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Archive for the ‘Opinions’ Category

Political Amnesia

Posted in Opinions, Social / Political on August 18, 2011| 5 Comments »

George Santayana said that, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” and after listening to much of the recent political rhetoric, I feel certain that he’s right. Whether it was the bipartisan debacle that preceded raising the Debt Ceiling, the gamesmanship of the Iowa Straw Poll or the president’s bus tour through the Midwest; Yellow Journalists on every side were provided with bushel baskets full of rotten fruit to hurl at one another. When done right, it all sounds very contemporary and cutting edge; but if one listens carefully, it’s really an old song, that’s been sung many times before. Ironically, it is not unlike many of today’s pop hits, which take a familiar hook from an old recording and surround it with a fresh array of electronic effects, to make it sound new. For those who weren’t around to hear the original tune, it can seem revelatory; but to those who were, it feels like a cheap imitation.

 

It’s amazing to contrast the timbre of pre-election rhetoric, with the tone of mid-term apologetics; and both were clearly on display in Iowa these last few weeks. With Republican presidential hopefuls packing up their tents to leave town, the president rolled into the state on his million-dollar, bullet-proof bus. Despite the precautions, the president took a few shots, not only from the Right, but from those within his own party; many of whom feel as though he’s not sufficiently stood for their cause. As he stammered through an explanation of the reality that made recent compromises (e.g. the Debt Ceiling deal) necessary, he seemed only a shadow of the thundering orator, who only a few short years ago, sparked the people’s imagination. There was little evidence of the seemingly effortless eloquence and self assuredness that accompanied his dialogue in those days; but then again, it’s always easier to paint in broad colorful strokes than it is to explain the details of an incriminating black and white photo. Listening to the Left gnaw at Mr. Obama was eerily similar to hearing the Right thrash George H.W. Bush with the phrase “Read My Lips”; and I couldn’t help but think that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

Another interesting tidbit from the bus tour was Mr. Obama’s assertion that real job creation won’t come out of Washington, but that it will be accomplished by the people, in places like the Midwest. While I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment, it seems a somewhat dubious admission given the grand expectations that were intentionally stirred prior to his election. Politicians on both sides of the aisle are guilty of perpetuating the myth that they can create sustainable jobs, stabilize the faltering economy and maintain our position in the global marketplace. The truth is that the government is not in control of those things and thus no politician can legitimately promise to restore or maintain them. While the government can take steps to help promote such a restoration, none of those actions amounts to a sure fire cure for what ails us. Of course, you wouldn’t know that from the swaggering bluster of GOP hopefuls in Iowa; they are all full of criticism for the current administration and for each other; but I guess that’s the nature of a straw poll. It’s more about hot dogs and hand-shakes than about genuine answers. As I assess these potential candidates, I can’t help but wonder if their mid-term explanations would be any more satisfying than Mr. Obama’s have been. If there is anything that “We the People” should have figured out by now, it’s that there is a world of difference between a gifted speaker, a problem solver, a deal maker and a leader. Unfortunately, we’re top heavy on gifted speakers and deal makers; and desperately short on leaders, who know how to solve complex problems.

 

As I watch politicians and political parties fall into the same holes that they always have, I find myself pondering whether voters will do the same. Will we seek a legitimate leader or will we run after yet another engaging personality, who promises to make our problems go away. We’ve seen what a Republican administration, with a majority in congress looks like and now we’ve seen the same for the Democrats. Has either party really had the answer for the issues we face? Does it really matter or will we simply vote the same way our parents did. Have we fallen into the trap of believing that the proverbial “they” are the bad guys and that the proverbial “we” are the good guys? In a truly democratic system, the government can’t help but reflect the character of the people and given the current state affairs, that ought to feel like some sort of indictment. Ultimately, we are going to get the government that we deserve; and it’s scary to consider that maybe we already have.

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A Letter to the Republican Party

Posted in Opinions, Social / Political on July 8, 2011| 4 Comments »

Dear Leadership of the Republican Party

I guess I should start by clarifying that I am not a member of your organization, though I have at times voted for your candidates. In my almost thirty years of voting I have never found enough common ground with either of the major political parties to affiliate with them; and at this point, it seems doubtful that will ever change. While I generally try to steer clear of the bipartisan brawl, my growing concern for the future of this country compels me to offer you a little advice for the 2012 Presidential election. Obviously, you can take it or leave it.

First and foremost, is that I hope the current rhetoric being spewed by many of the GOP presidential hopefuls is just the intro to something more substantive. Simply pointing out how bad things are isn’t much of a platform to run on. Don’t count on getting the free pass that the buzzword “change” got in the last election. I suspect that “We the People” will be looking for a definition this time.

Along those same lines, remember that we are a distinctly western culture and that aesthetics matter more than they should. Offering up a candidate who is nearly seventy years old, and whose political heyday was three administrations ago, would be a serious mistake. Barrack Obama was able to sell the idea that he’d be something different based largely on the fact that he looked and sounded different than the alternatives. Mr. McCain’s campaign was floundering until Sarah Palin entered the picture and her appeal was also rooted in the fact that she didn’t look and sound like everyone else. Those same aesthetics will matter in 2012.

Since I mentioned Sarah Palin, I ought to add that I believe that her political shelf life has expired. If she had remained the governor of Alaska and had led them as boldly as she presents herself, she might be considered some sort of credible alternative. Unfortunately, she quit that job, hit the talk-show circuit and her life has become tabloid fodder. At this point, she seems like a caricature; who has way too much in common with the Kardashian’s to be taken seriously.

Despite what the special interest groups will tell you, the number one issue on the minds of most American’s is the economy, and more specifically, jobs. If you don’t have some new ideas about how to turn things around, I’d get working on that now. Please don’t try to perpetuate the myth of the “Consumer Based Economy”. Low interest rates, more affordable lines of credit and tax breaks aren’t going to bring our economy back; we are not going to borrow, spend and consume our way back to prosperity. Our country has got to find a way to restore the balance between what we produce and what we consume. Trying to defy the law of supply and demand is the economic equivalent of trying to defy gravity.

Speaking of balance, I appreciate the idea that some of your guys have been trying to promote about government spending; it is absolutely out of control. Unfortunately, hammering the budget for things like Medicare and Medicaid, while discretionary spending remains largely unchecked, isn’t going to gain you much support with the American people. If you’re serious, you and your brothers across the aisle need to start axing all the activities that the government has no business being involved in. Using that criterion, you could probably cut the budget in half.

Finally, as a man who takes his morality pretty seriously, I like the idea of the “Moral Majority”. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much evidence that such a group really exists. But as I’ve watched the last few election cycles, I have become convinced that there is a group of people who could rightfully be called the “Moderate Majority”. I believe that it is this group who represents the swing vote and that these are the people you need to reach. While staunch conservatives may feel that you’ve done a poor job of representing them, it seems doubtful that they’d be willing to re-elect Barrack Obama to another term. Though the extreme elements of both parties will attempt to hijack the primary process, the actual election will most likely be decided by this large group in the middle.

Well, that’s really all I had to say; hopefully something within this will be helpful to you. Good luck with all that, because there are an awful lot of lives and livelihoods that hang in the balance. See you at the polls.

Sincerely – Bryan J. Corbin (Ohio)

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Thought for the Day – Throwing Stones

Posted in Opinions, Social / Political, Thought for the Day / Quotes on March 18, 2011| 1 Comment »

Just as it is ridiculous to think that you could bring a community together by standing on opposite sides of the street, hurling stones at one another, so it is for elected officials, who claim to want to bring the country together, while employing this same strategy from opposite sides of the aisle.

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Manhood

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Parenting / Family, tagged , , on March 14, 2011| 4 Comments »

I was the youngest of three brothers*; two years younger than the oldest one, and a year younger than the other.  Because we were so close in age, I was always trying to prove that I was their equal.  That desire deepened in me when I wound up in the same grade as my middle brother, and was compared to him on an almost daily basis.  Despite my best efforts, I never could quite measure up to either of my brothers.

 

In hindsight I can see that it wasn’t really a fair comparison, as a year (or two) makes a very significant difference in the development of a child, but at that time in my life I didn’t understand.  Combined with the fact that I was slightly built, with poor eyesight, and very emotional, I grew up with a deep sense of inadequacy.  These feelings were magnified during adolescence, when I found that girls never seemed as interested in me and as I was in them.

 

In those years I struggled to find a place where I felt significant, or where I sensed that I fit in.  During high school I was working at a downtown restaurant, where for the first time I encountered openly gay men.  For many of these men, a skinny teenaged boy was a thing to be coveted, and they had no trouble expressing their desire for me.  While I was not physically attracted to men, I had to admit that it felt good to be seen as desirable and special; and those feelings began to open a door way in my mind.  I began to wonder if the reason I didn’t really fit in and that women didn’t seem very interested in me was because there was something deficient in my manhood, which could somehow make me gay by default.

 

While it may sound a little strange for a boy who was wildly attracted to girls and not attracted to men to wrestle with the idea that he might be gay, I had adopted the world’s philosophy that some people are just made that way and it made me wonder about myself.  The issue wasn’t really about sexuality as much as it was about identity; because I was insecure in my identity as a person, I started to become insecure in my identity as a man.

 

Fortunately for me, one of the most significant elements in forming the identity of a child is its relationship with its parents, and the relationship of its parents with each other.  In this regard, I had been blessed with two parents who loved me, believed in me and modeled for me the God given roles of a man and a woman.  Even though I was not conscious of it, these things were strongly encoded in my being, and eventually this sense of my identity as a man was strong enough to keep me from being drawn into the gay community.

 

Though that experience cleared up any potential for confusion about my sexuality, it didn’t necessarily solidify my identity as a man.  I continued to struggle in finding much common ground with the cultural images of manhood (e.g. Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Rambo…) and as such I drew the conclusion that I must not be much of a man.

 

Over the years I found ways to compensate for, or to conceal, those traits which weren’t seen as being particularly manly (e.g. being expressive, showing emotion, loving children…) and eventually I came to what I thought was peace about it.  Years later, when I came into a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ and began to read the scripture, my whole concept of manhood was revolutionized.

 

In the light of God’s Word I could see that the culture had adopted, and even promoted, a faulty image of manhood; and that only “The Creator” could reveal to me my true identity.  When I read about Gideon, I heard him essentially say that he was the least of the least, and the facts surrounding his life seemed to support that claim; but God’s assessment was that he was mighty, and once Gideon got that revelation, his life went on to validate that view.

 

It struck me that God knew who He made Gideon to be, and that nothing from his past had the power to change that.  I understood that if this was true of Gideon, it was true of me too.  It didn’t matter what my history had been; only God’s assessment of me was valid.

 

When I read that God said that David was a man after His own heart, I decided that he must be an example of what God was looking for in a man.  And while David possessed many of the traits that are typically associated with men (e.g. strong, bold, fearless…), he also manifested others that aren’t (e.g. expressive, emotional, vulnerable…).  Through this I began to understand that God’s concept of a real man was quite different than that of our culture.

 

As I read the Gospels I realized that Jesus Himself was God’s model for manhood and in the Epistles I learned that He’d predestined me to be transformed into that image.  With this understanding I stopped trying to live up to some false idea of what a man should be and began to pursue becoming the person God made me to be.

 

Not long into that journey I discovered that many in the church are more in tune with the cultural image of what it means to be a man (or woman), than what is portrayed in scripture.  As I heard teaching on the subject of men, women, children, marriage…much of it seemed more rooted in Psychology than in the Word of God.

 

I remember as a young father, I volunteered to be in the Nursery to watch the kids, and that there were actually parents who refused to leave their children with me because I was a man.  If Jesus is our model, why should a man who is willing to serve, and who loves children be so unusual?  I would suggest that it is because we’ve been more influenced by cultural images than by the image of Christ.

 

There are certain images of Christ that men seem to willingly embrace, like Christ preaching the Sermon on the Mount, or turning over tables in the temple, or dueling with the Pharisees; but are men willing to embrace the image of a lamb led to slaughter, or His open display of emotion at the tomb of Lazarus, or of Him washing the feet of the friends.  Love, kindness, patience, and gentleness are all hallmarks of His character, but these things run counter to the generally accepted concept of being manly.  Are we endeavoring to mold our little boys into the image of Christ, or are we more interested in molding them into the next Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Bill Gates…

 

The people of God need to see “manhood” in a different light than the culture.  The tenets of scripture stand in stark contrast to the principles of the world.  The Apostle Paul said that “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself as love”.  David said that the kind of heart that God honors is broken and contrite; and Jesus said that unless we come as little children, we would not receive the Kingdom.  If outward expressions of love, having a broken heart, or possessing childlike trust don’t sound very manly, I’d suggest that maybe it’s because we’ve studied the wrong model for manhood.

 

* I also have a sister who is eleven years younger than me.  While she is the jewel of our family, she was not around in my formative years, and thus didn’t impact the sibling rivalry dynamic I developed with my brothers.

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My Generation

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Social / Political on March 3, 2011| 5 Comments »

I was born in 1963; about a month after John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  I vaguely remember Charles Manson, Woodstock and the Vietnam War; but I was really more a product of the Cold War era.  Back then, kids were raised with the notion that if we didn’t all perish in the midst of a nuclear holocaust, or succumb to the “killer bees” that were steadily migrating from the south, we’d inevitably be consumed by the coming of a second ice age.  This might explain some of the skepticism that people of my generation have about this whole global warming thing. 

It was a strange period in history, but as American’s we had the distinct advantage of having that “one thing” we all agreed on, which was that the Soviets were the “bad guys”.  By default, that meant we were the “good guys”.  That may not seem like much, but in hindsight, it was a lot more valuable than we understood.  The Cold War was largely fought in the fertile imaginations of the people and so it was quite a relief when we finally saw the Berlin Wall come down.  Since the Soviet Union soon broke into little pieces, it seemed obvious, even to the most casual observer, that America must be the winner.  This was sweet vindication for democracy, the US Olympic team and for our space program; all of which had bore questionable results in the past.  Presuming that the whole episode was a titanic struggle between the world’s two “super powers”, one had to conclude that we (i.e. the USA) were now the world’s preeminent “super power”.  After a mere two hundred years of history, all our hard work and struggle had paid off; and now we could rightfully claim to be the most powerful country in the world.  Certainly we had biggest middle class, the highest standard of living and the most fearsome military-industrial complex.  We even had a president that most American’s believed in, which turned out to be another thing that would soon become a distant memory.  That’s the ironic thing about making it to the pinnacle; the best you can hope for is that you stay there for a while.  Arguably, we did.

Just as adversity has a way of bringing people together, prosperity has a way of dividing them.  This problem is compounded when that prosperity is inherited instead of earned, because then it is viewed as a birth right instead of the byproduct of blood sweat and tears.  Indeed, the people of my generation were the benefactors of the generations who came before us and who were willing to pay a price, that we now seem unwilling to pay.  They believed that the good of the whole outweighed the needs of a few, while my generation ascribes to the belief that every person has a God given right to pursue happiness on their own terms.  We were raised with the idea that every generation ought to prosper even more than the last, but we failed to recognize that this principle only works when we are willing to put forth the same kind of effort and sacrifice that our predecessors did.  Indeed, democracy and free market economies only work when there’s a consistent level of effort and reinvestment in them; but we’ve become a generation of consumers.  As if that weren’t bad enough, we somehow managed to convince ourselves that we could somehow circumvent the principle of “supply and demand” simply by voraciously consuming the world’s goods.  Though we were able to pull that illusion off for a while, the economic equivalent of the law of gravity has finally caught up with us.  While we may have admired our grandparent’s gardens and while they may have left our cellars stocked with canned goods, the cupboards are now getting barren and we’ve never bothered to learn how to work the land for ourselves.

In moments of crisis, there is always a temptation to blame someone else for our condition, but to do so is rarely productive.  Though external forces are certainly a factor, we are generally hard pressed to change much outside of ourselves.  The cost of successfully finding someone to blame is that we become powerless to alter our course.  Sadly, my generation has made “The Blame Game” America’s favorite pastime.  We’re not fat because we have no self discipline, it’s because our parents damaged our self esteem or because McDonalds doesn’t have the right nutritional standards; we’re not in debt because we spent all sorts of money that we didn’t have, it’s because interest rates are too high or employers don’t pay enough; our marriages aren’t failing because we haven’t invested ourselves in them, it’s because our partner just isn’t meeting our needs; our kids don’t struggle in school because of our lack of genuine parenting, it’s because the teachers just don’t know how to motivate them; it’s the governments fault; it’s those right wing fanatic’s fault; it’s those bleeding heart liberals; it’s the radical Muslims, it’s Christianity; it’s everybody and everything, but me.  It is the proverbial “them”; and sadly, that has become the American way.

Our forefathers were raised under an oppressive regime and because of that, the government they formed was constructed to ensure that its leaders never attained that kind of control over the people.  They envisioned a government that would be a support to the people, but wouldn’t impede their opportunity to prosper.  They never intended for the government to be the source of that prosperity.  But in today’s world, as America’s collective prosperity seems to be teetering precariously, the people of my generation seem to be looking toward the government for the fix.  We expect them to make sure that we have a high paying job; that we always get to negotiate our price; that we all have good medical insurance; that the price of gas doesn’t get too high and that our borders are safe from terrorists, without causing us a corresponding delay at the airport.  Not only do we want that and more, we don’t want it to cost any more than the relatively sparse governmental model that our founders envisioned.  We keep electing people who promise those things, even though there is no possibility that they can deliver them.  Because my generation has never really experienced genuine governmental oppression, we clamor for them to take care of us; failing to realize that a government that is able to take care of the people, will ultimately control them.  We need only watch the rioting all over the Middle East to see what that looks like.  

On the rare occasion that the government does produce something to help the people, there never seems to be a shortage of individuals who stand at the ready to exploit it.  Like “The Blame Game”, exploiting “the system” for our personal gain is just part of the way that my generation does things.  When the Capitalists gave corporations incentives and tax breaks, in an effort to create a prosperity that would “trickle down” through the economy, corporate America exploited it into record profits; thereby blunting the intended effect.  When Socialists created programs to help those in need, many in our society made an industry out of exploiting those systems as well.  Regardless of what program our current administration may initiate, we can be sure there will be a group of American citizens who feel perfectly justified in exploiting it.  While the statue of “Lady Liberty” in New York’s harbor may be a symbol of the virtuous intent of our forefathers, I fear that if we had to recast her today, she would rightfully be in rags; ravaged and robbed by the very people who claimed to love her.    

Ultimately, I believe that the greatest crisis that we face in America today is not our collapsing economy, or the sky-rocketing national debt or even the threat of terrorism; it is the crisis of our national character.  Unless that changes, we will likely lack the unity and resilience needed to deal with any other issue.  It’s not them, it’s us, it’s our generation, it’s me!

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Thought for the Day – Knowing Me, Knowing You

Posted in Commentaries, Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes on January 20, 2011| 2 Comments »

“The danger in coming to a genuine understanding that God is always with us, is that we can easily become complacent in our efforts to always be with Him.”

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We the People

Posted in Commentaries, Free Verse / Poetry, Opinions, Social / Political, tagged , , , on January 18, 2011| 1 Comment »

I am a man of unclean lips

And I come from a people of unclean lips

Indeed, we are a people:

Who value political correctness above honesty

Form above substance

and

Comfort above resilience

*

Who esteem ideas over truth

Charisma over character

and

Instant gratification over an honest days work

*

Who prefer victory to integrity

Tolerance to moral standards

and

Stimulation to fidelity

*

Who have traded diligence for convenience

Foundations for facades

and

Self-sacrifice for self-indulgence

*

At this late date in our history

‘We the People’

Hold no truth to be self evident

And though it would be premature to say that

this nation has completely turned from the idea of ‘god’

We would certainly be hard pressed to agree on

his, her or its

name

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Giving Thanks

Posted in Christmas, Commentaries, Opinions, tagged , , , , , on November 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

It’s amazing to realize that “Thanksgiving” is already upon us.  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that while the days don’t pass any quicker, the months and years seem to fly by.  This year has moved by so rapidly that I feel as though I’ve missed much of it.  As we come into what ought to be a special season, I can already sense the dread that many people feel during this time of year.  On the surface it all seems bright and shiny, but in recent years I’ve begun to notice how few people really seem to enjoy it.  Though our calendars fill up with “special” activities, I don’t sense much “peace on earth”, “goodwill toward man” or “joy to the world”.  Even within the church, I don’t see a lot of genuine excitement at what should be, for Christians, a time of worship and celebration.

Sadly, we all tend to get caught up in the busyness (e.g. cooking, baking, shopping, holiday parties, traveling, guests, holiday programs…) and miss much of the richness this season has to offer.  While we’ll be the first to proclaim that “Jesus is the reason for the season”, He doesn’t always get a place of prominence in our holiday activities.  So as we launch into yet another holiday season, God put it on my heart to stop long enough to gain some perspective.

I believe that at the root of much of the seasonal angst is unfulfilled expectation; whether that comes in the form of past disappointments or the present dissatisfaction with where we find ourselves.  The inherently nostalgic quality of the season can often stir up more painful memories than warm thoughts.  Those who grew up in dysfunctional homes often come face to face with that dysfunction again, whether it is gathering with their families or intentionally avoiding the pain of such a reunion.  Those who are in the midst of difficult situations often feel more isolated in this time, because presumably everyone else is full of holiday cheer.  Those of limited means struggle, because we’ve all come to believe that Christmas cannot be complete unless it comes with boxes and ribbons.  Many of us wrestle with the notion that if we can’t give our kids what all the other kids have, we’ve somehow failed them.  For others, it can be the uncertainties of a new year that keep them from partaking of the joy set before them.  Ultimately, if we are dreading the holidays, we will almost certainly have a dreadful holiday season.  For those who are in the world, these are simply the seas which toss souls about; but what about the children of God?  Are these the forces that should be shaping our perspective?

If we could look at the reality of where we are today, apart from the disappointments of the past and our fears for the future, we might see that we are a genuinely blessed people.  Regardless of our situations, God has provided for us and continues to sustain us.  We may feel as though we have lack, but if we can see past what we don’t have, we will likely find that we have unnoticed abundance all around us.  The Psalmist spoke of how God wants to teach us of His ways and he beseeches that we not be like the horse or mule, which must be controlled using a bit and bridle.  That picture is one of needing to use pain as a way to get our attention.  I believe that if we will look for the blessings He’s laid aside for today, we will find them; if not, we often must suffer a painful lose before we can understand how truly blessed we were yesterday.

Do we really have to become homeless before we can be thankful for a warm house; even if it isn’t as big or as nice as we’d like.  Do we really have to lose someone we love before we can be thankful for the other people in our lives?  Do we really have to get sick before we can be thankful for our health?  Do we really have to become fugitives or prisoners before we can rejoice in our freedom?  Sadly, most of us tend not to appreciate what we have until we lose it, but this season offers us an opportunity to live differently.

Truthfully, this season was never really meant to be about us anyway.  We’ve unconsciously allowed the world’s thinking to distract us from the central issue, which is Jesus.  While some might regard that as rather obvious, I would guess that most of our holiday attitudes don’t reflect it.  When we talk about the sacrifice that Jesus made, we most often speak of the cross.  Rightfully so, but before His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus sacrificed His deity; not only to become a man, but to become a man of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief.  He sacrificed His perfect fellowship with the Father to come to this earth as a sacrificial lamb.  He sacrificed the glory of heaven for a manger, the rejection of man and a cross.  Make no mistake; the sacrifice Jesus made at Christmas is no less profound than the one He made at Easter.  It was the day that our redemption was set in motion and it certainly warrants a seasons worth of rejoicing.

So as we step into this season, I feel the Lord challenging our motivations and asking what will drive us in this time.  Will it be the hurts and disappointment of seasons past; will it be the struggles that we’re facing today, or maybe our fears about what awaits us down the road.  Maybe it will be the vain hope that if we just find the right combination of songs & gifts & food & people & decorations, we’ll find the joy of the season.  I’d submit that the Lord would like this season to be a season of awe and wonder at the love of our Father in heaven; a season of gratitude for all that He is and all that He’s done for us; a season of renewed relationship with Him and those He’s brought around us.

Who knows what the New Year will bring, but as I stand here today, I am blessed and thankful.  He has given and done more than I ever deserved and more than I ever could have hoped for.  I pray that you and your family will find His joy and have a wonderful holiday season.  God bless you

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Thought for the Day – Thinking Outside of the Box

Posted in Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes on November 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

“Thinking ‘outside of the box’ only becomes worthwhile when you find a way to fit your new ideas into the box, or a way to expand the box to accommodate those new ideas.  Simply ignoring the reality of the box amounts to little more than fantasizing.  Ultimately, there’s a world of difference between a man with ideas and a man with a plan.”

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Thought for the Day – Hearing God’s Voice

Posted in Opinions, Thought for the Day / Quotes on November 16, 2010| 1 Comment »

“I’ve come to believe that not only does God speak to us, but that He speaks in a way that we can understand.  I’ve also come to believe that the reason most of us feel as though we can’t recognize His voice is because He is so often saying things that we don’t want to hear.”

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