Monday, November 29, 2004

Whirlwind

Jenn and I are back in Arkansas after our very quick trip to Colorado. Fortunately we did not get caught up in the storm that hit Colorado yesterday.

Thanksgiving was good. It was nice to be with my family, and it was nice to be back in Colorado, even for a brief moment.

It is raining right now. It makes the mood around this place seem even damper.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Overtaken by Darkness

From the Northwest Arkansas Times, "Search and Rescue Buoyed by Volunteers": "'If you have a cell phone and you’re in a situation where you need help, call us. Don’t be embarrassed to call,' said Luther. On Saturday night, a team found two lost hikers and their dog at Lake Wedington who were overtaken by darkness while in the woods. They used their cell phone to call 911."
(I added the part in italics).

Jenn and I had a spiritual experience on Saturday. We were lost, but not afraid. But we were lost for a reason, and I firmly believe it was not just because we failed to take our usual flashlight, waterbottles, and daypack with us. As soon as we realized we were lost, we knew that their was a reason and that we were going to get back home safe and sound. While I do believe we are in control of our own lives, I also think that sometimes during our journey God forces us to stop and examine the situation. He does not force us to go a certain way, rather He throws up a roadblock and forces us to make a choice. I am very glad we encountered this particular roadblock.



Friday, November 19, 2004

4oz. to Freedom

Today has been a pretty awful day. It started out awful and it still is not doing to hot. When I got to work today (a little later than usual) I tried to use a quad shot mocha to lift me up. It had that effect for the first couple hours of the day, but as noon came around I was ready for my head to be lifted off my keyboard.

I should be working…I should be working on a project for one of my classes…I should honestly not be sitting here right now because I feel like absolute crap. I’d rather not get into my reasons for feeling this way, but I do.

I need a break from work. I’ve gotten to the point where I will go for 15-30 minutes at a time and just sit and stare blankly at the computer screen. I’ve been working 50-60 hours each week since I began this job. I like the job, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been working too much and it is finally catching up to me.

I don’t want to complain about my life, that’s not the person I am.

Friday, November 12, 2004

For a reader
See comments under Blahs for a little background info.

I am employed full-time and I am a full-time graduate student and I pay for my education. I have worked and lived off minimum wage (and slightly above minimum wage) jobs. I have struggled financially. Am I naïve and narrow minded? Well, I think I can be naïve on certain things, but I don’t think this is necessarily one of them.

First, my point in the post you commented about is creating policies on ones faith. If GW Bush is so faithful and he advocates laws based on the Bible, maybe some laws helping out the poor would be a good measure in creating a sort of Biblical consistency.

Second, I do know some teenagers working minimum wage jobs. I also know other people working minimum wage (or slightly over) who are raising kids, paying for college, or working with a college degree. I currently live in an area of the country that is experiencing more of an economic boom than other areas. However, my girlfriend is working in a low paying job, without any health benefits, and she has a college degree. I also know other folks who are working for the World’s Largest Corporation who have to work two jobs to stay a float. Yes, some of this could be due to poor financial management skills, but some of it is due to the lack of a living wage. I don’t know if you are aware of the idea of a living wage, so here are a few links about it.

Resources on the “living wage”:

From the Economic Policy Institute, Living Wage Issue Guide

From Responsible Wealth, Business Leaders and Investors for a Living Wage

I am pretty confident that if a living wage were instated (based upon the factors of each individual municipality) we would have more people working, more people staying at their jobs (because they are happy) and more efficiency in the work place. Part of the reason I left a job is because I was making too little to live off of, and I was working too much for the amount of money. Fortunately I had a little help from my parents to stay afloat, but I am lucky. I know many people who are not so lucky. If you happen to live in an area that has a tourist based economy, or generally has a very high cost of living (like California, NY, etc) you may understand this. I lived and worked in a town with a tourist based economy. The minimum wage jobs did not pay for rent. The minimum wage jobs (mind you, I knew people with Master’s degrees who had to work these jobs) did not pay for food. Most people had 2 jobs. These are people with kids, they are not just teenagers.

I think Joe made some great points in the comments and I don’t need to go over them. However, I will say that until the USA can become a place where everyone at least has an opportunity to get a better job or get an education we cannot be a place where true capitalism or even the bastard capitalism we have, can exist. If you think that everyone has the opportunity take a trip to the Mississippi Delta, or to Shiprock, New Mexico, or to downtown Baltimore and then tell me that all those people you see have the same opportunities as the kids growing up in suburbia. If they have the same opportunities to advance, then maybe, just maybe capitalism could work and be the best for all people.

Oh yeah, check out this information on Fair Trade. This is the way the USA should model its trading. If we cannot pay a livable wage to the citizens of our own country, at least maybe we can help those in other countries earn a living wage.

Resources on Fair Trade:

From the Fair Trade Resource Network, Fair Trade
Free Market Jesus

Maybe I’ve been missing something about Christianity. I understand that the Old Testament came before the New Testament. I also understand that the Old Testament prophesized the coming of Christ, rather Christ fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies. However, my big concern is what we as Christians must believe as the most important. Do the actual words of Jesus Christ mean more or less to us than say the laws in Leviticus in the Old Testament? I would think that the actual words of Jesus would carry more weight since He is our savior. We are supposed to be following Him. That is not to say that what is in the Old Testament is not important or even necessary for us to follow, but shouldn’t we be putting the words and actions of Jesus Christ first? If we talk about being like Jesus, shouldn’t we pay attention to what Jesus actually said and did?


Constantly throughout the Book of Matthew in the Bible Jesus is shown as healing people. Jesus does not go to heal those who are wealthy; he heals all those in need. I would think a person who is striving to be like Jesus would work for all people, not the people who have money.

Jesus comments on Prayer during his Sermon on Mount as found in Matthew 6:

“5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth; they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “

Now I am no theologian, but it seems to me that Jesus is saying that it is better to pray in private. It is better to speak your needs in private. It is also better to keep our prayers to the point, for God already knows what we need.

On a similar note in Matthew 6 Jesus says:
1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven… 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. “

It seems to me that our most sincere acts of faith should not be placed upon a pedestal for all to admire (or for us to brag about). Rather, we perform acts of faith with the knowledge that our reward is in Heaven. To me this would mean that one would be acting as a hypocrite to go around telling everyone how faithful they are.

In my last post I briefly touched on the economics of Jesus. I don’t think Jesus was a capitalist, and I am pretty sure He was not a communist, since neither of those two ideas existed at that time. However, in the Sermon on Mount Jesus does talk a lot about the poor, and helping the poor. He also heals people, all kinds of people. Maybe I missed it, but Jesus does not check to see if the people He heals have health insurance. He goes right ahead and takes care of them. All He asks for in return is that they know Him. I don’t think a hospital would treat someone without health insurance like Jesus did. Jesus also feeds thousands of people without worrying about the cost. He just does it. I do think if we in the USA are going to base our policies on faith, shouldn’t we be treating or healing all people regardless of what they have to give in return? I am not arguing for a specific point of view exactly, but what I am saying is that for the benefit and desire for consistency, our President GW Bush should use his same “faith” based thinking and offer health care to all, and be willing to feed others without asking for anything in return.

Here is a little ditty about Supply Side Jesus from Beliefnet, Supply Side Jesus

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Blahs

Finally after a week the post-election depression is slowly lifting. I am now trying to concentrate my energy towards work (when I am at work, not when I am away), to school and most importantly to my personal life and health because I have been neglecting both of them recently.

Although while walking through an unnamed wholesale store owned by the World's Largest Corporation Jenn and I kept noticing items about the "faith" of GW Bush. Once again I will not say whether or not he has devouted his life and heart to Jesus, but I will say that the only outward show of faith of the man is his constantly talking about faith. He does not show his faith. He does not work for the people, rather he works for big business. He does not fight for the poor and stricken. He fights for the people with money. He does not offer his assistance to those who need it, rather he offers it to Halliburton and the wealthy of the world. He jokes about not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when at least 6 American Soldiers lost their lives today in Iraq where no weapons have been found. He argues for the sanctity of marriage when millions of people cannot afford health insurance, let alone the costs of a wedding. He argues for the sanctity of life (anti-abortion), when millions cannot afford to feed their children or themselves. He argues for decreasing taxes on the wealthy, when the minimum wage is far from livable.

He may have faith, but I sure don't see it. I know Jesus would not turn his back on these people. Jesus would be there in the streets feeding people both physically and spiritually. Jesus would be lobbying for churches to help the poor...not for churches to vote for him because he believes in the "sanctity of life" and "sanctity of marriage".

We may ask "what would Jesus do?" but we cannot ask that question witout figuring out "where did Jesus go?".



Thursday, November 04, 2004

The Aftermath

Like the rest of the "godless liberals" out there I am slightly down after Tuesday. I've talked about it with Jenn and with my brother and my parents. But it still just does not feel right. The last time I was this down with an election was after my first real campaign volunteering experience. I was young (16) and idealistic. I believed a moderate democrat could become the first Democratic congressperson of my suburban congressional district. We lost, by a lot. At least that year we got the good news of a second term for a U.S. President I favored.



Anyway...this article from Alternet.org says it all The Unbearable Darkness of Being

and don't believe the hype about the youth vote being the same as 2000. We kicked butt this time. Check out Peter Levine's post about youth turnout: Youth turnout was huge


Life goes on...

Oh yeah, that whole "godless liberal" thing. Its a joke. Our wonderful "liberal media" and blog world insist that because morals and values were the big issue in this election that no "true" Christian could have voted for Kerry. I guess those "true" Christians know exactly what is written on my heart, eh?

Monday, November 01, 2004

VOTE!!!!

VOTE!
VOTE!!
VOTE!!!
VOTE!!!!
VOTE!!!
VOTE!!
VOTE!

I just voted, and it felt really good. And it is free. Go on, you know you wanna.

Check out Jen's reasons to vote at Blogs4God