Obama Has a Point June 24, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in Politics.add a comment
Sen. Barack Obama said in a speech Saturday that right-wing evangelical leaders have hijacked faith.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8PUN7AO0&show_article=1&cat=0
Why do I always find myself siding with freakin’ Democrats when it comes to stuff like this. Hum…well…because they’re right! Here, I think Obama has nailed it. Right-wing evangelical leaders (see previous post ‘Careful What You Believe’)have done enough to mislead Christians.
They’re really dividing the country with this stuff. …And in doing so, other Christians are getting a bad rap.
Good Soil June 23, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in Faith.add a comment
Today’s Upper Room devotional (www.upperroom.org) was titled “Good Soil”. It talked about good soil being soft and paralleled that to how our hearts also need to be soft.
If you’ve ever planted anything before, you know that good soil is not only rich in nutrients, it is also soft. When we plant a new greenfield at the farm, it often takes a couple of years ‘working’ the soil (plowing it, fertilizing it, liming it, etc.) before it get’s to where it needs to be. And it doesn’t matter how good your seed is, bad soil won’t grow much.
I liked this devotional because our hearts are in fact a lot like soil. It forms the basis for what we are and what we ‘can grow’. Our hearts, i.e., faith, get better with time spent in prayer and in the Word. The Word is like fertilizer, it enriches our faith!
Good to be back… June 21, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in Training.add a comment
Well, I finally got to get back to my training today after a few days off. I’ve had a bit of a cold (that June cold will always get ya) the last several days and haven’t felt like doing anything. Anyway, the plan was to do 45 mins. on the bike at noon and then a 5 mile Trak Shak run tonight. Well…I did the bike at noon at least. Didn’t feel much like running tonight so I came home and had two hot dogs and two beers instead (so much for what I did at noon, huh?).
It did feel good to get back active again though! It’s amazing how easy a small cold can keep me from wanting to exercise. Tomorrow afternoon…..a brick (back-to-back bike/run) at Oak Mtn.! I’m looking forward to it.
Careful What You Believe June 19, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in Faith.1 comment so far
I recently received an e-mail from a fellow brother-in-Christ who was forwarding an e-mail from the “American Family Association”. The title of the e-mail read: ”A bill in Congress makes it a crime for pastors and churches to speak against homosexuality”. Attention grabber, huh? I mean, come on, although I’m not exactly a proponent of the “fire and brimstone” style of preaching, I certainly don’t want pulpit speech restricted. Also, “American Family Association” sounds like a wholesome enough outfit to me.
Well, read on fellow believer… The e-mail went on to say that a bill before the U.S. Senate (House Bill 1592 and Senate Bill 1105) would make it a hate crime, punishable by fines and/or prison time, for anyone to call homosexuality a sin. It also specifically said the proposed law would make it a crime to preach on Romans Chapter 1 or I Chorinthians Chapter 6.
The point of the whole e-mail was to pitch a request for the reader to click on a link that would allow them to sign a petition against the proposed legislation. I hate to speculate on how many folks read the e-mail and blindly signed the petition. My curiousity got the best of me… A quick visit to www.thomas.gov quickly opened my eyes. Turns out, neither the bill passed in the House nor the bill introduced into the Senate were what AFA described them to be. This legislation does involve hate crimes though. The whole purpose of the bill is to provide state and local grant money for the enhanced enforcement of hate crime laws. It also does in fact make provisions for fines and/or up to 10 years in prison for anyone that causes bodily injury to another person based solely on their gender, race, national origin, religious preference or sexual orientation (yes, if you beat the crap out of a gay person simply because they’re gay, this bill would stiffen the penalty). That’s bodily injury though…nothing…nada…not a word, nor anything that could be interpreted as a word about speech toward homosexuality. Especially not within the confines of the Church.
Unfortunately, there’s no other way to put it… The AFA has distributed a lie. Pure propaganda. I don’t know much about the AFA, nor do I know what their true agenda might be (a list of those introducing the bill does lend a clue though…they’re all democrats). I just know that there is no way to get what they get from this bill. Also, regardless of who introduced this bill, it looks like good legislation to me. Good legislation…I can respect one’s debate of that, but there’s one thing for certain….there is no way to call it what the AFA has called it. Read it, it is what it is.
You see, I’m so fed-up with so-called “conservative christian” outfits playing on the heartstrings of Christians (primarily Evangelical Christians). As a conservative Evangelical Christian myself, it’s very insulting and ultimately hinders God’s Great Commission.
Folks, CAREFUL WHAT YOU BELIEVE. Don’t believe everything you read without putting your own mind forward.
Our Legislators Fail Us Again… June 19, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in Politics.2 comments
Larry Powell, a political science professor at UAB, had a great article in Sunday’s Birmingham News. The article pretty much sums-up the disappointment of the recent session of the Alabama Legislature. We have a few bright legislators in this state, some of whom I know, but for the most part…we have a bunch of buffoons representing us in our legislature.
This whole session was highlighted by childish gridlock, partisian politics and fighting (yes, I said fighting). You see, the end of the session was capped-off by Senator Charles Bishop delivering a right jab to Senator Lowell Barron. Supposedly, Barron called Bishop a “son-of-a-bitch”. Here it is folks, captured on youtube.com for the world to see.
How embarrising, huh? Sen. Bishop should resign. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in standing-up for one’s self, but the floor of the Alabama Senate is not the place and physical means should always be the last resort. Here, I don’t think this was the last resort. Come on…he was called a “son-of’a-bitch”…..grow up Sen. Bishop! To you Sen. Barron….you should grow up too, I think it’s well documented that you are a trouble maker. For Sen. Bishop though, a resignation is the only appropriate thing to do.
So I digress. Back to the real dissappointment. About the only thing that was accomplished was the passing of their own pay raises. A lot of good legislation (e.g., a proposal to make truck drivers properly tie-down steel coils) that would’ve otherwise been easily passed through the Senate, was killed due to stall tactics by Democrats.
How shameful. Tell your legislator how dissappointed you are. If they were not a part of the problem, put the burden on him/her to explain to you why (by the way, most all were part of the problem).
Father’s Day! June 18, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in Fatherhood.add a comment
What an awesome Father’s Day!! Becki and Andrew (he’s almost 3 yrs. old) definitely made this a great Father’s Day for me. It started last night when Becki sent Andrew to the bedroom to fetch my gift…a wireless router! Wow, now I can sit in my easy chair and blog. Now that Matthew (due in July) has what was my office, my desk has been relocated to our bedroom (I think Becki finally got tired of me on the computer late at night while she tries to sleep).
Anyway, today then started out with the family going to Church. We then went to Clanton to my aunt Deb’s where she and my mom had prepared a feast. Wow, the diet went out the window today. On the way back home this afternoon, out of the blue Andrew yell’s out “Happy Father’s Day daddy”…not sure where that came from, but that definitely capped-off a perfect day.
I also had some time today to reflect on fatherhood and what it means to me. You see, I grew up without my dad being around. My dad and I have since “reunited” (he actually lives in Birmingham) and we speak occasionally, but it’s rare and it’s always somewhat awkward. Although he’s always nice enough when we speak, he still feels like a bit of stranger to me. The last time I saw him or spoke to him was almost two years ago at Andrew’s first birthday party. In recent years, I’ve always at least sent him a Father’s Day card, but for whatever reason, I didn’t this year. Part of me feels a bad for that. I do hope that my experiences with my father will improve my own ability to be one. I think it has. Because of this experience, I think fatherhood takes on an even greater duty for me. You see, to me fatherhood means setting an example, it means caring, it means “taking the time”, and most of all it means “being there”. I take a lot of pride in the fact that we sit down together for supper, as a family, at least four nights a week. And, almost every night Becki and I both put Andrew to bed and say our prayers together with him.
Although I’m certainly not perfect (lacking a lot of patience), I do try and I think I’m getting better. I just pray that Andrew (and soon Matthew) will be able to look back one day and know that he had a good dad.
Hello Blogosphere! June 17, 2007
Posted by clucas30 in First Post.add a comment
I finally took the time to sit down and create a blog! I’ve been wanting to do this for a while… This blog will definitely be a bit of potluck because I tend to get passionate about a lot of things. Sometimes I will post about faith, sometimes politics, sometimes fatherhood, sometimes training for runs and triathlons, sometimes University of Alabama Athletics, sometimes hunting (a.k.a., generally my “deer farm” in Chilton Co.) or any other topic that matters to me or my world.
Upon creating this blog, I had to come up with a name. Lovin’ the Journey pretty much sums it up for me. My drive and what keeps me going is the learning and growing that comes with the journey of life. That’s what it’s about for me. Don’t get me wrong, end results do matter….but the journey is the most important part. It’s the friendships, the learning, the loving, the fun and the personal growth that comes from all of those things that matter, i.e., to me, it’s about “smelling the roses”.
I’m looking forward to posting a lot of my life out here. I hope some might find it entertaining, helpful, inspirational or who knows…maybe even nauseating (just find it).
