Zidon Avisha

I returned yesterday from our Men's Retreat at Zidon Avisha, which is near Tuscaloosa, AL. It is a beautiful place. It is MAN-VILLE. 4-wheelers, skeet shooting, shooting range, paintball, fishing, hiking, wow.

The food was amazing. A family from Tuscaloosa cooked for us. They worked HARD. I had the tastiest beef brisket I've ever had.

Sadly, the invited speaker was too ill to attend, so we had no speaker at all. We did a couple short devotionals, but that was about it for spiritual content. We had a theme (Resonate) but no theme-related content. Kinda weird.

I received gymnastics rings from my family for my birthday. I took them with me to the retreat and had an excellent rings workout on Saturday. I'm still sore from it. A few folks tried out the rings as well.

Mostly, I'm glad to be home. I missed my family.

Another moment in this string of moments

So now I'm 46.

I am a blessed man. At times I struggle to remain thankful. I lose perspective. My vision narrows.

God please help me see better. I want to see as You see. I want to do as you would have me do. Your hand is active in my life. Thank you. In the midst of all the pain and frustration and selfishness I see and participate in, You are faithful. May I find my strength and purpose only in You and Your will for me.

Debates and outcomes

The final debate is in the books - and my distaste for both candidates went up. For McCain, he is simply a terrible debater/public speaker without a script. Obama comes across to me as smarmy and condescending. Neither one got all their "facts" straight, but I have to say that Obama was WAY FURTHER off the truth reservation than McCain (all things being relative, of course).

Obama's calmness helps him a lot in moments like last night. But his "little grin" every time McCain made a point just made me angry. McCain was no better, rolling his eyes. One comes across as opportunistic (and, like I said, condescending), the other as full of disdain. Ugh!

The willful misrepresentations were most disturbing. 100% of McCain's ads have been negative? WRONG! A fine for changing health care plans? WRONG! These are but simple examples - pointed at the other candidate. Where is the integrity?

I will say that I think Bob Schieffer did the best job of the 4 moderators used in all the debates. Some of his questions were very good. He did let many go unanswered, though.

The election seems to be Obama's to lose, and he did not. I am truly fearful of Dem/Dem/Dem in the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. There is too much socialism in our government, period - but WAY too much more in the Democratic Party. I believe that the leftist policies that will (apparently) flow from Dem/Dem/Dem will hurt our country, hurt our economy, and hurt the world. I think personal responsibility will be even less of an ingredient in our national culture than it is now (which is far too little), so the downward spiral will worsen. The "Nanny State" will get bigger, and we will all be worse off because of it. Does "The Fall of Rome" ring any bells?

Wow!!! 4-digit Dow, 3-digit S&P

Well, we're not far at all from the level I mentioned on the Dow. I did not expect to get here quite so fast! It's hard to see the end of the slide at this point.

We'll see...

Health care is NOT a right!

Of all the statements by the candidates in last night's debate, only one REALLY set me off.

Senator Obama, HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT!!!!

That he thinks it is shows me his true WAY LEFT colors. What an idiotic statement! Only if you add a constitutional amendment is this true. And the only way to "pay" for it is to become health care socialists.

No, thank you.

I do not have the words to express how afraid I am for our country now. If this is indeed the road we are headed down, I believe we are headed indeed for the end of our representative republic. Apocalyptic, yes. But that is how I see it. We MUST embrace individual responsibility as individuals and as a nation.

ZOE - Fearless

Natalie and I enjoyed a little escape to Nashville. It was a good time. We enjoyed visiting (briefly) with friends from all over. We enjoyed some challenging and informative sessions. We participated in heart-stirring worship.

The theme was an interesting one. I was surprised (relative to my expectations) that the theme was a little more internally-focused than recent themes. There was, it seemed, a little less "missional" stuff in this year's conference. That is not a bad thing, necessarily, just different from my expectations.

I will confess that the last session of the conference - a dramatic presentation of nearly all of the book of Revelation - left me a little flat. It was good, for what it was, but it was not the same kind of "outro" that I've come to expect. It was a combination of preaching/reading (MOSTLY reading) and a recitation by someone dressed up as John. They basically read Revelation to us. The "wow factor" of someone dressed as a first-century person wore off for me some 20 years ago when we started doing that at PBC. But the biggest obstacle for me was that the fine performance of the character of John (really, he did a good job) used a voice that reminded me WAY TOO MUCH of "Tim" from "In Search of the Holy Grail," where Tim is warning of the peril of the killer rabbit. I just could not get that voice out of my head...

The best thing was seeing Natalie relax little by little as the weekend progressed. We had great conversation on the way up and on the way back. (We may have listened to the new ZOE CD on the way up (while talking), but we just talked all the way home.) I really enjoyed the time with just her. Why is it so hard to make time for that on an everyday basis? I love my wife. She is beautiful (and pretty). She is interesting to me. She has a heart for God. I am truly blessed.