Jimmy Carter's Nuts

in

See, that title is funny because former President Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer, and coincidentally, he's gone freaking insane. I'm more than a little bit certain that he's suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Recent reports indicate that, this past spring, he hid his own Easter eggs.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070519/D8P7O79O0.html

Carter, who is arguably the worst president ever (yes, even worse than Taft), has, in recent years, blasted Bush and his policies. Recently, in the story linked above, Carter has stated that "Bush's administration is 'the worst in history' in international relations", citing the Iraq war, the preemptive war doctrine, and its Middle East diplomacy.

Clearly, Carter has forgotten his sordid presidency. He reinstated the draft, allowed Russia to invade Afghanistan (which, for those of you not familiar with Middle East history, eventually led to a civil war in Afghanistan. Carter then initiated a program that funded the training of Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Taliban took control of the country. Enter 9/11.), and demonstrated time and again his weak foreign policy. He depleted the military, cut defense spending, advocated communism (a position he hasn't changed - he still visits Cuba), and, at the pinnacle of his presidential failures, his irresponsible foreign policy led to the Cuban Hostage Crisis.

The worst part, though, is his blatant ignorance. He posits (with many of the ignorant leftists) that Bush "lied" to get us into Iraq. Of course, the "lie" to which they are referring is that Iraq had WMDs and was a risk to the world. Now, I'll readily admit that I supported the initial Iraq invasion because I truly believed that there were WMDs, but also for the obscene human right's violations of Saddam Hussein's regime. Of course, the whole WMD argument seems a little weak (they have found some, but nothing like the stockpile we were expecting), but I do have a real issue with the position that Bush "lied". To lie is to intentionally deceive. If Bush had known that there were no WMDs in Iraq, he would have known that this would come to light. If he had lied about the WMDs, why wouldn't he have planted some in Iraq? To argue that he intentially deceived the world to justify the war, knowing that his lie would be found out, is just fundamentally dumb. It demonstrates the absolute lack of rational thinking in the mind of Jimmy Carter.

Carter is irrelevant. He was irrelevant as a president, and he's been irrelevant ever since. He needs to shut up. Jimmy Carter's nuts.

we're getting more stupider

in

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1622015,00.html

i'm not gonna lie ... i'm bane to agree, ever, with al gore. he's boring, for one, and predictable. not to mention that he uses the same fearmongering scare tactics that he accuses the right of abusing when it his own pet project (global warming, which i'm still convinced is a myth.). but i digress.

he wrote a book titled "The Assault on Reason". the link above is an excerpt from the book published in TIME magazine. in it, gore makes some serious allegations - essentially that americans are overwhelmingly incapable of making rational decisions about issues because of the dumbing down of society as a result of too much television.

while i disagree with some of his examples and illustrations, largely because i recognize that he's a liberal blowhard with a different perspective than i (that is, i'm simply unable to get my head that far up my butt), i have to agree with his fundamental premise - television has dumbed down america. we stupid.

there are some that will read the title of this blog and not recognize what is wrong with it. there are some (a painfully striking majority) that are unable to name our vice president, or secretary of state. most americans can't name their congressman or even their state senators. jay leno's tonight show does a "man on the street" bit where they ask basic questions about news and current events in america, and we laugh at the stupids that can't answer the questions. while ridiculing them may be valid, we should be scared, because these people can vote.

i was in the mall last night, and asked a friend that worked there if there were a bookstore in the mall. there isn't. there are two music stores, two arcades, restaurants and clothing retailers galore, and more shoe stores than feet. but no bookstore.

why the heck isn't there a bookstore in the mall? what is wrong with society? i went to the bookstore down the street for one book and bought four, having to drag myself out before i spent even more money.

there's a problem when our society is more interested in paris hilton or KFed and brit's haircut. it's a problem when we care more about the political views of tom cruise, a moron who advocates, with a straight face, scientology as a valid religious view. he believes in effing aliens. and we listen to his political views. r kelly just announced that he's the martin luther king of this generation. (http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/389909,CST-NWS-kelly17.article) he shouldn't be doing magazine interviews; he should be in jail. he videotaped himself having sex with a minor, but he's not in jail. what is wrong with our society?

that's it. i've decided. i'm going to start my own country. if you can't spell, you're persona non grata. i'm going to use that phrase, because only the people who live there will know what it means. i learned that in a high school civics course. i'm guessing most americans don't know what it means in the american system, or when it is used.

anyone want to be my secretary of state?

confession is good for the soul

in

so i blew it. i screwed up, and made a major mistake, even though i knew better. i'd come so far, but, yet, i still made a terribly stupid mistake.

i could blame it on all sorts of things - stress from finals, starting a new job, etc. - yet it just wouldn't be fair. i made a series of decisions that, as i've discussed before, have consequences, and those decisions took me down a path that i've traveled before.

they say that experience is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it again ... that's probably true. so i had to do something that i really really hate: admit that i screwed up. i went to a friend/mentor at church, someone who i really respect and admire, and admitted, in painful, honest detail, that i screwed up and the very nature of my fall. and then i felt better.

i sat and talked to him for a good while, discussing the issues that led to me doing stupid, and how i could not do stupid in the future. he wasn't judgmental or condemning, but compassionate and understanding, and has agreed to work with me and help me to make strides in the right direction and understand some of the things that i had done wrong.

i've got good friends, and a good church, and a great family, and an awesome God. i'm thankful.

Over My Head

in

"Over My Head"
by Lit

I'm in over my head
They wanna try and build me up
So they can tear me down
I wish that I could be back there
But I'm writing here right now

They've taken everything that I've had to give and
They say it's over but man I'm still here livin
I don't know what to do, I think that maybe

I'm in over my head
Stuck in the red
Somethin they said
Makes me think that I'm in over my head
Over my head
Over my head

I've got to get away from here
And it couldn't be too soon
Cuz I see the stars are here with me
Like rockets to the moon

You take me everywhere that I've never been and
Show me the meaning of what life had to give and
I don't know what to say, I think that maybe

I'm in over my head
Lyin in her bed
Somethin she said
Makes me think that I'm in over my head
Over my head
Over my head

They've taken everything that I've had to give and
They say it's over but man I'm still here livin
I don't know what to do, I think that maybe

I'm in over my head
Stuck in the red
Somethin they said
Makes me think that I'm in over my head
Over my head
Over my head
I'm in over my head
I'm in over my head
I'm in over my head
I'm in over my head

I Deserve To Go To Hell

in

On Monday, April 16, 2007, a student on the Virginia Tech campus went on a shooting rampage and killed 32 students before turning his gun on himself. On Monday, 33 lives were suddenly brought to an end.

The shooter was a senior English major of South Korean descent. He was a resident alien, and had been in the U.S. since he was 12 years old. He had been ostracized by his peers, become a loaner, and drawn attention from his teachers for his particularly graphic, morbid, disturbing essays, poems, and other writings.

I wonder if Cho Seung-Hui knew any Christians. I wonder if a Holy Ghost filled, Jesus name Apostolic had ever been in a class with him, or walked across campus with him, or eaten lunch with him, or had coffee with him. I wonder if any Christians had ever told Cho, "Jesus loves you. He died for your sins, Cho. He came that you might have life more abundant." I wonder if any Christians ever avoided Cho because he was different, or weird, or unpopular, or a little inaccessible.

Is there a Cho Seung-Hui on my campus? Is there a Cho in any of my classes? Do I know anyone who is pondering suicide, or is bound by depression or alcoholism or chronic drug abuse? Am I so wrapped up in myself that I'm unable or unwilling to or incapable of seeing the needs of the desperate souls?

I had an epiphany as I thought about these tragedies. I deserve to go to hell. In fact, no one deserves to go to heaven. Every single person on this earth, or who has ever been on this earth, from Adam to Moses to King David to John the Baptist to Peter to Paul to Hitler to Nathaniel Urshan to Paul Mooney to myself deserves to go to hell. What makes me different than Hitler? Nothing. We're both sinners. What separates Jim Sleeva from Timothy McVeigh? Not a thing. They both deserve to rot in hell. No one has ever done a thing to merit heaven.

The only way to get to heaven is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice and victory over sin gives all those who enter into His covenant eternal life. No sin is more or less bad in God's eyes - all sins lead to death. Therefore, if God can forgive the least of all sins, He can forgive the greatest of all sins. There is no sinner alive who is beyond the grace of God; only once a person ceases to live can he fall beyond repentance.

It is for this reason that I oppose any form of capital punishment. The human life is too precious to be snuffed out prematurely. So long as there is life, there is hope for grace and repentance. Who am I to forbid a man any moment of life where he may find repentance?

The Cost of a Decision

in

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference."

-- Robert Frost

This poem is known for the last three lines - "Two roads diverged in a wood/And I took the one less traveled by/And that has made all the difference." - but this isn't the critical part of the poem. The part of the poem that defines it, the point in the poem at which it dramatically turns, is the highlighted portion above - "Oh, I kept the first for another day!/Yet, knowing how way leads to way/I doubted if I should ever come back."

The traveler had to make a decision. He stood at an intersection of two paths, and had to decide which direction to go. He looked down each path, considered them, and made his decision. He made a decision! He had to go somewhere. He couldn't stay there. So he decided.

He didn't know where it would take him, but he took the path less traveled. He wanted to keep the other path, to travel it, to see where that decision would take him, but he recognized something. Each decision leads to another, and another, and one never can go back to remake those past decisions.

There are costs to decisions. When one makes a decision, he closes the door on other possibilities. But it is impossible, as Frost points out, to not make a decision: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/And sorry I could not travel both". He had to decide, for to not decide is a decision in itself. But the direction of life is changed forever when a decision is made. There are costs and consequences of each decision. For Frost, "...[it] made all the difference".

bathroom reflection

in

i stood in front of the wall mirror and straightened my shirt before the test. i stood up straight, took a deep breath, and stared into my eyes. for a moment, i felt very small compared to my reflection.

maybe i'm not who i think i am. maybe my image of who i am isn't who i really am.

when people tell me good things about myself, i think cynically, "i have them fooled." maybe i'm wrong?

my bathroom reflection is bigger than me. or maybe i saw what everyone else sees.

bobby pins

in

there were bobby pins in the altar on sunday night.

Pastor didn't really preach; he didn't have a chance for that. but he did share a word:

John 15:11 - "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." (KJV)

in context, that verse is an example of Jesus telling us that He is the vine, we are the branches, and God is the gardener. we can't bear fruit unless we are attached to the Vine. those who don't bear fruit while on the Vine will be removed, and those that do will be cut back and pruned.

it hurts to be pruned, to be cut back. being broken down, having the excess taken away - this isn't easy. but it's necessary. Jesus says to take comfort in being pruned, in knowing that God is cutting us back, because He only wants us to be more fruitful.

we have to be pruned to grow, and we have to be broken to be blessed. as my friends once said, "i'm blessed to be broken/i'm glad just to know that/you cared enough to hurt me/when i had trouble learning".

sunday night we rejoiced and danced and laughed and praised and took joy in being broken, and realized that it is so we can share in the joy of the Lord. i'm very thankful that God chooses to break me, to cut me back, to take away the excess so that i can be more fruitful.

the italy blog ...

in

... as if one blog could fully express everything that there was to do ....

i saw the david by michelangelo, and i nearly cried. i was left speechless by its presence; i was moved by the precision and beauty of it; the presentation was overwhelming.

i sat in the sistine chapel and stared at the ceiling in awe. the last judgement was amazing.

i held up the leaning tower of pisa, and i walked around dowtown rome, a tourist by day, and i went out at night. i ate in restaurants where they didn't speak english, and listened to musicians sing classic italian songs while playing accordian.

i sat in cafe's, drinking strong coffee and reading philosophy while writing in my journal. i watched people, and i lived the life i've always dreamed of.

i want to move to venice. i want to think in italian, to read italian, and to even write in italian. i loved it, and i want to go back again, and again, and again.

Community Worship

in

Not long ago, I was asked, "What is the purpose of community worship?" At the time, I didn't have a direct answer. Now I do.

Of course, I'm aware of the psychological effects of multiple people focusing on the same thing, but this is more than that. Why do we (Evangelical Christians) engage in community worship?

I have been having a tough time lately, going through some different things as God has been dealing with me. To be a little transparent, I had let some things get in between me and God, so there was friction and tension in my relationship with Him. Last night at church, God moved in an awesome way, and I was really blessed and was able to straighten some things out with God.

God wouldn't have moved like that had His presence been hinged on my ability to usher in the Spirit. I needed someone who was in a better place spiritually to lead worship, and I needed the congregation members who were "prayed up" to be sensitive to the move of God and to entertain His Spirit. Because of their preparation, the underprepared spiritual slacker got the blessing He needed.

Lean on me/When you're not strong/I'll be your friend/I'll help you carry on/For it won't be long/'Till I'm gonna need/Somebody to lean on

We're a team, and I need everyone on it. Sometimes I'm weak and you're strong; sometimes I'm strong when you're weak. I need community worship.

A Different War, A Different Warrior

in

My high school friends in New York City have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.

"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"

"Because there is war."

"Did you witness some of the fighting."

"Everyone in the country did."

"You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?"

"Yes, all the time."

"Cool."

I smile a little.

"You should tell us about it sometime."

"Yes, sometime."

Excerpt from a long way gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah.

Let it Snow

in

There's something about the snow: it's pure; it's white; it's new. I woke up this morning and clamoured to the window, and the entire world was white. As far as my eye could see, the entire world was covered with those delicate crystals.

Undisturbed, peaceful; I love seeing the morning after a snowfall. Before anyone has trekked out to work or to school; even before the morning paper has come; while the moon is still casting its gentle light across the landscape - I love fresh snow.

Snow reminds me of grace. When grace falls, before the cares of life bring the occasional snowdrift, before our own humanity and carnality blemishes the gentle, fresh landscape of our hearts, God's grace makes us perfect.

Lord, let your grace fall like snow in my life. Let me remain pure and unspotted before You.

"... though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ...."

My Two Gifts

in

Romans 1:5 (The Message)
"Through him we received both the generous gift of his life and the urgent task of passing it on to others who receive it by entering into obedient trust in Jesus."

From Jesus, I receive eternal life. I have been brought out of a life of sin, depravity, and death into a life of redemption, holiness, and renewed life. Above all else, I live to serve God, and to do His will.

But that's not all. From Jesus, I've also received the "urgent task of passing" this gift "on to others." Am I selfish with the Gospel? If this is a catch-all, end-all, and the answer to every problem, then why am I not telling it to everyone I meet?

We are all obligated to share the Gospel with everyone we meet. Every day, people ask, "What should I do?" I now have an answer ready: "Repent, and be baptized ...."

Lobbying God

in

I took some time lately to fast and to pray, because there is a situation that is in limbo, and I am hoping for a particular outcome. I was in my car during a break at school between classes, praying to God that He would arrange it so that I received my desire.

Then, I started thinking, because I'm ADD, about lobbying groups in American politics. They visit lawmakers and decision-makers, trying to influence public policy and legislation that is favourable to their cause. They aren't always interested in the greater good, but only the good for their interest.

Is that what prayer should be? "NO!" God checked me. When I pray, when I fast, I am working to submit my personal desires, my personal ambitions, all of what seems like a good idea to me to God's will, and learning to accept it. I can't just "lobby God," hoping for an outcome favourable to what I think I want. I have to let God show me what is right for my life, what He has planned for me, and when I pray, I have to pray that God will teach me to accept and understand His will.

So now I'm not lobbying God anymore. "My Father, ... thy kingdom come, thy will be done in my life as it is in heaven."

Family Guy

in

Today, central Indiana was hammered by 5 inches of snow. Any other northern city would handle it without incident, but there's nothing more morbidly funny than Hoosiers on Ice. My evening class was canceled (over a mere 5 inches), so I left campus early. It took me an hour and a half to make my way from the downtown campus to my house, a trek that never exceeds a half hour. By the time I arrived home, I wasn't nearly as excited about sledding as I had been when I left school.

So, I got home, took a brief nap, ate dinner with MomandDad, shoveled the driveway, then built a fire in the fireplace while the 'rents did some errands. I was home alone on a cold snowy evening, a growing fire in the fireplace, and I turned all the lights out in the house, sat on my sofa in silence, watching the flames grow in the fireplace, shadows dancing across the floor and up the walls.

MomandDad came home, brought me Starbucks, and we sat in the dark house, watching the fire, and we just talked. We talked about everything in general, and nothing in particular, and wasted away two hours of the evening. There was much more that we needed to accomplish, but I genuinely enjoyed my time with my parents tonight. Sometimes, it's nice to waste time doing what's really important.

Down, but not out

in

I heard you fell. It’s a hard thing. Everything looked like it was going right, everything seemed perfect, and one decision, one mistake, and now your whole world is crashing down around you. 

You're ashamed, you say.  That's good.  It's a sign of contrition.  Falling is serious.  It hurts the knees.  But while you're down there, go ahead and repent.  It's good that you're ashamed, because you shouldn't be proud of your mistakes.  But don't stay there.  You can fall down, but you have to get back up.  That's how you learn to walk.

This is a hard lesson.  There are scars that come with falling.  You will take something with you.  Sometimes they're visible and everyone can see your scar.  Some people will judge you, but they're the one's that don't matter.  Those of us with hidden scars, we love you, and we're praying for you, and we want to see you back on your feet.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. (Micah 7:8)

Right now, you're on your knees. Take some time there, for a little bit, to think about why you fell. Think about what brought you down. But don't spend too much time down there. It's time for you to get up and try again.

For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again... (Proverbs 24:16)

upside down

in

by Jack Johnson
The Curious George Soundtrack

"Who's to say
What's impossible
Well they forgot
This world keeps spinning
And with each new day
I can feel a change in everything
And as the surface breaks reflections fade
But in some ways they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread its wings
There's no stopping curiosity

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs
I don't want this feeling to go away

Who's to say
I can't do everything
Well I can try
And as I roll along I begin to find
Things aren't always just what they seem

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs
This world keeps spinning and there's no time to waste
Well it all keeps spinning spinning round and round and

Upside down
Who's to say what's impossible and can't be found
I don't want this feeling to go away

Please don't go away
Please don't go away
Please don't go away
Is this how it's supposed to be
Is this how it's supposed to be"