Sunday, August 23, 2009
She Stuck It Out for 365 Days!
Rachel Raises a Toast - to more Liquor!
I hope you enjoyed our little anniversary celebration and the chance to hear all that great music on the General Jackson cruise into downtown along the Cumberland River. The past year has gone so fast. Things that I thought might be tough have been easy and [gasp] fun. I hope it's been as fun and easy for you.
Thank you for marrying me, Rachel. Thank you for loving me. Now, let's raise a toast to many more years together!
Labels: Experiences
Sunday, August 16, 2009
College Orientation
Took Dylan down to MTSU for orientation. It won't be long before he'll be a full-time student there. Of course, I'm sure he'll be home all the time. After all, it's only a 45 minute drive one-way. That might be a bit long for commuting, but it's definitely fine for coming home on the weekends and occasionally during the week.
He pretty quickly made friends and got to see a lot of the benefits and opportunities available around the campus. I, on the other hand, got to hand out with all of the other parents and get lectures about how not to be a helicopter parent who constantly parachutes aid into their kid when they need to learn those lessons themselves. Believe me - I'm right behind you on that.Labels: Kids
Friday, August 14, 2009
Changing Thoughts on Tithing
I recently stumbled across a couple articles about tithing that got my mental gears turning. First, on Slate, I encountered this article in an advice column where a reader asked whether it was ok to suspend their tithing while they paid off a credit card. Then I further read about tithing on a more global and historical basis in an article on CBS Sunday.
This whole discussion got me thinking about, despite the protest of our most conservative citizens, that our Christian history and ethos informs and colors so much of what the US government does. For example, governments have never paid to much attention the health of their citizens. That only arrived on the scene with the progressive programs implemented during the Great Depression and are largely a post-WWII phenomenon. However, what idea is more fundamental to our Christian ideals than to care for the elderly (read - Medicare) or the infirmed (read - Medicaid).
I find it mountainously ironic, even hypocritical, that right-wing Christians are opposed to the expansion of government into these areas when we, as Christians, are directly told to personally do and support these kinds of activities. We, as Christians, are also told in Mark 22 to care for widows and children, those in jail, those in utter poverty. We could wait for Christian churches to do those things. But after 2000 years of history, the church universal has an abysmal track record in this department too.
How does this come back to tithing? Well, I just checked to see that I pay $87 per paycheck for Medicare, that is, medical insurance covering 36 million elderly Americans. I'd gladly pay another $100 per paycheck to care for uninsured Americans. And though many American Christians scoff at it, I think it's a great idea.
It might come out of my paycheck as a tax, but I now count it a tithe.
Thoughts?
-Kev
This whole discussion got me thinking about, despite the protest of our most conservative citizens, that our Christian history and ethos informs and colors so much of what the US government does. For example, governments have never paid to much attention the health of their citizens. That only arrived on the scene with the progressive programs implemented during the Great Depression and are largely a post-WWII phenomenon. However, what idea is more fundamental to our Christian ideals than to care for the elderly (read - Medicare) or the infirmed (read - Medicaid).
I find it mountainously ironic, even hypocritical, that right-wing Christians are opposed to the expansion of government into these areas when we, as Christians, are directly told to personally do and support these kinds of activities. We, as Christians, are also told in Mark 22 to care for widows and children, those in jail, those in utter poverty. We could wait for Christian churches to do those things. But after 2000 years of history, the church universal has an abysmal track record in this department too.
How does this come back to tithing? Well, I just checked to see that I pay $87 per paycheck for Medicare, that is, medical insurance covering 36 million elderly Americans. I'd gladly pay another $100 per paycheck to care for uninsured Americans. And though many American Christians scoff at it, I think it's a great idea.
It might come out of my paycheck as a tax, but I now count it a tithe.
Thoughts?
-Kev
Labels: Politics, Religion, Thoughts
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Ozymandias
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Labels: Thoughts
