What We Don't Say

Sometimes it's more important to think about what people don't say than what they do.

Newt Gingrich made the following comment during a speech at a big Republican fundraiser. CNN quotes Gingrich as saying:

"I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican," he said. "I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican. A majority Republican Party will have lots of debates within the party. That is the nature of majorities."

Why didn't Gingrich mention the moderates like Cheney and Powell but not libertarians like Ron Paul? Is the party open for debates only about why we should be more moderate but ignore the raging debate about why we should be more dedicated to capitalism? or non-interventionist foreign policy? or a conservative monetary policy?

Quotes that Made Me Think Recently

"We know each other by our stories." - Doug Merkey, Churches for Life

Someone once said that your humility can be measured by how quickly you admit you are wrong. -Leslie Ludy, Noble Beauty

"Be effective where you are at. Endure. Persevere." ~ co-worker Deb

"You might want to leave legacy, but you got think about what God's plan is for your life, not your plan for your life." - HS

"It goes back to sin." ~ co-worker Deb

"Your friends determine the direction and quality of your life." -Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast "Effective Communication"

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -Thomas Jefferson

What Makes Women Happy?

I came across a post by Greg Mankiw linked to a study by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers a couple weeks back but didn't have time to post...probably sent it out as a "tweet."

The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness
By many objective measures the lives of women in the United States have improved over the past 35 years, yet we show that measures of subjective well-being indicate that women's happiness has declined both absolutely and relative to men. The paradox of women's declining relative well-being is found across various datasets, measures of subjective well-being, and is pervasive across demographic groups and industrialized countries. Relative declines in female happiness have eroded a gender gap in happiness in which women in the 1970s typically reported higher subjective well-being than did men. These declines have continued and a new gender gap is emerging -- one with higher subjective well-being for men.

To me, it doesn't seem that surprising that a study would show worldly success doesn't always bring substantive happiness along with it. Even if in life, we do along with the lie.

While this study may shows that the feminists were wrong to suggest that women could find true happiness if they achieved the same success in the workforce as men, I don't think that men achieve happiness and fulfillment through material successes any more or less than women do.

Thoughts?

political rant about fear-driven politics

I'm tired of what I like to call "fear-driven" politics, which is simply politicians acting like it's the end of the world if we don't do something right now.

Boston Globe article (google it because I'm not linking to it) this morning:

"In a call from Air Force One as he returned from a western fund-raising swing, Obama said that if Congress doesn't pass a healthcare overhaul this year, the opportunity will be lost, perhaps forever."

Yes, if we don't pass nationalized healthcare right now the Republicans...err...anti-healthcare forces have won--forever--on this topic. If only it were that easy. Oh, if only it were that easy.

And of course I concede that, yes, Republicans use the same fear-driven antics too. But I suppose I find it ironic that Obama said that he was about hope, not fear. Why isn't he more hopeful about "healthcare overhaul"?

Is there room on college campuses for male advocacy groups?

What started as satirical article in University of Chicago's The Chicago Maroon quickly inspired the first male-student-advocacy group in the country.

Third-year student Steven Saltarelli, author of the article and founded of the club Men in Power, noticed that there were 11 women’s advocacy groups but no men's groups on campus.

Ali Feenstra, a fourth-year student and member of the Feminist Majority club, opposes the idea that men need their own club. Students need "to think about the reason for the creation of female-only spaces, queer-only spaces, an independent reason why people might need to go there to feel safe,” she said. “It can’t just be ‘Because it exists for women, it should exist for men.’”

But why not? Don't feminists argue that because men are presidents of companies, women should be too?

Saltarelli isn't alone on his campus, as 25 other students attended the first meeting, and he's not alone in recognizing that being born male doesn't mean instant success. Studies predict that men will become more and more of minority on college campuses and statistics showing that “men have far higher instances of suicide and drug use than women” to support a group dedicated to raising awareness about men's issues.

Roy F. Baumeister, a social psychology professor at Florida State University, observes that "a few lucky men are at the top of society and enjoy the culture’s best rewards. Others, less fortunate, have their lives chewed up by it," in an article he wrote titled, "Is There Anything Good About Men?"

Men in Power was highlighted recently in a Chicago Tribune article and is on Facebook.

Are Impartial Judgments Possible?

What do you think about the following quote:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

The New York Times included the above quote from Judge Sotomayor, who's Obama's current choice from the Supreme Court vacancy in article today.

Does ethnicity or gender affect our judgments? Do our experiences trap us in a box that makes it impossible to make impartial judgments?

How to we know if our conclusions are better? Maybe our experiences give us tunnel vision and help us justify our opinions and beliefs and conclude that our decisions are better.

What about white men who've grown up in poverty. Would they have better discernment skills than those who did not?

What are the implications of this quote?

'Pray it won't fade away'

Searching fulfillment and satisfaction consumes our lives. When we find it, or think we've find it, we might pray, as Beyonce does in her song "Halo," that it would never "fade away."

She sings about a man who is her "saving grace." This man inspires sensations that make her feel like she's "been awakened" that are all consuming: "You're everything I need and more."

She views her whole world through her "angel." He lightens the dark areas of her life and she "addicted" to him.

She's got no more worries or fears.

Beyonce's song "Halo" exposes how it's all to easy to enthrone mere humans on the throne of our hearts and let them rule our emotions.

The problem with idols, especially human ones, is that they can't deliver. Relationships, especially sexual relationships, can't take the place of God in our lives because they will eventually fail us in every way. Even with the greatest of intentions, people hurt us as they pursue self-fulfillment in their lives. The temporary feelings will fade and leave us empty, possibly more empty than before meeting our false "savior."

When we feel the bitter sting of reality, we can either question whether the "fleeting pleasures of sin" are worth it or pray that our senses are dulled to allow the fleeting pleasures to satisfy us.

Beyonce's song "If I were a Boy" reveals the bitterness that results from lifting up broken people in undeserving ways.

Beyonce's songs "Halo" and "If I Were A Boy" show different sides of sensual love; both views miss the mark but highlight people cannot satisfy the deepest longings of our souls.

Let us fix our eyes on a love that's greater than sensual love. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2).

Let him captivate you with a love that will never fail or fade.



Edited on 6/3/09

God speaks even in the "flat" times.

God speaks to me when I ride my bike.

While riding my bike one brisk morning, God reminded me on Creve Coeur Mills Rd.--a flat road--that life has got its high, low, and flat times.* The "flat" times, our daily walk, are good for building good habits.

In the flat times, I'd say, we are neither in despair, struggling to keep up our heads, nor over joyed, full to the brim with happiness; we are putting one foot in front. I don't think this time can be categorized as the "valley" because we have our needs met; we don't have too much or too little. Boredom is the great temptation, as the grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side mirage will dazzle us if we lose our focus.

On a bike, speed and cadence generally remain stable on a flat road. It's not as hard as peddling up hill and it's not as easy as letting hills carry you, but you've got to keep peddling or you'll fall over. While in training, flat roads are great places to build endurance by holding a consistent, moderately fast (70-80%) pace. The goal of training being to ride faster for longer.

In this life, God calls his children to walk worth of the great call on their lives (Eph. 4:1), which requires learning to put off the old "self" and to put on the new "self" (Eph. 4:17-23). In other words, our focus is learning to respond to the good urges** and kill the bad ones (Crabb).

The punch line from my short conversation with God: I'm to work towards consistency in responding to the good urges, which is best cultivated in "flat" times. Even more, I need to daily set aside time for prayer, Bible reading, and meeting with others for mutual encouragement to develop habits that will help me sprint out of the valleys, coast along the hills tops and endure to end of the ride.

--
*Ok, so I don't know if one can really say that these are cut and dry "seasons" of our lives, or more specifically, my life. Maybe these times can someone over lap. I'm merely using these terms "high," "low," and "flat" to describe feelings that I have at different times in my life.

**The good urges come from the new heart gives to those who repent and rely on God (Acts 4:12, Acts 26:20, Ezek. 36:26-27).

Crabb, Larry. "Connection: A Radical New Vision." Crabb writes: "The center of a biblical theory of personality is the idea of two sets of urges within us, good passions and bad passions, bad passions that exist because of the fall, good ones that are reliably present under the new covenant. God deals with our bad passions and good passions in a way we are expected to imitate; connecting with another Christian involves doing for each other, as we struggle with our internal civil war, what God does" (73).

Should Republicans Worry About Small "l" Libertarians?

There are many streams within the Republican Party and within conservatism; some good, some bad.

Reagan said, "I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism," during an interview with Reason magazine in July 1975.

Ron Paul represents the movement within conservationism and the Republican Party to remember government will never be the solution to our problems.

"I don’t believe in a government that protects us from ourselves," said Reagan.

Gov. Mark Sandford: "Liberty is the hallmark of the American experiment."



Sen. Lindsay Graham's "almost pejorative" comment...



I'm excited about a discussion at 2009 Eagle Forum Collegian Summit that will look at which way the Republican Party should be heading: towards government interference or less so.

Conservatives, Let's Get Creative—Online

Most people have good ideas. Few people implement.

What are some of the barriers to implementation?

And why does it seem like the government-solution oriented people are producing more creative media online than those who recognizes the inherent problems of government intervention?

Example:

Environmentalist activist Annie Leonard’s 20-minute video attacking capitalism called “Story of Stuff” is being viewed by kids in classrooms across our country and around the world in addition to getting millions of hits on YouTube despite it's misleading data and false logic. Why? Because it's wonderfully creative, funny and connects to a basic human value: we should treat others as we would want to be treated.

But Marxists don't have a monopoly on creatively, humor or understanding the power of connection.

We're the one's who believe producing, as oppose to believing wealth grows on trees, is essential to survival right?

Nice example of a creative use for media:



Maybe the title of my blog post should be, "Conservatives, Let's Implement."

Working Out or Communion With God?

Do you ever feel like you have two waring personalities struggling to dominate who you are?

Well, I do.

In many ways, I'm in an ongoing war with Ruth, Queen of Sanctimoniousness, who cares deeply about how holy people think she is. Last week, we went head to head on the matter of falsely dividing my life into "sacred" and "secular."

I was trying to decide how much time a "good" Christian would set aside for playing sports. (Yes, I'm obsessed with planning out my entire life including how much time I set aside for play.) But the Holy Spirit couldn't let me continue on is a silly game of pretending that playing ultimate frisbee is some how less holy than serving at food pantry.

I'm deeply convicted that serving the poor is central to following Christ; however, serving to the point where I have no time for relationships outside of my church family misses another aspect of Christ's perfection: he loves people who don't love him back. If I'm only around Christians, how can show love to those who don't know him? Is my heart for serving the poor more about appearing holy than caring for those who I'm serving? Could I be serving more productively somewhere else, that might appear less holy, but expresses God's love more clearly?

Moreover, God speaks to me when I swim, bike, or run after frisbee discs--as well as while I work, go to church meetings, eat...live. But there does seem to be this nice clearing of my mind when I'm working out that allows God to open my eyes a little more to His truth.

Even more, God isn't bound by the limitations we like to put on ourselves. We like to think we can create a rule book to guide our lives, as if we can say, with certainty, that dancing is always wrong and reading our Bibles is always right. Yes, I do believe reading one's Bible can be wrong if one's heart is simply to appear holy. Central to the gospel is measuring our lives by His perfect standard, but more than a set of rules, following Christ requires humble reflection not only of our external actions, but also our internal motivations.

I've decided to blog about how God speaks to me while I'm in "play mode" in an ongoing series of posts that I will tag "SBR," which stands for Swim, Bike Run.

Edited, 5-20-09

What is a "Hate Crime"?

All crimes are motivated by hate. If something is motivated by kindness, can it by definition be a crime?

But that's the controversy: who decides if someone is motivated by love or by hate? Who's definition of love are we using?

Rather than try to wrestle with why people commit or don't commit crimes or how they feel homosexuality, Congress should let the courts follow in the same tradition they have since the founding of our country: punish people for crimes they have committed not thoughts that have crossed their minds. Prosecutors should provide evidence to as to whether someone committed a crime or not and leave the wastelands of inner motivations between the individual and God.

Today We Express Our Tomorrows

Last Sunday morning, Alan Scotland, a father figure in our church body, tenderly prodded our congregation to be a people motivated by not by the concerns of this world, but be a people in tune with reality. We must be the person we want to be tomorrow today.

His text for the sermon was 1 Kings 18:46 - 1 Kings 19.

After Elijah's trust in a living God made mockery of the pagan priests worship of an unresponsive god (Baal) in Kings 18, Elijah falls asleep in the wilderness discouraged by Jezebel's death threat (1 Kings 19:2). The study notes in my Bible comment: "Although the Lord had defeated Baal, Elijah has become a fugitive from Ahab and Jezebel (rulers in Israel). Because of the incongruity between the visible (the promoters of Baal who still govern Israel) and the invisible (the lordship of Yahweh), Elijah wants to die."

1 Kings 19:6-8 recounts how God renewed Elijah's hope and restored his prophetic soul.

God's plan for you is the same: to renew your hope in a God and to restore your prophetic soul.

Alan defined "prophetic expression"as the heart of where God is. Our "soul" is the actual personality of our spirit (our motivations). The call on a Christian's life is to reflect Him in the deepest ways possible.

We do not know the half of the plans that God has for us.

It is difficult to get to a place where God can speak to us.

Do you feel his hand on you?

Sure, you may not feel worthy. And well, you aren't. But it's not down to you. It's not about your worthiness. When the Lord's hand is upon you, you can be who God wants you to be. He'll give you the determination.

The enemy sometimes doesn't need the devil but one word from someone at the right time to lock you up for the rest of your life.

We need to learn to recognize God's intent to use you and work in you.

Elijah cried out to God in suicidal despair: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers" (1 Kings 19:4). God then fed Elijah and sustained on his journey.

What God is doing in this world is wonderful. He does not leave us to without food or direction.

Half the problem is that we are running on empty. We aren't talking to God. We aren't reading his word. We aren't serving one another.

Alan asked the following questions, much like God asked Elijah in 1 King 19:9 --

What are you doing here?
Where are you going in the place your in?
Why are you are where you are?
Is your prophetic soul alive and well?

The call on our lives is to reflect Him. How well are you reflecting who he is? You can't reflect what you don't know. How well do you know Him?

Enough is enough.

Today we express our tomorrows.

Rise to the voice of the Lord today.

Amen!

(To listen to Alan's message in it's entirety go to Risen Lord Community Church sermon downloads.)

Captivated By the Beauty of Your Face

My only prayer: "May my life be one unbroken gaze fixed upon the beauty of Your face, O Lord, my God and my Savior, my King, the lover of my soul."



Ps. 27:4-5

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that I will seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in the shelter in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will life me high upon a rock.

Why Ron Paul?

He is a man of patience.

Sure, there are some points like...

He's not an eloquent speaker.

He's doesn't say anything new or exciting; it can be boring to hear him speak because it's always the same.

He chooses to discuss issues that I might agree with but certainly wouldn't feel inclined to debate. Example.

Yet at the end of the day, his patience reveals a deep understanding about the reality of this world. His comments at the end of his speech at the St. Louis regional conference sums up what he's all about: know you're stuff and wait for people to come to you for the answers. (He then shared a couple of short anecdotal stories. One story was about a Congressman on the banking committee who asked to confirm that the dollar isn't back by gold any more!)

Ron Paul knows that the solutions to our nations problems are not simple and will not fit on a bumper sticker. (Well, ok "End the Fed" does fit on a bumper sticker but that's only part of solving our problems.)

He knows that no one can cheat in the long run. Despite the world-class packaging, selling lies and calling them truth will only last so long.

He's a man of patience--the kind of patience that stands up when the opportunity comes and trusts that the opportunities will come.

Quotes that Made Me Think In March

"Lies can be as simple as you want. Truth is complicated" -Eric, my co-worker and friend

"I like type A personalities. If there the world were only full of type B personalities, where would the world be?" -my friend Beth (Type B personality who's humble and her love for people transcends personality quirks)

"Marriages are team efforts." - Gary North

"The greatest threat to you leading a fulfilled life is a misguided pursuit of happiness that blinds you to the possibility of a more meaningful Hero's Journey"- from the Acton Institute's Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (A Cautionary Tale)

"Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He will not let your foot slip--he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." (Ps 121:1-3)

"Something's not right" - my co-worker Deb

"I want to love people for who they are" - my friend Beth

"Who you marry will be the most important decision you will every make. It's great that you still get to make that decision." -June Silber

"Christ stands between us, and we can only get in touch with our neighbors is through him that is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbors, and corporate prayer offers in the name of Christ, the purest form of fellowship. -Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

"We cannot rightly acknowledge the gifts of God unless we acknowledge the mediator for who sake alone they are given to us. -Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

MIAC Director apologizes...

While the MIAC director apologized for linking supporters of Ron Paul (a Republican) and other 3rd party supporters to terrorism, he didn't mention why he felt it's ok to suggest that all militia members are terrorists. See apologize letter (PDF).

The original report also suggests that people who are "anti-abortion" or oppose calling another Constitutional Convention could be connected to terrorist activity.

Hmmm...seems like this apology might be an attempt to put to rest questions that haven't been answered yet like how did such a sloppy report end up in the hands of Missouri Law Enforcement officers?

How do you want your story to end?

In her song Sober, Pink asks "How can I feel this good sober?"

There are so many things and people we use in this world to feel "so high" that "nothing can touch us," but leave us wondering if it's possible to feel this "high" without the consequences: "the party's over." She, like most of us, often feel "broken down in agony just tryna find a fit"--even at high costs to our self-worth.

Those things and people we've used for "protection" will always leave us feeling empty. At some point, we will start "coming down, coming down, coming down" and "spinning ’round, spinning ’round, spinning ’round" struggling to find our fit in a reality in which a continual high isn't possible.

Pink, in this song, exposes the temporary nature of the things and people she uses and regrets these short-lived attempts to feel good: "I have heard myself cry, never again."

She acknowledges that she's "the only one to blame" because she listens to the "whispers" she knows to be a lie.

She laments that she doesn't want to stay stuck in a lifestyle of perpetual highs and lows; good intentions and lack of follow through; new resolutions and old regrets: "That’s not the way I want my story to end."

Are you living a life that will lead you to how you want your story to end?

What will the legacy of your life on earth be?

What things or people do you need to get out of your life to get out of a cycle of artificial highs and lows?

Pink - Sober Lyrics - ALL

Refrain
I’m safe Up high
Nothing can touch me
But why do I feel this party’s over?
No pain Inside
You’re like perfection
How do I feel this good sober

No Pain Inside
Nothing can touch me
But why do I feel this party’s over?
No pain
Inside
You’re like perfection
How do I feel this good sober?

Will I ever feel this good sober?
Tell me, No no no no no pain
How do i feel this good sober?

Reality Check: Do I take full advantage what I've been given?

Imagine that you're curious about the Christian faith, but you can't get any answers in a language you understand from an official source.

Imagine that if you do go to church, the pastor preaches sermons in a language you don't understand.

Imagine that any Bible you put your hands on is in language you can't read.

Imagine that when you have questions about the Bible or God, you have no written resources available to help you.

Imagine that when you do come across a book that might help, you would have to read it by candle light because most of your day light hours are spent doing all that's necessary for survival.

Imagine that you live in a different century where this is describes your life, as many people have...

During a conversation with my Dad last night, it struck me: I can read the Bible. I thought to myself, what would it be like to go to Mass in Latin, when most Bibles were only translated into Latin, and there was no internet for me to click--Matthew Henry's commentary for the entire Bible at my finger tips?

Do I really take full advantage of the great gifts God has given our generation to understand the Christian faith?

The Invisible

"Try, moreover, to turn your heart from the love of things visible and bring yourself to things invisible. For they who follow their own evil passions stain their consciences and lose the grace of God." Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing." Ecclesiastes 1:8

We try so hard to substitute the invisible with the visible, but the more we seek to satisfy our longings with those things close at hand, the less our senses desire that which will truly fill us to the full.

The Significance of Serving

Are you serving--loving--people in your family? your neighborhood? your church? your life?

"God sees our care for those around us. He places a high value on the meals we make for our hungry family, the care we give to our sick relatives and neighbors, the countless drinks of water we serve to our children and grandchildren, and the welcome we offer to people by opening our home. Jesus made it clear that when we provide for others' daily needs, we're giving directly to him. We serve Christ by serving those he loves" (128) .

"...within the limitations of our hours and days we can make significant contributions by caring for those God loves. We serve in an upside-down kingdom where God is pleased with the small and unseen, with the widow's mite, the mustard seed, and the loaves and fishes. Faithfulness in the little things will make the invisible kingdom bright and visible. It is not for us to strain again the limits boundaries that God put in place at the creation of the world and called "good." By his power and for his glory he brings the increase. And because he cares for us, we can cast our anxieties upon him and run to him to find rest for our weary bodies and souls" (129).

Andi Ashworth, Real Love for Real Life: The Art and Work of Caring

Are you in pursuit of communion with God?

If you're looking for a great teaching on fasting, I highly recommend a 3-part series that I just finished by John Piper called "Prayer, Meditation, and Fasting: The Pursuit of Communion with God."

In part 3, Piper looks at several passages of scripture but one in particular that I've never connected to fasting is Matthew 9:14-17, the parable of the new and old wine skins.

Piper's point? Well, you've got to listen to it (or read you can read it). I could just copy and paste the key point, but then you'd miss out on how he unpacks scripture and how it applies to your life and relationship with God.

The teaching-learning process will be most effective when both students and teacher are adequately prepared. -The Law of Readiness, Dr. Howard Hendricks from Teaching to Change Lives

For you to be prepared for the point, as Piper is prepared to give it, I'd encourage you to listen to all 3 parts.

Quotes that Made Me Think This Week - Mar. 8-14

"A man is one whose body has been trained to be the ready servant of his mind; whose passions are trained to be the servants of his will; who enjoys the beautiful, loves truth, hates wrong, loves to do good, and respects others as himself." - Author Unknown

"Every person is an artist. the whole of life is a creative act. The warp and woof of each life is equivalent to the artist's paint or the musician's sounds." - Ranald McCaulay and Jerram Barrs, Being Human

"I don't want to go one more day without at your all consuming passion inside of me. I don't want to spend the rest of my life thinking, 'What if I had given everything.' " -Matthew West's song, The Motions

"Controlling people are generally the most insecure, which is why they try to control other people." - Pastor Doug (paraphrase, but it's close.)

"We are in error if we believe that just because there's a need, we're the one to fill it." - Andi Ashworth, Real Love for Real Life

A Word to Single Women from John Piper

(This is an excerpt from Piper's message "The Ultimate Meaning of True Womanhood"; listen or watch. Before listening to this message, I never considered how singleness can magnify God's love in ways marriage cannot.)

The apostle Paul loved his singleness, really loved his singleness. He loved it because it gave him such radical freedom to get arrested month after month without having a wife at home crying her eyes out, and to be beaten with rods over and over, and be lashed so that his back became jelly five times multiplied by 39, and so he could be shipwrecked at sea. Singleness is a high calling if you take it like that. He celebrated it and called many of you to follow him in it, even though marriage is meant to display the glory of Christ.

So how can that be? Why would He lure some of you out of marriage, that is out of pursuing marriage? Why would He do that if He made marriage as this magnificent portrait of His Son's covenant-keeping love with His bride so that husbands and wives, living out their unique manhood and womanhood, become a magnificent drama of that glory? Why would He lure anybody away from that, which He does? There's a very clear reason why.

In this season of history since the Fall, the natural order that God established at the beginning is not absolute. "It's not good that man should be alone. It's not good that woman should be alone." That's true. It's just not absolutely true because now sin has entered into the world, and there are other things to take into consideration besides the sheer natural order that God set up before there was sin and collapse, and thousands and millions of people to be rescued from perishing. The reason that it is not an assault on God's glory for the apostle Paul to say, "I would that you were single like I am, if you had the gift" (see 1 Corinthians 7:7).

The reason that's not an assault on God's glory is that in this world there are truths about Christ and His kingdom which can be more clearly displayed by womanhood in singleness and manhood in singleness than by womanhood in marriage and manhood in marriage. I'll give you three of them.

These are three things that your womanly singleness can say better to the world than any married woman can say by virtue of her marriage.

1) A life of Christ-exalting singleness bears witness that the family of God grows by regeneration through faith not propagation through sexual intercourse. The family of God grows by regeneration not by propagation, by faith, not sexual intercourse. The main thing we're about is growing that family. So if you never marry, and you embrace a lifetime of chastity and biological childlessness, and you receive this from the Lord's hand as a mercy and a gift with contentment, and you gather to yourself the poor and the lonely, and you spend yourself for the gospel without self-pity; you will, in your unique single womanhood, magnify Christ in ways no married woman can.

2) A life of Christ-exalting singleness bears witness that relationships in Christ are more permanent and more precious than relationships in families. If a single woman turns without bitterness and regret from the absence of her own family and gives herself to creating God's family in the church, she will find a flowering for her womanhood in ways never dreamed of, and Christ will be uniquely honored.

3) The Christ-exalting singleness of a woman bears witness to the truth that marriage is temporary and finally gives way in the end to the relationship to which it was pointing all alone, Christ and the church, the way a picture is no longer needed when you're face to face.

Marriage is a beautiful thing, and I want to bear public witness and gratitude for Noel, who will have been my wife come December 21^st forty years. I want to bear public witness that she has been a gift to me that I didn't deserve. We together have labored to raise five children and ten grandchildren and are still, with tears, laboring. As parents you never ever stop being a parent, we have now learned, never stop with tears, never stop with joy.

Nevertheless, she and I would both say, we say it with deep conviction: Marriage is not the main thing. It's momentary. Otherwise Jesus would not have said, "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven because they do not die anymore." My relationship with Noel has a few more years, and then she and I will experience what that was all about, ultimately, with Him.

Therefore, a single woman who lives with that final day in view, and finds Christ to be her all in all here, says something very powerfully and very clearly about her Savior.

If you're interested in signing the "True Woman Manifesto" you can do that here, which is a beautiful statement about God's special plan for women.

Learning how to express me

Communication, in part, is about expressing oneself.

A monthly email newsletter I get from "Communicatrix" uses the tag ling: "A Monthly Newsletter About Expressing the Unique Fabulosity That Is You."

We are all fabulous in our own unique way. Some people have a talent for expressing themselves well with words; others with pictures, others with actions, others in ways I can't think of because as a perfectionist, I wanted one word words to use to keep the sentence balanced. But you know, people, I think, need other people to create balance--to fill full. I don't think anyone of us can be balanced or full all by ourselves.

In the the last issue of "Communicatrix," the author suggests that writers should "spend your time on the things under your control, and do your best to let go of the rest." She then asks:

What does "Control What You Can" mean in terms of expressing your unique fabulosity?

Her suggestions:
1. Share more of yourself, not less
2. Ask more questions...of everyone!
3. Spend more time making stuff of utility

The author seems to have latched on to an new concept to me: who we are can help other people, but that means we've got to be able to express ourselves.

It is, therefore, useful--not selfish--for people to spend time learning how to write, draw, sing, dance, act, play, record, create...anything that expresses the you that others need.

The author ends by saying: "basically, anything that will stretch your abilities and that other people will find somehow useful and remember, informative, supportive and entertaining all fall under the rubric of "useful")

(She hasn't archived her Mar. 2008 newsletter yet, but try going here "http://www.communicatrix.com/newsletter-archives" to read it.)

How much time to you spend developing your talents in ways that are useful for others?

Cinderella Syndrome

"Cinderella Syndrome" occurs when women are more in love with the idea of marriage in a greater degree than love for the person which seems to promise marital bliss to her--a fairy tale.

I used to think "settling" would be comparable to a woman selecting the chicken meal that's ready now rather than wait for salmon (and chocolate mousse) that isn't ready yet--simply because she's consumed with the idea with being full now. The underlying fear that the salmon might not come is why she settles...err...selects the chicken.

But the problem with this analogy is that a chicken meal is nourishing even if it's not as yummy as salmon. Even more, this analogy supports the misconception that only marriage will bring the nourishment many women long for and that marriage later rather than sooner is the best arrangement.

A better analogy for women "settling" is the intoxication of alcohol. While intoxicated, everything seems fine; we're happy. We don't want the feeling to go away so we keep drinking. But the feeling will eventually will go away. It's not filling; it's not sustainable; it's not nourishing.

But the Lord knows we cannot live on Champaign all our life, and that if this emotional high were indefinitely maintained no one would ever get anything done, nor would they be able to think about the practical considerations that are necessary for raising and supporting a family. From "The Way of a Man with a Maid: A Response to the Courtship & Betrothal Movements" (PDF) by Robin Philips

If a woman marries, who she marries is the most important decision she will make in her lifetime. This person will guide how she will live the rest of her life. He will either be a support, or drag her to the bottom of the ocean of the cares of this world.

Joy of Discipleship

(This is an email I sent to friend)

Here is a short passage from "The Cost of Discipleship" in the chapter "Grace and Discipleship" by Bonhoeffer. Two points that you've been a part of highlighting to me: Jesus isn't just about "emotional uplife" and grace is given to each in measure of Christ's gift.

I thought you might be encouraged by the following:

"It comes to us in the joy of discipleship and confirms us in it.

To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but inseparable from this mortal life, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. If our Christianity has ceased to be serious about discipleship, if we have watered down the gospel into emotional uplife which makes no costly demands and which fails to distinguish between natural and Christian existence, then we cannot help regarding the cross as an ordinary everyday calamity, as one of the trails and tribulations of life. We have then forgotten that the cross means rejection and same as well as suffering. The Psalmist was lamenting that he was despised and rejected of men, and that is an essential quality of the suffering of the cross. but this notion has ceased to be intelligible to a Christianity which can no longer see any difference between an ordinary human life and a life committed to Christ....Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share...."

Quotes that Made Me Think This Week: Mar 1-7

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to obtain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot

The true measure of an individual is how he treats a person who can do him absolutely no good. -Ann Landers

Live one rank lower than your pay grade. -a lieutenant colonel & con law professor @ West Point

You can only exhale what you inhale. Do you want to exhale Jesus in your life? Then inhale Jesus constantly. -Doug Merkey

Conversation today:

Ruth: "It's humbling for people to grow older." [in reference to my 84 year-old boss falling and breaking her hip]

Mary (aid to my boss's sister-in-law who is 87 & still volunteering part-time): "The key is to accept it. What's the alternative? Dying young."

Are you faint from hunger and disease?

Imagine if you were from a country where it's normal be be hunger and not feeling well? I just got a report from Zimbabwe that made me stop and thank God for his overflowing provision for not only my physical hunger, but my spiritual hunger.

"Barry Fitzpatrick (Chester, UK) and I (Alan Scotland) have just returned from a trip into Zimbabwe. The heart of the story has not been told even in the press. The people are seriously in trouble. Many people are faint from hunger and disease. We heard reports of families who are eating warm cow dung, trying to get nutrients to survive. The economy is in total collapse. People can only buy food and other things with US dollars or other foreign currency; but people are still being paid in Zimbabwe dollars which means they cannot buy anything really because Zim dollars are not considered tradable capital.

We had the privilege of taking a love offering from the churches in the UK by which we were able to provide food for 13 churches across the city of Harare. We were also able to help several pastors by giving sufficient funding to bless them for the next several months.

We then traveled to the orphanage spending time with Livingstone and his wife. They were looking forward to coming to the UK for a few months of refres.hing in the word, etc. but the British Commissioner rejected them so they have been unable to obtain their visas. They have been a little disappointed at that. Maybe it will be possible to get Livingstone over to the Horthrope Hall meetings on a tourist visa.

We were able to give the orphan children some special gifts of oranges, pencils, lollipops; things that we would take for granted but they treasure them over there. In terms of development of the program there, the footings and foundation are in for the toilet buildings, and we've now commissioned the purchase of all the materials so that they can start building in earnest in April, 2009. We want to see at least three or four homes built for the children within this next year.

In January 2010, we would like to run a Fast Forward in Zimbabwe with teachers from the UK and the USA to give their time to bless the church as it endures the suffering of the times they are in."


Link Link's Feb. 2009 Newsletter

Life's not Fair

The problem with life is that it's not fair. Or maybe it's not life's problem; it's a human perspective problem. We don't like the fact that the world does not center on us; thus we are sometimes wrong: both factually wrong or morally wrong.

The question isn't about whether something is fair; it's about who's rules you're using and if you're living in reality or your own little, or possible big, world. It depends on how many people you've convinced to join you or how many people you've joined with to follow someone or something else.

Consider the following:

"Liberty Counsel recently filed suit at the Florida Supreme Court against The Florida Bar and is requesting the Bar remain neutral on political and ideological issues unrelated to the regulation of attorneys. In January the Bar voted to file an amicus brief, arguing that the 1977 adoption law is unconstitutional. By taking sides on this issue, Liberty Counsel says that the Bar has violated the First Amendment rights of Florida lawyers. Outside of regulating the practice of law, the Bar has no authority to advocate on behalf of such issues."

Ok, so what is "neutral"? If the bar doesn't file an amicus brief, does that make it neutral? Why or why not?

Hope: 1.5 Millon Homeschoolers

1.5 million students are being homeschooled in the U.S. this year.

Data from the March 2009 Townhall magazine, pg. 19.

The world can offer a "survey" and the church should offer...

I still get a weekly email from WU's student news paper. This week's headline: SU Senate backs mental health education initiative for next year.

I don't disagree with the importance of "mental health" screening or education; however, I wonder how effective a tedious survey can really be compared to the listening ear of caring friend? And if the result of checking the wrong combination of boxes is a prescription, then supporting "mental health education" really isn't about caring for students and faculty. Nothing substitutes for people genuinely caring for people.

How much time do you dedicate to listening to your friends (family, co-workers, church members) and opening your ears for signs of depression or sadness?

What makes someone mentally unhealthy? Who defines that?

No Pain, No Gain

The socialist health-care expansion in the so-called "stimulus" plan "will not be pain free," according to Daschle.

The provisions include:

-creating more bureaucracy called the "Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research" to determine when to replace costly treatments with a "hopeless diagnoses" and produce federal guidelines to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions

-keeping your health care records electronically in a federal database and penalties for doctors and hospitals that do not share your records with the federal government

Read more in an article by Betsy McCaughey posted on Bloomberg.com.

Do you want our Federal bureaucracy writing a "guide" to help your doctors make cost effective decisions concerning your health?

Bloomberg.com

"One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.” "

Money is the Trojan horse that government uses to infiltrate and infect organizations.

Ron Paul's column this week explains why government funding of "faith based" organizations means less autonomy for the orgs that accept this money.

"Money is the Trojan horse that government uses to infiltrate and infect organizations. Funding that, on the outset, is designed to strengthen and support, will bureaucratize and regulate in the end."

Well, and then these organizations add on "lobbying" as central to their existence.

Ron Paul ends the column by suggests that we "Just Say No" (Nancy Reagan's drug slogan) to government money!

Visual Represenation of the Fed Increasing Our Money Supply

Why do we have a Department of Agriculture?

washingtonpost.com includes the following quote by the former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, who is Obama's nomination of for the secretary of the Department of Agriculture, in an article today.

Vilsack says he wants "We [US Government] want to make a better connection between what kids eat and knowing where it comes from. I've seen it in my own family. If you educate kids at an early age, you can have a tremendous impact."

FEE.org asks why do we even have a dept. of agriculture?

Hmm...to tell us corn is grown in Iowa?

Could it be that "bearing with one another" might start with changing me?

It's so easy to see the faults in others. When I see a "fault" in someone else, rather than just talk about it with other people, maybe I should consider whether I, to some degree, struggle with the same thing.

"If you cannot make yourself what you would wish to be, how can you bend others to your will? We want them to be perfect, yet we do not correct our own faults. We wish them to be severely corrected, yet we will not correct ourselves. Their great liberty displeases us, yet we would not be denied what we ask. We would have them bound by laws, yet we will allow ourselves to be restrained in nothing. Hence, it is clear how seldom we think of others as we do of ourselves." Thomas a Kempis, Bearing with the Faults of Others in Imitation of Christ

"I (Paul)...urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling... bearing with one another in love..." Eph. 4:1-2

NAS - Transliterated Word - Anechomai

to sustain, to bear, to endure

What about the widows?

Many people in the church (and in life) feel invisible. They think to themselves: "we just want someone from the church to know we're alive,"especially older widows.

Remembering a name, greeting with hug, and asking about a favorite pastime might feel awkward at first, but I believe caring for others requires us to careless about how we feel ourselves.

"Every one of us has so much to offer....As each of us discovers and nurtures your gifts and celebrates the gifts of others in the Church, we see glimpses of what it means to live a life of true worship."

"True caring is a choice. True caring sometimes means choosing to be with someone in hardship rather than without them in prosperity. It is loving over the long haul, loving through disappointments, and loving in the midst of losses that may not be redeemed until heaven."

From Real Love for Real Life by Ashworth

This is probably the first in a series of posts on the question: What does it mean to "care" for people?

Lost and Found

Just rediscovered my blog from a couple years ago...yeh, I've got somewhere to post my rants besides Facebook!

Yes, I've discovered a way to only import entries that I tag "fb" into Facebook. This way, I can consider my audience when posting. Interestingly, I posted something back in 2006 about trying to consider who would be reading what I would be posting.

I originally titled my blog "Just a thought"; however, if I were to chose a name today, I think I'd call it "One more Question..." or something like that. I'm finding it doesn't really matter what I think, but finding a way to get others thinking.

http://ruthcarlson.blogspot.com/

Should the Civil Government Protect Human Life or Merely Regulate Murder?

I know, I know, that sounds like an extreme question. However, if your mother aborted you, I don't think it would sound extreme. It would sound like a fair question you would want to ask of the rulers who sanctioned your death.

Georgia's Legislature is looking at passing a state amendment to give "personhood" to humans at the moment of fertilization.

"Planning is Power"

Planned Parenthood's most recent commercial in the St. Louis area ends by asserting that "planning is power."

Betty Friedan finishes the preface of her book The Feminine Mystique by writing that she "believe[s] that women can affect society, as well as be affected by it; that in the end, a woman, as a man, has the power to choose, and to make her own heaven or hell."

Betty describes what happened in the Garden of Eden well. Eve decided that she had the power to make her own heaven, and then talked Adam into making the same decision. Since that time, women have not only been trying to play God, but also play the role that God gave to men.

Here is an article in the New York Times about the pressure on girls to be perfect in every way: varsity letter athletes in multiple sports, perfectly polished from head to toe, and scholarship winners entering Ivy League universities.

Oddly enough, the parents of the young woman featured in the article do understand that earthly outward "perfection" is obtained over the long run: “Our children start where we finished.”

What we do on earth doesn't get us into heaven, but that doesn't mean it doesn't matter. In other words, our perfection on earth doesn't earn us a ticket into heaven; however, we reap what we sow--generationally.

I'm not advocating that we should should lift up the "America Dream" as perfection because it's not reality. Getting the things we want in life requires hard work, sacrifice, and determination. These character traits can take generations to cultivate, and that means we've got to start now.

Alexis de Tocqueville on Women

"As for myself, I do not hesitate to avow that although the women of the United States are confined within the narrow circle of domestic life, and their situation is in some respects one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen women occupying a loftier position; and if I were asked, now that I am drawing to the close of this work, in which I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to what the singular prosperity and growing strength of that people ought mainly to be attributed, I should reply: to the superiority of their women.

Democracy in America, 1840 (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1945), vol. II, pp. 211.

New York Times Front Page:

"51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse"


Phyllis Schlafly --

"I have just finish law school, but I have seen enough of the law to know that I'd much rather be a lawyer's wife and a mother than a successful lawyer," said Phyllis Schlafly in 1979 when she finished her law degree at 55 and after raising 6 children. (Felsenthal, The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority, pg. 52)

Mrs. Schlafly is the author or editor of 20 books...(full bio).

Secular society tells women they don't need God, and they certainly do not need a man. In their pursuit of happiness, they start down a path that may fill their pocket books and lift their egos, but will never completely satisfy. Mrs. Schlafly exemplifies how women can have it all by yielding to God's created order and working hard.

What is a woman’s role in society? What is her role in the Church or the family?

Can, or should, women serve in governmental positions in the Church or the State? Can, or should women serve in leadership positions? Can a woman be the head of a household?

This is the first in a series of posts that I will address such questions.

I have asked these several questions, in different terms, since I was in grade school. I remember pondering why only men were pastors since it seemed like women could preach from the pulpit as good as any man. Growing up, I remember my mother expressing her discontentment with how she felt that men were selected over her not only in the workplace, but also in the church. My mother has always felt slighted, as her dream of playing as a professional bassoon player ended by discovering that all the symphonies were only comprised of men. Instead, my mother became a music teacher, as women make great teachers. The discrimination that my mother always felt looming over her head seemed to me like a figment of her imagination.

Despite my mother’s insistence that gender discrimination was a reality, I never encountered it. I often stood alone in my college courses highlighting the tremendous change in a woman’s position in society over the course of history. I have never seen women as victims of society or men as brutish dominators.(Yes, this is a message I heard often at WU.) I’ve never felt like a victim. And if anything, I’ve received preference because of my gender. So, yes, there is discrimination, but in a woman’s favor.

Dr. Alber Mohler’s recent blog entry More on the Mommy Wars discusses Kay S. Hymowitz’s article reviewing Caitlin Flanagan’s book To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife. Hymowitz’s writes, “Flanagan believes that feminism’s doctrine that ‘caring for children and husbands and households constitutes subservience’ is at odds with women’s continued long for domestic satisfactions.”

Society makes it seem as though being a mother isn't enough. Why isn’t motherhood depicted as worthy “occupation”?

My University counselor looked at me with confusion when I said I wanted to be a mom. She said, “Well, it only takes 9 months,” as if being mother is just a couple weeks off from a “real” profession.

Audience, Audience, Audience

I remember very little from what I learned in high school. But if there is one thing I do remember, it is to consider one’s audience when writing. I’m not saying I do it well, I’m saying that I know it is an important if one wants to be an effective communicator.

Since the inception of my blog, I’ve thought about writing a post pondering exactly who my blog's audience is (as part of some intellectual exercise I suppose.) My greatest struggle as a writer has always been to stop writing for myself. The best writing instructor I’ve ever had always emphasized it’s the writer’s duty to help the reader understand not vice versa. Further, if you’re writing is too muddled to understand, don’t expect anyone to read it…or even care.

By definition, we already know what we think, but as writers we must write in a way for others to want to know what we are thinking. So, if I’ve got an opinion, and I want specific audiences to care, I better consider who my audience is carefully.

I also find that I am tempted to use sarcasm or hyperbole frequently when I write. I think its because people respond only when something is offensive verses slightly bothersome...or for that matter, competely agreeable. That explains the Church role in politics for the last 100 years...but that's another entry all together.

Outside of blogland, I never really know what other people think about what I think because I’m to busy talking to listen. I’m the same way when I write, I’m always ready to write what I think, make no apologies, and defend it to absolute absurdity. But that’s not productive, helpful, or appropriate…ever. I'm working on that. (If only I had the patience for myself that God has for me.)

I’ve posted an apology (on the entry) for an outright inappropriate statement in response to a comment a friend made to me about a previous post. (I think there still may be a slight hint of sarcasm in one line, but it is a sincere apology.)

My high school teachers may have been atheists, but they didn’t know something about writing. A lesson I’m still learning. Who is my audience and what are their values…

I’m still wondering who I’m writing to…

Seeing that is late, and I’ve procrastinated long enough, I should finish that paper for Steve.

If there are typos, I'm sorry.

A couple of thoughts today!

Home Again

The CDT (Covenant Discipleship Training) team is back from Gary, Indiana. I’m humbled at how much I have in comparison to those faithful in Gary—and really all over the world. God revealed to me how spoiled I am.

Vic and Faith Davis

Vic leads a group of only about 30-40 people. Yet--they have a school serving students pre-K to 6th grade, a Tech center with oh, about 40 computers, and a half-way house for men transitioning from drug rehab or prison. They are also involved with CityBuilders, and are rebuilding Gary literally one block at a time. Some would look at Gary and think there is no way that Gary will ever shine. There is no way that it will ever recover (Gary propsered for years as a steel town) and have Kingdom order. But there are some faithful servants in Gary who God has charged with bring the Kindgom, not because of what they see in the natural, but because of spiritual revelation.

That’s my heart for the Missouri political system—Kingdom order. I pray, Father, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven...

Voting with a Kingdom vision

I often grow weary of those who believe that voting for a candidate that isn’t a Republican or a Democrat is a waste of a vote. If you do not vote for a Christian with a vision of restoration, that is a waste of a vote.

The Minutemen organization, a group taking action to protect our borders by monitoring the southern borders, encourages voters to not vote for a party but for candidates that are tough on illegal aliens. In a past election, Minutemen supported a candidate that was neither Democrat nor Republican, and he got 25% of the vote.

If Christians would just vote consistently with their theology, we could get godly men in office. But some Christians just don’t have the faith, vision, or the patience. :( And on that thought, its probably better Christians didn’t vote their theology...but that’s a whole post in itself.

A mistake

The voter ID bill did have enough votes to make it to the House for further debate.

Sex Education

Why are school teachers showing kids how to put on condoms? A State Rep. from St. Charles County was dismayed when her son participated in such a lesson. Rep. Davis then sponsored a bill not to end Sex Ed in schools...but to limit it. Hmmm. Well you can read about it in the KC Star, STL Post, and Missourian (Columbia).

What do you think a Christian response to Sex Education in public schools should be?? What does the Bible say?

Right or Duty?

How does one determine if his or her rights are being violated by the government? When does the government become a tyrant?

The framers crafted the US Constitution and wrote volumes to address the problems of despotic government, and there was never perfect agreement on where to draw the line is between tyranny and liberty. Federalist James Madison wrote that “[i]n framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” (No. 51). “Brutus,” one voice out of many opposed to a centralized federal government, wrote that “[t]he design of civil government is to protect the rights and promote the happiness of the people….Hence we find, that all the state constitutions, contain either formal bills of rights, which set bounds to the power of the legislature…” (New York Journal, January 17, 1788).

Both Madison and Brutus agreed that the government should be limited; however neither agreed on the definition of “limited” nor on how to achieve such limitations. The same discussion occurs session after session in the Missouri Legislature. Today, the government is a tyrant unless it pays for the privileges that many American citizens consider rights, as specific enumerated rights are confused with our duty as citizens.

Case in point:

Currently, there are two bills in the Senate that have clauses that would require Missouri voters to present a photo ID at the polls before they can vote.

Senate Bill 1014 would not only require voters to have a photo ID, but also states that:

The state of Missouri shall pay all the legally required fees for applicants for non-driver's licenses. Persons residing in convalescent, nursing, and boarding homes shall be issued a non-driver's license through a mobile processing system operated by the department of revenue at no cost.

Ten of thirty-three Senators did not vote for this bill, as those opposed to the measure cited the unintended consequences on the poor and elderly who cannot afford such IDs. The aim of the Senate bill is to reduce voter fraud. It needs one more vote to move to the House.

SB 1250, which includes a section requiring a photo ID for Missouri voters, aims to decrease the ability of illegal aliens to illegally vote.

There is opposition to both bills because of the burden on voters to obtain and pay for a photo ID. Can someone please help me understand how reducing voter fraud makes the government a tyrant? While I must recognize that such a measure isn't convenient for some voters, such an inconvenience—as some have given their lives to protect the reliability of our electoral system--is our duty.

Public vs. Private Schools

What would you think if someone claimed that public schools out performed private schools, specifically Christian private schools? A study performed by the US Dept. of Education through U of I Champagne supports such a claim. What's more, a writer for Washington Monthly claims that Pres. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act was "a long-term plan to erode the public faith in public schools," which would create a legitimate reason for parents to support vouchers or take their children out of school.

Oh, if only President Bush really would devise such a well-thought out plan to put an end to the State's monopoly on education.

John Stossel criticized the public schools' performance in January on 20/20 in a episode called "Stupid in America." Stossel's piece focused on how a lack of competition allows schools to perform poorly without consequence. Lee Duigon of Chalcedon has started a series of essays on the public schools' effort to remain America's premier education resource. He points out what Stossel leaves out: the cultural and political agendas transferred from the teachers to the students.

What do you think: can state schools be improved? Can the state provide a "neutral" education? Do parents have a right to choose between public and private schools for their children since it is their tax money?

Gary, Indiana!

CDT is visiting the congregation led by Vic Davis up in Gary, Indiana to do some service and evangelism for a couple of days. We walked in the meeting room last night to see a banner hanging over the stage declaring: “Ask…for the nations Ps. 2”. We then participated in a prayer meeting where we asked God to stir the Church to action and to rise up righteous leaders in our society and all over the world. Oh! It was a good time of fellowship.

My host family is probably typical of Gary, Indiana. God’s made them a new creation, but they live amidst the consequences of not only their sin, but of the sin of their community. Gary is comparable to East St. Louis; it lacks economic development and is full of poverty. I’m only reminded of the miraculous work God accomplishes in making us new, but of how blessed and spoiled I am. I have it all! I have the love of God and he provides for all my needs.

Immigration Legislation in Missouri

I sat in a MO Senate Judiciary committee last night that reviewed SB 1250 sponsored by Bill Alter from the St. Louis County area. The bill is a move in the right direction by Missouri lawmakers in state that is not along the border, but none the less affected by illegal aliens. (I cannot help but use this term, as the terms keep shifting in the media: illegal alien to illegal immigrant to undocumented worker.)

The bill has 3 sections. The first section would give Missouri police officers the authority to take custody of illegal aliens and begin investigations. Currently only Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents have that authority. This measure would give (some or all) Missouri officers the ability to get around all the bureaucracy.

The second section makes Missouri law compliant with Federal law, as it prohibits illegal aliens from receiving state welfare benefits, in-state tuition at state universities, and other state benefits. The third section requires photo identification at the polls to prohibit illegal from voting. Interestingly enough, the AARP, the League of Women’s Voters, the Secretary of States office, the Whole Person (a group representing people with physical disabilities), and the ACLU all had representatives present to testify against the 3rd section because it would make it hard for the elderly and the disabled to vote because they often do not have photo ids.

A Hispanic American, who works as a hospital interpreter, testified in favor of the bill. He commented after the hearing that to vote in Mexico you need a photo id that has personal info on the front, and a thumb print and magnetic id chip on the back. He also commented that the 2000 that participated in the protests in Kansas City on Sunday was poor turnout for a city with thousands of illegal aliens.

The Kansas City Star reported on the KC protest and concluded with some comments from a tax-preparer who participated in the protest. She stated“We are not criminals” and “We just come here to work like every group that comes here for the American dream.”

The US is a country that is ruled by law. While I do not agree with every US law, that does not mean I break those that I feel deprive me of the “American Dream.” I have compassion on those who are just trying to survive, but steeling from the “rich” to give to the “poor” is not legitimate option. If US lawmakers let millions of people break the law, what keeps the rest of the citizens from doing the same?

What are “guest workers”?

Thomas Sowell articulates a rare and refreshing perspective on immigration reform in his article Guests or Gate Crashers?” Sowell asks, “What is a guest?” Well, a guest is “someone you have invited.” He continues by stating that “[p]eople who force their way into your home without your permission” are anything but guests.

Sowell also points out the weak arguments given to justify ignoring that millions of people have broken the law with apparently no recourse from our government. It makes me wonder, are we nation founded on the rule of law or the whims of popular opinion? Why are politicians courting people who are ready to ignore the existing immigration laws?

Christ Simcox, co-founder of the Minutemen, comments: “[o]ur Homeland Security is a farce now. They do noting to secure our borders. They say they are fighting a war on terror, but they are leaving our country’s back doors wide open.” Minutemen is a organization, similar to a neighborhood watch group, that is comprised of about 4200 volunteers. They watch the borders and call the border patrol when they spot people attempting crossing the border.

What would you propose to as a solution to the growing illegal immigrant population in the US?

Say What?

While I was at the capitol building in Jefferson City yesterday, I just happened to sit next to a school counselor from a middle school in Wellston, a city in the St. Louis City area. She was there with about 40 students from her school. She had a bright blue sticker that said “Responsible” and “Protection” on her shirt. After a brief conversation with her and the young lady who coordinated the day for Planned Parenthood, I learned that the students were student mentors, basically 8th graders talking to 6th graders about “safe” sex and how to use “protection.” These students received permission to leave school on Planned Parenthood sponsored buses justified as social studies in action by taking a trip to the capitol.

The students, as well as others including a group called “Clergy for Contraception,” were at the capitol to rally against HB 1075, a bill sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Davis. The Planned Parenthood coordinator misrepresented the bill by stating that it would prohibit sex ed instructors from discussing STDs. However, that is not in the wording or in the intent of the bill. HB 1075 bans outside groups such as Planned Parenthood, or any group that provides abortions, from teaching or providing materials for sex ed courses in Missouri schools. When I caught her on this, she brushed it off.

Peter writes about the false prophets and teachers that arose before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. He writes that they “bring in destructive heresies,” have “eyes for adultery, insatiable for sin” and “entice unsteady souls” (2 Pet. 2:1,14). Likewise, today there are false prophets and teachers who blindly teach what they do not understand. They react to a fallen world without any hope or guidance. And they visit Jefferson City everyday.


Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

Six Tips for Happiness

Currently Harvard University offers a course that focuses on how to be happy called Positive Psychology . The course is described NPR’s by Toiva Smith as a practical mix of self-help and science. Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar bases some his conclusions on studies that show how “counting your blessing daily make you happy” in a way that adding up stock market successes never will. In one class, he plays quotes from an Ellen Degeneres episode where Ellen expresses her frustration with life’s business: “we are so busy that we miss out on life.” Tal Ben-Shahar asserts that it is “not natural to be in the rat race” and that Americans need to slow down and enjoy life. He focuses on the power of positive thinking and the need to “simplify.”

One student thinks it is a silly topic for a semester long class. Another says that it challenging because of the “personal transformation” not the reading schedule.

To me it sounds like James’ suggestion to “consider it all joy” to endure trials, or Paul’s secret to contentment: be content in all circumstances. As for the need to simplify, Paul suggests that whether we eat or drink we should glorify God.

In the end, the course exemplifies that even the elites at Harvard are looking for happiness over and above earthly successes. Dismissing faith as unreasonable and perusing the self-help aisles at Borders for answers, students in Tal Ben-Shahar’s course have received validation—in the name of Science—an answer that ultimately will never satisfy the soul.

What do you think of positive thinking? Does it work? Is it biblical?

While reading various pages on the web, I found the following quote. It ties into the my last post, and thought I would share it.

Gary North has said, "All long-term social change comes from the successful efforts of one or another struggling organizations to capture the minds of a hard core of future leaders."

Do you agree or disagree and why?

If you agree, how does it apply to you personally?

The Power of Ideas

At the beginning of my first semester of CDT, the class was assigned the book “Seven Men Who Ruled the World from the Grave” by Dave Breese. We then were instructed to write a short essay on why we were assigned the book. The book didn’t impress me; it lacked style and footnotes. My essay reflected my disappointment with Breese’s underlying biases. Writing from a Fundamentalist perspective, Breese shaped how his readers would act and respond to the facts he presents in the book that bothered me. My essay missed the mark because I failed to over look Breese's agenda and see his point: Ideas rule the world, not men.

John Maynard Keynes understood the power of ideas. In the final paragraph in his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, he wrote:

...the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influence by new theories after they are twenty five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.

What makes an idea dangerous? Can an idea be dangerous for the good?

The Righteousness of God

"Now it will come about that in the last days The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills; and the all the nations will stream to it and the peoples will come and say, 'Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths.' For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

Is. 2:2-3

“See, I have taught you statues and judgments just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the people who will hear all these statues and say, 'Surely this great nation is wise and understanding people.' 'For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?' 'Or what great nation is there that has statues and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?' ”

Deut. 4:5-8

"When the righteous rule, the people rejoice;
When the wicked rule, the people groan.”

Proverbs 29:2


Do you see any common themes? How should Christians respond to these Scriptures today?

I would love to hear what anyone has to say.

My heritage is beautiful to me!

Psalm 16

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”

As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;
Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will dwell securely.

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will you allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand are pleasures forever.

Muta Marriages

As I was listening to NPR’s Morning Addition, I caught an interesting piece about the Shia tradition that allows a man, married or single, to marry woman for as little as a few minutes or for years at a time. These short-term marriages are called “muta marriages.” Why would a woman accept such an arrangement? The man, often from the upper strata of society, offers some type of monetary support to the woman, who most likely lives in poverty. There are even muta marriage brokers to help match women with men.

Formally outlawed under Suddam Hussein and not allowed under Sunni Islamic law, the Shia Islamic custom is becoming more popular as Iraqis are gaining more freedom. Woman’s Rights Groups in Iraq are appalled that so many women are being taken advantage of in these short-term agreements. They call it as legally sanctioned prostitution.

Two points strike me.

First, is America really helping the Iraqis gain freedom? And if so, what kind?

Secondly, I have heard more than a few of my college classmates argue that prostitution just reflects a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body. Why do Iraq feminists differ from American feminists in this way?

My letter was published!!

Check out my letter in the recent West Newsmagazine. The link goes to the recent letters only; therefore, I don’t know it my letter will still be there after about a week.

I’ve decide that if I’m going to sow seeds, I’ve got to get out into the field. So, I’m going to start sending letters to the editors of the local papers, calling my legislators, and getting people I know to do the same.

That’s my plan anyway. :)