Back In the Swing of Things
Hey everybody,
It's been a little while since I've posted, the holidays tend to really through me out of all my usual routines and it sometimes takes a while to get back to normal. Anyway, I'm glad to be back and I'm really excited about all the awesome things this year will hold. I think that with out a doubt, 2009 will be a year that I will look back on as a defining time in my life and in the lives of those around me. Lot's of big things happening, so I'm just getting ready to hold on for the ride.
Obviously, the main big huge thing is that I will be getting married this summer on June, 20! How freaking cool is that? Our engagement sometimes feels like it's going to last forever but it's really been moving along alright, today the widget on my homepage tells me we have 174 days left. We've enjoyed being engaged so far, but I'm really hoping these next few months move quickly!
There are some other cool things going on this year too. Sometime during 2009 (dates are still somewhat flexible) our church (Rolling Hills Community Church) will be moving into our first building. This will be a great new development for our church and will open up a lot of new doors for our ministry. I love our church the way it is now, but not having a facility really does put a lot of limitations on us and this will help to address a lot of those issues.
A big development in our country was the inauguration of our new president, Barack Obama, last week. It was a great time for our country and the world to see how a free country can operate. There are not many other countries in the world where the people can both choose their leader and install that leader peacefully. Admittedly I did not vote for him and I still have many concerns regarding his administration, but for right now, I can do nothing but wish him the best, vigorously support him when he is right, and oppose him when he is wrong. I do believe that his heart is in the right place and that he wants the best for our country, although we may sometimes disagree on what the "best thing" is or how to achieve it.
So all around this year will be a major time of "change" (man, I'm sick of hearing that, lol). I'm sure there will be both good and bad, but with God's help I hope the good will outweigh the bad and we'll all look back on 2009 with fond memories.
Some Things Never Change
This month I have, somewhat by chance, stumbled into a renewed interest in American history. I posted a few weeks ago about how I came across the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Shortly after that Laura started receiving discs through Netflix from the HBO series about John Adams. I watched the first four episodes while flying to and from Sacramento this past weekend and had to come home and finish the last episodes on Sunday evening. If you have not seen this series I would highly recommend it. Aside from the production being remarkably well done, I appreciate how they wend about portraying the story of the American Revolution: as a very real and human tale.
History books have a way of categorizing our predecessors into neat categories: heroes & villains, patriots & cowards, but the reality is that they were people just like us. At times they were strong, and at times they were weak, sometimes right and sometimes wrong, they were flawed, imperfect people, who were struggling just to hold it all together. I think the greatest misconception about the whole ordeal is the notion that everyone was in agreement about how to handle our separation from England. The issue was bitterly contested by the representatives of the various colonies and was ultimately resolved through political negotiations not completely unlike those we have today. With our current political climate I think it is interesting to take the occasional look back at our history and note that there are somethings that just don't change.
The Common Sense Fix
For those following the financial mess that is all over the news as of late, you should find this document interesting. I'm not a financial expert by any means, but this is a plan that I can understand, and deal with (as opposed to the absurd $700 Billion idea). We all know that we can't trust the news media, they are always biased in some way, this week they are almost uniformly slanted in favor of the massive bailout. I find it interesting that on every news channel I have watched I have not seen even the acknowledgement of an alternate plan, although it is clear that it is out there since over half of the House voted against the bail-out. If "everyone" is so obviously for this idea, then why didn't it sail through unanimously? Anyway, I digress... Although the news media has not really been interested in covering this proposal, it is being spread around in Washington and does have a chance. I'm not sure where it's origins really come from, I understand it is the result of input from a lot of different sources, but that really isn't the issue, the point is that A) it looks like it could work, and B) it is something most "average" Americans can get behind.
Although he did not develop the plan Dave Ramsey has gotten behind it and has posted a summary of it's idea's to his website in PDF format. You can view all that info here. If you support this then make sure you let your Representative and Senators know!
Tony Snow
I just heard today that Tony Snow passed away this weekend. When I heard I was surprised by the news, but I was even more surprised by how much I was affected by it. I never met Tony Snow, but I have been listening to him on the radio since high-school, I've seen him on the news, and of course I listened to much of what he had to say during his tenure as the White House Press Secretary. I believe he was a good man with a genuine heart and it is always sad to see someone like that go. The things people say about you after you are gone are a good measure of how well your life was lived, judging by what I have seen and heard so far, I think his life was a great blessing to our country.
My first political post…
So Romney dropped out of the race this week, that was disappointing, but I respect him for his decision. Although I'm not a huge fan of Jon McCain, I think it's about that time for me to start focusing on the positive and getting ready to support him through the general election (I know that Huckabee is still in the race, but c'mon, seriously...). And for all those out there who are using their righteous indignation to not vote for McCain, just keep in mind, on his most liberal day, he's way better than either Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama. I also think that deciding not to vote at all is outrageous. Too many people have fought and died for our right to vote for anyone to just decide not to participate. I don't care if you write-in yourself on the ballet, VOTE!
Was the a rant? I didn't intend for it to be a rant, but sometimes these things just happen...
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