So a lot has gone down in the last couple months I have made some very bad decisions and some very good ones. I have lived loved and now I’m back to blogging so not much has changed. I broke something a week ago and I don’t think I can fix it so I guess I’ll just pick up what’s left, put a smile on my face and move on.

I miss Colorado so much and I miss my friends there even more. I want to go home and see the mountains every day and never think about corn ever again.

Peace of Mind

I have an idea. And I hope is a good one. This is my coffee shop…..

…What do ya think? The floor plan is rough but I hope to have this up and running in Denver CO by 2010. This is a plan I have been working on for the past two years but I have been a little reserved in telling people because I fear it will crash and burn and I will be a failure. But I’m giving it to God in hope that he will make it better than I could ever dream. The plan is to have this be a homeless outreach center. As you can see in back there is a place to shower, wash clothes and rest and I will hopefully be able to keep food on hand to give out. And in the front of the shop there will be grate coffee and lots of books. I hope to facilitate a peaceful, unthreatening environment ware people who have questions can come and come in contact with people who have knowledge of scripture and have there questions answered. I do not want to be involved in a place that sets traps for potential Christians but rather a place ware the word can fall on fertile soil and God can take over. For this plan to work people with knowledge need to be involved. I hope to have Bible studies here and keep the shop open late into the evening. I know this is not a church but I fear evolving other churches because then their agendas may be in conflict with what I hope to produce. I want to show people Christ and instill a desire to be like him, a Christian; not a Lutheran, Catholic, Apostle of Christ or a Church of Christ Christian, but just a Christian. I want to tell the world about Jesus not about the conflicts within his body. Why should and infant in Christ be forced to take sides or leave? That’s not how Christ would do it. The seed needs to be planted and questions need to be answered but that’s as far as I will go with out God’s prompting. And if a person comes in wanting just a cup of coffee than he or she will get it, it’s up to God for anything ells.

Camp! Camp! Camp! Mike Yankoski! Chillen With Willy! elders meeting...

So I must tell you how this week has gone. I woke up early Saturday July 5^th and loaded up my things to go to camp. Several of the camp councilors went up a day early to get ready for camp. Not a bad trip I road with my host family, the Marenos, and spent the night. The next morning we prepared for the hoard of kids to arrive I got my Teepee and waited, anticipating the kids I would soon enjoy the week with. Willy, Cody, Cain and Avery were the ones who chose me as their councilor for the week, awesome kids! I can’t tell you every detail because I can’t remember them all, but I do remember the day Don Walker hurt himself it was the second day and I started hearing roomers that someone got hurt. I will spare you all the drama but Don’s truck started rolling backwards and Don was in the camper, he jumped out and was trying to get in the drivers side door and then got sandwiched between the door and a tree. Apparently there was a lot of blood coming out of his mouth and communication was difficult. He was taken to the hospital and we at camp received news that his lungs were filling with blood and that they were looking for the puncture. Every one was praying for him and then we found out there was no hole and things were going to be fine praise God. I believe there was a hole and God fixed it. Last update I heard Don was fighting off the doctors and nurses because he didn’t want pain killers. Camp went on and was a grate week several baptisms and, as always, wonderful conversations. Food was good, sleep was heard to get and God did what he wanted.

As I was leaving camp Brian said, “Hay Greg take a couple days off.” and I said, “ok!” I drove Don’s truck back to his house with no driver side door and then loaded up my stuff in my Jeep and headed off to Bend Oregon ware my sister lives with her husband and son. I had found out earlier this summer that Mike Yankoski was going to be speaking at the Antioch Church in Bend and I couldn’t miss this opportunity. Mike Yankoski is the author of the book Under the Overpass that is, with few exceptions, the best book I have ever read. I got to listen to this man speak about what he has done and what he planed to do but the best part is I got to meet him! We spoke, I tried so heard to not humiliate myself or suck up but I told him my plans and he was supportive and gave me advice! I actually just got an email from him and I have his phone number!!!! Sorry, I shouldn’t be bragging but I do hope God has things in mind for our paths to cross again.

The next day I got to take my nephew swimming at the public pool and we had a blast! I got some time to read and relax by the way I strongly recommend the book Unchristian. Well I’m sinning off because I now must go to an elders meeting. But this was a good week!

Christians are homophobic and proud.

I’m living in Oregon currently and am noticing a common trend. The people I live with and call my brothers and sisters are not living a life that resembles Christ's. Over and over I keep hearing Christians say things which I consider hateful. “Wow that guy looks like a flamer!” or “I’m glad we have bolt action rifles so I can hunt homosexuals,” or “I know I’m a homophobe but so what they’re sick.” Most are said in jest with flippancy but that is not the way of Christ. Matthew 19:19 Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Nothing groundbreaking there we have heard it many times but why do we find it so heard to love our neighbors as ourselves, why cant we even love our neighbors enough to stop saying this kind of crap long enough to tell them that we love them.

I can’t see Christ sitting on the side of the road joking with his followers about someone being poor, a prostitute, a thief, over weight, a gossip, or a homosexual. These people created in God’s image are loved dearly by him and they are our neighbors. If all we can do to those who have never done us injury, who live among us and only want respect is spew out this vial, hateful filth (out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks) how could we ever love our enemies? Luke 6:27-36 27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

These people have never done you harm! Stop hurting them! Stop your judging! Who are you to judge!?! Only God has that right! Be like Christ! And Stop taking his name if you wont fallow his teachings!

(None)

I dreamed again about her last night. It hurt so bad. She was with another man and he had given her everything I couldn’t. She looked happy she still had scars but she was beautiful. He was happy but he didn’t love her the way I do. He was older and obviously had passion but he could never love her the way I do. I want her back but I don’t think he would ever let her go. I would give him anything but nothing he would want, love is just never enough. I shouldn’t have given up, I should have kept fighting, but all who thought she was beautiful didn’t care and those who thought they knew her just told me to run. Why did I listen? My parents never loved her; they made sure I knew it. All I can say is I miss her and want her back. She was a monster but none knew her soft side the way I do. I talked with him alone with a smile he kept telling me what they had done, ware they had been all the time she sat there silent. He looked at me, knowing I had something to say and all I could get out, with tears in my eyes, was “it hurts so bad….its like letting…your…..it just hurts so bad.”…I want her back but now I have to forget her again.

Special?

If something isn’t special is it worth having? Some say yes, I think they are wrong. This is a blog, and not a good one, so I won’t support my opinion I’ll just state it.
Being special provides a basis for value of an object, and how special dictate that value. There are things today being passed off as special that are not, American Idol, Hannah Montana, Scions, Mrs. Clinton , Obama, and who ever the Republican is (side note: we defiantly won’t even care about at least two of these people in five years).
Something was said that got me thinking today “… it wasn’t even special… well, it was to… but not to…” now this is all it took to get me thinking about what should be special and being the Bible major I am I know the “right” answer: snowflakes.
Snowflakes are special and each one unique therefore is uniqueness a factor in how special an object is? Yes, unless you flood the market, being the resident of Colorado I am, I know if there is too much of that special, unique snow all over the place I have to pay someone to get rid of it, or, God forbid, I have to get rid of it myself. This snow being unique is supposed to be related to people being unique, because you can’t find to people who are exactly the same therefore we are all unique ergo special. (side note: if you ever use this comparison smack the kid who says “What about twins?” it knows the answer but it just wants to make you look stupid, then say “Only stupid people ask stupid questions.”)
So, back to my stupid question, “what is ‘special’?” the concept not things. Special equals value, uniqueness, availability, and I want to suppose individual perception. While watching the Simpsons I had an epiphany, as I often do. Homer and Bart start a coin collection and they only need one coin to complete it and try as they might, they can not find it. So, they go to an auction to find this rare penny, and they find themselves caught in a bidding war with the heartless, old miser Mr. Burns. Homer quickly tries to frighten off all other bidders by offering the astronomical sum of five dollars “cash” but in the end they are out done by the maniacal, ripened codgers bid of ten million dollars. Beaten and humble Homer approaches Burns’ limousine and begs for this coin so he can bring joy and a sense of accomplishment to his son. To this Burns laughs diabolically as if to scorn Homer’s selflessness and sacrifice, but before his triumphant exit Homer asks Burns if he has change for a nickel. Burns snatches the nickel, drops some change out the window and returns to his laughter as he speeds away boasting to Smithers of his shrewdness because he only gave that chump fore cents for his nickel, not realizing the mistake he had made until to late.
Mr. Burns gained one cent in this transaction but by doing so he lost nine million, nine hundred ninety nine thousand, nine hundred ninety nine dollars and ninety nine cents of his net worth. Not a smart move by any standard but his perception of that little peace of copper in a hasty moment was practically valueless, and he lost something extremely special.
Individual perception does not dictate value things are valuable whether one is aware or not. In contrast the opposite is also true some people think things are special even though they have no value, this is not always bad but sometimes it is pointless to society, but who cares about society? Well, I don’t, you might not, I don’t think she does, but he might, I know it doesn’t, but I think we should.
In summation special is personal but if something is special don’t mess it up, because someone ells will come along and be upset about your lack of respect. Hmmm… now I think everything is special in it’s own way and that’s a little to optimistic for me but still sad because if everything is special nothing is. I think I’m okay with not understanding this because I still know some things are worthless, common and unexciting so I still have hope of finding something special.

PUNISHMENT A CAPITAL IDEA

Capital punishment is a conflict-ridden issue. There is no easy way to resolve the weaponless war that politicians are fighting for their respective sides of the conflict. We can’t, as Americans, ever be wholly united on most issues and capital punishment is most, unquestionably not an exception. This deadlock will, I fear, be yet another scar on the ravage, nonetheless beautiful face of America.

The American past is riddled with shameful unjustifiable evils such as slavery, witch burning, and prohibition. This is said in jest, but the fact is this evil, or wrong doing, is always in the eye of the beholder so only the individual can decide what is right and wrong. We can be certain someone supported slavery at some point in history, and witch burnings must have been unpopular with at least one of the parties involved. So, pleasing everyone never works and when you try to, it only undermines your social and political career.

As for capital punishment, we must examine the different perspectives. One perspective being, society should not be responsible for killing another human being no matter the circumstances. According to the back of a car I once saw, “The solution to overpopulation: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT FOR TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS!” Now I will not argue logic with bumper stickers, but I hope we can agree that this statement, while somewhat comical to the right audience, should never be passed into law.
I am a man who sees the value of moderation and finding a medium so both parties are satisfied if not happy. Some struggles are not simple and putting human beings to death should not be taken lightly.

Some will avidly defend capital punishment by saying that these men and women who are being put to death are not human because a human being would have respect for the lives of others. This argument and others like it I see a weak because to quote Dr. Seuss, “A person's a person, no matter how small.” And I will infer that a person’s a person no matter their past. While reading death row inmate’s last words, some seemed angry and defiant, some clung to innocence and some appeared quite remorseful for their past actions. All of these actions or emotions I have seen displayed by students in my classes when we had all forgotten or had better things to do than the reading for that day. I’m not saying I think slacking on homework and killing someone is the same thing, but these murderers display very human emotions and reactions to different situations. They are still human beings and no one can convince me otherwise.

What of the other arguments like: give those who have suffered injury justice, an eye for an eye and capital punishment is a deterrent for other would-be killers. Two of these arguments I see as fallacies. While giving justice to the injured parties is one of the few arguments that I struggle with logically responding to and still maintaining my position, because if you haven’t figured it out, I am against killing human beings in all forms. My struggle is this; how could I look a father in the eyes and tell him that the man who raped, killed and again raped his ten year old daughter that, “We got him! He is locked up for the rest of his life! Hooray!” No, that father, mother, sister, brother, grandparent, friend, next-door neighbor, anyone who had a relationship with the little girl wants the guilty party’s blood. There are exceptions to this example but what of the ones who do want the guilty party to die? How can society deny them that?

The Apr 27th 2007 edition of The Economist contained an article entitled Here is thy sting here is an excerpt, “Hours after being sentenced to death by a sharia court in Somalia last May, Omar Hussein was publicly executed. He was hooded, tied to a stake and stabbed to death by the 16-year-old son of the man he had admitted stabbing to death three months earlier.” While looking for more on this story, the internet yielded that the boy stabbed Omar Hussein in the chest, neck and head multiple times until Omar Hussein’s death resulted. The 16 year old boy is quoted as saying “I am happy now because I killed the man who killed my father." Sen. Greg L. Adams of the 24th District of Nebraska once asked me this rhetorical question, “Do we kill to deter or because they have violated the most precious thing, life?”

While this churns my stomach, I can’t help but put myself in the shoes of a family member who has lost a loved one to a murderer, while I hope that I would be capable of cutting the ropes from the guilty party’s wrists and say, “I forgive you, go and sin no more,” I don’t know if I could. But I know I can’t judge those in this situation because I can’t imagine their pain no matter how hard I try.

The other two dominant arguments, an eye for an eye and capital punishment is a deterrent for other would-be killers, seem to me to be logical fallacies. People who quote the Bible and say an eye for an eye are ignoring and in direct conflict with scripture, Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” This can be argued, but to me as an individual, to my understanding the intent of Christ’s words here is that an eye for an eye is not the rule for his followers, but mercy and love for all.

Now, to capital punishment as a deterrent for other would be-killers. I have difficulty believing that killing is the best way to stop killing. It may be effective, but is it the best way? I do understand that if I were to premeditate a murder, I would take the consequences into consideration, but I do not think of death penalty as any less desirable than life in prison. Neither one is something I would want. So, why is life in prison and having all of your rights taken away not enough? I believe it is.

The worst pro capital punishment argument I have ever heard is this: “Why should we let them live in prison and make the taxpayer support them when we could just kill them?” I attribute this quote to another student in class but will not give the name out of respect because I am about to be quite impolite. For even taking this position you are no better than a murder in my mind! I checked several prison websites and found that the cost of keeping an inmate in prison for one day is between $2.50 and $40.00 depending on the creativity of the warden. When did a human life become less valuable than $40.00?
Capital punishment is becoming less and less prevalent as time passes and there seems to be a trend of world nations abolishing it. America, however, is still holding on to it and some Americans are even holding on to it with pride. Some states have stopped using the death penalty and I, for one, hope the death penalty will be abolished sometime in the near future. I don’t know when and I don’t know how, but I do know time’s are changing.

As I said earlier, evil is in the eye if the beholder and I must appeal to the higher power, I am a Bible Major after all. I say that the only eyes and beholder who should be able to set the standards for mankind is God and he did with his son Jesus and the standard is love.