iraq

You don't hear me commenting much on the war in Iraq, because I know a lot of people get all up in arms about it. I did come across this article today, though, and I wanted to share it. I think there's a lot of spinning involved in the war, from both sides. It seems like the media is sellng us a lost war, where Iraq is in a hopeless chaos and our troops are stuck in a quagmire that none can escape. Here's an excerpt from the article linked, which is written by an Army officer:

The scene is repeated all too often: an attack takes place in Baghdad and the morning sounds are punctuated by a large explosion and a rising cloud of smoke. Sirens wail in the distance and photographers dash to the scene a few miles away. Within the hour, stern-faced reporters confidently stare into the camera while standing on the balcony of their tenth-floor Baghdad hotel room, their back to the city and a distant smoke plume rising behind them. More mayhem in Gotham City they intone, and just in time for the morning news. There is a transparent reason why the majority of car bombings and other major events take place before noon Baghdad-time; any later and the event would miss the start of the morning news cycle on the U.S. east coast. These terrorists aren't stupid; they know just what to do to scare the masses and when to do it. An important key to their plan is manipulation of the news media. But, at least the reporters in Iraq are gathering information and filing their stories, regardless of whether or the stories are in perspective. Much worse are the "talking heads" who sit in studios or offices back home and pontificate about how badly things are going when they never have been to Iraq and only occasionally leave Manhattan.

Almost on a daily basis, newspapers, periodicals and airwaves give us negative views about the premises for this war and its progress. It seems that everyone from politicians to pop stars are voicing their unqualified opinions on how things are going. Recently, I saw a Rolling Stone magazine and in bold print on the cover was, "Iraq on Fire; Dispatches from the Lost War." Now, will someone please tell me who at Rolling Stone or just about any other "news" outlet is qualified to make a determination as to when all is lost and it's time to throw in the towel? In reality, such flawed reporting serves only to misshape world opinion and bolster the enemy's position. Each enemy success splashed across the front pages and TV screens of the world not only emboldens them, but increases their ability to recruit more money and followers.

stress

By and large I'm not a very stressful person, as most of you who know me will probably attest to. I don't worry a whole lot about certain things, though there are some things that make me worry. For some reason right now I am worried about how the oneeighty worship gathering is going to go tonight. We didn't have any sort of meeting last month because of all the holidays, I don't know if everyone's on the same page, etc. It makes me feel sort of uneasy.

Anyway I just share this because in a couple weeks I am giving the weekend sermons at Crossroads and I'm supposed to be talking about stress. So I want to get down my thoughts on it - and maybe hear from the three of you that read this - what stresses you out? What does stress make you feel like? What do you do when you're stressed? How do you deal with stress? If you have a couple minutes to give me your two cents on stress go ahead and leave it either in the comments section or feel free to drop me an e-mail.

ipod shuffle

Wow, this thing looks neato.

God and the tsunami

On a forum I'm a part of, the Tsunami of course came up in discussion. Some people mentioned that they were curious how one could believe in an omnipotent and benevolent God in the face of such an event as this, where over 150,000 people are confirmed dead by now. Here was my answer, since it took me a while to type it today while I was at school I figured I'd share it here...

I have a hard time understanding how God could allow the Tsunami to happen. When it comes to things like rape/murder/etc you can say that those are a result of somebody's choice. When it comes to a tidal wave brought about by an earthquake...well, nobody sinfully chose for there to be an earthquake. Unless it was some secret evil genius in the depths of the earth that finally got his earthquake machine working, but let's assume that's not the case.

I have no idea how or why this sort of thing could happen but it does not, for me, contradict the concept of an omnipotent and benevolent God.

There are conflicting views within Christendom when it comes to what "God's Will" is and just how much God "ordains" to happen and how much He allows to happen. For example, many Calvinists believe that God has predestined certain people to salvation and others to His wrath, and that God controls everything that happens. I am not Calvinist and don't claim to speak for them, but I'm sure there are some people who would say "God caused the Tsunami but we can't know why."

I fall into the camp that says God "allowed" it to happen, but we can't know why. I don't think He caused the earthquake, but He could have prevented it and chose not to. I don't know why, and it's a question I asked myself as my wife and I watched the weeping survivors and stories on CNN last week. She cried and I admit I had a bit of the teary-eyes going; the human suffering is staggering.

If I were to try to explain why I think God didn't stop the earthquake I would say that perhaps He set the earth's forces in motion (plate tectonics in this case) and just lets it go. Who knows, maybe God made the earthquake smaller so the wave would kill less people? The bottom line for me here is that I have no idea and any explanation will fall short. Does that bug me? Yes it does. I want to know how God could allow such a thing. For that matter I want to know why He would allow a tornado that kills 1 person, or a rapist to commit his act. These are questions I would love to have answered. Unfortunately at present they cannot be.

That being said - the God I believe in is infinite and beyond my full understanding. I believe that He is loving, all-powerful (except for logically inconsistent things which I think we've gone over before), and all-knowing. I am willing to admit that I don't understand how a God with these qualities could allow certain things to happen - but I'm also willing to admit that my lack of understanding does not mean God is not those things. It means I don't understand, which is to be expected for some things God-related.

The best I can do is pray, ask God for some kind of understanding (contrary to popular misconception God encourages us to be honest with our questions and feelings, so it's okay to ask him "what the crap?"), and see what I can do to try to show His love to others. My faith in a good, loving God isn't based on nothing wrong happening in the world; rather it helps me to make sense of a world where bad things happen.

amusing proverbs

Here are a couple amusing things out of the book of Proverbs that I read in the past two days, proof that the Bible is truly an inspired book...

"If a man loudly blesses his neighbor in the morning, it will be taken as a curse." - Prov. 27:14 (NIV)

"A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand." - Prov. 27:15-16 (NIV)

"Better to live on the corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife." - Prov. 21:9 (NIV)

Those wife comments are in no way a reflection on my wife, who is the most awesomest wife ever.

roflcopter

Check out this article. Funny, and it makes me feel lame.

the los angeles angels of anaheim

Apparently the Angels have changed their name. The new one is pretty long. I wonder why they'd do that.

In other sports news, I was recently made aware of a website called Dump York. The site is maintained and frequented by bitter 49er fans, who wish that the current owner, York, would sell the team because he's sending the franchise into the crapper. It details his myriad faults and failings as an NFL owner. My name is Jackson, and I endorse this website.

hey i just found out

I just read in an e-mail that Jesse is coming home from New York around January 13th. I believe he's driving home from Georgia with Melissa around that time - but the Long Dark will soon be over for those of us in Fremont.

happy new year

I'd be interested to know how many blog posts are titled "happy new year" right now. Anyway, Happy New Year to you. I did a lock-in with the youth group and it was a pretty good time. There were a few hiccups but overall it was fun. If I sound inane right now it's because I'm not sure how much sleep I've had. I slept somewhere between 1-2 hours at the lock-in, and then when I get home around 9am I had a little bit of energy and watched 2 episodes of the Alias Season 1. Janelle and I are about to finish that season on DVD. Alias is a pretty cool show, and Jack Bristow is the man.

I got a flickr account so I might start trying to post photos more often. I like how Andy posts lots of photos in his posts.

two down

Okay, so in the last week, the A's have traded both Hudson and Mulder. These guys have been the heart and soul of Oakland for the past few years and it really pains me to see them go. I know I'm supposed to trust in Billy Beane, but it's difficult - it doesn't seem like he's getting much for these guys. Some people say this is the same place the A's were at around 2000 when the Big Three were all noobs and hadn't proven themselves...we'll see... All I know is I loved going out to the Colloseum and rooting for these guys, and now I can't do that. Now, in fact, they are in freakin Atlanta and St. Louis. At least I won't have the pain of watching them pitch for someone else in the AL West. It's the end of an era, people.

Also, I have finally put up the pictures I took on my March 2004 trip to the Florida Keys. You can enjoy them here.

just when you thought i couldn't get geekier

The name of He-Man's cat sidekick came up in a conversation I had today, and I ended up having to go looking for the answer to the question. I had said the cat's name was Cringer, and someone else told me it was "BattleCat." I had He-Man on my birthday cake when I turned 5, so I thought I knew what I was talking about. As it happens, the cat's name was Cringer when He-Man was Adam, and after he does his little transformation, the wussy Cringer transforms into the brave Battle-Cat.

For more info on He-Man and how awesome he is, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-Man

japanese lap pillows

They come up with some pretty weird stuff over there in Japan.

dearth! druthers!

This day at work is going to be pretty easy if first period is any indication. I have 2 AP Statistics classes and 3 Honors Algebra 2 classes. These kinds of kids tend to be easier to babysit in class. Add to that the fact that there is math work for them to hang out and do - and they actually tend to DO the work - means I should have a minimum of stress due to them.

The classroom I'm in today is behind the science wing of the school, and the science teachers have a cluster of little wireless access points. I managed to connect to one and it seems to be working for me so far, that's good. I can't get any games to run online, due to the school's firewall, but I can browse the web and do this kind of thing, so that's good enough for me.

I've had a dearth of profound thoughts lately. (Before you knock me for using "dearth," consider the only other words that come to mind when I was trying to communicate that thought were "shortitude" and "shortness," neither of which are, well, words.)

I am excited for this upcoming holiday - there is no good reason for me to not go to work when I have the opportunity, but for the next two weeks I have an excuse...there IS no work to be done here. I've been working on the next six months of youth ministry...aside from the Lock-In and oneeighty this month is pretty clear, and it feels good to be ahead of the game a bit. Anyway hopefully this means I'll be able to do some nice long stints with WoW next week. I will also do helpful things around the house for my wife who will be stuck at work. But I will also play lots of WoW, if I have my druthers.

some more questions

It's been a little while since I answered the questions I asked you to ask me - so now I'm going to get to my Dad's and to Frances' questions. Right now I'm subbing in a classroom, the kids are watching "Super Size Me" which you should watch if you haven't seen it. It's good/scary. Usually when I'm at home on the computer I am trying to get some time in with WoW so my little blog gets neglected. Here at school, however, I can take a few minutes out to type here.

My Dad's questions...
1) When was the last sunrise you watched, intentionally (not the last one you saw)?
I don't remember...

2) When was the last sunset you watched, intentionlly (again, not the ...) ?
Again, I don't remember...

3) If this was the last year of your life, and it could end at any time, what would you do?
Spend a lot of time writing, and with the people I care about most. Especially considering that at this point I'll only have a few weeks left.

And from Frances...
1) what book, other than the bible, has had the most influence on your life and/or thinking?

Dang, that's a hard one. I can't say if I've read any book that's really revolutionized my thinking or influenced it in a way that I can cite. There go my pretensions to being an educated person.

Some books I have read that may have influenced me are The Jesus I Never Knew, More Ready Than You Realize, and Spirit of the Disciplines to name a few.

2) which is the superior utensil (and why): forks or spoons?

Spoons are definitely superior. Anything a fork does that a spoon doesn't, you can do with your hands. But spoons? Well, with a spoon you can eat soup and other more liquidy things. You can't spear a piece of steak, but you can just pick that up. You can't enjoy a bowl of cereal with a fork, nor ice cream, or any of that. Forks suck!

3) which is more entertaining (and why): a cat in a beret or a monkey in a fez?

A cat in a beret might be funny for a moment, but it would just sit there and think about how great it was. A monkey in a fez, though - that I'd pay to see, because I enjoy monkey antics. Except the antics that would involve them throwing feces at me. That wouldn't be funny.