the buttons have been pushed...

so, I can't begin to tell you how excited I am that the election time is over. normal commercials have resumed, and people seem to hate each other a lot less than they did. it's ridiculous how polarizing politics is. I don't even know a good reason for it to make people so angry all the time. it's just silly.

I had a conversation (on facebook) with a friend the other day about all of the political happenings, and they had made a joke about moving somewhere because Obama was going to be the president. She said she was adamantly opposed to him because he's pro-choice, and pretty socialistic in nature, and the rumor's that he's the anti-Christ seemed to worry her as well. 

I guess you could say it lit a fire for me, and this was right after the election. I was fried and totally not interested at all. And then I got interested really quick. I told her that to seriously consider moving away because the election didn't go the way she wanted was unAmerican & unChristian. And I hold by that statement.

Here's why it's unAmerican: if you leave when the vote doesn't go your way, then you don't believe in democracy. The reality of democracy is this: sometimes the vote doesn't go the way you want it to. Sometimes it does. But you can't talk about packing up and leaving when the vote doesn't go your way. That's not democracy, that's consumerism in politics. It's a pick & choose & have it your way method of looking at it all. If Obama runs the whole thing into the ground, I'll gladly accept responsibility for my vote and apologize. But on the other hand, if McCain had won, I wouldn't be packing up and heading for Canada. I'd do that just because Canada is beautiful. : )  But that isn't an American thing to do. Quite the contrary. Like I blogged the story about how not voting could be considered an act of violence, I'd say that running when you don't like the turnout is anything but patriotic. It's quite anti-patriotic. Think about it, what if every leader in the U.S. moved out of country when things didn't go how they wanted? We'd have a country of about 500,000 people. That just doesn't work. (SIDE NOTE: the really sad thing is that this is how people in churches act. When things aren't the way their agenda looks, they go elsewhere to the other church down the street. It's no wonder churches struggle. People have zero commitment to the Church. I don't mean their denomination, we have WAY too much of that. I mean that when things aren't the way they want them, rather than step up and lead, they leave and go elsewhere, and then continue the cycle when that church "fails" them too.)

Here's where it gets fun, why I think that whole attitude is unChristian: it's an issue of your faith, and your concept of God. I feel deeply, deeply sorry for someone who thinks that one man from Chicago could single-handedly destroy Christianity just because he got elected to office. See, in my mind, my concept of God is HUGE. I believe in a God that makes stars and planets and galaxies. He breathes out the words and water covers the earth. With just a thought, life exists. Birds, insects, fish, people. So how could one of God's creations kill him just by assuming a political post? It seems to me, to be a very shallow worldview, and if my perception of God was that small, I don't know that I'd believe in Him. I mean, if one man can shut him down, is he really the all-powerful God that everyone claims to follow?

The question was raised about whether or not Obama is the anti-Christ, and I can't get behind that at all. And if you're really interested in this whole thing, I'd recommend my friend Jimmy's blog. In case you skipped this blog, here's the cliff notes: people who buy into the "one anti-christ to ruin it all" idea tend to read too many "left behind" books, and probably haven't read what the Bible actually says about the anti-Christ. I think a lot of damage was done by the left behind books, and so we need to re-examine that whole thing. It's not what you think it is. 

Ultimately, I think the thing you have to know who you are. And you have to know who's you are. For me, I'm a part of God's Kingdom before I'm ever an American. Do I love America? Sure. Do we do everything right? No. Where's my loyalty lie? God's kingdom, then America. See, it's all about identity. And knowing that regardless of what/where/etc things happen, God is bigger than all of it, so it sort of isn't as important as we make it. 

Thoughts?

Live deeper.

the election is almost over

well, the worst of it is almost over. and I have to say I'm relieved. I'm just tired of all the commercials, all the bashing of each other, and all the stupid negativity. there's a reason I say I'm a cynic in my "political affiliation" on facebook, and it can be summed up in one word: "nobama." 

now I get that everyone's entitled to their opinion, and everyone can vote for whoever they want to vote for. I get it. That's the way it's SUPPOSED to work. But why is it okay with everyone that we bash the crap out of each other? Take a local example, there's this guy named Andrew Rice running for office, and he's running against a guy who's been in office like 20 years. His argument is that Mr. 20 year office has been there too long and has lost his way in the politics of it all. Not the nicest thing to say, but, it could be a legit concern. 20 minutes in politics can ruin someone, so 20 years might be too much. But then all these attack adds are launched against Rice, talking about what a horrible person he is. He spent a good chunk of time on the mission field, he can't be all that bad. And it seems odd to me that a Republican would bad-mouth a missionary too. 

the other reason I'm glad it's over is that everyone seems to feel the need to publish their vote on facebook. Again, not a huge deal, but some people feel the need to be very legalistic about the whole thing. In not so many words they basically tell me that "we can't have THAT kind of person in office, so vote for MY candidate!" 

that REALLY offends me.

If I wasn't sure who to vote for, I'd consult a close friend, call my dad or mom maybe, but I wouldn't just throw it out there and say "what's everyone on facebook saying?" that's the worst idea I've ever heard. It reminds me of an argument I heard last election, that if you aren't going to educate yourself on the election then to not participate in it. Now I know I blogged that whole "non-voting as an act of violence" thing, but there's some truth here too. Waving a pen and just "shooting in the dark" as it were is also not a good idea, and could be maybe not an act of violence, but for sure a stupid mistake waiting to happen.

And I hope that everyone realizes that WE ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN AMERICA!!!! People get so defensive about their respective candidate, but here's the reality: whoever becomes the next president, things aren't going to change that much. they just aren't. regardless of who takes over, there will be public opinion and politicians who whine and complain, etc, etc, ETC!!!!! and things won't get accomplished. The real question is which person do you want to cast the vision to the U.S. and the world? Because the Republicans and Democrats work for each other, and they'll fight each other all the way, all the time. Things won't get done. And we can't assume a change in the person sitting in the oval office is going to revolutionize anything. It's still up to us. We still HAVE to be involved in the process. 

My cynical prediction is that the people will step back and disengage after the election, and expect all their problems to get solved. And then when it doesn't work, they'll wonder why. Our consumeristic nature will even ruin the next presidency. We'll ask for the loser to take over for the winner once things hit a snag, because we don't stick it out in tough times, we look for the quick fix. We get the medicine that works fastest, or we scrap the idea and get the new one. It's like iPods. It's easier to toss an iPod and replace it than to fix it. And I think that's what we'll do. We'll continue to spend more than we can afford, and people will wonder why things haven't changed.

WE HAVE TO BE THE CHANGE. WE HAVE TO BE THE CONSISTENCY. WE HAVE TO BE THE LEVEL HEADED ONES. We can't just push that off on a politician and run off and be stupid and expect things to turn out good.

Jesus, save us from ourselves and our ignorance.

vote time

so i know election time is here, it's been driving most of us nuts. and we're all burned out on it and ready to be done with it. true story. but, here are some things to think about. and these aren't mine so i take no credit for any genius there is in them. the first is this, a blog about why NOT VOTING is an act of violence. regardless of whether or not you agree, i think it is some very worthy brain food, and something to make you think whether or not you think things are or aren't worth being a part of. 

here's the link.

and i will tell you to go vote for whoever you want to vote for, but this blog is a lot of why/how i feel about my vote, so disagree & hate me if you want to, that's cool. but this resonates with me a LOT, to the degree that i'm going to bum it from my friend josh and say it's more well explained than i could try to explain the whole thing myself. so, here's some interesting brain food on why a vote for this guy is okay.

oh, and starbucks is giving away coffee if you go vote. so go do that for the coffee if nothing else.

and finally, i leave you with one last piece of fun: (if you can't see it, here's the link)

what a bailout SHOULD look like

Good old AIG took their help from the government and went and did this with it...

But, then there's stuff like this:

my own Jesus Junk...

So, here's a couple things for you all who actually read this. (I think there's 2 of you if I'm lucky)

My buddy Marko does this thing called the "Jesus Junk of the Month" (great/most recent example here) and I think it's pretty funny stuff. Well, I got this "awesome" product email from a company that will remain anonymous since I'm bad mouthing them, but I'm sure you can google them if you're really that curious about it. Basically this is the "christian marketing machine's" version of a barbie or bratz doll I think. And I like that it's "new for christmas." 

So maybe this is more of a rant than I thought, but I have a lot of trouble reconciling that this kind of thing is what the world needs. I don't think that reducing the amazing work of Jesus to a t-shirt - or a t-shirt on a doll which is even worse - is what we should be doing with the story of Jesus. It seems very belittling of us to do so. Honestly, deep inside me it feels like we're being sold crap in the name of Jesus. It REALLY offends me. I actually emailed them back and said "thanks for selling trite crap in the name of the Savior!" It REALLY, REALLY offends me deeply.

I don't know why the "Christian subculture" feels a need to do this stuff. (Don't even get me started on why that subculture even exists. I'll get mad) But I think this kind of stuff is DIRECTLY correlated to why Christianity has lost it's impact. It's why people don't believe us anymore, or believe IN Jesus anymore. It's like everything we offer is a gimmick. And Jesus is ANYTHING but a gimmick. I wish someone would've stopped this machine before it ever got started.

See I think we need to learn to see Jesus in other places. Take this guy's video of Boston for example. If we could learn to see Jesus through people and places and not in tacky dolls & shirts, our lives would be infinitely deeper. Watch this video (if you're on facebook and it isn't here, read the original post please!) and look for glimpses of truth. Glimpses of love or hope or beauty. Jesus is "hiding in plain sight" in these moments. Not in crappy, overpriced dolls.

Boston. Through my eyes. from Nick Keating on Vimeo.

Live deeper.

a little something for inspiration

I found this today, thinking about using it for fall retreat somehow, (even though it's flash and I"m not sure how to download it). I really like the visual though. Thought I'd pass along. The guy who shot this stuff is actually full of all sorts of amazing stuff.

brushfire from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

in a much lighter note

So, now that I've gone and made you think, allow me to undo what I just did. You HAVE to check this out: kung-fu election