The election through the eyes of a Christian college student

Four years ago I was a high school senior watching the '04 election and was very disappointed. Neither candidate had a hint of inspiration, they weren't very different in terms of policies, and neither really seemed to care about the things I cared about. I remember trying to get a little fired up about John Kerry, but was not all that disappointed when he lost.

At that time my sister Laura and I were already looking ahead to potential candidates for '08. We both liked Bill Richardson, the former Secretary of Labor and Governor of New Mexico. I cringed at the thought of another Clinton polarizing America, but she seemed like the most likely winner. That year I also took notice of a senate race in Illinois where this guy Barack Obama was winning 80% of the vote and also had an amazing speech on unity at the DNC. I took notice and Laura and I talked about how fun it would be if he ran someday in 2016.

A year later, I was watching the last season of one of my favorite shows, The West Wing. In the last episodes, the writers gave us a fictional look at an intellectual, clean, and inspiring campaign from both fictional candidates played by Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda. I wondered if there was a anyone in real life who could actually have a campaign like this. I naturally thought of my favorite Republican, John McCain, who always seemed intelligent, moderate, bipartisan, honest, and candid in his politics. I also thought of Richardson and Obama and wondered if any of these people could make it in a real campaign. Nah......couldn't happen.

Last year I began reading and discussing with my friends writers like Lee Camp, Shaine Claiborne, and Tony Campolo. I became very interested in the impoverished and oppressed, and also very dis-enchanted with the government. I realized that our American political system was a worldly kingdom, quite apart and separate from the Kingdom of God. I considered becoming a follower of the writings of David Lipscomb, who thought Christians shouldn't vote or be involved in the military, and never get involved in (and perhaps even oppose) the government.

However, at the same time, the campaigns had already begun and I listened to the candidates. I was excited about the idea of Obama, but as I began to listen to his actual campaign he struck me as a type of politician that I had never heard before in my lifetime. I always hear from history about how John and Robert Kennedy were able to inspire a generation and also helped bring real change to fight segregation in our country (I know LBJ actually signed the Civil Rights Act in '64, but it was due to the legacy and fight from Kennedy). I heard about how FDR was able to use the government to legitimately help the poor and downtrodden. I heard about how Lincoln sought to move us to our best ideals and ended slavery and helped keep the nation together. I saw a glimmer of that in the rhetoric of Obama as he spoke about unity and hope for our nation. But he also spoke about issues I really cared about. He wanted health care available to the poor who couldn't afford it and were thus unable to get the help they needed, helping low-income schools, affordable housing for the poor, expand job opportunities for the lower class, raising the minimum wage, being a better steward of our environment, helping the AIDS crisis in Africa, increasing foreign aid, and making a better commitment to peace and diplomacy around the world. I saw hope not just in him, but perhaps a shift in government across the board (federal, state, local, and diplomatic) that his election could provide. He also seemed a legitimate Christian who took kingdom values seriously. I know many call me gullible, naive, and unrealistic to buy all the hype "hook, line, and sinker," but I believed this could be real and I wanted to gamble that perhaps our hopes could be realized in a new type of government.

I was committed to Obama by September '07, but there was no chance he was actually going to win. Clinton and Giuliani were going to sweep the board and I was ready for another nasty campaign and my final separation from politics. But I hoped that Obama could make it close in the primaries and get his message out for future elections. Then during Christmas break, Obama had a huge upset win in Iowa and suddenly there was a chance he could win this thing. For the next several months, I followed the highs and lows of the campaign like watching one of my favorite sports teams. I was crushed by the loss in New Hampshire and pumped up at an official Obama Campaign party in Little Rock when we watched the South Carolina returns. We had an exciting party on Super Tuesday and cheered for every state that went Obama's way. Then we watched Obama win 11 straight primaries in February and we finally really thought we were going to win. However, Clinton hung along for an looooooooooong time until we finally wrapped up the nomination in June.

During this time, McCain managed to pull an upset and win the Republican nomination and suddenly I was facing the reality of my dream campaign. Two genuine, positive candidates were facing each other and both promised an honorable campaign. This fall has been fascinating to watch the ebbs and flows of the election cycle. It has been far from a perfect campaign and there have definitely been some nasty moments, but I think it really hasn't been as nasty as people make it out to be (at least compared to the last 2 election cycles). Of course, it's been getting a lot nastier lately and probably will continue to be until the election (although don't blame both sides if just one side is being excessively negative). Honestly, my biggest disappointment has been the incredible focus the candidates have had toward the middle class during the general election, with very little emphasis on the lower class (But, it's the middle class who decides who wins the election. I just hope the benefits given to the middle class can trickle down to the lower classes as well). No matter who wins, I think we're going to end up with a decent President and hopefully the nation can come together and actually try to help people who really need help. I know the economy isn't looking good for the next few years, and the prospects for changes in health care, education, and environmental stewardship are looking very bleak with all our money tied up in the financial markets, but I'm still holding out some hope.

I know I'm an idealistic, optimistic, and yes, naive college student. But perhaps we can start to look for the best in ourselves and hope that our government can aid us in our pursuit to bring justice and help to the poor and oppressed. I meant to write this last week to encourage everyone to register to vote before the deadline, but my procrastination won out in the end. Instead I encourage everyone who is registered to vote to actually vote if they feel morally inclined. However, if you believe you should be separate and apart from government, then I totally understand and I may be there with you one day. I do ask everyone to pray. Not just for our nation, but for every nation that has God's children crying out for justice and relief. May God bless us all to be agents of hope in a dark world.

It's That Time of Year Again

If the sports year was like a Catholic calendar, then September would be Advent and October would be Lent. This is one of my favorite parts of the year as the Baseball season heats up and the Football season gets started. After a quiet baseball summer, things are getting interesting. The Astros had an awful year until August (including some time in last place in the Central), but have suddenly caught FIRE in the past 5 weeks. They have one of the best records in the majors since August 1, and are actually clicking on all cylinders. Unfortunately, so have the Cubs (1st place in the division) and the Brewers (1st place in the wild card standings). As of tonight, the Astros stand 7 games back of the wild card with 20 games to go. So a playoff trip is very unlikely, but possible (which is much better than I would have predicted a month ago). If anything, we're just a game back of the 3rd place Cardinals, and it's always nice to finish ahead of them. Hopefully, we can finish strong, continue to rebuild in the off-season, get some more help in starting pitching and middle relievers, pick up another bat, and hopefully come back strong in '09. Until then, it's always fun to watch your favorite team play well, especially when Roy Oswalt pitches a 1 hitter like he did tonight. Way to go Roy!



Meanwhile, the Red Sox are finally getting healthy again with Lowell and Beckett back in the lineups (and making very impressive debuts). As of tonight, the Sox are in 1st place in the wild card standings and just 2.5 games behind the Rays in the East. With Beckett, Lester, Dice-K and a solid Wakefield in a playoff rotation, the Sox could make another run at the World Series. It should be an exciting October!








Also, another very exciting thing is happening in baseball right now............The Yankees ARE (probably) NOT GOING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!!!!! For the first time in over 12 years, it appears the Yankees will not be playing in October. After firing one of baseball's best managers, spending $200 million on payroll, and putting a bunch of prissy celebrities together and calling it a "team," the Yankees now stand 8 games behind the wild-card. I'm so thrilled to not have to see a bunch of conceited New Yorkers gloat about their evil empire. Oh, by the way, Steinbrenner's, have fun this off-season moving away from baseball history and moving into a charmless and dull new stadium that's easier for New Jersey bandwagon fans to get to. I hate the Yankees, and it is so fun to kick them while they're down for a change.

In other news......do you hear that?.......there's a sound in downtown Nashville.......it's getting louder.........there's a mass of people on the walking bridge over the Cumberland River........what's that they're chanting?.......

LET'S GO TITANS!!! LET'S GO TITANS!!!! That's right! It's football time again! And I couldn't be more excited for kick-off tomorrow. The Titans begin their season at noon against their rival Jaguars. The Titans will be lead by Albert Haynesworth, Kyle Vanden-Bosch and a crushing defense. Meanwhile, Vince Young and the offense will seek to improve with the additions of Algie Crumpler at Tight End and blazing speedster Chris Johnson at running back. I still wish the Titans had done more to improve the receiver position, but I think Vince Young will be a lot better with Mike Heimerdinger back at Offensive coordinator and the Madden curse off his back. (Speaking of which, what happens when the relentless Madden curse faces off with an invincible quarterback who hasn't missed a start in approximately 5 zillion games? We'll find out this season with Brett Favre. This situation is just what the Joker described in The Dark Knight, when "an unstoppable force meets an immovable object." I've got my money on Batman, I mean, Favre.)

I think the Titans will be a better team this year, but that still may not be enough to reach the playoffs. The AFC is just so good this year, with at least 11 teams with legitimate shots at the 6 playoff spots. Plus the AFC South was ridiculously difficult last year (no teams under .500!) and will be even better this year. I'm not saying we won't make the playoffs, it will just be a tough ride. But it will be fun all the way and it's exciting to see a team that's on its way up.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch........

TONY ROMO! TERRELL OWENS! JASON WITTEN! MARION BARBER! DEMARCUS WARE! BRADIE JAMES! TERRENCE NEWMAN!

Do you see all those amazing players? Those are just 7 of the 13 pro-bowlers from last year's 13-3 squad. Plus, add in the amazing Zach Thomas, the reformed Adam Jones, and the electrifying Felix Jones, and you've got a potentially better squad and a championship contender. However, after last year's heartbreaking playoff loss to the Giants, it is important to remember that despite last year's success and this year's expectations, we must take everything one game at a time and take no one for granted. We are in an incredibly tough division and we are going to be getting everyone's best shots this year. We must play focused football during the regular season if we want to return to the playoffs. If we get there, we have to play our game and fight hard to and win our first playoff game since 1996. Only then can we start thinking about winning a............you know what, I'm not even going to say it........we'll just say it rhymes with Cooper Mole. Until then, I'm going to enjoy every game with this fun team, and root for my Boys as we run and gun on offense and smash and gash on defense. After the depressing 2000-2005 years with 8,362 different quarterbacks, it's so nice to sit back and enjoy Romo and his gang ever Sunday. I love this team!


This is normally the space I would devote towards getting pumped up for our UT Vols, but I'm still scarred from last Monday's loss to UCLA. The hard thing about college football is that you can see all your title hopes destroyed in the first game of the season. Hopefully we can turn things around real quick in conference play, and everything would be perfect again if somehow we can pull off a monster upset on Florida in two weeks. But until then, I'm worried about our difficult schedule and our sketchy offense. Let's just move on........

I love the fall: checking all my teams' websites every day, getting pumped every weekend, getting swept up in the highs and lows of sports, and cheering along with my friends. So come on, let's grab some food from the Student Center and watch the games tomorrow! Woo hoo!

My Last First Day of School.......for now

Today I began my final year at Harding University as my 17 years of schooling begin to come to an end. Or at least until I go to Grad School. I'm not feeling nostalgic yet, and I'm not ready to start talking about my "lasts" yet ("Oh, this is the last time I don't go to a Harding football game", "this is the last bad piece of pizza I'm having in the caf.") So far, everything has been going swell here in Searcy. It has been great seeing friends again, getting my dorm room set up (For the last time!!!!.......just kidding), and starting classes.

I don't know if I've ever been as excited for a semester of school since Freshman year. I wasn't sure about classes at first, but after the first day, I really like my schedule so far. Here's a brief overview:

11:00-Advanced Intro to New Testament-Stanglin

I was worried that this class was going to be really tough, but based on the syllabus, it doesn't look to bad. Our main reasearch paper is only 8-10 pages, instead of the 25 I was worried about Dr. Stanglin is really smart and it will be fun learning from him this semester.

12:00-Augmentation and Persuasion-Garner

Dr. Garner is a crazy, unpredictable, stream-of-consciousness teacher, and I love him for it. He cracks me up and we always have really interesting discussions in his classes. I'm really excited about this class as we study the ways people persuade and influence and how that affects society today. It should be very fun during an election year.

1:00-Patriarchs-Dr. Manor

This is a 400 level class, but it's with my boy Dr. Manor, who we dubbed our own "Mr. Pheeny." There's only 7 of us in this class, so we all just put our desks in a circle and discuss Genesis with Dr. Manor. It will be difficult and a lot of work, and we have a big paper, but it will also be a lot of fun.

2:00-Biblical Archaeology-Dr. Manor

This is the class I'm most excited about. In this class we get to drive out to Rosebud every Monday and go dig at a giant artificial tel that the honors college built, and perform the work like actual archaeologists would. I've heard from some people that this is the most fun class at Harding, and Dr. Manor promises we're going to have a lot of fun. I'm pretty pumped about it.

6:00-9:00 (Mondays only)-Seminar in African Missions-?

This class was supposed to be my only Tuesday/Thursday class, but apparently they moved it to a Monday night class. I just found this out today, and I have work tonight, so I wasn't able to go. So, we'll see how it goes. Since this got moved it means that I have to readjust my work schedule, fly back from Rosebud to get to class on time, and Mondays will be straight 10:00-9:00 class.

However, if I can get through Mondays, then that means I don't have any classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and my archaeology class doesn't meet on Fridays. So things should go pretty smooth the rest of the week. But Mondays may kill me.

I'm also really excited about my job this year. I'm working as a computer lab attendant in the GAC lab, and I'm really glad to actually have a good school job this semester. Also, we plan to hit the ground running with our work in the Woodruff St. neighborhood here in Searcy on Wednesday and get our Bible study rolling. All my friends are awesome here and I'm very excited about everything this semester.

Hopefully, Senior year will be my best year at Harding. It was difficult to leave everyone in Huntsville and it was also hard to leave Kingsport. I wasn't crazy excited about this year. But, God is a great God and he is always faithful and there is always a new and exciting event up ahead. I hope this year that God will be glorified in everything and I can share his blessings with those around me.

Summer of 2008

I used to watch things like VH1 Behind the Music and hear them talk about how there was never a summer like the summer of 1968, or the summer of love or other shows that would mention the summer of (insert year). And I used to wonder what it would be like to refer to a summer in my own life as the summer of whatever and look back at with nostalgia.

In reality, looking back, God has blessed me with multiple summers that fit that description. The summer of '05 was a magical summer after I graduated, where I didn't have a job, but lived quite well on graduation money, and hung out with friends playing disc golf and video games till 4 in the morning every night. The summer of '04 had me going straight from the most impacting IMPACT of my life to Honors Symposium to our mission trip at LIFT. The summer of '06 was incredible with my first internship at Central COC. Last year was equally incredible.

This year, the summer of '08 is only halfway over, and it may already be the most phenomenal summer of my life. I have been so happy these past several weeks and God has blessed me with so much. I feel like I'm going to tell my grandkids about the summer of '08. Here I am, 21 years old and in the prime of life, in the exact place that God wants me to be this summer, and just getting a chance to soak everything in. Here are some things just off the top of my head in no particular order:

• I am getting the chance to do some REAL REAL ministry here. God has blessed a lot of relationships here to allow for some deep discussion and his Spirit is really alive and active in this place.
• IMPACT was amazing this year! We had 15 Junior High students decide to get baptized and the theme of "Day of Reckoning" really got us as a group to look at things with an eternal lens. It was such a blessing to go on that journey with our teens.
• The weather has been beautiful this summer. Maybe global warming has just made me more used to heat, but the temperature has been very comfortable and almost every day as I go over the mountain from church to Hampton Cove I see beautiful sunsets, clouds, sky, trees. I don't know if I've just been in a very Emerson/Thoreau mood lately, but I am just in love with nature right now. The day I got back from Impact I went hiking for 4 hours on this awesome trail where I didn't see anyone the entire time. It was awesome!
  
• The new Coldplay cd is amazing!!! Every song is awesome. You can tell that they just wanted to get very creative instrumentally and lyrically and try a bunch of new things. It reminds me of when the Beatles realized they were so good that they could just go crazy and wild and got creative with Sgt. Pepper's and The White Album.
  
• The Boston Celtics just won the championship in a very fun season of the NBA, capped off by an old school Lakers/Celtics series. I used to always watch the old 80's Lakers Celtics series flashbacks on ESPN with Magic and Bird and always wish I could see one in my own lifetime. Plus I'm really glad that KG and Pierce finally got a championship.
  
• My boy Obama is the nominee, and I'm getting to watch the beginnings of a great debate between McCain and him. I have a lot of respect for both candidates and it is so refreshing to see two solid and honest candidates have a real debate on the issues. I feel so excited and un-cynical about politics right now, and I just have so much hope for things. Of course, that could all go down the tube, but it's nice every once in a while to throw cynicism down and just believe and hope for a change.
  
• Wall-E is probably my favorite movie of the summer so far! It was so smart and funny and had a lot of great messages (My favorite quote: "I'm tired of surviving. I want to live!"). Get Smart was ok and Price Caspian was pretty good. Everything else that I was excited about got bad reviews, but I can't wait for the Dark Knight!
  
• I am getting to share this summer with 3 other fantastic interns, and 3 great Youth Ministers. It is so great to come to work each day with people you love and enjoy. I have laughed so much and had so much fun with Barrie, April and Heath. And they've been a great support and encouragement to me as well. They've helped me out so much and have even been a shoulder to cry on at times. I have idealistic hopes that this isn't the end of our ministry together. I could honestly see Heath and I doing mission work together or something crazy like that.
• There have been some times when I've felt physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted, burdened, and poured out. But I have been continually filled and renewed by the Spirit. It has been great to continue my maturation and walk in Christ and feel the closeness I was hoping for last semester. I hope and pray that I can continue this closeness into the next school year.
• This past Wednesday our theme was Broadcast Generosity and so this week we're getting our community and serving. One group is going under bridges and feeding the homeless, my group painted at a Rescue Mission, and others are doing a lot of other cool things. It's cool getting to see God working here in the same way I've seen him work in Searcy and elsewhere.
• I just love my kids here! I feel like I have so many little brothers and sisters and I see God working in them so much.

Anyways, I'm tired and I've been rambling a lot this post. Basically, this has been a wonderful summer so far. I just want to write a song about it or something, but a blog post will have to do for now. Don't you just love summers?

Living World Religions Field Trip-Day Two

Today was incredible, but exhausting. So I'm going to have to brief in my explanations of the day, so I can go to sleep, because we have another big day tomorrow.

We headed out for the Hindu Temple at 8:15 this morning. On the way I had one of my most profound religious moments of the trip when I saw Texas Stadium, home of my Dallas Cowboys, for the first time in my life. I almost cried it was so glorious, though a little ugly.

The Hindu Temple was fascinating. We looked at all their statues to Vishnu, Ganesh, and many other gods and watched an offering to one of the gods. Then we listened to some explanations of Hinduism from some of the members of the temple. One of my favorite quotes from them was, "Once you learn to treat every person like there is a part of God in each of them, then you really don't need much religion after that." We also examined many of their saints and enjoyed some conversation with them.

From there we headed to the mall's food court for lunch and then headed to a Zen meditation center. This turned out to be just a regular house that they happened to put a bunch of mats in the living room. There we learned about meditation and how to properly perform it. Then we practiced for about 7 minutes. The basic tenants of Zen are pretty cool. They teach about being in the moment and being conscious and aware of everything you do. They gave the example of how we wash the dishes so we can then put them up and then move on to another chore so that we can do something else, while all the while our mind is elsewhere. They said that under Zen you wash the dishes simply to wash the dishes and are in the moment and just thinking about washing the dishes. During meditation we were just supposed to be semi-focused on the wall and try to clear our mind. Our guide told us it was impossible just to force yourself to stop thinking, so she gave us the metaphor of us being a mountain and thoughts are just clouds passing by that mountain. We were just to realize that those thoughts would just pass us by and we didn't have to force them away. Our guide gave us the option of just counting to ten over and over in our heads or saying a spiritual word over and over (I just kept repeating "Jesus") It was a neat experience, though difficult for me because I have bad posture. After that we did walking meditation, which was basically the same thing except you are walking around, and trying to just focus on taking one step at a time. This was a lot easier for me to concentrate on and I really enjoyed it (although it did last a little long and we were just doing circles in the backyard).

Meditation is a spiritual discipline that we Christians tend to neglect, but is however a very important one. Although Foster's Celebration of Disciplines discusses how Christian meditation is different from eastern meditations that try to empty the mind, while we try to empty ourselves but fill ourselves with Christ. I also liked the aspect of Zen where you simply try to stay in the moment and devote yourself to the here and now. Paul says "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5) and 'whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17).

From there we went to a Bhuddist Soka Gakkai center. There we listened to the recitation of their chants which was really cool. It was weird because the members were mostly white hippies, and their beliefs were a lot different from traditional Bhuddism. I liked that they were really into world peace and ending suffering around the world. But they were basically a self-help group that believed by chanting the phrase "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" you could release the power within to reach a higher consciousness. The leader seemed to not have a lot of depth in his faith and kept saying we were asking "really tough questions" even though they weren't that tough. I was more interested in talking to the Japanese immigrants who were sitting behind us who were beautiful singers (chanters?) and really cool ladies.

Then we headed to a Sikh temple. We took off our shoes and sat down and listened to a long lecture on Sikhism, before enjoying some of the Sikh's hospitality and food. I love Indian type food, and this stuff was great (and full of curry....yum!). Then we listened to another lecture, but also got to listen to hymns and ceremonies and prayers to their holy book. Coleman even got to fan the book, which was hilarious. Then we watched as they put the book to bed and tucked it in as they said, "Goodnight teacher, we will see what you have to teach us tomorrow." Then the Sikh's served us even more dinner and we got to talk and meet a lot of cool people at the temple, who were super nice (definitely my favorite people of the day).

We then went back to the hotel and had some great worship time to God, and had some time to process everything we had seen today.

So yeah, I'm exhausted and a little overwhelmed with everything I've seen today. I need some more time before I can actually process everything I've seen. But, I'm going to bed for now. God bless!

Living World Religions Field Trip-Day 1

I'm currently sitting in a hotel here in Dallas, Texas on our Living World Religions field trip. Being on a charter bus turned a 6 hour drive into a 7 1/2 hour drive, but it was all good. Today is just a get there day and then we start our religion-ing tomorrow. We're going to a Hindu, Sokko Gakkai (a form of Bhuddism) temple, a Zen Temple, and a Siek temple tomorrow. It should be lots of fun.

I'll try to keep you all updated. I'm exhausted tonight, and there's not really anything left to write about. Lata.

I'm A Sell Out.....

So, I guess I didn't get the memo that the writer's strike was over. I looked and I saw that I had only one post in the month of March.......lame.....I'll try to do better in April. It's been a crazy month with tons of stuff going on, papers, tests, midterms, sermons, and just not really in the mood to write any more than I had to for school. Oh well. Anyways, on to the real post.

So, I was filling out my Bible scholarship yesterday and the blank came up for Religion. For these things I usually just put "Christian." I say that on facebook or when people ask me at jail or anywhere else. I've always attended a Church of Christ, but that's not my religion and I don't really have any allegiance to that denomination. My religion and allegiance are to Jesus and that's all. In fact, a few of us are thinking about visiting the Episcopal church in our neighborhood we've been working with, because a lot of the people that we've met there attend it and it's more involved in that community.

However, I've heard rumors around that we don't give as much out in scholarship money for people who don't put "Church of Christ" in the religion blank. I'm pretty sure this is not true and is just a rumor.....but I did not want to take that chance. So, after thinking about it for 5 seconds I slapped the "Church of Christ" tag on there and turned the form in.

I guess I could just say that I meant Church of Christ in the broad universal sense of the Church of Jesus Christ throughout the past 2000 years.......but I didn't. I wanted to make sure I got every dollar I could possibly get and so I sold myself out. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of a lot of aspects of my Church of Christ heritage, and I imagine the Church of Christ will be an important part of my future. But, I'm more proud of my savior Jesus Christ and want to be known only as a follower of Christ, not a follower of any particular denomination (although it may claim to be non-denominational).

So I feel a little guilty today. I know I'm being pretty dramatic about this, and it isn't really that big of a deal. I know I didn't really "sell out" my religion or back down to the "man" or anything. I just feel that I wasn't totally honest with where the center of my life and religion is. I just hope that next time someone asks me my religion I can faithfully say, "I follow Jesus Christ" and that's it.