Weekend Update 9/30/08

My Playlist

The first two bands are from the “Run Fat Boy Run” soundtrack. They are punk bands you would hear in an English pub.

“The Fratellis” (Chelsea Dagger is a phenomenal song)

“The Rumble Strips”

"Dirty Pretty Things"

"Matt Costa"

"Xavier Rudd"

Movies this weekend

Transformers

Speed Racer

Run Fat Boy Run

Deception

The Fam’

James (4 years old)

Liza Johnson and Troy Dolin were at my house this week. The two of them and Heather and I were all sitting around the kitchen table talking. James was sitting with us being quiet, playing with his cars, but absorbing everything we were saying like a sponge. At one point in the conversation I asked what the time was. Liza answered, “I have 10:20”. Troy jumped in, “I have 10:10”. James looked up from his cars and quickly said I don’t have any change”.

Nolan (2 years old)

Nolan just learned that he is tough. He runs through the house hitting or pushing James in the back and then running away. Nolan also yells “no” al the time. The worst thing is that he is cute when he does it, so he can see me sometimes smile or laugh.

Levi (2 months old)

Levi is not sleeping as well through the night. He rests great during the day, but that doesn’t help Heather who is exhausted. Levi also has a fat little second chin that looks like a goiter.

Youth Group

This weekend we did the third lesson in a lesson I am calling “Shotgun”. We had 40 people show up this week. Heather taught the high school and I taught the middle school. Both lessons went well. For the game we had three guys come forward and sit down. Then three girls came forward and lathered them up like they were getting a shave. When the music started the girls had to throw popcorn and have it stick to the shaving-creamed faces (Thanks to Eliza Hallock for vacuuming up afterwards).

I was also very happy Katie made braided necklaces because she was not taking during the lesson,

What God is teaching me?

My Family and my relationship with Him is the most important. Everything else will work it self out.

A Cowboy Tale, as Told by Liberal Weenies

Thursday's music list
“Weezer”
“Jimmy eat World”
“Pearl Jam”
“Sheryl Crow”




An opening Disclaimer
I reference a blog by Brain Mclaren in this blog. I have enormous issues with Mclaren's blog on why he is voting for Obama. He slams McCain, some areas that are deserved and some that are not, but he ignores similar faults that Obama has. I find his blind alliance very unhelpful. His point of 2 types of narratives are helpful although I would not so easily label McCain as one narrative and Obama the other.

Also no offense by the phrase Liberal Weenie.






A Cowboy Tale
It must’ve been simple living in the cowboy days, or at least in a cowboy movie. The bad guys wore black hats the good guys wore white hats. Every now and then 4 black hat wearing fella’s would mosey into to town and start stealing horses, getting drunk, punching people, intimidating the sheriff, and pushing women around. To stop the bad guys it was pretty simple just find a guy smart enough or tough enough to face the 4 bad guys. There would be a big showdown in the streets and when the dust would clear there would be 4 guys laying in the street with 4 black hats blowing in the wind. Simple, Bad guys show up, Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!. done.

Things are less simple these days. 9-11 showed us that the rules have changed. Honestly the rules changed along time ago, the tragedy on the 11th of September just threw light on the ugly truth that the rules have changed not just for the rest of the world but for America too.

We have been taught of the past few years that according to the cowboy rules America is the heroic cowboy donning the white hat and the Taliban, Osama Bin laden, Sadaam Hussein, and some Iraqis are the bad guys. This is not mentioning all the bad guys we have been warned about from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Russia, etc. If we are the heroic cowboy in the white hat then it is our duty to gun down the bad guys in the street, and thus save the town, the lovely lady, and farmers land. The bad guys are killing, stealing, and wearing black hats, and the world will be safer without them.

I was reading a blog by Brain Mclaren entitled, “Why I'm Voting for Obama, and Why I Hope You Will Too”. Mclaren compares the difference between two narratives, the first being the Warrior narrative. A person with the warrior narrative sees the world as clearly divided into us and them. We are good; they are evil. We are right; they are wrong. We are about safety; they are about danger. The second narrative is a reconciliation narrative, a peace-building narrative, a collaboration narrative.

Mclaren is not just comparing the two narratives, but also the two men he believes has different narratives. He writes that McCain and President Bush have Warrior narratives and Obama has the narrative of reconciliation. I believe Mclaren’s blog oversimplifies the two men. McCain is not as us-verses-them as Mclaren would like us to believe, and Obama is not the father who makes everyone shake hands and get along. To simplify the two presidential candidates or the situation in Iraq in this way is extremely naive. Most of my conservative friends would call Mclaren a liberal weenie, but they should be honest enough to see the truth behind his disgust with this cowboy idea that we can kill all of them to make us safer.

I was listening to a sermon by Rob Bell (another Liberal Weenie) about Samson and the how violence only begets more violence. Then Rob makes the comparison between Popeye and Bluto. Two guys who pummel each other to try to win the heart of the gangly Olive Oil. Each cartoon Popeye would win the girl, Bluto would kidnap the girl, and then Popeye and Bluto would fight. Popeye would be losing the fight until he found a can of spinach. Popeye would eat the spinach, win the fight, and they would live happily… well not ever after but at least, until the next show when it would all happen again. Rob Bell said, and I am attempting to quote from memory, “in all the times Popeye fought Bluto he never taught Bluto to be nice to Olive Oil and he never taught himself to eat the spinach before the fight”. Violence begets more violence.

this is not to oversimplify the situation in Iraq. It is complicated, it is confusing, and many men in charge are continuing the fight in Iraq because they believe they are doing God’s will. Others are strongly against the war for the same reason. I am in the process of working through what I believe. There are lots of things that I am not sure of, but there are a few things that I do know. I know that the cowboy mentality won’t work. There are too many guys in back hats to kill them all, and the process of us killing people is creating more anger against us, more recruits in terrorism, and more violence.

The war can only be won by rebuilding the infrastructure and changing the way people think. I have no idea how that happens. I have no answers. I know that there are good people in Iraq fighting for peace. People that know we can never kill all the bad guys until its safe. I wish I could end this blog with a nice pretty bow, but I finish writing almost as confused as when I started. It was easier in the old days when the bad guys wore black hats and you just had to shoot em down.

"The war against terror is bound up in the war against poverty.”
-Secretary of State Colin Powell

I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A. I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts.
-Former President Jimmy Carter

War is wretched beyond description, and only a fool or a fraud could sentimentalize its cruel reality.
-2008 Republican nominee for President John McCain

I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.
-2008 Democratic nominee for President Barack Obama

Ammendment to what I believe

This Morning’s Playlist

The Vanity Project

Floggin Molly

G. love & Special Sauce

I did not sleep well last night. I was tormented by something I wrote in my blog yesterday. I wrote, “I believe people go to hell for believing the wrong things”. While I lay in bed I worried who would read it. Would it make people angry with me? I have friends who do not believe like I do, and they would consider themselves spiritual. Would a person look at this and decide that my beliefs are too strict. Not for one second was the debate in my head over whether I believe in the statement or not. It was more about the way it was written. I have said, “I believe to get to Heaven you must believe in Christ”. There is something softer about talking about the absence of Heaven rather than the gaining of Hell. The truth is they are the same.

Maybe there is virtue in holding some punches in the way you say things. I have no desire to be cruel, but I was writing “my creed”. I have no apologizes for what I believe.

I believe the Bible, and because of that I believe there is a consequence for sin. We are all sinners and we have only one hope; to cling to and believe in Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:10-12

10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.

11 This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.

12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Galatians 1:6-9

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!

9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

John 14:6

6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

What I believe

My music list for today

“Counting Crows”

“Johnny Cash”

“Aqualung”

“Spoon”

“The Goo Goo Dolls”

I walked to work today and I felt God challenging me on what I believe. When I got to the office I took sometime to write about what I believe.

My creed

• I believe in protecting the planet

I believe it is an act of worship to take care of the earth God has given us. For some people it can be an act of worship to only eat veggies. For others it is an act of worship to try to protect animals. For me it is simple. I do my best to do the 3 R’s (Reduce, Reuse and recycle). This is acted out in my life in small ways. I take camping showers (turn on the water get wet, turn off the water, lather up, turn on the water, rinse off). The water is God’s. I turn off lights when I can, and I even use candles every now and then. It’s God electricity. It is my act of worship to do the 3 R’s.

• I believe in taking care of my body.

My body is God’s gift to me. My gift to God is taking care of it. I worship God by eating grilled chicken rather than fried chicken. I feel Gods pleasure when I step on the scale and see that I am a few pounds lighter. God speaks to me in my silence as I walk to work, run on the treadmill, or swim laps. Counting my calories is worship; picking wheat tortillas rather than flour is worship; and eating at subway is worship.

• I believe my wife comes only second to God

Other than God my wife is the second most important thing in my life. My wife is a gift from God, and I worship God when I take care of my wife, and I neglect God when I neglect my wife. I worship God when I buy flowers, when I wash the dishes, and when I rub her feet. Romancing my wife is my spiritual act of worship.

It is worship for me to model love to my wife in front of my children. It is worship when my children see me chose my wife instead of them.

• I believe my children are the third most important things in my life behind my wife and my God

I spend a lot of my time changing diapers, dressing boys, wiping noses, and preparing baths. I play with matchbox cars, build huge Lego houses, and cover my living room floor with the intricate twist and turns of wooden train tracks. I watch Thomas the tank engine DVDs, use my Netflix movie to pick up the incredible, and let my oldest son stay up late to watch football. I play soccer, guide my son so he doesn’t hit cars with his tricycle, and I climb on jungle gym. Even second I give my children my undivided attention I am worshiping God. Playing with my boy is my spiritual act of worship.

• I believe in Doctrine and Dogma

I believe in believing what is true even it makes me seem closed minded. I believe in speaking the truth even it labels me intolerant. I believe the Bible is the true word of God. Because of my belief in the Bible I must believe a few other things; I believe that belief in Jesus is the one and only way to God (John 14:6); I believe people go to hell for believing the wrong things (Galatians 1:8); I believe a Christian is called to live a holy life (Romans 12:1).

I believe the Christian faith has the right answers. We worship God by believing the right things.

My Clem"p"son blog (written and sent with love)

In order to understand my experience in Anderson you need to know that I am an avid USC fan. USC means the University of South Carolina. A few years ago when Southern California was paying its players and playing one of the easiest schedules in the nation they hijacked the name USC. “The USC” (aka South Carolina) has been around longer, used the name USC longer, and has a 1-0 against Southern California. If they want the name so bad, they should come to Columbia and earn it. I digress; let me get back to Anderson. The rival of USC (not So. Cal) is Clemson. I am a huge USC fan so I hate Clemson. Not to mention that all of members of Heather’s family are Clemson fans and they talk about it constantly. They very rarely bash my team, but they talk about Clemson. My mother-in-law even sat and talked positively about my team , a favor which I was unable to return. The worst thing was that Clemson was ranked #9 in the nation and they had been placed in the premiere spot on College football TV schedule. While I was watching my first week of football I had to endue four hours of broadcaster talking about how great Clemson was. I had to see commercials about Clemson during games they weren’t playing in. The hype was ridiculously high. Sports broadcasters even had the moronic guts to talk about Clemson’s sights on the national championship. I got to see a sky diver fly in to Atlanta with a Clemson mascot head for Lee Corso to put on as he predicted Clemson to beat Alabama. I got so aggravated with the hype and Heather’s family liking the hype (keep in mind they did nothing wrong, I’m just an deranged fan) that I stopped watching football and left the house for a break. Unfortunately Anderson is very close to Clemson and it is about 99.9% Clemson fans. The whole town is orange (Clemson’s main color). The cashiers at Chick-fila wear orange. Wal-Mart has a huge Clemson section. I had to stop my car and smash my head on a tree until it bled just so I could see a different color. I headed back to my Mother-in-laws house and watched football for the rest of the afternoon. I was highly aggravated by the time the Clemson Alabama game started, but very quickly Clemson was outmatched, outplayed, outscored, and outclassed by Alabama. Alabama crushed them. I went to bed that night with a big fat smile on my face. I am glad about all the hype. It was worth it. When you lift up a team so high it only gives them farther to fall. They were royally embarrassed. They dropped from #9 in the nation to out of the top 25, and they are on the cover of Sport Illustrated Magazine, hee hee hee!