Real Women Worry Not

Candance Parker's perspective on being a successful woman basketball player reminds me of Phyllis Schlafly's attitude about how real women work hard to perfect their talents and worry not about how they measure up against men.

Excerpts from Time Magazine interview with Candance Parker, WNBA MVP:

Growing up playing basketball, did you ever have to deal with negative or sexist comments? Minnesa Khan, JAMAICA, N.Y.

I never really had to. When I would go to the park, maybe initially they would be like, She's a girl, she can't play. But then the next time, they were picking me first for their team. Let your actions speak for themselves. Don't worry about what everybody else is saying. Just concentrate on playing basketball and embrace being a woman and being in sports.

Do you think they should create coed-league sports on a professional level? Luke Denker, BELTON, MO.

I don't think it's necessary. I think it's neat that women play our game. Obviously, the strength of men--I really don't feel like we could play in a professional league with them. I think it's great that young girls have the WNBA to look up to now.

How are you doing with your new daughter? Has your coach at Tennessee, Pat Summitt, started recruiting her yet? Brenda Goodman JOHNSON CITY, TENN.

When I first told Coach Summitt that I was pregnant, she was like, Where can we send the papers? I had to remind her that my husband [Minnesota Timberwolves forward Shelden Williams] went to Duke, so he's pushing for her to go there. But I'm doing great. My baby is the joy in my life. Obviously, I'm suffering from lack of sleep, but it truly is a blessing to be a mother.

Piper: Why I Don't Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies

The quotation below is from an article by John Piper blog on the relevance of TV and being relevant in our culture. While this is an area for each to examine for oneself, I've found that while I often can't talk to someone about the latest movie release or who's broken up with who on the Hills, I can relate as a human to other humans who live in a broken, lonely world.

Piper writes,

"I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them" (emphasis mine).

The quote is taken out of the context of another pastor suggesting that Christians should watch more movies to be relevant. I think this comes down to discernment of which movies are helpful, but the heart of the issue I think has less to do with watching more or less, but seeking those things to do that give life not death to our souls. Dead souls can't lead people to Christ.

And I am much like Piper. Maybe some can let trash in, and good comes out, but it doesn't seem to work so well for me.

Who are you connected to?

"A healthy community is built on friendship, on people who are committed to the art of caring engagement, an art that only the gospel makes possible in its riches form. It is built on shepherding, on people committed to the art of mentoring or passing along hope. Shepherds are simply older friends whose experience allows them to give hope that whatever is happening can be well survived." Larry Crabb, Connecting: A Radical New Vision

"The next best thing to being wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are." - C.S. Lewis

There are different levels of connection. I often reflect upon how I'm engaging people in my life. I constantly sense a lot of selfishness behind why and how I connect or don't connect with people. I often find my own pursuits more exciting or interesting than pursuing relationships with others because meaningful connection and "caring engagement" takes time. It means bearing the burdens of others with grace, which means more time praying. It means being willing to be wrong even when you think your right, which means giving up of oneself.

Paul described level of connection with the Philippian church as being "poured out as a drink offering" for their sake (2:17). He did it with joy.

That's where I find the desire to connect with others: joy. Paul writes that his joy will be complete by "being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind" (2:2). How do we come to be of the same mind? In part, giving up of self and engaging one another in deeper way than merely going to the same church or rooting for the same sports teams.

I often struggle in social situations because I don't really care so much about where people work but why they want to work where to do. I want to the passions that inspire people to get up everyday. Or maybe what lack of passion that keeps them in bed. But who talks about that kinda stuff?

I have a hard time finding any satisfaction in surface level contact that avoids all points that might create disruption--like politics and theology. Or maybe I just like to argue. Maybe that's why I don't connect sometimes: I'm always right and people can't handle that. ; )

How Far Down the Road?

The Eagle Forum Education Center—where I work—houses tons of books. So many that we are starting to throw some away. Sure, this sounds like heresy, but there is no market for some books written about politics 30 - 40 years ago by relatively unknown authors.

Searching through some boxes before they head off to book heaven, I found a book titled How Far Down the Road? by Edward R. Sneed under the 1055-page tome Moscow Bound: Policy, Politics and the POW/MIA Dilemma by John M.G. Brown and Pat Buchanan's 1990 book, Right From the Beginning.

How Far Down the Road? was written in 1961. Yes, in 1961 some people were asking the same questions and digging in their heels to slow the move towards socialism. I frequently find books condemning out-of-control spending (spending has never been so high!) and immorality (it's never been this bad) in paper back volumes with questions for titles.

It's humbling to realize that we are fighting a battle that's been raging not since the 1960s—choosing between Goldwater and Johnson—not since the 1930s—the beginnings of federal government as a safety net—not since the American Revolution—“taxation without representation"—but since the beginning: what's the proper role of the individual, family, church, and civil government in society.

We don't need more books about this. We need the strength and conviction to live out what we want to write books about.

"Everyone guessed wrong."

"Everyone guessed wrong." -Joe Biden, acknowledging that the Administration's $787 billion economic-stimulus plan has failed to reduce the unemployment rate

Found in Time Magazine, June 29, 2009

No. I don't believe this. The hope I have in government is for what is not seen. Even if the unemployment rate is the same, $787 billion must have done something good! Something to be hoped in, right?

Twitter: Another Way to Glorify God

John Piper's recent blog post and how and why he is tweeting is worth reading because he get's to deeper truth about why we do anything, including "tweeting": “All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16).

Piper writes:

"I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can."

Amen!

Read the rest of his post to find out why he is "leaning" towards using twitter more, not "leaping."

He's your Lord. He's your Savior. But is He your Treasure?

URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBJzUnxiKwA&

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

The Don't Waste Your Life Tour is using this video this summer to kick off each concert.

Resolved

Jonathan Edwards wrote 71 resolutions to read each week he was 19. To imagine that someone at 19 would be set such a high standard for this life humbles me.

Here are a few that challenged me. (I wanted to copy and paste whole list, but if you're truly interested in being challenged, you can click the link.)

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger towards irrational beings.

17. Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what am I the better for them, and what I might have got by them.

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.