Ahhh, The Democrats

Ladies and Gentlemen, Our friends at the DNC never cease to amaze me. Today, I was listening to the radio and they were playing clips from the weekly Democrat radio address. This week our friend Howard Dean was the one speaking. I must preface my next couple comments with these remarks. The weekly Democrat radio address is a prepared, edited, pre-recorded speech that is played on the radio. There are no "off the cuff" remarks in this speech, anything and everything they say has been carefully calculated and decided upon. Our friend Howard Dean has decided to use a war memorial as a political weapon. He has once again compared Iraq to Vietnam, and now he is using the Vietnam Memorial as a weapon for political gain. Here are his exact words,

"The parallels between the mistakes being made today in Iraq and the behavior of our government a generation ago are striking. Troops are sent to fight by an administration that refuses to listen to the advice of military leaders. The Administration decides it's ok to conceal information from the Congress and the American people. Promises like "stay the course" "Peace is at Hand" or "the insurgency is in its last throes" are made by an increasingly desperate Administration. A majority of the American people don't believe the President is telling the truth, while the Administration and its supporters question the patriotism of veterans who disagree with them, accusing them of "cut and run". And among the victims are brave American soldiers who are the targets of an insurgency because of failed political leadership and a lack of foresight and planning. We don't want another wall with 55,000 names of courageous Americans who were let down by their Government."
- Howard Dean, taken from a transcript of his radio address. URL http://dnc.org/a/2006/06/dnc_chairman_ho_30.php

I find it appalling that even our country's most sacred monuments to honor those who gave their lives in defense of this great nation are now simple fodder to be shot in smear campaigns. I don't care if you think Iraq is another Vietnam or not, dishonoring our veterans and those who died for our freedom is absolutely deplorable. If the Democrats have truly sunk to this level of "We don't care who we smear or whose lives we dishonor, just so we can regain power," (which they have IMO) then I urge all Americans with a conscience to go out and vote this November. Vote for candidates that still have some sense of dignity and pride in our country. Vote for someone who stands for your ideals and will give you the voice that made our country great. (If you share Dean's ideals, I really feel sorry for you.)

SC '06

Well, it’s that time again; time to talk about summer camp!

Yeah, cheers, loud noises! Excellent, well I went to summer camp a couple weeks back and just haven’t had time to blog recently. I’ve been racing Scott to 60 on WoW and I’m losing so I’m trying to make up some ground. That’s why I haven’t blogged in a couple. Anyways, summer camp.

Summer camp was again a great time of fun, fellowship, and learning for me. I love the chance to get away for a few days and stay in San Diego. Point Loma is beautiful and the weather is so nice, I love it. If that wasn’t enough, God comes and really just lays on us hard. Convicting sin, saving sinners, pushing believers to know God more. I don’t know what it is, but God always seems to do more work at summer camp then on regular days. I know that this is just simply not true, but maybe the event just serves as a catalyst for people. Anyways, what God did…

First and foremost, he brought me and my guys closer together. I am truly their friend now, and that’s awesome. They aren’t as scared to say what’s on their mind, they don’t fear my judgment (although I do come down on them once in a while if they are jacking around too much) and they know that I love them. My guys also grew closer to each other. I’m beginning to see more comradory between both my 8th and 7th graders and how they interact. My group has been a little clique-ish in the past and I’m glad to see walls coming down. This is way encouraging.

Also, God has been breaking down the defenses of some of my guys for a while. I really got to see him move in two of my guys, Noah and Matthew. They are brothers and are both in 8th grade. Their Mom has two forms of nasty cancer. They never talk about anything that is going on at home. This weekend, they admitted that they weren’t sure they were going to heaven if they die. This is the first thing that they have ever said that was personal. They always just talk about how they are fighting with their brother or how they built something cool with Legos. I’m really glad that these guys are starting to open up and share what is on their mind. They are both really “young” in their maturity so I’ll take anything I can get.

Another thing that God did that was amazing was that he saved on of my old guys, Austin Greene. A year ago at camp, Austin admitted to me that he didn’t think he was a Christian. We immediately started talking about the gospel and what we need to do to be saved. We also talked about things that should be in your life if you are saved. The tough thing about it is, Austin was the one guy in my group that would always read the Bible, he was always the one who had input when we did Bible studies, and he was a really compliant kid. The thing is, none of those things merit salvation. Only a saving faith in Jesus saves you, and he finally realized that was what he was missing. I’d been praying for this kid for over a year and God finally answered mine and others prayers. He’s now one of the King’s kids and I’m so excited to see how he grows.

God also confirmed some of my guy’s salvation to me. I really got to see a couple of my guys who I had been wondering about, be broken over sin, overwhelmed by their salvation, and really "rededicate" their lives to living for Jesus.

Some other weird things were going on at camp too. Some of my guys were really disconnected from reality while we were there. I had to fight a couple of them going to sleep during services and such. Also, I found a group of Jr. High boys that were looking for ghosts in my room one day. That was weird. We confronted them on it and dealt with the situation but it was still weird. I guess it was more of a reminder that the devil is prowling about like a roaring lion and that all of our kids aren’t saved.

So, what God did in my life, God has really been breaking me over an area of sin recently. He’s been working on me with my gift envy. My last blog was about this area that I have been working through and God really just showed me my selfishness in this area. He’s also been breaking me in other areas of selfishness preparing me to move in with Brent and Brian in about a week. God also reminded me that he does answer prayers, always. Austin getting saved is a testament to that. Never give up on God, because he never gives up on you.

Gift Envy

Do you ever wish that you had other people's gifts? Not just the ultra cool Nintendo 64 that you friend got for his 10th birthday, but other people's spiritual gifts? I have to be honest, I do.

I have struggled with gift envy off and on over the years that I have been serving the body. Ever since I got into college and started exploring what ways God had gifted me to serve, I have always wanted more than just those gifts. My spiritual gift is most definitely the gift of service. I am the guy who does all of the things that need to get done, but don't require a special or innate ability to understand scripture or teach. I'm the guy who shows up two hours early to set up the speakers for church, or who makes sure that the PowerPoint presentation has all the correct words. And I'm the guy who makes sure it all gets put away. I guess you could say that I'm a behind the scenes guy. You may not see me, but I'm there, helping out.

Now I know what you guys are saying, "what’s wrong with the gift of service?' Absolutely nothing is wrong with it. It's a good gift to have; I really enjoy doing what I do. My problem is I often feel that I have been shorted, or have a second class gift. Since I began serving the body, I have always wanted more ministry. My prayer has always been to have more ministry. I want to be serving God in all of the ways that I possibly can. God has continually been giving me more ministry. I've moved from being an attendee of church, to someone who is there, making sure everything gets done. I've been given a small group of Jr. High students to Shepard and a chance to lead them closer to Christ. I've been given so much ministry that I can't always find the time to make sure it all happens. Why am I not satisfied with this? Because I have gift envy.

Even though God has given me lots of ministry to be working in, I want more, or something different. I want to teach or be knowledgeable. I want to the one that people look to with questions about the faith. I want these things, seemingly to serve, but there is some selfishness down there too. My envy is compounded by the fact that I am very close to others who have spiritual gifts that I want. I have a couple friends who have the gift of teaching, or of knowledge, or of preaching, or of evangelism. Gifts that seem like they mean something or are important. Gifts that matter to people’s lives, gifts that make a difference.

The reality is that it isn't God's problem that I don't have certain spiritual gifts, it’s my problem for not being continually content with what I have been given as far as giftedness. God has gifted each individual according to his calling and ability. If I am forever called to be the guy who makes the coffee, or setup the speakers, and check the PowerPoint, I'm ok with that. I know that I have been uniquely gifted by God to perform the work of the ministry. And as I am faithful, God will be faithful to complete the work in me. It's not my job to question why God wouldn't give me the chance to do certain ministry, it's my job to do the ministry that I have and God will provide more when I am ready.

- The Breadstick Guy

No lives were lost, so I'll have to call this a victory