follow-up on the growing scandal of car dealership closings

another article about the car dealership closings – looks like the ethical adminstration is as ethical as chavez’s and castro’s

Chrysler Dealership Closings – Is It A Political Power Play?

It is beginning to look like the decision as to which Chrysler dealerships to close had little to do with business and a lot to do with politics.  You can read the info HERE.

President Obama to Block Release of Photos – Or Will He?

Report are that President Obama has reversed himself and will now block the release of photos of detainee interogations.

My prediction – He is only saying this and knows already that the courts will override him.  He is going to have it both ways.  He is going to get what he wanted in the first place, the release of these photos.  He will also try to avoid the blame for the blowback that will result.  He will say, “I tried to prevent it,  but I was overruled by the courts.”

A calculated political decision.

Michael Horton on Joel Osteen

Well written analysis of Joel Osteen’s theology and teaching.

“Joel Osteen and the Glory Story”

UCI Cracking Down on What Equipment Riders Can Use

Professional cycling is scrambling to figure out what the implications of the UCI’s decision about cycling equipment will mean.  Here is the NYT article on the subject..no need for me to rehash what you can read there.

The article raises a broader question about sports in general.  How much should sports be about the athlete and how much should it be about equipment?  Or maybe a better question is – is it even possible to make it completely about one or the other?

Here is my opinion, for what it is worth.  I was involved in a group bike ride a few weeks ago.  One guy showed up with a 1960’s model Raleigh Road bike.  You know the kind with the friction shifters on the down tube – heavy, scratched…  To be honest I didn’t think he would keep up with the leading group.  Well, after I watched him ride away from me on one particularly long hill, disappearing over the ridge and riding out of sight, I decided its not all about the bike.

The athlete matters, even with inferior equipment.

Having said that, if the athletes are all equal, or as close to equal as possible, the equipment can mean the difference between winning and losing.  In cycling the concern is that some teams can’t afford the equipment and testing that will allow them to be competitive with other teams.

In a sport where seconds matter, and seconds can be gained with the right equipment, having some standards that equalize the sport seem to make sense.  The way the UCI seems to be going at it doesn’t.  The racing season is well under way, the equipment has been manufactured already.  To expect teams to retool now is silly and wrong-headed.  If a change needs to be made wait until winter and give teams a chance to adjust.

What say you?

I’m a Grandfather – Again

Samuel Thomas was born April 21st.  Monica and I now have a grandson to go with our granddaughter.  My prayer is I will do a good job at this grandparenting deal.  May I be a blessing to my grandchildren.

Welcome to the world, Sam.

The Reason My Blogging has Been Lagging

Well the kitchen remodel continues to eat up most of my spare time and money.  But is is coming along.  Here are some photos of the progress so far.

VP Joe Biden’s Daughter – What Ought We to Focus On?

Radar Online has a report out about a guy shopping a secretly taped video of Joe Biden’s daughter , Ashley, reportedly snorting cocaine.  I don’t know if the video is real or not.  Either way, I find it just as wrong to make that an issue as making Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy.

First, we all debase ourselves or, even worse, reveal our own warped souls when we revel in this stuff.  If we find some sort of glee in the downfall of another person, and find some sense of satisfaction in how another persons sins advance our political positions we are the losers.

Second, have some sympathy with a parent whose child is heading down a path of destruction.  I doubt if Joe Biden and I agree on much of anything.  But that doesn’t mean I ought to feel good about his daughter’s drug issues if they are true.  Instead, as a father, I sympathize with what Joe and his wife must be feeling and thinking.

Third, there are plenty of real issues to be concerned about.  Let’s debate those and stop using the tactics of personal destruction.  Let’s talk about principles of freedom and liberty.  Let’s talk about and debate what will advance the cause of justice and righteousness in this country.

Maybe we just want to win.  Maybe we have become a nation of voyeurs.  Maybe our politics have degenerated into nothing more than another form of Entertainment tonight.

I hope not.

So Joe, if what is being written about your daughter is true, then you have my heartfelt sympathy and prayers.  My hope is that she will be free from this and you and your family will be stronger together on the other side of this problem.

Dangerous People?

I’ve been overly busy and haven’t had time to really post anything in a while.  I have a whole list of things I’m wanting to write about – soon I hope.  In the mean time here is a video for your thoughts.

On Love

This week I have been meditating on the Scripture “God is love.”  That statement is found twice in 1st John chapter four.  That is not a taut-ism.  One can’t turn it around and say “love is God,” although that is what some try to do with it.  Nor is that a complete statement about God’s nature.  The same writer tells us that “God is light” and “God is spirit.”

But the statement is not only a statement about the nature of God.  It is a statement about the nature of God with ethical implications.  Intertwined and sandwiched between his “God is love” statements is a lot of talk about how that necessarily means that followers of Christ are to love each other.

After asking myself and asking God in prayer some questions about that I had an interesting but not uncommon experience late in the day.  I received a call on my cell phone as I was leaving Sam’s Club.  It was an acquaintance.  I can’t call him a friend.  Not because he doesn’t seem to be a nice person, but because I only know him on a professional basis.  I’ve known this man for about seven years and we have had three or four brief phone conversations, one face to face meeting, and a few Christmas cards.

We have never talked at any length about our likes and dislikes.  He couldn’t tell you anything about my story nor I his.  We live hundreds of miles apart.  Even if we lived next door to each other, I wonder if we would hang out much.  Not because he is a bad guy, but our personalities are so different I just couldn’t envision him being my bff (do you hate that acronym as much as I do?).

He called me for professional/business reasons.  He made a couple of jokes.  I laughed.  I was loading stuff in a truck.  I promised to call him back next week.  He signed off with the words “I love you.”  I thought “you don’t even know me.”

Is he sincere – without question.  To a degree it is probably true.  I think he does love me in some way.  But his words didn’t move me or have any real impact  because I know how easy it is to love people we don’t really know.  Love is easy from a distance.

That is why I appreciate it so much when Monica, my wife, says “I love you.”  She knows me.  She knows my weaknesses, my flaws, my failures.  She has to daily tolerate my idiosyncrasies and annoying habits.  She has watched me grow over the past 30 years – and I mean grow from 145 lbs to 190 lbs.  She knows that I’m not all that.  So when she says “I love you” it really means something to me.

When my brothers in sisters in Christ I have worshipped with the past 7 1/2 years say, “I love you” it means something.  Like my wife, though not to the same degree, they have come to know what is wrong with me as well as what is right with me.  When one of them hugs me, smiles and says “I love you” (the guys usually have to say “love ya man” with a couple of closed fisted pounds to the back and a non-lingering hug) it matters to me.

It is easy to love the homeless a thousand miles away who only come as close as a glossy magazine photo.  It is much harder to love the man who stands in my path reeking of alcohol and demanding I hand over some of my hard-earned money which I know he will undoubtedly use for more drink.

It is easy to love the African orphans on late night TV.  It is much more difficult to love the kid dressed in black, with metal studs poking out of every body part staring at me with the look that says “I dare you to say something.”

I’ve noticed that people tend to speak with more admiration and respect for people they know from a distance and have a much more difficult time doing the same for those they rub elbows with every day.  I guess this also explains why people only achieve “saint status” after they are dead.

It is only by the grace of God and the working of His Spirit that we can really learn to love as we ought to love.

God has no such trouble.  God is love.  Everything He does flows from His nature and His nature is love.  So God’s justice is loving justice.  God’s grace is loving grace.   God’s providence is loving providence.

The most amazing thing of all is that God loves me.  God knows me better than anyone.  He sees not just what I do, but he sees the twisted an skewed motives that often drive me.  He hears what I say, not just with my lips, but with my heart – and often it isn’t good, kind, or right.  The attitudes, thoughts, lusts, fears and hang-ups that would drive almost anyone away, God knows – and still God loves.

I don’t doubt God’s love.  Not because I am all that lovable, but because he has demonstrated his love for me.  He made a way of redemption.  He gave.  He gave His very best.  Even when my face was turned away from Him.  Even when I denied Him.  Even when I cursed His name.  He loved.  He came in Jesus Christ.  He turned me back.  He is carrying me home.

He knows me.  And yet he says “I love you.”

Now that means something.

He says the same to you as well.