Annoy The Media…Vote Republican

I am not a political person. I don’t care much for politics. I normally don’t like politicians. I normally don’t pay much attention to what is going on the political world. I am normally bored by anything political. I will never win an argument on why someone should win a certain office. And, I don’t know much about John McCain or Barack Obama.

BUT, I am sick and tired of the way the media has attacked Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter. They are trying to find every way possible, and every piece of dirt on Palin so that they can throw her as far under the bus as possible. Yes, Sarah Palin is a sinner. Her daughter is a sinner. John McCain is a sinner. And guess what? Barack Obama is a sinner. Joe Biden is a sinner. WE ALL HAVE DIRT! WE ALL SIN. WE ALL HAVE DONE THINGS WE ARE ASHAMED OF!. I’m sure that Sarah Palin would prefer her daughter wasn’t pregnant. But people make mistakes.

What frustrates me even more is how much coverage the media provides for people like Brittney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and others such as Brittney Spears’ sister who is pregnant. They make these people seem like the coolest people in the world. Here they are drugged up, drunk, partying hard, telling stories about their sex lives, having numerous kids outside of marriage, but yet the media glorifies the lives that they lead. But when the daughter of a potential president is pregnant, the media goes CRAZY. They have been relentless on their attack of Palin’s family and Palin’s history as governor. I wonder if Barack had a daughter who was pregnant outside of marriage if it would be made in to the same story that it is now. What do you think?

You don’t have to dig very deep to find sin in peoples lives. We are all fallen and unfortunately we have all done things we would be embarrassed about if others knew. Here’s some scripture for all of you haters out there.

John 8:7 “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

An offering made of lottery money

So, there is this story in the news today of a man who tried to donate $600,000 to his church in Florida. It was 10% of his recent lottery winnings. In an interesting turn of events, the church denied taking the money.

I tried to put myself in the shoes of a church pastor, and this seems like it’d be a difficult place to be. I think I’d end up taking the money. Don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not, but if the money could be used to further God’s kingdom, then what’s the problem. Pastor’s aren’t supposed to know who is giving what, where they got their money from, or anything else right? With that being said, I do understand why the church wouldn’t take an offering from lottery proceeds. To do that opens up a whole new can of worms. People might be saying things like, “Next up that church will be taking an offering from Jim Beam, Budweiser, and Playboy magazine.” However, I seriously doubt any of those institutions will be giving any of their profits to the church, but that won’t stop people from making that argument.

All of this brings up another question. Should pastors know who is giving what in the church?

Here is what I think. If you are a leader in the church, I think the pastor has a right to know what your giving record is. I think that is a good sign of the commitment level to ones church. But, for a pastor to know the giving records of everyone in the church, that could pose significant problems in the future. Mainly, that pastor could be inclined to treat others in a way more special than that of the rest of the congregation. Even if that pastor tries to shield himself from treating people differently, it’s bound to happen. I don’t even know people’s giving records, and I am prone to treating people differently. Yes, I know I am sinful. Unfortunately, I believe that if we all looked at each others giving records, there would be a lot of people embarrassed. I think we’d be embarrassed to see just HOW MUCH some people give, and HOW LITTLE some other people give. Especially when we line that up with the truth that Jesus gave HIS LIFE for us, and we can’t even manage to give 10% back to HIM. Now that’s embarrassing.

That’s all for now, I’m headed to the nearest gas station to pick up my Powerball ticket. (Don’t freak out Mama Dody (grandma) I’m just kidding.)

I’d love to know what some other people think about all of this!

**As far as a pastor looking or not looking at giving records, I have no scripture to prove a point either way. This isn’t absolute truth that I’m speaking. This is my opinion, and how I personally feel. Please understand I’m not trying to say what is right and what is wrong, but if you’re worried about your pastor viewing what you have given in the last year, chances are it’s because you’re not giving!! **

what happened joel osteen?

Looks like the chips haven’t been falling Joel Osteen’s way lately. Apparently his wife beat up somebody on an airplane. Well maybe she didn’t really do anything, but they are still getting sued.

Check this out:
According to court documents, Brown (the lady who was assaulted) claims that she suffers from anxiety and hemorrhoids because of the incident and said her faith was affected. She is also suing Osteen for medical expenses for counseling.

So the moral of the story is, don’t bump into someone on an airplane (especially if you have a lot of money) because you may give them hemorrhoids. The Osteens are being sued for 10% of their net worth. I’d say that’s at least a million if not more just for bumping into a flight attendant, and giving her a little elbow to the chest. Do you think good old Joel was still smiling as all of this happened?

Who names a company after a fruit?

If you pay attention to technology or even most of the internet news sites, you’ve seen the article about the new Apple iPhone. Now, I’ve only seen and messed around with one of these and it is rather awesome. It’s been dropped and still worked with a cracked screen. So, it’s definitely an impressive hand held machine phone music player GPS navigator e-mail sending piece of metal. 

Here’s the news, Apple dropped the price WAY down on these little phones. It’s now $200 cheaper. Hmm, maybe I’ll go get a iPhone now that it only costs $199.00. Ooopsss…nevermind. Check this out.

It’s really more expensive. Huh? What?

Yes, the new iPhone is cheaper but the monthly plan is more expensive. It’s $10/month more which equals $240 more over the life of the 2 year mandatory contract with AT&T. So the phone is cheaper, but the plan is more. It ends up being $40 more expensive if you compare the old phone and old plan to the new phone and new plan. Plus, the back of the phone is made of plastic now instead of aluminum. Typical for these big companies - not just apple. It really drives me crazy. Consumerism in general drives me crazy. I drive myself crazy.

I always think to myself - I want, I want, I want….other people (the media, magazines, movies, and commericals,) try to communicate to me - I need, I need, I need–you really need this - you’d be cooler if you had this - you’d fit in more - you’d be hip….blah blah blah blah blah

Companies always try to find ways to encourage us to buy the newest thing. Trouble is, you can never keep up. The computer I bought (a HP by the way) a few months ago is now out of date. For what I bought my 30gb iPod for a year ago, I can now buy 80gb (and it looks cooler and has this neat scrolling function). Sorry to all of those that spent $3,000 on an HDTV 2 years ago, and it’s now only $1,000 for an even better picture.

Chances are that I’ll never have an iPhone. Mainly b/c I have Verizon and you’ve got to have AT&T. I love my iPod and when it breaks (or when I drop it in a glass of water again) I will definitely get a new one, but not until it breaks. I can’t keep up, and I never will be able to keep up - but most importantly, it doesn’t make sense to try to keep up, because you never will. Something newer is bound to come. And it will be sooner rather than later.

ps - I’m not an Apple hater. I love technology and apple rocks. I wish I had more Mac stuff. Just didn’t want you to think that this “new’ iPhone is really “cheaper.”

 

Edit: I read this post today and it gives you a little more detailed explanation on some of this. It’s worth a read. Click HERE.

My Weekend House

As you may know, the midwest has been getting soaked with rain lately and the rivers and lakes have had about all they can take, creating some huge floods. One small town in Wisconsin was just about wiped out completely. I couldn’t imagine losing everything I own due to a flood, fire, tornado, or anything else, but hundreds of people have.

Check this out from msbnc.

The 267-acre lake emptied into the nearby Wisconsin River on Monday, washing out part of a highway, sweeping away three homes and tearing apart two others.

Don Kubenik, 68, burst into tears after seeing the 2,800-square-foot home he built in 2003 snapped into pieces when the lake’s embankment burst. The businessman from the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis said he spent every weekend there.

“That house had everything you can imagine and now it’s all gone,” said Kubenik, who was in West Allis when the lake overflowed. “My boat’s gone. The pier’s gone. Everything is gone.”

All I could say after reading this is WOW! I had a lot of different thoughts come through my mind (my first thought was, “well, at least you still have a house where you stay the other 5 days of the week and that’s better than the rest of your neighbors), but the main thought was this: When you die, you die! You don’t take anything with you. You leave EVERYTHING behind. 

You leave the balance of your 401k, your cars and trucks, your bank accounts, your boat, your guitars, your house (even your weekend house!), etc…etc…etc…

I have to admit I have a hard time finding a healthy balance in some areas of life and this is one. I am a natural saver (maybe even a hoarder). I do believe that my habits of saving are a Godly practice. But God has also called us to be cheerful givers. He doesn’t want money or posessions to be the god of our life. You can only serve ONE master.  I seem to always try to serve two. 

Most importantly, I always strive to be a good steward of what God has given me. I don’t want to waste the resources He’s provided. I believe that everything  I have comes from God - even the clothes on my body. It’s not mine - it’s His. One of my biggest goals is to have an eternal focus, and not a earthly focus.

This is not my home. Heaven is where I belong and I can’t take anything with me - not even my weekend house (which is the same as my monday through friday house)! Plus, there is more to life than just accumulating stuff! But that’s for another day.