let the broken promises begin! a glimpse at the next four years...

please look at the below link and watch the video:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html

we couldn't even wait until after the election to find out that what our candidates have been telling us all along isn't, in fact, what they are really going to do. yesterday it was the definition of who is rich (pay attention. it has gone from $250,000 down to $150,000). today it is this.

i love the justifying responses below this video. it simply amazes me how we allow ourselves be deceived. i will hand it to obama, though. he has figured out that the media, with a few exceptions, is on his side, and he has been playing them. for instance, how is it that he has convinced the american people that mccain is the one running all the negative ads when it is he that has far more negative ads? even after criticizing mccain for this in the previous debate, he immediately took clips from the debate and made negative ads with them. unbelievable. i have become annoyed at you, barak, for all your whining. is this how you are going to run our country? by whining that people aren't playing nice every time things get tough? i hardly think that the leaders of countries like iran, north korea, and venezuela are going to be sympathetic. further, i find it hard to classify something as negative when it is true. perhaps mccain did run more negative ads in previous months, but perhaps he had more information to use for negative ads. yet, i heard a guy on the news last night say that he wasn't voting for mccain because of his use of negative ads. there might be plenty of reasons not to vote for mccain, but this is not one of them.

i guess when we really want something we are blinded to the truth. that, my friends, is the downside of hope... it has to be placed on something in trust and when it is placed in the wrong thing it is no hope at all.

cheers,
jw <><

stop buying oil!

my friends, we have a serious problem. our lifestyle is making the entire world unsafe. while we have been living ignorantly, consuming large quantities of gasoline to power our play toys and making everything with oil, from plastics to the materials used to pave roads, we have been unknowingly helping leaders of rogue countries gain money and power. money and power they are using against us. they have gotten us addicted to this drug they are selling - a drug which we almost entirely rely on them to give us and which we have been so intoxicated by that we have failed to see what is going on. even now that we do see, we cannot break our addiction.

why do i say all of this? because opec announced today that they are going to cut production of oil in order to skyrocket prices because oil prices have gotten too low (just when prices were starting to fall at the pumps). this is bad news for the global economy, which they clearly have little regard for as they know people will always need oil. what are they doing with the windfall profits they are making? well, besides living extravagant lives, they are building nuclear weapons and purchasing weapons from other countries. by buying their oil, we are literally fueling their hatred and greed against us.

all the while, we are getting weaker with a crumbling economy (mostly because of our desire for things), and we have almost literally handed over our fate to militant dictators who hate this country. all the while, they are getting richer and more powerful. they have found our vulnerability (the missing scale in the dragon's armor if you will), and they are exploiting it. this has to end. and, mark my words, it is not going to be pretty.

with this said, please be very careful who you vote for in two weeks. we need a secure nation. even more, we need energy dependence... now! actually, we needed it yesterday.

please see this article and prepared to be very disturbed: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,442343,00.html

goodnight and good luck,
jw <><

the change america is looking for... socialism?

below is an interesting statement from senator obama that was in response to a question from a plumber in ohio. i thought all of you would be interested in seeing it.

"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" the plumber asked, complaining that he was being taxed "more and more for fulfilling the American dream."

"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success too," Obama responded. "My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

here is the link for the full article: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/13/obama-plumber-plan-spread-wealth/comments/

jw <><

grace alone...

When St. Paul taught the doctrine of justification by Grace alone he was opposed by those who thought he was encouraging moral irresponsibility, and in fact undermining the law, but Paul insisted that on the contrary he was establishing the law. Similarly when Luther reasserted the same doctrine at the Reformation he was met with the charge of fostering antinomianism, but he showed that the contrary was the case, for out of justification flowed the life ruled by the law of love, and that far from subverting moral responsibility justification by Grace alone established it upon a profound and unshakeable foundation.

Theological Science, T.F. Torrance

Perhaps we should try to get our heads around this radical truth that is the Good News that our salvation is not conditional on our actions but that our actions consequentially follow God's saving action! After all, what is grace if we have to earn it? When we realize that we are saved despite ourselves, then we are freed to live in joy and love. We no longer have to serve God out of a feeling of obligation or duty, living in constant fear of whether we are doing enough, but we develop an unceasing desire to serve God in response to His great mercy, being empowered by the Holy Spirit to act. My friends, I pray that you would begin to grasp the enormity of how high and wide and deep the love of God is for us in and through Jesus Christ!

cheers,
jw <><

the Word...

We only know persons whose words are in addition to what they are and whose words in themselves are impersonal acts separate and distinct from their persons. With God this is not so. His Word is His Person in communication, for in His speaking He Himself is personally present communicating Himself. That is in the Word of God who became flesh in Jesus Christ in whose self-communication God communicates Himself in Person and confronts us with His Person as Word.

Theological Science, T.F. Torrance

crucifixion...

In Jesus Christ the Truth of God has broken into our human life and history in such a way as to involve crucifixion on His part as He endures the contradiction of sinners against Himself, and 'crucifixion' on our part as we take up the Cross and follow Him in an act of obedience in which we repent of our untruth and are changed in adaptation to the Truth of God.

Theological Science, T.F. Torrance

silence...

There is always a point before the face of the Truth of God as it is in Jesus where we break off speaking and are silent in order that God may declare Himself to us and the Truth be His own witness.

Theological Science, T.F. Torrance

some nuggets to chew on...

Where our statements have to do with the ultimate Truth of God true verification must be through appeal to the judgment of God Himself. It is to be sought in a way that guards the true Majesty of God and preserves the true limits of the creature and so does not allow the creature to exalt himself above God, and thus to falsify himself or to turn the truth of God into a lie. We cannot anticipate or arrogate to ourselves the decision as to the truth but can only cast ourselves upon God, offering ourselves with our statements for His criticism and correction, for His approval or disapproval, and praying that through His judgement they may receive justification and truth.
In this submission to the judgement and Grace of God we rely upon the Incarnation, upon the condescension of the Truth to enter within our weakness in order to make Himself accessible and communicable to us (i.e. upon its own objective effectuality), and by the Grace of His revelation and reconciliation to be the object of our knowledge in spite of the limitations and inadequacy and poverty of our words and thoughts, for far from allowing His power to be limited or halted by them, He sanctifies and elevates them in His assumption of our humanity, and gives them a content in His Truth which they are utterly unable in themselves to hold or possess. Thus in Jesus Christ God has not only revealed Himself, objectified Himself, given Himself to be known but has actualized understanding and knowledge and speech of Himself within our humanity and its creaturely forms. It is that Truth spoken and heard, given and received, communicated and understood, and therefore spoken and given and communicated again within the idiom of our existence in space and time, that comes to us and claims from us understanding and thought and speech. Therefore as we hear and receive and understand the Truth of God and think it out and communicate it again in statements, we cast ourselves upon the reliability of God behind it all, by resting as Augustine used to say, upon the same Grace by with the Truth became incarnate, praying that our words and statements which we seek to utter in faithful conformity to the Truth of God as it is in Jesus may by Grace be given actual content in the Truth to which they humbly and obediently claim to refer. And we believe that according to His promise and in accordance with the judgements of His Grace, He will adopt them and give them their Truth in Himself, as it pleases Him.

Theological Science, T.F. Torrance

hymns, part 2...

here is another one of my new favorite hymns:

awake my soul

1. The image of God invisible
The firstborn of all life
Before and within,
He holds it all in
One name, one faith, one Christ

Chorus: No one is good enough
To save himself
Awake my soul tonight
To boast nothing else

2. I trust no other source or name
Nowhere else can I hide
This grace gives me fear,
and this grace draws me near
And all that it asks it provides
(Repeat chorus)

Bridge: No seam in this garment
All my rags to hide
No less than your love
For Jesus is mine

3. When I stand on the edges of Jordan
With the saints and the angels beside
When my body is healed
and the glory revealed
Then still I can boast only Christ
(Repeat chorus twice)

©2002, Same Old Dress Music (ASCAP).
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

you can listen to it here: http://ruf.org/sounds/mp3/AwakeMySoul.mp3

enjoy!

cheers,
jw <><

americans deserve to know the truth...

so, monday as i was driving around i just happened to have on the radio, which is very strange for me. it just happened to be on a talk radio show, which i began listening to... also, very odd for me. any way, i was listening to this radio show before i realized who it was. if i had realized earlier i probably would have turned it off (because i am not very fond of this person), but what was being said absolutely infuriated me. the topic was the current financial crisis and who was responsible. i have provided a link below, which will reveal who the talk show host was, but i cannot refrain from sharing this because i think we deserve to know the truth about what is going on. all we have heard (and statistics have shown that we remarkably believe to the truth), is that this whole mess is due to lack of restrictions and big business policies of the current republican administration. apparently, the liberal media has duped us all again, and we have bought right into it. however, conservatives are not pointing out what has happened (do they even know?).

i will warn you that this article is sort of long, but please read it. you will be blown away.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_092208/content/01125108.guest.html

after you read it this will make sense... bill clinton was interviewed by matt lauer this morning on the today show. he was asked to respond to president bush's statement in last night's presidential address that the roots of this crisis date back more than a decade - an obvious reference to the clinton administration. clinton's response to his party's pressuring freddie and fannie to give out mass amounts of extremely risky sub-prime loans was that it could be blamed; however, it was the right decision at the time because freddie and fannie had plenty of money at the time. as if his despicable inability to recognize the huge future problem they were creating wasn't enough, he also failed to mention that the democratic party had refused in the past few years to agree to bills proposed by republicans who recognized the coming problem and tried to correct it. each bill was shot down by the democrats in an effort to protect their ridiculous policies and interests.

even more than this, as i have listened to the remarks of people like barack and hilary and others, i have gotten even madder as they have pointed fingers at the republicans. what they are failing to admit, while doing an excellent job shifting the blame to the republicans and the "corrupt" ceos of freddie and fannie, is that these ceos are all democrats and are leading donors for barak. all of this is quite disturbing.

enough is enough. it is time for real change. it is time the american people became educated, stood up, and put an end to these ridiculous political games and agendas that are putting us all at risk.

jw <><

9/11

we remember...

recent oddities in the news...

so, i have come across some questionable things in the news in the past few days. i thought i would highlight a few.

first, there was a news story about russia blaming george bush for the georgian conflict. apparently, bush created this whole thing "as a plot to install John McCain as his successor." this is no joke. here is a link: http://www.aol.com.au/news/story/Putin-blames-US-for-war/916561/index.html.

i think it is interesting for several reasons.
1. i read this story on cnn, whom putin apparently enlightened and entrusted with this disturbing information. however, when i tried to find the story on cnn again today, it had mysteriously disappeared. thankfully, others saw it too and have raised questions about it. why did you get rid of it, cnn?
2. should we be wondering why putin would like us to think this? apparently he wants us all to vote for obama. i will make no further comments about this. i just think it is interesting.

next, today msnbc announced that olbermann and matthews will no longer anchor political night coverage. here is the link: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/08/msnbc-hosts-olbermann-matthews-booted-from-political-night-duties/.

surprise, surprise. they received the lowest ratings for the political conventions because of their liberal bias. here is a little news flash to the media - we don't like your opinionated garbage. just report the news and let us make up our own minds about what we think.

more on slanted news coverage, fox news reported today that john mccain has gone ahead in the polls by 4 points, while cnn reported that mccain and obama were dead even. what? if you read the articles closely, you would see that fox news is using a gallup poll, while cnn is using their own poll. however, cnn admits that in their "poll of polls," which is an average of several polls, john mccain is up by a point. whatever. later in the day, cnn's article about mccain and obama being dead even turned into an article entitled, "why obama lost his lead." nice one!

finally, i just wanted to applaud jordin sparks for what she said at the vma awards. it is about time someone said that sex should wait until marriage and perhaps hollywood should stop patting themselves on the back for living such careless lives. you can see the article here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,418487,00.html.

that's all i have, but let this serve as a reminder that we must be careful with the information we receive from the media. as john mayer sings, "when you own the information you can bend it all you want."

cheers,
jw <><

hymns...

i thought i should do a new post just to move those terrible pictures of myself down a little. any way, i have found some hymns that i love recently, so i wanted to post some lyrics and links so all of you could take a listen. before i do, though, all of you should go out right now and buy the new chris tomlin cd - hello love. it is amazing!

jesus, i come

1. Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

2. Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

3. Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

4. Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

© 2000 Greg Thompson Music.

take a listen to a clip: http://www.igracemusic.com/ig3/

i hope you all enjoy! i will put up some others in the days to come. keep posted!

cheers,
jw <><

here are some sweet pics that i have been trying to get up for awhile. i wish i had a mullet to contribute to this super trashy facial hair. oh, well. maybe next time. elizabeth didn't want me to put them up, but against her better judgment, i did... i just had to do something to compete with jim beaty's amazing snowman pic (a little shout out to our joint effort to return to the blog-o-sphere).

why i am not a very good artist...

so i have been reading this book called the war of art (along with several others i am reading right now) by steven pressfield. i started reading it because i have been really trying to write music lately. i always get writer's block or feel that what i have written is crap. well, i don't just feel it is crap; i know it is crap. the book is quite interesting and inspired my blog about how we are boring people (and will inspire several more that will be coming soon that i have been thinking about). the book talks about how to break through what pressfield calls "resistance," which is personified as being the thing that holds us back from being creative. for someone coming from a secular perspective, i am finding many spiritual applications. i encourage you all to read it if you feel you are struggling with the same sort of thing. it is a super easy read. any way, i have been thinking a lot about what holds me back, which sort of morphed into trying to figure out why i think i am a crappy at art and being creative. you see, artists have this ability to see things in ways that no one else sees them... to see beauty where others just see ordinary things. but even more than that, they have this ability to express and present things in a stirring but ambiguous manner that invites the viewer/listener/etc. in and allows one to come back to the work of art time and time again and find new things (perhaps that the artist didn't even think of). no good artist just comes right out and says what they mean. there is always something deeper there. that is the point of art, right?

so i have discovered two reasons why i have failed at being creative. first, i am simply no good at not just coming right out and saying what i am thinking. this is probably good in the practical world, but i wish i could turn it off sometimes. i am too dang literal all the time, which probably makes me a pretty dull person. for as much as i love art, it is sort of weird that i really hate to beat around the bush. maybe that is why art appeals to me so much... because i need to escape myself sometimes! i think i have this fear of being misunderstood. i want people to hear exactly what i am saying and see exactly what i am seeing. this is why i spend hours working out sermons questioning just how people will interpret every single word i say and making sure that it is just right. but i have always been jealous of people who can just let things be put out there for others to interpret. this is what makes art both great and risky. it demands interpretation but does not demand a particular interpretation. it only invites. laura foxworth used to write songs while i was preaching at intermission. she was literally doing what i could not do. i could say, "okay, here is what has really inspired me this week (and that is what i preached in a very literal way)," and she would take that (while i was preaching it) and turn it into something that was expressed in a way that allowed others to enter into it wherever they were at that moment. amazing. i could have just preached to her before the service and just let her sing my sermon. it probably would have been a lot more effective (and time saving!). so this brings me to my second problem with being creative... inspiration. art requires it. where exactly does a song originate... or a picture or a poem? this is not to say that i don't have plenty of inspiration (i have an infinite source actually), but i don't think that i spend enough time keeping my eyes open to see things in a deeper way than they first appear. anyone can look at a mountain or an ocean and say, "that is beautiful." but we are constantly surrounded by beauty in the ordinary things of our day. and i miss it 99.9% of the time. this is what makes a good artist good. they take the ordinary and show it to us in a new light because they have kept their eyes open in a way that allowed them to see it in a new light. and the art invites us in and we relate to it because it is ordinary things (just expressed in a moving way). perhaps this takes special talent. perhaps it just takes attentiveness.

figuring this stuff out helps me move forward because at least now i can practice putting thoughts out there that don't demand a certain interpretation and keeping my eyes open. i am also very open to any suggestions that any of you may have.

cheers,
jw <><

aliens? what aliens?

check out this article... very suspicious.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,390161,00.html

to infinity and beyond,
jw <><

we're boring people...

friedrich nietzsche wrote, "we have no dreams at all or interesting ones. we should learn to be awake the same way - not at all or in an interesting manner." good point.

i have realized that we christians are a really boring people. i am certainly including myself in this. i have just been very convicted lately that the very people who claim that God has blessed them with spiritual gifts, talents, and creativity are the very people who seem to spend most of their time being very rigid and unoriginal. further, we claim to be created in the image of God who is THE CREATOR. honestly, could we live in a more boring fashion? worse yet, we make God and His message boring. it is like we are saying that this message that we have (which we claim is life-altering and provides life and freedom itself) isn't worth our time to figure out how to live out and show to others in an interesting way.

please don't misunderstand me... i don't want to risk sounding like it is our job to make God "relevant." this is an ridiculous idea, since it is God who makes all things relevant. i do think that God has blessed us with gifts and talents (and brains that can reason!) in order to bring glory to Himself, though. and there was a time when people's faith was expressed creatively in their lives - some of the greatest art (including music, architecture, and literature) ever produced came from these expressions. but the church has ceased to be creative and has begun copying secular society. and we wonder why the church is shrinking at drastic rates. perhaps the world looks at our laziness and lack of zeal and thinks that these things have spoken pretty loudly about our attitude toward our faith.

further, there are a lot of problems in the church and in the world that don't get solved because we don't spend time thinking of how to handle them. we feel like it is too costly to dream these things up. we are struggling to hold things together as they are now, right? here are some crazy thoughts: what if we didn't just see our professions as a means to an end - retirement? what if ministers didn't view sunday morning as just another sermon to get through but as a time (maybe the only time) to deliver the life-giving words of God? what if teachers saw their work not just as a job but as a time to share with children the knowledge that would help their lives be productive? what if scientists saw their work for what it is - as a chance to learn more about God's creation in order to protect and sustain it? the list could go on and on. the point is - what if all this struggle to hold things together is just self-created because we are not doing things in a way that allows us to be creative and passionate? what if this freed us up to do them as they should be done?

the truth is, nevertheless, that it takes a lot of energy to live this way, and it is easy to get caught in the flow of life and lived tired and boring. my friends, life is a battle either way, and we have only one chance. you can choose to struggle to just make it through each day or you can choose to struggle to make it through the day creatively. my attitude is - i would rather live forty hard-fought years and die than live a boring life to be a hundred. i choose to fight because, frankly, i am sick of a morally inept society with its poverty (spiritual and financial), corrupt politicians, failing school systems, wars, and polluted environment. i choose to fight because i think God wants more from the church than just becoming secularized with its diminishing influence and attendance, its biblically illiterate members, its ineffective and boring educational programs, its wimpy stand on social and moral issues, and its stressed out clergy. more than these things, i choose to fight because death has already been defeated. i choose to fight because there is beauty and truth that just needs someone to shine some light on it. i choose to fight because i believe that God continues to move in this world and continues to do new things. i choose to fight because one day this battle will be over and LOVE WILL WIN!

each day is a blank canvas, an empty piece of sheet music, a shapeless lump of clay or stone, a blank roll of film... what are you doing with it?

cheers,
jw <><

i'm doooonnnnneeee!!!!!!

everyone get excited - i completed summer hebrew today. i have to admit that i enjoyed it more than greek, which seemed kind of rigid and boring to me. any way, i have been wanting to blog for sometime now, so i think there is probably about to be a flood of blogs. so it goes.. a drought of blogs followed by a flood of blogs.

cheers,
jw <><

a little summer fun...

elizabeth and i took a random trip to ohiopyle state park. it was super hot one friday, so saturday morning we woke up and decided the only way to stay cool was to hang out all day in the 58* river! here are some pics:


a nice little hike...


nice scenery for the hike!


just soaking the feet after lunch by a waterfall...


lunch cooler doubles as a great pillow!



this was our view of the waterfall while we napped and ate lunch.


we did some rock hopping out to the river. it was SOOO fun!



where is jon? he is hidden in this one... haha!



here is the river at ohiopyle. see the rafts and kyaks coming down.


look at these rapids.


fun fun fun!


we have a front seat to watch all the rafting.


yay! jon did not fall down!


i made it across the slippery rocks!


ahhh! lovely waterfall!


this is the natural water slide... it looked really scary!


this part of the slide sucked you under water. we decided not to try it on this ocassion. we did watch some crazies go down, and they survived.... so maybe we will try it next time.

love from us!
j o n & e l i z a b e t h

wedding weekend in starkville

we just had to snap a few pic of the trees around the seminary before we left for the airport. these are in the court yard in front of the library. spring is gorgeous!




yay for us! the is me as an official 2nd year student. whaahooo!!




i fell asleep before we even took off... haha. that was the best plane sleep i have ever had! i had no clue jon reached under my seat to get my camera out. i was out like a light!


dressed for the rehearsal (so i thought) and brother ben


jon and me in the dress i did wear... haha. pretty nice bow tie! we have to thank dr. purves for the lessons on making a great bow tie!


lovely laura and me



the bride and all her maids at the rehearsal dinner



we are getting ready



we are ready. me, mary adele, kylie and molly



chi omega pic


all the chi omegas sing farewell to laura


reception pic


laura in her pretty dress


this was awesome! he started with a blank canvas at the reception. i am the tall one in the pink dress under the tent



yay for laura who fought for the boquet!


mr and mrs rackley are off to the honeymoon!


yay for family! ben, jon, me, mom cooper, adam, and abi


what a wonderful weekend!

e l i z a b e t h

preaching...

i am offering a challenge to all you preachers out there. please read the following and consider whether you are doing your job properly:

to preach a sermon, i think, is not the hardest part; and yet what skill is necessary to make the truth plain; to convince the hearers, to let irresistible light in to their consciences, and to keep it there, and drive all home; to screw the truth into their minds, and work Christ into their affections; to meet every objection, and clearly to resolve it; to drive sinners to a stand, and make them see that there is no hope, but that they must unavoidably either be converted or condemned - and to do all this as regards language and manner, as beseems our work, and yet as is most suitable to the capacities of our hearers. this, and a great deal more that should be done in every sermon, must surely require a great deal of holy skill. so great a God, whose message we deliver, should be honoured by our delivery of it. it is a lamentable case, that in a message from the God of heaven, of everlasting moment to the souls of men, we should behave oursevles so weakly, so unhandsomely, so imprudently, or so slightly, that the whole business should miscarry in our hands, and God should be dishonoured, and his work disgraced, and sinners rather hardened than converted; and all this through our weakness or neglect! how often have carnal hearers gone home jeering at the palpable and dishonourable failings of the preacher! how many sleep under us, because our hearts and tongues are sleepy, and we bring not with us so much skill and zeal as to awake them! richard baxter, the reformed pastor (pg70)

is it possible that we have made the message of life and hope boring and irrelevant? perhaps we have failed to preach "the message" at all in an effort to not offend, or to entertain, or to make God relevant. perhaps we should remember that we do not make God relevant... He makes us relevant. perhaps we should not take our work so lightly and come so causally before God Almighty...

cheers,
jw <><

politics

okay, so i want to write a word or two about the one thing i know ministers are not supposed to discuss... politics. don't worry, though. i am going to stay as neutral as possible about my own political affiliation. i am not going to support or tear down any of the candidates. i just wanted to raise some questions. perhaps it will evoke some thought if there are any of you out there still reading this blog.

i was reading something about evil recently that got me thinking. shirley guthrie wrote,

important as it is to take the social context of evil into consideration, social explanations do not get to the heart of the problem of evil. they do not explain how or why social structures themselves become evil. moreover, instead of solving the problem, blaming a familial or social system for evil can make it worse. we do not have to take responsibility for our own lives, nor will we be able to do so, so long as we can blame our parents or someone else for our faults and problems. we cannot encourage and help others to take responsibility for their own lives or to challenge a repressive social system so long as we allow them to continue blaming family background or "the system" for their faults and problems. on the other hand, those who believe that evil can be overcome by changing a particular social, economic, or political system forget that when the oppressed who have no power get enough power, then the oppressed usually become the oppressors, doing unto others what has been done to them. evil does not end; it only changes managers and forms of expression. (christian doctrine, pg 177)

i will be the first in line to say that things need to change in american politics. perhaps we should be very weary of those promoting drastic change, though. i think we need to ask ourselves a few questions.

1) what is the purpose of the government?
i think one could give numerous correct answers here, but i do not think that one of them is to give handouts.

2) do we really trust the government enough to give it more power to regulate?
i think that this should be a no brainer. we blame the government for the mess we are in, yet we want to elect officials who want to give the government more power to fix the mess that the government supposedly created in the first place. this seems somewhat nonsensical to me.

3) is the problem really the government?
i think that the government certainly isn't helping things; however, is the problem government or the people of the democracy? it seems interesting to me that blaming the government for problems of the u.s. isn't really getting at the heart of things.

having said that, i think that we take a long look at ourselves. perhaps the government is not the problem. perhaps the problem is our own sinfulness. although america has been very generous in times of need, it seems we are becoming what others countries have seen us as for so long (maybe a self-fulfilling prophecy)... greedy, egocentric, conceded. what happened to the people that made this nation great? the people who worked their butts off and didn't demand higher wages and better benefits. please do not misinterpret me. i am not saying that i do not believe in fair wages, but i do not think that a bus driver should be making over $100,000, as they are in pittsburgh. we have been become a bunch of greedy whiners who wonder why it costs $15 to ride the bus two blocks.

if we think we can just change the government and fix the problem this country is having, we are sadly mistaken. we will not eliminate the problems. they will only change "forms of expression." this country will implode in on itself as we elect officials who cater to our greed.

maybe we should give some thought to this... perhaps our nation wouldn't have so many economic problems if unions' demands wouldn't keep running companies to the ground or out of the country, or if people wouldn't keep living beyond their means, or if parents would impress on their children the need for the education they have been freely offered. this is just a start... further, perhaps we wouldn't have problems oversees if america hadn't failed the first time in places like afghanistan. if we hadn't crapped out but actually rebuilt the country after the russians were run out. instead, we decided our job was over and left it helpless to serve as a breeding ground for terrorists. it would be nice if we actually learned from our mistakes for once. it looks as though we are just doomed to repeat them.

or maybe we should just blame our government for people taking out loans that couldn't be repaid. perhaps we should tax the crap out of companies and individuals who actually are working and making money. perhaps we should just demand that the government keep dumping money into our failing education systems and promise to leave no child behind. as if dumping money into a problem ever fixed it. i could go on... maybe we should all just play dumb and continue to ignore the real problem... ourselves.

despite these things perhaps we should recognize one thing. we have seriously messed up when we put our hope in this world. my friends, barack obama is not a savior, nor is john mccain. come january 2009, it is my bet that things have not changed... at least not for the better. gas prices will continue to rise, producing higher food prices and everything else for that matter. politics will be politics. life will go on. the fact is real change only comes from one place, and that is where i choose to place my hope. maybe it is time we recognized that and allowed the One who can change things to begin with us.

cheers (and a hope for a better-not-just-different tomorrow),
jw <><

study break!!!!!!!!!!

it has been absolutely gorgeous around these parts lately! we missed spring last year since we did not move until the end of may. we had NO idea how awesome spring time is here!

i had cabin fever! who wouldn't after studying for nine finals and just knowing how beautiful the weather is outside??? so we decided to go out for a photo shoot of some of our favorite spots.

these tulips are literally lining up on both sides of 5th avenue. it is crazy how many there are. there are sooo many colors and even multi-colored, too! you have to see it. our pictures cannot explain!







the trees are all blossoming! yeah they are all turning green and sprouting leaves, BUT they also have beautiful flowers on them!! the white and purple ones are my favorite. i should just start taking my camera whenever we drive around. yesterday i saw a few trees with HOT pink flowers on them.







i have been wanting to get a pic with this special dino since we moved here! this is outside of mr. rogers studio on 5th avenue. notice how the dino is dressed in a red sweater and blue sneakers just like mr. r!! how cute is that!





more blogging to come!

e l i z a b e t h

Weekend and Wedding in Niagara Falls

jon's parents came to visit us for a few days, and then we all traveled to the falls for lou and shana's wedding. we loved having visitors and getting together with the whole wagner family at grandma wagner's house.


we're at the wedding.




the wedding party.



uncle al, aunt kathy, lou and shana



the wedding party rides in the lovely white hummer.



uncle allyn says jon and adam look like twins in this pic. they do look like cousins, but i think twins is a little overboard.





here we are with grandma wagner. she told us she was dressed as a butter cup for the wedding - haha! she is too funny.





hannah and caitlin were the best dancers of the whole night!





hannah, caitlin and whitney





at the reception we had dessert and cake, too! yum-yum!




precious!






justin and adam's girlfriends are trying to teach uncle dee to dance!



after all the wedding fun, the family was moving everything out of grandma's house. i loved hearing all the stories about the good old days while we were going through all the stuff.





we found a really cool record player upstairs and lots of old records to go with it. we were pleasantly surprised to see it still works!!






the coat closet was filled with the most fashionable hats you could ever imagine! everyone thought the hats were great. we all had fun playing dress-up... haha!


sorry we are soooo behind with posting! i am to blame because i am on break... haha!

e l i z a b e t h