Not To Over-Spiritualize

I don't like to over-spiritualize things. In fact, despite all of the miraculous things I see and hear tell of, God seems to work with and through me mostly in practical, though no less mysterious, ways.

While in Poplarville, Mississippi escaping the ravages of Gustav, I desperately searched my mind for some deep insight or some super spiritual thought to ponder, or blog about, or at least to calm my own mind with. As of today, I still pretty much had nothing – no revelation to share, no heartfelt no-need-to-worry-everything-will-work-out speech, no deep insight on how to handle adversity.

In fact, I wasn't handling my current circumstances particularly well. Up to this point in the evacuation I had pretty much mentally and spiritually checked out and engaged auto pilot or gone into some kind of maintenance mode. Others seemed to be coping far better than I, even when their situations were worse.

Since all of yours are probably infinitely more interesting than mine, I won't get bogged down with the mundane details and bore you all with my Gustav saga. Suffice it to say that it included much driving in traffic, and periods of being crammed into small rooms with several relatives and a smelly dog, offset by times of utter aloneness at our family camp miles from anywhere or anyone.

Manning that lonely outpost necessitated driving into town for groceries periodically. Upon returning “home” from one such excursion, I hauled in a few victuals. In my current circumstance, this entails pulling up to the gate, disembarking my vehicle, unlocking said gate, re-embarking said vehicle, proceeding through twice-said gate, disembarking twice-said vehicle, re-locking thrice-said gate, then re-embarking thrice-said vehicle to drive to the camp for one final disembarkation and the actual unloading.

Yes, I said victuals, this rustic setting is beginning to affect my vocabulary. Also, I find myself hankerin' (yes, I said hankerin') for biscuits and gravy, craving country music, and feeling a greater than usual, almost unnatural affinity for my truck – but I digress (apologies to Chuck).

(Here Todd is penalized 15 yards (YES! Football season is here!) for the above overuse of colloquialisms, multiple digressions, and bogging down in mundane details after saying he would not.)

After hauling said victuals from my truck into the camp, with dusk approaching, I walked back outside.

Standing there in that blessed solitude, I took in the beauty of God's creation. I was overcome with wonder and gave praise to Him who created all - billions upon billions of stars in countless galaxies stretching unimaginable distances just to provide a suitable dwelling for us, His beloved. As He finished the work of creating, He scanned the totality of His creation, all of it's height and breath and depth and all of time from beginning to end. From sunsets, created simply for our enjoyment, to storms, intended for our testing, He pronounced it all very good. In that moment I agreed with Him and worshiped.

As my spirit basked in and mind reflected on this, a huge meteorite shot across the evening sky, just above the trees. It was an event that lasted only about two seconds, not even a blink in the grand scheme, and only a blink or two in my day, but as I sit to write, it's affects still linger. There was something undeniably spiritual about it all. It was as if I had shaken off my numbness and reemerged from my stupor a whole being once more in touch with his creator, who gave tangible assurance of His approval.

Coincidence? I say God wink. Not to over-spiritualize, but they always seem to come at just the right times.

My Favorite Bumper Stickers

Honk If You Love Peace And Quiet

Death To All Radicals!

Eliminate and Eradicate Redundancy

W

This has been stuck in my craw for quite a while now. I offer no apologies and just hope that all of you 'dubyah' haters out there will still respect me in the morning.

I am not now, I have never been, and I have never portrayed myself as being, overly political. It is not the aim of this blog to argue politics. However, I am politically aware, and I do keep up with current events. I even investigate, and try to make some sense of the anti-Bush railings that I hear conspiracy theorists, and rest of the tin-foil-hat crowd, put forward. I have seen a lot of the 'evidence' of these grand conspiracy theories and, to me, it is severely lacking – almost laughable.

Now, I know that I cannot convince conspiracy theorists of this any more than they can convince me of their position. And, it is not my intention to argue all of the minutia here. I simply feel an obligation to defend a good man who I feel is being unjustly ripped to shreds by people with nothing but either pure political ambitions, or even worse, thinly disguised socialist intentions. In my opinion, liberal leaders are playing on people's fears to score political points and amass power for themselves.

I seriously doubt that Nancy Pelosi, or Harry Reid, or Ted Kennedy believe even half of what comes out of their own mouths. Conspiracy theorists have just provided them a handy stick with which they can beat their political opponents over the head. And sadly, in today's culture, filled with people who do not investigate and/or think things through, it is easy for this kind of nonsense to proliferate. It is amazing how easily people jump on and back off of any particular band wagon based solely upon a few sound bites. It seems as if all that is necessary for a lie to be accepted as truth is repetition; especially if a lot of the repetition is from what people consider reliable news sources that they assume have no political leanings or agenda of their own.

Add to this bloggers who can write anything they wish with no accountability and no proof, and you have the perfect breeding ground for this kind of almost believable, almost strange and outrageous enough to be true innuendo and accusation to gain a foothold.

Please don't get me wrong here. The problem is not bloggers, or even the news media. Thank God we have the freedom to express our opinions! The problem is that people are intellectually lazy. People do not take the time to dig and examine the facts and consider all sides of an issue or a story. If CNN reports it, and the 'facts' are corroborated by some guy with a tin foil hat, living alone in the mountains, who believes Elvis is still alive and Bush is part of a grand conspiracy, then it must be true.

Truth be told, I really like George W. Bush. I do not agree with all of his actions, but I respect the man. His decency and strength of character stand in sharp contrast to the spineless, politically correct, flip flopping, deceptive, politicians who jeopardize our nation's future for their political gain. His steadfastness is the complete antithesis of those who turn this way or that depending on the prevailing political winds, and pander to our enemies who would destroy us without hesitation if we gave them an opportunity. Even when he has made decisions that I disagree with, I believe that he made them because he genuinely believed them to be in the best interest of the United States of America which he swore at his inauguration to protect and defend.

He is a man of courage and conviction. And, if history is written accurately, by men of honor, with no partisan ax to grind, I believe he will be exonerated and honored, and that history will indeed treat him kindly.