What would Reagan do?

It’s a shame that a clone of Ronald Reagan wasn’t on the ballot this year. I must admit, I felt like my vote was a waste regardless of the name I chose. If you have 20 minutes of downtown, here is the greatest inauguration address in history, preceeding the greatest president in history (and at least the foreseeable future). It’s long, but it’s good. Enjoy!

Jack is Back!

It’s time for 24! I must say, Jack is back with a vengence. This seaon might end up being as good as the first or second ones. I know that’s a tall order, but it’s great so far.

The best part? Watching it with my amazing wife!

Porn needs help?

Well it didn’t take long into 2009 to hear the stupidest story of the year. The government handout line hit rock bottom now that the porn industry is asking for a 5 BILLION dollar bailout. Not kidding you here either. A fake, trash industry is asking a phony government for help. The request comes from Larry Flint, “Hustler” magazine founder and Joe Francis, creator of “Girls Gone Wild” videos.

Here are some actual quotes from these guys:

• They are asking Congress to “rejuvenate America’s sexual appetite” with a bailout.
• “Congress seems willing to help shore up our nations most important businesses and we feel we deserve the same consideration.”
• “With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from people’s minds.“
• “The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.“
• “…as long as the government is handing out money we want to be there to take it.”
• “People can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”

Wow. This is disturbing to me, that our moral compass has gone this far. I’m pretty sure the thing flat broke off a long time ago. Apparently America can’t have healthy sex lives without porn. That is the mindset and that is disturbing. I’ve got to believe that America’s obsession with porn is one of the biggest things that has screwed up this nation beyond repair. I have nothing else to blog about this because it is nauseating me.

“But among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, for these are improper of God’s holy people.” -Ephesians 5:3

No new debt for America!!!

Sounds like a slogan for a picket sign or something. I’m not picketing anything, although I would like to be able to afford a fence for my yard. I am trying to spread a little information about the “wall street bailout” everybody is panicking about. I want you to check out the plan of the smartest guy I know not named Paul Jenkins: Dave Ramsey. Click here for his COMMON SENSE PLAN for solving this problem.

A couple things about the bailout and the current economic crisis:

• How much sense does it make to go nearly a trillion dollars in debt for nothing more than a band-aid? If you don’t fix the problem it will only come back. (i.e. plugging the whole in a dam with bubble gum)
• We are no where near a depression. Anybody telling you so on TV or in a paper is trying to scare you for political purposes and/or has no concept of economics.
• We aren’t even in a recession. A recession is defined as happening when the Gross Domestic Product is in the negatives for 2 or more consecutive quarters. That hasn’t happened.
• Love him or hate him, you cannot blame the situation on President Bush.* He can’t do much of anything without Congress (which is currently majority democrat). (Current Congress has like a 17 % approval rating, lowest in history by the way)
• If you feel the need to point blame at someone, point at the people who didn’t do anything about the crisis before it was a crisis.
• If you want a president to blame, President Clinton is the one who forced lenders to give loans to people they knew would not be able to handle them/pay them back. just sayin…

Blaming people never really helps anything though. Solutions are called solutions for a reason however. There is a much better solution that debt in our everyday lives, not unlike the current economic situation.

*By the way, the gas problem isn’t the president’s fault either. There are plenty of people to legitimately blame, but we’ll just leave it at supply and demand. Supply and demand is the most basic economical principle, but somehow nobody in politics or the media seem to understand it.

Felipe the Target

Back when I cooked at Christo’s Italian Restaurant in Albemarle, I was the only white guy in the kitchen.  I was affectionately referred to as “Felipe the Cracker” by the other guys.  There were two Greeks, one Frenchman and one guy from Mexico (who later bought my electric guitar).  Good times.

The previous story is irrelevant, except for the fact that I titled this post Felipe the Target which is one word different from Felipe the Cracker, and I felt you needed a little background.

I felt like a target after getting home from the beach a week ago.  Umpteen letters from Lawyers in the area we had the accident beat us home, offering legal services and genuine help and concern.  It is a no brainer that they don’t give a rip about me, they just see an opportunity to make money.  They see fresh meet.  I felt like vultures scooping in on me after tripping up in the desert.

Sometimes Christians come off this very same way: disingenuous, impersonal, unconcerned about the person, and convert-driven.  Believe it or not, people outside of Christianity (“non-believers,” “outsiders,” etc-whatever title you want to give) do not have a very good opinion of Christians.  In fact, based on the research from “unChristian,” a book from the Barna Research Group I’ve been reading, 49% of young outsiders ages 16-29 have a bad impression of Evangelicals.  48% have a neutral opinion and only 3% have a good opinion.

The book goes on to dissect the 6 major reasons they think this about us, one of which is a convert-driven mentality.  They feel Christians don’t really care about them, don’t view them as people, and are only concerned about whether or not they become a Christian.  The research shows only 1/3 of the people in this age range believe Christians really care about them.  Does that trouble anybody else like it does me?

The solution?  We have to make a change in the way we relate to other people.  Christians have to stop bypassing people who aren’t Christians, and start loving on them as Christ did.  We have to start building genuine relationships with people.  Through these relationships people will see the love of Christ in us and might actually want a part of it because we genuinely care for them and they see that!  Why should anyone trust the Jesus you believe in if they don’t know anything about Him or you!?

Let’s just take it all the way down to the Golden Rule:  Treat other people like you want them to be treated.  Do you want outsiders to the faith to treat you like a real person?  Would you like to feel like a target when they are around, feeling like they have some great big agenda for knowing you?  Would you like them to dissociate with you when they find out they can’t “convert” you away from Jesus?

It works the same both ways.  We have the prime example in Jesus.  He just loved people, regardless of their history, their present situation, the baggage, their views, their whatever.  He never swooped down for a convert-kill.  He transformed lives by being genuine and through His love.  I think it is safe for me to speak on His behalf and say “Go and do the same.”

Coolest thing ever! pt. 2

(first things first-if you didn’t read the first part, you MUST click HERE and read it!!!)

Hopefully nobody will read the prior post and think I’m trying to puff us up for giving money. That is not the case at all. I don’t seek after people’s approval via good works, and I don’t think giving to a family in Africa makes me better than you (that’s something religious people think). Believe me, I wish it DID make me a better person like liberals buying carbon offsets to make themselves feel better for flying around in private jets instead of going with Delta (again, another topic altogether…).

I wanted to share this with you to show what a profound impact a little money can have on other people. I know this is getting long, but stick with me. Most people think they can’t do anything to solve poverty in the world (some people think it can be solved with Socialism, but that’s another story…).

What if the millions and millions of people in this world who claim to follow Christ would sponsor a child and/or send a little cash to a needy family abroad or in our own communities? We give $35 dollars a month to Helena. That’s it! $35 covers her basic needs and gives us a chance to communicate with her how much we love her, how much God loves her, and how special she really is!

How many people could scrape together 35 dollars? Here are a few things that cost about 35 bucks:

• 1 family dinner at a restaurant (and that’s eating pretty light…)
• 5 or 6 combo meals (super-sized)
• a pair of jeans
• a shirt and tie (you know you already have enough of these)
• about 7 lattes
• a haircut for some ladies
• the phone bill
• a couple of hard-back books
• 2 cd’s (3 and a half if you use iTunes)

Let’s face it, if we all stood back and looked at our spending, we would see just how much money we waste. We would see just how easy it is to serve someone living in poverty on the other side of the globe by sacrificing a few luxuries.

Here’s my challenge: look at your money situation and consider sponsoring a child. That’s it. Your call. Here’s where to go to do it: Worldvision. I completely trust and believe in these guys. They do a lot of great things (they are also the 40 hour famine people that a lot of churches are familiar with). You can even pick your child’s gender and geographical location if you’d like. You’ll get reports and letters from the child. You;ll get the opportunity to send him/her birthday, Easter, Christmas cards, etc.

I think Jesus said something about whatever we do to those in need we do for Him…something like that…right? If you decide to sponsor a child, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a comment!

Coolest thing ever! pt.1

Jennifer and I have been sponsoring an awesome little girl in Mozambique for almost 2 years now through Worldvision. Her name is Helena and it costs $35 a month to provide everyday necessities, school costs, clothes, medical costs, etc.

Since going on staff with That Youth Thing, we have been visiting lots of different churches and giving financially to help each of them. We recently took some of this money and set it aside specifically for Helena and her family. Call it the right or wrong thing to do with a tithe, oh well. We believe in building the Kingdom and I’ll show you why this definitely did just that!

We recently got a letter from Helena about what her family did with the money. It was so cool to read everything they purchased, and at the same time it burdened me to do more. I wish we could sponsor all of these kids! (and adopt a few too by the way….) Here are all of the things her family purchased:

• 1 bicycle
• 1 set of thermic bowls (whatever that means)
• 1 small blouse
• 6 plates
• 1 bucket
• 3 pans
• 1 basin
• 1 jug
• 2 mugs (go coffee!)
• 1 radio
• 1 set of glasses
• 1 pair of trousers and a shirt for her father
• 2 pieces of wrap around cloths
• 1 skirt and 2 blouses for her mother
• 2 small dresses and a blouse
• 1 pair of sandals
• 1 pair of sports shoes
• 1 set of bed sheets
• 1 blanket
• 1 school bag
• 1 dress
• underwear
• 1 small blouse
• 1 suit for her spare time (I’m guessing that means wind suit or something?)
• soap
• washing powder
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 1 skirt
• t-shirts for her brother

Here are a couple pictures of Helena and her family (sorry they are pictures of pictures, but I don’t currently have a scanner).

The REALLY important part in the next post!

Back from Raleigh

Except you didn’t even know we were going to Raleigh! Let me fill you in. Jennifer has always wanted to see Riverdance. It is on it’s farewell global tour so back at Valentines Day I bought a couple of tickets for this past weekend and we saved up money for food and hotel. The time finally came and we had an amazing weekend together-just the two of us!

Here are the highlights of our weekend:

• Riverdance was an incredible show! I thoroughly enjoyed it and was blown away at the level of talent (musicians included)
• I have a ton of fun with my wife!
• Before the show Friday night we went to a really nice Japanese restaurant called Sono. I made reservations for 5:30 and when we showed up a few minutes late there was nobody there yet, but for some reason I still told her we had reservations and apologized for being late like it was a problem. I felt smart.
• The food at Sono was awesome! We don’t get high class food like this often, so of course we snuck pictures with a camera phone. The first is my sea bass with a truffle soy reduction and vegetable rissoto and the second is Jennifer’s shrimp and scallop dish. We thought they were quite attractive plates.
  
• Because we are frugal, we managed to only really buy two meals the entire weekend!
• People in Raleigh are really friendly.
• We went to the capitol building to tour and on the lawn was the North Carolina Cannabis Association doing a rally to legalize the wacky weed. Slogan: “Safer than alcohol!” We thought that whole thing was rather amusing.
• We toured the state capitol building (free), the NC Museum of History (free), and the NC Museum of Natural Science (also free).
• Some lady made a B-line up to Jennifer on the street to tell her how good she looked (we were pretty dressed up for the show). We weren’t sure if she was just being complementary or hitting on her.
• I hate one way streets!
• We didn’t make it to their church, but Vintage 21 has a cool facility. They hosted something called the Handmade Market that we went to. Check this church out! They are sold out on reaching Raleigh with the love of Jesus!
• Maid service in our hotel wasn’t exactly ‘up to par.’ No towels, no made bed, no taking out trash, and this morning I found big chunks of old cookie on the floor beside the bed. (I didn’t eat them)
• It was prom weekend. Too many teenagers running around in tuxes and dresses screaming and being all giddy.
• Bogart’s is a great restaurant too! Awesome and creative food, plus a killer crab dip.
• Capped off last night with some good coffee at Cafe Helios. This was the first time in a month I didn’t have my coffee black! I love their logo too.
• Chillin out in a hotel room is way underrated. Doing nothing was nice.

Second Skin

First off, go watch THIS VIDEO about a film called ‘Second Skin.’

A lot of people don’t realize the sad reality that is addiction to online gaming and virtual worlds. This is a documentary that discusses these addictions (not necessarily in a negative light). The film just documents a handful of gamers and what their virtual self means to them through online worlds like World of Warcraft (picture to right), Second Life (below) and Ever Quest (bottom right).

The common theme is obvious: they want more than their current life has to offer. It breaks my heart that people find this in a second life. A life that isn’t real and sometimes is the destroyer of their marriage, career, friendships, health and life. I’ve heard stories about guys that literally will be on the computer in their home talking with their virtual wives, playing with their virtual kids (all of which are real people on the other end) while their REAL kids are downstairs playing and their REAL wives are downstairs cooking dinner. Does anyone else find this to be sad?

I see how empty even this virtual world leaves people just by watching the movie trailer. That one guy said he would spend 14-15 hours a day behind his computer playing. It is nothing short of an addiction that does not and cannot fulfill (he wanted to kill himself).

There is one addiction that can bring peace, harmony and joy. One relationship that is very real and is redemptive. One truth that does bring the answers and does fill the void: Jesus Christ. He didn’t just come to be born and die for us. Church-goers who show up for Christmas and Easter never take it beyond that. He came to redeem us, love us and fill us with something we could never experience without Him. Something online games, physical relationships, dreams, money, etc. could never bring us. He came to give us abundant life.

And maybe, just maybe, if Christians would stop being so lazy and selfish, and began not only living like they have this abundant life but sharing about it with others, perhaps people so lost in fake worlds wouldn’t feel the need to complete themselves in anything but a relationship with Jesus.