Jeremy's Vespa

Christmas Day--enough.

So we opened gifts and I must say that I am amazed at the wonder in Max and Ezra's minds when they open the first couple of gifts. In the beginning they were so excited and saying things like "gummy bears!! it's what I always wanted". Then by the end Max is saying are there anymore? Where are the rest of them? I know he is satisfied. I think he just became expectant within the 20 minutes of opening stuff. Not to get too deep but I think that's how I've become about God's grace. At first I was like woohoo! He loves me. But about 12 minutes later I was sinning again and I was like, He'll forgive me [more presents] and then I was like oh yeah, God where is Your spirit to comfort me in my grief and pain that I've brought on myself?

I have nothing to complain about. I got enough. I have no needs that haven't been met a hundred times more than my true need. Man, do we have it good. No matter what pain or grief we are going through it's so relative to the rest of the world, to the slums of Calcutta to the bunkers in Afghanistan, to the Cross of Christ. Man do I have it good. I guess I'm going on and on just to say I am thankful. I am thankful for my God and His grace and my great wife and my great kids and my family and my church and my house and my cars and my educational system and my toys and my computers and my job and my friends, near and far, and my piles of clothes and my food and disc golf and my TVs and heat and air conditioning and everything that comes with winning the "born in the right place" lottery [in a free country with hospitals and ambulances and clean water] and winning the genetic lottery [being born healthy, short, but healthy]. I'm not asking to be Job, and I know there is better stuff out there than what I got. I could upgrade everything but my wife and kids. But why? Why do I covet? Why can't I just stop and appreciate what I am holding?

What I got, it's enough.


e·nough [i-nuhf]
–adjective
1. adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire.
–pronoun
2. an adequate quantity or number; sufficiency.
–adverb
3. in a quantity or degree that answers a purpose or satisfies a need or desire; sufficiently.
4. fully or quite.

Christmas is Here!

God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray.

Blessings of comfort and joy!

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/o/godrest.htm

Sarcasm

If I pick on you to your face, I'm kidding.

Self Rightious - Holier than Thou!

The older I get the more I realize that people don't like it when someone (me) speaks passionately unless they agree with me or are intellectually stimulated by the conversation and then can speak just as passionate around me. Passion is seen as self righteous and "holier than though". Passion threatens sensibilities and courtesies. Passion ruffles the feathers of "playing nice". When I speak from my heart I do it in a way that is persuasive. So I think that comes off as arrogant. That's not my intention but I guess that's the price I pay for saying what I think. I see passion as vulnerable and transparent. I think humility has been misconstrued for ambiguity. It's like not having an opinion is standing in an intellectual safe zone. “I don't know" equals intellectual culpabilitylessness. ( I made that word up :) I had a discussion with a friend about TORTURE and I think as Christians I can never endorse, condone or justify torture. That is my opinion and I will defend my opinion because I believe it. I am sure there is some scenario where I would fold and say "rip his fingernails out!" But as a general rule torture (including waterboarding) would be unacceptable. Can anyone imagine Jesus violently interrogating even Pontius Pilate? I am not above being argued out of a point or even better, argued closer to a compromise. But, I believe something because I have thought about it and pondered it and wrestled with it and rolled it over in my brain. Like making tin can ice cream, I've kicked it around for a while. If I sound like I am making a stronger argument, people, a lot of the time, assume I am judging them for their belief or I am critical of their stance and therefore calling them less of a Christian.

Because I think I'm RIGHT doesn't mean I think I am RIGHTEOUS.

I have no corner on holy or righteous or better than. I have a bag of opinions that I try to line up with my world view and what I think God is about and that's it. If your bag looks different than mine then that makes the discussion just that much more interesting.
If I don't or can't understand how your opinion about something does or doesn't line up with Jesus than so be it. There is no judgment there. If I'm telling you I think you are wrong then that is my thought not God's. Only God knows truth and right and wrong and what those really are.

Because I think I'm RIGHT doesn't mean I think I am RIGHTEOUS.

I have no corner on holy or righteous or better than. I have a bag of opinions that I try to line up with my world view and what I think God is about and that's it. If your bag looks different than mine then that makes the discussion just that much more interesting.
If I don't or can't understand how your opinion about something does or doesn't line up with Jesus than so be it. There is no judgment there. If I'm telling you I think you are wrong then that is my thought not God's. Only God knows truth and right and wrong and what those really are.

Christmas

Christmas

Torn between the hype and the holy.
Signs up, lights lit, stores gearing up way too early.
8 pounds 7 ounce baby Jesus commercialized and pimped. My heart breaks.
I love getting gifts. I love giving gifts
I love the looks on the faces of my boys as they see the bounty of wrapped boxes on Christmas morning.
I even love them asking me every day in December, "can we open a gift today dad? Just one, I promise we won't ask any more????"
How many of us did that?
How much anticipation did we have for that Christmas morning?
The excitement generated might have been a social experiment created by the axis of commercial, Sears Roebuck and Coca-Cola, but here we are.
In this time, in this place, in this buy on-line age where I can get all my shopping done at 3 in the morning on a Sunday with a click of the mouse. Or I guess several clicks.
But the gift. The original gift.
Can you imagine if we didn't get that gift or if we didn't receive that gift?
That 8 pound 7 ounce baby Jesus. How blessed are we that God has given us this grace.
How "lucky" are we that God decided to give us this second or third or billionth chance.
I don't know if we are celebrating the gift that God gave us rightly.
I don't think we are really.
But how happy am I that God bid on that item on eBay (me) and when he put in the amount he was bidding there wasn't a limit. He bid [His Son].
I know I am mixing the sublime with the holy a bit here but he paid for me and my sins with his son.
Christmas traditions are definitely screwy right now. It's hard to remember if my Christmas traditions are mine, the Brady's or the Huxtables.
It doesn't really matter though I guess cus I am going to spend this Christmas.
Spend my money.
Spend my time.
Spend my energy on the right things and the wrong too maybe.
And I'll spend my generosity.
The first Christmas was God blessing the world with a gift
[life in Him more fully]
Christmas is still about that gift but this Christmas we get to bless as partners.
The irony is I'm going to have to use the hype and make it holy.
Even with my kids. Not cheesy or greedy but HOLY.
What other time [other than Halloween when everybody actually comes to my door asking me to bless them]
are the doors, the homes or the hands of the world so wide open ready to receive a gift?

The Beginning

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... a little while after that I got around to put together this blog.

I guess I'll start out political because if I'm going to go there [which I am] I may as well just get there sooner rather than later.

Giuliani... really? that's your choice my republican brothers and sisters? After 30 years of pounding Roe v Wade how is Giuliani even in the conversation of winning the republican ticket? It saddens me that electability is more important than your stance on LIFE. All the criticism I've gotten over the years for voting democrat [I'm VERY Pro-Life] on that issue alone and now because there isn't anyone else that's electable, people are folding over like a book of matches for this guy.

I still vote Dem even though they are pro choice becasue the republicans haven't done anything to change it any ways, nor do they want to. I say they really don't want to because they had chances and nothing has really changed.

Furthermore, whenever I bring up the fact that I vote Democrat for social issues like welfare [taking care of the poor] health care [taking care of our kids] environment [tending our garden] my Christian brethren always remind me that those issues are not our governments to solve they are the church's. Well, if "GOD" stuff is the business of just the church's then why is the Christian right always trying to elect a Christian [Giuliani aside of course].

What are the conservative issues Christian stand on that are not financially motivated? It's not Pro-Life anymore. I guess I'm a little confused now what makes Christians Republicans?
What issues on the Republican Agenda are inherently Christian???? Again, abortion doesn't count anymore [Giuliani].

Perfect world => Obama/Huckabee 08