"The Defense Department claims 12 nations with nuclear weapons programs, 13 with biological weapons, 16 with chemical weapons, and 28 with ballistic missiles as existing and emerging threats to the United States. But only one of those countries sits atop the second largest oil reserves in the world." ~ Charles Pena, Cato Institute

A big thank you to Keith for the help in locating the song on the Volkswagon commercial. I was tired of the constant eye-rolling I recieved after admitting to co-workers that I did not know the name of the song I was humming all day, only that it came from a car commercial.

Turns out the song is "Mr. Blue Sky" by Jeff Lynne of ELO fame. Time to go out and hit the used record stores for a copy of ELO's Greatest Hits or something to that effect. I should really own a copy anyway as I like many of their songs.

"Do ya, do ya want my love"?

I am not usually too fond of cutesy "chain" e-mails, but I received one from my sister-in-law that, speking as a child of the 80's I couldn't help but to giggle at...

When I was a kid adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious
diatribes, about how hard things were when they were growing up. What
with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill both ways
through year 'round blizzards carrying their younger siblings on their
backs to their one-room schoolhouse where they maintained a straight-A
average. Despite their full-time after-school job at the local textile
mill where they worked for 35 cents an hour just to help keep their
family from starving to death! And I remember promising myself that when
I grew up there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that
on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But....now that I've reached the ripe old age of twenty-eight, I can't
help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so
easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia! And I hate
to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet-we wanted to know
something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves! And
there was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter with a
pen! -- and then you had to walk all the way across the street and put
it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

And there were no MP3s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had
to go to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or we had to wait
around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over
the beginning and mess it all up! You want to hear about hardship?

We didn't have fancy phone options like Call Waiting! If you were on the
phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal! And we didn't
have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea
who it was. It could be your boss, your mom, a collections agent, your
drug dealer, you didn't know!!! You just had to pick it up and take your
chances, mister!

And we didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation videogames with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like
"Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a
little square! You had to use your imagination! And there were no
multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you
could never win, the game just kept getting harder and faster until you
died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium
seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy sat in front
of you, you were out of luck!

And sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 20
channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book
called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no
CartoonNetwork! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning.....D'ya
hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK, you spoiled rotten
youth of today!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too
easy. You're spoiled! You guys wouldn't last five
minutes back in 1987!

Hee-hee..though I never shoplifted anything in my life I can relate to that e-mail! :-)

Calling all audiophiles, I need your help.

I've got this song playing in my head that I need to find but I don't know the name of the band. The song is darn catchy, sing-songy mellow pop with Beach Boys-esque harmonies in the background. It has shown up in two places so far, one is a clever Volkswagon commercial with some office stiff going through his routine day after day until he sees this car which is supposed to save him from his monotonous life. The other place it has popped up in in a TV trailer for "Adaptation" the new Spike Jonze-Charlie Kaufman (geniuses both) movie.

I need to own this song...can anyone help?

OK…thinking time.

Where in the Bible do we ever see a wedding ceremony? I’m not talking about a wedding feast or party, but a wedding ceremony? Where do we get the current idea that in order for a man and wife to be legally wed they must obtain (a) a piece of paper and (b) an official blessing/pronouncement by a minister (not that that matters much these days seeing as you can get ordained for $10 on the internet).

Instead, it seems that, as far as the Bible is concerned with it, the actual act of becoming Man and Wife occurs at the time of initial sexual union. Such examples as Isaac going into Sarah’s tent with Rebekah (Gen. 24:67) as well as Jacob, Leah & Rachel (Gen.29) just to name two seem to lend credence to this thought.

I know the bottom line is that we have to be obedient to the rulers (Rom.15) and if the rulers say we need that piece of paper and the minister’s blessing, we better do it if we are to remain obedient to God. But hypothetically speaking, say the State doesn’t require such niceties, what are we to make of the biblical data then?

If my thoughts are correct, then:

(a) we can certainly see how the term “adultery” would apply in the case of singles who have multiple sex partners, seeing that they are married in God’s eyes to their first sexual encounter (I would, of course, exclude the case of rape here, as the act would not be a mutual decision)

(b) We can see the whole issue of keeping one’s virginity as more than a moralistic “true love waits” campaign (as noble as the idea may be) and returning to the more biblical idea of keeping ones’ virginity as being part of obedient covenant keeping.

(c) Pastorally speaking how would this data be used when counseling engaged couples who are finding it difficult to wait. Will this info be a stumbling block (“Hey, I got the ring, I know for a fact that we’re going to be married in a couple of months anyway”)? If so, how could this type of thinking be avoided? Abolish the wedding ceremony and just get a potluck together for a party when they can wait no longer? Hey, I would’ve been up for that!

(d) If you think about it, it boggles the mind how many marriage covenants would be broken daily over and over again in our promiscuous day and age. It starts to make me feel sick to think of this rampant rebellion against God being celebrated in society-at-large.

I know that I could also look at the example of the relationship between the Church (Bride) and Groom (Christ) and their marriage supper, but I neither have the time or brain power to break that down, perhaps in a little bit. But what do you think so far, am I missing something in my thinking?

Not much time to blog...very busy.

I turned in my first term paper tonight in eight years. I felt 19 all over again. My teacher (who could be a demeanor double for Ben Stein) surprised us by asking us to desribe the points in the paper to the class. He picked me to go first.

Joy and rapture.

Nah it didn't actually go bad at all. I have a knack for getting up and speaking in public on the spot. It's something I believe God has gifted me in. The paper was about goals that we wanted to acheive while a student at the UOP. My three goals were to (a) get a better handle on managing my time, (b) try to develop my leadership abilities and (c) get a Bachelor's degree of course.

School's going very well so far. My classmates seem to genuinely like me and seek my advice on their own reports. This is a HUGE encouragment as I like to be the guy who people seek out for answers. Sometimes though I can't tell if it stems from a genuine desire to help people or from a need to feed my big ol' ego. Maybe a little of both perhaps?

Oh if you remember please pray for my son Josh, he's going in Thursday morning to get tubes put in his ear. For the longest time he has had problems with the volume of his voice (I know...loud Daddy, loud child) and with his coordination as well. It is hoped that the tubes will allow some of the fluid in his ear to drain so that he is not bothered by the pesky ear infections that plague him every few months. Personally even though I know it is a 20 minute outpatient procedure, I still get nervous thinking about it. I mean they're going to knock him out for this and any time you have to cut holes in the eardrum, well...it can't be good right?

Pray for me as well that I can remember to trust in the Lord and rest in His goodness and mercy. Funny how we have to remind ourselves of these things every once in a while.