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WARNING: The views and opinions stated here are necessarily the views and opinions of the host of this blog. If you have any problem listening to opinions concerning politics, religion, and racism in America, move to the next post. (I promise I won’t rant too often, so don’t leave us forever.)  

    I am currently unsure of a more productive way to release this frustration, so I will begin in this forum. This morning, as I was heading to work, I listened to a talk radio show.

Problem #1: Never listen to talk radio unless you need a little frustration in your life.

They were discussing the presedential campaign of Senator Barrack Obama and the recent recordings of his pastor.

Problems # 2 & 3: (2)Really (!!!) never listen to American politics if you wish to remain un-frustrated. (3) Did you hear the sermon (if you can call it that) yet? Frustration abounds!

Then there were the two pastors on the show that were supporting this blasphemy and anti-American sentiment.

Problems #4 & 5: (4) Two pastors were supporting that foul-mouthed blubber? Huh? (5) Though I have been known to criticize American government and its political inadequacies, I have never heard nor said anything as awful as what was said on that recording. America deserved 9-11? Are you kidding? A pastor (or anyone for that matter) using the Lord’s name in vain when speaking of America? What? Why? Huh?

And last, but certainly not least, there were the comments made by the pastors on the show concerning racism in America. One pastor said that “racism is worse now than it was during slavery”. He said that people are oppressed and have no opportunity for education, freedom of speech, or a better way of life. Did I mention that both pastors were 60-70 years old and had their Doctoral degrees? Yet they spoke of people not having opportunity? Ironic, don’t you think? Bill Cosby is also one who seemingly “had no opportunity” I guess. Yet he did well for himself and now “preaches” a whole new message to people to get up and work and make opportunity for themselves. One of the pastors also said that “the church was and still is the only place where ‘his people’ can come to have freedom of speech and the freedom to release frustrations and emotions”. Let me mention again that he said this on a radio program with thousands of people listening. See the irony?

Problems #6 & 7: (6) Racism is worse now than it was during slavery? Are people ripped from their homelands, sold off, beaten and sometimes killed, denied religion, refused a chance to work and make money for themselves, and denied any of the other rights set forth by our Constitution or present lawmakers? (7) The church is the only place where ‘his people’ can have freedom of speech and are able to release their frustrations? Let me start by saying that church is a very good place to come to worship God and have an emotional release. It is a great place to come to tell God what is worrying you or what difficulties you have. It is these things, but is it the place to come and insult another race, speak negatively about your country, and practice blasphemy? What is the definition of blasphemy? What does the Bible say about all this?

Webster’s New World Dictionary: Blasphemy- 1. Irreverent or profane or mocking speech, writing, or action concerning God or anything regarded as sacred. 2. Contempt for God. Any remark deliberately mocking or contemptuous of God or thing regarded as sacred. Syn. Profane or profanity, swearing or cursing-further extends the concept to irreverent remarks, both referring to the utterance of profane oaths or condemnations.

          And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death. (Leviticus 24:16)

        And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

       Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. (NAS, Romans 13:1)

   Let me say here that I do not believe that God would have us stone that pastor or kill him. The Bible teaches us to love our neighbor and even to love our enemy and also to forgive them. So here is the question: Does it say anywhere in the Bible that a pastor should give a sermon that includes blasphemous statements, name-calling and swearing against another race (his neighbors), and anarchist statements concerning his government? Not in my opinion. Did the pastor’s congregation stand up and figuratively ’stone him’ by leaving and attending another church or by finding a new pastor? Nope. Furthermore, many other pastors and congregations have supported his statements. If it is not mentioned in the Bible, should a preacher be preaching it in God’s church? Not in my opinion. So, is the church the appropriate place (or is anywhere, for that matter) for people to come any say these sorts of things? What is the church for then if not for spewing forth whatever degredations and foul -mouthed bile one wishes? I hope you sense the sarcasm in my previous sentence. It is not a  pulpit to press one’s beliefs or political affiliations on people. It is not a place to take advantage of a people searching for a leader and some stability among their own. It is not a place to accuse and degrade a people with whom we must learn to work in order to gain peace and understanding in the United States and in this world. The church is for worship. It is for coming and talking with God, for singing praises to God, and for learning about what He would have us learn. Nothing else. It is not freedom we should search for when we come to church, but submission. Submission to a God who promises to give us the freedom for which we seek. Freedom from the fear of all the world’s pitfalls if we come to Him and believe in His SON and ask for forgiveness. Freedom of speech is such a small thing when you consider the freedom that can be gained through Christ.

    Do I feel better now, you ask? I do actually. Much better.

   Confused by the title, anyone? Picture a mule walking up a mountain. What would he almost always have on his back? A pack, right? Not just any pack. A HEAVY pack! Well, that was the picture of Jen and I on Saturday when we packed our packs and put them on. Oh God! Our packs weigh 30-31 pounds each! Some of you may be saying “Thirty to thirty-one pounds is not that much for luggage for an 18-month long trip!” Try carrying around that much for 2 hours around Paris! On our honeymoon, we had a couple rolling bags and a couple smaller shoulder bags and man was it tough. In Mississippi, we don’t have subway steps to go up and down, turnstiles to walk through, or a lot of crowds of people to walk around in. In many of the places we are going to, they do have these things.

SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: 1. Eliminate some items. 2. Get really buff before we go. 3. Hire a Sherpa (porter) to follow us around. 4. Buy and place luggage straps around packs to make them more compact and thus more easily carried. 5. Learn to “live off the land” and take nothing with us. 6. Buy our very own mule.

    Those of you who know us probably know which ones we will choose to do.   

1. Eliminating items should be easy enough. 2. There is little hope of us becoming buff before we go, so not that one. 3. Craig is too cheap to hire a Sherpa. 4. The luggage straps have already been “bought-en” (you would have to watch the movie Bring It On to understand). 5. We do plan to learn and attempt some survival techniques while in Fiji and other places, but living off the land may be a little much for 18 months. 6. Again, Craig is too cheap to buy a mule.

    Soon, I will load some pictures of our packs as they are now to the site. Before we leave, I will give a weighed update and add some pictures of how the packs look then.

 Au revoir! Chao! Adios! Um, bye bye!

    I hope that the uncertainty and hesitation is conveyed appropriately through the title of this post. Why the shaky voice, you ask? We have decided to start asking for assistance to be able to provide for our expenses while helping others and allow us to provide for the needs of the people with whom we will be working. With the significnt downturn of the value of our good old American dollar, we are trying to be sure we can really do this. Maybe we are just crazy and we will find that our funds will last us and be plenty but the closer we get to that day, the more nervous we become.

    So what are we doing to ease our nervousness? Well, we have sent letters to a few churches requesting prayer and support as well as speaking with local businesses. We have placed PAYPAL buttons on this site to try to provide another way to support us. We have prayed. The only thing we haven’t done yet is ask people if they need any odd jobs done around the house…Well, do ya? We have also been telling people that they can sponsor us and get some advertisement at the same time. We will place a picture of you handing us a check on our supporters page if you would like. We will also list your name and level of support on that page. We’ll give a talk when we return or before we leave for you and your friends (church members, coworkers, etc).

    So anyway, back to the hesitation. As most of our close friends and family know, we are typically fairly independent. We hate to ask for help or to even admit that we need it. So I won’t do that anymore in this post. I will ask that you keep checking back on this site to see our “Help Them” page so that you can see where we are working, what they need, and how to get it to them.  Well, breaking down to ask for assistance is tiring, so I must go now.