1. That people who believe in Jesus Christ; his life, death, resurrection and his continuing work in and through the Holy Spirit are not to be trusted and are not intelligent people.

2. That the college or university that you attend or those schools you are admitted to determine how intelligent you are and how successful you will be in life.

3. That our current culture, body of knowledge and ideas are actually more advanced than culture, knowledge and ideas that preceded this current age.

4. That there are no absolutes except that there are no absolutes.

5. That each individual is his/her own final authority.

6. That men and women are interchangeable and all gender identity is culturally determined.

7. That the only people who are talented, smart or of value are those who are “beautiful” as defined by their physical appearance, political affiliation, environmental perspective, views on “choice,” celebrity status, etc.

8. That all cultures are good, they are just all different from one another.

9. That the correct political system or party will solve all of our country’s and possibly the world’s problems.

10. That God is not personal and that He is silent.

Actually, I would call this one of the best sermons I have heard.

I attend an urban church in Pittsburgh that has grown from an all-white congregation of 300 people who were ready to flee to the suburbs in 1983. Today it is a broadly diverse (economic, racial and politcal) congregation of 2500+ who attend each weekend. My family and I have worshipped there since we moved to Pittsburgh thirteen years ago. Actually, the weekend my wife and I were in town for my job interview and that I was offered the job we would move for, was the first time we visited this church. At that time, I was undecided whether or not I wanted to take this particular job. Midway through the service I turned to my wife and said, “Susan, I am taking the job here in Pittsburgh because I really want to worship here every week.” She agreed with me and that was two jobs ago!

This morning, the part-time pastor for adult ministries preached. He is a very bright college graduate and has no advanced or seminary degree. The sermon moved me profoundly. I hope that you enjoy and benefit from it as much as I did.

A few of my cacti and succulents

I have an addiction. To cacti and succulent type plants. I have attempted to explain why to friends and family. I think some understand or maybe they just humor me with a smile and a nod as I give them my rationale for collecting cacti when I live in western Pennsylvania. Oh well, this is a photograph of a part of my collection. By the way, my wife has outlawed me from bringing home any more cacti.

What did you do for New Year’s Eve? I watched a movie I had not seen for a couple of years, maybe even a little longer; Akeelah and the Bee. If any of you have seen it you might wonder why a fifty-two year old might be writing about this very G-rated and family friendly movie about a spelling bee, or you might not, because you have seen the movie.

It is one of those movies that chokes me up a little. It is about a little girl who against the odds wins a national spelling bee. Better yet, it is about a little girl who teaches others to hope and to dream. As the credits ran at the end of the movie tonight (if you attend a movie with me that moves me you will know you must sit through the entire credit listing–my way of honoring those who helped to produce something good) I thought about what made this such a good movie for me. After I first viewed it a few years ago I remember badgering my staff to go see the movie. I remember that I wanted everyone who I valued and respected to see this movie because it captures those three essentials that make us all so human, so wonderful and so glory-filled; faith, hope and love.

Those three things keep us persisting in life, they keep us from giving up and becoming cynical. I have a friend who I met with for a beer yesterday after work. He plays the cynical game with me. You know, poo-pooing any and all of my playful ventures and ideas (in the sense of play as C.S. Lewis describes in his sermon The Weight of Glory). I often call him a cynic to his face and he laughs at me and I laugh back. My optimism and over a decade of seniority on him tells me that beneath that thin cynical veneer that he is, or at least he longs to be, filled with the same faith, hope and love as Akeelah and me!

So, enough said this year about Akeelah and the Bee. Go watch it and then come back and tell me what you thought of it. My hope for you is that it will help knock some of that cynicism right out you, help you find that child inside that still plays and loves to play without fear but with much faith, hope and love.

Blessings to you for 2009! Happy New Year.

Check this out:

Merry Christmas and many blessings~

As I have commented in the last few posts….when you promote broadbased redistribution of wealth through government that is called socialism.  When did we redefine what socialism means?

Socialism is harmful to philanthropy and it ultimately rewards slothfulness and promotes inertia.  Here is a poignant example from a conversation I had a few years ago on a trainride from Brussels to Paris.  I was sitting across from a mid-twenties woman on the train.  We exchanged pleasantries and began talking about the elections in the USA.  This was just before the 2004 elections.  She commented on how well their system in Belgium worked.  For example, she told me, her boyfriend had been out of work for over a year and he still had healthcare coverage and the government was sending him money each month as a “salary.”  I asked her if he was actively looking for work.  She told me that he was not because he was not quite sure what he wanted to do with his life.  I just nodded and smiled politely.  She went on to praise the socialistic system of government taking care of everyone in their society.

The gentleman sitting to her right was a man in his early 50s who was listening and returning home from a long day at work.  I looked at him at one point and asked him a question.  I said to him, “How much do you pay in taxes from your salary?”  He looked at me knowing where I was going with my question and simply said, “70%.”  I, again, nodded and smiled politely.  He returned my nod with a knowing glance that he was footing the bill for his seatmates boyfriend.

This, my friends, is our future if and when we take a step toward socialism by voting for Barack Obama.  This is not what Jesus had in mind when he  talked about caring for the poor and the homeless.  True caring requires personal sacrifice.  When sacrifice is mandated by government it actually loses its transforming and redemptive power.

Ok, I admit it I am a supporter of John McCain for president.  As much as I was a strident socialist in college my idealism waned to realism and I learned more about the reality of the selfish human spirit.  Even after nine years working for a slavishly conservative college where some measured you by just how doctrinaire you were I still lean conservative and just cannot vote for the socialist and inexperienced Obama.  As a friend of mine said, “a good speaking voice and good looks take you far in the USA.”

When push comes to shove though what will get me through the next four years if indeed  ”lighter heads” prevail in this election and Obama is elected president is the knowledge that God is still in control.

Yet, today I watched the interview that Diane Sawyer did with Joe the Plumber from Holland, Ohio.  I must say, what an articulate and sane perspective he shared with America.  Essentially he asked, if I work hard and succeed why should I be penalized and pay more taxes, or a higher percentage of my income than others who might earn less?  Good question, Joe.  To me that is discrimination and it is also called socialism.  That, my friends, is what Obama has in store for those who succeed.  He will penalize them with more taxes.

I spoke with a friend a few days ago who owns a company that is an S corporation.  He explained to me that he has sixty employees and that in an S corporation all of the corporate earnings are calculated as W-2 income to him.  Then he pays his employees bonuses, reinvests in the company and hires more people, expands the business, etc.  He commented that when all is said and done his salary is a modest one.  However, under the Obama Plan he (since his W-2 “income” is more than $250,000 a year) will pay a pretty high tax on his “earnings.”  Guess what happens then.  He probably will not  be able to afford to reinvest in his company and the company might become less competitive and lose business.  Then he would be forced to lay off people that work for him (family was how he described these people, not related by blood but related by their commitment and hard work for the sake of the company).  Hummm, so over years a successful company becomes less competitive and probably smaller in terms of the number of employees he can afford to retain.  This, my friends, is economics 101.  Material, I dare say, that democrats have historically scored “C” or worse.  

If you listen closely to what they say it is the economics of building a larger and inefficient government bureaucracy.  I am of Italian descent so I can say this; visit Italy sometime and try to get a simple document from a government agency.  You will find legions of bureaucrats and you will probably walk away exasperated and cursing, in Italian, without the document you came to secure.  The Obama platform will move us at a meteoric pace closer to the reality of the absurd socialism that many European’s have known for decades. 

So, Joe the Plumber is pretty insightful about Obama’s taxes.  I think we should all think long and hard about the importance of voting for someone with a proven record, experience and passion for our country’s future.  That person is John McCain.  And, oh, don’t buy Obama’s empty rhetoric about McCain continuing the Bush policies.  As McCain said so well he has never been and never will be George W.

God Bless America or should I say, God help us all.

Missing the point is a chronic illness with which we are all afflicted.  Too often the only point that we see most clearly is the point that makes us look or feel best at any given moment in time.  This has become “so very very clear to me” (case in point) during the pre-election craziness that is going on lately.  In some ways the only sobering and honest assessment of our dire situation in the USA and around the world is the credit crisis and our quickly shrinking retirement funds. Honestly, the only ones to blame for this are “all of us.”

As a moderate conservative I think the democrats are just going to exacerbate the problem with their historic “I love the poor, please pass the bacon” approach to life.  And to be fair, the republican “The poor will benefit, someday. Let me see my bank statement, now, before I head out to my summer place on Nantucket” is not much better.  All of the bipartisan talk is just talk.  Ultimately, let’s face it, we are selfish creatures.  At least that is what has gotten us into this mess.  We have acted just as selfish creatures who want our point to be heard above the others and our point alone.

I am going to touch on a cultural, moral and political hot potato now.  This is just a warning so those of you who want to hear nothing but your own point can stop reading and retreat to your “of course I am correct in my view” world.  You might say that by discussing this I am doing the same.  That is your prerogative but this is my blog.  And, I do not believe that people in the western world really discuss this issue.  We just hurl nuclear devices at each other in hopes that the other side will “shut up and go away.”

One of the issues that I believe has contributed to the western world’s materialistic orgy is the issue of life versus death.  Yeah, you guessed it ABORTION.  Simply put, I am an educated thinking person who very much respects women and who very much feels for those who are in powerless situations.  Yet, a legislated solution to kill unborn children is the ultimate selfish act.  And, somehow we justify it using the word “choice.”

Reality comes down to the fact that we are all in “a powerless situation.”  That is what life is about for each and everyone of us.  The current scenario on Wall Street shows us that very clearly.  The only difference between any one of us and that poor young girl who finds herself pregnant and without prospects for support is that we have some perceived built in “economic cushion.”  Well, this week we are watching that cushion disappear virtually overnight.  It is funny, there are so many not so dire things that happen as a part of our lives that demonstrate to us how powerless we really are in this life.  For example, a child who just continues to make bad decisions with his or her life, a chronic or deadly illness, old age, mental illness, a tragic accident that leaves emotional or physical holes in life, becoming a victim of a crime, etc.  Somehow we get through these awful experiences and ignore the reality and truth behind them.

Abortion and more recently euthanasia have become the neat and tidy, often legal and culturally and intellectually acceptable ways to regain power over situations that are not so neat and tidy.  This is true at least until the next crisis comes our way that demonstrates how truly powerless we are in this life.  Yet, each time, we believe that we can solve it; that in our enlightenment we can legislate and rationalize our way through it.

The other sad thing is that our cultural elite attempt to silence this important moral dialogue.  I cannot tell you how often I have seen “those in the know” turn the other way when the topic comes up and walk away.  Hummm, as if to say that anyone who disagrees is really not that smart and does not deserve to be heard.

I know, I know, somewhere someone made it an absolute moral truth (one of the few in our society) that it is not polite to talk about politics or religion, especially when you are with people who might disagree with you.  The real issue here is that we have lost the ability to discuss with civility and respect.  That means that we are indeed a society that avoids tough issues and just skates along until some powerless situation smothers us and ultimately silences us. That is, unless enough people band together and get enough votes to legislate some sort of band-aid solution that allows us to skate a little further before reality and dare I use the word “truth” smothers us.

Missing the point ultimately leads to losing our way.  How far will the DOW need to drop before we wake up and realize that this is only a symptom of many other and much greater crises in our collective lives as a society and culture?

Do you have those relatives in your family that you vow never to be like?  Uncle Bob, God rest his soul, is the guy in our family who we still talk about with those “can you believe he wore those tee-shirts in public” remembrances and laughter.

Uncle Bob was my wife’s uncle.  One of the “four boys;” the oldest being my wife’s dad.  Unlike his three other brothers Uncle Bob never quite outgrew his adolescence.

It was very embarassing going out to eat with Uncle Bob; but, also very memorable.  He would walk into the restaurant he had selected, whether it was a simple diner or a nice place, as though he was the local “big shot” or James Dean or some combination thereof.  He would pull out a twenty dollar bill and wave it, literally wave it, in front of the hostess so that our party could be seated quickly.  Just imagine that at an IHOP or Denny’s; worse yet, at a place you really wanted to eat!  The rest of the family would stand a bit removed from him as he did his bribe thing and we would all look away in another direction.

Typically we only saw Uncle Bob in the summer when that side of our family made the pilgrimage to southern Maine, to a community that had been “Mecca” each summer since the 1920s.  In some odd way, even though we sometimes loath the thought of getting together with Uncle Bob and his wife, Aunt (Ant in that part of New England) Sylvia, being with him was a wonderful part of being together as a family, being in Maine and the fabric of what made this time so rich for everyone.  We still laugh, he has been gone now for at least five years, about what might have happened to his collection of “copulating lobster tee-shirts.”  Try explaining to your six and ten year old daughters what the lobsters on Uncle Bob’s tee-shirt were doing and saying!

Last month was our annual pilgrimage to Maine.  My lovely bride and I drove from Pittsburgh.  A long drive but one that was punctuated with remembrances of other years and of our treks to the “holy land.”  This year it was just the two of us.  One daughter now lives in Houston, Texas and the other was flying in a few days later because of a work commitment.  We stay with my wife’s sister, my brother-in-law and their two daughters at their cottage, four blocks from the ocean.  Now we are Uncle and Aunt (Auntie is the closest my wife will let our nieces get to Ant).

I must admit that on a couple of occasions I felt a little like Uncle Bob.  Please note, I am NOT wearing any copulating lobster tee-shirts nor anything like that!  However, at times I would say something outloud that sounded vaguely like something Uncle Bob would utter.  I knew when it had happened because my wife would give me the “go to your room” look that spouses perfect after years of marriage.  At first my utterances would startle me.  What was happening to me?  Even my brother-in-law would occasionally devolve with me into this uncontrolled adolescence; and he is ten years younger than I am!

One funny example I must put down in black and white.  I know that those of you who know me know that this a gross aberration of who I am and, that you will forgive my trepasses as I will yours.  My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and I, not my wife mind you, she is a tea-totaler, have made it a “tradition” to imbibe in martinis when we are together.  Usually it is one martini each on a designated night with my wife as the designated observer.  Well, this year we had one and a half martinis each and at one point decided to call my younger daughter on her cell phone (she had not arrived in Maine yet).  She now refers to that incident as “the night that my dad and uncle drunk-dialed me.”  It was hilarious in an Uncle Bob sort of way.  We don’t quite remember what we said to her but we laugh, rather sheepishly (now you might better understand why I chose the blog name of dumb sheep).

So, I admit it.  I at times act like Uncle Bob.  And, you know, it is OK.  Maybe it is part of growing older that we want to prove to ourselves that we can still giggle, laugh and just be downright stupid.  Too much of life is too serious and most of the serious stuff we have no control over and it is indeed really serious.

I guess next year we should raise a martini glass to Uncle Bob…then giggle and laugh together.

Took these photographs in Maine recently and thought I would share them with you…..