Golly Goodness :-)

We are down in Florida visiting my family and I just finished helping Hannah get Riley Joy ready for bed. Hannah is in nursing her down right now. But after I finished my part and Hannah started nursing her, I went to turn off the light. The light we were using is a touch sensitive light and everytime I turned it off, my wrist would bump it and it would come back on. Right as I finally turned it off for good, I saw Hannah looking at me, smiling at my clumsiness. Golly goodness I love her smile. I just melted :-). I love her so much!

Everyone Against Abortion, Please Raise Your Hand

Morality

I have only read one graphic novel before (Max Allan Collin's "Road to Perdition") and generally avoid them. But I became quite intrigued with the "Watchmen" after seeing previews for the new movie. So I decided to wade into the uber-violent and crass world of graphic novels once again to see what I could learn. It is the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time and one of Time Magazine's 100 best novels of all time. The storytelling is absolutely gripping and I am hooked. Thus far, the biggest theme of the book is morality. The author takes the premise of superheroes and uses it to ask questions about society and the morality of decisions our government makes. The different characters individually carry the set of characteristic of certain groups of people seen in the government, and as you watch them make moral decisions on a personal level, you see the bigger picture of what it would mean for the group of people in real life in government who make such decisions. Does that make sense? It is late and I need to get to bed. But during the pauses between my reading over the weekend, I have been pondering our government and the fact that they are MORALLY BANKRUPT. It is about time we sat down and had a real discussion about the (at the very least) questionably morality of their decisions. For example:

What is the morality of an outspoken pro-life politician (Sam Brownback) supporting a radically pro-choice pick for Sec of Health & Human services just because it will make it easier for him to win the governorship of his state in a couple years? What is the morality of our country saying they oppose torture and then using the Rendition program to send prisoners out to Egypt or other countries to be tortured so we don't have to do it ourselves? What is the morality in congressmen owning stock in certian companies and then awarding those same companies huge subsidies or mandating use of their products? (Think curly light bulbs) What is the morality of a tax cheat heading the congressional committee that writes the tax code and a tax cheat being nominated and confirmed to head the IRS? What is the morality of those same two individuals getting together and having a public discussion about the need to increase penalties on tax cheats! What is the morality of no-bid defense contracts with huge companies? What is the morality of our government passing a BAILOUT or SAVE THE ECONOMY bill that has THOUSANDS of non-stimulus related earmarks? Or what about the TARP program where we were told the money was going to be used to buy bad debt (a bad decision, mind you) and then once the money was authorized, use it to buy into huge corporations! Where is the morality in the government cozying up to mega-businesses and sacrificing small businesses and individuals? Where is the morality in a man defending his family in his own home with a gun and then being thrown in jail for it? What is the morality of our government telling us that they are doing one thing, while at the same time doing something entirely un-related behind our back? What is the morality of the government funding the destruction of frozen human embryos for research? What is the morality of politicians railing against smoking and then using the money from cigarrette taxes to fund our school system? What is the morality of the belief that anything is OK as long as it is for the greater good? What kind of moral code guides a modern progressive to go on and on about peace and rail against war while wearing a Che shirt? What about our government making up the problem of Global Warming so they can gain more control over our lives and businesses? What is the moral code that allows Michael Steele to suck up to Rush Limbaugh and then in a different situations dismiss him as "ugly" and "incindiery"? How can the Republican party say they are fighting for fiscal responsibility while being responsible for half the earmarks in congress?

The list goes on.

Ugh.

Who is willing to have this discussion?

Lots of Snow

Over the weekend the forecasters were calling for lots of snow... and they were right. We got nothing more than a dusting last night, but over the course of the morning we have accumulated 4+ inches. And the roads are not cleared yet! I just had to go to the Warehouse and boy was that an adventure. I was able to make it down with little trouble (crawling along EXTREMELY slow through the drifts), but coming up was nearly impossible. I am glad I made it. Coming up the side of the hill from the Warehouse there is one last big hump before it levels out, and while it was difficult coming up the majority of the hill, that hump was awful. I came to everything but a complete stop and just crawled with wheels spinning up that last 20 feet. Three cheers for maybe the first decent snow we've had this season and nobody bothering to clear the roads :-).

A Healthy Fear

Clint Eastwood is a great filmmaker and I have always enjoyed his movies. One of his most common themes is the corruption of government systems. I have to admit, many times I have watched his movies and then afterwords sat back and made excuses for the government programs or authorities that he just tore apart. In "The Outlaw Josey Wales" he exposed many of the injustices wrought on the South following the Civil War. In "Unforgiven" we saw the dangers of local law enforcement working for their own personal gain rather than for the people. In "Absolute Power" we saw how officials as high as the President can be seduced by their power into doing the unthinkable. The Franklin D. Roosevelt administration is labmasted in "Flags of Our Fathers" for their incredible propaganda program. We know that power corrups and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the older I get the more afraid I become of our government. I know that my mind is expanding because I am constantly questioning my beliefs and sometimes changing my opinions as I find truth. Well, while I in the past have made excuses for our big government, I am now seeing the importance of people like Clint Eastwood pointing out the extreme dangers posed by giving them so much power. We have seen the myth built up and propagated that the government is a good thing, something that is working for you to fix the problems in your life and make your life and standard of living better. Well, that is wrong. Our founding fathers knew that the government is something to be feared and that is why they made such a confining Constitution. Though even that has not been enough to hold our federal government in check. We need to have a healthy fear of giving President Bush all the power of the Patriot Act (a terrible name by the way, pure propaganda), we need a fear of our government's powerful propanganda network and the IRS. We need to watch everything they do to make sure they do not keep growing and taking away our liberties. We need to watch movies like these done by Clint Eastwood and not make excuses for our government, but instead watch them and learn that we need to fear our government and fight with everything we have to keep it from getting bigger and more intrusive. We need to fear this new administration trying to take away our gun rights, control our personal healthcare, second-guess our parenting methods and go so far as to mount satellite tracking devices on our cars.

Good job for Clint Eastwood and Ron Howard and all those willing to show the true dangers of giving too much power to the government.

The Sound Of Silence

As I started driving to work today, I decided to keep the radio and cd player off. I love silence, but it is often so hard to come by. I don't know what exactly it is inside me, but I often do not want silence, it scares me somehow. As soon as silence rears its head I quickly shatter it with noise, any noise, whether talk radio, audio books or sometimes music. But the strange thing is, I love silence. Why do I so often flee from something I love? There is nothing like curling up inside the warm fleece of silence to pray, or meditate, or just marinate in my thoughts. Silence is where my brain expands, silence is where the Spirit guides me into truth. Safely within silence my brain soars! My mind churns, I formulate my beliefs, write essays, solve problems! It is incredible what can happen with just a little silence. So I must make sure I set aside time for silence. I shall start a relationship with silence, court it on a regular basis, and just wait to see what happens.

Finding the Meaning In a Verse

A new believer friend joined me at the men's Bible study two Saturdays ago. Part of the homework involves us studying many verses and taking application from them. My friend was quite overwhelmed, so I typed this out quickly for him. My mother-in-law also suggested a few clarifications which I added.

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide
John 16:13 says the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and John 14:26 says “He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” In order to get the full meaning out of any verse or passage we need to begin by praying that God’s Holy Spirit will guide our understanding.

2. Read the verse

3. Find the immediate context
Find the beginning of the paragraph or smaller section that the verse is contained in. Read to get the immediate context.

4. Find the larger context
Is the verse part of a speech? Is it part of a larger thought or section? Find the beginning of the thought or speech. Read to understand the larger context.

5. Look up the key words
Which words stand out? Which words are key to understanding the meaning of the verse? Note, the biggest words are not necessarily the key words. Pick them out and look them up in Strong’s Concordance. Read other verses the words are used in to get an idea of how they are used. (http://www. blueletterbible.org/)

6. Put it together
Read the verse again with an understanding of the context and an emphasis on the full meanings of the key words.

7. Read any cross-references
Read any cross-references to gain additional insight into the topic.

8. Read any notes
Read the study notes at the bottom of the page to gain additional insights into the meaning.

9. Find the application
2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in right living. If we do not apply the verse or passage to our own life, we are not getting out of it all that God wants us to. Imagine the verse was written by God specifically for you. How is God trying to teach you, rebuke your wrongdoing, correct your thinking or show you right living? Do not over-think this. Often the simplest and most obvious truth is exactly what the Holy Spirit is trying to convey to you.