What China and Dave Ramsey have in common

I wrote this a couple days ago, but am finall

y posting it.  I'm not as enranged anymore, but I'm still pretty pissed. 

Maybe I should just become a European.  Seriously.  They have been building energy efficient buildings before we knew what that meant, they walk everywhere, and this just in...

they are thinkin

g about boycotting the olympic ceremonies because of the way the Chinese government has handled the Tibet situation.

THANK YOU.

Meanwhile, old G.W. keeps reiterating how excited we are to be headed over to Beijing, and there is no way we would consider pulling out.  (Unless they did something really stupid, like started to pay their factory workers a fair wage)  

Don't get me wrong.  I love China.  I love Chinese people.  I lived in China.  I love Chinese food. BUT as a nation, at what point do we start being consistent.  We are willing to INVADE AND START A FIVE YEAR WAR with a country based on the idea that the government is corrupt and we need to spread democratic ideals, but this other country-- with a corrupt government and non-democratic ideals-- we will go and support and send our money, trade, and world-class athletes there, and act like everything is honkey dorie.  

I also APPLAUD Steven Speilberg for dropping out as the leading artistic consultant to the games because of China support of the armies ENGAGED IN CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN.

You want to know why I think we are supporting China.  Because we don't listen to Dave Ramsay.  I know that is a weird thing to say, but hear me out.

I was listening to an analysis of global interdependancy (it wasn't called that, but essentially that's what it was) a couple days ago, and he stated that the Iraq war is estimated to cost us about 2 TRILLION DOLLARS (so far).  AND YET, this is the first time when we have not raised taxes to pay for a war.  We are paying for our war completely on...

CREDIT.

Where is the money coming from?  Mostly from banks in China.

If I ran my house this way I would be living on the streets.  I was so appauled I almost threw up. I mean, I don't really think I'm like some hippie liberal, but I guess I am, if that means paying for things you buy, and thinking about what you can afford before you go into the store.  Can we afford a new tank if we give tax cuts to the rich?  Nope.  Well then maybe we shouldn't go into Iraq. 

SO we are paying for a war to overturn a corrupt government and pave the way to dempcracy with money from a corrupt communist country.  DOES ANYONE ELSE think this is crazy?

What would Jesus think about this barter of economics for human dignity?

Ok.  I have to log off before my head implodes.  

Holy Saturday

I was re-reading some of my older posts and stumbled upon this one. I wish that I still had words like this to say, but instead I'll just re-post old words and hope they resonate. Ideas of rejection and redemption.. I think that's fitting for a Saturday stuck between the death and the rising.

Rejection and Redemption

In Donald Miller's book "Searching for God Knows What" he espouses several theories attempting to explain this human behavior that we do. One is related to the memory that he has as a child of seeing a circus act and the circus people all sitting around talking to each other. He talks about how, even in the circus-- a cult of freaks and weirdos-- there is a hierarchy, some acts that are seen as more valuable than others. Even among the rejected, there is a sense of order about who is better than another. At one point he says, "One writer said that what we commonly think of as love is really the desire to be loved. I know this is true for me, and it has been true for years, that often when I want somebody to like me, I am really wanting them to say that I am redeemed, that I am not a loser, that I can stay in the circus, that my act redeems me."
I have been thinking about this rejection idea a lot in my life not only here lately, but off and on for the past year. It absolutely astonishes me how much it hurts, and how damaging it can be to my future-- making me do these weird things and behave in bizarre ways-- all because I have once been told either in word or deed, "I don't want you."

Even now, as I write those words, they burn my eyes to read them.

There are times when people can reject us without intentionally meaning to hurt, even. Isn't rejection inherent in choice? When someone is choosing a best friend, a mate, the captain of the quiz bowl team, who to give the secret password to, isn't the value in that choice (if you are the one chosen) that you were selected, above others? Everyone can't be chosen. Some get told, "I don't want you".

But it wasn't until the other night that I was sitting in the dark trying to sleep, that I think I caught a new glimpse of this idea of redemption- in the light of rejection. Somehow in God's game everyone gets chosen. No one is rejected. No one is told, "I don't want you." All get redeemed- and redeemed with something of great worth, according to 1 Peter. Redeemed by something that is incorruptible- the blood. Through the rejection of Jesus we are accepted.

In Psalm 3 David says that the Lord is a Shield protecting him, His glory, and the lifter of his head. Now I don't understand the glory part- as much as I've studied it and tried and tried to understand. I partially understand the shield part- that the Lord protects us, even though this does not mean that danger does not come our way, or that we will always be spared from pain, but the lifter of the head- this part is really cool. Back in David's time beggars would sit outside the gate and beg from the people as they entered the city. But if someone came over to them, and lifted their head, it was symbolic that that person would take care of them for the rest of their life- they would no longer have to beg. Here David is saying, "You, God, have pulled me from my status as a beggar, and have promised to take care of me. You are my glory, you protect me, and you provide for me." In essence, "You have told me that I have worth."

In Ez. 16 there is also one of the craziest allegories of the Bible (in my humble opinion). God tells Israel that they are like a baby who has been thrown into the field and is wallowing in its own blood, because no one wanted it. Through the story God fulfills many different roles in this child's life- provider, comforter, and eventually husband. God finds the discarded child in a field and tells her that she has worth.

How interesting it is that the cuts of rejection are often some of the deepest, and yet the threads of redemption are what hold together the gospel message.