Two blogs

Recently I started a second blog, thelifeofapastor.blogspot.com, and have been hit by a unique reality. Writing in two different mind sets is hard.

Where here I get to be fun, discuss thigns that matter to me, and overall gush about my own life thinking that others mind find it interesting, that is not so with the other one. On my other blog I flip back and forth between first and third person because sometimes I talk about myself, others I talk about pastors in general, and again others I talk to everyone else. That in itself is tough, but trying doing that after you've just been talking about yourself and useless stuff that you find interesting.

I also noticed something else. Having two blogs has forced me to schedule blogging. I need to stay on top of both or I'll get behind with both. It has also made me a better writter and reader. My brain is forced to expand what it already knows and does.

But oh well, these are just random musings from a man who needs to think about something other than work for a few minutes. Blogging is a great way to get rid of that nasty phone call who yelled at you eventhough you aren't the person responsible or that can help. You know who you are mean phone caller guy/gal. Don't pretend you don't hear me!!!

Complete irrelevance

Ok, so with the start of the NFL season has come the swamp of football crazed sporting news. Since I am a huge fan of sports in general and pretty much watch ESPN exclusively (its a whole heck of a lot to pay for a couple of sports channels on cable, but well worth it), I have become immersed in all of it. And the thing that has struck me the most is the amount of NFL and NCAA football players with absolutely outrageous first names.

I'm not trying to dis the players or pick on their parents, but can someone explain to me the silent Q's and X's that somehow slip into a players first name. Did someone not learn spelling in school? Or is it something more? Is weird spellings and pronunciations that we've never heard before the key to football success these days? I had to find out.

So I randomly scanned the rosters of 10 NFL teams and 10 NCCA teams to see what I could find out.

NFL: Of the 10 NFL teams I found 35 distinct names - anything from Andra to J'Vonne to Ruvell. Yet the name phenomenon does not seem to discriminate for winners. Of the 10 teams I chose (some winners, some losers) I found that each had their share of unique first names; about 3-4 per team. And this is not counting the number of names I found with unique spellings. If that were factored in then the number per team would be closer to 10.

NCAA: Of the 10 NCAA teams I found 84 distinct names - from Averin to Kaither to Zarrell. But unlike the NFL, there is a disparity between good and bad. Good teams have closer to 10-12 unique first names while bad teams had 3-5. And if I were to account for all the unique spellings of traditional And this where I think I'm on to something.
1) younger parents are coming up with funkier names
2) if you want your college team to succeed just watch for a recruiting class with a bunch of names you can't pronounce
3) i wasted a ton of time looking at 20 football rosters and i'm not going to mention what time of day this was posted ;)

So the moral of the story is, if you want your kid to get a free education on a football scholarship figure out a new way to spell Andy (preferably with a silent Z) or just throw a bunch of scrabble letters on a table take whatever it spells, and come up with the pronunciation later. And who knows, they do stand a .066 % chance of making the NFL (which is better than normal football players). Thanks for wasting your afternoon with me!!!

False Educational Superiority round 2

In light of my last post, I thought about this a little more and realized that the overarching idea extends beyond the religiously educated. It goes to all people with degrees and advanced degrees.

My motto during college and seminary was that a PhD did not necessarily mean that my professors were smarter than me, only more educated. And education is not the best indicator of intelligence. Though getting a bachelors, masters, and doctorate does require some sort of intelligence to keep getting accepted at different schools and work your way up the learning ladder, it does not mean that they are the smartest person in the room.

I am not saying that professors do not deserve the honor and respect of a Doctor, because they have worked hard to get there and if they desire to be called doctor and have proper etiquette classroom for a doctor to their students, so be it they've earned it.

What I am saying is that just because a doctor said it does not mean that it is true. How often do we hear of people getting second opinions from an MD, only to get a different diagnosis or prognosis? This happens and we need to acknowledge that advance degrees don't mean you are always right.

All of this is to say, challenge the process. Challenge the answers you get. Challenge, challenge, challenge ... and when all else fails challenge. Make those in authority prove things to you, especially when they don't sound quite right. If people never challenged anything we'd live on a flat planet with all the cosmos revolving around us. Instead we have a round planet that orbits a sun that sustains life on this planet (not that there was a time that this wasn't true, just a time when it wasn't believed to be true).

So challenge them and work to get your own PhD so that some day they have to listen to you. Oh, and when I say that I'm right because I "have a masters in this stuff" just believe me, because I am right. :) :) :)

False Educational Superiority

I have been stuck at various times when I read the Gospels with a sense that the Pharisees and Sadducees (the religious leaders and elite) opperated from an view of superiority. They often appear to believe that they are better than others because they had been educated under a certain Rabbi or knew all 613 Laws.

And it hit me, this is part of what kept them from believeing in Jesus. They were so stuck in the law, their knowledge, their prestige, and their sinful obession to obey only those things that when God stared them in the face their eyes were too clouded to see.

Having recently finished seminary, this is something I fear running into and something I see all the time. Too often pastors and people in paid ministry positions believe themselves superior to everyone else. They believe they should be reveared, that certain things are beneath them, and that they are the only harbors of truth - that everyone who does or say something different from them is wrong.

Let me ask this question though, was it not this false sense of superioity gained from education what made the Pharisees/Sadducees so detestable that Jesus pronounced 7 woes on them and warned against their teachings? If Jesus, the basis of our faith, did not believe it beneath him to get down on his hands and knees to do the feet washing that was a servants job, then there is absolutely nothing that is beneath any Christian - seminary educated or not.

I know now that I will struggle with this at least for my immediate future, if not for the remainder of my life. I believe that it is sinful.

Lord please save me, and others that are in ministry/seminary educated, from falling into this human trap. This is a satan based human standard, but You have called us to Your standard. Please continually remind us of this truth and the reality of the life you've called pastors to.

Politics

So as I lay in my bed, trying to sleep, my mind kept racing and eventually it landed on the very (un)popular topic of politics. Really, it came to the issue of government, which as it turns out is totally separate from politics (who knew?). I was hit with a sudden reality; we have the SEC to monitor the finances of the stock market and large corporations, we also have the IRS to monitor the finances of individual Americans, and a myriad of other institutions to keep us all in line. But who actually monitors the the US Government, at least who does so with any effective consequences? Leave it to the voters simply doesn't work any more, there's too much information and voters have become too apathetic to the whole system.

Why do we, the people - the basis for which this government derives its power, - not insist on an independent, non-partisan audit of the US Government, both money and resources/procedure?

I think there are some distinct advantages from having an actual account as to how the US Government spends our money and resources; it is ours by the way, we worked for it, we earned it, and we entrust it to them to do things to make our country run properly. I'm okay with and think taxes are necessary, but I hate the fact that president after president and congress after congress continually misuses our money. It's not theirs it's our and we need to demand to know how our money is really being used. And the idea that making a law is compared to making sausage (you don't want to watch either one, unless you're CNN ;-)) is completely insane.

Things that should happen from actually making the government be accountable:

1) Tort reform - without this its all useless. Let's clean up the legal system that has pushed us into an extremely overly litigious society. Come on people, our civil system is a freaking joke and has forced many of the problems we have today (when did American's begin to think they were so entitled to wealth and power?).

2) Health insurance reform - costs are skyrocketing, people are loosing benefits, medicare/medicaid are a mess and its really getting ridiculous.

3) Cap corporate profits - we are greedy. I am a Christian and believe that every person is made good, but unfortunately we live in a fallen world and often times do bad because we don't know how to distinguish the difference or simply don't care. A completely laissez-faire economy does not work. We need to impose sections to stop greed from destroying honest workers.

4) Tax law reform - we need to tax everyone appropriately to their income. It is appalling the loop holes that people with enough money can find to pay less taxes than people making a quarter of what they make. Don't hide your eyes from this one, it happens a lot. And unlike the NFL who's cap regulations allowed the 49ers and Cowboys to win a few SB's in the 90's and then suffer the consequences at the turn of the century, these people will work the system their entire lives and pay more dollars (because they make more), but less percentage over the long-haul.

5) Campaign finance reform - Not sure how to do this one, but it needs to get done. Its outrageous how much money is spent to win an election and if you win your first, its a lot easier to win later. Senate incumbency usually means a job (and benefits) for life, even if you became useless 20 years ago.

6) Reform of legislative procedure - allocation of money and resources should be figured out after a bill is passed, not before. Too often crappy bills get passed because $3 million gets pork bellied into an important Congressman's constituent area and good bills get dumped because not enough money went to the right people in the right places. Get rid of this and Congress might actually get something worthwhile done each term (maybe more than one thing).

7) Eliminate lobbyist - these are the worst kind of people, at least the "good" ones are. Some lobby's are good, some bad. Unfortunately, we can't just get rid of the bad ones. So the only way to rectify this problem is to eliminate all lobbyist from Capital Hill and require 100% accuracy and accountability from the lobby's and Congressmen about their dealings with the lobby's.

Possible benefits:

1) A more streamlined government actually working for the people, not for their jobs.

2) Avoidance of possible massive recessions (i.e. right now).

3) Social systems that actually work. (Don't get me started on the problems in welfare - good idea, horrendous execution, and they're not the only one).

4) A government that takes care of its people and acts as good stewards of the resources given them by the hard working Americans that this nation thrives on.

5) No more national debt, novel concept I know, but I believe the current system - writing checks that we don't really have the money to back - might be illegal. I'm not a lawyer, so I'll have to get back to you on that one ;-).

6) Better prepared for the future and the problems that might arise, thus turning our country into a proactive world leader instead of a reactive world bully that throws money and military at everything.

7) Regained international standing. Once the land of the free and the home of the brave, America use to stand for something and people wanted to come here. Now all we stand for is massively abused opulence. People only want to come here to make enough money to live comfortably in their home land when they return. Whatever happened to: "Give my your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"?

Taking a break

So recently I've been learning the importance and need for breaks. And I don't mean just having a Saturday with only a little cleaning to do. I mean a real break. Get away from the house, people depending on you and all form of work for 1-2 days. Wow, how amazing it is to even be alone for a few hours with no cares or worries.

For me, I'm glad I get to have a form of a break by going home. A long weekend with family, though exhausting at times, can still be very restful. But I'm not ending there, I'm thinking about taking a few days (3 max) between jobs in October to go somewhere, possibly with a beach, and just sit. It'll be the first real break I've had since Christmas. And I have to stress how important it is to take a few days each year for this. Just hope you have some understanding people around you who will allow you to do this without complaint (though you have to be willing to allow them the same luxury).