Going home

Been awhile in posting no doubt. But I'm in listening mode of late. Still reading and pondering and watching. Just speaking less.

If you haven't seen it already, the 'Return Good for Evil' blog is a well written slam dunk and should be daily reading. Sift the archives and you'll see for yourself.

As for me, the internet connection at home is temporarily off, meaning, I'm online at facebook and here, surfing as it were when I'm at friends houses and remember to do so.

Once back online more permanently, the posting will resume.

I'm also ending the year with a visit to my family in Connecticut. Looks like some old friends are getting together around the same time and this means it will be a hoot. Big T is back from across the pond and so hopefully some new adventures await us both. We shall see.

Blessings all.

Charge!

Here comes the army of pundits, experts and doomsdayers to tell the public why this bail out is necessary. Why it will hurt them if they don't swallow this, yes, bitter pill.

Maybe we know that, person in suit with books behind you, and yet, we still said no. Your polls and questionnaires will not help you now.

Rollcall

How they voted on the Bailout bill HERE.

Indiana (Yes is for it, No is against it.)

Name: Party: District: Vote
Hill (D) (D-09) No
Ellsworth (D) (D-08) Yes
Carson (D) (D-07) No
Pence (R) (D-06) No
Burton (R) (D-05) No
Buyer (R) (D-04) No
Souder (R) (D-03) Yes
Donnelly (D) (D-02) Yes
Visclosky (D) (D-01) No

Baron Hill is my rep. and so I say good job! Now, he'd better keep up the No's as Paulson is hardly done and he can always print the money if he wants. Wanker.

Kentucky

Chandler (D) (D-06) No
Rogers (R) (D-05) Yes
Davis (R) (D-04) No
Yarmuth (D) (D-03) No
Lewis (R) (D-02) Yes
Whitfield (R) (D-01) No

Gridlock never looked so lovely. Despite it being a White house initiative,Republicans scattered and despite a Democrat majority in the House, (all the Dems needed to win was to just all vote yes, as Pelosi asked) they bucked.
The pundits are dumbfounded. No time for polls so they could look smart.

That's not to say I don't think this is an extremely important financial moment and worthy of attention. But the bail out is nonsense and the markets will correct. We shall have to bite the bullet. But Jesus is still Sovereign and Empire may not be the best option fellow citizen.

Note that the spending on next years military budget went UP, not down or even just flatlined but...up. Yea, crisis my asses. Oh, by the way, you also sent 25 billion to subsidize the automakers too. Some people never learn.

I don't care if my 401-K totally evaporates. Maybe my employement will dry up. But If we can roll back this empire, I'm for it. One battle at a time. My offspring deserve a better solution than a quick fix without any debate just so I can keep drinking starbucks and playing XBox in the suburbs.

An Army of ONE.

Pfc. Michael Barnes had a spiritual awakening while in Iraq.

"I have been trying to justify being a soldier and finding a way to do so while still being a Christian, because that is what I wanted to do since I was a kid," Barnes wrote in his request for conscientious objector status in December 2006.

"But I can no longer justify spending my short time in this world participating in or supporting war. ... I must try to save souls, not help take them. I fear not for my life, but for my soul."

The Army disagreed of course and denied his request for conscientious objector status. But "A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Army to grant conscientious objector status and an honorable discharge to Pfc. Michael Barnes, a Fort Richardson-based paratrooper who said he experienced a religious awakening in Iraq two years ago that left him opposed to war in any form."

Praise the Lord!

"In a 16-page ruling, the judge noted evidence of how Barnes' faith grew stronger after he arrived in Iraq in September 2006. Soldiers in his unit testified that he became increasingly withdrawn, devoting much of his spare time to reading the Bible."

He will be mocked, called a coward and resented. Not only by war mongers but home town folk and probably church goers. But the courage of this young man is exceptional and a testimony to Empire Christians.

You can stand up. You can look evil in the face and say no more, wherever your find yourself immersed in it, and we all are. I am motivated! Thank you Michael Barnes!

"Married with two children, Barnes previously worked as a counselor to troubled youths in Oregon and Washington. In his request for conscientious objector status, he said he would like to return to similar work as a civilian."

US Army to deploy against...you.

It didn't misspeak or misspell.
For the first time ever, US Army units are to be deployed into the US under the NorthCom Theater for a PERMANENT base of operations..
Like most things these days. This won't generate much of any excitement or angst. Your either for the terrorists or against them and who could possibly be against the US having a unit dedicated to "helping" you and I fellow citizen recover from floods, chemical attacks and civil unrest. You might have been tempted to think that the Fire Department, Public utilities workers, City workers, State workers, Police, Sheriffs, SWAT, State troopers, National Guard, FEMA, Homeland security, FBI, and the hordes of support mechanisms at their disposal (and already paid for by you) would be adequate. But you'd be wrong. We are not safe here in NorthCom.

Well I hope you don't have any plans to protest (read civil unrest) anything in the future. I do of course and so I guess I should learn how to survive a good tasering.

"The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them."

Now I've given up living by the sword but never forget that "dangerous" is whatever they decide it to be. The bright side is we get to learn how to carry the new centurions gear that extra mile.

That is how police States and Empires roll in. Banners and flags and proud parents waving to the troops that will kill their fellow citizens, for the good of course. Sanctioned, as always with a warm benediction from a Pastor. Go team!

If your still reading, PLEASE check out this blog, Return Good for Evil.
PHE-NOM-MENAL!

A sojourners creed

I belong to Christ. My time and my life are His. He directs the moments and the activity of my days. He is the counselor whose wisdom I follow. He is the model for how I live, and the audience I seek to please. He has called me to worship Him. He has gifted me to serve Him. I belong to Christ, and I will live for Him today and forever.

FREEDOM

My debt is paid.

Thanks to all who cared, visited, laughed and prayed.

The crypt is opened.

Tim Keller quote

“Ultimate reality is a community of persons who know and love one another. That is what the universe, God, history, and life is all about. If you favor money, power, and accomplishment over human relationships, you will dash youself on on the rocks of reality. When Jesus said you must lose yourself in service to find yourself (Mark 8:35), he was recounting what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have been doing throughout eternity. You will, then, never get a sense of self by standing still, as it were, and making everything revolve around your needs and interests. Unless you are willing to experience the loss of options and the individual limitations that come from being in committed relationships, you will remain out of touch with your own nature and the nature of things.”

- Tim Keller, The Reason for God.

The science of uncertainty

If you've noticed some interestingly colorful sunsets during August, it might have been due to this, the Kasitochi volcano in the Aleutian Island erupted over a million tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

According to the author of this blog, Anthony Watts, it is the lack of sunspots (we are in a low cycle) among other things that contributes to the overall cooling of temperatures worldwide NOT CO2 emissions from humans. But like most things, the CO2 cause is now political, rather than scientific.

Take for instance this article about a German power plant that came up with a emissions free coal burning plant. What did they get for their efforts? Angst. Even the company admitted that is was a "temporary solution that buys us the time we need to develop a sustainable energy system in the future". But that still wasn't enough. Sure, there still making a profit somewhere but how else will the innovations be paid for? Taxes? On an already declining European population?

Unless we all perish, tomorrow, I don't think the political wing of the global warming issue will ever be happy and will cease scientific research all together in favor of propaganda, if they haven't already. Like this babel style nonsense.

Hence, my interest in someone whose looking into the earth cooling and having nothing to do with CO2. Its all about how you 'communicate uncertainty'.

Everyone lives by faith, everyone. We all have to assume certain things to be true with out empirically proving each true for ourselves. All that differs is the object of that faith.

Hashem; the name...and assorted links...

Odd. The Vatican gives orders to excise the name from worship. The article here: Barring Yahweh

Ike. The Water apocalypse theme continues...

"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive ... " wrote Thomas Jefferson, "it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.... ". In a recent poll, one in five agreed that states have the right to peacefully secede from the Union. (LA Times)

In the meantime, you now "I'm counting the days, till freedom calls my name, counting the days, till the gods break these chains...(Courtesy Soul Asylum)

"

A wonderful series.

From the blog, On the margins.

Christian Anarchism Introduction (part 1)

Christian Anarchism Non-resistance (part 2)

Christian Anarchism Ellul's point of view (part 3)

Christian Anarchism Is it possible? (part 4)

Counter-imperial

My friend Jason Barr nails it here. Jason quotes this on his website,“[Christian] scholars have taken the dynamite of the church, have wrapped it up in nice phraseology, placed it in an hermetic container and sat on the lid. It is about time to blow the lid off.” — Peter Maurin

Well, he's doing just that.

Check out his Musings on Paul which echoes alot of what you'd hear in 900 pages of N.T Wright (New Testament scholar and all around bad hombre). What a bargain! 1 page for his 900+. Rush now as operators are standing by! Come on already! Click the link!

"Paul’s evangelism cannot be understood in terms of a traveling preacher who offered people a new religious experience, one superior to the religous understandings they had previously possessed. Rather, he should be seen as a kind of traveling ambassador (a term he actually uses to describe himself) for a new king-in-waiting, establishing colonies of people loyal to this new king, ordering their lives and practices according to the story and symbols of this new king, rather than to the imperial Roman story that formed the dominant religious, as well as political, mythos of the time. Paul called his converts to order their minds according to the truth of the story of Christ, not of Caesar’s. This can only be construed as deeply subversive and counter-imperial. The fact that Paul ended up in prison, executed under the reign of the “god” Nero is a sign that he did his duty for the new king quite properly."

Business as usual.

I had to chuckle at the idea that the elections this year were all about mavericks. Fred Thompson telling the RNC delegates, big donors and hierarchy elite last night that McCain and Palin take on the mysterious, unnamed (I guess only Alaskan) elite was too much. Reminded me of the cellular commercial where the big shot executive tells his underling how he loves sticking it to the man!

...But, you ARE the man replies the puzzled underling.

Same goes for Obama and Biden. Policy wise, they are no different from your run of the mill Democrat, except they lack any substantial anti-war rhetoric. Doesn;t surprise me really. Can they get elected with it intact and flowing?

Just goes to show how easily the revolutions of today are already gobbled up by the major entertainment industries and sold back to us as cool innovations. Make sure you get your t-shirt telling us all you were there! Woo-hoo.
Drink your Kool-aid, watch the lovely models and shut up.

This report, if true doesn't bode well.

While Gov. Palin is introduced to what really matters, the eternal war lobbies. She's already got her flag! True, she's lovely and smart and capable. All of them are. I do not pretend to know their souls and assume them each and all to be accomplished adults. But me thinks she's also a product of the gospel of rapture theology so prelevant in America and quite easily hijacked by many to effect the results they want while Christians gaze at clouds and check off prophetic crossword puzzles.

Sure, I care about an African-American or a Female being elected to high office and thats wonderful, really. But I guess I care more about my two sons, of draft age in 5-6 years, and where they will be asked to bleed out for as Empire struggles to hold onto her grasp.

Dual citizenship never had more perks. I don't want to use it but it's always on the table of my mind. Let the reader with ears to hear, do so.

What is not 'business as usual' is my second son Brandon. He turned 12 today.

Happy Birthday Brandon! I love you. While the empire does all in its power to attract and compromise you, here I stand, your dad and servant, I can do no other.

Dead Sea Scrolls on the internet

Scientists using American space technology have started a huge project to digitally photograph the Dead Sea Scrolls and post it on the Internet for all to see, Israeli authorities said Wednesday.

The best news team ever, strikes again.

No Ruler. (Part 2)

Reject, resist, organize, work, oppose, and directly confront.

These are the unifying goals of the RNC Welcoming Committee and at their root, admirable. I surfed their FAQ section and found references to the Anarchist FAQ online here. Which, to my understanding hopes to see libertarian Socialism replace any and all systems of government.

Instead of "central planning," which many people associate with the word "socialism," These anarchists advocate free association and co-operation between individuals, workplaces and communities and so oppose "state" socialism. But there remains the collective ownership of production and the means of production. At least that is my present and far to brief summary.

However, this still seems like an upside hierarchy to me, even if from the ground up and if run by humans, prone to corruption. Not that anyone of these adherents would disagree. They might and counterclaim that their system still provides for the best and least destructive correction, being local, tribal, decentralized and by free association.

Self-management, All would agree but especially for anarchists, is essential to ensure freedom within the organisations so needed for any decent human existence.

And there is the rub. While I agree with a lot of what I read and continue to read among anarchists the essential point for me lies in the sinfulness of men. We seek to rule over the other. 'Archist', in a sense, that is make primary ourselves. We cannot remove that bent in our system even if we remove all the tools and positions of government. Ours is a self management problem.

As a Christian anarchist, I seek to make none Archy but God, God revealed in Jesus. Anything that attempts to fulfill that role must be confronted. Beginning primarily with myself.

The hope is not in deconstructing any system for anarchy's sake but for the Lord. The key ingredient in that struggle being the proclamation of the gospel through non-violent means. Precisely through non-violent means. A radical, self giving discipleship.

Which is why I must reject the anarchists of the welcoming party. While I may or may not agree with their assessment, I ultimately cannot join them. But nor must I then default to some political party, or the lesser of 2, 4, or 8 evils.

The commitment to the way overrides in all and that way is still one of direct confrontation with all archy's, all powers that set themselves up. But the righteousness of the way lays not even in being non-violent but in depending upon God in all things. A dependence on what He has, is and will do as I put myself into what some would declare as harms way.

I'll continue to try and expand upon this idea but one final comment for now.

Consider the protest in St. Paul itself. A few disrupted for many, a protest. Lets grant for the sake of argument that the free association of these people was noble and fair and just. It was reduced to violence by those within their own ranks. The noble aims of the organizing itself failed to protect from the few who made themselves an authority by breaking things and inviting violence in response. Would any society created by men do any better? Could guarantee against reaction and overreaction by parties within and those opposed? Did those who failed to heed the main groups warnings, against their own anarchist standards, set themselves up as their own authorities and ruin what was a collective ideal?

James 4:2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.

An-Archos; No Ruler

Since I've used the word anarchy here, specifically Christian Anarchist, something needs to be said concerning the demonstrations outside the RNC convention in St. Paul, Minnesota and the so-called anarchists there and how I view them.

First, what exactly IS happening there? I direct your attention to a few links.

This reporter claims to have been embedded with the trouble making "group" all day. Most were an assortment of pacifists, anti-war protesters and left-wing activists who were peacefully protesting and demonstrating which is well within their right to do. When a handful of "kids" began to knock over newspaper stands and sidewalk garbage cans (That's showing the MAN!), most in the main group stopped to pick up the mess and tell them to knock it off. Predictably, they didn't.

"On one street, a few people threw down caltrops to block traffic. One kid who looked under 20 years old jumped on top of a cop car that broke through the pedestrian barrier. Another two smashed windows of a Macy’s, First National Bank, and unoccupied cop car. However, this was the work of maybe five or so people in the breakaway protest group." - MOLLY PRIESMEYER, Minnesota Independent.

Fine, says you, but this media outlet has an agenda. Ok...

WKBT is reporting that an Associated Press photographer as well as Amy Goodman of Democracy Now fame were swept up in the police crackdown that netted over 250 arrests. They and many others were subsequently released. "St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman says the vast majority of people who marched did so peacefully. He says it's unfortunate that, quote, "those voices were somewhat muted by the criminal activities of a handful of folks." (emphasis mine)

Apparently the Connecticut Delegation came under "attack" as only Fox news could put it, while exiting a bus.

Of the groups listed as being present, only the "Funk the War" group and the "Food Not Bombs" group seems to have been the troublesome ones, and this is exactly the group the reporter above was embedded in. They were also allegedly connected to the "RNC welcoming committee" which was the focus of the police raids prior to the convention. She claims there were about 60 or so of them (compared to FOX News's 200), and of them, only a handful that were unaffiliated and claiming to be anarchists.

So, we are talking of 5-10 people along one route in a crowd of 10,000. There actions however seemed to have caused the large police force to react, and some would say overreact, and begin to forcefully clear the streets which netted many peaceful and innocent people. Many of these people are being released albeit on a case-by-case basis. They threw the net and decided to catch what they could and sort later. Lets face it, lots of people attend these things to see just what might happen, myself included. I'll refrain from commenting on the police presence, perimeter and response for now.

My concern at the moment are these anarchist/anti-authoritarian "welcoming committee" people and who are they since they have the label of anarchist?

Well, according to their website they have 6 points of unity. This is the cached version of the page in case someone pulls the site down. Here they are...
1. A rejection of Capitalism, Imperialism, and the State;
2. Resist the commodification of our shared and living Earth;
3. Organize on the principles of decentralization, autonomy, sustainability, and mutual aid;
4. Work to end all relationships of domination and subjugation, including but not limited to those rooted in patriarchy, race, class, and homophobia;
5. Oppose the police and prison-industrial complex, and maintain solidarity with all targets of state repression;
6. Directly confront systems of oppression, and respect the need for a diversity of tactics.

Having established some (by no means all encompassing) sense of the on the ground situation, I'll next take on those 6 points and more importantly what isn't in any of them.

Chrome

So I downloaded Google's new browser, Chrome and I'm taking it for a spin. Very nice. Sleek. Streamlined and fast. I really like that if a tab or window freezes up it doesn't freeze up the browser. Each tab has it's own task manager.

Download was fast and so was the import of files from the explorer browser.

So far so good. I like.

Trying out the incognito browsing feature...

Wow, I accidentally closed a tab while viewing a web page I hadn't been to before. When I immediately opened a new tab, it had a history of all the pages I had recently visited with small previews of each page, a history search engine and a listing of recently bookmarked and closed sites. All very easy to navigate and with no cluttering. Maybe FireFox and others have this feature, I don't know. I never tried them.

Sweet.

Geraldo vs. Gustav

This page has 4 live streaming videos of local coverage of Gustav for those that, like me, can only take so much of the national media outlets coverage. Sending all of them "Straight to Angola" might be the first step in saving the area from "monsterous", "explosive", and other wildly hyperbolic phrases. Good gravy.

I actually saw close ups of puddles forming at some point late last night. PUDDLES!

That's not to say there is not severe and widespread damage but puddles? Really?
Link via Suds & Soliloquies.

Labor day

This is one of the first Labor days that I can recall actually being off. And so, in an effort to be still be productive, I've been pouring over Ellul's Money & Power. The book is insightful and the following excerpt not only seems appropiate but has me reeling...(From page 38 in the chapter titled wealth in the Old Testament.)

After Abraham's victory over Chedarlaomer, who had plundered Sodom and Gomorrah, all this wealth is in Abraham’s hands. The king of Sodom gives it to him.

"The king of Sodom said to Abram: 'Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself" (Gen. 14:21). Abraham answered the king of Sodom:
"I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, maker of heaven and earth,
that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours,
lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing but
what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went
with me; let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share'" (Gen. 14:22-24).

In Abraham's refusal, we see first his concern not to depend on man for wealth. The way he formulates his refusal shows that he is not acting for merely political reasons, as we too easily conclude; he does not refuse because he is afraid this gift will ally him with the king of Sodom, but because of the Lord. Because the Lord is master of heaven and earth, Abraham can accept nothing from anyone else. To receive wealth from someone else is to deny God's lordship. To try to make money by whatever means possible, to give it first place in one's affections, to extract it from work or from war, is not to recognize this lordship, which cannot be simply a comforting word but it must be an attested reality.

More New Orleans links

Pastor Rob Wilton in New Orleans with Vintage Church has a church relief team ready to help in New Orleans. He's riding out the storm in Covington, LA but will return to assist and plans to blog about it. If your looking for ways to help, he's a good place to start.

Blog:
IM New Orleans
And Twitter:
http://twitter.com/IMNEWORLEANS

Also Pastor Dan Rizzo in Baton Rouge, LA. Twitter.

Riding Gustav

THIS GUY is going to live blog his riding out Hurricane Gustav from Mid-central New Orleans...

You can also follow him via Twitter.

Political Intell, The Wikipedia way...

Found this via the Instapundit. I spike in editing of Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page might have forecasted her being picked a day early.

"The Washington Post reports on the findings of Cyveillance, a company that 'normally trawls the Internet for data on behalf of clients seeking open source information in advance of a corporate acquisition, an important executive hire, or brand awareness.' Cyveillance decided 'on a lark' to test its methods by monitoring the Wikipedia biographies of Vice-Presidential prospects. The conclusion? If you'd been watching Wikipedia you might have gotten an advance tipoff of Friday's announcement that McCain was selecting Sarah Palin. 'At approximately 5 p.m. ET (Thursday), the company's analysts noticed a spike in the editing traffic to Palin's Wiki page, and that some of the same Wiki users appeared to be making changes to McCain's page.'"

Modern Church

Some comic relief.

On another topic entirely....

Having rented and watched "Hitman" this weekend, I felt compelled to say that Olga Kurylenko is stunning to look at. There, I said it. I feel better.

Suddenly, a name like Olga is redeemed! No longer does it conjure up images of the large, chain smoking, butchy Russian guard with a hairy mole working the Gulag without mercy...Quite the opposite comes to mind now.

I note she'll also be the new Bond girl in "Quantum of Solace" and is in the web episodic movie "Tyranny the series". Hey, I'm still a guy after all.

Simply stunning.

The Style of subversion

The Style of Subversion: An Introduction

The Style of Subversion: Resisting Pseudo-Alterity

The Style of Subversion: A Loving Resistance

"

As long as our understanding of our prophetic call is rooted in anger or simple frustration, we will fail. With such emotions fueling our vision, the best thing we can accomplish is destruction or, perhaps, deconstruction. We can tear down the Empire, but what will take its place? Another Empire. That simply creates an ongoing cycle where new oppressors continually take the place of the old oppressors. Revolutions tear down the status quo and set up a new status quo that is often twice the Son of Hell than the old status quo.

We who follow Christ should know better than to simply seek to create a new world order... "

Quotes

“…the Christian must not act in exactly the same way as everyone else. He has a part to play in this world which no one else can possibly fulfill. He is not asked to look at the various movements which men have started, choose those which seem ‘good,’ and then support them. He is not asked to give his blessing to any particular human enterprise, nor to support the decisions of man.”

“We are free, because at every moment in our lives we are both judged and pardoned, and are consequently placed in a new situation, free from fatalism, and from the bondage of sinful habits.”

Ellul from his "The Presence of the Kingdom".

More links

More early Church Fathers on violence. HTML link.

An Introduction to the Work of Jacques Ellul by Marva J. Dawn. PDF.

Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and René Girard by Matthew Pattillo. PDF.

Some balanced criticism of Ellul's approach here. Jacques Ellul: creation, fall and cultural engagement by David T. Koyzis. PDF.

And here, Jacques Ellul and The Subversion of Christianity by Charles St-Onge. PDF.

Seed

My church's community outreach and mission called "SEED", headed up by "Nathan Ivy".

A Louisville urban renewal project. And yes, Nathan and others choose to live in these communities when they could afford to live elsewhere; ie the safer and already well groomed suburbs.



The building above is just around the corner from Sojourn. This is very much an early 1900's part of town with midsize, now abandoned, factory buildings right across the street from rows of shotgun houses.

It does remind me alot of Bridgeport.

Liberation of the mad farmer

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.
Listen to carrion—put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn’t go. Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Wendell Berry
from The Country of Marriage

A conspiracy of faith, in the margins of Empire.

From Shane Claiborne's "The Irresistible Revolution", Chapter 5,
“Another Way of Doing Life”. You can read the chapter for free HERE.

People are drawn to lights and celebrities, to arenas and megachurches. In the desert, Jesus was tempted by the spectacular — to throw himself from the temple so that people might believe — to shock and awe people, if you will. Today the church is tempted by the spectacular, to do big, miraculous things so people might believe, but Jesus has called us to littleness and compares our revolution to the little mustard seed, to yeast making its way through dough, slowly infecting this dark world with love. Many of us who find ourselves living differently from the dominant culture end up needing to “despectacularize” things a little so that the simple way is made as accessible as possible to other ordinary radicals.

The simple way that he speaks of in his book is the idea of moving into the abandoned and forsaken parts of the empire. The other side of the tracks, the ghettos and among the poverty stricken with the goal of simply living to serve. Not donating money towards but actually becoming apart of that community.

I cannot live vicariously through people like Shane or those I see at my church who do the same. Sojourn is located in a hard up area of Louisville and many young people, quite able to live in the nicer suburbs choose to live nearby and as the church encourages, "cultivate beauty".

I have to join them. I already own nothing. In the wonderings of my mind of late I see another life entirely and the path to it has never been so clear and clutter free. The old life still beckons. It was never more evident than when a very beautiful female sought out my companionship. Her words about faith just seemed empty. Like a footnote in a book about something else entirely. I wondered if I looked like that to others. My faith just something I talked about after I had my fun and my way and on my terms.

It was a temptation that for once was seen and averted.

I'm talking about forsaking the pursuit of happiness through work and culture. Find a girl, get married, rise thru the ranks at work, get a house, raise the kids, feed the dog and doze off to the ever present television noise has ended for me. I realize some may do this with a vibrant faith, and I don't judge them. I just no longer care to try. It was a lifeless toil of consumption with a bible nearby and deep down I knew it. I'm sure I prayed for a way out...well...that prayer was answered.

That doesn't mean I'm joining the left or givin' up on many of the things I've learned over the years, like libertarian political theory for instance or Calvinism. I don't jettison things as I go but I incorporate them and the person I become is a messy hodge-podge of all these ideas and beliefs. There will be contradictions and I don't anticipate anything being easy. I think the second portion of my life will be much more difficult than the first ever was. One can only hope.

Interesting...

at least for geeks like me.

The South may have defeated itself, having been internally split and in deep divide over what most assume was a unanimous decision.

Notes to self.

An index of early Christian nonviolence.

The Ordinary Radicals movie trailer

Pfui !

I'm also collecting and reading Nero Wolfe detective novels by Rex Stout. I love em. I have 23 now of the 40 some odd he wrote. So, if your ever in a bookstore or yard sale dear reader and your thinking to yourself, Gee, I wish I could buy a book and send it to someone...but who? and What? Frustrate your noggin no longer.

If I collect the whole set I'll be cool and hip. The planet will also recover from heating, er, or cooling, or whatever they think its doing this week. So don't be a polluter for crying out loud! Confound it! Your either for the terrorists or your against them!

A&E made about 3 seasons worth of the books and were very well done.
Produced by and starring Timothy Hutton shown here as Archie Goodwin. Though I prefer to picture him as my grandfather in his speak easy days. Did I mention I love these characters!

Why did A&E only produce 3 seasons? Because their donkeys thats why.

If you like your geniuses flawed and eccentric, like ole Sherlock maybe, than do yourself a favor and read one of Stout's creations. Or catch the DVD in the library. Yes, I said the library. Below, Maury Chaykin as Wolfe.

Hmmm...

The right's answer to Micheal Moore. Spoofing him apparently.

Sources

For more Jacques Ellul, you can download free .pdf files HERE.
Just scroll down and on the left will be a gray "my share" box. There are quite a few Ellul works there. Nonviolence is one of them. Once downloaded, you can read at your leisure with Adobe reader.

Jason Barr runs the website and I chatted with him briefly last night. Turns out he doesn't live all that far from me here in Indiana. So hopefully we'll be meeting in the not so distant future.

It's awesome to be able to come into contact with people, books, authors and articles through the internet. I think so at least. An entire world is at your fingertips. I realize Ellul himself would have some reservations and would no doubt point out the cost of such technology, though, I haven't gotten that far yet in my reading.

I knew that very day my Father popped our phone into the new Commodore 64 modem, that I was going to use this machine for all its worth!



Look at the size of that floppy disk drive! I thought I was a programmer for awhile since I could make the screen go black and have this as the only sentence on the entire screen: (And it took one whole side of a cassette tape for memory. Cassette tape!)

Hello Greg, Would you like to play a game...?
What a dork.

Ground Zero

Well, one thing is certain, revolutions rarely occur from just talking about revolutions. So I resolved to get into the fray. Where do I start?

The last thing I uttered before sleep last night was that the Lord expose all my violent doings, all these ways I fail to follow. It' s not the use of nonviolence to mediate problems as much as it is a belief that this is the best way to express faith in Jesus publically that leads to the kind of provactive confrontation that changes people. And that he help me to will and to do. I must have been very sleepy because in retrospect, that was one of those, get your crash helmet kind of prayers and I didn't grab mine.

I'd like to tell you that for a few hours the next morning, I put put up a valiant non-violent fight at work. But I failed before ever reaching there. For truly, even my dreams are filled with violent action starring of course me. Now, I'm not faulting myself for having a dream as much faulting the training of myself to feel comforted by violent fantasies. A demonstrative ego. The fantasy of heroic deeds of intense violence for the reward of fame and female worship. Rarely have I attempted to emulate the Saints who died in remote places, without fanfare so that the good new of Jesus reigning might be taken serious.

It's hard to fall asleep when the usual things that one deems heroic, and his attempts to emulate them are suddenly challenged.

Of course work environments present challenges very unique but no less violent. The violence of gossip, blame, scapegoating, greed, lust, envy, covetousness and folly are all there. There is economic violence, class warfare, racism, prejudice, intimidation and coercion. I am called to confront these all with Christ-likeness while never forgetting that I too, am also part of the problem. It will not do to tell the lowly worker soley to be Christ-like without also challenging the owner with his wealth to the same. How does that play out?

An so begins what I can only describe as a very lonely struggle. And yet there is a peace. There have been times in my life that I was surrounded by and busy with people but felt an intense solitude. Alone, as they say, in a crowded room. Today, I could not be more alone and yet, I feel a quiet satisfaction. Not in the loneliness. I have before been marginalized and out casted for my own actions and reasons. That is not what I speak of, a sort of zeal for being unique but instead in the wholly otherness that seems to permeate these actions. As if they belong not to me but the God who is, wholly other. Grandiose? Maybe. But invigorating.

We are to wage the warfare of faith, our only weapons those Paul speaks of: prayer, the Word of God, the justice of God, the zeal with which the gospel of peace endows us, the sword of the Spirit. . . .
And if we think this is easy, it is because we know nothing about life in Christ, because we are so sunk in our materialistic culture that we have quite forgotten the meaning of God's work in us, quite forgotten what we are called to in the world. For to wield Paul's weapons is certainly not to live a smug, event less life. The fight of faith demands sacrificing one's life, success, money, time, desires.

The fight of faith is perfectly peaceable, for it is fought by applying the Lord's commandments. Humanly speaking, to fight thus is to fight nakedly and weakly, but it
is precisely by fighting so that we strip bare and destroy the powers we are called to contend against.It is not by sequestering ourselves in our churches to say little prayers that we fight, but by changing human lives.

And it is truly a fight-not only against our own passions and interests and desires, but against a power that can be changed only by means which are the opposite of its own. - Jacques Ellul

Necessity demands...

Some ramblings as I flesh this out further...

When in my life I feel necessity striving within me, I try to examine it.

I NEED tobacco, I NEED a drink, I NEED sexual fulfilment, I NEED justice, I NEED to make them understand, I NEED to have this...

The needs mentioned above are not sinful in and of themselves. But when I NEED them, to make it thru the day, to feel complete and satisfied, I am in those moments leaving the faith. Trusting as it were in another sovereign, namely me.

I can still do them. I do not condemn those who do as well, what I'm learning to condemn is the thought I can do so as a Christian.

This most importantly comes into focus though with violence. "I need to use violence to solve this problem. This aggression against me." This may be so and often seems like the only answer but it can never be said to be Jesus' answer. In those moments we have joined the world.

Hypothetical Exhibit A: I am arrested this weekend for a crime I did not commit. But I languish over the weekend in jail. I submit to this violence trusting not in the powers that be, though I employ and challenge them, but in Jesus. Kuddos to you, you say. But while 'waiting', a man in my cell decides he is going to satisfy his sexual desires using me. At some point, all the praying, pleading and threats will have been issued. I can in this moment, defend myself. Using violence as a means of stopping his aggression. I would understand if you did likewise. Applaud you even.
But I cannot declare I've been Christ-like. I can seek forgiveness afterwards but I cannot justify it, after the fact.

Hypothetical Exhibit B: While in the mission field, the village I'm in the care of is assaulted. Machete wielding thugs descend from all sides. I can in that moment choose to pick up a machete to defend my new friends to the death. I wouldn't expect you to do any less either. But I cannot declare this the best and most Christ-like option. To die along with the villagers without defending myself might be a better witness. Surely a complete non violent response would testify even more. Not a testimony to non-violence itself mind you but a testimony that my life, your life, our lives as Christians are not our own. We give them up to find them in Jesus, the one true God. Our acts testify even to the oppressor.

The Christian's first act of nonviolence is that he refrain from asking others to live as if they were Christians. When violence is in question, it is not our business to lecture them and urge them to be nonviolent. That is an atrocity since only the Christian can behave like one. The power to behave as a Christian comes from faith. You cannot demand or expect the non-faithful to do it.

The thugs, the unconverted villagers, the cellmate cannot and will not abide by my ethic. They will do what men necessarily do, act and react with violence.

Only the Christian can become the witness. The pacifist in my midst lays down his life for nothing. To just be simply non-violent in a violent world is suicide.
I do not expect Russians and Georgians in the Caucuses to do anything other than fight and kill one another. I do not condemn them nor do I seek to lecture them on how to act as Christians when they are not. Should their leaders testify that they are Christians then I can bring all I have to bear on the subject to persuade them that their actions, however necessary, are not Christian.

To ask a government not to use the police when rioting is engaged, or not to use the army when the Nation is under attack, is to ask the state to commit suicide.

"So, if a Christian feels that he must participate in a violent movement (or
in a war!)let him do so discerningly. He ought to be the one who, even as he acts with the others, proclaims the injustice and the unacceptability of what he and they are doing. He ought to be the mirror of truth in which his comrades perceive the horror of their action. He ought to be the conscience of the movement; the one who, on behalf of his unbelieving comrades, repents, bears humiliation, and prays to the Lord; the one who restrains man from glorifying himself for the evil he does." - J. Ellul

The Christian who accepts violence, like the Christian who thinks he can ignore violence, has renounced his Christianity as a way of life. He has given up the attempt to express his faith in the difficult situation of today. This would go for economic, psychological and physical violence.

Dancing with anarchy yet again...

Some one will undoubtedly say that due to the subject of my last few postings, that my leftist or rightist or libertarian politics are showing. But I assure you I have a deeper agenda than mere ideological spin.

I do not highlight the hypocrisy of American foreign policy for sheer giggles of uncovering hypocrisy. I need not write a thing in order to expose such vice. Looking in the mirror daily will suffice for that.

Rather it is the wider call of the disciple of Jesus upon me. That possibly, the issue of violence and force are better understood in this arena since we as a nation are forced to examine and the fears of more violence in a region of the world rather obscure now threaten us.

I like to think I am a realist. Coming from the mean streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut taught me something. Violence is the order of necessity. Since we are creatures of necessity, violence is the dominant trend. Like gravity or erosion, they are here. Which is exactly the line of thought I found in the writings of Jacques Ellul

What I've learned thus far...
That when I, as a mere man or as part of a greater nation, CHOOSE the path of violence I enter a system of necessities that subjects me and untold others to the indefinite reproduction of violence. Reciprocity.

I am not surprised when a women, trapped in her basement by a molester, strikes him dead and runs into the sunlight, or an enslaved people take up arms to produce liberty for themselves. Indeed, I applaud such action. But being a realist, the violence used is never without further consequences.

Having studied the ideas of "Just wars" and such that the theologians have articulated I find them all to be wanting. All violence is, in the end, the same and it has no limits even though, it seems, we like to think we can just declare them.

Terrorism is but a tactic of violence. It is escalation of violence in the hope of securing victory. That we choose to not employ it in favor of other tactics doesn't make it evil and 'us' right. When a US Marine throws a fragmentation grenade into a house that harbors enemies that are killing his comrades, he may not intend for women and children also in that house to die and most likely desires the opposite. But, as most would say, it is an unfortunate result. Collateral damage. We may mourn and cry. Drink away the nightmares but the terrorist is likewise employing violence to achieve an end that while never fully realized continues the insanity.

I am not here equating Marines to Terrorists. But violence, once unleashed, knows no boundaries and has only one certain goal. Reciprocity. Escalation.

I've been in war and it is madness. There are no rules though we like to think there are.

"Violence is a single thing, and it is always the same. In this respect, too, Jesus saw the reality. He declared that there is no difference between murdering a fellow man and being angry with him or insulting him (Matthew 5:21-22).
This passage is no "evangelical counsel for the converted"; it is, purely and simply, a description of the nature of violence." - Jacques Ellul

Once I open that nasty bag of tricks, there is no controlling the flow. When for instance, little Georgia declared independence in the early 1990's, many moved quickly to recognize it. Knowing as humans do that positions of power require violence and force to maintain. Not soon after, regions within Georgia declared Independence from it but because they were sympathetic to Russian alliances, no one acknowledged it. Much like the little US Colonies in 1776. In that day the known Empire thought it violent and obscene, but in time and thru violence, the nation of America was recognized.

We all decry violence aimed against us and yet we use and justify violence for ourselves. Whether its parents, police, bankers, politicians, employers or rioters.

Ah , you say. So true, violence begets violence-nothing else. But as long as the ends are desirable it is justified. Al Quadi's end goal, the Russian's end goal, the guy down the street whom I detest end goal, are not justifiable therefor he is condemned while my use of violence against them, is!

Violence can never realize a noble aim, can never create liberty or justice. The removal of Russian violence in the Balkans opened up suppressed violence among the various tribes and ethnic groups. Remove them with violent means will beget you more violence and this unforeseen.

Violence never attains the objectives it announces as justifying its use. Nations, Governments and institutions established through "just" violence are never an
improvement. Ask the American Indian and African slave how the war of Independence established freedom and justice for all. Ask the Vietnamese farmer how the ousting of France and the US established the great age of prosperity and peace.

Pacifism is not an answer either. It is not realistic. Unaware of the real evil and danger that lurks. Siding with the enemy is not a solution though the condemnation of all violence is agreed with.

Another way exists.

The first duty of a Christian is to reject idealism. Christian realism leads to the conclusion that violence is natural and normal to man and society, that violence is a kind of necessity imposed on governors and governed, on rich and poor.

What Christ does for us is above all to make us free. Man becomes free through the Spirit of God, through conversion to and communion with the Lord. This is the one way to true freedom.

But to have true freedom is to escape necessity or, rather, to be
free to struggle against necessity. Therefore, only one line of action is open to the Christian who is free in Christ. He must struggle against violence precisely because, apart from Christ, violence is the form that human relations normally and necessarily take. In other words, the more completely violence seems to be of the order of necessity, the greater is the obligation of believers in Christ's Lordship to overcome it by challenging necessity.

In the Old Testament, man shatters the necessity of eating by fasting, the necessity of toil by keeping the Sabbath; and when he fasts or keeps the Sabbath he recovers his real freedom, because he has been found again by the God who has re-established communion with him.
And this freedom is fully accomplished by and through Jesus Christ. For Christ, even death ceases to be a necessity: I give my life for my sheep; it is not taken from me, I give it." And the constant stress on the importance of giving signifies a breaking away from the necessity of money.

For the role of the Christian in society, in the midst of men, is to shatter
fatalities and necessities. And he cannot fulfill this role by using violent
means, simply because violence is of the order of necessity.
To use violence is to be of the world.

Christmas in August.

US Ambassador Khalilzad on Georgia...
(No mention of Georgia's attacks on civilians August 8th.)

"[W]e must condemn the Russian military assault in the sovereign state of Georgia, the violation of the countries sovereignty and territorial integrity including the targeting of civilians and the campaign of terror against the Georgian population. Similarly, we need to condemn the destruction of Georgian infrastructure and violations of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Ambassador Khalilzad further asked, "Was Russia's objective regime change in Georgia, the overthrow of the democratically elected government of that country?"
After all, he contended, the bad old days of tossing out governments of other nations were over.

Hmmm...Lets see...

CIA-supported coup against Iran's (elected) government in 1953 that brought the shah to power.
In 1963 Washington greenlighted the coup against South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, which resulted in his execution.
For nearly a half century Washington has been attempting to overthrow Fidel Castro.

In the 1980s the Reagan administration funded and armed a guerrilla force in an attempt to oust the Nicaraguan government.
In 1983 the U.S. invaded Grenada to remove a government viewed as inimical to American interests.
Six years later the U.S. invaded Panama to arrest its head of state. In Somalia in 1993 Washington decided to arrest local warlords – the de facto government – whom it disliked.

In 1994 the U.S. not only ousted the existing Haitian government, but put a new regime in its place.
A decade later the U.S. intervened to oust the same (elected) leader.
In 1999 the U.S. and NATO launched a war against Serbia to give autonomy, and ultimately independence, to the territory of Kosovo, supporting a violent secessionist movement which then ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of Serbs. The U.S. backed an unsuccessful coup in 2002 against Venezuela's (elected) President Hugo Chavez.

That same year President George W. Bush simultaneously targeted Iraq, Iran, and North Korea for regime change, terming them members of the "Axis of Evil."
A year later he invaded Iraq and ousted Saddam Hussein.

I'm reminded of a Christmas sermon by William H. Willimon.

So when you think about it, in our context, it is odd in a way that so many of us should flock to church on a Christmas Eve. It is a bit strange that we should think that, in Christmas, we hear such unadulteratedly good news, that we should feel such warm feelings, and think that we are closer to God now than at any other time of the year.

I guess we ought to be of the same frame of mind as our cousin, King Herod. When he heard the word about the first Christmas, the Gospels say that he was filled with fear. Give Herod credit. He knew bad news when he heard it. He knew that the songs that the angels sang meant an attack upon his world, God taking sides with those on the margins, the people in the night out in the fields, the oppressed and the lowly.

But for the people up at the palace, the well fixed, the people on top, the masters of the Empire, Christmas was bad news. And many of them were perceptive enough to know it.

So maybe that is why we cover up Christmas with cheap sentimentally, turn it into a saccharine celebration. Maybe, in our heart of hearts, we know that Christmas means that God may not be with the Empire, but rather the Empire may be on a shaky foundation, and that, if we told the story straight, as the Bible tells it, we might have reason, like Herod (when he heard about the first Christmas) to fear.

Riding Saddleback

Alot more can be said about the Saddleback civic forum on the Presidency that occured Saturday with Senator's McCain and Obama.

What saddened me was the question to each about war. What is worth dying for and more to the issue for them, what is worth sending 18 year old Americans off to die for? While they each said, Freedom, National Security and National interests, to the applause of many, neither remarked that only CONGRESS can declare war. The Executive Branch does not have, should not have but increasingly does have is own Praetorian Guard.

Lets face it, any war worth fightng wouldn't have trouble passing through the people's representatives, The Legislative branch. Think World War II. That's the point. Vietnam, Korea, Kuwait, Iraq, Balkans are all wars MANY if not most Americans would not relinquish their offspring to fight for, not without a cultural upheaval and mass debate, which SHOULD happen if the vote to declare war is before us.

The War Powers Act among many things paved the way for Congress to be more of a stamp on military actions already engaged by the Executive.

The audience seemed content to know that The potential Emporers would wield the Legions only in "our" best interest. If you think my allusion to Rome is off the mark and flippant, take note of history that the declining Roman Empire relied more and more heavily on immigrants and conscripts from vassal states rather than Roman citizens. States like Georgia, Latvia and Poland form our Auxilia palatina. 21 States and maybe as many as 34 fight for the Executive branch of our Government.

Hail Caesar.

Georgia on my mind...

I once again find myself at odds with the Empire I live in.

In 1991 the Warsaw Pact dissolved. In my ignorance, I wondered why NATO didn't likewise dissolve. What was the point of this Military/Industrial alliance that now bordered an area that was sure to become a hotbed of ethnical, religious and regional uprisings? Recall the famous Article 5 (invoked for the first time ever after 9/11) of NATO that each nation within accepts that an attack on any NATO member is an attack on all.

But as F William Engdahl has put so well, "Washington has steadily converted NATO into what can only be called the military vehicle of an American global imperial rule, linked by a network of military bases from Kosovo to Poland to Turkey to Iraq and Afghanistan.". Enter Georgia.



The current regime in Georgia does not appear to me as a democratic wannbe, at all. As usual, we installed the Harvard trained Saakashvilli. Does the term Blowback mean anything anymore?

This doesn't look like a flowering democracy either. Saakashvilli Shutting down opposition run TV on Nov. 7th (partly owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp )and unleashing police on protesters.

It was Georgia that attempted to "retake" South Ossetia, a Self proclaimed independent province since the early 1990's on August 8th, 2008. I guess claiming independance only counts if your siding with this Empire.

This fighting is your tax dollars at work, mind you as American military personel are on the ground (Here and here) "training" Georgian troops for what just might be an American agenda to force the issue with Russia. Except Russia pulled the punk card. Interesting that field excercises in July of 08' never included this 400 man unit, which was busy in Iraq. Surely US intel was screaming that the Russians were ready to pounce. Guess it ain't easy being the Empire's proxy in the wider war that Trotskyites in the US just can't get enough of.

Is this how the American Empire avoids the draft? No wonder so many nations oppose Georgia's entrance into NATO.

That's not to say that I'm all about Russia. According to AEI institute fellows that I watched on C-Span last night, Russia has been amassing troops and armor on Georgia's border for over a year and may have some well placed spies within Georgia's ruling elite. I agreed that to respond so quickly and effectively, less than 24 hours of Georgia's attacks on South Ossetia, meant long term planning.

It appears to me that Russia has rather swiftly neutered a potential NATO advesary and definite American Sattelite (since 2002) and did so without regime change.

But my biggest gripe is the coverage. Once again we are ill-informed and despite 24hr news coverage in the US, have only tidbits, seconds really, of cold hard facts followed by 30 minutes of pundit spin and presidential candidate leveraging.

I found this post here most informative, reminding me yet again why network and cable news isn't worth the effort to lift the remote.

Sulking in Midian

It occured to me this evening that the typical interpretation of Moses's story is incorrect.

Moses flees Egypt after murdering an Egyptian overlord who is abusing Hebrew slaves, which I get. More to the point he flees once he is outed by his fellow Hebrews who even ask him, 'who has made you ruler and judge over us'.

The theory is assumed (in movies as well as sermons) that Moses was just a good guy who happened to be standing up for the downtrodden. At best he's angry at the treatment of his enslaved kinsmen and just has one of those moments. Oops.

At worst, he's a hot head in need of a 40 year coolin' off period.

Jewish Rabbis have speculated that Moses was as young as 20 when he did this. Stephen however in his sermon to the Sanhedrin tells us that Moses was 40 years of age (Acts 7:23). And at age 80 is when the Lord calls him from the burning bush (vs.30).

But Stephen tells us more. Giving insight to the purpose of Moses.

Acts 7:23 "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.

Holy Moses! I once pulled a guy, who was smakin' his women around outside a bar, off of her and we scuffled. Part way into it I was hit from behind by the women and subsequently lost the fight. They both took to kickin me. Probably made out quite passionately in some trailer not far from where I was picking myself up. But enough of that.

My point here is that Moses, nursed and raised by his mother, would have been full of the knowledge of His Hebrew God. Raised in Pharoah's court, full of the known wisdom of the world.

Unlike so many interpretations, Moses knows who he is and what his purpose should be. At age 40 it comes to his heart to present himself to his people as their salvation. This is more than the salvation of two men dookin' it out. It is the salvation of them all. He is ready to lead them out and since he's been taught about God's plans, fully expects God to show up with a high five. Theres the oops.

27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?' 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

I no longer think Moses was running 'from the law' so to speak but running from his God. He was running away from the place were he expected God to show up and back him. The retort of the men shock him not because they will turn him in but because they don't understand. If the Lord is telling him in his heart to present himself as a leader than surely the Lord will see to it that the average knucklehead will follow him.

Here he was doing the Lord's work and the Lord ain't helping. Here he is in his prime. Strong, handsome, full of zeal but the Lord won't use him.

It's only after another 40 years passes. When the zeal has faded and the legs no longer can support a full on sprint. His arms have long since seen the day of striking other men down. He is old, tired and very much I think miffed at his sense of place in the world. His arguments in Exodux 3 and 4 with the Lord strike me as a man wanting some reassurance that the people will follow him this time round.

Even while in exile in the land of Midian, he continues to stand up for the weak. He can't help himself. It's who he is.

My belabored point is that it's not his warroir spirit that gets him into trouble. That was God-given. It is his pride. Only when he is humbled does the Lord call him to bring salvation to his people but it won't be by his (Moses's hand) in the earlier sense. Fist-a-cuffs. No, no, it will be by the hand of the Almighty, in a way the world will speak of for thousands of years.

Twitter

So, I'm learning about twitter, which is just a quick way to update people to what I'm up to using cell text mainly that is posted to my blog. Yea, I'm cool and hip and super savy (yawn).

So now, when I'm scratching myself, wondering what, if anything, profound I could say, I'll just say, "I'm scratching myself", and you dear reader will be in the know and cool like me. Not to mention hugely edified.

Yea, I'm also feeling sarcastic of late. : )

The greatest enemy will hide in the place you least expect.

I'm going to rank the movie..... "Revolver" (click here for trailer) up there with my all time favorites.
Leon, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking barrels, And the Matrix. I rented it yesterday and have watched it twice now.

This is definetly a mind bending movie. I knew the director Guy Ritchie was into Kabbalah and the references are there for those looking for such things but one can also extract Christian principles and beliefs. The ultimate enemy is the ego. The self. This can also be attributed to Satan. Feeding us lies during the everyday conversations we have with ourselves in our own minds.

The reduction of the ego is one of the most important battles and the least understood. And so this movie takes us through the character of Jake Green (played by one of my fav actors, Jason Statham) who unbeknownst to him has been subjected to a game that will expose his ultimate opponent, himself.

Jakes a con man and having learned the ultimate formula for winning while inprisoned embarks on a tale of revenge to those resposible for his incarceration. But this isn't your average revenge flick. Here we get to see numerous characters battling their own image of self thru voice overs.

The ultimate enemy is supposedly crime boss Sam Gold, whom you never see and with good reason. He is the strong man to use a biblical phrase. But fear of him and humiliation of self (the source of most violence if you think about it) drives the characters to destroy themselves and those around them. Only when we are awakened to the fact that the true enemy is within us, can we then take on the real fight.

Of course this is too much for the mind to grasp and like Jake Green we must be played first, beaten at the game we think we are in control of. Reduced and forced into enduring what we fear most.

This is an Exodus movie, and the charcters Jake (Jacob), Avi (Abraham) and Zack (Isaac) the patriarchs of Israel are leaving Egypt. An Egypt of the mind. A self made prison.

Rent this movie. Violent and profane it is. But so is life. The ending is redemptive.

My church is in the paper

My church family, Sojourn is the cover story in one of the local Papers, the LEO (Louisville eccentric observer). Smells like Holy Spirit.

The things that won't go away...

Micheal Spencer, the always insightful internetmonk, is asking the hard question of his neighbors. The things that won't go away....

Read it.

Exanastasis (a rising up; resurrection)

I was struck afresh when reading this verse today...

Philippians 3:7

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

I can and will not only share his resurrection on the day when God makes all things new, but also begin to live that new life in the present. It looks impossible; without God it actually is impossible; but, since God is the God of creation and new creation, it is not only possible but true.

"And, unquestionably, we lose nothing when we come to Christ naked and stript of everything, for those things which we previously imagined, on false grounds, that we possessed, we then begin really to acquire. He, accordingly, shews more fully, how great the riches of Christ, because we obtain and find all things in him."- John Calvin

Music

The Bravery - Believe

(via jeannieanline)

Gimme something to believe

So give me something to believe
Because I am living just to breath
And I need something more
To keep on breathing for
So give me something to believe

Day 41 or something like that.

Yea, back online. Guess I should say something meaningful & profound...

nah...

But I will endeavor to say something, everyday, from here out.

Listening to the Bravery CD, 'The Sun and the Moon'. good times.

Day 11

Making some last day preperations for the descent into the crypt.

Some notables:

City Court went well today. Better than expected. I'm excited and have a plan.
Superior court is complete, except to stand one last time before the judge and admit my guilt. No problem there.

I just last night, finished reading The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, the author of "No Country for old men". I haven't seen that movie yet and stopped by the library today to get the book instead. It also appears that the Road is being made into a film which can only dissapoint.

Get the book! I began reading at the coffeshop Quills on Sunday before church and finished it in just over 24 hours. It was intense. The prose superb. No doubt the story captivated me due to me seeing my world as scorched and decimated. At times, only the love for my offspring and their wellbeing fuels me for another day.

The Road follows a man and a boy, A father and his son, journeying together for many months across a post-apocalyptic landscape, a good few years after an unexplained great cataclysm has destroyed civilization and most life on earth. What is left of humanity now consists largely of bands of cannibals and their prey, refugees who scavenge for canned food or other surviving foodstuffs. Ash covers everything and the once great cities have been burned to the water line.

But the love between Father and his young son, especially given their distinct approaches to conflict resolution carry you along or at least it did me.

I'm starting "No country for Old Men" tonight.

Also picked up "The stuff of thought: Language as a window into human nature". Looks promising. Bestselling Harvard psychology professor Pinker (The Blank Slate) investigates what the words we use tell us about the way we think.

Think I'll make some eggs and rice tonight. Iced tea. Then end with a hot cup.
Sleep is returning to me and I'm feeling rested for the first time in weeks.

On a final note, as I was surfing for something to watch on the telle while I ate (I no longer have cable so it's a short surf) I came across TD Jakes and decided to listen. I caught the tale end, 10 minutes maybe of his sermon. But my butt was kicked hard in the right direction almost immedietly. I'm still chewing on the short excerpt but it was enough to bring me to tears and then, for reasons I've yet to explain, filled me with joy. Sometimes its good to lose cable and be left with all those grainy channels that can surprise you when you least expect it.

Heaven come down...

I've been thinking about heaven today. Alot. No doubt in response to my dying neighbors remarks that heaven just, well, doesn't sound all that exciting. I had to admit, by current standards it doesn't.

She's a workaholic really, a go getter who never sat still. The idea of harps and flying on clouds didn't appeal to her nor does it to me. We've all endured quite a few Sundays of long praise and worship songs. One after the other. The idea of enduring that for eternity doesn't exactly instill enthusiasm.

Ok, I'm a bit silly but really, who hasn't wondered what it is we all shall be doing? Once you get past meeting Jesus, Moses and David, Grandma and your crazy uncle....then what?

It's a common belief really. So many current ideas of heaven just don't excite the faithful. Like a party we just have to make but upon arriving think, hmmm, I could of done without but...at least I'm in with the 'in crowd'.

I can't really add anything since scripture says relatively little about heaven (really it does) and what we'll be doing in it.

But I can attempt to come at the subject from another angle and in doing so, hopefully get people riled up once again.

Eschatology. Fancy word just means the study of end times.

Scripture seems to call lots of events the end times or last days which doesn't help our understanding. Especially when 21st century Christians are enamored with a rather new and unique understanding of "end times". I'd argue further it's a lie.

Currently end times means, rapture, war, plague, chinese armies, secret chips, alliances, modern Israel and anti-christ (picture me yawning).

One of the things thats helped me along the way has been attempting (with the help of scholarly minds and writers) what a 1st century audience would have understood by the words, images and sayings in scripture. It was of course written to them by like minds. When I come across something cryptic, I do not assume it's answer lies in modern imagery, language or events, but rather in the 1st century.

Sure, this is alot of work. Piercing what people in the 1st century believed ain't easy. But its doable.

When Jesus and later Paul spoke of resurrection of the body, they were in a very small minority. The vast writings we have speak nothing of it and when it does it is not favorable. No one had ever seen it and the more common belief was that when you die, you cross the river Phoenix and become souls, spirits or ghosts. We don't come back. The Greeks found the idea offensive. Death was a release from the evil body. Why on earth would you want to come back to its limitations?

But Genesis tells us that the creation, all of it, was good. Many 1st century Jews awaited the remaking of the creation NOT its destruction. The idea of the cosmos coming to an end is no where found in their writings or practices. They did however expect Messiah to fix what was broken. This they awaited eagerly.

Sheol and hades were just a place of sleep. When we say that Jesus descended into hell, it's saying grave, death, sleep, sheol, hades. Hell is a place reserved for the unrepentant wicked. Jesus didn't go there.

How does any of this address getting excited about going to heaven?

Everything!

Jesus was resurrected into a body. He is the first of many. Yet this body is different than what we have now. Hence the many recordings in the New Testament of eye witnesses not immedietly recognizing Jesus.

Our hope is not in the sleep of death even if its in the presence of God Himself. It is in the life AFTER life after death. We shall be given new bodies in a new heaven and earth.

Revelation 20 describes heaven coming down to Earth, This is the 2nd coming. Jesus bringing all the saints of old, the heavens themselves down to earth. The earth is remade and so are we.

Do we not all pray the Lord's prayer..."On earth as it is in heaven"? This is the goal. Not flying spirits, or harps on clouds but remade bodies to inhabit, here on earth. We, the church are the advance party, to use a military phrase. The lead element of what is coming and we are expected to act like it. That's why it matters who you sleep with, how you treat the each other and the earth, why you strive. It isn't all for nothing so we can become bodiless spirits in the sweet bye and bye. How we live now impacts eternity because it is here we shall reside.

Still, what is it that we shall be doing?

Here I think the vast cosmos comes into play. It isn't out there for us to just gaze at and collect facts about. I think it's to inhabit.

How else will the new earth hold not only the billions resurrected in our own day and the future but the billions who've gone before us? Just a speculation there but a rather good one I think.

We gonna busy people, in new bodies, in a remade garden of Eden. Harps? How about instruments you ain't even seen yet! It will be challenging, amazing and busy. And it will be earthly and heavenly at the same time. Indescribale really. Maybe thats why whenever we are told of heaven, we are told it's like this or that. But better. Nothing here presently really describes it.

We shall see in total what our sin has done to others. How each mistake impacted anothers life. And when we can no longer stand it, we shall be announced forgiven.

Jesus is the apocalypse, the revelation, the fulfillment of all promises. The hope of all who've bled and cried into the earth.

When he comes, and all of heaven is behind him, the cosmos won't melt but be what it was always intended to be. Our home.

If that don't light your fire than your wood is wet.

Day 3

As the evening winds down I'm thankful that I was able to spend a little time with two of my oldest sons. We enjoyed church together and then grabbed a bite and returned home.

Of course I took them to see our dying neighbor and friend, someone they have known and hung out with quite a bit. I wasn't sure if I should but since they wanted to say goodbye for the last time, I relented. It was hard for them as her condition has detiriorated further still. Breathing is assisted and labored. Gone is the wit and responsiveness.
Today is her birthday.

My oldest was able to approach her bed and say happy birthday but the next younger was unable. I could see he was holding in his emotions so we said our goodbyes and returned home. Sure enough both cried and we hugged and just enjoyed one another.

It breaks my heart everytime they return to their mothers especially when they are in an emotional state. Watching them leave stirs up lots of varied emotions. Some are not righteous at all and I'm left to ponder that in the now dark silence.

2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

We all have a ministry. Factory workers, nurses, paperpushers and all. This comes from God. In the sight of everyone I must live out my life, warts and all.

This is the reason I blog. It's why I put out there my own struggles and hypocrisy.
My ups and downs. The gospel message tells me there is new King and I must bring my life and thoughts and actions into conformity with his rule.

No different than obeying the laws of the land I live in. Yet, this is where I falter. Obedience. My sexual desires, my lonliness, my drinking, my spending all must come under the riegn of Jesus. Yet, it is here that I don't really trust. My faith it seems has limits. And so I take matters into my own hands only to worsen my overall condition.

It won't be overnight, changing that is. Growing in faith can be a slow process accentuated by moments of bursts forward. It is this too that is a ministry.

Even in our deaths we minister to someone. Just singing out in church when you suspect your voice is out of key can minister to someone nearby who is struggling.

I am learning I guess to be thankful for all my troubles and turmoil. I am grateful for the discipline. And though the thought of entering a crypt for a few months to pay a debt fills me with anxiety. I will be thankful.

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.

Day 2.5

Yea, so the transmission for my van was not ready (pulled off a junk vehicle) from the parts place I was conversing with all week. You'd think they would have said, "You need to put a deposit down for us to actually pull it". But no, what they said was, will have it ready for you Saturday.

Where I come from ready means...well ready. Ready for you to lift and put into some form of transportation and away from source location. To agitate matters, I didn't get there till almost noon which meant "ready" would now be Monday morning, after a deposit.

So, I ventured thru the alleyways of New Albany looking for a cheap car. I found this for $500....

I've dubbed it Bumble Bee after the car in transformers, which, my daughter especially will love. No need to remind me that the car in the movie was also a Chevy Camaro. I am painfully aware of that fact.

Needless to say I won't be dating much in this vehicle. But it will get me to work, home and is just big enough to haul the kiddo's. I'm keeping the van for now, in the hope that eventaully I will get it up and running.
One problem down. 18,976 to go.
: )