Half Myself

I want to be about half myself. This is an uphill battle. I like food. I enjoy cooking. But there comes a time where you have to decide whether the little things you indulge in are going to temper the entire future outlook of your life, or whether they will be restraint forevermore to the category of "indulgence" and behave more like the highlight they were originally intended to be than like the common fare they have become.

Such is the task before me. This was never a problem 6 years ago, but in 6 years things have changed and I am deciding that though they have changed they will not define my health and physical abilities for the rest of my life. I'll be half myself.

I'm a Whole City!

You Are Boston

Both modern and old school, you never forget your roots. Well educated and a little snobby, you demand the best. And quite frankly, you think you are the best. Famous people from the Boston area: Conan O'Brien, Ben Affleck, New Kids on the Block

What American City Are You?

Argument for Education

I am going to be arguing in a debate this Monday that the Federal Government is responsible for providing basic public education for all of its citizens. This argument joins me with friend Lindsay Marshall, who I have often debated against with regard to other social/political issues--she is, after all, a democrat (or at least a democrat-minded independent). We'll be debating two Libertarians, Andrew Bailey and Tim Heggem. They will be arguing that Federal Tax Money shouldn't be taken from people to fund public schools.

I'm really looking forward to it. Reading up on my Federalist Papers, Tocqueville, etc. I know I'm wierd, but this is my idea of fun.

The Lame Duck

We need to remove the term limits for Presidents. It is, in my opinion, seriously damaging our society. Especially in today's world of polarized politics, I think getting rid of the term limits to the office of the President is essential. The debate should be held annually every four years--every politician should be responsible for his behavior and decisions and the people should have the chance to prove at every election where they really want the nation to be headed.

Yes, I realize that the party in power typically brings this argument up...and yes, I realize that if we had allowed Reagan to reverse the law, Clinton might still be President. To these concerns I say this: I don't care. The law is a stupid one, and is making the second term of the president less and less effective...and that is backwards thinking in my opinion. We cannot effectively knock the legs out from under our leaders directly after their successful re-election for fear that they might continue to be re-elected by virtue of their political success. That's madness. The circumstances that produced the 4 terms of FDR don't happen everyday. I think its far more likely that the office of the President would grow in its ability to accomplish something than that it would immediately evolve into our own version of a dynasty.

I suppose this seems as if it came out of no where...I have heard too many discussions recently about the dwindling support of the President and the "fact" that he's a lame duck, barely two years into his second term...and I just get tired of it. I don't expect it to change anytime soon--neither side wants to give up power to the other, and ultimately Congress doesn't want the office of the President to have more power than he absolutely needs...but if we were actually trying to fix things that have gone wrong in our country, that would be one of them.

Pictures...

I realized recently that I hadn't posted any pictures in a while. I was watching them rotate on our screensaver, and thought...I should post some...so...here you go...

Consider the Lilies of the Field

We have a great God. Of course, this is not merely demonstrated when the small details of our personal lives are taken care of, but surely seeing His provision for those details must summon us to praise Him.

Our car has had problems...something you may or may not know. The problems were fairly extensive, and though fixable, they were expensive. The mechanic I *randomly* asked to take a look at these problems seemed to be being fair with me when he offered to cover the cost of taxes for the parts and labor, and to give us a 10% discount right from the start of this process, cutting it down from roughly $2600 to $2300. We still needed to consider how best to proceed and asked him to wait a few days. He called me yesterday to tell me that he had done some thinking and talking with his boss, and they had decided to reduce the price even further, to an even $2000. And they would offer us a free rental car for the time that they would need to take care of the repairs. We are doing one or two checks to compare prices (just in case this offer seeming to be to good to be true in fact is) but at this point, from counsel I have sought from others with more experience than myself, I feel fairly confident that this will be the way we go about dealing with this problem.

Its difficult to say exactly how amazing this is from our position...I only share actual numbers in the hope of lending some idea of the full measure of grace that I believe we are experiencing. $2000 is still a large amount for us, but that additional $600 being simply taken care of by the mechanic's shop and provision for transportation so we can continue to work through the repair time is a true blessing. Beyond that, my parents have offered to help us with the cost. They're missionaries, and I had not anticipated them being able to offer much help, but God has provided for us it seems by providing for them and they are insisting on helping.

It is amazing to see the faithful provision that God has already prepared for us--especially in those times when there is no hope of fixing the problem on our own.