Seasonal Thoughts......

Fall as my favorite season. There are just so many great things about it. The weather finally cooling off... finally...... stupid global warming, the colors of the trees and in the world of sports there is something for everyone: World Series, Football regular season, the start of both Basketball and Hockey, NASCAR's Chase for the Cup, I'm sure I'm missing something but that's all that ESPN has been talking about. Then there is all things pumpkin that comes out; ice cream, pie, cannoli (my coworker made some tasty ones) and most importantly pumpkin beer.

On a completely unrelated note, the NC Art Museum is having a photo contest this fall. There are four themes, the first theme is "Your Point of View". Here is my submission for the theme.

Last week at my Bible study group we discussed John 10:22-42 where Jesus is asked by the Jewish leaders "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." In some translations, "Christ" is interpreted as "Messiah" and that got us discussing the historical context of what was expected of the Messiah. According to some scholars, the Jewish leaders of the day were expecting the "Messiah" to be a geo-political savior, not a spiritual savior. It is easy to see how the leaders back then could think that way. They were God's chosen people, they were supposed to rule their area as long as they were faithful, hence the Messiah was supposed to restore that kind of glory. I'm not trying to excuse them, Jesus provided plenty of evidence to the contrary. Sadly, there is a vocal sect of Christianity that is now like the ancient Jewish leaders. It is my belief that the supposed leaders of the Christian movement, the Religious Right, the whatever name the media is using this week are the modern day pharisees. What troubles me is that these are the people the majority of the population thinks of when they hear the word "Christian" even if they know others. I wish that more people would see this article from the Wall Street Journal editorial page about the "evangelical power elite". It's nothing amazing, it's just an article about leaders of companies or political figures that are active followers but do not make stump speeches about it. My hope/prayer is that people start to hear about these quiet followers than the loudmouth gasbags.

I'm tired......

I'm tired, and not just because I stayed up late playing Halo.

I'm tired of acting like I have it together. I'm a nutcase. I'm insecure about most everything. I feel like I'm a fraud living someone else's life and I will be busted at any point now.

For that matter, I'm tired of being insecure. I have a hard time seeing how blessed I am to have the life God has granted me. I have a great family/friends, a good job, I don't live in a place where I should fear for my life every day..... why is it so hard for me to be happy with that?

I'm tired of idiot drivers that don't realize they're idiots. How hard is it to NOT be in the left hand lane if you're driving the same speed or slower than people to your right?

I'm tired of people feeling like they have to fill the void of breaks in conversations.

I'm tired of handing things over to God only to take them back the next month/week/day/hour/minute. Why can't I give up control? I do give up control, but it's only when I'm tired and beat down mentally. It seems that I only want to pass the load over to someone until I feel strong enough to carry the burden again.

I'm tired of the hot weather. When the heck is it going to be fall?

I'm tired of being tired.