I just want Biblical proof please...

As this political race heats up, I am getting more and more upset with the complete lack of integrity in the Christian voter. There are plenty of things to dislike about McCain. There are plenty of things to dislike about Obama. So on and so forth. However in the blog world, the issue of pro-life vs. pro-choice continues to come up. I have yet to read someone with a good argument concerning the pro-choice issue.

Somewhere down the line the "emergent church guy" has decided that it is not just about the unborn, it is about the born as well; Old, young, middle age, gay, lesbian, Christian, Non-Christian, black, white or Hispanic. As stated in my previous blog, you are right. However where the world do you get of calling someone who takes a stand on an issue as divisive? I have seen this word used on several blogs (I am not calling any particular person out). R U serious? To be divisive means that you are causing a perverted dispute.I do not think that there is anything perverted about protecting the unborn. Divisive would be saying, "If we make abortions illegal, women will be dying in the back ally." That sounds like a perverted dispute to me. So...we cannot take a stand, because some women/man will make a choice to have sex with some women/man causing an unwanted pregnancy. This women will make the choice to go to an ally, risk her life, and have an illegal procedure performed. Should we have legalized crack houses that hand out sterilized needles to protect the user from HIV? Or, will, by making abortion illegal, cause people to actually take responsibility for their actions? Emergent church guy, please come up with a better argument.

Obama has taken it a step further. He voted "present" on an act that hit the Illinois senate floor. The act was called the "Born Alive Infant Protection Act." Transcript of Obama's verbal opposition to Born Alive on the IL Senate floor, March 30, 2001, pages 84-90. Boiling it down: Doctors where inducing labor for women in the late 2nd/early 3rd trimester. It would put them in violent labor therefore killing the baby. Several of those baby's would survive the labor. Those babies were put in rooms where hazardous waste was disposed and left to die. The lucky babies were put in "comfort rooms," given blankets, and left to expire. On pages 84-90, Barack says, (in summary), We cannot vote for this bill because it will cause fetus' to be labeled as children and thus overturn Roe V. Wade. In essence it would be a slipper slope and liberals must make sure that doesn't happen. So what does Mr. Barrackbone do, "not voting." You know, at least give me a candidate who has a backbone!

Emergent church guy, please give me a BIBLICAL reason why it is OK to vote for a guy who openly supports the murder of a born, not unborn, child?

**For the record, I am not pro McCain/Palin so don't try painting me with that brush!

Road Less Traveled

For the first time in my life, I am going to the voting booth this year as an educated voter. I know that is sad to say, but in the past I voted for the guy who sounded the best or against the party that most people seemed to be frustrated with. Understand, I am not a republican. I am also not a democrat. I helped put Clinton in office his second term, and I assisted Bush for both terms. Considering he was running against Kerry, last election was an easy call.

This election is going to be "historic." That is such an over-used term. Every election since the beginning of elections has been historic. However, there has been an evolution from Democrat vs. Republican to Liberal vs. Conservative. You also have the democratic party as the "anit-christian, pro-abortion, evolutionist, pro-homosexual/transgendered/lesbian"party. And guess what? It is true. They are all of those things, look at the records. I love how many modern day "Biblical Scholars/Writers/Pastors" are trying to raise social issues and global warming as the issues of the day. Let's not forget: 1) Global Warming is under much debate and has yet to be proved it is an issue at all. 2) Social issues have always been part of the human fabric. Jesus says, (Buddy paraphrase)...Whatever you have done to the less fortunate, looked down upon, unprotected, you have done to me. The Words of scripture also say be careful how you treat people because you may be locking eyes with an angel... He also says that the poor will always be with us. Interesting thoughts. The modern day Pharisees, or as they like to call themselves "revisionists" have hid behind their intellect to argue the democratic position as being a what Jesus would have wanted. I am not suggesting that Jesus is democratic or republican. As a matter of fact, I am suggesting that Jesus is...God!!!

We have allowed liberalism to enter into a Biblical worldview. God was definitely liberal. He is liberal with His love, His grace, His mercy, His gifts, and His Son. To use another definition of liberal, He is not bound by authoritarinism, orthodoxy, or traditional form. As a matter of fact one of the reasons that Jesus came was to crush the heel of the religous organization (i.e. see any interaction with Pharisees/Sadducess). He was very liberal. However, when a person is in favor of taking a baby who is "unwanted" or MAY "effect" the health of the mother, that is not liberal, that is....anti-Biblical. We can argue that there are so many other issues than abortion that we need to be concerned about. I agree with you, there are a ton: Homeless, Poor, Abandoned, Unemployed, Disabled, Fatherless, Motherless, Economical, Taxes, Education Reform, I.D. vs. Evolution, Spending Reform, Deficit Reduction, The War, Terrorism, Health Care, Ear Marking, Tax Cut for big business, Tax increase for big business, Oil, Alternative Energy, I could go on, but you get the point. Do not allow an eloquent communicator to distract you from the truth. The truth is still, abortion is murder. It is a barbaric practice by professionals. It is the innocent sheding of blood.

So is the war in Iraq...not even close. We have liberated (there is that liberal term again) a country from the tyranny of a diabolical dictator. There are children who are being educated in schools for the first time ever because those schools were being used as stockpiles for Saddam's weapons. Let's not forget the mass slaughtering of Iraqi's by their beloved dictator. Who knows how many more thousands of Iraqi's would be dead at the hands of Saddam had it not been for our liberation of Iraq? But, I can see why the liberal position would not support the war. They talk about social issues and caring about people. What about the people of Iraq? They have been freed, yet, liberals do not care about that, because it cost them something. It's easy to a liberal, because it costs nothing. Conservatives, well that goes against the grain. I think Jesus called it the narrow vs. the wide road....

The Best Part of Waking Up!!!

I am having a very hard time getting used to my new shift. I have spent the past 9 mos. leaving for work at 1:30 p.m. It was beautiful. I could wake up, go to the local coffe haus, study, go home, eat lunch, leave for work, repeat. As of Monday, my alarm disrupts my life at 5:30, leave the house at 5:45, clock in for work at 6:30. It is taking some getting used to. Granted I am only working 3 hours a day now, but this early morning thing is for the birds. Literally, let the birds enjoy the morning and I will take the afternoons anytime!

My schedule will now be wake-up, go to work, eat breakfast, go to local coffee hause, study, go to school...

Faith like a child

Sunday morning my little boy and I went on a "daddy date." We definitely need to change the name before he hits his teens or he will be pummelled! We went to get him a suprise. One suprise was a spiderman potty seat, pretty exciting for a three year old! The next suprise was a brand spanking new pair of shoes! This is pretty darn exciting for him. I have to admit, being able to provide that as a father is pretty exciting as well. I think about not being able to do that, and the people that cannot do that, and it breaks my heart.

It was pretty fun. We tried on three pair of shoes. Each pair enabled him to run progressively faster. It is interesting to see how marketing, advertising, and cartoons work. Obviously the shoes don't help him run faster. But, I had no problem cohersing him into believing that the pair I thought would meet his needs the best would make him run faster!

The lesson in all of this was faith. He has faith that his shoes make him run faster. I don't want to crush that for him. I cheered him on as he ran through the store. As we ran through the mall parking lot I was his biggest fan. I think I reffered to him as Dash at least 50x's. He has faith like a little child. He believes all kinds of things that aren't "factual" or even real, but he believes them. I want to encourage him to own it and run with it. Obviously as he grows in his faith, he will learn fact, and he will understand reality a bit more. As he grows, I will be there to cheer him on and build him in his faith!

First shall be last!

Today is the first day of my last semester. December 19th cannot come fast enough for me. Woohoo!

Today is the first day on my new route! I have being working second shift for the last 9 months. I am now begin work at 6:30, gonna take some gettin used to!

Today is my wife's first day of school. Pray for her, she is in a very tough environment.

Today is the first day in 9 months that I will be able to tuck my little boys in! The simple things in life...

Today is my first day wearing my new pair of work shoes! They definitely make me run as fast as Dash!

Today is the first day my son is wearing his new pair of shoes (second really) but it works for this list! They make him jump higher and he is much faster than Dash with them on!

Here it is to many, many, more firsts!

Fragile....Oh, it must be French!

It's kinda cool how God works in my life. Many times a thought will come to my mind, not just any thought, but a God thought <-- know what I mean? Once I receive that download, I see preachers on TV talking about it, I think about it at random times, I dream about it. I can't get away from it. So, I did nothing with the thought as is usually the case. I just let it marinate. Anyway. I have been sitting in my regular seat at the quaint little coffee shop that I ascend upon everyday. I am supposed to be studying, but today, I just can't. I have literally been studying everyday for at least the last 2 weeks, and I just can't do it today. So, I decided I was going to blog. So, a God thought hit me. I have been pondering the words, "In our weakness He is strong." Pretty generic, not really profound or groundbreaking, simple, sweet, and to the point. So, I decided not to blog, because posting with the words, "In our weakness He is strong" doesn't render any response. So, I decided to talk to Lukus, the manager of the coffee establishment. As I was talking to him a young man walked in. I say young, he is 22, so &*) years younger than I. He began talking about how he and his fiance broke up awhile ago. He talked about the communication issues they had, etc...He than talked about how his daughter would have been 4 on the 23rd of this month. I paused a moment and realized that he said "would have been." He said that she went in to have tubes in her ears, had an allergic reaction to penicillin and passed away. As a father of two amazing boys, this absolutely broke my heart. How does one move passed this? One thing that I pray for, and often, is that God would not allow my wife and I to experience the loss of a child. I have petitioned God many, many, times for the health, life, and safety of my family. How could you get out of bed after this kind of loss? How could you face the world? How could you worship the Creator of life when the life He created has been taken away? I have no idea. As I sat back in my well worn chair, I had the God thought, "In our weakness He is strong." I am not going to even pretend that I know what this young man is going through, I don't ever want to know.

What I do know is that the human condition is fragile. The word fragile implies extreme delicacy of material or construction and need for careful handling. <-- I stole that from m-w.com. Two weeks ago an motorcycle officer in Dallas was in Hillary's motorcade and crashed, with nobody around, and he passed away. Last week a twenty year old young lady was driving to work when a semi, loaded with steel pipes, was going to fast and went off the freeway. He fell 20 feet to the pavement below. Unfortunately, the young lady broke his fall. They both died immediately. This young man at the coffee shop lost a child because of a routine procedure.

Life is fragile, handle with care. In our fragile state, He is strong. We don't have any idea what today holds for us. We need to embrace our weakness, and lean on God's strength. It is very easy to do when we are suffering, but how do we do this when things are going well?

This one goes out to Charlie Pannell

There are no words