March Madness

No, not basketball. I'm talking about my crazy life, and it's starting to take a toll. This month has been particularly rough.

My life is super busy right now, and I'm starting to feel the effects. I got the lowest grade I've received thus far in seminary: a B-. AHH! I'm such a freak. In high school, I championed the "a C is average, and that's good enough for me," mentality (much to the shagrin of my parents, I might add). But I was really bummed when I got my Christian Heritage mid-term exam back with a score of 81/100. Partly because I thought I did better than that, partly because it was the first time I'd received such a low grade in seminary, and partly because it's a class that I really like! I'm eating up the reading like Garfield on lasagna. I'm one of those nerds that finds the reformation and its repercussions to be fascinating.

I started to take school a lot more seriously when I went back to college (after my freshman year, mind you - it took some growing up before I started studying like I needed to). I pretty much got straight A's through my sophomore, junior, and senior years of college. In fact, I found my undergraduate schooling to be so easy that I actually approached a prof one time and asked him if he was going easy on me (I wasn't used to getting such good grades!). He assured me he wasn't. That trend has carried over into my graduate schooling - until now.

I can only guess that my extremely busy and hectic lifestyle at the moment are the culprits for my poor performance. Things should lighten up a bit after Easter, though, and will certainly lighten up a lot, come this summer. I just need to make it two more months...and no more B minuses (boy, I sound like a stuck up jerk)!

Mark Driscoll Has A Very Round Face

I just finished watching the "Nightline Face Off" regarding the existence of Satan, and I came to this conclusion: Mark Driscoll's face is very round. Almost like a basketball. Not his whole head, necessarily - just his face.

Seriously though, it was interesting, although I wish they could have found someone better to team up with Driscoll other than Annie Lobert, founder of "Hookers for Jesus." She's not a good debater (most of her arguments are based upon her own experience, which aren't debatable, and her saying that the historicity of the BIble isn't important doesn't help either), and she's also got some serious theological and practical issues that I disagree with. Deepak Chopra was on the other side, as well as Bishop Carlton Pearson, in his clerical collar and all, which is kind of ridiculous, considering he's essentially an agnostic. Chopra is just ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that anybody gives him any time anymore - he's just that goofy.

Props need to be given to Driscoll in this debate. Personally, I think a debate about the existence of Satan is a bit misleading. You can't really talk about Satan without talking about God (which Chopra and Pearson would like to do), and Driscoll did a fantastic job, considering what I just explained: he came straight out of the gate with the gospel, talking about sin, righteousness, and the substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross. Plus you can always count on Driscoll for a few good shots:

Chopra: "What makes you think that God is a 'He?'"
Driscol: "Jesus. You may have heard of him. He's a pretty big deal."

Pearson (speaking to Lobert): "If you want to get real strict, the Bible says you're not supposed to wear expensive clothes or jewelry."
Driscoll: "She might have shopped on sale. You're judging."

Driscol (to Pearson): "Do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead?"
Pearson: "Yes."
Driscoll: "So you have a problem with the devil, but not the resurrection?"

Chopra: "If you really believe in the resurrection and the virgin birth, then good for you."
Driscoll: "And bad for you."
Chopra: "Thank you for caring enough to want to save me."
Driscoll: "I love ya, man, and I want good for you!"

Driscoll is seriously witty and quick. It was fun to watch him.

If anything though, this debate just reminded me how important it is to know that evil exists, and that good exists, and that the two cannot intermix. It was also impressed upon me how badly Chopra and Pearson and others like them want there to be no devil, because if there is no devil then there is no God. And if there is no God, there is no one to hold them accountable, and they can sin until their heart's content.

I'm Going To Vote Against The Earth

I just heard about this new initiative called "Earth Hour" that's taking place on March 28 from 8:30 - 9:30 PM, local time. During this hour, everyone on the planet is encouraged to shut off all their lights. Apparently 84 countries, more than 2,000 cities and towns, and more than 20,000 business are taking part in Earth Hour, including the great pyramids, the Eifel Tower, Notre Dame, and several other well known cities and buildings around the globe.

When I first heard about Earth Hour, my initial response was that anyone who thinks that turning their lights off for an hour will actually help the earth is insane and lacks any sufficient brain power. It would be akin to saying that me taking my foot off the gas pedal and coasting for five seconds is helping the environment. It just isn't going to make a notable (any, actually) difference in the climate/global warming/environment.

It turns out, though, that the intention isn't to help the climate - it's more like an election - turning out your lights is a vote for the earth. According to the earth hour website, "Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming."

Considering how I feel about this issue, "Global Warming" can count on my vote.

Don't Blame AIG

So there's obviously been quite the hullabaloo about AIG giving several of their employees bonuses with the government bailout money, and now I think it's reached a fever pitch since I just heard on the radio that AIG employees are being encouraged to travel in pairs, and not to go anywhere at night for fear of some kind of mob justice. If you're asking me, the public is outraged at the wrong people.

I'm certainly no economist, and I haven't the first clue about how to run a successful business, but I think I know spin control when I sees it. If you're asking me (and no one is), the real culprit here is the government. If the public should be mad at anyone it should be them; AIG was doing business as usual. But that's the problem: business as usual becomes business as the government wants it done when you've got public money on the table.

Don't get me wrong. I think it was foolish and stupid for AIG to give out those bonuses, but that actually proves my point. We should never given ANY business public money. If we hadn't given them any money, there would have been zero chance that they could misuse it. We should have never allowed things to get to the point where we have to get mad at a company for its poor use of public money, and that's the point: businesses and companies shouldn't be using public money in the first place.

The government wants you to believe that this whole mess is AIG's fault, but we have to admit that they're at least a little bit involved too, don't we (see above)? In my opinion, they're the primary culprit, and the government should be the ones to shoulder this blame.

Now the government's spin on this whole issue is that there wasn't enough regulation, enough control, enough oversight. In other words, this fiasco occurred because the government supposedly wasn't involved enough a lot of people would say, "Yeah, that's right. If the government is going to give away my money to private businesses, then they SHOULD be watching what happens to it." If that's your opinion, you're still one step behind the thought process: no, the government shouldn't be regulating business, because the government has no place in business. The government shouldn't be regulating businesses because the government shouldn't be doling out money to businesses.

It all comes back to them. Follow the money. If you want to be mad about this, be mad at them, and hold them accountable.

One Of Those Days

Today has been about the busiest, weirdest, craziest day I've experienced in a long time. Check it out:

7:15 AM - I wake up, get dressed, change Fergie's nasty diaper, and get him dressed as well.

8:15 AM - Ferg and I pick up my dad at Saturn of Inver Grove Heights after he drops his van off to get some work done. We bring my dad back to his house.

9:00 AM - Fergie and I arrive at the church. He proceeds to tear my office apart and I can't get any work done.

9:45 AM - I am scheduled to run the video projector during a funeral at the church this morning. The family arrives just in time for me to test everything before the viewing.

10:15 AM - I leave Fergie with Gail (the church secretary) so I can go pick my dad back up and bring him back to Saturn so he can get his van back.

11:00 AM - I arrive back at the church, grab the Fergeson and head to the nursery where we will meet my dad so he can watch Fergie while I'm doing my thing at the funeral. The funeral begins.

12:20 PM - I sneak out of the funeral to go check on Fergie and my dad in the nursery to find Ferg passed out in my dad's arms. Cute, but nap time isn't till 1:00! I abandon hope of Fergie taking a normal nap.

12:45 PM - The funeral finally ends, and Fergie and I eat some lunch and head home for nap time. Much to my surprise (and delight), Fergie falls asleep pretty quickly and sleeps for a solid two hours, starting at about 1:20 PM. The next two hours are pretty peaceful, and I manage to squeeze some Wii time in.

2:50 PM - Betsy gets home from work, and has brought a pretty significant headache home with her as well. She doesn't feel good. She had plans to for her and The Fergeson to go to the adaptive (special ed.) sports tournament tonight so she could see her former students, but since she's not feeling well, she canceled.

4:30 PM - Knowing I have to get at least some work done today, I decide to head back into the office. On my way in, I get a call from Kerry Kern, asking me to help him reset the platform for tomorrow's Good Friday rehearsal. I agree.

5:10 PM - Betsy calls my cell phone to tell me that Fergie just puked up his supper all over himself and the couch (did I mention that he has been running a 101 fever since last night?). Considering her sensitivity to certain smells during her pregnancy, she can't even enter the room where the event occurred without gagging. She asks if I would come home from church to clean it up. I agree.

5:30 PM - I'm cleaning up half chewed chunks of hot dog and crescent rolls off my couch. I take Fergie's pants outside and hose the puke off of them.

6:00 PM - I finally get back to church, and start working.

6:15 PM - I find myself blogging about how busy I am, and how I don't have any time to get my work done.

We'll see what the rest of the night holds...