I'm just sayin.....

Okay. I'll probably get a lot of slack for this one. But I just saw something on Fox news that kind of irritates me.

Gas prices are high. I hate paying 3.66 for gas. I hate that Benji needs 80 dollars worth of gas a week to work.

But.

They just had a clip about a church in D.C. having prayer vigils at gas stations so that God would lower the gas prices.....

Their prayer went something like this..... "Oh Lord, our hearts are full and our pockets are empty, our people are hungry....."

Really? your pockets are empty? There was not one person standing in that prayer circle that was under 200 lbs, they were dressed in nice suits and clean clothes, standing next to their nice car.....

Benji and I are going out for dinner tonight. We went out last week too.

I'm just saying that until we can't EAT OUT. Until we can't afford COFFEE everyday. Until we can't buy DOG FOOD. Until we can't afford CABLE, INTERNET, CELL PHONES, which are all luxury items to the rest of the world.....'

Gas prices may be annoying. But we can afford it. I'm just sayin......

WAY TO GO BABE!!

I wanted to say publicly (at least to the five or ten people who read this blog) how proud I am of my wife. Last night she finished her last assignment for Southern Seminary. The past four years have brought more than their share of difficulties in and out of the classroom and yet she has persevered. It has meant long days and some times even longer nights! It has meant working and having class seven days a week without having a day off. Yet, through it all, she has remained steadfast in what God called her to. She is an awesome wife, friend, and lover and has been an inspiration to me!
Kristi, I Love You and am so thankful that God blessed my life with you! CONGRATULATIONS BABE!!!!! Now, bring on Dr. Mohler and lets make this official!

First time for everything

Here is my first "political post". I ran across this article on Dr. Mohler's blog. He wrote this in regards to Obama's "bitter" comment. I'm not one to get to worked up about politics, I figure that my life is stressful enough.

But these comments by Obama really bothered me. Mohler helped put it in perspective for me.

Bothered me almost as much as those stupid women who marry off their 13 year old daughters in the name of "freedom of religion." But that is another story......

Here is the Mohler article, I think it is worth reading. But I think everything he writes is worth reading. For more of his blogs you can click on the Dr. Mohler link under my favorite sites.

(Hope I don't get in trouble for copy and pasting Mohler's article)....


The news media and political pundits have been dissecting the now infamous comments of Sen. Barack Obama in which he told a group in San Francisco that hard economic times explain why some people cling to religion, guns, and certain political convictions.

Sen. Obama was speaking at a private fundraising event, but his comments became public when leaked to the media. Sen. Hillary Clinton and a host of others accused Sen. Obama of elitism and being out of touch with ordinary Americans -- charge that may well gain traction in the crucial days leading up to the Pennsylvania primary next Tuesday.

Take a look again at the words most often cited from Sen. Obama's comments:

"It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

I will let the political pundits have their day with this. My interest is theological, for Sen. Obama has given us a near-perfect expression of a functional view of religious belief. In other words, Sen. Obama said that "religion" is a coping mechanism for hard times -- lumping religion with other issues his audience members were presumably to find strange and alien.

A functional view of belief assumes or "brackets" the question of whether the beliefs are true. One who holds to a purely functionalist view of religious conviction is not concerned with the truthfulness of these beliefs, but only with the effects the beliefs have on the believer, both privately and in social contexts.

No one but God knows Sen. Obama's heart, but we are left with his words. In this case, the words are very similar to what is so often heard from political figures. When speaking of their own faith they often speak of how it functions. Sen. Clinton spoke this way at the "Compassion Forum" at Messiah College on Sunday night, but we must note that Republicans often speak the same way -- valuing "faith" as if faith has no object.

A functional view of belief appears when people speak of their beliefs or the beliefs of others in merely pragmatic form. It can be a way of avoiding the particularities of belief -- speaking only of how their belief system functions in their lives. This function can be in terms of a coping mechanism, hope, comfort, moral guidance, or any number of effects.

In the early stages of modernity, many thinkers --- assuming that there is no validity to religious beliefs in terms of truth -- nevertheless noted what they described as its functions. Sigmund Freud detailed his psychiatric theory in Totem and Taboo. Karl Marx defined religious belief as "the opiate of the people," used by the politically powerful to oppress workers and keep them subservient. Other figures spoke of religious belief in more positive terms, describing its contributions to social order and cohesion.

In other words, functional views of religious belief are found among both conservatives and liberals. In one famous example, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican, conveyed a functional view of religious belief in an almost quintessential expression. Speaking on Flag Day in 1954, President Eisenhower said: "Our government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply felt religious faith--and I don't care what it is."

As presidential historian William Lee Miller once noted, Eisenhower was a "fervent believer in a very vague religion."

Christians should learn to detect a functional account of religious belief when listening to public figures speak. Liberals tend to speak in functional terms of meaning and purpose. Conservatives tend to speak functionally in terms of social order, stability, and morality.

None of these is a substitute for authentic Christianity -- a faith that is predicated on being true -- not merely meaningful or helpful.

-Dr. Mohler's article from his blog-

Finally, a crib, and an earthquake

We finally ordered Emery's crib today. (This post is really for Grandparents!) You can check it out at the website.

http://www.munirefurniture.com

Click on The Olde World category, then it is the Newport style crib. I think it is The picture second to the left (left- looking at the page). We ordered the one in the cherry finish.

We also had an earthquake here in Louisville this morning about 5:30. For real.

This annoying lady at work today told me "I should really be walking at least 20 minutes a day." Seriously, why do people think it is any of their business. I just make this lady's mocha everyday, why does she think she knows me?

Grey's is finally coming back on next Thursday. woo hoo.

I have one test left and then I am finished with seminary. woo hoo hoo.

Decaf, what's the difference?

Okay. So when we started this blog I kind of unconsciously told myself that I would not start blogging about customers at work. 1. because it usually makes me more upset instead of "just getting over it." and 2. because at the end of the day Starbucks customer stories are really only funny and significant to the chosen few of us who get the privilege of working there.

But you all will appreciate this one.

Monday night Jason and I were closing. This older couple came in, the man asked me...

"what are your coffees today?"

I replied, "we have pike place and decaf pike place..."

he said, "so they're both the same?"

I replied, "no.... one is regular and one is decaf."

so then he said, (seriously) "well which one has less caffeine?"

so I said, "uhh....the decaf."

and he said (seriously) "you know I've read somewhere that Starbucks decaf has more caffeine than the regular coffee...."

I replied, "Noooo...... that is not true. I don't know where you read that, but the decaf is completely decaf."

Sooooo... he said, "okay, well I'll just take the decaf then, not that it matters...."

Where do people get these things?

This is my life. Every day that I work something like this happens. I don't have much faith in the human race after 4 years of slinging coffee.

What not to say.....

Last night I was having a "fat pregnant girl moment." I have been looking for a bathing suit for our beach trip in May. The search is not going well. Even the largest maternity suits at the maternity store seem to not fit me.

Last night before we got in the bed I was mumbling something about how fat I already was and how fat I was going to be in the end.

Benji, in all his wisdom and maturity said....."well at least it is a nice round belly. It is more like a 35 year old man with a beer gut......."

Seriously.

That was suppose to make me feel better.

I won't go into what was said after that comment.

I'm just warning all the loving husbands of pregnant women. Do not under any circumstances compare your pregnant, emotional, vulnerable, wife to a 35 year old man with a beer gut.

A Day In The Life of a Starbucks Barista.

Today Larry Burkhead, Anna Nicole Smith's baby daddy came in to my work. He ordered a venti hot chocolate, (must not like coffee), didn't tip, and paced around the store on the phone the entire time he waited for his drink.

cheap thrills I know, but hey it was fun for a minute......