Thomas Sowell

I love reading Thomas Sowell. He is an amazingly smart man. Earlier this year he even sent me an autographed copy of his latest book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" after I contacted him concerning an e-mail I had sent another writer concerning affirmative action, amongst other things.

My main point had been that I grew up in a housing projects, the son of a single mother until she married when I was 7. My parents struggled to make ends meet for years and did not finally own a home until I was in my teens. Then I went to college with kids that grew up with far more privelege and options, but they walked away from school with zero debt while I am still saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in loans. Why? Because of skin color. Yes, I do feel discriminated against. Affirmative action sucks. How is that for eloquence?

Anyway. Enough of that. One of my favorite times to read Thomas Sowell is when he does his "random thoughts" columns, and he did one yesterday. I won' spoil the whole column for you, but here are a couple snippets I found especially enlightening:

The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society except their constant criticisms can feel both intellectually and morally superior.




"We are a nation of immigrants," we are constantly reminded. We are also a nation of people with ten fingers and ten toes. Does that mean that anyone who has ten fingers and ten toes should be welcomed and given American citizenship?

Brookers

Get ready America, you're about to be hit with something you never expected. If you've ever been to Youtube.com chances are you have an idea who "Brookers" is, and why I am bringing this up now.

Brookers is a 20 year old young woman from Massachusetts (who better be a Red Sox fan or my next blog about her will not be anywhere as nice) that makes these outrageously funny videos and posts them on Youtube. They are so good that she has become a cult figure on Youtube and is about to gain national notoriety. She can't say how, but I'm guessing she's about to sign with MTV (she says it's a TV company) and produce her own show. It should be great.

After watching her videos, especially this one:




I can't help but be touched by her and her story. I know my heart goes out to her because she and I share the pain of losing a parent, and whether you're 20 or closing in on 40, that loss never fully goes away. Add in the fact that I have a sister the same age and the reasons become even more obvious I guess.

This was the first Brookers video I ever saw, and I think you'll see right away why I kept looking for more of her stuff.


Good luck Brookers, and God bless. I'll be praying for you.

Game Winning Hit

Bottom of the seventh. Bases Loaded. Two outs.

Is there any more pressure packed situation in all of sports? Perhaps lining up for a game winning/tying field goal comes close, but the guys that are trying to stop you don't normally play that big of a part in the sucess or failure. Either the kicker is true or he chokes.

So there I was Monday night, my team down by a run and the game on the line. Adding to the pressure was the fact that I booted an easy line drive in the sixth inning which led to a run. The run we were now losing by.

When we came in to bat that inning I just had this feeling that I was going to come up to bat with the game on the line. It wasn't a hope really, somehow I just knew that it was going to happen. Don't get me wrong, coaching third base through 8 batters was excruciating. I was spared no angst at all. Then when I was standing in the batters box watching our Associate Pastor bat, I kept thinking to myself "Okay Pastor David, I know I can do this---but if you want to get the hit and be the hero, that's fine with me too."

The funny thing is that he told me later that he was in the batters box thinking that if he could draw a walk then that was what he was going to do because he knew I could get the hit and he hadn't hit the ball well that night.

I knew I could do it. That's what I kept thinking about. It's softball. The guy tosses you the ball underhand. I've been doing it for more than 25 years. Still, there's always the chance that someboy will make a great play.

But they didn't.

I walked to the box and I looked out at the pitcher and I literally saw fear in his eyes. It was a tough inning for him, he was having a hard time finding the plate and we had some calls go our way finally after having them go against us all game long. I felt compassion for him, I really did.

His first pitch was about shoulder high and I just smacked it solidly into center field. There was never any doubt after that. Our fastest two runners were on second and third and they each scored easily. As i rounded first base and looked out towards center field I felt...nothing really.

I was happy that we had won, and I could hear the guys going crazy, but I was just somewhere else at that moment. I also had been so sure that I could get the job done that the fact that I had done it didn't come as much of a surprise to me. I was prepared for the job.

Almost immediately the contrast between this year and last year hit me. Actually, it's more like the contrast between this year and all of the years that have come before it. Last year our team struggled to what I think was a 5-9 record, and as the story goes, I nearly died halfway through the season. I never felt comfortable as a coach. I always felt like a fraud because my personal life and my testimony were in shambles.

This year all that is changed. This year I still have the same emotional aches and pains that I have always have, but I have a commitment to God to be obedient, a faith that He is in control of my life and most impotantly a trust that He loves me and cares for me. This year, as on Monday night, when I "walk to the plate" I am prepared to succeed. When God lines me up in the batters box with the game on the line, He and I both know that I can get the job done.

I can't tell you what kind of peace that brings to my life. I can't begin to explain what a comfort it is that he is watching over my life every day. Finally, I wish that you would all know the joy that I know because one day this world will all go away and a new perfect world will take it's place. One day I will spend all of my time with Jesus, and because God is love, I will never know better moments that those.

Open The Eyes of My Heart

Here is the a live recording of Steve and I from Sunday mornings worship service. God bless

Get Your Thumb Out of My Eye: Are we allowed to be wrong?

Get Your Thumb Out of My Eye: Are we allowed to be wrong?

This is a great blog piece written by a friend of mine. He is so astute and well thought out that I never fail to be impressed by his lines of reasoning.

Ready to go

Sometimes I'm just ready to go. Sometimes I'm just all set with the people in this world, the lack of feeling and compassion, my own shortcomings, pain, cruelty, war, strife, spite, rude behavior, lust, work, television, my own shortcomings....man I just raise my voice to heaven sometimes and let God know, "Now is fine with me. If you were thinking of coming back today, I'm ready to come home now."

I had one of those moments last week when I was in Las Vegas for a trade show. Uh-oh, I can feel myself getting off track here. Okay, so I had to go to Las Vegas for this trade show, and the reaction from some of my Christian friends was just hilarious. You might have thought I had renounced Christ as my savior and taken up shamanism based on some reactions I got. So here's just a little tidbit of information....I don't need to go to Las Vegas to sin. There is nothing in Las Vegas that I can't get right here in the comfort of my own home...well, other than 100 degree temperatures in May I guess.

Let me put it to you this way. When I was in college I spoke with a number of Elementary Education majors that told me that they hoped to be able to graduate and find positions with good Christian Schools. When I asked why they wouldn't want to teach in public schools, they said that the "situation was too difficult."

So what good are you then?

Don't get me wrong, I know that we need to have good teachers in our Christian schools.....but what about that unsaved kid in public school. Doesn't he need an example too?

So yeah, I went to Las Vegas, and when I walked up and down the strip at night and the Mexican gentlemen tried to get me to take their pornographic paraphenalia, I said "I'll pray for you." When they said "No se'." I said "Rogaré para usted." and smiled. Okay, I'm not that good with Spanish anymore, I confess to having to Google that.

So, don't they need Christians in Las Vegas?



So I'm walking through the Casino (which is a little redundant, because basically when you are in Las Vegas you will always be walking through the casino....or a buffet) when I saw this couple walking along. The husband was walking along in front as the wife brought up the rear. walking alonside her was what I assumed was their son, who was mentally retarded.

A couple of thoughts went through my head. The first was the thought I usually get when I see someone like this, and I also used to get when I worked in the Human Services field with all sorts of emotionally and mentally impaired populations by the way. Whenever I see someone like that, I usually get this wave of compassion that rides over me and I think to myself "I'm ready to go God."

I used to work with a guy I'll call John. John suffered from extreme Muscular Dystrophy and had a hard time with even the most basic of human functions. However, although John suffered from this physical impairment, he did have all of his mental facilities. I will never forget the night that I was tansferring him from his wheelchair to his bed and I decided that I was going to share the Gospel with him. I asked him the important questions about believing in Jesus as his Savior and was delighted to find out that John was already saved.

What sticks out in my mind most of all though was the emotion in his eyes as he stammered out "No more wheelchair," as best he could. We shared a moment then that exploded with emotion as I lifted him out of his chair and changed him from jeans and a shirt to his pajamas. Both of us had tears in our eyes as we considered the fact that one day John would be free of this body that trapped him.

And that's the thought process that goes through my head whenever I see someone afflicted like that, or mentally or emotionally challenged....man, I'm just ready to go home to heaven sometimes, so that the corruption of my sinful nature will be forever removed from this world.

It hit me especially hard in Las Vegas, because the impact was twofold. First, there was the reaction that I just described, but I also had another deeper emotional pang as well. As I looked at this young man, I could see him looking around almost in sheer terror and clutching at his mothers arm as he took all of that casino in. The lights, the weird noises, the smoke, the diabolical laughter and people of all shapes and sizes....it's overwhelming no matter what state you are in, and this poor young man was simply petrified.

I got angry then, really angry. I was furious that this couple would be so intent on satiating their vices that they would drag this young man with them to Las Vegas. I started to think even more about some of the couples that I had seen that had made a "family vacation" out of a trip to Las Vegas and had brought their young children, or even thier teens with them. Las Vegas is no place for adults, never mind children.

I just got so frustrated. I couldn't believe these people just didn't get it. I walked through that casino and I looked evidence of every kind of debauchery imaginable, all of it built on the love of money....and I just got sad. I didn't want to be here anymore. I wasn't suicidal, that's not what I'm saying. I was just all done with the world and the way it is. I know that 90% of the 90% of people that call themselves Christians in this country aren't, and I was really feeling some despair as I walked through that place and thought about what a terrible choice these people had made.

I wished that I could grab them all, one at a time, give them a good shake and try to wake them up to what is of real importance in this life. I knew most of them wouldn't get it though, and that made me even more sad.

And then it hit me.

This had to be what it was like for Jesus.

I mean, sometimes I'm one of those people that needs to be shaken. I only have the vaguest understanding of what Heaven is going to be like. I have what amounts to a childs understanding of the nature of God, the trinity, Jesus.

But Jesus knew it all.

How heavy was his heart as He walked amongst men and watched them make poor decision after poor decision? How much did it slay him when he saw an innocent taken advantage of? How did he go on when he saw injustice and greed and evil and the grim heart of sinful man around him every day? How could this perfect, loving, compassionate man stand it at all?

How can He love me?

Did Jesus Imply He Sinned

Okay, I haven't had the time to post here recently. I have one post that is still in the draft stages because I haven't had the time to finish it, and another about some stuff that happened in Las Vegas which is still in "brain-draft" status because I haven't had the time to start it. I promise (his voice echoed through the empty room) that I will get to both of those in the very near future. For now, here is a short "conversation" I had regarding a question someone had about a passage of Scripture.

Quote:

"Let the one of you who is sinless be the first one to cast a stone at her. Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?
Neither do I condemn you."

Question:

Isn't Jesus implying that he has sinned at some time in his life?

Answer:

Not at all, although I do understand why you could ask this question and it is a very good one. I see your thought process as being that:

A. Since only a person without sin should cast a stone

and

B. Since Jesus was not going to cast a stone

that

C. Jesus is then saying that he has sinned.

The problem with that reasoning is that Jesus doesn't say why He isn't going to cast a stone, He just says that He won't do it. Whether you believe in His deity or not, there are many logical reasons for Him not to cast a stone.

Most importantly, He wasn't the one that wanted her stoned in the first place. Of course maybe there were no rocks near Him and He simply didn't feel like walking to where there were rocks and lugging them all back to where the woman was (provided she stayed where she was) and then throwing all the rocks (because nobody without sin could throw a rock) until she was dead. Okay, that's a little silly, but do you get my point?

I believe His refusal to cast a stone is consistent with what He had to say about Himself in the second part of Mark 2:17:

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

It certainly wouldn't seem to make a lot of sense for Him to start casting stones at the very people He claimed to have come to minister to.

Hope that helps!

What would you choose?

Okay, so I know I'm going to take some flack from some people for admitting this, but I was driving to work today and I was listening to Nancy Leigh Demoss. Go ahead and snicker, I can take it, yes I did get up on the effiminate side of the bed this morning.

Actually, Revive Our Hearts comes on for 15 minutes after Erwin Lutzer does 15 minutes, so I listen to her when I can take it. Frankly, sometimes she starts talking about being patient with your husband and how a Godly wife should act and, being divorced, it starts working at some scabs.

You know, I didn't intend to blog about this, but I'm going to bring it up anyway. Actually, it will be a good way to segue into what I originally logged on to blog about. Anyway, you know, being a Christian doesn't solve all of your problems. I mean, the easiest way to illustrate what I am talking about is to point out that a prisoner that accepts Christ as their savior is still in prison..... it's just that he's free. Get it?

So, I am divorced, but just because I lean on God and find peace and shelter in His presence doesn't mean that some days I don't still cry. God isn't some miracle oil that just takes away all of our hurts and makes us shiny happy people. Oh, sometimes He does, but make no mistake about it, storms will come again, and there will even be times when God will not seem to be there when you reach out. Those are refining and testing times, and because we can never achieve perfection, we will be refined and tested until the day that we die. The ironic thing is that it isn't because God is a big meanie, it's actually because that is how much he loves us.

And that leads me up to what I originally intended to write about today. I was driving to work and listening to Nancy Leigh Demoss and she repeated something that she had heard that stopped me in my tracks. I immediately called my voice mail and repeated it just so that I wouldn't forget what it was. She was talking about our lives and the choices that God makes for them and she said:

"God's choices for our life are exactly what we would choose if we knew what God knows."

How deep is that?

That just brought me a lot of peace this morning. I trust God, and I hope you do too, but I have to admit, some days I'm looking up at the sky asking, "Um yeah, okay God, just how exactly does this fit into that plan for a hope and a future??"

Well, I don't know what God knows, which makes it frighteningly silly and incredibly arrogant for me to be asking that question of him. Still, I'll ask it again I am sure.

The point is that we need to remember who God is when we're in the midst of a storm and try to understand that what we are suffering through may be the event that eventually leads us to turning a significant corner or taking a step we have long struggled with in our walks with Christ.

I've been through a lot, and this quote means so much to me because I can attest that the principle it suggests is true. I don't like being divorced, but I can honestly tell you that I am happy that it happened. God has never had my attention like He has had it for the last couple of yearsand it's because I had to depend on Him to get me through that.

Christ Lives...it's only logical.

I had to go and find this quote from Ronald Reagan so I could post it here today. So many people want to label Jesus as anything but what He was, God with us. Call Him whatever you may like, but He was not a prophet or a madman, He was the Son of God, come to earth to die for our sins so that we may know peace and joy throughout eternity with our Father, our Lord, our Friend in Heaven.

"Meaning no disrespect to the religious convictions of others, I still can't help wondering how we can explain away what to me is the greatest miracle of all and which is recorded in history. No one denies there was such a man, that he lived and that he was put to death by crucifixion. Where...is the miracle I spoke of? Well consider this and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- possibly to your own hometown.

A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. One day he puts down his tools and walks out of his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He never gets farther than an area perhaps 100 miles wide at the most. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted. There is no court of appeal, so he is executed at age 33 along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb.

End of story? No, this uneducated, propertyless young man who...left no written word has, for 2,000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors; all the conquerors, generals and admirals; all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that? ...[U]nless he really was what he said he was." --Ronald Reagan

The Gospel of Judas??? Come on!

It's not that I have nothing to write about lately, it's just that I don't have the time to write it! I'm being a very good steward with my time, but there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day lately.

Still, I couldn't pass this one up. Supposedly, a manuscript of the Gospel of Judas has been found somewhere in Egypt. This "gospel" tells a far different story of the man than that depicted in the Biblical Gospels. Amongst other things, in this work Judas is a heroic figure. But I'm not writing today to talk about that.

What gets me is that some people that were already enraptured by this story are now going to feel as if they have been somehow vindicated. That's like saying because I found an original notebook of one of the Brother's Grimm that all those fairy tales must be true.

Listen, before this gets any further, there is ONE piece of manuscript evidence for the gospel of Judas. There are over 5,000 pieces of manuscript evidence for the Bible. There is no book in history that is so widely substantiated. The Bible is the word of God. That's it, it's His book, those are all the instructions you need. Judas was a thief and he betrayed Christ to death.

I just needed to get that off of my chest. Please return to your normally scheduled Sunday.