Things Keep Looking Up

Well, it's officially 2008, 1:19 am. I am entering the New Year with a clean house and feeling quite proud of the ass-whooping I gave out tonight on Guitar Hero. Sorry Joey. And with a little self-control I am now enjoying the calm feeling after just one Mike's and thankfully avoided the distasterous three.

It's amazing what a year brings. Last year I spent New Year's Eve with extrememly mixed emotions. Thrilled to be out of a bad situation. Nervous about the fact that we were basically unemployed with a pretty hefty mortgage payment and no prospects. But God was faithful.
We put our house on the market. We didn't know where we were going but we knew we couldn't afford to stay where we were and the housing market was just starting to look a little scary so we knew it could take a while to sell. I wanted to move. Had to get out of this town. Had to leave behind all the crap we'd gone through in the last three years. Never wanted to look back. But then this nice guy named Matt Hanan came along and suddenly I realized that not all Christian leaders in this community sucked. (I was a bit jaded at the time.) And much to my surprise he took a major chance on Matt and gave him a part-time, temporary job at his church. They did it more to help us out then to help them. They didn't actually even need him at the time. I was amazed at how kind they were to us. It'd been a long time since I'd seen that kind of kindness in the church.

There was still the question of housing though. Between our jobs, we didn't make enough to own a home anymore and I planned to go back to school within a years time and we'd definitely not be able to afford to own a home then. The thought of living in an apartment again totally sucked. We'd have to get rid of a lot of junk. But again, God was faithful. Friends of ours had a house to rent and they were going to give us an amazing deal and even let us fix it up on their dime. Our home still wasn't selling. We weren't really even getting any decent bites. But we finally decided to commit to renting their house even if it meant using our savings and paying double for a little while. But again, God was faithful. We promised to start paying them in April. April was coming close and the house hadn't sold yet and we were getting nervous. But just in the right time, we got a good offer, accepted and closed just two weeks after we started paying on our new place.

Of course things were still up in the air. Matt wasn't promised a job at New Heights. We'd just see how things went for a couple of months. He kept working at Starbucks in the meantime. Come July, they offered him a full-time job and he accepted.

I was telling the New Heights staff wives that I finally feel like I'm coming around again, that God has been healing the ginormous hole in my heart and that He's used New Heights to do that. Cindy, our pastor's wife said that when we are hurt by the church, and it does happen, it's so important that we stick around and let God use the church to heal us too. I feel like I'm entering this New Year a lot less jaded, a lot less angry and finally believing again that God is actually good. See, I always believed God was good. I never doubted his incredible grace and his goodness. But the theology I was taught and that was demonstrated to me in the last few years was that God was a big bully just waiting to take my lunch money and if by chance I didn't have any lunch money to give, well I better watch out because hellfire was going to rain down on my house. And since I felt like hellfire had been raining down on my house for three years, I figured I must have seriously screwed up and God had walked away from me. Through the right teaching and love demonstrated at New Heights, I am remembering God for who He truly is, good and faithful.

I enter this New Year very different than last year. We still face some uncertainties as I wait to find out if I have been accepted into the Master in Teaching program at WSU and yeah, we're a little uncertain how the financial thing will work out when I quit my job to do that. But rather then worrying about it, I am trusting in God's perfect plan and believing that he is good and looking forward to the great things that will come in 2008.

A Christian's Perspective

Matt and I have noticed that in the last six months we have significantly reduced the amount of trash we throw away. Part of it I think is that we recycle everything we possibly can because our bins are more easily accessible now. The other part though, I think, is that we've made efforts to buy less stuff.

This current observation combined with a friend's comment on my last blog (on myspace) regarding having an eternal perspective rather than focusing on preservation, my current textbook chapter on waste management and the blog of another friend of mine, Greg, has led me to some thoughts on the matter of "affluenza."

There have been some significant strides made in regards to waste management in our country but we've got a long way to go. I mentioned in my response to Merilee that we (Americans) use a much larger share of resources than do people in developing nations. In fact, our country leads the world in per capita waste production and energy consumption. (according to my textbook) A big part of the problem is the fact that we buy too much stuff.

Here's an entertaining (yet relevant) questionaire from my textbook... Take a look and see if you have been struck by the "affluenza" bug:

1) I'm willing to pay more for a t-shirt if it has a cool corporate logo on it.
2) I'm willing to work at a job I hate so I can buy lots of stuff.
3) I usually just make the minimum payment on my credit cards.
4) When I'm feeling blue, I like to go shopping and treat myself.
5) I spend much more time shopping each month than I do being involved in my community.
6) I'd rather be shopping right now.
7) I'm running out of room to store myself.

Now give yourself two points for every true and one point for every false. If you scored 10 or more, you may need to find a cure for "affluenza." Luckily I only scored a 7! :-) (Quiz found in Environmental Science by Richard T. Wright.)

Look, this issue is a broad one. I already mentioned the waste management issues. We throw it away and forget about it but we don't realize the increasing costs involved in disposal and the amount of fossil fuels being wasted in transportation and disposal of wastes not to mention the making of more and more stuff to feed our consumerism. Plus the polluting of our ground water supplies when landfills are not properly maintained.

But for Christians the issue goes deeper. Maintaining an eternal perspective is, as I mentioned below my last blog, keep focusing on who Jesus is and how he would live in our world so that we are living as He does when He returns for us. However, it is also an issue of not building up treasures for ourselves here on earth because this place is not our home. When our focus is working more to buy more, we lose God's perspective on life and that is that it should be spent loving people and living in a way that brings others closer to God, not shopping.
We need to broaden our horizons and understand that the lifestyles we live have a greater impact than we can understand on our world and the other people living in it.

Environmentalism and Christianity do not need to be in competition with one another. You can be both. You can focus on caring for our world and still maintain your commitment to Christ. You don't have to buy into political lies that separate these issues into conservative and liberal camps, leaving you fearful that if you care about the environment you might be supporting God-hating heathens.

It is an easy to answer to say you think God is coming back soon so we shouldn't worry about the environment but God's timing is not our timing. From biblical times until now, every generation has believed they were living in the end times. However, a 1000 years to us may be like a day to God so really, who knows when God is coming back. It is not our job to focus on end-times theology. It is our job to live as Christ would live while we are here on this earth and that involves loving those who live with us now and those who will come after us, if it so happens that Jesus does not return in our lifetime.

Global Warming

Global Warming is a complicated and often debated term. There was a quick clip of someone speaking in, “An Inconvenient Truth,” that said something like, “It could be the greatest hoax every played on the American public.” I thought it was interesting when Al Gore mentioned that a study was done by reading something like 900 different articles on global warming written by scientists and absolutely every article in the group agreed that global warming was an issue and it was an issue caused by human actions. However, a study done of information passed out by the media was full of mixed messages regarding whether or not global warming was real. Like Gore said, it’s no wonder people are confused.

Understanding all of the things that impact climate is rather overwhelming to me. Between atmospheric structure and ocean currents, there are a lot of factors that pull together to create our climate. Essentially, the earth works similar to a greenhouse. “On a global scale, water vapor, CO2, and other gases in the atmosphere play a role analogous to that of the glass in a greenhouse.” ( Wright 546-547) These gases are referred to as greenhouse gases. Light energy coming from the sun enters the atmosphere and is then absorbed by the earth where it becomes heat energy. The heat energy is then radiated back into the atmosphere and then into space. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop some of the heat energy from going into space and reflect it back to earth. (546-547) If the levels of these gases in the atmosphere change, there will be an impact on our climate. If the levels of GHGs increase, more heat energy is radiated back to earth, causing the climate to warm. If the levels decrease, less heat energy is radiated back, causing it to cool. There are also many other things that act as positive and negative forcing agents, working together to keep a balance between warming and cooling.

Currently our human impact on these natural cycles is being seen as the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide are increasing. The potential impacts of global warming are devastating and it is the already vulnerable members of our world who will suffer the consequences the most. Already struggling with issues of “water availability, food security, health and disease, life in low-lying regions” the poor will feel the first impacts of global warming. The movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” mentioned several negative impacts of global warming. For example, more evaporation due to higher temperatures, leads to more precipitation and thus flooding. And completely opposite to that, higher temperatures, sucking more water out of the soil will lead to droughts. The movie mentioned several specific examples of people around the world who’ve already been suffering from unusual droughts or flooding or even extremely high temperatures. One example was in Mumbai, India where it rained 37 inches in just 24 hours. Temperature and weather changes are things that we might all think about already in relation to global warming, but I was especially interested in problem mentioned by the changing of seasons. Gore mentioned that in nature’s perfect design, caterpillars and baby birds come out around the same time but due to changes in seasons, somehow the caterpillars came out to early and when the baby birds were born, there wasn’t enough food for them. It would be impossible to consider all of the ecological niches that would be affected by climate change.

Whether or not you are willing to fully buy in to the warnings of scientists regarding the issue of global warming, it seems to me that even the threat of such problems should lead us to make changes. I liked the example in the movie of insurance. It’s not inevitable that your house will burn down, but you still take out home insurance when you buy a house. If there is even a slight chance that future generations will face the devastating affects of our lifestyles, wouldn’t it be the most life-honoring thing to take positive steps towards change? I have friends who only vote on the lines of one issue, the issue they call: the sanctity of life. My question to them is relation to the environment is, “What about the lives of all those to come after us? Isn’t the environment a sanctity of life issue as well?”


Works Cited
Wright, Richard T. Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable Future. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.

An Inconvenient Truth

Renewable Energy Sources

There are benefits and downsides to all possible sources of energy. The important thing for us to understand is how each source works and what the benefits and downsides are so that we can properly way them against each other in order to make wise energy choices for our future. It seems to me that it will most likely be a balance of several types of energy that will help us in the long run to at least slow down our rapid loss of fossil fuels.

Solar power is one such alternative and renewable energy. “Solar energy originates with thermonuclear fusion in the Sun.” (Wright 377) Solar energy occurs when hydrogen nuclei (which is what the sun and stars are mostly made of) come together to create larger atoms (e.g. helium). (369) While some scientists have attempted to recreate this, it has not yet become effective for a variety of reasons. Therefore our greatest source of power created through the process of fusion is the sun itself.

The 2nd law of thermodynamics tells us that as energy is transferred, some is always lost. This loss is what would allow us to use solar energy without it changing the energy balance of the biosphere. (378) The solar constant is the amount of energy (1370 watts per square meter) that reaches the earth. (377) “About half of this energy actually makes it to Earth’s surface; 30% is reflected, and 20% is absorbed by the atmosphere.” Energy that is absorbed by water or land is eventually converted to heat and lost and even the part that is absorbed by plants is eventually lost as heat energy as the food is broken down by consumers. Also, any energy we would use would eventually become heat energy and be lost as well. (378)

Solar energy can and is being used in a variety of ways to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. Water heating and space heating are two areas of energy use that would significantly lower the amount of fossil fuel we use if a larger majority would use solar energy for those purposes. There are of course some challenges with using solar energy. There is the question of, “What do we do when there is a significant amount of inclement weather.” In the Northwest we know that sunlight is limited for a long winter season and what about in the evening when the sun is down? Places like Alaska that have extremely long periods of darkness in the winter would greatly struggle to use solar energy.

“Solar power can also be used to produce electrical power, thus providing an alternative to coal, and nuclear power.” (382) Solar cells, called photovoltaic cells, are used to collect solar energy and put out electrical current. One cell can produce about 1 watt of power. (382) However, linking several cells together can create various amounts of power. Probably one of the most well known examples of this is the pocket calculator. The cost of these cells are high because of “their sophisticated design and construction.” (382) As the cost of them has been slowly coming down, they are being used more.

In order to make solar energy more widely used, the issues mentioned above and others would have to be answered in cost effective ways. It is difficult to get people to think past the here and now. So, if it is greatly less expensive to use fossil fuels for their energy needs, they will do so without much regard for the future. Just the other day I was speaking with someone about similar matters and that person said to me, “Well, if it’s good for my family and saves us money, I don’t really care about anything else.” Unfortunately I have a feeling that is a more prevalent attitude than we would like to admit. It is why companies like Wal-Mart are able to do the business they do. Perhaps we need to adopt a more “love your neighbor” type attitude that extends beyond our generation.

Wright, Richard T. Environmental Science Toward a Sustainable Future. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice-Hall, 2005.

Making a Difference

I came up with 48 ways I can personally work to conserve energy and the world's natural resources. What can you do?

Take cooler showers.
Take shorter showers.
Turn lights off when not in use.
Use compact fluorescent bulbs.
Recycle everything possible.
Water lawn and garden at night or in the early morning.
Drink water from the facet rather than water bottles.
Don't use the air-conditioning…since I don't have one! J
Don't rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.
Teach my preschool students to use only one paper towel at hand-washing time because we want to use only as few trees as possible. When they wash their hands I always say, "Use one towel, save a tree."
I also teach them about throwing trash in the trash can and helping to pick up trash in our yards and parks.
I also teach them about pond pollution and how it kills fish. We have a fun little game we play!
Group errands together to cut down on amount of driving.
Use energy-saving appliances.
Keep tires properly inflated to save on gasoline.
Carry Canvas bags to purchase groceries instead of bags that throw away. Or at least use paper bags that can be recycled.
Unplug chargers when they are not being used.
Turn off computers or at least put them to sleep while not in use rather than using screen savers.
Turn water off while shaving.
Turn water off while brushing teeth.
Turn water off while scrubbing hands with soap.
Vote for political candidates that support environment protections.
Eat more locally grown food.
Don't have a lot of children, or adopt. I have 12 adopted brothers and sisters.
Get a bike and ride it rather than driving when possible.
Use public transportation.
Carpool to work.
Buy the things I need, not everything I want in order to cut down on stuff to throw away.
Do Christmas shopping online instead of driving all over town.
Hang dry laundry, especially when it is sunny and warm outside.
Dispose of things like batteries and paint properly.
Only run laundry and dishwasher with full loads.
Use cold water in washing machine.
Unplug appliances when not using them.
Collect rain water to water my garden and yard.
When washing my car, use a sprayer attached to the hose to keep water from draining out in between washing and rinsing.
Use natural lighting whenever possible instead of unnecessarily turning on lights.
Don't eat out all the time, cutting down on driving and other things.
Encourage recycling at my preschool. Right now people throw away a ton of paper and cardboard boxes every day. I plan to request a box in my classroom this year to recycle at least paper.
Rinse and re-use ziplock bags.
Drink less soda to cut down on cans and bottles being used.
Use biodegradable products.
Use towels for cleaning and regular mops rather than all the new use and throw away cleaning items.
Buy in bulk so there is less to throw away.
Use items like paper towel tubes, yogurt containers, and more to create recycled art with my preschoolers.
Crunch up clean but used foil to use as paint stamps for my preschoolers.
Sign up for paperless bills online.
Sign up for e-paperwork through usaa insurance company.

Book Review: Bitter Fruit

I had to read a book called, "Bitter Fruit" by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer. Absolutely loved it so thought I'd write a review for anyone interested in historical/political books...


Authors Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Knizer have creatively woven together the details of a rather complicated story into a book that is accessible to readers of all levels of historical and political knowledge. Unlike many of the other political/historical books I’ve read, Bitter Fruit read more like a novel. I even found myself wanting to continue reading at the end of the night just to find out what happened next. Many of the key individuals in the book became villains, heroes and heroines. It could have perhaps been classified as a non-fiction mystery novel. I found myself rooting for the good guys and hoping for the derailment of the bad, which isn’t a very objective way to read a history book, I know.

Bitter Fruit is a disturbing tale of the role that the U.S. government played in the 1954 coup in Guatemala to overthrow the nation’s president, Jacobo Arbenz.

What is most disturbing about the information contained in Bitter Fruit is the hidden motivation of the U.S. government for their actions. Under the guise of “anti-communism,” the U.S. government took over a democratic form of government and essentially replaced it with a dictatorship. The real reason behind the coup was the protection of the interests of a major U.S. corporation, The United Fruit Company, which was being harmed by Arbenz’s land reforms and the changing of labor laws. It was at the urging of The United Fruit Company that the U.S. government got involved and the CIA planned and executed the coup.

Guatemala had long been a captor of United Fruit’s business dealings as they controlled the only port for trade out of Guatemala, Puerto Barrios, and they owned the railroads that ran through Guatemala. Arbenz sought to improve the life of his people by seeking land and labor reform and taking the power out of United Fruit’s hands and the U.S. government seemed more interested in protecting it’s economic interests than protecting a fledgling democracy.

Occasionally I found myself bogged down in the details of this story, which were overwhelming at times. The amount of people that played a variety of roles from those manipulating the public through the press to CIA directors, corporation presidents and Guatemalan exiles was unbelievable. And though the amount of specific detail regarding people involved and what specific roles they played, did at times become overwhelming, it also gave more credibility to the book. It seemed well researched, clearly thought out, and presented in a truthful way. In order for the book to make sense and for us to see the full effect of the coup, the authors took us from the beginning of the history of United Fruit, all the way through the details of the coup, it’s immediate impact and it’s future impact even in to the 1980s. The expanse of time covered in the book was a little much at times but without it, the readers might have been left with an incomplete picture.

Clearly, the impact of “Operation Success,” as the coup was referred to in U.S. circles, on Guatemala was devastating. Schlesinger and Kinzer communicated that social progress prior to the coup was slow, however there was at least progress. After the coup the only thing that seemed to happen to Guatemala was constant internal fighting and backwards steps in social reform. It saddens me to think of the role that U.S. materialism played in the turmoil of this country.

Though it doesn’t clearly state this as a “moral of the story,” Bitter Fruit offers a warning to those who will hear it. Over and over it told the tale of men like Edward Bernays, who found countless ways to manipulate the American public. On page 80 he is quoted saying, “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country…it is the intelligent minorities which need to make use of propaganda continuously and systematically.” His personal relationships with many people who ran America’s newspapers and magazines, made him a force to be reckoned with. Throughout the book we see how Guatemala and its government was demonized in the American press and how the American public bought the lies “hook, line and sinker.” After reading Bitter Fruit, I would hope that a person would find it difficult to believe that the American press always presents the full picture and the absolute truth. I would hope that it would lead a person to question the things they see, hear and read and to never assume that there is no hidden agenda behind the words we read and hear. Ever story has a side and every side has a story.

The Core of Free Society

Last week my hubby so lovingly tivo'd "Austin City Limits with the Dixie Chicks." As I was listening to them perform "Not Ready to Make Nice," I was reminded of the experience that represented for them and I couldn't help but feel sad. I remember how angry I was when I first heard about it. I couldn't get over how incredibly hypocritical it was that we were fighing a "War on Terror" that was supposedly about protecting our "free nation" and fighting against a people who hated the freedom we stand for, when our very own people were doing the same thing, hating the very freedom we stand for. How can you fight for freedom and then condemn us for expressing that freedom?

A nation that loses it's right to speak and question it's leaders, loses it's freedom. The minute we give over that kind of power is the very minute we give up the very freedom we're trying to protect.

What freaks me out is that there doesn't seem to be many people who get that. I was watching Fahrenheit 9/11 for the second time the other night and Britney Spears comes on and says something about how we should just trust whatever our president says or does.

My last post was about my class I'm taking right now. I referred to some students in my class who basically said that cultures who don't live by our "enlightenment" ideals, basically modernism, are ignorant and living in blind obedience to authority. They referenced the Nazis and how easily people gave them the power to do what they did.

The interesting thing to me is that we could be so easily manipulated. Our nation is uninformed. Matt was telling me the other day that some people he works with had never even heard of Barack Obama. Not only are we uniformed, but we'll believe whatever Fox News tells us to believe. We are surrounded with propaganda and we fall for it, hook, line and sinker.
Just the other day a friend of mine said that people who live in Boston are terrorists. Why? Because they are liberals who don't just buy what the Republicans sell. Let me just say, after the handling of 9/11, the war in Iraq, Katrina and more, why would we? When a nation has been deceived time and time again, it is only appropriate that it begin asking the tough questions. And no, that doesn't make us terrorists. It makes us informed citizens, participating in the democracy that men and women have given their lives for.

I'm currently reading a book titled, "Bitter Fruit." I'm only a few chapters in, but basically it is about "the untold story of the American coup in Guatemala." Interesting book so far, but a line caught my attention today as I was thinking of these things. The first democratically elected President of Guatemala was Juan Jose Arevalo. The book says, "he delighted in the clash of opinions which represents the core of free society."

That seems to be a far cry from the free society our government honors today.

Enlightenment

I have been struggling through my World Civ class this semester. I think mainly because I have a hard time submitting something I don't fully buy in to. Recently we had to read info about the European Enlightenment and then, knowing that our worldview is largely based on the ideas of Enlightenment, we had to consider what the opposite of an "enlightened" individual might be. I was SHOCKED at how easily my classmates simply accepted that the "enlightened way" was the best way and anything less is ignorance. It took me a while to post mine submission because I wrote the exact opposite of everyone in my class. That is a little intimidating. But I got 100% on it so I guess it wasn't so awful. Thought I'd post it here for your enjoyment...ok maybe not for your enjoyment..perhaps for your enlightenment...lol...

I have to disagree with some of my classmates who have described the Enlightened concept of the individual as though it were "better" than it's opposite. To suggest that the opposite of the Enlightened concept is "un-enlightened" or "ignorant" ignores the impact that the ideals of Enlightenment can have on a society. Allison Goforth suggested that to be "un-enlightened" is to be blind. Jennifer Rau went on to say that the opposite of the enlightened individual is ignorant and obedient. I would like to suggest that cultures that live without these concepts that we are studying are not "less than" but simply carry a different value system. While the Enlightened individual may value "solitude" and "independence" as Goforth mentioned, the opposite values connectedness. Of course the differences go deeper than that and there are problems associated with either view in its extreme as many of my classmates have pointed out. The key difference I see between these opposing views is that the Enlightened concept sets up the individual person as the "end all, be all." One must think for themselves and derive all truth from one's own experiences and perceptions, devoid of any connection to past traditions or the community in which one lives. Our text states, "Most historical cultures define the individual's relation to society not by the concept of "right," as we do, but the concept of 'obligations.' This means that an individual sees himself or herself in relation to others based on the duties he or she owes others and society. Obligations tend to be stable, inherited, and concrete; they remain relatively the same through history as a culture develops." Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes about an individual's rights being given to them by the society within which they live. The Enlightened individual is concerned with their personal rights. In our country you often hear talk of our "rights" to do this or that and often our lack of concern regarding how exercising our rights impacts the lives of those around us. It makes sense that this view would bring with it more conflict than a culture where the concept of the individual is based on their obligations to the community they are a part of. The Enlightened individual values autonomy whereas it's opposite values connection. While the Enlightened concept might be, "Everyone's out for themselves," its opposite would be, "Watch out for the needs of others." Although in our nation there are pockets of communities who've held onto or rediscovered a greater desire to be connected and value community over individuality, for the most part we do tend to look out for our own needs above the needs of others. Recently I read a book titled, "What's the Matter With Kansas," that connects this view of an individual's rights and interests over those of the society with Rousseau's discussion of the "social contract." The book basically asks the question, "Why do working-class farmers in Kansas always vote Republican when the Republican Party never looks out for their best economic interests?" Of course the answers to that question are deep and impossible to properly discuss here. Essentially the author, Thomas Frank, communicates that the Republican Party looks out for the interests of the capitalists, the business class, the wealthy. Rousseau might suggest that it's time for a change because the individuals who've been given authority by the people, aren't working to protect the interests of the people. However, they are. The problem is that they are looking out for the interests of the wealthy rather than the working class. Herein lies one of the downfalls of the Enlightened concept of the individual: if you live in a society where everyone is looking out for their own interests, inevitably someone loses.

A Snowy Day

There are some definite benefits to being a teacher! I've only been to work one day in the last 6 days! Last Thursday was a snow day. Then had Monday off for MLK Day and today is ANOTHER snow day! Now if you live in WA you understand why this is so great! We never get this kind of weather!

Of course they didn't call it early enough this morning so I still had to get ready to go to work, but they called it before I left so I just laid on the couch and enjoyed a good movie and a little nap.

Bella's had a little fun eating the snow and I think we have the only shoveled walk way as I'm guessing we're the only ones in town with a snow shovel. People laughed at us when the unpacked our moving truck three years ago. Uh huh...who's laughing now!

And I've been baking! I made homemade sugar cookies with homemade icing...YUM!

Matt uploaded some photos of Bella playing in the snow. I won't bother uploading them but you can see them at www.mattnissen.blogspot.com.

Have fun all our WA friends!

Obama for President

"Thank you Lord for our testosterone!"

"Forget the yin and the yangI'll take the boom and the bang…. Don't need in touch with my feminine side! All I want is my testosterone high."

Any idea where these strange lyrics come from? It's a "worship song" from a new movement called "God Men." (www.godmen.org)

Apparently Jesus was a jerk and the only way to be a real Christian man is to be one too. Ok, I have to admit they don't come right out and say that, but they might as well. Interested in rule #1 for a real man's woman? "Learn to work the toliet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down."

The LA times quotes a man who had a little trouble when going home from the conference and trying to use his new found ideas about manly godliness.

"But some men at the conference run into trouble when they debut their new attitudes at home. Eric Miller, a construction worker, admits his wife is none too pleased when he takes off, alone, on a weekend camping trip a few weeks after the GodMen conference this fall.'She was a little bit leery of it, as we have an infant,' he reports. 'She said, 'I need your help around here.' 'He's pretty sure his wife will come around once she recognizes he's modeling his life after Jesus', like a good Christian should."

(http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-godmen7dec07,0,5040895.story?coll=la-home-headlines)

Yeah, good luck with that buddy.

Men hate going to church so let's not try and change men to be godly, let's change what it means to be a godly man. It's crap and it's distrubing to think that these are the kind of men that could be leading our churches. And they are. I've met them. And they shouldn't be.

The article goes on to describe an incident that took place at Wal-Mart.

"A few weeks later, Stephenson, 43, is still not sold on profanity. But he has ditched the nice-guy reflex of always turning the other cheek. When he spots a Wal-Mart clerk writing "Happy Holidays" on a window, he boldly complains: It should say 'Merry Christmas.' The clerk erases the offending greeting. Chalk one up for Christian testosterone. 'I wouldn't have done that before,' Stephenson says proudly. 'I am no longer a doormat.'"

Is this how we're going to demonstrate the love of Christ to the world? Is this how they will know that we are Christians? Not by our love, but by our strength and power? We've missed the boat. We've missed the ocean. I'm not even sure we're on the right planet.

Ouch

Following is an excerpt from one of my classmates assignments that I thought was blog worthy. Check it out....

"Thinking back...I remember as a child being invited to go to church with a neighbor. I was allowed to go. On the way to church we passed an elderly lady standing on the side of the road. What appeared to be her car was parked with the emergency flashers on and the car hood up. The woman appeared to be upset as she was looking right and left and back again – she was crying. My friend and I asked if we should stop and see if the elderly woman needed help. My friend's dad was driving and he said "No, we don't want to be late to church." I never went to church with that family again."

Ouch, that stings a little bit. I wonder how many times we let our religious "duties" get in the way of living like Jesus. Being a Christian means to be a follower of Christ. In the way we are living, are we following Christ's example? I hate to think how many times my own hypocrisy has turned someone away from the church. I thought her comments were eye opening and a very important reminder for us in the church. We need to be careful not to get caught up in doing church and instead to be fully aware of how God is presenting us with opportunities to be Christ's body to the world.

The Universe and the Teacup

I can't believe I'm about to do this. I hate math and yet I'm about to suggest a mathematical read for anyone interested...

I'm taking a class called, "The Principles of Mathematics." I'm doing strangely well. So far it has been suspiciously easy. I got a perfect score on my last chapter test. Hmmm... Have I entered some strange world of existence where I understand math? Maybe reading counting books with my preschoolers is making me less math-stupid. :)

Anyway, we're reading a book called, "The Universe and the Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty" by K.C. Cole. I've really been quite amazed at the relevance of math to the world, or more specifically, my world.

I'm going to toss out some interesting quotes and see if you're brain will make connections for your own world. Every chapter I can see connections to religion, politics church growth, being a preschool teacher and more. I would actually recommend this book to people in the church planting business. Of course it's not outright. It doesn't say, "Hey, do this and your church will grow." But it helps you put together interesting connections. Anyway, here's some quotes...

"The threat of a loss has a greater impact on a decision than the possibility of an equivalent gain..."

"As a general principle, people tend to grossly exaggerate the risk of any danger perceived to be beyond their control, while shrugging off risks they think they can manage."

"...a frog placed in hot water will struggle to escape, but the same frog placed in cool water that's slowly warmed up will sit peacefully until it's cooked. 'One cannot anticipate what one does not perceive', he says, which is why gradual accumulations of risk due to lifestyle choices are so often ignored. We're in hot water, but it's gotten hot so slowly that no one notices." - think about this in relation to your relationship with God...

"...not only does quanitity frequently determine quality, quantity (or, more broadly, scale) can affect the very notion of what is true, what is possible, what, indeed, exists."

"...quantitative changes can make huge qualitative changes."

"A different frame of reference can yield wildly different answers..."

"A difference is a difference only if it makes a difference."

"Noise in other words, is whatever you don't want to be where it is.... It's what you need to get rid of to see what we want to see, to learn what we need to learn."

"...artists learn to pay attention to the crumbs that other people are about to sweep under the rug. They learn to be good noticers. The same could be said of good teachers, good parents, effective politicians." - I would add...good pastors.

"For every decision to focus on one thing, a piece of context is lost. These trade offs are inevitable." - this has huge implications to me in MANY ways.

Anyway....

Oh Wow...

Ok, I'm not going to take much time to respond to this b/c, well frankly, I don't have much time. But OH MY GOSH!! Check out this statement by Jerry Falwell...

"I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate. She has $300 million so far. But I hope she's the candidate. Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't." -Jerry Falwell

Did he seriously just suggest that Hillary Clinton would be worse than Lucifer himself? It is comments like this that make me a democrat. Thank you Mr. Falwell for being an outspoken representative of the Christian community. We really need the nation to think we're a bunch of lunatics....

Here's Jim Wallis' thoughts on the matter....

Jim Wallis: There he goes again - this time Rev. Falwell compares Sen. Clinton to Lucifer
The nation is weary of the vitriolic and divisive political rhetoric that still comes from some on the Religious Right. In particular, the country is tired, truly tired, of Rev. Jerry Falwell. At the Religious Right's Values Voter Summit, Rev. Falwell said that Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency would energize the Right's base more than Lucifer. This is also the man who said the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were God's judgment on America and he specifically blamed feminists, homosexuals and the ACLU. Agreement or disagreement with Senator Clinton's politics is not the issue. Personally demonizing public figures is the issue. Such political poison isn't just bad for the Body Politic and the more civil discourse we so desperately need. It also simply isn't Christian.

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/godspolitics/2006/09/jim-wallis-there-he-goes-again-this.html

Yahweh and His People

My World Civ assignment this week was an interesting one. I was required to read the history of the Hebrews as well as several passages from Genesis and Judges and then write a paper answering the question: What is the nature of humanity and their relationship to Yahweh. I can't believe I found it as hard as I did. Anyway, just thought I'd post my response here too...

The ideal relationship of humankind to Yahweh is love, agape love to use the Greek term. Agape love is a selfless love. It seeks nothing for itself and everything for the object of its adoration. As human relationships demonstrate, love or even friendship cannot be required, but rather is chosen, which is why God created humanity with the ability to choose, also referred to as "free will." Yahweh knew that in order to have an agape relationship with humanity, humanity had to choose it. It is this characteristic that separates humanity from the rest of creation. As Josh C. said, God started the relationship and mankind had to choose whether or not to continue it.

By presenting Adam and Eve with a dilemma, a choice to make, God puts the relationship in their control. In Genesis 2 and 3, in the center of the Garden of Eden Yahweh places a tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and tells them not to eat from this tree. In Genesis 3, we see that much to the dismay of Yahweh, Adam and Eve make the choice to disobey by eating from the forbidden tree. The reaction of God seems as if he experiences the feelings of betrayal. This is one reason I suggest that the ideal relationship is one of love or friendship. Yahweh's response is to take away the ease of life as originally presented in the garden. Joseph H. made a great point when he suggested that perhaps the reason God dispelled Adam and Eve from the garden was less about punishment and more to keep them away from the Tree of Life. If they ate from that tree, they would no longer need Yahweh and his desire for an agape relationship with humanity would be lost.

The rest of Hebrew Scripture is about Yahweh calling humanity back into a relationship with him. Over and over God seems to put his people into situations where they must rely on him or trust him and demonstrate this trust and reliance through obedience. Yahweh asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis 22 is an example. In this story Abraham seems to obey without question and along the way communicates a trust that Yahweh will provide another way. Along with that God seeks to thwart humanity's ability to rely on itself as in the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11.

Protection and provision was automatically given to Adam and Eve in the garden. It was theirs to hold on to. Through their disobedience, humanity now lives absent of the protection and provision of Yahweh unless it first chooses to accept God's covenant that puts humanity in a servant role to Yahweh. If humanity will choose to serve God and will demonstrate that with unswerving obedience, God will in turn protect and provide for, even bless as said to Abraham, humanity. Or to be more specific, prior to the coming of the Messiah, God offers this covenant to the Hebrews, God's chosen people.

Missional Living

Just thought I'd put up my next "work for hire" that I just wrote for CVC (www.churchvolunteercentral.com). It should be coming out in their October e-newsletter. If you lead volunteers in a church setting, this is by far the best resource I've found. There's a $99 yearly membership fee but that covers everyone in your church and trust me, it's worth it. Plus it's run by Group Publishing, which in my opinion is one of the best Christian publishers. Anyway, here's the article in it's form before reaching the editor....

Developing an equipping culture isn’t just about the church and its activities. It means believing that each person in your church body has been strategically gifted and placed by God in their life situations to make an impact for His Kingdom. It means that when your small group leader comes to you and says, “My child just decided to start playing t-ball and I’m going to have to miss our next small group leader’s meeting because of a game,” you don’t fear that you are losing a leader, you cheer that God has given that family another opportunity to be a minister to a whole new set of people.

In 2005 I started wondering if “professional” ministry was where God wanted me. I had been serving in full-time ministry for about 3 years at that point and had faced some things that left me questioning. I spoke to a person who was in leadership over our church at the time and he told me that I would be letting God down and that he was sure that I didn’t want to be like the many men and women in the Bible who failed. Thankfully God’s voice in my head was louder. A few weeks after that conversation I really felt like God told me, “April, it’s not about being a “professional” minister, it’s about ministering wherever I place you.” I think my eyes were opened that day not only in regards to my own situation but also in regards to how we value or don’t value the lives of our church family members outside the church walls.

I have a friend who works at Target. He hates it. He feels like it’s a worthless job where all he does is help a big corporation make more money. That’s one of the reasons I went into full-time ministry in the first place: to do something worthwhile. But the truth is, God has strategically placed each of us where we are to make a great impact for His kingdom. The problem is that most of us miss our calling and just earn a paycheck.

I believe the church has a responsibility to help people discover their calling, not just as it relates to their service to the church but as it relates to who God calls them to be in their everyday situations. Developing an equipping culture is about preparing people to “go into all the world and make disciples.” Often times, however, fear causes the church to hold on tightly to its servants. They wonder, “If I release people to live in the world, how will I run the ministries in my church?”

Here’s what I believe with all my heart: If a church is committed to equipping people and releasing them to be ministers in their circles of influence, there will be no need to stress about the lack of volunteers because the church will grow and overflow with the lives that have been touched by the ministers who have been sent out. Jesus says to seek God’s Kingdom first, and everything else will fall into place.

What exactly does it look like to equip people to minister in their worlds? I don’t really think it’s an exact science. I don’t think you can write it into three easy steps. I do, however, want to give you a few ideas that I’ve thought of in hopes to get your minds thinking in that direction.

First of all, it’s important to consider what you communicate. How do you respond when conflicts of scheduling arise like the example I mentioned in the beginning? You could throw a fit and demand that your small group leader attend the meeting. In that case you’re very likely to lose that leader’s service to the church and you’ve missed a great opportunity to equip them to go out. What if instead of responding negatively you say, “Well we’ll really miss you at our meeting, but that’s great that you’re getting to interact with some new families. Have you thought about ways you can use your God-given gifts to love the people you are meeting?” Your leader may miss the training you wanted to give to them on small groups, but in just a quick sentence you’ve trained them to think strategically about the relationships they have. Take this example a step forward by offering a suggestion. “Susie, you are so great at hosting your small group. Have you thought about opening your home to the families on your child’s t-ball team? A meal might be a fantastic way to get to know them and show them God’s love.” In that one sentence you’ve helped them to see that God has gifted them not only to serve the church but also to reach out to the people around them.

What does your church value and how do you express it? Equipping people to live out God’s mission in their world has to be at the core of who you are as a church body. Many churches are developing mission statements and core values to help their church family clearly understand the vision God has given for their particular church. My church has a set of core values, one of which is “Missional Living.” We define this as: Meeting people's needs through acts of compassion and sharing with them the truth about God's love. We also have a list of goals that we’ve given our church members as it relates to this value.

Personal Goals:
I will do spontaneous acts of compassion daily.
I will spend time building quality relationships with my neighbors.
I will regularly pray for people in my circle of influence and be available to respond to their needs and to talk with them about their faith questions.

There are probably many more personal goals you can give people as it relates to this but these are just a few we’ve come up with to help our church family get started.

What are you teaching on Sunday mornings when the church gathers together for worship? Do your church members feel like it is a safe place to bring their friends? Do you make visitors stand up to be recognized and in my opinion, feel uncomfortable? Are you preaching about spiritual gifts only as they relate to service within the church or do you talk about how people can use their spiritual gifts outside the church?

Take a quick look at your church calendar for the next couple of months. How many days a week do you have “church stuff” planned – (i.e. small groups, Wednesday night church, Sunday night church, Sunday morning church, Men’s breakfast, Ladies lunch, Women’s Craft Night, Men’s Golf Night, Singles Events, etc…)? Stop over scheduling your church families and leave them room in their schedules to develop relationships outside the church.

Lastly, start to value the informal. What does that mean exactly? As pastors, we like to be able to measure our success. “Look, 75% of our Sunday morning attendance is in a small group! Look we have started 3 new ministries in the last six months and are touching the lives of 40 new families as a result of those ministries.” I’m not suggesting that it is bad to look at those things. It’s important to make sure the ministries you do have are actually being effective. However, don’t underestimate informal gatherings of people. Dan might have a hard time making it to a small group on week nights because of his work schedule but what you don’t know is that he’s growing spiritually with a group of Christian and non-Christian friends who meet on Saturday mornings for a bike ride and breakfast and then just happen to talk about spiritual things in the context of real life. Sharon might not be serving in one of your official ministries but what you don’t know about her is that on Wednesday mornings she invites some of the ladies in her neighborhood over so the kids can play together and she can share God’s love with them.

Ministry isn’t always measurable. We need to encourage and value ministry that happens outside our walls. We need to equip people to reach out to the people they interact with everyday at work and at their kids schools and at their gyms and in their classes. We need to instill in our church family the truth that they are ministers, not just within the church but everywhere they go and to everyone they meet.

The Evolution of Man

I just finished a unit in my World Civ class on the evolution of the human species that made me think of some things....

Just so we understand each other on this term, "evolution," and because it seems to be a word that is feared by Christians, let me quickly define it:

1 : one of a set of prescribed movements
2 : a process of change in a certain direction
3 : the process of working out or developing
4 : the historical development of a biological group (as a race or species)
5 : the extraction of a mathematical root
6 : a process in which the whole universe is a progression of interrelated phenomena (www.m-w.com)

First I'll state my opinion on the big picture: Yes, I think at some point there has probably been some sort of "evolution of mankind," that is unless the Bible isn't literally true and perhaps God created several different types of people in various parts of the world at the same time. If that's the case, people didn't have to evolve, they simply were as God created them originally. Either way, whatever. God created the world and everything in it and he saw that it was good.

There is at least one thing in reality that cannot be ignored. People are different, VERY differnent. Take for example, European Americans and African Americans. Our skin colors are different, our hair textures are different and I'm sure we are biologically different in many other ways as well but those are the most obvious. So if you are going to believe in a literal interpretation of the creation story, you have to believe in some type of evolution. If we all came from the same two people, we have to evolve or develop into the different people that we are today.

Now here's the reason I have to question the literal interpretation of the Bible. In Genesis 4 it states, "Now Adam slept with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When the time came, she gave birth to Cain, and she said, "With the Lord's help, I have brought forth a man!" (Like she had never done this before and was amazed by it.) Later she gave birth to a second son and named him Abel." (My words are in italics - obviously.)

My interpretation of this is that Cain was Eve's first son and Abel her second. The story goes on to say that Cain and Abel fought and Cain killed Abel so God banished him from the land. The weird part comes in when Cain states his fear of the people "out there" who might kill him. WHAT PEOPLE??? If Adam and Eve are the only people and we all came from them and Cain and Abel were their first sons, where the hell did all these other people come from? And even if Cain and Abel weren't her first sons, seriously, she had that many babies and sent them off around the area to start new cultures? It's weird.

So herein lies our dilema. How do we interpret the Bible? Are we afraid of things we cannot know and understand fully? What role does faith play and what role does doubt play? Can we have faith in God while doubting our full understanding of truth? Can you believe that there is a God who created the world even though you don't fully understand how it came about?
I've heard Christians act like people who struggle to believe the creation story are stupid because it's just so simple. But it's not. And the more we try to explain it away and break the mystery of the Bible down into chewable pieces, the more difficult I find it. We try to put every Biblical truth into three easy to understand points and we destroy the mystery. Their is doubt and faith in everything. Even science. With the amount of discrepencies between various scientists hypotheses and discoveries and the constant changing of opinions, you have to have some amount of faith and doubt to believe in the truth of science. It's the same with Christianity. To try and take away the doubt and faith elements by explaining everything in simple, digestible nuggets, isn't helpful because it isn't real.

Anyway, I'm enjoying learning and thinking about these things. It's important to remember that learning isn't always about finding answers. Education isn't about being able to pass a test (don't get me started on The NCLB Act). Sometimes it's just about the process of growing your ability to fully think through and question things rather than just accepting easy answers. To memorize answers to pass a test (literally speaking or theologically speaking) isn't education and really isn't helpful. Information isn't the point. Transformation is (educationally and theologically speaking).

Is Christianity a Culture?

I just started a World Civ class at WSU and my first assignment was to create a definition for the word "culture" and then apply my definition to something specific so I chose Christianity. Doing the assignment brought some thoughts to mind that weren't really appropriate for the paper so I thought I'd add them here...

Here's my definition of culture...

Culture includes a community's entire way of life. Iit is shared beliefs and actions. Culture is not my individual feelings and behaviors as separate from the whole but rather the thoughts and actions of the greater society or community. Culture is learned behaviors, symbols, beliefs, values, meanings and unspoken rules. It is affected by those in power and therefore any cultural study should ask the question: Who has the power to affect cultural change? or Who has the authority to make decisions that affect culture? Culture is not an abstract idea that is separate from the people within that culture. It is affected by the people and it affects the people. It is not static, but is always changing. Culture is how we live out our understanding of the world and this worldview is taught to us by parents or educators or others in our culture and often subconsciously learned through experience within the culture.

Now, by my definition I would mark Christianity as it's own culture or more specifically, in the U.S., a subculture. Here's why....

The Christian culture has not been static during any part of history. It is always being changed by the people within and outside the community. It is full of unspoken rules such as what type of clothing is acceptable and where you should be on a Sunday morning (or Saturday night as this culture continues to change). There are behaviors that to an onlooker would seem strange but to those within the culture seem completely normal. There are taboos and a set of beliefs that should (but don't always) affect behavior. The structure of power is affected by beliefs about the appropriate roles of men and women. There is often an unspoken rule that it is unacceptable to vote democrat. There is an entirely different language that can sound foreign to someone who is unfamiliar with the culture. Words that may be the same as those used in the dominant culture, hold varying meanings within this subculture. And like any culture, the Christian worldview is learned through experience within the culture and teaching from people who are a part of the culture.

Now I have to ask the question...

As a "culture", do we adhere simply to similar beliefs and ways of life such as attending church on a weekly basis, or do we allow our shared beliefs and values to truly affect our way of life as in the way we treat people, the effort we put into our work, the things we talk about, etc... Can we truly look at ourselves as a culture if culture is defined by a set of beliefs that affect behavior? Other than the frivolous things like attending church on Sundays, voting Republican, and using words like grace all the time, would others see us as living differently? As a people, are we simply an American subculture or do we live the culture of Jesus? We believe that Jesus brings hope to the hopeless but do our interactions with hurting people reveal that? We believe that Jesus spent time with sinners, but do we do that? We believe that in Christ, all things are possible, but do we live that way?

The frivolous things of our Christian culture are changing. People go to church on Saturday nights, they get tattoos, drink beer and vote Democrat. So when we deconstruct what we once thought was important to the Christian subculture, will the culture of Jesus be left or is it already gone?

Defeated!

The bill was defeated! Interested in voting records?

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00229

Sneaky Politicians

A while I go I blogged about the estate tax and how the cutting of it would negatively affect our country. In an easy answer, cutting the estate tax would essentially mean that the wealthiest people in our country would not be taxed on their inheritances. I won't bore you with specific statistics, you can research them on your own if you're interested on the websites listed below.

The bottom line is this would mean HUGE losses in revenue for our country when there are already significant budget cuts in harmful places due to all the money we are spending on this war. And not only would we lose the income directly from the taxes but this would also negatively affect charitable giving!

This didn't go through previously but it is now being coupled with the raising of the minimum wage in order to get it passed. As much as I'd like to see the minimum wage raised, the harm this bill would do far out weighs the good. This bill has already passed in the House and is going to be voted on even possibly tonight in the Senate.

Feel free to use the number below to contact your Senators and let them know how you feel about the matter.

1-800-459-1887

Tell them...

Vote No on H.R. 5970, the cynical ploy to slash the estate tax. Handing $750 billion over 10 years to a small number of multimillionaires will force cuts in health care, education and other vital investments for all. I support an increase in the minimum wage - but the cost of this reckless bill is far too high.

To keep informed on important legislation, check out these websites...

www.chn.org (Coalition on Human Needs)
www.results.org (Results)
www.soujourners.com (Soujourners)