Jesus for President

Ok. It was just a matter of time before I spoke my piece on politics. It’s an election year so this topic is important, even though it bores the average person to tears, mainly because the average person doesn’t vote. It’s a shame because it is the single most important thing we do as a free society. We get to choose who will be the head of the country. That’s a pretty special privilege.

I tend to vote on the conservative side, as most Christians do; especially ex-military Christians. I feel sorry for the Democrats this year because they’re screwed. They’re race isn’t really about a good candidate anymore. Their race is about “a first”. Will the first women be elected to the highest office in the land, or the first African American? Personally, I’d vote for Edwards if I swung that way because I don’t think Clinton or Obama will do a good job. Obama is too young, and Clinton just scares the begeebers out of me.

They’re both using their “hook” to try and win their party’s nomination. And the vote is going to be weird because women are going to vote for Clinton and African Americans will vote for Obama. So it’s going to depend on who the white males vote for that will swing the nomination, and it’s anyone’s guess at this point. They’re not as progressive as they let on, and I think if their only choice is to pick a woman or a black person, they will choose the black person because he’s a guy, and I don’t think they’re ready for a woman to run this country.

I’m not either to be honest. At least not that one. Not because I’m chauvinist or anything, but because I saw Clinton cry! She got stressed by the campaign and cried. Is this what we want happening every time there is a crisis in America? The election trail is nothing compared to serving in the Oval Office. The pressure is a hundred times worse and the last thing I want to see some day is the news reporting that the President had a piece of legislation voted down in the House, so she broke down and cried like a baby. And the next day the economy was reported to be down, so she cried again. And so on...

Anyway, this country has gone through a Bush in the White House, then a Clinton, then back to a Bush; I honestly don’t want it to go back to another Clinton. And besides, hasn’t that family shamed the office of the President enough already.

Give Credit where Credit is Due

The enemy has a pretty specific agenda, “…steal and kill and destroy.” John 10:10. This happens in a variety of ways, some our obvious, like war; but some are not so obvious, like debt.

I was traveling on business today and heard an ad on the radio from some company that wants you to bring in all of your credit card bills (must be $10,000 or more), and they’ll wipe out your debt. That’s right; just dump your debt; no harm, no foul.

This is very disturbing to me. It’s big business getting people into debt, and now there is an even bigger market for getting people out of it. We’ve created an economy that has convinced people that you need stuff, and you need it right now, so come on in and we’ll loan you the money. You can pay it off, really!

Wrong. The average American household carries over $14,000 in debt, including credit cards and car loans and retail store credit. That’s a lot. But it doesn’t stop there, entire cities are in debt. Montreal is still paying off their $2 billion debt from the Olympics they hosted over 28 years ago.

High interest rates ensure you won’t ever pay off credit cards. You run up the bucks on the card thinking you’ll work really hard to pay it off quickly. But then something unexpected happens: life. You get the monthly bill and you see the minimum due is only $50, so you start thinking that maybe instead of paying $100 like you promised yourself, you’ll just pay the minimum and use the other $50 to buy something else! Great plan, right?

What happens is that your debt never gets paid off, so you get more credit from a furniture store or from Home Depot. Suddenly you find you can’t afford to pay more than the minimum on each one, so you’re stuck trying to pay off the credit for 5-10 years.

So what do you do? Consolidation loan! What a brilliant idea! You can just put all of your debt on one, easy to pay loan and you’ll work hard to pay it off early! Right?

Wrong. You consolidate everything and then suddenly Christmas rolls around and you need more stuff, so you convince yourself that it’ll be ok to charge a little bit on your credit card. A month later you do it again, and again, and again until the card is maxed again. Now you’re stuck with a high interest credit card to pay off again, PLUS a consolidation loan.

It’s a never ending cycle, and what happens is that you work and work and work just to pay the minimum amount due. You can’t afford to do anything fun, like an occasional meal out, or a vacation, or anything. So you start getting stressed and that leads to fighting with your spouse and kids, which leads to a very unhappy home.

Game, set and match.

It’s easy to tell you not to get in debt, but it’s impossible to convince you not to do it. Don’t let the enemy win in your life. It’s not worth having everything “right now”, because you know what, it’ll still be there when you’ve saved up for it. Really.

“God, the enemy never sleeps and never stops in their assault on us. Luckily you don’t sleep or stop loving us. Thanks.”

Seeing Red

The Iowa Caucus was held yesterday, and it was interesting to see how the voting went. You could definitely see that Iowa is a conservative state. The winning Democrat only received 940 votes to win, while the Republican candidate received almost 40,000 from his party.

To understand that Iowa is a Republican state is to know what kind of people make up the Republican Party. What does it say that people who glean their living from the earth have such conservative views? It’s because they understand the relationship between the fruits of this earth and how they got there.

Conservatives tend to believe in God. Why? In order to be a farmer you have to trust that what you plant in the ground is going to grow. Farmers know it isn’t magic, they understand the cycle of life God has created.

They possess the key ingredient for having a relationship with God: Faith.

They spend their lives having faith that their crops will grow, and year after year they see it happen, so having faith is something they understand. It’s important because the only way to truly release yourself to the will of God is to have true faith, because you can’t see God. You can’t sit down and have coffee with Him, or send Him an e-mail. You have to have faith that he exists.

“God, thanks for teaching me how to trust and have faith. You’re the best teacher I’ve ever had. But don’t worry, I won’t bring you an apple.”

Welcome to 2008!

“Hi God, I just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year. I know it’s probably old-hat for you considering you’ve been here since, well, forever. I have no concept of what that’s like. Maybe when I get up there you could tell me how it was.

I’m excited about the New Year, and I appreciate you letting me stick around Earth to see it. If you have a minute, I’d like to talk to you about a few things.

I know the Bible says this world will continue to slowly spin out of control, so it doesn’t surprise me that the news is full of bad things. I still can’t help but pray for the things that I wish could be different though.

It’s an election year here. I can’t stand politics because of the way our two party system has degenerated into nothing more than a constant fight between two factions. It isn’t just a disagreement in ideals anymore; it’s pure, seething hatred for each other that has this country in complete political gridlock. The only thing that separates the Democrats and Republicans from the Shiites and Sunnis is that the Americans don’t blow themselves up.

There doesn't seem to be anything constructive getting done in Washington anymore because they’re spending their time trying to overtly disparage the opposite party. Even if they’re right the opposing party disagrees with them as a matter of course now.

So I pray for our government, God. Please help them see past their political hatred and do something that will be meaningful and helpful to this great country.

I also want to pray for our military. They’re a pawn in the political dealings of this country, so they don’t get a choice of whether they can be home or not. It’s a hazard of the job, but it’s one they gladly accept and I praise you for their undeniable bravery. Please be with them all as they continue to fight for freedom.

I also need your help with me. I can’t thank you enough for saving me 5 years ago, and I want to serve you with all I have to offer. Please continue to lead me. I promise to follow.

Thanks, and have a great year. Amen.”

A Shot at the Title

Adrian: Can I ask you a question?

Rocky: Absolutely.

Adrian: Why do you fight?

Rocky: Because I can’t sing or dance.

I watched the original Rocky movie yesterday. I hadn’t remembered it being so striking (no pun intended). The franchise produced 5 or 6 or 100 Rocky movies, I don’t remember. I got bored with them after a while because it was the same story placed in different circumstances, over and over and over. So for me, like most people, the Rocky movies became a caricature of the original and the greatness of the first film was lost in the sea of mediocre sequels.

The first movie was really great though. Sylvester Stallone actually wrote the movie himself and then convinced MGM to let him star in it. It was a brave move and one that paid off for them, garnering Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director in a year that also produced “All the president’s men” and “Taxi driver”. Not too shabby, huh?

The greatness of the film is in its story. The underdog. The nicest, sincerest guy you ever want to meet who’s had nothing but hard luck his whole life suddenly gets a shot at the heavyweight championship title. And although he ultimately loses the fight by decision, he showed the world that a nobody could be a somebody if he really tried hard. The “American dream”.

That was 30 years ago, and the message seems to have changed a bit these days. Now the American dream is getting what you want right now by grabbing easy cash loans and credit cards. It’s carrying a mortgage and 2 car payments that eat up most of your paycheck so there isn’t anything left to save. It’s working 50+ hours a week and not having a relationship with your spouse or children.

You have to ask yourself, is it worth it? The fact is, getting a “shot at the title” is defined by what you consider important. Is it fame and fortune? Or family and friends? What I have found is that being focused on making a career didn’t make life better for my family like it was supposed to. It only separated me from them and from the one thing that is most important: serving God.

My life feels much better now that I’ve identified what the source of true happiness is. I still work hard, but my focus is on my relationship with Christ, and my family. Work is just a means to get money to do God’s work. If I kept it I’d just blow it on stupid stuff anyway, like the complete Rocky library, and I already know how they all end… Rocky wins, and since I found Christ, so have I.

“God, don’t ever let me forget that all things come from you, and all that I have belongs to you. Amen.”