Saturday, October 20, 2007

Today, I am weary.

I am weary of fighting the fight. I'm weary of being a good will ambassador in a world that I am an alien in. I'm weary of expressing love while being reviled. I am weary of teaching my children sound principles of life, while they choose to act from their base nature. I'm weary of always extending grace, when I'd like to see some change instead. I'm weary of being misunderstood when I'm doing my best to understand and to clearly express what is deepest in my spirit. I'm weary of being the negotiator - trying to reconcile different worlds - when it seems that neither wants to be reconciled. I'm weary of trying to justify truth to those who only want "truth" that is subjugated to their opinion or whim.

It does not mean that I've quit. It doesn't mean that I've given up. it doesn't mean that tomorrow won't be different. It doesn't mean that joy, love and peace won't flood my soul to renew and revitalize me. It means that today, I'm weary.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Why I Get Paid II

I get paid to prevent what happened for most of you looking at the below web site.

1. You saw the picture.
2. Your eye didn't come to rest easily (other than possibly on the picture).

Though I don't know a lot about this site, I know I won't be going back. Why? It's not the writing. Honestly I didn't really read anything. So why? *BECAUSE* I didn't really read anything. I never found the focus, the main point for being there. I'm sure I wasn't alone.

The picture is a useless construct unless it's a celebrity and there's an associated story (for the most part). I personally have no idea what the headline was associated with the picture.

Web sites need to be designed so that you can easily identify your purpose for being there - and perform that purpose. This site isn't. It's a bad design. And that's the reason why I get paid - so that your site won't look like this one.

Class dismissed.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Why I Get Paid

Nope. This isn't going to be a long rant. I'm not providing a tutorial. Just a picture. And a question. (yes, I purposely used a period and I capitalized And at the beginning of a sentence).

First, the picture. (best if you view it full size)


Now the question (2 really)
1. Where did your eye rest? (or did it?)
2. If it did come to rest, where did it?

Thank you very much. Class dismissed.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Missing the Forest for the Trees - Language and Subject matter Not Suitable for Children

I just had this conversation with someone whom I dearly love. It's hard to have this type of disagreement.

Response from earlier comment...

People sin because they're longing for something missing. That something is God. The AFA group has no love, just the ability to be constantly offended. If you're offended that gay guys blew each other in public, fine, but your outrage won't draw them to Jesus. Love will and always does. I don't see a Jesus offended by sin. I see a Jesus who loves people right where they are. AFA wants to purify sinners before they're saved so that they don't have to experience anything naughty. Christians need to be willing to walk into sin, ignore it and love people all the way to Jesus. He can change people. We can't.

My response

I agree with most everything you said except one *small* piece. I do think your assessment of the AFA wanting to clean people up first is pretty accurate. Of course, I still think that you're jumping ahead to the AFA before acknowledging that there was a huge event with some pretty offensive behavior and the mainstream media just gave it a total pass - which as I recall was my primary point.

OK. 2 small pieces... 1st is more my opinion
Regarding outrage due to inappropriate public behavior - I would think that it shouldn't make a difference if you're a Christian or not for people to to agree that public blow jobs (gay, straight or any other way) are not socially acceptable behavior. I can't tell you the outrage I would feel if I saw someone behaving like that in public in front of any of my four young girls - and my willingness to take them to task verbally and/or physically and/or legally for such base, crude and objectionable behavior.

That being said... 2nd... my actual point of disagreement:

"I don't see a Jesus offended by sin." Really? Jesus is holy. He is completely offended by sin. He died on a cross to save us from that sin. Jesus HATES sin. Yes, he loves the people where they are ("while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"). And yes, he purifies us. But I think scripturally, he's quite offended by sin.

Now, my complete editorial...

You've been pretty vitriolic in your attack on the AFA. While I agree with you that they aren't a perfect organization and I've mentioned that I've expressed that to them - you're so busy attacking them that you're excusing the outrageous behavior that just took place because "the AFA is mean." Well, the AFA may be mean. They may be legalistic. They may miss the mark - just like all of us that need a savior do. But at least they are trying to be a conscientious voice encouraging other sinners saved by grace (otherwise known as Christians) to speak up for the gospel and all that "gospel" means. That's pretty different than the group at Folsom Street that was encouraging people to come out and put on display their primarily promiscuous and masochistic sexual lifestyle.

Just my .02


Like I said, I love this person dearly. It was hard for me to have this conversation because I really do respect the person. We have had many great and intellectually and spiritually stimulating conversations. The person is right about Jesus waking in and loving people where they are. The person is right about "Christians" always trying to clean up people's naughty behavior. The person is right that LOVE is what draws us to the Lord. But I think that as much as part of what they were saying is right, the person was missing the real point of what I was saying (see previous post). And, I guess I just didn't want them to miss the forest for the trees.

Big Media Ignores Event - Why? NSFW - Controversial

Howdy,

I try not to forward stuff that I get, but this particular item got my notice and I thought it might be serious food for thought. For those of you that know I'm a Christian, you know that I'm all for loving people and sharing the good news of the Gospel with them. I think that we need to show what we believe WAY more than talk it. However, when said people show disregard for common decency as they did at Folsom Street (you can read the descriptions) - then we need to say it's wrong. Say what you will about people being able to live their lives, etc. - but this stuff goes way beyond. And it's not just a few people that were acting as such, there were 400,000 people involved.

What I found to be more disturbing was that the mainstream media didn't cover this event. There was no news of this disorderly conduct anywhere to be found. I wonder why that is? I mean, this isn't Burning Man folks (for those of you that don't know what Burning Man is - don't worry), this isn't out in a desert, isolated from the general populace event. It took place right IN San Francisco. Why weren't the people involved - or the organizers - called to be accountable for this behavior?

Last note. You may or may not agree with the organization that sent out the notice that found me. I can't say I always agree and I actually sent them an email recently for that very reason. On this news item though, there are plenty of included references, and if you're really adventurous you can do a search and find plenty more.

Don't just take my word for it, if you dare, follow the links to find out more. OH, and this is absolutely not safe for work viewing.

Click here to read an article by Kelly Boggs, editor of the Louisiana Baptist Message.

Click here for some pretty shocking photos from the Folsom Street Fair event. WARNING! These photos are EXTREMELY graphic and are provided only for verification purposes only.