Magic of This Country

President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his pick of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration next month as one of "a wide range of viewpoints that are presented."

I find this very interesting. On one hand you have many liberals upset over the selection of a guy like Rick Warren. They are upset at President-Elect Obama because he would dare to select someone who actually was conservative in his social values. On the other hand, what do all of the conservatives do who were (are?) convinced that President-Elect Obama is the devil and only wants to bring about evil to this land. I personally enjoy that both liberals and conservatives don't know what to do with themselves right now over this.

A Baby Changes Everything

Persuasion over Coercion

To the outrage of local clergyman and do-gooders, he [Lincoln] announced in an 1842 lecture that "if we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class." Consequently he refused to coerce them into temperance, but he enthusiastically backed the Washingtonian Society's program of converting alcoholics by "persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion." (Lincoln, Donald, p.82)

I continue to be amazed at Lincoln. This political and life stance is one I have to wholeheartedly agree in. Too often we assume that if we can just coerce people into believing or doing something, we will have won the battle. Its sad to me to think that we assume too often that a law or a forcing of an activity will somehow solve all our problems. My dad and I have often talked about the idea of gentle persuasion over harsh coercion in making societal changes. You can make laws and force change but in reality all that does is change things on the surface. The Prohibition movement did not stop stop the problems of alcohol abuse in this country. It might have removed the issue on the surface, but in reality it did not change the heart of the problem. The same is true in Christianity. We can scare people with hell and force our "Christian values" down people's throats with hardcore coercion, but has that really changed anyone's heart? Kind, unassuming persuasion seems like a much better position than harsh coercion. And yet it seems on a regular basis Christians want to take over political positions and change this country for the better. Just because you make a law (or overturn one) doesn't mean that you have actually done any good. You don't win an argument by spitting out facts and being harsh with someone else. You "win" by showing your heart and showing the truth through loving action. Unfortunately, it does not seem like many people understand this concept. Lincoln did, and that is what amazes me about him.

Strong Enough For a Man...

...But Made For a Woman. Well today is the day to try this slogan out. After taking a shower and doing my once a week shave (yes I shave as much as some 14 year old boys), I went to put on deodorant this morning. Unfortunately the stick of High Endurance Old Spice was out. I remembered at this point that I was suppose to pick some up at WalMart yesterday. So I searched all over to see if I had a back-up to no avail. So at this point I remember somewhere in the back of my mind the add that once proclaimed the woman's deodorant as being strong enough for a man even though it was made for a woman. So I figured - what the heck, why not see if that's true. So today I will be emanating a nice smell of "powder fresh" and apparently according to the stick of deodorant I can "dare to wear black" as well. We'll see how this little experiment works. Thanks Sweetheart for the use of your deodorant!

Fantastic

I had a friend send this to me. Its awesome.

How do you rank them?

So my nearly identical twin Scott Thomas and myself often have what we call our nerd debate in which we try to rank who we think is the greatest US Presidents of all time. The debate is pointless and we often end up picking guys we know will fluster the other (ie Andrew Jackson). It makes me think though. What makes a good US President? How do you define "good"? Do some guys get the benefit of the time period they serve in (ie Eisenhower or Clinton) while others take the shaft for a rough time (ie LBJ)? What do we as American people really want from our President? What do people outside of the US want from the President? Do things like character, vision, competence, economic policy, preservation of liberty, national defense, foreign policy, etc all really matter? Are we willing to sacrifice morals for a healthy America in terms of economics? What is our standard of the President and do we hold all leaders to this standard? I don't really know all the answers to this. But nevertheless I suppose I will continue to have the debate because it satisfies my nerdy history brain.

By the way in case you are wondering...

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Theodore Roosevelt
3. George Washington
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Harry Truman
6. Ronald Reagan
7. James Polk
8. Franklin D. Roosevelt
9. Andrew Jackson
10. Woodrow Wilson

Self Made Man

I am currently reading a book on Lincoln by David Donald. A group of guys and myself read a book (or books) each "winter" on a famous historical figure. Abraham Lincoln won the honor this year. I am completely fascinated by history so for the next few months I will probably drop a few things I am learning as I study Lincoln.

One of the first things that the book points out is the concept of Lincoln being a self made man. In other words, he was not handed anything in life. What he acquired and accomplished he did so on his own. In quoting a cousin and his stepmother the book writes, "somewhat dull...not a brilliant boy - but he worked his way by toil: to learn was hard for him, but he worked slowly, but surely. He must understand everything - even to the smallest thing - minutely and exactly. He would then repeat it over to himself again and again - some times in one form and then in an other and when it was fixed in his mind to suit him he...never lost that fact or his understanding of it." The guy came from nothing to make himself into one of the most revered figures in American history. Reading his story forces me to think about my own work ethic. Do I have that same drive, that same push, that same need to work my way through life? What am I not accomplishing because I lack the zeal that pushed Lincoln forward?

Another key was the book talking about Lincoln's early foray into the public service sector. Donald writes, "Lincoln seems to have had the unusual notion that a public servant's first duty is to help people, rather than to follow bureaucratic regulations." I am mesmerized by this quote. Not only for public servants but people in the church. Sometimes the bureaucratic regulations become so overwhelming for people in the church that we follow rules and conform to patterns of regulations and miss out that God never called anyone to work at a church. God calls us to love Him and love people. If we miss out on that and forget that no matter where we work we must learn to always help people, than what's the point? Everyone in the church is responsible for that. Sadly, it is "unsual" when people care more about other people than regulations.

The book is good so far. I recommend it off the first 70 pages...