This afternoon, I stopped by the local polling place on my way home from riding. There are nine constitutional amendments on the ballot this November–and I’m not gonna tell you how I voted. I’m sure you could figure it out! Which leads me to the next point: you should go vote too. But if you’re gonna vote against me, then don’t go at all! Ha…
Anyways, I hand my voter registration card to the attendant, they check the computer and ask me if I affirm that I am who I am and that I live where I live (Bla bla bla). I said, “Yes ma’am.” and proceeded to vote. No photo ID check…nothing. I could vote again if I had another registration card. But the irony is that I can’t buy something from Best Buy without an ID, but I can vote with only my word. Hum? Is this stupid, or is it just me?
I received my check for $6.00 for my service on jury duty last month. Six bucks for two hours of work. Our government is only paying ~55% of minimum wage. The funny thing is that I donated my six bucks to a victim relief fund, but I guess they missed my waiver. It makes me wonder how such a incompetent organization can still exist, and it makes me think about how incompetent that organization is. And I pay it thousands of dollars every year. Crazy.
Monthly Archives: October 2005
Random Quotes
I read this in The Dallas Morning News the other day. [Link to article]
From Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines):
Mr. Kelleher “knows a thing or two about the Wright amendment,” said Ed Stewart, a spokesman for Southwest, which wants to fly around the country from Love Field, its home airport. “Half the battle is just letting people know how ridiculous this law is.”
From American Airlines:
American spokesman Tim Wagner said his boss also “looks forward to testifying for the committee on the history and impact of the Wright amendment, on not just aviation in the North Texas region but also the United States and the world.”
Which sounds better? “[Knowing] how ridiculous the law is” or “[looking] forward to testifying for the committee on the history and impact…[bla bla bla]“.
You have to know you’re fighting a losing battle when you resort to political speech that circles about itself!
Quote Two:
From Jim Hamilton, a Professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary [Link to article]:
1. Doctrinal Indifference: Many evangelicals seem to think that theology and careful Bible study are just not very relevant. This is frightening, because in essence this is to say that knowing God and understanding what he has revealed is not helpful for life in the world he created. Evangelicals would never put it this way, but it is implicit in the suggestion that something other than theology and Bible study are central for ministry.
Wow! I don’t know if churches think about it his way when ministry events/activities are planned.
The Wright Amendment
In light of the last post and a good comment/question–I though I would write about why I oppose the Wright Amendment.
1) It is against free market principles.
Why arbitrarily limit an airport? Why allow flights to a state and the states which border it? I understand limiting national/international flights for security reasons, but you have no such concerns for interstate travel.
2) Dallas / Fort Worth is large enough to support two airports.
With roughly 5 million residents, the city can easily support two airports. Houston has 4 million residences, and they have two airports. Chicago, New York, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and many others have two airports–why can’t Dallas.
3) The Wright Amendment is designed to protect airlines, not an airport.
DFW is big enough to support itself. Love Field will never have the number of flights that DFW has. And with 5 million residents, the demand for flights won’t go away because of two airports. The Wright Amendment has created to protect Branff Airlines (now-defunct) and now by default, it protects American Airlines.
4) The Wright Amendment drives airfare prices up.
A study by American Airlines earlier this year indicates that the price of airfare in Dallas/Fort Worth would go down if the amendment is repealed. It wil increase competition and bring fare cost down.
So why not just close Love Field?
See point #2. Dallas/Fort Worth can support two airlines. I think Dallas should limit the number of flights that Love Field can handle each day. And I believe they have already done it. And it makes no sense to waste an already-built airport.
What about the residents within earshot of Love Field?
They knew about the airport before they bought their house. I live in a flight-path–it gets noisy sometimes, but it’s not that bad.
D/FW has brought great things to the area, and now you want to hurt it?
D/FW airport does not deserve such reverential treatment. The airport serves us (the people); not the other way around.
Why doesn’t Southwest move to D/FW?
1. Their headquarters are at love. 2. The time planes spend on the tarmac waiting to take off is high and doesn’t fit their model. 3. American Airlines flies close to 80% of all flights from D/FW (I think 600+ flights a day). 4. Delta just left because they couldn’t afford to compete, why should we expect Southwest to be able to compete there? 5. American is like an animal waiting to prey on another airline that would jump into it’s domain.
Is Southwest playing political games?
Yes.
Is American Airline playing political games?
Yes.
Since both sides are playing political games, I then take a step back and decide which side to agree with on philosophical and legal concepts. Hence, my four areas why I oppose the Wright Amendment. And my biggest problem is the unnecessary government restraint.
Lastros
Like a sick and dying animal, the Astros were graciously put down this evening.
In their typical fashion, they stranded dozens of batters in scoring position, easily choking away four wins that were within their grasp. I won’t recount each missed opporunity, but if you watched it, you know what I speak of.
However, the White Sox played a great series and their team triumphed in every aspect. Throw in some helpful bounces and advantageous calls, they took it in style.
At any rate, the Astros are now 1-5 since I decided I would cheer for them. And once again, I always seem to cheer for losers. Alex seems to tell the same story… So you should read it too.
Here’s to the end of baseball season and the start of basketball season!
Deacons
What are deacons?
I grew up in Baptist churches. My dad served on the body of deacons from time to time. I know their role is something akin to “servant leader.” But what do they really do?
Are they the gray-haired men with receding hairlines that pass the offering buckets between rows? Are they the men that open the doors? I suppose they call new members. Maybe they volunteer more than others. Perahps they are called deacons as a reward for faithful church service. Do they do anything else?
Most of the stories I remember about deacons are regarding inner-church fighting. Or a new pastor comes to a church only to find a less-than-receptive group of deacons who aren’t interested in change.
Perhaps deacons are perfect servant-leaders. They do what needs to be done without any fanfare or praise. Perhaps that’s why I don’t know what they do. And maybe they don’t do very much.
I don’t know. Maybe I should figure it out.
Mortality
From time to time, I am confronted with the reality that I am not timeless. I had a beginning on this earth. I will have an end.
Sometimes I feel invincible. Sometimes I am reminded that I am not. Sometimes I see death and am face-to-face with God’s glory and the goodness of His will. Sometimes I stop and wonder. And sometimes I sit back and ask “Why?”
Of course, I’m not affected like family would be. I’m merely a friend of a sibling.
But what never ceases to amaze me is: you’re here one moment–you’re not in the next. There is no fanfare, no adulation, no parties. Just a breath and a pause.
And with that you enter into the arms of a loving God or into an abyss without God. You flesh is buried, your stone is set. Your family and friends mourn your death.
And people forget that you were.
To the Siefert’s: Jacob
Technology
Is technology a luxury?
Or is it essential.
First, let’s define how I want to look at this: I’m not talking about convenience points in life–I’m thinking about the use of technology in sharing Jesus Christ with people. Not “Is A/C essential for my life?” (The answer is yes, by the way), but “Is technology necessary for reaching the US?”
That being said, I say that it is essential. We no longer live in a day where we can scrape by doing the things we have always done. The things we have always done worked fine in the past, but they aren’t working anymore. If you think about overall societal progression (in terms of information produced and shifting trends) we live at a time that would have been incomprehensible only 100 years ago.
Every five years, the amount of information in the world doubles, and it seems like the stations in my cable tv guide grow at a simlar pace. Movies have more CGI and special effects that seemlessly integrate with the movie. CDs are over-produced (go to a concert and see the difference–think Ashlee Simpson); and most of the information I could ever want is at my disposal on the internet.
And the church slowly adopts…let’s take the “wait and see” approach.
The church should be at the forefront of using technology. Jesus shared with people in the way that they could best understand: parables. We should do the same. Except modern day parables usually have cinematography, soundtracks and convincing actors. In the end, both tell stories. One told to a first-century culture–the other to a post-modern 21st century culture.
Techonlogy is not optional; it’s mandatory. The sooner we get around to accepting this fact, the sooner we can embrace technology and think of new and exciting ways to use it. Sure, some churches use media well (Fellowship Church, Willowcreek, Saddleback, and Ginghamsburg, to name a few). But sadly, they are the exception, not the rule.
Caring Churches
Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, recently spoke at CedarCreek Chuch’s anniversary celebration:
“My greatest fear,” he told the crowd, “is for you to think this is normal. This is so not normal.” …”
“You may think that a church that cares for lost people is normal,” Mr. Hybels said. “The average church on the corner of Elm and Vine doesn’t give a flying rip about people far from God. They’re an annoyance. They use bad words. They sleep in the wrong bed. They drink too much booze. They’re an annoyance.”
And this from Kevin Hendricks at Church Marketing Sucks:
Sadly, Hybels is right. Too many churches don’t care about lost people, and that fact comes across loud and clear in their actions. Those actions, in effect, become their marketing.
Unfortunately, it’s so sad but so true. Read the full article here…
Obstruction
It never ceases to amaze me how dumb companies are. First we have the recording industry: digital music is bad–let’s sue everyone for illegally sharing/stealing music! They should have said, “Humm…this is an interesting technology. How can we use it to make more money? Maybe we should sell music online… And maybe the reason sales are going down is because we sign people like Ashlee Simpson.”
Now book publishers are at it [Read the CNN story Here]. Google is working on an index of books so people can search and find the things they need–like a big concordance. Google doesn’t plan to release copyrighted works, just portions of which are covered under “fair use” copyright provisions. The publishers in all their genius are now suing Google to stop the company. Some nonsense about copright infringement.
Why don’t the publishers say, “I think we can make more money if people can actually find the information they need and buy our books.” But likely it’s related to producing a lot of literature that simply is not worth reading; and if people knew that in advance, would they by the books? No.
It’s infuriating how companies I support financially (i.e. I buy books) can continue to live in the era of my grandparents. The concept of “this is how we have always done it and it was good” still reigns supreme in many areas of life: politics, business, technology, religion. Some changes are bad–some are good. But the key is to contemplate which changes are good and which ones are bad–not allowing yourself to be set in stone, endlessly clinging to the vestiges of the past.
And in this case, I feel the stakes are even higher. The amount of information is the world is mushrooming out of control–growing exponentially on a yearly basis. I don’t foresee our ability to deal with the volume of information in the world without technology to help us search through it.
The Heimlich
Well, it looks like the Astros finally got done choking and won a game. Somebody must have done a great job administering the Heimlich Maneuver on them–
In spite of the fact that I’m not a fan, I’m glad they won. I’m glad for Chris’s sake, and I’m glad for David’s sake. And I’m even more excited that I won’t have to hear the moaning sounds of Houston if they kept on choking like normal!
HA!