Robert's Blog

i am spending the next two days at a local retreat center for a school class retreat. the place is in the woods in between two small cities of about 1,800 and 4,000 people. each of those big, thriving metropolises are 15 to 20 miles away. basically we are in the boondocks. this translates to no cell phone coverage which is not really a bad thing except for the fact that i’m supposed to be on call this week. of course, the irony of this to me is that while i can’t be reached on my cell phone the retreat center campus is covered by wifi. thus i can surf the net in a place that i can’t even use my cell phone in. i think that’s pretty cool.

anyhow here’s the video from the first day of the retreat.

every graduation i have ever been to has been the exact same. being a youth minister i go to quite a few commencement ceremonies each year. i love being there for the people who are graduating but i pretty much hate all the ceremonies that i’ve been to. it’s that time again – time for the boring ceremonies that i write notes while sitting through.

the video equipment we have within the student ministry has opened up some connections with students via homework. for the second time i have been able to spend time with a teen because they needed help making a video for class homework. it has worked out great.

pam and i have been remodeling our kitchen for awhile and today we took another step closer to being finished. tonight i installed our glass doors. these doors didn’t used to have glass in them – nope they had boring panels. we took them into to a local glass company and asked if they had any cool glass we could put in them. the owner said if we had a little time he could gather glass from the old windows they replace and insert that glass in our doors. it took over a month but we finally were given doors that have glass in them from the early 1900s. how cool is that?

okay, maybe this is boring to most of you but i love it. i think they look great and i enjoy the fact that we are recycling the glass from older homes.

tomorrow (tuesday, may 10, 2005) the senate is scheduled to vote on the “real id act“. here’s what sojourners had to say about the “real id” act within their april 13th issue of sojomaill.

The United States’ long-standing history as a beacon of hope to people around the world fleeing political, religious, and other forms of persecution is under assault in Congress. A bill, soon to be considered in the Senate, contains provisions that will make it impossibly difficult for refugees fleeing persecution to seek safety in the United States by obtaining asylum.

Under the bill, known as the REAL ID Act, trivial details – like a woman’s failure to recall her date of high school graduation – could be used to deny her asylum, even though she has fled from genocide, rape, forced abortion, severe domestic violence, or the threat of honor killing. Another provision of the bill would allow a torture survivor to be delivered back into the hands of his persecutors; the bill prohibits a U.S. federal court from preventing his deportation back to his oppressive home country while his case is still pending.

The REAL ID Act is based on the false argument that asylum laws in the United States are open to exploitation by terrorists. Current law already bars people who present a security risk from getting asylum – asylum seekers already undergo rigorous security and background checks from the time they apply until their cases are resolved.

basically, aside from quite possibly messing around with the civil liberties of american citizens, the act will make it much more difficult for political refugees to find asylum within the united states. so much for the “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

you can let your voice be heard by going to this link.

CITIZEN-TIMES.com: East Waynesville Baptist Church pastor says nobody ousted for political beliefs
this is absurd – just in case you haven’t heard about this click the link and read the article. there seems to be some dispute concerning whether or not the pastor of this church kicked members out of the church because they voted democratic. yet to me it is blatantly obvious that there was a republican agenda was pushed within the church.

first statement – why do they always have to be baptist?

every time i hear a news report concerning CHRISTians doing something stupid all i can think is “please don’t let them be baptists!” i don’t really want any CHRISTians getting bad press (or more particular doing anything stupid in the first place) but it just seems like my denomination has more than it’s share of bonehead moments.

second statement – when are we evangelicals going to be more concerned with doing what GOD wants within politics rather than just being pawns of a political party – republican or democrat?

it simply blows my mind to think of how we american CHRISTians have sold ourselves to political parties instead of standing up and speaking prophetically to all involved within the political process.

stop the insanity!