberals…gasp!) and try to limit the number of abortions taking place. This by no means is ideal and a permanent solution, but at least it is a step in the right direction. If zero is what we are aiming for, and 1.25 million is where we are, than the next logical step is to do what we can to shrink this number.

This post comes from a man whose heart is broken by staggering statistics of death and destruction and who feels helpless to do anything about it.

Permission

I’m not making any statement by posting this. I just thought it was a well-made video that makes its point very well.

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