instead of fighting

so, i've seen a lot since the election has been over. I've also heard a lot. I've read of leaders- faith leaders in particular- who are really upset over the outcome. Given the publicity, the polls and everything else, i'm not sure how we were expecting much differently, unless we were deluding ourselves.

But i've gone so far as to read people saying that America is now turning away from God. Or that we're going to be outside His blessing now. News flash, folks- America has had a democrat president before. And those of faith are not necessarily republicans only.

that notwithstanding, i thought i'd share something i came across. Rather than bashing the president-elect, or the american people- rather than spewing hate & discord, why can't we come together around something like this:

http://the-moose-pond.blogspot.com/2008/11/prayer-for-president-elect-obama-and.html

division will hurt us even more at this critical time a a country. Instead of lamenting and complaining, let's be people who react positively, even if some are unhappy with the way things have gone. If all we do is complain because the person we wanted didn't win, how does that make us any different from non-believers?

Please take a moment and just read the link i've posted- it was, i thought, a very good sentiment that all can rally around- especially considering it was written by one who voted for the McCain/Palin ticket.

random political thought

I was thinking today about this idea that seems to permeate the thinking of many Christians I come into contact with. That is the idea that we need to get the "right" person into office, or else God will remove His hand from our country. Or remove his blessing. Basically, the idea that voting the "wrong" guy into office is a sign of sort of walking away from God.

as if our country hasn't already done that collectively.

But let me present a thought that occurred to me today. 8 years ago, the most disputed election in history ended with us electing an admittedly, unabashedly Christian man into office. Regardless of feeling I've heard (and personally wondered about) the genuineness of his faith- and ultimately the compromise that i believe being Christian and President of the US would entail, he admits to being a man of faith, and man guided by prayer and a man who trusts in God.

In the last 8 years, however, our country has suffered some of its most horrific experiences. Our own soil, mainland soil, was attacked by terrorists. We have involved ourselves in a war that seems to have no end, nor does there seem to be any way of measuring it. The housing market has dropped out- and it did NOT just start recently- this has been going on for years now. The stock market has dropped, and dropped, and... you get the point. Major banks, insurance firms and other financial institutions would have gone belly-up- and some may still- without government intervention- which, surprisingly made even more people uneasy. The value of our money has dropped- both against European money and against Canadian currency!

Perhaps it's not a matter of voting for the Christian to keep God' hand on America- because how much it seems the opposite in our current circumstances...

just a random thought...

Our Hope

Came across this quote the other day- it's well over 10 years old, and yet... i encourage each to ponder it many times as I have.

"Where is the hope? I meet millions who say they feel demoralized by the decay around us. where is the hope? the hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws are passed, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that’s where our hope is in this country, that’s where our hope is in life"

- a few Christians I know seem to have forgotten this. And it makes me think some of the Christian leaders out there trying to manipulate the election have forgotten as well. I myself post this because I needed to be reminded.

ps- props to the person who can post via reply to this the origins of this quote.

finding the truth...

I want to look at a popular way of thinking I’ve run into, and it becomes more prevalent during election times. People want to believe what they believe- because it supports what they want to do. They will believe what they believe and not actively search out the truth regarding that subject because what they believe perpetuates their course of action. In the case of politics, it’s so often this case. This time around, I STILL hear that Barrack Obama is a Muslim terrorist who’s an extremist. Why do people believe this? Because they want to vote republican. So, despite the overwhelming lack of support for their belief, they will believe what someone else has told them (as a flat lie, in this case) because it perpetuates their desire to vote Republican.

I read an article last night that quoted a woman as saying that she heard Obama is a Muslim terrorist. She could easily find dozens of places to dispel that rumor, but she WANTS to vote for a republican, and, especially now as the gap widens in the polls, people will cling to what they can to support what they want to do.

Doesn’t this permeate our Christian thinking, too? We want to pursue our course of action- living for ourselves, living in our affluence, going to church on Sunday. So we take the Bible to say that God wants us to be healthy & wealthy- that we are responsible to no one- and that God helps those who help themselves. If only those people who are in need would help themselves, God would help. So many honestly believe these things without doing the small amount of research in the Bible to show this is all false. And they believe it because? It perpetuates the lifestyle we live, alleviates our guilt of selfishness and gives us a warm fuzzy instead.

the TRUE spirit of America

I will be cynical for a moment- i think i'm allowed. two weekend ago, Rachel & I went to New York City. It was a great weekend, and she loves New York a LOT! so it was worth our time and money for me to use that a part of her birthday present this year. We did a lot of walking, went to Central Park, but our main objective and idea of spending our day on saturday was to hit up the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. It was a GREAT time- beautiful day (check out of my flickr photos) and an excellent history lesson. One of the things I love about where I live now is that we are so close to so many cities and places where history comes alive! I've always enjoyed history, but it is so much more enjoyable when you get to experience it firsthand.

I also was quite humbled when we went to Ellis Island. Just learning how much people gave up to try and come here, to listen to some people's stories of how much they worked when they arrived just to feed their family, but saying it is a better life by far than the one they left. One guy who said he came home from a 14 hour evening shift working for the railroad and his kids were having a tutor there to teach English- and they wanted him to stay so he could learn to sign his name. He said he wanted to go to sleep, but he would stay most of the time because he was just so proud to be here, and when he learned to speak and write, he was so proud to be an American. And we have no idea what that feeling is, but it makes me hurt to hear it because we have been so blessed to not have to experience it. and because we have not, i think we may be missing out on the true spirit of our country. The Spirit of feeling blessed or privileged- not entitled- to be here. The feeling of being lucky enough- not supposed to- go to college and get a good job. The feeling of joy and delight- not hum drum, ho-hum- to have a family to love and provide for.

What i saw during the weekend, and what i heard in those stories were two completely different things. What I mean is that i heard the stories of imigrants and it touched my heart. Then my eyes saw what all too often seems to be the true spirit of America- consumerism. People lining up, sometimes pushing, to pay too much for little trinkets- being more obsessed with getting those than with just being there. It made me cynical of the way we are, and a longing for people to embrace the old. I know i'm a pretty sensitive guy to a lot of that stuff, anyway, but after hearing the stories of imigrants, and seeing what they had to go through just to live in a place where they were free, the last thing i wanted to do was go buy lots of stuff with my excess of money.

Independence Day (weekend)

a restful, relaxing weekend around the Walsh household (minus going to the church and working some more- unplanned as it was). But I wanted to share a little from my head this weekend. I've always been rather patriotic- comes from where I grew up, probably, as well as being a Boy Scout. And I don't see any conflict in my religion with patriotism- being thankful for the country I live in, thankful for my freedoms, proud of the good things (mixed with ashamed of some of our less than proud moments, too). Nationalism- feeling my country is better than others- I do see as a conflict, but not patriotism. With that in mind, I'd like to share a couple tidbits out of American ideologies these days:

"Celebrate the birth of your country by blowing up a small piece of it."

we went to see fireworks with some of Rachel's family.

and they were quite nice.

Fireworks are generally one of the most patriotic symbols of our country, especially around the 4th of July.


And just like most of the other stuff we buy these days in America, about 95% of all fireworks purchased in America- are made in China (along with 92% of the American flags that are purchased by consumers).

Must be what makes us so great as a country. Happy birthday, America.

Reading the news early in the AM

THIS article made me laugh a bit and nod in agreement. wanted to share it. enjoy.

The specs on the car

The specs & stats:

Vehicle: 2002 Honda CRV
Mileage: 82,000
Color: Navy Blue
Engine- 4 cylinder
Important specs:
-6 disc changer
- power windows/mirrors
- Moon-roof
- folding picnic table doubles as cover for storage/2nd tire area
- folding tray between driver and passenger seat

Other info:
- Automatic transmission
- AWD

Never a dull moment

Last Wednesday, I had my friend Sonny (our mechanic) have a look at our car. The Nissan- see pictures from THIS post. The background is this- we had originally agreed to purchase that car as a 2nd car- the primary was supposed to be our Camry. It was not intended to be the primary car and there were things that, had we known it would be the 2nd car, we would have passed on the car because of.

On top of that, we also had a problem with the car a couple months ago. Back in Feb, we were told by a (most likely) biased mechanic of a dozen things wrong with our car. Having had the car for less than 5 months, we didn’t think that sounded right and took it to the dealership. They basically denied having the ability to foresee any of it, despite the fact that they claimed to have done all the work on it when we bought the car and they would have known what kinds of things would be getting ready to go. They agreed to cover half the work for us because of their reputation, but unfortunately, their reputation was soiled in our minds. Because they knew we were financing the car, they told us that it was only owned by one person (which we found was false), and the car was obviously not in the “great” shape they described- we couldn’t help but feel taken.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago- Rachel and I have been frustrated with the car and cannot believe how much could be going wrong. It sounded like the exhaust was rattling around. So, I agreed with Rachel we could look into the trade-in value of our car and figure out if we could potentially do something else for our vehicle. The trade-in value was much less than we thought it would be, but we were still willing to explore our options- even if we had to eat some of the loan for the car, perhaps we could minimize that. Fast forward to last Wednesday now when Sonny looked at my car. He said he thought he got it, but also told me that it would need to pretty good exhaust work in about a year or so. Add that to the exhaust still rattling. And I’m thinking, “this car is a money pit! If we keep this, we’re going to sink more money into it than the car is worth because it seems like every few months something else is coming up!!” and so with that, we made a decision based on conversations, some prayer and a little research- and when Rachel went to the bank on Friday to ask about what kinds of options they’d have available for us to wrap the old loan from another bank into an auto loan for this one- they actually pre-approved us for the car and can help us with the other loan.

So, I make a call about the car we’d seen a few weeks ago- which I neglected to mention up until now- and they, surprisingly, still had it because they’d been too busy to clean it up. So, on Saturday, we went down, test drove it, looked it over, went to the bank, signed the paperwork and then went back to pick up our “new to us” 2002 Honda CRV. Rachel has been wanting a CRV for 8 years. being a small SUV actually helps our gas mileage because it’s a smaller engine than our car had. And has better emissions than the car because it’s newer and because it’s not as far traveled.

Never again to buy a Nissan. And NEVER again to buy a car from Lancaster Toyota Mazda. Stay tuned for pictures of the beautiful new vehicle, which really IS in great condition- which I know thanks to my carfax report. And which is told to me not by a car salesman, but by someone who has earned our trust. As I say- stay tuned for pictures. And this is really long- so stay tuned as I may have more to say about this later…

sadness

we just got home from the hospital tonight- rachel went to the doctor having pain in her stomach and we found out that we lost the baby. we're quite sad and upset because we were very excited. We appreciate any prayers and thoughts at this time.

the never ending question

For all the times people asked us, I think they finally gave up. The one time our friend Tina at church didn’t ask was the Sunday after we found out. The one time Lisa Dorr, a sort of adopted mother for me, didn’t ask, it was the time we’d planned to visit with the intention of telling. And I think just about everyone who asked us within the first two years of our marriage “when?”- they must have given up around our third anniversary. And it’s just the time that we weren’t asked that we were ready to tell- and now to announce- we are expecting our first child. That’s right, folks, Rachel is pregnant!!

Due date- November 9. It was originally set for Oct 31 when she went to confirm the pregnancy test- but after our visit to the doctor on Wednesday (April 16), that was changed. We thought she was 11 ½ weeks along and that we should hear the heartbeat of the baby, but the midwife was unable to find it for us to hear. She said that she could tell where it was cuz she does that all the time, but she couldn’t tell us what to be listening for. That and a couple other concerns had her sending us for an ultrasound- just to make sure everything was ok. So, we got to SEE the baby instead. Which was much better! And with that, they said that based on what they saw, Rachel was more like 10 weeks than 11 ½, so that accounted for the concerns- because the difference of a week and a half at this stage is a big difference.

I’ll (we’ll) try and keep all our family and friends up to date on all the proceedings and such- everything’s still relatively early. I blog on blogger, facebook and myspace, so you can always check any of the three. That’s all for now- just the big announcement! And the visit to the doctor’s office this week.

I've been moved

This morning started like many others. But as I turned on the news, I was reminded that today marks the 40th anniversary of the Death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Normally, celebrations of death are quite somber and not something we remember or celebrate as a society. This death in particular is not one to celebrate, but rather, the life and death of this man has led us to think.

One quick thought i had this morning was how much his death woke up many people who would have otherwise not cared about the Civil Rights movement. Often times, we can see that someone's death has done as much as the purpose of his life- see Jesus Christ.

But what got me thinking is that this morning, as I was driving to work, reflecting on the work of this man's life, I turned my ipod to U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)". and I was moved. extremely moved. I ran across this thought- of all the Christians who have served in such a popular role in society, Martin Luther King Jr. may have embodied the Gospel most- at least, in our time. This is not to discount the many men and women who have made significant contributions to the Christian faith, but something about his focus on not only equality in races, but also to social justice proves that he was not only focussed with spiritual, but also with some often missed, but extremely important parts of the gospel.

I want to encourage others to think about our calling to be reconcilers, advocates for the poor and marginalized, and ultimately, the first to call for justice. Martin Luther King Jr. saw something in society that did not line up with common decency, let alone the Gospel calling- and he chose to do something about it. Can we possibly be moved by someone who's purpose was not overtly 'spiritual', but was nonetheless one of the calling of believers in Christ.

hands and feet

i am in this weird place... I went with about 20 or so from my church today to Philadelphia to do a work project for a church that we have connected with there. To be honest, it felt REALLY good. I'm not the kind of person who does things like this for my feeling. and i'm not talking about feeling good about myself, anyway. i'm talking about how for the first time in a few weeks, i feel like i belong in this church again. and i've hit a realization.

i feel most a part of this church (and any church, i believe) when i'm doing stuff. In other words, when i'm serving. This has become more poignant recently because i feel like i belong when i'm serving, but not especially in our "sunday morning service". I think it's because of this- i've been coming to grips with the gospel more recently in terms of being the hands and feet of Jesus on earth. being HIS vehicle- His method for saving the world. and too often, in poiusness, the church has turned off the world. by doing horrific things, by commiting acts of evil in the name of Christ- by acting exactly the opposite of how Christ taught us to act. One of the primary ways that people will see the Church is really Christ's is by loving others. And honestly, love is not an emotion- it is, as the old song goes, something you do. my feelings of love for my wife mean jack crap if I don't express them some way. and our love for others means just the same without some way of expressing.

So, for whatever reason, i feel more like i belong in my church now when i'm serving and i don't feel very much like i belong on sunday mornings... this is very strange...

mistaken?

in the groggy place between sleep and awake when i'm usually making absolutely no sense and am completely incoherent, I thought of this today... it comes from the small snippet of interview that spawned my previous writing, but is a larger problem than an individual. Osteen was asked about how his points of his last book don't include God or Jesus Christ and he responded that there are biblical references to back all of them.

It made me think, this morning, about how we take our scriptures. Do we find our enlightenment in them, discovering rays of truth straight from them and then finding that to be proven true in other places in the Scriptures? or do we make our points and then go out to hunt down passages that support our point of view (which leads to using passages out of context)?

It is the equivalent of asking a scientist in her experimentations if her results are independently of her hypothesis with the intention of discerning the truth or if her results are used solely to prove her hypothesis- a study unwilling to accept that its original premise may have been wrong.

It is important for we Christians (and not just pastors) to think about these things because it is important for us to study the Scriptures with an open heart and not come to them to prove our pre-conceived notions. Or our self-thought self-help suggestions.

defining the role of the pastor

"There are lots of people qualified to explain the scriptures to you. That's not my gifting."- Joel Osteen

I just watched a clip with this quote. I cannot believe the audacity of this statement. if you are a pastor, according to the scriptural definition of the pastor, your job is to teach/explain the scriptures!! I've blogged in the past about cotton candy preachers, fluffy ministry and Christian Crack. So i'm not doing that here- but i'm saying this. I'm frightened- literally frightened- for the people who depend on Osteen's ministry. I'm afraid for those people in their spiritual life- because they depend on a person to teach them the scriptures who says he's not gifted in explaining and teaching the scriptures.

not to be overly political, but...

this is not about super tuesday. this is a personal rant/vent based on some stuff i've read recently that has confirmed my feelings for some time. it sparks from the budget that President Bush introduced yesterday. it is a $3.1 trillion budget. it is the largest budget ever and it calls for a number of things- the most noticeable of which are increases- in military spending and tax rebates. i like tax rebates because i like money in my pocket. but beyond those increases, it calls for tightening everything else- especially reductions in medicare and medicaid- medical plans for elderly and poor people. how much do we have to spend on those increases if we have the biggest budget ever and it still tightens up just about every other kind of spending?

our country- forget the war on terrorism, forget normal military spending without wars. just on Iraq, our country spends more money than the entire education budget. And he wants to approve yet more money for that while scrimping even more for education. and it's not just education, but education is one of the most important things we can focus money toward- as it becomes more and more obvious that America's students are not keeping up with the world and that more and more are not getting high school educations by dropping out, failing out or otherwise.

all this has led me to these personal questions that i vent here- not believing that i am very highly read anyway. "How can we as Christians still support this man as president?" Just because he is a Christian (whether it's true or not) does not mean he is doing the right thing. How can we overlook his poor record on the home-front- education, environment, helping the poor and needy. his sole focus now seems almost to be overseas on this war we were supposed to have won years ago.

and just this morning i read an article that adds to this- our president signed an exemption for the Navy from an environmental bill that bans sonar usage in a particular area due to its ill effects on whales. he claims to be environmentally concerned, but when push comes to shove, it appears he is not really. a judge said it was not legal for him to sign the exemption and that the Navy must abide by the guidelines set out. do we honestly want to support a president who feels that because he is president, he can, by virtue of his position, overstep laws and circumvent the rules? that sounds more like the tyrants and kings of the middle ages than the President of the United States in the modern age.

please don't take me wrong- i still support the office of the president, and on a personal level, i do not believe President Bush is evil. But to support a man for president based solely on his religious leanings is, as I've said so many times in the past, a ridiculous notion. there are too many things associated with the office of president that would compromise the true faith of most Christians that would need to be decided as president, and while a man can do it well, we cannot vote for him because of that. we must support his politics- and in this case, i do not.