And That's The Truth

Things like that happen in basketball sometimes...

2008-07-22T23:54:00.006-04:00

First, I am kinda shocked that a fight breaks out in a WNBA game. It is not that I do not think that women could or would fight, but at the same time, I feel that women are less physical than men are and would find some other devious way to get back at each other than fighting. I have never watched a complete WNBA game because it bores me, but really, the only basketball I watch anymore is the NCAA Tournament and maybe some NBA playoffs. Who wants to watch 9 people stand around while one person throws up a crazy shot that he gets called amazing for it if it goes in and has a good night if he goes 8-24 and scores 25 points?

The worst thing about the fight that happened in the game between the LA Sparks and Detroit Shock is the comments of players after the game.

DeLisha Milton-Jones shoved and punched Mahorn after the incident with Leslie, and was ejected, along with Mahorn, Parker and Pierson. Nolan and Shannon Bobbitt received technicals.
“That was unfortunate, but things like that happen in basketball sometimes,” Milton-Jones said. “The league is going to have to decide what kind of action to take.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/recap?gid=20080722010&prov=ap

No Delisha, things like that do not happen in basketball games sometimes. Fighting is not part of the basketball game. Naismith never planned on having people fight when they were trying to shoot a ball through a peach basket. Nowhere in the rules is fighting allowed and if players are ejected for fighting then the rules must say that fighting is not something that is supposed to happen in basketball games. It does not happen sometimes. It happens when people lose self-control and become prideful. Fighting happens when somebody decides to impose his or her will on another person.

I understand people get mad and people foul hard, but is fighting really the answer. Whatever happened to if you foul me hard I will be sure to score on you next time down the court? Fighting becomes the answer when players have more confidence in their ability to physically harm somebody than they do in their basketball skills. If you want to prove your fighting skills, join a boxing league or ultimate fighter and leave basketball to people who want to prove their skills in running, dribbling, shooting and passing.

Loneliness

2008-07-06T14:17:00.001-04:00

The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God. – Mother Theresa, A Simple Path p.79

I cannot shake this quote from my head. This Fourth of July weekend I spent a couple of hours visiting an elderly couple who are members of my church. A man named Harry and his wife Ellen. I am not sure exactly what is wrong with Harry, perhaps it is only old age, but he cannot walk by himself. He has a walker with wheels that he uses to help him move around. He cannot be left alone because he might fall and injure himself or not be able to stand back up. Ellen moves around just fine and likes to get out and go places, but she very seldom gets the chance because she has to watch Harry.

I told her that I would come over and spend some time with Harry so she could get out and run some errands. I had a good time. Harry and I talked about some minor things and then we turned on the TV and watched This Old House. When Ellen came back from running some errands, we had some pineapple cake. It was good stuff.

One of the errands that Ellen did while she was out was to go by the bookstore and pick out some new books for her to read. I asked her if she liked to read and her response was, ‘yeah, it passes the time and takes my mind off of other things.’ My heart broke when she said that. Harry would probably be best off in an assisted living facility, but Ellen is nowhere near that state and I cannot imagine her sending him to a place apart from her. Ellen has a daughter and she visits every now and then, but they could definitely use more attention. Harry has children that live in Tennessee but he said he never sees them. His grandchildren are my age and they are off and about busy making their own lives.

So Harry and Ellen, in the midst of a big city, live in a world of loneliness. How many people are dying to have somebody to talk to, somebody to spend time with, somebody to listen and care and somebody to just be there? I imagine there are many. I do not claim to do well. My grandmother does all right, but I do not call her near enough. Perhaps once a month I have contact with her. Shame on me.

Perhaps the greatest disease is not loneliness it is selfishness or worse yet, independence. The idea that I can live totally separated from the world around me and be just fine causes me to forget that others need me. Independence, selfishness, busyness, become detrimental to my soul and to the lives of others.

It is Not to Make it Better

2008-06-11T02:37:00.001-04:00

He [Rich Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National
Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella organization for evangelical churches
and ministries] said he told Obama: "Religious Americans want to know why is it
you love this country and what it stands for and how we can make it better."

Full article found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_el_pr/obama_religion

It sounds like Rich Cizik thinks that the goal of Christians in America is to make America better. While this might not sound terribly wrong and I am sure many people agree with the idea, I think Cizik and the Religious Americans he represents have misunderstood the message of Christ. The end goal of Christians is not to make America better. If that were the case, the church would merely be another civic organization. It would be no more than the boy scouts, Kiwanis, or any other social systems improving organization.

The goal of Christians in America should not be a better America. The goal should be that God’ kingdom would come and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Granted in the process of this happening, I believe that not only America but also all other nations will be better; however, the end goal is not one nation in itself, but rather the world. Moreover, the goal is not to make the world better but to be an agent of transformation in the world and to play a part in the reconciliation of the world back to God.

Asking the question how Religious Americans can make the country better is ridiculous. If you say you are a Christian, you should know how you could make this country better. That is by doing what the Lord requires of you: do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). Or you can feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison, love your enemy, love your neighbor, bless those who persecute you, take care of the widow and orphan, welcome the sojourner, live in harmony with one another, etc…

Doubt in Christianity

2008-05-24T22:55:00.001-04:00

The greatest cause of doubt in my life is the lack of effort on the part of people who say they follow God. If people truly believe in a God that loves the world and wants to be in relationship with the world and a God that says to go make disciples of all nations. If we really believed in a God on whom believing in effected eternity, I would think that more people who said they believed in God would care a little bit more. If I had the greatest news the world has ever known, would I not be more inclined to share that.

I do not feel that I doubt God; rather I doubt how a God so powerful and so amazing could be so taken for granted. If God created the world and everything in it, how is this God so easily ignored? I do not think I would be so troubled about belief in God if people who actually said they believed in God acted as if it had the slightest impact on their lives other than a measly hour that they give on Sunday or Saturday or whenever.

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. — Brennan Manning

I think it is hard for people who believe to keep believing. I am not an example nor could I even attempt to be a complete example of what it means to truly follow Christ, however, finding some cause for hope could be helpful. I know there are many great organizations and people around the world to look at for good examples of what it means to follow Christ, but I struggle when I examine the general church body. Do we really have faith or are we just covering our bases?

Perhaps its fear that causes me not to share. Fear of what others might think of me. It is the fear that I might seem crazy or out of the loop or not part of the norm within society. But surely I should have the boldness that I am not redeemed by the evaluation of my peers but by my hope in the cross of Christ. Whom shall I fear is not that others might harm me, but that the opinions of others should not worry me. (Psalm 27:1) ‘The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?’

On Immigration

2008-05-06T13:52:00.003-04:00

Inscribed in the Statue of Liberty is this phrase from the poem “New Colossus.”

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost, to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

This makes it seem as though we want people to come to the United States. It makes it sound as if we don’t just want rich people, instead it makes it seem as though the people that we are telling to come here are the lowest of the low, the poorest of the poor. We are asking for the wretched refuse of other countries to come here. In the early 1800’s America was a nation of hope for many. It was a place that said it will provide opportunity for those who had no opportunity in their home country. Those homeless in other countries could find a home here.

Fast forward almost 200 years and we see an America that is building walls on its boarders and patrolling them with guns so that the tired, poor, wretched masses that are yearning to breathe free cannot enter this country. It sounds like quite a contradiction to have a wall on one border and a bold statement like the Statue of Liberty in a harbor on the other side of the country.

Perhaps we should look to our history to figure out what we should do about immigration. Maybe we need to remember that as a nation we once said that we would welcome all comers and especially welcome the tired and the poor and the wretched.

War Pigs

2008-04-20T23:55:00.004-04:00

"I guess it's all-out war for anybody but him," Rice said. "I guess that's the
message; his followers can go to their deaths and he's in Iran."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_re_mi_ea/rice;_ylt=AikalUbqs98TK6A7KZLFeolBXYh4)

Is that only the message of Muqtada al-Sadr? I don’t see Condy or Bush grabbing their guns to go fight in the streets of Baghdad. It seems as though it is the message of the American leaders as well. If Bush is too important to go fight in Iraq than why would al-Sadr not be too important to his Mahdi army to go fight in Iraq. Heaven forbid that our enemy fight the same way that we do. What are they thinking? Don’t they know that they have a different set of rules to follow.

We are the good guys remember. They are the bad guys. It is only cheating or cowardice if they do it. It is bravery and courage when we do it. This is nothing against people who are over their fighting, rather, it is against those who sent them over there to fight and then set around in their million dollar homes. I bet we would have a lot less war in the world if the people who actually started the wars had to participate in them.

Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor
(from Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”)

Right to Bear Arms

2008-04-20T23:29:00.005-04:00

"But clearly, the prime minister has laid down some ground rules which any
functioning democratic state would insist upon, having to do with, you know,
arms belonging to the state, not to -- not in private hands," she
said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080420/wl_mcclatchy/2915454

This is pretty interesting if you ask me. It seems that a comment like this should have the NRA up in arms, excuse my pun. Any functioning democratic state could probably refer to the US though I’m not sure everybody would agree it’s functioning. If that is the case that means that we should have some form of gun control here in the US. I am not necessarily calling for that, but it sounds like Condy definitely thinks it is appropriate. Arms do not belong in private hands. At least not in a functioning democratic state.

Some people might want to argue that it is a different scenario since she is talking about Iraq. But she doesn’t say that these are good ground rules for Iraq. She says these are ground rules for any functioning democratic state. How can you be okay with a constitutional right to bear arms in one democratic nation, but in another democratic nation you think that arms belong to the state and not in private hands? It is definitely a double standard and definitely an example of Condy trying to speak out of both sides of her mouth.

Too Busy

2008-04-17T00:06:00.000-04:00

It’s been a long time; I shouldn’t have left you, without a dope blog to step to. Step to. Step to. Step to… For curious minds check out Timbaland and Aaliyah. Anyways, it has been quite some time since I have written. That does not mean that I have not had plenty of things to write about, on the contrary, I have found myself too busy to write things down. TOO BUSY. What a horrible problem. It seems that in some ways I have bought into this performance driven, activity obsessed, production gripped, value based on what you can do for me, capitalist society. I see busyness as becoming the biggest problem to grip America. And why are people so busy? Because in this society, people have no value of their own. My value is determined by the people around me who compare me to the other people around me. How I measure up to the other people around me determines my value. Somehow, people think this system is good for society. That’s crap. All it does is force people to tear each other apart or spend their whole lives doing whatever they can to stand out in the crowd so that somebody can notice them and say that they are valuable. And we have even begun to praise this kind of attitude. When you ask somebody how he or she are doing, instead of good or fine or so-so, you now might hear busy. Busy? Busy is not an emotion or feeling that answers a how are you question. But many people do feel as though their life is summed up in busy. People are continually on the go, on the move, doing more and more, not for enjoyment, but for value. Even if people say they work hard so they can play hard, what they mean is that they need to find their personal value in the things that they have so that they can better compete with their neighbors who just went further into debt by buying a new boat. Instead of answering the question how are you doing with busy, what people should say is that they are feeling valueless. I know I am not the first to think of busyness as a problem and I will not be the last. Until we see wholesale changes in the way people perceive themselves and each other, we will remain busy. Until value is ascribed to existence and not to productivity, we will continue to be a busy people.

Return on Success

2007-09-18T10:56:00.000-04:00

Return on Success. That was a catch phrase that President Bush used in his national address last night. That sounds highly motivating and encouraging. Who wants us to be unsuccessful? It should be something that we as a nation can rally around. Our whole society is driven by this idea of success.
But in terms of the war in Iraq, what does it even mean to return on success. Success means to achieve a desired outcome. So I guess to determine what success is for the war in Iraq we would need to figure out what the desired outcome of the war was before we started. I might have things completely out of whack, but it was my understanding that a pre-emptive war, which is what the war in Iraq is, is a war to prevent something from happening. The biggest fear that was promoted before the war started was that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction that we thought would be used to harm us or our allies and interests. We found out that no weapons of mass destruction existed. If return on success was our motto we would have came back then. Instead we shifted our goals.
We decided that weapons of mass destruction were no longer the problem because they didn’t exist and so we said that Saddam Hussein was a horrible person and was a threat to our security so he needed to be removed from power. Remember when he invaded Kuwait and we had to stop him? So we searched and searched for Saddam and finally we found him. We plastered his face all over the news and publicized his trial and execution. If we wanted to return on success we would have left after we captured him. We said our desired outcome of the war was to remove him from power and we did, so we should have returned.
After that we decided that in order for us to be safe, Iraq needed to have a democratic government. So we kept our troops there so Iraq could have elections. Iraq had elections and elected a government. But we were being attacked by ‘insurgents’ so we needed to stay and fight them. We are worried about what Iran might do so we need a presence in the Middle East. We hear stories of terrorist attacks in other countries and terrorists come from Iraq so we need to stay and fight. On and on the list goes for things we need to stay for and the whole time our battle cry is to return on success or not let the enemy win or stay the course, finish the job, achieve our objectives. Before we can ‘return on success,’ we need to define exactly what success looks like. The only problem is the our objectives and mission keep changing. At this rate, we may never leave Iraq.

Name Your Crisis

2007-09-06T00:52:00.000-04:00

So I’m reading this book, Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller, as part of my college and young adult ministry. I heard it was a good book and had never read it so I thought it would be a good book for us to read. It’s not that old though the other day I came across a person who made it seem as though all she does is reading contemporary Christian books, if that’s what they are called. And I wonder how much help reading book after book actually provides. How much spiritual change is available by reading book after book? There must be a lot because Max Lucado writes about a book every other month and the world is a changed place. Am I a cynic? Probably.
Anyways, I’m reading through the first chapter of Searching For God Knows What and Donald Miller is talking about a Christian writers seminar that he is attending. In this seminar the instructor gives them two formulas for how to write a successful book. One formula is to find a crisis, any kind of crisis, something terrible that will happen unless the reader does something about it. They must be moved by fear to act. You must identify an enemy that is causing this crisis. Then paint a picture of the tragedy that will happen if nothing is done or the glory of what will happen if something is done. Within this picture the reader is the good guy who conquers the evil and resolves the crisis. Lastly it says to lay out a plan of action the reader can follow. The other formula is simple only it involves personal misery, overcoming personal misery, and three steps that helped you overcome that misery. This second formula is based on control and joy. At one point you had no control and you were miserable, but now that you have control over this issue you are happy. The reader must be able to place themselves in the shoes of the person overcoming their pain.
Reading all of this made me sick at America. It made me sick at capitalism and sick at the individualistic and self-centeredness of people. These books are only written for the sake of making money for the author, without a care or concern for the people who read them. And the people who read the books to gain more control over the ‘crisis’ in their lives are buying in to the quick fix philosophy of are buy it now pay for it later economy. Is this seriously what life can be relegated to? Is it all about having control over all situations, and that is the key to happiness?
But as I read I wondered how much was I falling into this same trap. I look and see the church as a crisis and the world as a crisis. I think that something must be done to fix it. I haven’t figured out the steps yet, but I’m pretty sure that they begin with actually acknowledging what scripture says and trying to live it out. Perhaps the difference is that I don’t think people should respond based on fear of what might happen. I don’t think things are reducible to three easy steps that people can follow. So while I might see a crisis, I don’t think my book would fit this self-help formula.
I think my thought, and actual point of writing for that matter, is that it is sad to see Christianity embracing this three-steps to happiness approach. Donald Miller hits it on the head when he says that God isn’t a genie who we get to do what we want be jumping through hoops. I see the crisis and fear approach in so many Christian books. Go to a Christian bookstore or the Christian section of a bookstore and see how many fear driven end time books you see. Or how many crisis America books exist saying how horrible things will become unless you act to bring God back. It is as if the end goal of the church in America is America. I think that somehow Christianity in America has missed the point. Can a nation be Christian? Nations don’t even have souls. Silly America. Or should I say silly Christians? Perhaps both.

What do you mean 'clean up?'

2007-08-30T15:04:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, before I had a blog, I was watching a local tv newscast in Jacksonville, FL and saw some distrubing news. These were my thoughts after that newscast:

Monday, June 11, 2007, I saw the most appalling news report I have ever seen. Fox News did a report on downtown store owner Jerry Moran, owner of La Cena restaurant and his ‘battle’ against homeless. Mr. Moran has taken the matter of homelessness into his own hands by riding around downtown with a video camera and filming homeless people. He creeps around at night to find anything that he can say is harmful behavior. He has taken a strong stand to remove the homeless from downtown, but his motivation is not to help the homeless. Mr. Moran does not care for the homeless. He has a personal vendetta against people who are homeless.
There are a couple of things that are appalling about the news report. The report was about a brick that had been thrown through the window at Mr. Moran’s restaurant. The brick was thrown through the window on Thursday, yet Fox did not report it till Monday. If this was truly a newsworthy story, it should have been reported on Friday. The report was not about the window being broken or trying to track down the criminal, rather it was part of a plot to defame homeless people.
In the report it was stated that Mr. Moran has surveillance at his restaurant and has been able to give a description to the police of the person responsible. Typically when a report is done on a robbery or vandalism and video is available the reporters show it. This report neglected to show the video. Instead the reporter and Mr. Moran decided to place the blame on the homeless of Jacksonville without any evidence to suggest that a homeless person was responsible.
Perhaps the most appalling aspect of the report was the reporter’s comments regarding Mr. Moran’s effort to remove homeless people from downtown. The reporter said that Mr. Moran’s meeting with the Jacksonville Sherriff and County Officials to ‘clean up’ Heming Plaza has been somewhat successful. “Clean up!?” When I think of cleaning up Heming Plaza I think of sweeping the sidewalks or fixing the shrubs. The reporter was referring to removing homeless people as ‘cleaning up.’ How can we call the removal of people cleaning up? Do we see people the same as trash? You clean up trash. You do not clean up people.
The problem with Mr. Moran and this reporter is that neither of them see the value of a human being. They only see the value of money. Our society is in trouble when people do not see each other as human beings, but instead see them as either money or trash. We have our newscasters to thank for showing us how people are only people if they have money. If you disagree with this, then I urge you to join me in boycotting FOX News and La Cena restaurant.

No Day But Today

2007-08-18T02:18:00.000-04:00

I was watching RENT with my wife the other night. I must say that I think it is a good musical and the movie is good too. Most people who have seen or heard RENT, at least ones I’ve encountered, think that “Seasons of Love” is the theme song, but really the lead theme of the musical is “No Day But Today.” I happen to really like the song quite a bit. The point of the song is what the title insinuates, that you have to live today for today. It states a clear vision for how life should be lived. To live today. It says there is no future there is no past. There’s only us, there’s only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss. No other road, no other way. No day but today. Too often we let fear be our motivation and miss out on life. We live in regret for things we have done or things that we did not do that we think we should have done. The song says we must move beyond this.
I do not believe that a future actually exists (a future blog) so that is an easy one for me to agree on. And I can get the metaphor of there is no past because you cannot relive it. You can learn from the past, but you cannot change anything that happened in the past and for that reason, there is no past. That only leaves today. No day but today.
I love this theme, but I take issue with the way some people take it. The idea of live life to the fullest, or live for the moment, or even no day but today becomes warped especially in American culture today. We take live for today to mean do whatever you want and to do it even if it is at the expense of others. And what good does it do to live today to the fullest if there is no chance for another day? This is a misunderstanding of what no day but today means.
No day but today is not an excuse to get wasted; it is an encouragement that life is meant to be lived. In RENT it is a song of hope for people we think have no hope. It is a song that says AIDS is not the end. For life, it says to go out and do something. It is a call to action. Leave fear behind. So many things in the world need fixing and it will never be done until we realize that we have to do it today. Maybe this seems like I am saying both/and. It is because I am. No day but today is a gray area of life. There is no future, but at the same time I cannot throw away my life today, I have to live my life today so that I can live it another day. My thoughts are to take today and do something with it. Make a difference today!