Just checking in. Goal for my new year is to get serious about this blog thing. I am motivated for several reasons, not the least of which is a comment I read from a friend in their Christmas letter. In it they shared that he had "finally joined the Catholic church" and went on about how involved he was. They added, however, "not to worry, he still has his progressive views and politics."
What does that mean?
Is that like being somewhat pregnant? Or perhaps like getting your drivers license and immediately saying you aren't going to follow the rules? I think it means to some degree that the decision is more about himself than it is about 'the church.' He's joining because it fits his schedule, his plan, and his desires and he's going to do only that which he's comfortable with.
But is that how we join an organization? Let me rephrase that: is that how we should join an organization? I know from experience that's what many people do but that doesn't make it right. And it certainly isn't overly beneficial for the organizations that get less-than-committed members as a result.
Anyway, life is too short not to take what we do seriously. So, I'm in the process of sorting through what I'm "doing" and deciding what I can be serious about and what will have to be pitched out with all the other flotsam.
Lastly, read two good books in the last week: First, John Grisham's latest "The Innocent Man" which will make you think. Second, Clarence Thomas' autobiography "My Grandfather's Son" which will alsom make you think. I recommend both.
From The Army Chaplains Museum, Ft. Jackson, SC
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Bummed, Grateful and Regret
Sat/Sun 29/30 Sep 07
No, BG&R is not the name of some new band.
I’m bummed out. Since starting my blog I have enjoyed the time I sit in front of the screen letting random thoughts flow. And although I have not gotten into a daily habit, I was getting there at least in spirit “thinking” about what I might post. So, I had great hopes for this weekend. Alas, it was not to be. I came with Cathy to the annual UDC Convention (UDC = United Daughters of the Confederacy) and had great plans to do nothing but think and generate random thoughts to share. But, the hotel doesn’t have wireless internet, or any internet for that matter. So I am bummed. At the same time, however, it’s a great opportunity to think random thoughts and cobble them together in Word so I can cut-and-paste them into the blog when I get home.
Why, you might ask, are you BG&R? Let me tell you.
To start, we are on the Mississippi Gulf Coast….a place that is far from normal (and some would say that’s the case even in ‘normal’ times). But as a place that is two-years removed from Hurricane Katrina, it is far far far from normal. So, I suppose I was being optimistic about the hotel having wireless internet. From what I see driving around there are some that do, but given the still evident state of devastation even two-years on, my random thought is that we (the royal we) should be grateful for what we have. As you drive around and see FEMA trailer after FEMA trailer you are grateful not to be there. As you drive around and see one foundation after another where a house used to stand you are grateful. As you look for places to eat and realize that there aren’t many you are grateful. I haven’t seen a Starbucks (which I rarely if ever go to….another topic for later) but in this case I might have just to get wireless access. Anyway, the topic of gratefulness has been on my mind since we arrived yesterday evening.
As I sit here in a third floor hotel room looking out across the Gulf it is awe inspiring to think of the force involved to move all that water from out there to in here. We took a tour around the grounds of Beauvoir (last home of Pres. Jefferson Davis) and when you realize that the piers underneath the house are around eight feet tall and the water got in the house two feet deep you stop and think. But then when you add in the fact that the land is several feet higher than the road out front, which is then several more feet higher than the beach…..are you getting the picture yet? I’ve been through three hurricanes on the Gulf and after Camile I was old enough for the memories to really sink in. I mean, Betsy was a terror but I was only eight years old and while I do have six particularly vivid memories of that one, I remember more after Camile -- driving over from New Orleans and seeing the destruction, ships moved up on land (BIG ships), houses picked up from their foundations and set on top of levees, and on and on. As a kid that makes an impression. I went through another hurricane when we lived in Virginia…as an adult I had an entirely different perspective…was the roof going to stay on the house, did I have enough insurance, what about the survival kit. Today, standing in the parking lot looking out across the water, then looking behind me to Beauvoir, I suppose it really began to sink in. To think that the water rose that much all up and down the Gulf Coast, actually higher as you went west – about another 7 ft. I think he said -- washing in, agitating around, and then literally sucking the life of the coast right out into the Gulf with it when it left….well, you are grateful again.
We started the convention at First United Methodist Church, corner of 15th Street and 24th avenue. What a beautiful church and how wonderful that it came away relatively unscathed, particularly given the beautiful stained-glass windows and dome. Grateful again! After breakfast in the fellowship hall and morning business meetings (which I skipped & let Cathy deal with), we moved to The Great Southern Club, 15th floor of the Hancock Bank Building. Now that was a beautiful place, obviously new since Katrina, and while overlooking the Gulf my feelings of being bummed out about the internet and being grateful for what I have gave way to feelings of regret.
Regret? Yep, regret. Right there on the plate next to the Red Snapper, between the steamed vegetables and potatoes…a big serving of regret that I ate slowly as the meal and program progressed.
Regret – For not being a better person and getting down here to help in the recovery.
Regret – For not giving more financially to support those who were better than me and did.
Regret – For not doing more to maintain and uplift our Southern history and heritage.
Anyway, it was a ‘nice’ weekend since any time you can get away from work is nice. But it was challenging as well. Perhaps that’s a good thing….perhaps that song that I’m hearing by Bummed, Grateful and Regret will become one of my favorites.
No, BG&R is not the name of some new band.
I’m bummed out. Since starting my blog I have enjoyed the time I sit in front of the screen letting random thoughts flow. And although I have not gotten into a daily habit, I was getting there at least in spirit “thinking” about what I might post. So, I had great hopes for this weekend. Alas, it was not to be. I came with Cathy to the annual UDC Convention (UDC = United Daughters of the Confederacy) and had great plans to do nothing but think and generate random thoughts to share. But, the hotel doesn’t have wireless internet, or any internet for that matter. So I am bummed. At the same time, however, it’s a great opportunity to think random thoughts and cobble them together in Word so I can cut-and-paste them into the blog when I get home.
Why, you might ask, are you BG&R? Let me tell you.
To start, we are on the Mississippi Gulf Coast….a place that is far from normal (and some would say that’s the case even in ‘normal’ times). But as a place that is two-years removed from Hurricane Katrina, it is far far far from normal. So, I suppose I was being optimistic about the hotel having wireless internet. From what I see driving around there are some that do, but given the still evident state of devastation even two-years on, my random thought is that we (the royal we) should be grateful for what we have. As you drive around and see FEMA trailer after FEMA trailer you are grateful not to be there. As you drive around and see one foundation after another where a house used to stand you are grateful. As you look for places to eat and realize that there aren’t many you are grateful. I haven’t seen a Starbucks (which I rarely if ever go to….another topic for later) but in this case I might have just to get wireless access. Anyway, the topic of gratefulness has been on my mind since we arrived yesterday evening.
As I sit here in a third floor hotel room looking out across the Gulf it is awe inspiring to think of the force involved to move all that water from out there to in here. We took a tour around the grounds of Beauvoir (last home of Pres. Jefferson Davis) and when you realize that the piers underneath the house are around eight feet tall and the water got in the house two feet deep you stop and think. But then when you add in the fact that the land is several feet higher than the road out front, which is then several more feet higher than the beach…..are you getting the picture yet? I’ve been through three hurricanes on the Gulf and after Camile I was old enough for the memories to really sink in. I mean, Betsy was a terror but I was only eight years old and while I do have six particularly vivid memories of that one, I remember more after Camile -- driving over from New Orleans and seeing the destruction, ships moved up on land (BIG ships), houses picked up from their foundations and set on top of levees, and on and on. As a kid that makes an impression. I went through another hurricane when we lived in Virginia…as an adult I had an entirely different perspective…was the roof going to stay on the house, did I have enough insurance, what about the survival kit. Today, standing in the parking lot looking out across the water, then looking behind me to Beauvoir, I suppose it really began to sink in. To think that the water rose that much all up and down the Gulf Coast, actually higher as you went west – about another 7 ft. I think he said -- washing in, agitating around, and then literally sucking the life of the coast right out into the Gulf with it when it left….well, you are grateful again.
We started the convention at First United Methodist Church, corner of 15th Street and 24th avenue. What a beautiful church and how wonderful that it came away relatively unscathed, particularly given the beautiful stained-glass windows and dome. Grateful again! After breakfast in the fellowship hall and morning business meetings (which I skipped & let Cathy deal with), we moved to The Great Southern Club, 15th floor of the Hancock Bank Building. Now that was a beautiful place, obviously new since Katrina, and while overlooking the Gulf my feelings of being bummed out about the internet and being grateful for what I have gave way to feelings of regret.
Regret? Yep, regret. Right there on the plate next to the Red Snapper, between the steamed vegetables and potatoes…a big serving of regret that I ate slowly as the meal and program progressed.
Regret – For not being a better person and getting down here to help in the recovery.
Regret – For not giving more financially to support those who were better than me and did.
Regret – For not doing more to maintain and uplift our Southern history and heritage.
Anyway, it was a ‘nice’ weekend since any time you can get away from work is nice. But it was challenging as well. Perhaps that’s a good thing….perhaps that song that I’m hearing by Bummed, Grateful and Regret will become one of my favorites.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Incensed
Can anyone tell me how in the world it is that we let 'leaders' like Ahmadinejad in this country to speak when he certainly isn't going to let one of his critics have a free pulpit over there.
And there are still liberals who don't get it and who applaud him and think our President is the bad guy. 40% of the knuckleheads on DailyKos said Ahmadinejad is a better leader.
Ugh.
And there are still liberals who don't get it and who applaud him and think our President is the bad guy. 40% of the knuckleheads on DailyKos said Ahmadinejad is a better leader.
Ugh.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Wichita
Well, it's Sunday evening and I'm sitting at the desk in my hotel here in Wichita, KS. Yes, Toto, this is Kansas! I haven't been here since 1997 (I think)....it was one of the last trips I took with GEN Hartzog when he talked to the pre-command course.
Anyway, interesting day. Departed OB at 5:45 and got here at 3:00 pm, checked-in and went over to The Spiritual Life Center where I'll be attending a conference on 'Empowering Ministries of Health.' It's being co-sponsored by the General Board of Global Ministries - Health and Welfare, and the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church. It promises to be interesting and for all us who call ourselves Methodists should provide lots of thought for ministry. The stated vision is "to recover the Wesleyan tradition of health, healing and wholeness."
With his actions John Wesley defined what being a Methodist was about...he went out of the church to where the people were and, while out there, ministered to them spiritually as well as physically.
The first plenary session speaker was Bishop Scott Jones, Resident Bishop of the Kansas Area, and he titled his remarks: Healing Soul and Body. I must say he was an excellent speaker and delivered remarks that alternated between humorous and serious, but were entirely relevant to the church today. He remarked that the church today is in trouble for a variety of reasons, among them that (a) we don't care for outsiders; (b) we don't talk enough about Jesus; (c) we run into obstacles and stop rather than moving forward.
Bishop Jones is a former teacher at Perkins and his remarks alternated between lecture and sermon. It was fun and he made some quite interesting remarks on how translating Hebrew teachings into Greek created a sort of "soul & body dualism" that is at odds with the traditional Hebrew teaching of a more combined/unitary soul & body. He also brought Plato into the discussion.
He went on to describe a change that occurred in American churches from the 1880's thru the 1920's and described it as a split between the evangelical and social justice branches. In conclusion he made the comment that if we are to fix our problems we've got to figure out how our churches become places of healing (body & spirit) and how they become places of community.
Anyway, very interesting and I had planned to tape his remarks so I could share them but I "goofed" and used a tape that had one one of the little tabs broken out and when I flipped it over it wouldn't record. So, I only got a bit over 1/2 of his remarks.
Tomorrow's opening worship service/plenary session is being led by Rev. Dr. Embra Jackson from our own Mississippi Annual Conference. The title is "Do We Want to Be Healed?" and is described as "a message to challenge us in the church to become healing agents and transformers in the world." I'll tape it and also have the PowerPoint slides. If I can get him to give me the file I'll annotate them with notes/comments and then post them.
Anyway, interesting day. Departed OB at 5:45 and got here at 3:00 pm, checked-in and went over to The Spiritual Life Center where I'll be attending a conference on 'Empowering Ministries of Health.' It's being co-sponsored by the General Board of Global Ministries - Health and Welfare, and the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of the United Methodist Church. It promises to be interesting and for all us who call ourselves Methodists should provide lots of thought for ministry. The stated vision is "to recover the Wesleyan tradition of health, healing and wholeness."
With his actions John Wesley defined what being a Methodist was about...he went out of the church to where the people were and, while out there, ministered to them spiritually as well as physically.
The first plenary session speaker was Bishop Scott Jones, Resident Bishop of the Kansas Area, and he titled his remarks: Healing Soul and Body. I must say he was an excellent speaker and delivered remarks that alternated between humorous and serious, but were entirely relevant to the church today. He remarked that the church today is in trouble for a variety of reasons, among them that (a) we don't care for outsiders; (b) we don't talk enough about Jesus; (c) we run into obstacles and stop rather than moving forward.
Bishop Jones is a former teacher at Perkins and his remarks alternated between lecture and sermon. It was fun and he made some quite interesting remarks on how translating Hebrew teachings into Greek created a sort of "soul & body dualism" that is at odds with the traditional Hebrew teaching of a more combined/unitary soul & body. He also brought Plato into the discussion.
He went on to describe a change that occurred in American churches from the 1880's thru the 1920's and described it as a split between the evangelical and social justice branches. In conclusion he made the comment that if we are to fix our problems we've got to figure out how our churches become places of healing (body & spirit) and how they become places of community.
Anyway, very interesting and I had planned to tape his remarks so I could share them but I "goofed" and used a tape that had one one of the little tabs broken out and when I flipped it over it wouldn't record. So, I only got a bit over 1/2 of his remarks.
Tomorrow's opening worship service/plenary session is being led by Rev. Dr. Embra Jackson from our own Mississippi Annual Conference. The title is "Do We Want to Be Healed?" and is described as "a message to challenge us in the church to become healing agents and transformers in the world." I'll tape it and also have the PowerPoint slides. If I can get him to give me the file I'll annotate them with notes/comments and then post them.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Junior Nation (plus politics)
Well, it's official....Dale Jr. is going to drive the 88 Chevrolet next year! Go Junior, two eights are better than one.
We went to the NHRA Mid-South Nationals here last weekend to get our fill of racing, big motors, and a good dose of nitro smoke (about killed Ben). Now we're waiting patiently for the Busch series race at MMS. We've got our season tickets and are ready for some racin'. With Jr.'s move to the 88 we're going to have to make a couple of cup races next year, guess it's time to get out the calendar and start some planning. Since I've promised Cathy we're taking a month off for our 30th Anniversary to travel the states maybe she'll agree to let me sneak in a stop at a race along the way! Speaking of the trip, to all our friends out there, we'll be in touch as the details of the 'Great Vanderburg 2008 Circumnavigation of the US' fall into place. We'd love to see as many of you as possible during that month. Tentatively we're heading ENE from Mississippi toward Maine, then back WSW following lighthouses until we turn W out into the heartland at which point the plans are sort of fuzzy. So, stay tuned for details.
Other topic for tonight is politics. Now that the NASCAR politics have played out for my favorite driver it's time for the 'other' politics to kick in. Without going into an overlong discussion on the topic, suffice to say that I'm fed up with politics and the actions of both parties. I'm a member of the county GOP Executive Committee and don't like feeling that way. I believe everyone should vote and the only hope is that we can get turnouts up beyond the levels that only continue to perpetuate the power of the special-interests and big-money candidates. It is absolutely pathetic that so few people care to vote and, in so doing, they allow a minority of voters to increasingly burden the vast majority of voters who have been forgotten by the politicians of both parties. That is an amazing thought isn't it: the majority have been 'forgotten' by the politicians who are focused on catering to the minority represented by the various and sundry interest groups.
In the early 1900's Yale Professor William Sumner captured this idea in his essay The Forgotten Man. Get a copy. Read it. The ideas are further explored in a current best-seller 'The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression' by Amity Shlaes.
Simply put, FDR started a seismic shift in the period 1932 - 1936 and in so doing invented a new way to reward the constituencies necessary for political success. His actions laid the groundwork for the congressional 'earmarks' that are an absolute abomination and that simply must be stopped if we are to have any hope of sanity in the federal budget. And while FDR might have started it, politicians of all stripes have embraced it all in the name of power. And in the process we have lost our way. Ronald Reagan had it absolutely correct back in 1964 when he said "You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right. Well I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down -- up to man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."
Day by day, week by week, year by year we have replaced the limited government constitutionalism of our nation's founders with an administrative state, populated by an elite committed to establishing perfect justice. Unfortunately that 'perfect justice' is being defined by interest groups. These groups have power that can be traced back to FDR's 1936 election where his popularity was in large part due to the fact that he had figured out how to turn federal largesse on and off in order to reward those constituencies he needed to win. Think that's not true? Just look at unemployment during those years. During 1935/36 it ranged from 15 to 20 percent. When did it drop to 13.9 percent? Yep, November 1936 - election month. After that it rose again.
What does it all mean? I don't know. Who should I vote for? I don't know. I do know this: I am tired of government taxing me to death, telling me what to do, how to do it, when to do it. As a small businessman I can tell you without a doubt that as an individual (and as a group) small business owners are truly examples of today's "forgotten men (and women)."
I think I know where we have to start: First, "We The People" need to take back power and remind our elected officials that we are a nation that has a government not the other way around. Second, we need to throw out all incumbents, no matter which party they belong to. We need a totally new crop in power. Third, we must figure out some way to get the moneychangers out of the temple (i.e. lobbyists in the Capitol). Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we need Leaders, not policy-wonks. My fear is that too many of us have become Pavlov's dogs, and the politicians know how to make us salivate.
In conclusion, my brain is tired. But as I think about politicians today I am drawn somewhat to the words of Teddy Roosevelt in a speech made in 1915. He was talking about one of his favorite themes "Americanism" and while he's talking about citizens, it's interesting to take his concept of hyphenated-americans (i.e. French-American, German-American, etc.) and bring it forward to a modern construct of 'hyphenated' referring not to nationality but to interest groups (i.e. Republican-right-to-life-American, Democrat-environmental-American, Independent-anti-abortion-pro-universal-health-care-American). Anyway, read his words with a bit more of an open mind than just about citizens and add all the other ways we 'hyphenate' ourselves:
"All of us, no matter from what land our parents came, no matter in what way we may severally worship our Creator, must stand shoulder to shoulder in a united America for the elimination of race and religious prejudice. We must stand for a reign of equal justice to both big and small. We must insist on the maintenance of the American standard of living. We must stand for an adequate national control which shall secure a better training of our young men in time of peace, both for the work of peace and for the work of war. We must direct every national resource, material and spiritual, to the task not of shirking difficulties, but of training our people to overcome difficulties. Our aim must be, not to make life easy and soft, not to soften soul and body, but to fit us in virile fashion to do a great work for all mankind. This great work can only be done by a mighty democracy, with these qualities of soul, guided by those qualities of mind, which will both make it refuse to do injustice to any other nation, and also enable it to hold its own against aggression by any other nation. In our relations with the outside world, we must abhor wrongdoing, and disdain to commit it, and we must no less disdain the baseness of spirit which lamely submits to wrongdoing. Finally and most important of all, we must strive for the establishment within our own borders of that stern and lofty standard of personal and public neutrality which shall guarantee to each man his rights, and which shall insist in return upon the full performance by each man of his duties both to his neighbor and to the great nation whose flag must symbolize in the future as it has symbolized in the past the highest hopes of all mankind."
We went to the NHRA Mid-South Nationals here last weekend to get our fill of racing, big motors, and a good dose of nitro smoke (about killed Ben). Now we're waiting patiently for the Busch series race at MMS. We've got our season tickets and are ready for some racin'. With Jr.'s move to the 88 we're going to have to make a couple of cup races next year, guess it's time to get out the calendar and start some planning. Since I've promised Cathy we're taking a month off for our 30th Anniversary to travel the states maybe she'll agree to let me sneak in a stop at a race along the way! Speaking of the trip, to all our friends out there, we'll be in touch as the details of the 'Great Vanderburg 2008 Circumnavigation of the US' fall into place. We'd love to see as many of you as possible during that month. Tentatively we're heading ENE from Mississippi toward Maine, then back WSW following lighthouses until we turn W out into the heartland at which point the plans are sort of fuzzy. So, stay tuned for details.
Other topic for tonight is politics. Now that the NASCAR politics have played out for my favorite driver it's time for the 'other' politics to kick in. Without going into an overlong discussion on the topic, suffice to say that I'm fed up with politics and the actions of both parties. I'm a member of the county GOP Executive Committee and don't like feeling that way. I believe everyone should vote and the only hope is that we can get turnouts up beyond the levels that only continue to perpetuate the power of the special-interests and big-money candidates. It is absolutely pathetic that so few people care to vote and, in so doing, they allow a minority of voters to increasingly burden the vast majority of voters who have been forgotten by the politicians of both parties. That is an amazing thought isn't it: the majority have been 'forgotten' by the politicians who are focused on catering to the minority represented by the various and sundry interest groups.
In the early 1900's Yale Professor William Sumner captured this idea in his essay The Forgotten Man. Get a copy. Read it. The ideas are further explored in a current best-seller 'The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression' by Amity Shlaes.
Simply put, FDR started a seismic shift in the period 1932 - 1936 and in so doing invented a new way to reward the constituencies necessary for political success. His actions laid the groundwork for the congressional 'earmarks' that are an absolute abomination and that simply must be stopped if we are to have any hope of sanity in the federal budget. And while FDR might have started it, politicians of all stripes have embraced it all in the name of power. And in the process we have lost our way. Ronald Reagan had it absolutely correct back in 1964 when he said "You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right. Well I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down -- up to man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."
Day by day, week by week, year by year we have replaced the limited government constitutionalism of our nation's founders with an administrative state, populated by an elite committed to establishing perfect justice. Unfortunately that 'perfect justice' is being defined by interest groups. These groups have power that can be traced back to FDR's 1936 election where his popularity was in large part due to the fact that he had figured out how to turn federal largesse on and off in order to reward those constituencies he needed to win. Think that's not true? Just look at unemployment during those years. During 1935/36 it ranged from 15 to 20 percent. When did it drop to 13.9 percent? Yep, November 1936 - election month. After that it rose again.
What does it all mean? I don't know. Who should I vote for? I don't know. I do know this: I am tired of government taxing me to death, telling me what to do, how to do it, when to do it. As a small businessman I can tell you without a doubt that as an individual (and as a group) small business owners are truly examples of today's "forgotten men (and women)."
I think I know where we have to start: First, "We The People" need to take back power and remind our elected officials that we are a nation that has a government not the other way around. Second, we need to throw out all incumbents, no matter which party they belong to. We need a totally new crop in power. Third, we must figure out some way to get the moneychangers out of the temple (i.e. lobbyists in the Capitol). Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we need Leaders, not policy-wonks. My fear is that too many of us have become Pavlov's dogs, and the politicians know how to make us salivate.
In conclusion, my brain is tired. But as I think about politicians today I am drawn somewhat to the words of Teddy Roosevelt in a speech made in 1915. He was talking about one of his favorite themes "Americanism" and while he's talking about citizens, it's interesting to take his concept of hyphenated-americans (i.e. French-American, German-American, etc.) and bring it forward to a modern construct of 'hyphenated' referring not to nationality but to interest groups (i.e. Republican-right-to-life-American, Democrat-environmental-American, Independent-anti-abortion-pro-universal-health-care-American). Anyway, read his words with a bit more of an open mind than just about citizens and add all the other ways we 'hyphenate' ourselves:
"All of us, no matter from what land our parents came, no matter in what way we may severally worship our Creator, must stand shoulder to shoulder in a united America for the elimination of race and religious prejudice. We must stand for a reign of equal justice to both big and small. We must insist on the maintenance of the American standard of living. We must stand for an adequate national control which shall secure a better training of our young men in time of peace, both for the work of peace and for the work of war. We must direct every national resource, material and spiritual, to the task not of shirking difficulties, but of training our people to overcome difficulties. Our aim must be, not to make life easy and soft, not to soften soul and body, but to fit us in virile fashion to do a great work for all mankind. This great work can only be done by a mighty democracy, with these qualities of soul, guided by those qualities of mind, which will both make it refuse to do injustice to any other nation, and also enable it to hold its own against aggression by any other nation. In our relations with the outside world, we must abhor wrongdoing, and disdain to commit it, and we must no less disdain the baseness of spirit which lamely submits to wrongdoing. Finally and most important of all, we must strive for the establishment within our own borders of that stern and lofty standard of personal and public neutrality which shall guarantee to each man his rights, and which shall insist in return upon the full performance by each man of his duties both to his neighbor and to the great nation whose flag must symbolize in the future as it has symbolized in the past the highest hopes of all mankind."
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Second
Well, day one and pretty cool. Got a note from my best high-school bud and one from my brother. Not bad since I don't hear from either of them enough.
Thought for the night is about church and 'organized religion' and how that all squares with the instructions in the Bible about not worrying about tomorrow, going out with no money in your belt or a change of clothes. Why, might you ask, such a thought. Well, just finished a finance committee meeting. We discussed financial statements, liabilities & assets, need for accuracy in reporting, next year's budget, etc., etc., etc. Now, I know the temporal concerns of the church have to be addressed but if you're not careful the temporal can quickly overrun the spiritual. I guess I'm just wondering about balance and about squaring belief with practice.
In James 4 he says "And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, 'Today - at the latest tomorrow - we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money.' You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, 'If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that.'
Thought for the night is about church and 'organized religion' and how that all squares with the instructions in the Bible about not worrying about tomorrow, going out with no money in your belt or a change of clothes. Why, might you ask, such a thought. Well, just finished a finance committee meeting. We discussed financial statements, liabilities & assets, need for accuracy in reporting, next year's budget, etc., etc., etc. Now, I know the temporal concerns of the church have to be addressed but if you're not careful the temporal can quickly overrun the spiritual. I guess I'm just wondering about balance and about squaring belief with practice.
In James 4 he says "And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, 'Today - at the latest tomorrow - we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money.' You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, 'If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that.'
First
First post. This 'blog' thing has piqued my interest so decided I'd start one of my own. Thoughts for today? Not much other than to tell kids don't forget that your parents worry about you even when you're 'grown up.'
Went for my usual coffee this morning and as I drove up I saw a familiar car...thought I was going to get to enjoy my daughter Tiffany's presence for a few minutes. And, if I was really lucky, my granddaughter Mabrie (a.k.a. Rosebud) would be with her. Well, as I wandered in I didn't see them anywhere. I went about my routine and after several minutes still hadn't seen anyone. So, being a 'dad' I called on the cell-phone (to both my daughter AND son-in-law). Did they answer? Of course not. So now my mind jumps to all the negative stuff...especially since nobody at the store remembers seeing anyone, can tell me when the car was left, etc. I call the learning center and verify that Rosebud is there, safe-n-sound. So, one relief. Then I drive home, get my son-in-law out of the shower and discover that my daughter left the car there and rode with a friend to her clinical session at the hospital today.
Thanks kids.
Other than that, not much else for now.
Went for my usual coffee this morning and as I drove up I saw a familiar car...thought I was going to get to enjoy my daughter Tiffany's presence for a few minutes. And, if I was really lucky, my granddaughter Mabrie (a.k.a. Rosebud) would be with her. Well, as I wandered in I didn't see them anywhere. I went about my routine and after several minutes still hadn't seen anyone. So, being a 'dad' I called on the cell-phone (to both my daughter AND son-in-law). Did they answer? Of course not. So now my mind jumps to all the negative stuff...especially since nobody at the store remembers seeing anyone, can tell me when the car was left, etc. I call the learning center and verify that Rosebud is there, safe-n-sound. So, one relief. Then I drive home, get my son-in-law out of the shower and discover that my daughter left the car there and rode with a friend to her clinical session at the hospital today.
Thanks kids.
Other than that, not much else for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)