Thanksgiving

There's a reason that I haven't blogged in a bit, been in a spiritual funk. There are some things happening around me that have and are absolutely breaking my heart. I have a dear friend peddling at the table of the Enemy and I have to let him go. I don't want to, i care so deeply for him, but I cannot affirm the choices. I have spent a lot of time being very angry and feeling betrayed, but not tonight. Tonight I weep. Tonight I long for a turning in his heart. Tonight I want Easter Sunday but all I have is the darkness of a cross. I pray for him with all my soul and it hurts.

Tomorrow morning I will run the Thanksgiving Day 10k race in downtown Cincy for the 4th year in a row. Well, run is a bit of a stretch, I will run/walk. I am trained for perhaps 2.5 miles, but not 6.2 so it will be a total push and have to walk out the distance. I do it 1) to earn my turkey and 2) to remember losses in my life. My niece who passed 3 years ago, my brothers in Christ I lost to death, my brothers in life who have turned from Christ to the table of the enemy, I grieve all of them. I don't just grieve though, I also receive grace upon myself and I receive hope that for every brother lost to the enemy that I will pray for and go after 10 more for the Kingdom of God. I am very sad this year but I look forward to a time of painful reflection.

Give thanks in the light and give thanks in the dark, his mercies are new every morning. I've been beaten down but I don't accept defeat. Resurrection is always shining through. In loss there is always gain somewhere. May the Glory of his Grace fall upon us and make us whole. Don't give up on us, God! May your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

peace to your times of giving thanks and remember my friends, don't ever give up.

Time to unplug

The suburban world of much and many, the dehumanizing tasks of working for the "man", the artificial realities of a modern world with many promises but few results . . . it just ain't what it's cracked up to be.

I can't wait to leave in the morning and unplug for the weekend. Going camping out in the wet, cold, rain, snow & wind with some very good friends and I don't care about the weather, I just want to be unplugged. I want the pace to slow down, the agenda to be reduced and the sights and smells to improve. Working in an office is degenerate to the soul at times. The rat race we call life is just a vapor, I want the outside air to clear the stench.

I will be camping with fellows bros of our lost brothers, Mark Palmer and Chad Canipe. I still often reflect on them and their absence now from this life. And I can't help but hear Solomon speaking:

Wisdom Is Meaningless
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
15 What is twisted cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.

22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.
24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

This life, this work, this race . . . it's all just a vapor. Take time to unplug and remember what really matters. What you learn when you do, is that the list is shorter than you thought, but sweeter than you thought.

peace,

I voted Libertarian

Warning: Overtly political blog opinion follows



I think the 2 party system is a fallacy and uniquely broken in all the right ways for those in power to remain in power and control. Democrats are not much different than Republicans and vice versa. Look at the way they united over the bailout plan for the credit crisis. Neither side had a unique idea or antithetical thought, they were in bed with the present broken system and philosophy and therefore perpetuated it.

Keep the people blind. Let me go conspiracy theory on you. I would go as far as to say that the false dichotomy between these 2 parties is just a distraction for the masses so that they don't raise real questions about how far we have strayed from our constitution. If the people knew, we'd have another Boston Tea Party and King George and his pundits can't have that.

Here's the Nolan Chart just to see it visually:


There is no perfect system nor party, therefore I vote for smaller system and smaller party and more freedom for the citizen to be a competent and responsible individual. I want the gov't to build roads, provide military defense and protect state and national parks. Other than that, keep their greedy incompetent hands to themselves.

Ok, rant over (probably not, but that for now).

peace,