Hi

This is my second run at blogging. I had one a couple of years ago when we had the church plant, but I kind of let the weeds grow up around it. I seem to feel like I have some stuff to say; mostly it seems to be born of discontent...discontent with politics; with religion; with the church; with people--or least Americans. We're so busy hustling to succeed at The Dream that we've become incorrigibly too lazy to think for ourselves. We believe everything we see on TV, read in a magazine or hear on the radio--or God forbid we find it on the internet (I think I may have just suggested to you that I'm not to be trusted; screw it, work hard enough to figure it out for yourself). USE YOUR BRAIN!! Please.

Our country is run by lobbyists for insurance companies and oil companies and banks and pharmaceutical manufacturers and the list goes on. This is only possible because we allow it.

If you call yourself a Republican then at least know why. Are you rich and just trying to protect your money--no matter at whose expense? Are you a Christian and think it's your responsibility to God to support a particular party? Are you hawkish and want to see America fighting in constant wars?

If you call yourself a Democrat then at least know why. Are you so far left of center that only anarchy will ever truly satisfy you? Are you convinced that the government is ultimately responsible for taking care of all of us?

My guess is that most of us fall in between these extremes; but we've gotten lazy--or tired. Too tired to hold our government responsible for what's really important to us. Too tired to fight for ourselves, much less those less fortunate or able. Too tired to cry out against the demagogues who defile our airwaves and our minds with hatred and lies and horribly slanted points of view that represent only the smallest fraction of people in our world. Too tired to fight the greed that has corrupted our companies and our leaders.

Find a mirror, look at the person you see there, point your finger right at them and say, "From now on I'm holding you responsible; not the media; not the politicians; not my boss; not my wife or my kids--but you."

Until we take back our integrity and our honor and reacquire a sense of personal responsibility for what happens not only to us but around us we are doomed to failure and death. Generate energy and justice in your world. Suppress the urge to blame someone else. Find the real God; the one who hates greed and injustice; the one who holds service to other humans as the highest form of service to him.