So Much for the Prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize

I was horrified this morning when I went to check my email and saw the headline that Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I'll be the first to admit that I have a very low opinion of the man. But seriously, putting that aside, I still cannot believe that anyone really thinks that he is deserving of this prize.

The President was nominated for this award 10 days after he took the office of President. Clearly, he had not even had the opportunity to have done anything to merit such an honor. He makes eloquent speeches about how he wants the world to change, how he wants the world to hope. Give me a break! These speeches are written FOR him not BY him. Apart from giving speeches he has not actually DONE anything to promote peace. In his will Alfred Nobel stipulated that the Peace Prize should go, "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses." The key here is action...past action...not future action. Obama may have lofty goals, but he has yet to do anything concrete to promote world peace.

I suppose that part of what makes this so disgusting to me is that there have been previous recipients of the award who I truly admire. One such person is Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar. She has dedicated her life to bringing democracy to her nation at great cost to herself. She has spent much of her life in deplorable prison conditions and under house arrest. She has faced government sponsored mob attacks-and for what-to see her people free from the military junta that oppresses them. So forgive me, if I just cannot even fathom how anyone can put President Obama and someone like Aung San Suu Kyi in the same category. It is an insult to people like her, who truly deserved such an honor. If the President has any respect for what the Nobel Peace prize stands for he will respectfully turn down the honor.

Oh the Stupidity!

Here goes, I'm going to make a confession: I like to read Perez Hilton's website. I share this because I just saw the t-shirts he has "designed" in support of nationalized health care. Seeing this, I thought I would take a look at the comments people had posted in response. I was overwhelmed by the number of people who call health care a right to which all people are entitled. Excuse me, but this concept of health care as a right is just moronic. I have a hard time fathoming why people don't understand the concept of earning things through hard work.

I have read and heard many comments where people say that not wanting our tax dollars to go to a government run health care program is selfish. Well forgive me, but I don't see how illegal immigrants who don't pay taxes have any right to health care funded by hard working people. Nor do I see how a whole class of society who sits on their butts deserve to be taken care of. Many of the people I know who are opposed to government run health care are some of the most generous people I know when it comes to donating money to charity. But the key to this is that they donate to charities of their own choosing. The government is trying to take this choice away buy forcing hardworking people into donating to the charity of the welfare class. If only we could return to being a democratic nation with a free market economy as opposed to continuing down the road of socialism that we are on.

What's Coming Up

Let's be honest-I suck at this whole blogging thing. I haven't posted an entry in months. I guess this is largely due to the fact that I haven't had much to write about. I graduated in May with my Master's degree. Since then I've moved home and been on the job hunt. For the most part, I spend my time running errands and doing work around the house. Between the flower beds, the garage and cleaning out closets, I've stayed pretty busy. However, I'm certainly enjoying being done with school. As much as I loved my classes, can anyone really say that they miss writing 15 page papers? But, I'm ready for more than menial house work. I am longing to be overseas and making a difference in the world. So, come the middle of September I'm going to be taking an ESL certification course in St. Louis. After that I will be searching for a position teaching English overseas. My hope is that within a few months I will have found a teaching position and will be headed for some far away land.

At What Point...

After President Obama's decision today to repeal the Bush administration's restrictions on federal funding for research that involves the destruction of human embryos, I think we as Christians need to ask ourselves, "At what point..."

At what point to we say that enough is enough. Our political leaders can say all they want that our government has separation of Church and State. However, many of our basic laws are based on morals which stem from religious view points. Anyone heard of a little commandment that says "thou shalt not murder"? How about "thou shalt not steal"? Both of these are examples of religious morality being used to dictate laws which are used in our country, the United States of America. So, why should we stop there. Should we not protect life. If I'm not mistaken doesn't our nations Declaration of Independence speak of the right to life? I understand that the issue of when life actually begins is hotly debated. For me there is no debate, once the egg and sperm have fully joined together there is life, end of story. President Bush's administration recognized the sanctity of life and put measures in place to protect it. I think we all knew that President Obama did not and clearly does not have any regard for human life. Today he placed his cards on the table. In truth I'm disgusted by the fact that he has the nerve to say that the views of those who oppose this action must be respected. He has done the exact opposite. In essence he has said, "I know that you disagree with me, but I'm the President and this is what I want to do." Where exactly is the respect in that.

So I ask: at what point to we have to stop using just our voices or our blogs or our vote and really do something that the government will take notice of. If they are going to use our tax dollars to fund the destruction of human life, I think it may be time to stop paying taxes. Imagine what could happen if every United States citizen who pays taxes and believes in the sanctity of life said, "Enough!" What a statement that would make.

Forgive me for the rant. I am so ashamed to call this man President Obama. To have a man who would willing destroy life as the foremost representative of our nation is atrocious. He is however our President and so I will continue to pray for him, and that he will come to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. I will also pray that God will give him wisdom and reveal to him the error of his ways. I ask you to pray with me...and consider...at what point do we say enough?

Africa Here I Come

Looking at the calendar, its hard to believe that I will be graduating from seminary in 2 1/2 months. In so many ways it feels like I just got here. While I am looking forward to graduating and being done with homework (hurray!!!), I can't help think about what brought me here. God has given me an undeniable passion for international missions. I still feel this calling profoundly, but it has been several years since I have been to a place where people have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of this is to say that I am so excited about a trip I'm going on over Spring Break. I will be going with a team from school to West Africa. While there we will be going into a village and doing Chronological Bible Storying. There are so many reasons I'm excited about this trip. For starters it is such a privilege to be able to share the story of Jesus with people, especially for the first time! I'm also excited about to be on the mission field again and remembering what it was that inspired me to come to seminary.

If you read this, keep me and my team members in your prayers as we prepare and go on this trip. We are leaving on March 27th and return on April 4th.

Thoughts on the Election.

This evening I've been sitting here watching as the election results come in. As I watch and the hope for my presidential candidate of choice wain, I wonder why. There is a part of me that doesn't understand how people can be so blind to the truth. But the more I think on it, the more I arrive at an answer. The Bible is clear that the Enemy keeps people in darkness. He blinds them to the truth. I'm not under any delusions that John McCain is somehow the best candidate America could possibly have. Rather, I think he is the better option of two evils. However, this got me to thinking about a sermon I heard in 2006. John MacArthur spoke in chapel at the school I attend. The point of his message was that God may be turning America over to her depraved mind. As I look at the continual slip farther and farther into immorality, accepting it as the norm, I'm beginning to think that MacArthur may be correct.

Regardless of tonight's outcome, I know that God is sovereign and in complete control. I by no means understand what God is doing, but ultimately, my trust is in Him, not in the United States and certainly not in its government.

Slumber No More

Well,
It has been a while since I've been on here. Its been over two months since my dad past away. I kind of feel like I've been just floating through life doing the things I had to, but other than that, nothing much else. Its amazing how when someone close to you passes away it feels like your world has been put on hold...the only problem is that everything else continues on around you. So you put up this wall of numbness and go on as if nothing has changed. And then you have that moment, where you just break. For me the facade came down at the most inconvenient of times. I was sitting in class! Anyway, the class in which I had my meltdown was my Spiritual Warfare class (which I'm super excited about by the way). For that class we were required to do a two hour prayer retreat. Between the prayer retreat and some exciting prospects in my ministry at church I feel like my wall is coming down. It feel almost as though I've been asleep for an extended period of time and now God is reviving me and filling me with this joy and hope that I've been missing. For those of you who don't know what this joy and hope is I'm talking about it is purely the joy of my salvation in Jesus Christ. I rejoice in the precious blood that Jesus willing shed on my behalf and yours. It is this that spurs me on.

Today in chapel the message was about John 3:16. This verse is so well known, but what a wonderful reminder that we all need sometimes--For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life!!!

Praise God