Sad Sad World

I just read an article about a 30 year old women, who was mentally handicapped, that was tortured and killed by people that she called her friends.  The consequences of living in a broken world are having to learn of things like this and then trying to make sense of senseless acts like this.  How can people fall so far into darkness from where we are intended to live.  My heart breaks for the countless friends and family of Jennifer and it also breaks for the souls of the people that decided to do these terrible things.  Forgiveness does not come easy to souls like these, at least not from man.
Please pray with me for all that are associated with these horrific events.

Life is War

Late last year I told my wife that I had realized everything in life comes down to war - spiritual war.  Life is really a constant series of battles over who holds reign in our heart, who's name is forever in our soul.

The sooner we realize that everything in life, every day, every trial, every temptation, every hardship, everything is spiritual warfare the sooner we can begin fighting on the winning side.  This all became clear to me one day when I was running.  Over the past few years I have taken up running and I really enjoy it.  I was on a run and like a lot of people that are out of shape I was having trouble finishing my run.  The struggle between wanting to achieve my goal and do something that I knew was good for me, and stopping because it hurt and was hard work had really set it.  Now it is important for you to know that part of why I like to run is I get to think and talk to God a lot on a run.  So my conversation, be it very on sided that day was something like this...

This really hurts.  Maybe I should stop.
No, I can do this.
I want to do this.
God help me do this.
There's no reason You wouldn't want me to do this.
It's good for my body...your body.
Why is it so hard then...
(here is when the light bulb lit over my head)
The devil doesn't want me to do this!
This is WAR.
Get out of my head!
I can do this.

So after I had that epiphany my run ended very smoothly and I have had less trouble with motivation.  I have really tried to approach each minute part of every day and every decision as if it were the spiritual war that it is.  There is good and evil in this world.  We need to acknowledge that fact.  Both parts of it.  It is great to talk about the good, but if we leave out the evil we tend to overlook the battle that we are in the midst of right now.

I know how the war ends, and I know which side I will be on... do you?  Do you actively take part in this battle or are you just trying to ride it out?  That can be a dangerous game.  So today, and every day, put on your armor and be prepared to fight!

Barefoot Running and Macroeconomics

Are we making any progress?
Sometimes I find myself wondering, as a whole, have we really made any progress?


I was listening to the radio the other day when I hard an interesting story about economics.  I know you're thinking, "How can economics be interesting?".  It was about a TV producer that was listening to a pod cast on economics and the financial melt down that we have been slugging through for sometime now.  The producer really liked how this econ professor was explaining things and wondered why more of the media did not present things this way.  Then, realizing that he was the media, he decided to contact the professor and start a project together to present economics in a more modern and enjoyable way.  This video was the result.





More information on their work together can be found at econstories.tv.

If you take the time to watch the video and listen to the lyrics.  The entire economic meltdown and bailout by the government has been debated for over a century.  And this is as far as we have come...

So how does barefoot running come in?  Well, I'm a runner.  And again, I was listening to the radio and a story about barefoot running came on... so right away I was paying attention.  The story was about a study that had been done showing how the human foot is really designed for barefoot running and when we run in running shoes, we run less efficiently and may be more likely to cause injury.  They are going to study the second part of this next.

So here is my point.  I know that we have developed many great inventions, and done all sorts of amazing things.  But are they really helping us?  Did the invention of the shoe and the subsequent development of running shoe technology make us bad runners?  Did years of debating macroeconomic theory make us any less likely to plummet into recession?  Well... I guess not.

A friend of mine posted this quote the other day that really made me think about this...

The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to ... work, instead of living on public assistance.  Cicero - 55 BC

If we really have any hope of really making progress, maybe technology and economic theory are not the right things to look to for guidance.  Maybe we need to really start looking somewhere else...

L'Union Fait La Force

The Haitian national motto is "L'Union Fait La Force" - Unity Makes Strength.

Unity makes strength, what a beautiful concept.  The US national motto used to be "E Pluribus Unum" - One From Many.  But we seem to have forgotten how to act as one.  Whether it be congressmen arguing like preschoolers over important issues like healthcare, or churches arguing over the right way to worship.  We just can't seem to act as one anymore.  Unity does make strength, but you first need unity.  With out unity we all will individual fall.  Together, the things we can accomplish are great.  This togetherness is colorblind, borderless, forgiving, holds no grudges, has no political party, plays no favorites, shows amazing grace, and would be incredible if we could ever make it happen.