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Archive for January, 2010
A Genuine Response To The State Of The Union Speech
Jan 28th
Did you see the headlines
Little things are blown to size
It’s all around the world before you know
Last night, as I was listening to the end of President Obama’s State of the Union address and reading comments about same on Twitter, it occurred to me that I was growing very tired of it all. Tired of the endless bashing, mostly. It’s not that I’ve suddenly turned left; I thoroughly disagree with the vast majority of Obama’s philosophies, politics and practices. But that’s where it ends.
That’s where it has to end for me.
We’re living in a time
With all the borders tripped and mined
Days are gone when you could just be
Ordinary
Admitting this is probably not the best way to go as far as winning friends and influencing people on the right. In fact, that should read undoubtedly not the best way. The battle against liberalism has become a personal vendetta. Not permissible in my case. Not an option.
Another patient
On vacation
Gone for days without your medication
In my own ofttimes fumbling stumbling bumbling silly self-defeating self-destructive way I strive to live in the manner prescribed by Christ. There’s no room in there for hating people. You can decry their shortcomings all you want, always mindful that you also have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You can even grow angry with them. Jesus Himself grew angry with people. But note what it says concerning one of these moments: “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts…” Christ longed to bring those who opposed Him during His time on this earth to Him. It hurt that they wouldn’t budge. So it should be with us.
In the end
One decision that you make
There is a way to face it
Lose your head
Find a way to get it on
Cuz’ overnight
Everything can be
So undone
That all said, a brief overview of the speech itself. Ignoring the analysis both fawning and foul, certain themes touched on were solid — the need to create more jobs, to grow more energy independent via using nuclear power plus expanding offshore drilling efforts. Others left a sour taste, most noticeably the continued theme of Obama blaming his predecessor for everything wrong under the sun. He’s been the President for a year and will be the President for at least the next three years. There are very few of us in the workforce at any level who can’t think of some choice words for what those who held our position before us did or didn’t do. But we’re there now, and it’s our responsibility to do the work. Buck up.
Did you see the headlights
Little pair of glowing eyes
Staring at you down the lonely road
Something Obama touched on at the end of the address deserves repeating: “Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. And when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy. That’s just how it is. Those of us in public office can respond to this reality by playing it safe and avoid telling hard truths and pointing fingers. We can do what’s necessary to keep our poll numbers high and get through the next election instead of doing what’s best for the next generation. But I also know this: If people had made that decision 50 years ago or 100 years ago or 200 years ago, we wouldn’t be here tonight. The only reason we are here is because generations of Americans were unafraid to do what was hard, to do what was needed even when success was uncertain, to do what it took to keep the dream of this nation alive for their children and their grandchildren.”
We usually refer to this as ‘walking by faith’.
Did you dream you saw your life
Drawn across a sharpened knife
Made to watch as all the blood runs cold
To walk by faith means you don’t give in to fears about the present. Any one of us can name a dozen dozens reasons why we/he/she/it/they will fail. There are few things easier than picking something, or someone, apart. A lack of perfection makes that option one readily available to all about all save God alone. However, it does not entitle us to flail away at every everything. Remember what was said a moment ago? We, too, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Rejecting or embracing Obama and his platform in their entirety is foolish. Instead, we should consider him as we want God to consider us. Love him or no, Obama is neither God nor out of His reach. As is the case with each of us.
Are you strong enough
Seize the moment now
There’s so little time before it’s gone
Redemption is at hand
No matter what chemical you’ve taken on
If you could use another plan
It’s got to be the genuine
You see, we’ve got this country we live in. It doesn’t really matter who’s in the Oval Office or which party is in the majority in either house of Congress. We still live here. Now, we can and do disagree on political philosophies, policies and practices. We can love or loathe whoever is in a given position in the government at any given time.
But we still live here.
It is vital for those of us who believe in Jesus to remember the priorities when it comes to people. All people. Including politicians. The most important question isn’t their position on health care, or cap and trade, or defense or any one of a multitude of issues. Certainly they’re important. But they are never the most important. The most important question is this:
What think ye of the Christ?
If someone has a honest faith, a natural byproduct will be a servant’s heart. Jesus washed the feet of His disciples the night they abandoned Him to be tortured and executed. He told them, even as He tells us, that whoever wants to be first among others must be the servant of all.
It is my prayer that the President hear his own words: “And what keeps me going — what keeps me fighting — is that despite all these setbacks, that spirit of determination and optimism, that fundamental decency that has always been at the core of the American people, that lives on. It lives on in the struggling small business owner who wrote to me of his company, ‘None of us,’ he said, ‘… are willing to consider, even slightly, that we might fail.’ It lives on in the woman who said that even though she and her neighbors have felt the pain of recession, ‘We are strong. We are resilient. We are American.’ It lives on in the 8-year-old boy in Louisiana, who just sent me his allowance and asked if I would give it to the people of Haiti. And it lives on in all the Americans who’ve dropped everything to go someplace they’ve never been and pull people they’ve never known from the rubble, prompting chants of ‘USA! USA! USA!’ when another life was saved. The spirit that has sustained this nation for more than two centuries lives on in you, its people. We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don’t quit. I don’t quit. Let’s seize this moment — to start anew, to carry the dream forward and to strengthen our union once more. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.”
It is my prayer our President humbles himself before the crucified and risen Christ the Lord. It is my prayer that from this, he will serve the people and serve them wisely.
It is my prayer that our President will embrace the genuine.
Come
If you want to come
Want you to live
Like you want to live anyway
Want you to stay
If you want to stay
One decision
One decision
The genuine
Lyrics: “Genuine” by the 77s
from the album A Golden Field Of Radioactive Crows
My Prayer For This Morning
Jan 27th
Lord, guide me into not getting so stressed out and wound up at work today I crash & burn the moment I get home tonight. I need to do what You’ve called me to do and work on the new book. And thank you for faithful friends lifting me up in prayer. They’re a gift from You. Amen.
Who Says Who’s On First?
Jan 25th
We have many running jokes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of them involve most of our professional sports teams… well, teams consisting of people who get paid. Calling them professional is a bit of a stretch. But I digress. Anyway, given how most of the running with said teams consists of watching the other team while it’s running up the score, a line comes to mind: “Yeah, they’re incompetent stumblebums. But they’re MY incompetent stumblebums! And don’t you forget it!”
Jokes about how it’s necessary for fans to defend the local teams since none of them have any defense of their own aside, it’s interesting to note whose colors we choose to wear. More than a little of our identity is rooted in those, or what, with whom or which we choose to be identified. Even if we prefer to be considered solely on our individual merits, quick references by others for the purpose of categorization are unavoidable. This is the nature of things.
Taking this from the abstract to the concrete, lately it’s become apparent that in political matters there is a disconnect within the discourse. Be it Nancy Pelosi or variations thereof dismissing the electorate’s will with a sniff and insistence they know best, or citizen pundits shouting in outrage when politicians they normally favor refuse to in every matter bow to their will, the words being written and spoken have scant connection between the perceived power of the communicator and their genuine level of control.
Man has long paid lip service to God while in fact saying “look at me!” Nothing new here. That duly noted, it’s alarming and more than a tad disheartening to see how this mindset is manifesting itself among those who are seemingly rather enraptured with themselves and the illusion of wielding power because they have a blog.
Examples… sure. Consider the outrage, commented on earlier this month, over Sarah Palin skipping CPAC. Which, when boiled down, constitutes a self-centered, self-important temper tantrum. “But… but I’M going to be there!” Oh how lovely for you; hope it’s a valuable, enriching experience. But if someone isn’t, not only are they not eligible for membership in the Kool Kidz Klub it’s a personal diss? Yeahright.
And who are we again? Or perhaps better said, what are we?
Oh, wait, that’s right.
Dust.
And we are not being mindful of the difference between gain and value.
Value is educating others and working together for a common cause. Value is winning over hearts and minds. Value comes not from seeking the approval and applause of others, but rather from giving, caring and sharing without concern for who gets the credit.
Value comes not from allegiance but rather identification. Consider the example of Christ:
“Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”
The apostles attitude was since the man wasn’t one of them, he had no place claiming any form of identification with Christ. He begged to differ.
He knew the value of this man.
And what is gain?
Gain is the promotion of self, choosing to be surrounded with those who promote you even as you similarly promote them in a mutual admiration society dance. To seek gain is to long for power, prestige and position. By any means necessary, gain works toward not the common good but rather personal glory.
It’s a luxury we cannot afford.
Remember the four tenets of the blogging evangel:
- The ability to broadcast ones opinion neither elevates nor validates said opinion.
- Blog from and for the heart, not the bank account.
- Answer your e-mail every time all the time.
- Never become what you profess to oppose. Never.
We could use some healthy doses of One and Four right about now.
And It’s About Time, If I May Say So… To Myself
Jan 24th
Made some good progress on the new book today. Currently working on the chapter for Rick Conklin of Aslan and BrokenWorks. Feels good to be doing what you’re supposed to be doing, y’know? Now, to see it through to completion!
Good Of A Time As Any…
Jan 24th
… to reprint this post from 2007.
Here’s hoping I can reprint it again February seventh!
A Royal Blue Silk Rose
You know the routine.
It’s game day, or race day. You take your seat, be it in front of the television or if you’re lucky among the thousands or tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands attending the day’s event. You watch; you cheer and boo; you exhort your favorite. At the end of the day you celebrate or commiserate depending on how the proceedings went. You talk or grouse about it, feeling happy or ticked for a while depending on what happened. And then you file it all away until the next game, the next race. It’s all part of being a fan.
You see the team or individual you root for, and in them that is exactly what you see. It’s not life or death. The sun will come up tomorrow regardless of their performance on that day. Sure, they’re your team, your driver. But that’s all. They’re the ones for whom you cheer. That’s where it ends.
Most of the time.
Sometimes, you see the team, the driver for whom you cheer, and you don’t see them at all. You see a moment, a place in the past, a time where an inexorable bond was forged indelibly identifying a team or individual with someone you know, or someone you knew; a memory that never fades. You see a team or individual, and suddenly you are no longer where you are. You’re somewhere else, somewhere long ago and far away yet as vibrant as though it was happening in the here and now. You’re at your first ballgame; you’re watching a highlight moment with family or friends no longer here. It is as though these moments live again. It is as though these people have never left.
That’s why you take it far more personally than is the norm when someone speaks against this team, this individual serving as a bridge between today and a bittersweet yesterday filled with magic and loss. Sure, you get your back up when someone trashtalks your team or driver. You give as good as you get. But you don’t take it all that seriously. The same cannot be said about the ones unknowingly serving as a bridge. They’re not just another team, another driver for whom you root. They are set apart, privately sacred. They are consecrated; living servants acting as a conduit from where you were and who you were with to where you are now, without those you were with before.
This is why today’s Super Bowl was far more than another game to me, or even another championship game. As has been said before, I am a card carrying season ticket owning member of the Raiders Nation. That’s my team. I go to the home games, I watch the away games on television, I have far too often buried my head in my hands these past few seasons wondering when this team will start playing like the Raiders I grew up with; i.e. winning. I’m a fan.
But when I see the Colts, I don’t see a football team. I see my heritage, this hybrid of Orange County Republican and small-town Hoosier hick born, raised, and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I hear the phone conversations with my Dad after he retired and moved back home to rural central Indiana, me going with him and Mom for a spell before returning back here, commiserating over the Colts when they were bad and celebrating when they good following their move to Indianapolis in 1984. I see my first Colts game seen live at home, two years after my beloved father had passed away in 1999. In a touch of bitter irony, it was played the first weekend sports had resumed after September 11th, and the pre-game ceremonies were filled with the kind of heartland patriotism coast dwellers deride as hackneyed cornpone drivel. But not to me.
Every season ended with a promise unfulfilled, at best a playoff disappointment. Every season after that game ended with a different promise unfulfilled, something I had vowed upon my first visit to my father’s grave that September of 2001 would someday be done if it was allowed to be done.
It never was.
Not until tonight.
Tonight, as I pull out my Colts finery to wear with even more pride than usual, preparing to luxuriate in this ultimate triumph and its penultimate companion the amazing, heart-stopping comeback victory against the archrival Patriots in the AFC championship game two weeks ago, a note is made of a promise now enabled. It is not a great thing, but it is an item I swore to both my heavenly Father and my earthly father now in heaven would be done. And it will be done.
I will find a royal blue silk rose, and at the base of the pedals tie around it a white ribbon. On it, printed in silver, will be these words:
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
SUPER BOWL XVI CHAMPIONS
I will lay the rose on my father’s grave, and then I will look to the skies and say the words I longed to say when my father was here, but know in fact he will still hear:
“They won, Dad.”
They won.
No Myth
Jan 20th
Much has been made of the manipulation by liberals of various classes — economic, racial, gender — through the selling of synchronized victimization and entitlement.
It’s a seductive spiel, one for which the appeal is rooted in the notion that should you by dint of race and/or gender belong to one of the aforementioned classes, none of the negatives in your life are your fault. All the bad things are due to a combination of oppression, discrimination and misogyny. Well, we’re here to set things right! Behold our magnanimous generosity as we take from your evil dark lords and freely give to you. You don’t have to earn anything! We’ve got your back. Oh, no thanks are necessary. Well, if you insist, there is this little election thing coming up.
The whole issue boils down to political Scientology, really. “It’s not on you. It’s those blasted engrams! Here, let us help you get rid of them. You need us for that.” In this case, the engrams are conservatives and anyone who speaks of such things as personal responsibility and the need to work for what you have is obviously a suppressive person, one to avoid at all cost. Otherwise, someone might get the notion they’re being fed a line designed to keep them and their descendants in a state of perpetual dependence on the government while resentment against them by those paying for, in essence, their lives through taxes grows.
That said, are we who believe in Christ guilty of the same sin as those who believe they have a birthright to entitlement and privilege?
Consider this. When Paul was lambasting the church at Corinth for its assorted sordid failings, note how he punctuated one of his rants: “And you are proud!” One of the unfortunate hallmarks of a Christian or group of Christians off track is that even as we are a trainwreck unaware of the fact we’ve crashing, we are quite satisfied with ourselves and certain of our position in the grand scheme of things as God’s most deserving equivalent of teacher’s pet. Bad news all around. We’re in denial about both whatever the sin or sins may be we are committing and the sin of pride when we have nothing about which to be proud. (Of course we’re not supposed to be proud anyway, but you get the idea.)
Another line from the same rant comes to mind: “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?” It does us no good to try and explain to others how they’re being fed a tasty lie when we’re in the middle of doing the exact same thing.
Following Jesus isn’t a sign of favor or being better than those who don’t. It is an acknowledgment of failure, a confession and admittance that nothing stands between you and an eternity spent in isolation from God’s love except the shed blood of a tortured, executed Savior. Who rose from the dead so we could live with Him in eternity. Not a whole lot there to stick your chest out about, what say?
It’s a difficult thing to convince someone who believes they’re entitled this is not the case. However, it’s a necessity if we are to break the stranglehold this myth has on both our political process and society as a whole. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We must remember that we means, well, we. And that’s no myth.
P.S. Speaking of no myth…
Scattershot Thoughts On A Rainy Wednesday Morning
Jan 20th
Token gratuitous Ayla Brown photos.
- Yes, I am delighted that Scott Brown won the Massachusetts senatorial election last night. Can we talk about something else for a while, Twitterville? Give it a rest already. Also, had I read one more “fate of the Union” tweets yesterday someone was going to develop breathing problems.
- Headline I would have loved to see this morning: BROWN WINS, SUN WAS GOING TO COME UP ANYWAY
- Not sure what to make of yesterday’s developments in the Rifqa Bary case. My main question is whether she’ll continue to be isolated from friends and fellow believers until August. If that’s the case, there’s a problem.
- Speaking of Rifqa: yes Mr. Examiner editor, I’ll find some kind of local angle tie-in when I write about it today. How’s about getting we’uns back on Google News?
- Doubt this is the first time it’s been said, but the thought occurred to me this morning that the loudest possible answer to a question is silence.
- A good example of a bad example is only good if you not only resolve to do the exact opposite, but in fact do so.
- Back to Brown for a second. It was quite amusing that attempts to make political hay were made from the fact he posed in Cosmopolitan magazine once upon a time. Judging from the assorted comments last night by more than a few members of the fairer sex, I dare say he hasn’t lost his ability to filla room with flying estrogen.
- Okay, one more thought on Brown. Hypothesizing about 2012, should Sarah Palin run for President the thought of what it’d be like at a campaign stop for her at which Brown makes an appearance… yowza. Especially if their daughters are in attendance. It’d be half political rally and half Duran Duran concert circa 1985.
All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!
Jan 18th
Well, it’s a new podcast anyway. This one took a few hours to assemble due to a roaring sinus headache plus a lot more editing than usual due to yours truly riding a train of thought that for whatever reason stopped after every other word. Ah well.
You can listen to it here, or if you have iTunes subscribe to it here. The RSS feed is here. As always, please let me know what you think, and thanks.
The Dogs Bark But The Fox Moves On
Jan 15th
Pardon the play on the old adage “the dogs bark but the caravan moves on” in the title.
Anyway, a couple of clips from Sarah Palin’s debut on FOX News this week. First, on Bill O’Reilly’s show:
And the next day on Glenn Beck’s program:
Side note before launching into the main topic. The two appearances make for an interesting comparison. Faced with O’Reilly’s rapid-fire abrupt style, Palin leans toward a more stock issue politician being interviewed mode: quick and cautious, not unwilling to steer the answer toward more comfortable territory rather than directly face inquiries she’s either already answered or wishes to not so much avoid as quickly dismiss With Beck’s more pastoral tone, Palin is at ease chatting as with an understanding friend. She also communicates far more information with Beck than O’Reilly, even though the latter asked more questions. A good lesson for interviewers. Beck’s approach allows him to approach difficult subjects and get answers about them far better than O’Reilly’s. But I digress.
There are few hot topics hotter than the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska and governor of said state (“hot” pun unintentional, although Palin is gorgeous). Currently, Palin is the subject of fierce debate in conservative pundit circles over declining to appear at this year’s CPAC soirée while agreeing to speak at a Tea Party convention/gathering. Much wailing and gnashing of teeth has resulted, absolutely none of which is of the slightest interest to anyone save online political junkies who when generously counted constitute 0.44% of the general populace. Indulge me whilst I endeavor to make this conundrum a bit more relevant to the remaining 99.56% of humanity.
One of the main points of contention is Palin’s speaking fee for the Tea Party event. CPAC, a yearly gathering of assorted and by the definition of some sordid conservative movers and shakers, offers little save room and board for the weekend to its plethora of speakers. The organizers of the Tea Party event are dropping some serious coin to have Palin as their main speaker. This has riled the CPAC crew, it being of the firm opinion that all parties concerned should graciously donate their time in exchange for the glory of, uh, being there. Which is vitally important, given the tremendous opportunities it provides for posting snapshots on Twitter of yourself next to other conservatives. Woo-hoo look at me squee.
Okay, being a tad snarky there. There is the potential of tremendous benefit in a gathering of like-minded individuals devoted to a common cause. Good things happen when there’s networking. We’re seeing the benefits of using social media for political causes in examples such as the upcoming special election in Massachusetts, where in a state considered bluer than blue Scott Brown, the Republican candidate, has a very real shot at making the local Democrats sadder than sad by winning. Much of Brown’s support has come from followers on Twitter who have been putting their money where their tweet is; an appeal for campaign donations a few days ago which hoped to reach $500,000 instead brought in $1.3 million. It’s worth noting Palin has stated she’s going to be donating her speaking fee from the Tea Party event to support candidates in assorted races this year.
Back to dissecting the discontent. A recurring theme is CPAC attendees/devotees (same difference) feeling personally rejected by Palin declining to attend. Two words: what the…? Given the stunts CPAC’s organizers has pulled in general and on Palin in particular — announcing she would be at last year’s bash when she had not yet agreed to this and did not attend; publicly dissing her; allowing instant controversy by having a gay Republican group which advocates gay marriage as a sponsor, thus alienating more than a few conservative religious groups (not taking sides here, just stating facts) and allowing the conspiracy cuckoos otherwise known as the John Birch Society to be a sponsor — is this really a name you want to hang your hat on?
There’s another aspect to the “Palin’s personally insulting me by not going to CPAC” meme that’s more than a tad disturbing. In recent days a rather nasty fuss has been raised by those complaining about Palin’s perceived snub, centered on whining about Palin supporters being this lot of mindless drones who worship the ground she walks on, believe she gives infallibility lessons to the Pope and must be immediately defended to the death and beyond against any and all critiques. In fact, the kvetchers are the ones behaving like those who Jesus referenced with the illustration of children in the marketplace whining about people not following their song’s lead. Certainly there is an element, as is present with every public figure, within the Palin posse of those who believe she can do no wrong. However, dismissing her supporters en masse due to the excesses of a few is condescending and just plain rude. The vast majority of Palin supporters like her for both her personal traits and her political views as put into action during her turns in different offices. That’s like. Admire. Even adore. But not worship. She’s not God. We know that. She knows that. One of the reasons many of us like her is because not only does she know that, she acknowledges her belief in and dependence on the actual God. Whose initials are JC, not SP.
A final note about CPAC before wrapping up. Michele Bachmann, far more than a bit player in conservative politics, is also not appearing at CPAC this year but will be speaking at the Tea Party event. Yet not a peep is being spoken against her for this. Why? One suspects the primary reason is that mentioning Bachmann gets the notice of only the faithful who are more than likely already reading your stuff. Mention Palin, though… site visit gold. Nothing stirs it like the name of Sarah.
Yes, we of the Palin posse can be a touch defensive about her. When you have someone so viciously, undeservingly and unfairly attacked on all fronts as she has been and continues to be, the natural reaction is springing to her defense. That said, attacking her for refusing to attend CPAC is silliness and emotion while taking it personally is self-worship in motion. It’s not a slap at you. It’s a statement about CPAC’s ineptitude running alongside its importance being grotesquely overestimated. Along with that of the individuals currently riding in its waahmbulance.
