Down from the mountains.

It seems that a lot of significant things have happened atop mountains or hills. The 10 Commandments, The Sermon on the Mount, the crucifixion. Last week in Colorado I feel that God really got ahold of my heart. And in not the most obvious way. I had mentioned that I was planning on reading The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. That didn't happen. Instead I ended up reading A Man without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut. It's basically Kurt's thoughts about the current political climate and our countries thirst for oil based energy. Even though he did not hide the fact that he is a Humanist, Mr. Vonnegut had some very keen perceptions that I agree with about life and God. Basically he is saying that we are wasting our time being diverted from interacting with each other. Such as T.V. video games, the internet and any sort of diversion we can think of.

To get more to the point, blogging for me is a diversion. I enjoy blogging but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't seem to make much sense. I don't think I will get to the end of my life and say "I wish I would have blogged more." Great, I can share my opinion with the world and you can respond. Does this really accomplish anything? What I think it accomplishes is the elimination of obligation for us to think and act rationally. Especially if we choose to remain anonymous. But look at how tempting that can be though. The internet allows an outlet for some of our darkest behavior. From behind my keyboard I can be the most arrogant, disrespectful, insult hurling jerk in the world with no real retribution. Not only can I disagree with you but I can call you just about every filthy thing in the book. I just feel that the internet is good for some things, rational productive discussion is not one of them. True persuasion will never occur here because it is just an infinite amount of point/counter-point. There's really no point debating anything online. We may as well stand at Joe's Crab Shack and hurl our shoes in an effort to hit the East Peoria Wal-Mart. At least that would be fun.

I think I got hooked on the thrill of debate. I would wait intently for someone to post something that I didn't agree with so I could pounce on them with a fury of spell-checked opinion. I now realize that the time I spent looking for debate was just wasted time. Time that I could be spending elsewhere with other people. Heck it would have been better if we were debating over a beer somewhere. At least then we would be engaged in developing a relationship. And I guess that's the point of all of this. We are here to be in relationships with each other. To be involved with other peoples lives. But in all reality we are just words on each others screens.

As we drove around Colorado, I found it interesting that a community such as Aspen is dealing with issues of relationship. They seem to be in a dilemma over massive land development. On the one hand they want to be a world class resort. But on the other hand those who live there do not want to loose the sense of community that they have. It's good to see that even a town like Aspen can realize community and relationships are worthy of debate.

So with that said, I don't know how much more blogging I will do. I know it will be significantly reduced. I will still probably troll around and post on your blogs. I would rather be upfront and say this than string you along for the next few weeks only to fade into your cyber memory. I have had fun discussing issues with ya'll. While trolling around I found this discussion over at Polly's which I think typifies my point. It's a great discussion to have but I don't know if this forum is the most productive use of time. God bless you all and I will talk to you sometime soon.

Rocky Mountain High.........(if ya know what I mean ;)

My wonderful wife and I are leaving tonight for vacation. We will be spending a week or so in Colorado. I am really looking forward to it. We will be spending a few days with some friends and then we will be secluded in the wilderness for a few days with nothing but ourselves and some good books to keep us company.....Maybe a bear or two. I hope to delve into The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom during this trip. This is one of those books that has sat on our shelves for who knows how long but yet has never been read. More importantly we are in a quandary as to how it got there in the first place. Anybody read it? Anybody ever heard of it? Anybody care? Anyway, I do not want to go leaving my devoted 6 readers, including mom, without another provocative question. I will try to poke my head in from time to time to see how you all are behaving. Be good ya'll and we'll see you soon.

Question #3:

Do you consider The United States of America to be a Christian nation or not? Please explain why or why not.

In short my answer is "yes The USA is a Christian nation." But I will expound on that later. I am open to hear your thoughts. Please forgive me if it take some time for me respond this week. Grace and peace to all my cyberbuds. Talk to you soon!!

Question #2

Remember last month I said I would have a weekly question? Well, here is the long over due Question #2. I don't know about you but I had a wonderful 4th of July holiday. We had way too many people over, had way too much to eat, and had way to much fun and fellowship. It's great to celebrate our countries independence, and for some reason this year I really got choked up at the fireworks when I sat back and really contemplated how this country has weathered the last 230 years. Some people will laugh at the notion that God has particularly blessed the USA. Some would like to have us believe that our country was founded by diests and not men who believed in Jesus and the God of Abraham. But the more I read history and biographies the more I am convinced that our founding fathers were God fearing men of the Judeo-Christian persuasion. I say this to remind us that yes we gladly celebrate our "independence day" but this country has been "dependent" on God from the very start. If anything I feel our country is anxiously awaiting it's independence from "God." To which I will quote Dennis Prager.

"Many countries have recovered from economic and political catastrophes but not a one has recovered from a moral catastrophe."

This leads me to my question of the week....kinda sorta. Independence and Freedom seem to go hand in hand. I have had some "go-arounds" with a few of you about what freedom means. My question is this.

Does freedom mean that we are truly free to do whatever we want or are we obligated to conduct ourselves in certain ways to help promote freedom?

Does that make sense? If so discuss.

I don't understand.

I am seeing more and more people wearing these clog things lately. Please stop. I don't understand their appeal. Even my wife, who has a great sense of style, doesn't even get this. Maybe you own a pair or are contemplating purchasing. Please don't. They are not cool. They don't look cool. They don't make you look any cooler. And for the dude in Wal-Greens yesterday....you know who you are..... they certainly did not look cool with those white socks!! I think this is a big joke that some maniacal Norwegians are playing on unsuspecting Americans.


I go a whole week without blogging and this is the only thing I can come up with?!?!? sad.