Charlie Kirk and Iryna Zarutska

There have been several horrible, tragic events recently, and I feel like I have to talk about them. First is the killing of Charlie Kirk yesterday. For some reason, his killing really shook me. It's left me feeling so incredibly upset and unsettled. I think that part of it is that he was just a guy sitting at a table and having debate. I know that there are many who couldn't stand him and felt like he peddled hate, and I'll address that later, but regardless of what you thought about his views or methods, he wasn't a violent criminal or terrorist. He was an outspoken individual who invited debate and discussion and exercised one of our greatest rights as Americans, Freedom of Speech, and for that, someone decided that they could take the role of God and remove his unalienable, God-given right of life. It's sickening and disheartening. How can someone think it's ok to just savagely take another’s life? I don't understand it, and yes, that same sentiment applies to every senseless death that takes place in our world, in our nation, from school children who are trying to learn and play to a young Ukrainian woman who was trying to get home after work, to individuals who are murdered in prejudice and hate by ignorant citizens or those who are sworn to protect them and keep the peace, to men, women and children caught in the middle of centuries old wars, to thousands of unborn human children. I do not understand, cannot comprehend the mindset that justifies the taking of human life. It is dark and depraved and psychotic and evil. We are supposed to be able to disagree. We are supposed to be able to have debate and discussion, logical and rational or otherwise. We are a diverse group of humans and we don't all agree, and while we can try to convince others of our viewpoints, disagreement is to be expected. It is not, however, grounds for murder. 

I don't care how much you dislike someone or disagree with them. You have no right to take their life. If you think you do, or if you think anyone has the right to take the life of another because they don't like their ideology or rhetoric, you need to take a good hard look at yourself, because there's something very wrong. 

The second reason that I think this hit me so hard is because he had two young children, a one year old little boy and a three year old little girl. These poor children were just dealt a nightmare. I have seen people dismiss this because of his views, but I couldn't imagine looking his children in the eye and telling them that their daddy is never coming home again, never going to hug them and hold them again, never going to tuck them in again at night, that they will have years of sorrow and pain and it's all more than deserved and earned. I would hope that those I see posting things like this aren't truly that calloused and cold, and again, if you are, you need to take a good hard look at yourself, because there's something very wrong.

Now, the second thing I wanted to talk about is the horrible murder of Iryna Zarutska. This is another awful, senseless loss of life, and the same holds true as what I said about Charlie Kirk. How can anyone be so depraved to take another's life. This one was different, though, Iryna was not a household name. She was not a controversial figure. She had not elected to place herself in the national public spotlight. She was a young woman who fled danger to take a risk for a better life. She was just trying to go home. Her murder was random and unpredictable and brutal. Her killer was psychotic, a trait that I believe is shared by every perpetrator of this sort of crime, because, again, if you are capable of senselessly taking another's life, whether it is with a fun, a pocket knife, a vehicle, a brick, your hands, whatever, there's something very wrong with you. 

What I also find extremely disturbing about this murder, though, is the fact that she was surrounded by people who, initially, did nothing. They kept scrolling through their phones as this young woman was murdered feet away. Now, I know that it was maybe 60-90 seconds before people start to respond, and there's a guy that quickly gets up, but even 60 seconds is an eternity. She sits there, bleeding, then passes out and falls to the floor, and there's no one there. No one is checking if she's ok or not. No one is trying to stop the bleeding, at least not right away. Her killer is pacing the car with a bloody knife, leaving a trail of blood and no one confronts or stops him. 

I don't know if people were unaware of what was going on, if they were in shock, if they were scared, maybe all of these. I honestly don't know how I would respond in that situation or how quickly I would respond, but I hope that my response would be immediate. I would hope that if something happened to me or someone I love that we would be helped by those around us. I hope that I would help. Unfortunately, that doesn't really seem to be the case. 

Our world needs a radical transformation. People need a radical transformation. It seems that many have forgotten that people are made in the image of God, and that from the moment of conception to the moment we die, we are beautiful individuals who are loved and valued by the Creator of everything. Life is a gift of God, and we have started to belittle and negate that gift. Our world is sick, and we need healing. We need transformation, not just laws and policies and safeguards, though all those things can help, but they only address symptoms, not the disease. 

Romans 12:2,9-12 ESV

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

…

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

God is in the business of healing and transforming hearts and minds, and what we need is a radical transformation. We need Christians to actually be Christians, not just seat warmers on Sundays. We need Christians who actually do what God has called us to, to be who God has called us to be, to surrender fully to Him and to share and spread the Truth and Love in the world, because, guess what, it's enticing and desirable, and when people see and taste the goodness of God they will want to be transformed as well. We need those who don't follow Jesus to surrender to His lordship in their life, to transform their hearts and minds. 

God is Life. He gives life. He wants us to live and live abundantly, not be stuck in fear and hate and death. He wants us to be saved and salvation is found in no one else.

A Time For Everything

Experienced this a lot this past week: a time to die, a time to heal, a time to break down, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to mourn, a time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing, a time to speak, a time to love, a time for war.

Life is not a simple thing. It is messy and complicated and intertwined, but that's the point. It's intertwined. There are times of incredible pain and grief and hardship and confusion, but those can, and almost always are, intermixed with times of love and laughter and friendship and joy.  It's not an either or situation. It's both.

If things are hard, look for the good, and if you can't see it, know it's there or will be there.

If things are good, enjoy them and savor them for what they are, and also use them to recharge and buoy yourself for either the rough times that will come or to help lift up others who are currently going through them.

Almost Science

When I was a kid, my youth pastor had us do this activity where we went out into the woods and found something that symbolized our life and relationship with God. That activity has stayed with me. I found a branch covered in moss. 

***The following symbolism is not scientifically accurate. I know that, but it's what my teenage brain saw, and the idea behind it works, so just go with it.***

Birthday Bash

Today is my son's birthday, and, as per usual, we have tried to jam pack it with fun celebratory things. The day started with blueberry pancakes (with candles) and opening of presents. This was followed by a trip to the zoo to see the Polar Bears, Elephants, Giraffes and other animals. We had lunch, chicken tenders and fries, at the second restaurant we went to because the first was closed. After lunch we attempted to go to a trampoline park, but it wasn't yet open, so we had to postpone because we needed to get home and meet family who were bringing some more presents and happy birthday wishes. Later tonight we're going to have hotdogs (one of his favorite foods), cupcakes and ice cream, and probably watch an episode of The Mandalorian (his favorite show).

Before the World Ends

I just got the most recent issue of Popular Mechanics, which happens to be a great magazine, in case you were wondering. The cover story of this particular issue is "64 Things to do Before the World Ends."

In case you didn't know, the new end of the world date has been set for April 23. The mysterious Planet X, or Nibiru, is once again scheduled to come crashing into Earth, securing all of our deaths. I wouldn't worry too much though, Nibiru is notoriously tardy. In fact, it's never showed up to any of its prior appointments, and I wouldn't put any stock on it making this time.

Vampires & Zombies | Suicide & Blood

In honor of Halloween I am going to be writing a bit about zombies and vampires. Now, I traditionally despise Halloween with a passion. I didn't want to have anything to do with it whatsoever: No Trick-or-Treating, no handing out candy, no decorations, no dressing up, I didn't even like church "Fall Festivals." My opinion has changed a little bit, which is a topic for another blog, but for today I am going to fall into the theme of the day embrace zombies and vampires, but not in the traditional way.

A couple years ago I wrote a couple Buzz posts (Do you remember Google Buzz?). Here's what they said.

What if I said you were a vampire, evil & dead to the core & your 1 hope for life, the thing you crave most, blood that's innocent and pure?

 

Would you call me crazy if I said that, in order to live, you must drown, you're a zombie, walking dead, & your 1 hope for life is suicide?

When it Rains it Pours

"When it rains it pours."

Everyone knows this phrase, has heard it, and probably used it. Basically, it means that nothing ever comes in small doses. If one thing is gonna go wrong, 10 things are going to go wrong. It's just the way it is, and recently this has proven to be incredibly true in my life. However, it is not necessarily proving true in the traditional meaning of the phrase.

Rain can be both negative and positive. Rain is life giving, refreshing, cooling. It is necessary for life. It is beautiful. It results in splashing in puddles, kissing/dancing in the rain, it adds life and color to plants and flowers. There are so many amazing, fun, beautiful aspects of rain, and I personally love a good rain storm!

Rain can be damaging as well. Too much rain can cause flooding, death, destruction of homes and landscapes. There are also many other dangerous thing that are associated with heavy rain, lightning, tornadoes, high winds, are all usually accompanied by rain. There are a lot of people who don't like the rain, especially lots of it. It makes everything damp and dark.

Value in Human Life? Part II

Ok, so a couple days ago I posed the question: Does human life have intrinsic value? I talked a lot about the entertainment that humanity has received from human injury/death throughout history, and how that seems to indicate that human life does not intrinsically have any value, but I also said that I disagreed, that I believe human life does have intrinsic value. So today, I'm gonna talk about why I believe this.

To begin, if human life, truly has no intrinsic value, than life is valued on its accomplishments/failures, contributions to/detractions from society/the world, what it does, or possible even what it has the potential to do, but that last one's moving more into granting intrinsic value. So naturally, we would determine a value of a life by examining it, and that value could change. Most likely, value would be highest during the peak of ones life, and life would be considered less valuable in the beginning, when it is unproven and unsure, and at the end, when the usefulness is winding down. Based on these assumptions, there could be a case made that the value of life is dependent on what it does. We see things like abortion and geronticide in the world, and strong arguments are made for all sorts of mass killings of "useless" drains on society. Whether, this is dependent on age, societal status, race, intelligence, health, etc... there have been plenty of proponents of this way of thinking throughout society, and while they may have logical arguments, they are viewed by most as deranged or evil or something like that. That seems to indicate to me that human life must have some sort of intrinsic value, because if not, why does the loss of life in those "drains" on society upset the general populace so much?

Value in Human Life? Part I

Over the last week or so I have encountered several things that got me thinking about this topic.

Does life have value?

This past week I heard the quote, "Human life has no intrinsic value." I don't agree with it, but it got me thinking...does life have value, simply for being life, or does it only have value based on what it accomplishes?

I have been reading The Hunger Games, and am almost done with the last book. I, personally, really like the story, but at the same time, it is extremely disturbing. What makes it so disturbing is the total disregard for the value of human life exhibited by many of the characters, and the entertainment value that so many derive from watching people, kids, slaughter each other. In the books (just in case you know nothing about them) 24 teenagers are forced to fight in the "Hunger Games," which are a nationally televised fight to the death that serve as a way for the government (The Capitol) to control the people, but also as a huge source of entertainment for the citizens of The Capitol.

For lots of people in our world today, the concept of watching people kill each other for amusement and entertainment seems horrid, at least initially, but sadly. I don't think that people, in general, are nearly as horrified at the concept as they portray.

Is Life Worth Living?

Over the weekend we saw a play at The Adobe Theater entitled, "Is Life Worth Living?" It was a good play, a comedy, and yet quite depressing at the same time. The basic gist of the play is that an acting group comes into a small quiet town in Ireland and puts on these serious plays that tackle deep/dark issues, which in turn reveal all the problems and issues in the town that no one acknowledged where there. They compare it to moving a stone in a grassy field and revealing all the creepy crawlers, worms and bugs. As a result of this, people start going nuts, killing themselves, killing others, all because they start to realize how messed up everyone is, and they start to ask the question "Is Life Worth Living?" and for many, the answer is "No." The play ends with the town kicking the acting group out before the cause more problems, and replacing them with a circus, where people can go and simply enjoy life. They relate it to putting the stone back over the worms and bugs. It is meant to be a happy ending, but I think it was one of the most depressing parts of the play. You see, everyone's eyes were opened to the fact that they had problems, that deep down they didn't find any purpose or meaning in life to validate continuing to live, and rather than seeking some answer or trying to fix what was wrong, they pulled the wool over their eyes again, plastered on a fake smile, buried their doubts and fears, and went to the circus.

This was an interesting play because it touched on a topic that so many people struggle with. Is life worth living? What's the point? It's so sad that so many people truly cannot answer this question, and w/o an answer, what is to keep them from ending their lives? This is something that people have struggled with since the beginning of time. In Ecclesiastes 1: we see Solomon say, "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind." This was Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, and he questioned whether there was any purpose or meaning to life, if it was worth living.

So I ask you, is life worth living? What do you think? If you say it is, why? What makes life worth living? What gives life meaning and purpose? This is a philosophical question, but a vitally important one. I recently heard a story of a man who had lost his wife, job, career, and because of it, because of the loss and the shame, he killed himself. He had asked someone close to him if he could give him some direction, some meaning, and this person told him he didn't know. This lack of hope, lack of meaning, lack of worth, resulted in absolute loss of life, which is devastating.

Some say family and friends give life meaning. Some say love. Some say helping others. Some say their jobs. Some say possessions/toys. Some say a purpose or cause to work for. Here's the problem though. All of those things can be taken away. If all of those things are taken away and you are stripped bare, what gives your life meaning. What makes life worth living? What makes it more than futility?

Solomon said that everything is futile, and for 12 chapters he goes on about how literally everything anyone does is meaningless, but in the final verses he comes to this conclusion: "When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity."  It all boils down to this. Is life worth living? Absolutely, but it's not worth living because of love, family, friends, pets, causes, jobs, money, possessions, health, helping others, etc... Those are all benefits of living, but they are not what makes life worth it. Life is worth it because God created you. He created your life and loves you. Our goal, our purpose should be to honor, love, and obey Him, and in and through that we find meaning and worth in life. Paul stated in Acts 17 "From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. 27 He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 For in Him we live and move and exist..."

In and of ourselves we are messed up. We have worms and bugs crawling beneath the surface, hidden by the makeup of a circus clown, but no matter how much laughter and enjoyment we use to cover up our problems, to place the rock over our issues, they are still there, and will eat us alive from the inside out until we are nothing more than a hollow shell that is easily shattered. We have nothing left inside, and in that place, life is not worth living. However, God supplies us with hope, with purpose, with meaning, with worth. He removes the rock over our lives, exposes all of our nasty worms and bugs, and rather than cover them back up, he gets rid of them. He removes the rock and allows that filth to be replaced with grass, flowers, life. We are emptied, but are not hollow shells, we are filled with His life and our worth is not found in the fleeting pleasures of this life, in the circus, but our worth is found in Christ! In Him we LIVE and MOVE and EXIST! He is LIFE and He gives us that life, and in and through Him, life is definitely worth living!

2009 in a (Large) Nutshell

Since today is the last day of the year, and the decade for that matter, I thought that I would be typical and write about all that has happened this year, or at least the main things. It has been a strange year for sure! It has been one of the absolute best and one of the absolute worst years ever. So let's start this thing.

January:
Manda and I closed on our first house! It was so amazing! The house was a fixer-upper, but it was ours, and we were able to spend the entire month doing just that!

• Kitchen: 
• We tore up the floor and laid new tile.
• We replaced all of the handles and hinges on the cabinets
• We painted all of the cabinets
• We painted the walls and ceiling
• We replaced the light fixture
• We repaired a hole in the ceiling
• We installed baseboards

•  Living Room:
• We painted all of the walls and ceiling
• We installed baseboards
• We replaced the front door
• Office
• We painted all the walls and ceiling
• We replaced the carpet
• We installed baseboards
• Bedroom
• We painted the walls and ceiling
• We replaced the carpet
• We replaced the ceiling fan/light fixture
• We installed baseboards
• Bathroom
• We tore up the floor and replaced the tile
• We replaced the toilet
• We removed the vanity and installed a pedestal sink
• We removed the tub enclosure
• We replaced the shower head, faucet, handles, and pipes, in the bathtub
• We tiled the shower and installed a niche
• We removed the window and replaced it with glass brick
• We painted the walls and ceiling
• We installed a fan/light
• We installed baseboards

• 2nd bedroom
• We painted the walls and ceiling
• We installed carpet
• We installed baseboards
• We also replaced all of the windows in the house, had the stucco redone, replaced part of the fence, and are currently working on building a laundry room onto the back of the house.

During this time we also got a new little puppy! He is a black lab, pug mix we think, and he was 6 months old when we got him. We named him, his full name, Ricky Bobby Ricardo Martin Downing. We weren't really planning on getting a dog, but he really needed a good home so we took him in, and he quickly became a part of our family! :)

However, as exciting as all of this was, none of it compared to the most exciting part of it all. We were introducing the 2nd bedroom of our house as "The Baby's Room." We were going to have a baby! We actually found out Christmas of 2008, but we'll count it as 2009. This was one of the most exciting things in our lives! Everything was going great! We had a house, a dog, and a baby! It was wonderful!

February:

However, things quickly went from great to tragic. In February we had our first doctor's appointment for the baby, who we were calling "Shrimp." We were told that everything was looking great, and we scheduled our first ultrasound, but it never happened. The next day we lost Shrimp... This was probably the hardest time I have ever had in my life. I know that some people don't understand, afterall, we were only 2 months pregnant, it's sad, but not the same as losing someone who is born, but it was. It was terrible and sad, and Manda and I both went through an extreme time of grief and questioning of how and why God would allow this to happen. We changed our minds back to the idea that we weren't going to have a little kid running around, and "The Baby's Room" changed back to "The Game Room" or "The 2nd Bedroom." While, I still do not really understand why this happened, we both made it through, and I can say that I learned a lot through it and my faith and trust in God grew through everything.

March:

I got in a car accident, and completely smashed up the front of my car...I still haven't fixed it.

April - May was pretty much life as normal, going to work, going to church, things of that nature...

June:
We came home one night to discover that Ricky was not in our back yard. He had dug under the gate and gone off to explore the neighborhood. Now this was not really a new thing. He had started getting out of the yard on a regular basis, and we would get calls from kind neighbors who had taken him in. That night, however, we received no call. We looked all around for him, drove and walked up and down the streets of our neighborhood, but we couldn't find him, and he was a black dog on a dark night. Manda finally asked a neighbor if they had seen him, and they told us that they had seen a black dog run out into the street and get hit by a car. The neighbor told us that the person that hit the dog got out, picked him up, and drove off.

We were devastated. We started calling vets all around the city, and we found one that said they had a black dog that had been brought in earlier that night that had been hit by a car. I went to go see if it was Ricky, Manda couldn't come because she was too scared they would tell us he had to be put down. When I got there I found a bruised, battered, road rashed, and limping, but ok, Ricky. He looked like he'd been hit by a car...he had. They took a bunch of X-rays, but in the end he came home with us, and after a few weeks of healing, was just fine!

July:
This is when things started to get better. We found out we were pregnant again! Now we were very excited, but also extremely nervous. We were hesitant to tell anyone, we were hesitant to get excited. What if something happened? So we had doctor's appointments, and many ultrasounds, and everything was going just fine. We named this baby "Koopa Troopa" or just "Koopa" for the time being. The "2nd Bedroom" was once again going to be "The Baby's Room!"

Manda and I also went to Seattle at the end of this month for our 3 year anniversary. It was a lot of fun, despite being the hottest it had ever been in Seattle, and we got to go see a bunch of whales out in the wild, which was completely amazing!

The second 1/2 of the year has been pretty good all around. Koopa has been growing just as she should, oh yeah, we found out we were having a little girl :), we have painted her room pink and brown, and have collected many picture of her!

 November:

Manda's car started acting up, it would randomly decide not to start. So we decided, not to spend time and money trying to fix it, but rather, to buy a new car. We sold her 1998 Honda Civic to my cousin and bought a shiny new 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid to replace it! It is beautiful!

December:

The main thing of note in December was our T-Mobile fiasco, which you can read about in my last blog, but that is all fixed now so everything is wonderful, and today looks to be a great day as well, ending out the year on a positive note! :)

So this year has definitely been full of both joy and sorrow, but through it all we have come to see how God works in the good and the bad, and we have learned, on a much deeper level, what it means to trust in Him and lean not on our own understand. Faith is not always the easiest road, but it is always the best, and God is faithful to stand by our side through it all, love us through it all, and bless us immensely!

May God Bless You, and Have a Very Happy New Year!

The Snow is Always Whiter

I've been thinking lately, I guess you could say, about the phrase "The grass is always greener..." In my case, however, it's more of "The snow is always whiter..." As it is now winter, and it's been cold here, and most of the country has been getting ridiculous snow storms, I have found myself being extremely jealous of those areas that are seeing snow while here in ABQ we have received very little, and I have been completely confused as to how anyone could ever be upset about snow or the prospect of snow. In my opinion, snow is one of the most joyful beautiful things. I love it!

However, thinking about this made me realize something about people. Humans seem to have an inherent desire for that which they do not have, and an inherent abhorrence, or at least a lack of contentment, with what they do have. If we live somewhere that gets cold and has lots of snow we desire to live somewhere that is sunny and warm. If we live somewhere that is sunny and warm we want to live somewhere that is cold and gets snow. We get bored with what we have, and we end up leaving electronic gadgets lying abandoned when there are other people who would be thrilled to own such gadgets. Those who travel a lot wish they were home more, and those who are home a lot wish they could travel more. We seem to never be satisfied.

It doesn't matter what we have, how good or how bad it is, we are almost never content, and this lack of contentment is, I believe, at the root of most of our problems as human beings. Thinking back to the original sin, it really was a lack of contentment, a belief that the grass was greener on the other side, that got us in trouble in the first place. We were given paradise. literally, everything we could ever need, bliss and immeasurable pleasure, but we were not content. There was one thing that we were not given, and that one thing was what we longed and lusted for, ignoring the beauty that surrounded us, even ignoring the fact that what was withheld from us was death. We blindly craved death with an insatiable appetite, and we got exactly what we wanted. However, once we got it we realized that what we truly wanted was what we had in the first place. We are fickle and schizophrenic beings!

From that day forward we yo-yo back and forth. Why do we steal? Because we are discontent with what we have to such a great extent that we take what does not belong to us to try and make us feel content. Why do people have affairs? Because they are discontent with their husband, wife, or partner and they try to find contentment in someone else. Lying, Cheating, Murder, Disobedience, almost everything, can really be traced back to a discontentment and a desire to have or obtain something that one does not currently possess.

We are the same today as we were at the beginning. God has given us the most lavish, beautiful, valuable, extravagant gift that anyone could hope for. He gives us hope, love, peace, purpose, safety, salvation, and so much more, and many accept it, but before long we become discontent with it and once again crave the depravity of everything outside of Him. God talks about this very thing:

"You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." - Revelation 2:3-5 

"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness." -- Proverbs 26:11

So my challenge, God's command as outlined in the verses above, is this. Stop constantly longing for the things of the flesh. We have a love and a calling that is great beyond compare, and we should be far more than content to stay within God's arms and follow his laws for us. Afterall, outside of this we only have discontentment, which will lead us in a tragic cycle in which every time we finally get what we think we want it turns to vomit in our hands. God is all we should want, and He is all we will ever need! The snow is no whiter, the grass is no greener, than it is with Him!