Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving--I know I did. I know the Christmas season started two months ago, but I suppose late is better than never to start listening to Christmas music.
Here's a little something special to kick off the season!
A friend and I were reminiscing the other day about the sorry state of games with an explicit Christian target audience. And, since I consider game designing to be one of my bigger hobbies, I figured..."Hey, why not?" That could definitely bring in some extra income! After thinking about it for a bit, I realized it's not very fun to make any truly edifying games, and it certainly wouldn't be very profitable. I had way more fun making up some games that...well, I won't spoil the fun.
Now, I know what you're thinking. I'm going to put these on here, and you're going to come along and snatch up my game ideas! Well, it happened before (see here), and I'm ready for it this time. Chances are, by the time you read this, I'll be halfway back from the permit office, cackling all the way!
Now, without further ado, here are the most awesome 'Christian' games to never hit the market! Read them and bask in their awesomeness!
Cryptic Praise
Remember those days when the WWJD and FROG trinkets were cool? It was way sweet to walk around with an acronym that nobody knew tagged to your wrist/ankle/neck, and when they asked you, you got to boast your faith to the unsuspecting stranger! What fun! It's a shame that everybody knows what those mean nowadays...but with this game, you get the chance to wear fashionable phylacteries all over again! There are several dice with letters that are rolled into a grid (not unlike Boggle), and the players come up with some sly sayings with the letters in the grid! All the phrases are written down and voted on, and the winner gets to make a bracelet (with the companion "Cryptic Praise Craft Kit," of course)! First to make ten bracelets wins! Come out with such zingers as WYGMBSR (When You Get More Better; Sanctification Rocks!) or PLMSP (Please Let Me Say Prayers)! The possibilities are endless, as well as the fun of being smug about your covert holiness!
Prosperopoly (Tagline: "Get ahead without being left behind!")
Remember the parable about the servants and the talents? Well, that was really about how Jesus wants us to be rich and happy on Earth before we meet him in Heaven. What better way to be happy than to be richer than everyone you know? In this Monopoly-esque board game, each player is trying to amass a bigger fortune than his brotherly rivals. Sometimes it's a tough world out there, and 'liberties' need to be taken to make sure you can maximize your returns. Just draw a Sin Token and bend the rules to your liking--you can always earn back your salvation with good works (or a 10% donation between Park Place Ministries and the Boardwalk Church Campus)! But be careful to look for the end-times (Such as 'Rumor of Wars,' 'Euro Increases in Value,' and the dead giveaway, 'Popular National Leader Elected'). If the "Rapture" Card is drawn, and if you have even one Sin Token left, you're left behind, and lose immediately! The winner is the raptured player with the most capital!
Sinspotting - The DVD Game
This great family game now harnesses the latest technology to teach us how different we are from those who don't know Jesus! Players split into two teams and a randomly selected vignette is played on the DVD player. Teams have thirty seconds to identify as many sins as they can before time runs out--your team gets a point for every sin noticed that the other team failed to (Note: "Bad Acting," while prevalent, is not a sin). Points are amassed quickly, so the first to 153 (a very important Biblical number) wins the game! *UPDATE* Sinspotting now comes in a brand new "Travel Edition" you can take along with you next time you venture into the pagan populous! It includes sinpads, pencils, and a timer. Just point at a person or group of people near you, observe, and start condemning!
Battleground: Denomi-Nation
The Great Commission can be pretty difficult to accomplish at times, especially with so many other denominations out there trying to beat us to the punch, so why not play this game to feel as if you're converting the world?! Although it may seem somewhat similar to Risk, the stakes are ever so much higher! The board is a map of a generic city (you can name it whatever you like--name it the town you live in for your first game, but it can be somewhere more exotic, like "Seattle" or "London" if you're feeling more dangerous!) Each player takes a set of wooden colored cubes and a denomination card. Then the dark, sinner-colored cubes are placed randomly around the map. The players then take turns placing their faithful, converting sinner-cubes into their specific saint-color cubes. The game really takes off when each player utilizes their denomination's super-powers! Is your revenue dwindling with your church membership? Hold pageants and programs to lure in the other player's cubes to make them your own! Are the remaining sin-cubes in your area making your faithful feel unsafe? Play a "Cultural Suppression" card and push those difficult cubes into the other player's back yard! Worried about losing your denomination's tax-exempt status? Just succeed at a Get-Out-The-Vote dice roll and install local government leaders that agree with you, and watch the other denominations scurry! Who needs to be part of a body, when you can be the biggest, baddest ear around?! Of course, Battleground:Denomi-Nation will have future expansion packs, granting in-depth abilities to the denominations, and allowing you to create your own! Who can stand against an army of faithful saints when they have "Contemporary Worship," "Political Connections," and "Works-Based Theology" on their side!?
Coming soon to a Christian Book store near you!
I've been getting into a lot more reading nowadays than I have been in the past couple of years. And while I'm ahead, I'm trying to read through books one at a time, in the order that I receive them. It sounds like a small nit-picky thing, and it kinda is, but I want to hold out on some semblance of structure for this quasi-leisure activity as long as I can.
Before I left Kansas, a good friend gave me the book "Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Facing Crossroads" by O.D. (eye doctor slang for "Mr.") Phillip Adams. I've read some good books in my time, and this book... was not one of them. It did, however, lead to some constructive thought which I'll try to explain further down.
However let me first rant about the things that bugged me. It'll make me feel better. There were two big things that bugged me about the book.
Primarily, and most obviously, the writing style was pretty poor. I will admit that I was given a fair warning beforehand about it, and the warning proved reliable even in the first few pages of the book. The good doctor is much better at rambling than at writing. It's definitely hard sometimes to follow authors when they try to explain complicated concepts, but this guy was all over the place. I could go into detail (I actually did, but deleted it on review), but since he's an optical doctor and not a literature doctor, I'll cut it short. I will say that I finally figured out what the book was about on page 129. It was about motivating Christians to run hard after Christ. Go figure.
I don't think it was just the literary shortcomings that prevented me from grasping the book's thesis, though. The doctor and I also have some theological differences, which made it pretty hard to translate at times. I wish Christians (specifically me) weren't hindered by how other Christians understand God, but then again we are all quite incapable of understanding a limitless God with our limited minds. Unfortunately for me, I get pretty passionate about my perceptions of God's sovereignty as well as His grace. O.D. Adams talks about 'kairos moments', which represents points of time where we turn closer or further away from God. At first, I thought he was doing a pretty good job of trying to explain God's omniscience in light of free will, but the more he talked about 'kairos moments,' the more convoluted (if not contradictory) the concept became, and the more frustrated I got. I also had a really hard time understanding that telling one or two lies doesn't make one a 'liar' (I can see it now..."But your honor, I only stole a car once! I don't normally do that--I'm not a thief!").
I'll also say I found the last chapter to be a bit...unusual. This chapter was subtitled "The Post Rapture Chapter," with the target audience being the unfortunate 'left behind' humans made commonly known from the Tim LaHaye novels (see Premillennialism). My thoughts on this: I don't believe in the 'final judgement' being two final judgements, but if I did, I could think of better books the 'left behind' should bother themselves with instead of this one. The first would most certainly be a Bible. The second should probably be a wilderness survival guide... or maybe they should just skip that one too and be the first to break into their conservative Christian neighbor's house and raid the gun closet.
Okay, I had more negative stuff to say, but I don't think it would do any good. I'm not here to totally destroy this guy's effort. As I said earlier, the point of the book was to turn the eyes of Christians evermore to God. And that, by far, is an awesome goal (I'll even encourage Dr. Adams to write another book about it, seriously). I just disagree with the motivation. What I did agree with (and definitely like) about the book was his ninth chapter, "The Rewards." Regardless of our crude concepts about the totality of God, I think we can agree that a relationship with the God of everything is possible, and absolutely the best thing ever. Nothing compares with understanding that there is a God, that He is good and just, that He wants you to know who He is, and that He loves you so much He would die for you (He did). Sometimes (as in daily, if not hourly), us Christians take that for granted. I'm sure if we didn't, we'd all act a heck of a lot more like Jesus. But we get so self-absorbed, we don't always get it--and still God pursues us, like a man pursues the one he loves. No words, no matter how skillful, could capture the 'amazing-ness' of this reality.
As for Dr. Adams, I may not like his book, but I like his earnest passion for God, and I can definitely be encouraged by that.
Still haven't figured out how to put the little dash above the e, but I finished the resume (kind of an oxymoron). I didn't think it would take that long, but I'm generally satisfied. Now, all I have to do is get it checked, returned, rewrite it, find the 'sweet' jobs, send them out, talk nice to jerks, do some interviews, bargain for salary and benefits, and I'm in. It's like I'm practically there! Huzzah!
Now that I've been in Georgia about twelve days or so, I've been reflecting a bit on how I lived for the past three years in Kansas. It's pretty interesting, musing over the things that occurred, the people I met, and my responses to both.
If you get some time to read, consider reading this piece titled "U-Haul Theology," the cover story for the Fall 2008 ByFaith Magazine. In it, the author, Jim Hatch, talks about why moving is so painful and downright annoying. It's pretty good, and it's probably what preempted this post.
So... Kansas. I pause before I write here, because two things immediately come to mind: 1) Those three years marked some of the roughest times in my life, and 2) My responses and reactions to those times were not kind (to say the least), and I feel pretty disappointed in what my responses were. A lot of what went on there also had to do a lot with the Army, but for the sake of fairness, I think I'm going to split those into two different stories, and this one is for Kansas.
Okay... well, let me start by saying this: I've generally considered myself to be more prepared to move into different environments and cultures, as I've lived in about sixteen different places since I was born. I went to three different high schools, and the longest I've been anywhere in my life was at college (4 1/2 years), and that's where I generally consider to be my hometown. I could have never been more wrong in my assumption, actually. Moving to another location is always tough, and getting used to new cultures, with different societal beliefs, values, and norms, is pretty tricky. And looking back, I was certainly unprepared.
The majority of what I saw in Kansas relied on a few distinct changes from my comfort zone. The first which caught me was the geographical differences. Some spots of Kansas are absolutely beautiful, with gorgeous rolling hills and waving grass, and what my father-in-law calls the 'Missouri Breaks' (because of the movie with the same name). Trees, however, were few and far in between. It's also not recommended driving at sunrise and sundown, because of two big reasons: One, there's nothing to stop the sun from completely blinding you if you drive east or west, and two, half of the roads there run east-west.
And while I'm at it, people give directions completely different there! From what I've been accustomed to, directions are given by landmarks ("Do you know where the Quickie Mart is on that road? Well go two lights past it, take a right, and continue until the road forks, stay left, and you're looking for your third road on the left!"), and in Kansas, they're given as the crow flies ("So from here, head three blocks west, continue north until you get to the split, and from there head northeast for three block before turning north again!"). Make sure you bring a compass!
The second big thing was living in a college town. I've been to Athens (home of the UGA Bulldogs) on occasion, and I've seen some wild things done with red and black, but it doesn't come close to the amount of purple splayed on everything! Purple mailboxes, massive house murals, curb signs, dump trucks, polos... if you're not secure with purple, it can certainly be an adjustment! A lot of what happened in that town seemed to circle around college football and Army, neither of which I was really into at the time.
Thirdly, which I hesitate to talk about, was the difference in the church culture I was used to. I still can't really put my finger on what the exact difference was, but it was just slightly so that I felt uncomfortable most of the time in most of the churches I went to (I think six in all).
I think bouncing from church to church was one of the hardest things for me, as I was really needing to find a place to 'fit,' after not finding it in the Army nor in the college town, and it really drained a lot out of me to invest a bit, and then decide it was best to move on. And I think the more churches I went to, the more bitter and cynical I became in expecting to find what I was looking for.
What was I looking for? At the time, I probably would have said grace, or correct theology, or something sounding holy and just, but on recollection, I think I was really looking for Georgia in Kansas, and that's probably why I had such a hard time. I was expecting others to fit my culture, instead of learning where I was at, and adapting to it.
The power of Christ's love present in His Church is certainly amazing. It has the power to take down our walls and prejudices, and form bonds that are so much more significant and powerful than anything the world can concoct. I know this because I met some godly people there who were able to break through to me in all of that mess that I put up.
I would have so liked to say that my faith pulled me through those rough times, but it wasn't so. Like mentioned earlier, it's the object of our faith that saves us, not the quality or quantity of our faith. It's amazing how God gets to us, even after that first moment we realize that we've been reconciled to Him. He certainly is faithful, and I think without meeting the saints of Kansas in the predicament I was in, I would've missed out on one of the more significant lessons I've learned yet, the one that taught me I'm still a sinner, still desperately in need of Christ after all these years. And that won't change. There won't be a day in my life that I'll be good enough to not have to rely on God for my inherent shortcomings, of which there are many. And that God relentlessly pursues us, and absolutely nothing will keep Him from whom He loves. Not even themselves.
Well, if you happen to be one of thems in Kansas... thanks. Thanks for everything. I don't think I would be here without you, and I mean it. I'm still surprised at how much of me you put up with, but you did! I'm not sure if my path will ever wind through Kansas again, or if you'll ever be down by my way, but if so, I look forward to that day. If it doesn't happen in this world, we'll certainly meet up in New Jerusalem! When you get there, just head three blocks west, continue north until you get to the split, and from there head northeast for three block before turning north again... ;)
Don't be strangers! I love you guys, for real. Peace and grace to you all.
I don't mean literal Hebrews, by the way--I mean the letter to the Hebrews, between the memo to Mr. Philemon and the note from James. I've not buried my nose as much into this book as I have others, but I've been reading it lately and have become increasingly intrigued.
The author seems to not mince any words about the gravity of our relationship with God. Contained within we receive several stern warnings about 'falling away' and what happens to those who continue to blatantly sin after accepting the gospel (hint: It's not cheerful news).
I seem to have this problem of fixating on the bad things, and these warnings are what I think about when I think of Hebrews. But there's a whole chunk of awesome assurance that comes with it. The warnings that I mentioned above are hedged on both sides by how amazing Christ is, and how encouraged we should be because of it--something you'll definitely miss if you take it out of context.
For example, take the entirety of Hebrews 10 (which you can read up on here). It's an absolute gem of theology. I'd love to post it all, but that seems to be a waste of time on both our parts, so I'll just make a few quick notes on what caught my eye today:
Heb 10.14 - Jesus paid it all, all at once. He doesn't need to do it again. This was for those sins you're committing right now, and for the ones tomorrow, and the day after that, and so on... they've all been paid for.
Heb 10.19-24 - This is the answer to "So What Now?" that Christ has paid our ransom. "Let us" shows up three times to tell us to: 1)Draw near to God now that we are purified (because we can!), 2)Be completely assured that this can never be undone (because God is faithful--He won't ever break His word or undo His work), and 3)Encourage each other to love and to do good works and to keep meeting together despite the difficulty/persecution.
Heb 10.26-31 - Here's the warning about what happens if we keep sinning blatantly and without regard to the sacrifice that Jesus made. Don't let it trip you up, it gets better later in the chapter. What I understand of this warning is this: once I've turned to Christ for forgiveness, I've got nowhere else to go. If I decide to turn away, I'll go with knowledge that no other sacrifice or penitent action can redeem me, and "a fearful expectation of judgement (v27)" will begin to creep in.
Heb 10.32-39 - This notes that the warning isn't for the reader presently, and recalls the good works and incredible actions that occurred from their hands that was spawned by the Holy Spirit and of their faith. It reassures them that they are indeed the elect, that Christ's sacrifice was for them, and they need not be discouraged at all, because they aren't the type to give up something so monumental and permanent, and they can look forward to Christ's return.
Have you ever really not liked a certain music group, but had to make an exception for a song or two because it was so good? No?
Okay...well as a rule I don't really like Derek Webb, and I really don't like his off-again/on-again group Caedemon's Call. But there's a song that hasn't left my head for a couple of days, and it's got nowhere to go but out...so what better place for it to go than here?
The music, in particular, isn't that good. I don't think you could call it 'good' music by any standard (unless you use the crappy Christian Rock metric where it's cool to do cover number 22 of "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord," where each rendition was poppier and more resampled than the last), but the lyrics are downright awesome, and I could probably listen to it two (or maybe, maybe three) times in a row.
On further thought, a lot of the lyrics of his songs are pretty good, and pretty solid in the theological sense. They definitely make me think (read: repent). So, kudos to you, Derek! Keep up the rock (or folk, I suppose)!
There are days I don't believe the words I say
Like a life that I'm not living
A song that I'm not singing but to you
There are times that I believe I'm satisfied
Like an intimate connection
Despite this bad reception with you
Because I can't afford to pay
For most of what I say
So it's a lucky thing
That the truth's public domain
Chorus
And I am like a mockingbird
I've got no new song to sing
And I am like an amplifier
I just tell you what I've heard
Oh, I'm like a mockingbird
And yes, it's true that I need this more than you
Like one whose name is many
Have mercy, please don't send me away
And I'll do all I can
To be a better man
Oh I'll clean up this act
And be worse than we started
Chorus
-Mockingbird, by Derek Webb
It's too easy to forget that our Christian faith requires us to be broken. Jesus spent his dinnertime with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors (Nicodemus the Pharisee came later in the evening, like at the post-dessert-coffee time, so that doesn't count). God consistently is seen as one who shames the proud, saves the weak, and makes the first last. Paul makes a point to talk about the metaphysical thorn in his side (I assume it's not literal, anyway... it could be!!) that perfects God's power in his thorn-induced weakness.
And yet I still find myself trying to pull up on me-good-ole bootstraps (definitely metaphysical) to get me in line with the spiritual Joneses, too concerned with myself to do anyone else any good. Ugh. Try keep doing that for a while and you'll most certainly find brokenness, but the bad thing is that you'll be so spun up on trying to do right that despair will be a closer friend than joy.
The only hope we have in reconciliation to God is through Jesus. Not trying to be spiritual giants, not trying to outperform our neighbors in humility. It's the object of our faith (Jesus!) that saves us, not the quality or quantity of our faith. That won't get you squat. It's just another form of legalism, really, because it's all about us, and not really about Him.
Luke 18.9-14. Read it!
The election has now come and gone... finally. Man, it seemed like a virtual eternity that this was going on.
I will say that I am absolutely excited at the history that just occurred. Last night was monumental for more than just me, and I'm glad I participated. America has just overwhelmingly elected its first black president. To see the tears and the joy from places across the nation last night was phenomenal. Not just black people, but all races and all ages jumping and yelling in celebration. To see many of the news commentators and special guests getting emotional. Last night was a big, big deal. It will be great to tell my kids the story of last night, and how mom and dad felt that they made a difference in a cold snowy night in Kansas in the Democratic caucuses, and voting early in the waning warmth in Kansas and Georgia.
I will also say that while Obama's speech was great and encouraging for the nation, I also felt a sense of honor from John McCain's speech last night as well. It was very inspiring to me, and in what seemed like ages ago, I remembered why I was so glad that McCain won the Republican primaries. Despite all the mud and the campaigning, I do respect him immensely, and upon reflection, I think that I wouldn't be too disappointed if he had indeed won (compared with, say Mitt Romney, or *shudder* Hillary Rodham Clinton). And after last night, I began to recall why I had voted Democratic this year. I can say that about four years ago, I was most certainly Republican, and now I've come full half circle.
So where did it begin? I guess I could say college. Even though I went to a solidly Republican college, there were some classes in particular that piqued my interest. I guess they don't call them "liberal arts" without reason (har har!). I remember my Intro to Sociology class (strangely enough, I wasn't a Christian when I started that semester, but I was when it ended... weird), and I remember that all of the military students in that class had serious problems with it. Maybe they didn't like the curriculum, or they didn't like the teacher or her feminist undertones (and I think she was a lesbian with 80% certainty due to some of the things she said/implied), or they just didn't like class in general. I don't know. But I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed the class, and I think I got a 'B' grade in the class (funny story, I got a 'C' on my initial final grades report, but sent a formal petition to the teacher, and she changed it, saying there was indeed a mistake, and that I was one of the better students she had). I don't think she liked the school either, because she didn't teach there after that semester.
I later tried to change my degree from computer science to sociology (it even says I earned a sociology degree on my Officer's Record Brief), but to no avail, seeing as Army had a say in the length of my educational pursuits. Not to mention that my dearest love was a sociology major. I loved listening to what she would learn in class, and how society had certain trends, and how certain events occurred just so, and how it was likely that certain things would happen depending on where people lived in society. I remember that one of her teachers invited the entire class out to the local mexican restaurant/bar for a drink and discussion about social theory construction, and he even invited me as well, and even paid for my beer. Although I was virtually lost in the sauce for the majority of the discussion, I was absolutely fascinated on what they were talking about (it was about a guy who wrote a book on why things acted the way they did. But the book wasn't really truly about that, it was a farce; a fake example to show how social theory construction happened... and some probably more important things I couldn't wrap my mind around).
I think the biggest push that started the momentum towards the political left was a book called Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. In short, it was a collection of thoughts and stories of being a Christian in a modern society. And it was very brutally honest. It was the first book I read where the author was truthful about the doubts and fears he had to struggle with, and was aware and freely discussed his own sins and shortcomings. The word I like to use for this is 'authentic.' One of the stories that almost brought me to tears was centered around Don and his friends building a "Confession Booth" at his hyper-liberal college, and dressing up as monks. When people would come in, expecting the Christians to hit them over the head with condemnation, in fact, the Christians took the time to confess their sins (and social sins/failures of the Christian church in modern and historical times) to those who entered. It was absolutely amazing, and a touching display of loving others. I think that book will be a cult classic for Christians of my generation. For me, it was a surprising look into a Christian that aligned himself Democratically. That, I think, caused the first real crack in the wall in understanding that Christians could indeed be on the other side of the spectrum, and that Democrats weren't all anti-Christian pagans and hippies that wanted to destroy our country and life as we know it.
Not all movement was an attraction to the blue side. Some of it was repulsion from the red side. Probably what had significant push was how I initially viewed all Christians when I wasn't one. To be more specific, I've heard a lot of people, some of who I still greatly respect as well as a few who have lost my respect (if you're reading this, you are most definitely in the former) express fear, outrage, and bitterness at the seemingly anti-Christian liberal, amoral, and hostile masses of the country. (As a quick note, I also have expressed similar feelings at the same, with no exceptions. I have no need to throw stones--I just want to express my remorse.) It seemed to exude an "Us vs. Them" mentality that didn't jive with what I understood of the world and the people that I met. I think it bothered me to such an extent, that I adopted the "Us vs. Them" against other Christians, and sadly didn't do the Church much good. (Please forgive me if you were recipient to my hypocrisy!) Regardless, feelings and mentalities along those veins have no place in our faith, and should have no place in our hearts.
The biggest barriers that resisted my change of political preference were of course the hot-button Christian issues that the Republicans adopted as their standard. To go against these seemed to run dangerously close to blasphemy with some people. I think I crossed allegiance in part to a need to rebel in some form or fashion against where I was at the time. I had some extreme difficulties in my job at Army, and I also was having difficulty finding a church where it wasn't anathema to vote Democratic (that's a slight hyperbole, and that's an oxymoron! English is fun!).
Some of the social issues were easy to deal with. My main line of thinking on these is the old axiom: "To each his own." To explain further, I really had big problems in my pre-Jesus life thinking that if Christians could have their way, they would, in a sense 'oppress' the rest that they could not save. Occasionally, I still hear that sentiment from time to time, and I still don't like that attitude. I will say that the only thing that has saved me, and changed my life was done in my heart, and that of course was by God. That is the change I seek to promote and cultivate in others. I've heard lots of thought out and good reasons why the above mentioned sentence is a horribly bad axiom to throw around, but for now, that's where I stand. It's very likely that will change in the future, but for now, there it lies. If I prevent someone from getting a homosexual marriage, but don't show them the reality of the gospel (bad and good), what progress have I made? What part of the Great Commission have I fulfilled?
Anywho, I'm getting off topic. The next big thing that changed my views was the YouTube Debates of 2008. My wife and I got a good taste of who we liked and disliked on both sides, and that's where I first learned about the junior Senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. I started doing my research, (and I might have even prayed a bit about it) and then the Iowa caucus happened. That was amazing what occurred back then.
The rest, as they say, was history.
So, in closing, that's why I turned blue. Politics for me has (thank God) become much more ancillary in my life nowadays, but I'm glad I participated in all of it. Please note that I could be horribly, horribly wrong about my assumptions, but the one thing I know, and the one thing I profess, is that Jesus is Lord, and that he is my only hope in all of this. There are many more vile and reprehensible sins I've committed, and to His glory, He has paid for them all! Not McCain, not Obama. What happened was cool, and historical in an American sense, but pales in comparison to what a homeless jew did for me long before I was born. That, dear friends, is what it is all about, and what should power our lives.
Peace and Grace to you all.
So I hope you vote today (or have already voted)! This seems like a big historical day, regardless of the outcome.
Also, for a fun challenge, say something nice about the guy you didn't vote for today. Go on, do it! You'll feel better, I promise! (Thanks for the idea, Jawan!)
Also for fun, you may have known that I'm a fan of Keith Olbermann. Sure, he's liberal. Sure, he's caustic. But, man, that guy is funny! Recently, Ben Affleck did a spoof of Olbermann on SNL, and it had my wife and I rolling on the floor with laughter! Maybe you won't get it if you don't watch him or like him...but on the off-chance you'll think it's funny, here's the video:
So I did finally make it to Georgia!! In a record for the books, I made the whole drive in a day, only stopping at a gas station for a 40-minute nap. I was pretty excited to get a move on, and every time I got tired, I thought about laying in a hotel bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking about how I could've been driving. Let me tell you, I don't think we as humans were made to drive 16+ hours in one go. Now that I've done it, I can say for sure that it shouldn't be done!!
I'm really surprised at how many people here that I remember from over three years ago. The bad part is that my memory has never been really good, so the names haven't all quite come back, but I'll just do what I normally do (every day) and try to talk to everyone without using their names, until there's a wear-a-nametag-to-church day. I'm really bad at remembering names. I couldn't remember my wife's name for nearly four months! (After I first met her! Not after we got married!)
Nevertheless, things are great here. I couldn't tell you how great it is to be reunited with my wife and dog after so long, and to realize that I'm no longer in Army's employ (for now). Still, with all of the 'newness' of this place, I'm finding that I'm still pretty scatterbrained, so there won't be any good postings for a short bit.
Just trust that God delivers on His promises!
