Random Thoughts

Here is another post. Wow two days in a row!
Today is my birthday, or was my birthday.  Its evening and I have had a good day.   Turning 40 isn't terrible after all.  I had a nice quiet day.  I was up early to get the kids off to school, then got back home and crawled back into bed for a little more sleep and some serious cuddle time with Yvette.  I love you hun! Then around noon we finally got ourselves into gear and went and had lunch at Chik-fil-a where we ran into my sister and one of her friends.   From there it was off to the pet store for dog food and then Home depot.  We pretty much finalized the floor, I just have to go back, pay for and pick the flooring and then let it acclimate in our house for 3 days or so.  Then they will come and install it.  We will have Laminate floors in the living room, Merry Christmas hun!

Tomorrow is the first Full day of work I since before Christmas, and it is going to be a bear getting back into the swing of things, though I think Yvette is ready to have the house to herself again for the day.  Then on Monday Classes start up.  The next 8 weeks are going to be hard.  I haven;t tried to take 3 classes at once before and it is the final three classes before I can graduate.  I will finally have a Degree.  Of course at that point I also have to start paying back the student loans.  I am a little worried about the work load this imposes, but I want to do well.  It is going to be a long 8 weeks I am sure.

Once school finishes I hope to have time to get back into some photography at a hobby level.  I haven't really had time to play with it for the past couple of years with school and I miss it.


I never thought I'd be trying to finish a degree when I turned 40.  I think now that I wish I had stayed with school and not gone off and quit like I did.  I don't recommend taking the 15 year break, or is 16 years?  Either way its better to stick with it.   That has been hard even this time around.  The temptation and desire to just slack off has been hard to fight sometimes.  I know its going to be especially bad this time around since there is so much to do.

I don't feel 40, if that makes sense.  In many ways I still see myself as my early 20s or so, though I guess I didn't feel like an adult till I got married.   Other times I am reminded I am not as young as I used to be.  I pop and snap in the joints a lot more, I can tell my skin isn't the same texture, and I have a teenage daughter. I look back at pictures and see how much my face has changed and aged.  Then add to that the cashiers at the grocery store keep looking younger and younger.

I guess I have probably bored you enough, that is if you read this entire rambling entry.  If I am inspired I will try to write again tomorrow.

Good night and God Bless.

40? and other stuff

Well, its the start of a new year.   Not only that but tomorrow is my 40th Birthday. The kids go back to school tomorrow, but I have one more day off of work.  No real plans aside from taking down the Christmas tree and other decorations and then Dinner with the family at Chedders *yum*.  I am not sure what all to write about this evening.   I don't want to write about the fiscal cliff or politics or I will just make myself angry.  I am not sure I want to do a retrospective about last year, or the last 39.  I think I just want to take it easy, and relax.  I am not sure I will stay up till midnight to ring in my birthday, though maybe I should since I don't have to be at work.  I will be up early though to get the kids off to school.  I may take a few moments to cycle through the Ingress portals on that side of town though.  I need to keep up with them better as I let my links and field decay.  I did manage to make it to level 4 today which is good.  Now I need to get some recruit codes so I can get some help and push the local portals higher.  Fortunately the Enlightened presence seems weak around here so far.

Freedom part 2

I have been thinking about this post for awhile, and I am sure have posted something similar before.   But it occurs to me that there is a misunderstanding about Freedom, liberty and The American Dream, or Ideals.

It is often said, that freedom isn't free.  Most often we use this  to talk of the sacrifice and service or the members of the Armed Forces.  And yes, that is part of the meaning, but it is not the whole meaning.  Liberty and freedom are dangerous.

To be free means that one is able to make choices, and some of those choices are poor choices.   It means the right to take a risk and the responsibility to accept failure and its consequences.   The political 'right' in this country refers often to this right and its attendant responsibility.  Freedom without responsibility is not Liberty, but is License, which boils down to the giving into one's animal instincts, to live according to the whims and desires of the body and its urges and have someone else clean up the mess. that is not freedom, it is slavery, slavery to the body of flesh. This is the freedom that the current 'Left' in this country espouses.  It is a very seductive call,  the desire to have a life of ease where every whim is indulged in, every carnal desire explored and every worry handled by someone else.   Who hasn't at some point wanted that?   The problem is that it soon enough a person finds they are trapped by those desires and controlled by those who take care of all the worries.

On the other hand True Freedom, True Liberty is founded not on the wallowing in all pleasures and desires, but the freedom to seek out the best way to better oneself or those around a person.  The greatest freedom is found in Christ, through the Relationship with Jesus. Apart from that there is no freedom.

The question I think comes down to this, what is the greatest good, Safety or Liberty?
I say Liberty is the greatest good.
We can find true liberty and freedom in Christ and not only that but A properly restrained government can be a minimal impediment on liberty.  On the other hand we can never be guaranteed safety.  A lesson that was brought to our attention forcefully in Newtown CT this past month.  A civil society must balance the Liberty of the individual against the Liberty of other individuals and the smooth functioning of society.  The more people there are the more delicate that balance becomes as conflict naturally arises between even the best intentioned of people.
I think that the rules that are necessary can be argued endlessly and the line necessary between Liberty and the State will move some back and forth as times, people, and circumstances change.  But in all things we should seek to maximize Liberty as much as possible.

What are the most basic principles of Liberty? I believe the core principles are as follows.

1) The Freedom of religion.  The right to believe, or not believe and follow the tenets of that belief in ALL aspects of life.

2) The Freedom of Speech, or perhaps more accurately the freedom to communicate.

3) The Freedom to enjoy the fruits of one's own labor.

4) The Freedom to defend one's self and ones family and property against illegal and immoral taking.  This ties into the the right to the fruits of one's own labor.

5) The Freedom to Live.   This perhaps is the most fundamental.  We are unique creations of The Lord. There is no right to destroy that which The Lord has given life.

Of course, these freedoms, These rights also come with a responsibility. When used wrongly and abused these freedoms cause harm to those around us.   The freedoms are not a license to do anything that comes to mind.

Thank you for bearing with me.  I know I can ramble at times in my writing.

The day the world changed

Today, around the world, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This is the day that truly changed the world like no other day in history.  No other day will change the world in a similar way until the day He returns.  The magnitude of what Christ has done is lost on us.  I don't think that we can truly comprehend it. 

Recovery

It has been a lot longer than I had planned on writing here again.   I hardly have to time do keep up with what I have to do, much less things I'd like to do.   though for the past week and a half I have had a lot more time on my hands than I planned.   A week ago Saturday we took the kids up to the church to ride the bicycles we got them for Christmas.   We had just been able to get helmets and they were excited to go riding.   Well After riding for a bit I decided to take a turn on Stephanie's bike.   I went back and forth a few times picking up a decent amount of speed and decided to do a "Slide-out" where I lock down the back wheel and slide sideways to a stop.  Well  It started fine, then the bike just Stopped and I went up and over and landed hard.  I rolled absorbing the fall and felt like I had twisted my ankle.   Then I stood up.  put my foot down slowly and put some weight on it and watched the ankle just fold over sideways at which point I fell again and realized I really really hurt.  After laying there for awhile while Yvette tried to call someone to take me to the hospital she got a hold of Brandi and she drove us to the hospital.  Turns out I have a closed bimalleolar (potts) fracture of the ankle.  On Monday I had an appointment with Dr. Ferran who is an excellent orthopedic surgeon and he confirmed that I needed Surgery to fix the ankle.  It was originally scheduled for Today, but there were able to fit me in Yesterday and I went in at noon for surgery at 1:30.  Most of yesterday and today has been spent recovering and getting my pain medication adjusted so that i can handle the extra pain from the surgery.  I have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks to asses my healing and in the mean time I am doing my best with the pain and working from home.   The image shows the X-ray image from the ER visit.  
I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support and most especially thank my wife Yvette for taking care of me and being a wonderful strong woman who has shouldered having to deal with not only an immobile husband, but the entire care of kids and home all at once.  You are a strong woman Yvette and I love you and appreciate everything you do and have done for our family and for me.  

It isn't easy for me to be cooped up in bed like this.  I independent by nature and having to get help for almost everything isn't easy.  I know we will all be glad when I am mobile again and can take up my normal routine.  The hardest part in some ways is that it is my right ankle so I can't drive anywhere till it heals up.
It isn't easy, but we will get through this and we will be stronger afterward.  The Lord never gives us more than we can handle.  And when we do reach our limit, he is there to pick us up and carry us.

Freedom

I have had this bouncing around in my head now for a couple of days, but haven't had the time to put it down.
i posted the thought to Twitter(@jraypatten) and Facebook today.
"Freedom isn't free, or cheap or safe, but it is worth the price."

There has been a lot in the news lately about freedom. Part of it is inevitable, the country is in an election cycle.  A lot has revolved around the controversy over the mandate on contraceptive coverage.   The right is claiming a freedom of religion issue, and the left a women's health and "Freedom of choice" issue.  But I am not really ready to address that particular aspect.   Instead I want to take on a more basic look.

The issue I have been thinking of is this.   One multiple occasions I have listened on his show as he debates with someone who says that our treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo does not rise to the level of torture and even if it did it is justified given the stakes involved.

Here is the problem with that argument.  We can have a truly spirited and merited debate about whether or not the interrogation methods used are torture or not.  I do not know.
If they are, then they should NOT be used.
Sean's argument back is that If he were holding YOUR family captive or you KNEW your family would die if the information were not wrangled from him wouldn't you support doing anything, no matter what, to get that information out?

The answer for many of us is "Yes, of course."  But, that does not make it right.   Two wrongs do not equal a right.
Sean makes a good point about the constitution being for a limited government.
Why? Why does the constitution limit government?  Not because  the constitution grants us rights, but because those rights are ours as a condition of being Human.  We are endowed by our Creator, the Lord most High, with those rights and no Government, no person, and no entity outside of God himself has the right to forcefully infringe on those rights.
What this means is that we do not have the justification to use torture, or to indefinitely hold people or take other steps that go around the constitution and the rights that are spelled out within it.

This goes Doubly true for American citizens and the Patriot Act, the NDAA and other related laws unconstitutionally infringe on these rights.

the truth of the matter is that we can either have a Free society, or a apparently safe society.  But there is no true safety.  Reducing the danger from foreign terrorists, or even domestic ones, comes at a price. that price is making EVERYONE a suspect.   We must decide if we want a free society or a society where our own government has decided that its own population is the enemy.

Our freedom has a price, and that price is the fact that we may be hurt or killed for our freedom and in the exercise of it.  That is why the tree of liberty is watered by patriots.  It does not necessarily mean that we are  dying in a war to protect ourselves or defend ourselves, but that freedom carries a risk simply by exercising it.  I hope that my children learn this lesson.   I want to protect them, I want them to live long and full lives, but their lives cannot be full if they are wrapped up in plastic bubble-wrap. and locked away for their 'protection.'

Freedom is precious, and as with all precious things it is expensive.  We must be willing to pay the price.

Mid-week thoughts

This may be another rambling post, so bear with me.
Yesterday was, of course, Super Tuesday.  Gingrich won Georgia, and Romney took 6 out of the ten states, but barely pulled the win in Ohio.  I iwll admit that Romney is not my favored candidate.  I just don't get a good vibe from him and I feel like he is too much of a technocrat. He believes that if he just assembles the correct experts in Washington than they can come up with a plan to fix things.  Santorum suffers from this as well I think, though he is a big government compassionate conservative.  He really has the right ideas on many social issues, but I don't think he is as committed to the reduction of the size and scope of government in our lives.  From that stand point, I think It is Probably Ron Paul who has the best position, but for one, as I ahve mentioned, his foreign policy is dangerously isolationist.  Additionally he is so far over on the libertarian side he will alienate members of both parties and not be able to achieve much.  Neither party will co-operate with him.

The biggest issue with Gingrich is that he carries a lot of personal history and bad feelings inside the beltway.   I am beginning to think it is Going to be Romney as the Republican Nominee and hopefully President if he gets the Nomination.

Of course the signature issue, for the republicans, is to get the Current Health care law overturned.  There is some question as to whether Romney would really be committed to it or not because of his implementation of a similar program in Massachusetts.  That I cannot speak to for certainty, but he has on many occasions laid out the reasoning why it is acceptable at a state level and not the Federal level.

A friend has stated to me that the energy in politics is better spent making a difference at a personal level then investing all of one's energy into politics and pinning hopes on the ability of one man to change the course of the nation.  it is a good point, and the most important thing we can do is to model Christ to those around us and bring others to a knowledge of him and his love and incredible gift.  We should also strive to minister to the needs of those around us.  As an institution the church has abdicated its role as the caregiver for the poor, the downtrodden and those in need.  When the church moved away from that role the government moved in and as a result the country is on a path to bankruptcy and collapse that it may already be too late to reverse.  the problem is that to fix the problem requires the government to step back and cut the benefits and payouts it makes.   Millions will suffer when this happens and the Church is NOT prepared to step in and take over the role.  Onerous regulations only exacerbate the problem by making it almost impossible for a private organization to step in.    In the political silly season, do not forget to reach out to those in need around you.  Follow Christ's example and serve.

Super Tuesday

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday.  Obviously the entire focus is on the republican primary this cycle.  The Democratic party Nomination is not even up for grabs so there is no news on that side.  Here in Georgia, Newt Gingrich is slated to win Georgia unless something changes drastically.  Here in the peach state, Romney and Santorum are vying for second place and hoping to push the other to a distant 3rd place and deny the loser any Georgia delegates.  A similar situation exists in Tennessee and Oklahoma.   The big  battle appears to be in Ohio where Romney and Santorum are neck in neck.  I admit, that not long ago I would have never considered  Santorum a viable candidate.  I will vote tomorrow in the primary election.   It is the primary and if you can't find a candidate to support at this time then sit back and enjoy the horse race.   But it is important to be involved in politics.    When the time comes at the general election in November, go vote.  I won't and can't dictate to you who to vote for, but it is important to Vote.   Find the candidate that you support, or is closest to the views you hold and believe can represent those views and Vote.   You should know who is running for your  congressional and state seats.  There is more going on than JUST the presidential race.

Musings

A new class is starting, well started last night but I didn't get to the discussions last night.  I am still waiting on the grade on my final for this last one.  It is beginning to get more difficult in these classes and I know I need to devote serious time to them.  The past few weeks have been very draining, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.   There has been and continues to be a lot on my heart and mind and I am glad I had time off from work through some of the most spiritually tumultuous points.  Its not over yet though I think I am beginning to have a handle on it.  It was great to see Jessica, and meet Larry and Yvette loved having the chance to spend time with family. To top it off we went to see the mouse in Orlando.  the days were long, the drive even longer, but when I wasn't talking politics and constitutional intent and inherent rights with Larry on the drive there was a lot of time to think.

I have never before encountered a point where a situation and my reaction to it has driven me to have physical illness before.  I think though that instead of focusing on the past and people and situations that I cannot change,  it is time to look forward.  There is a great need in our society and especially within our churches for the support of the institution of marriage.  And not as in fighting 'gay marriage' or railing against the decay of our culture.  Instead the church should celebrate marriage, work to make sure that married couples thrive in their relationship and make it plainly visible that marriage is the desirable option.  Instead of boldly condemning those who fall into relationships outside of the holy union, we should lift up marriage to be seen as the blessing it is.

After all, isn't marriage supposed to be a reflection of the most glorious relationship possible?  the relationship between ourselves and Jesus Christ?  If we do not hold marriage in the high esteem that we are supposed to hold that sacred relationship then how high are we holding our commitment to Christ? This extends to all facets of the marriage.   From the forsaking of all others, to the Headship of the husband (boy I bet that will get some one's dander up) to the bed as well.  For perhaps in all of marriage this is the place we as Christians have dropped the ball the most.  Sex is meant to be the glue that binds the marriage together.  It is far more than a physical act.  There is, or is supposed to be a spiritual and emotional joining as well.  That the opening of ourselves at our most vulnerable to each other.  This is the human, physical model for what our intimacy with Christ is to be like.  We are to be totally open to him, hiding nothing of ourselves from God.  Just as a husband and wife are to be totally open to each other, joining to become one flesh.   This is of course not an instantaneous event, but a process, a journey of growth that increases through the years.  It takes work, and commitment.  Love will not simply bloom and be there.  It is a choice.  It is doing the things that are hard.  it is giving of yourself to the other totally.  We as a church have spent so much time condemning the ways in which the gift of sex has been perverted and preaching the evils of those perversions that we do not celebrate the joy and glorious gift it is within marriage, or if we do it is overshadowed by all that has been done previously.  Of course it is easy to go from that to sinful exposure of what belongs between a man and his wife.

I sit here and write these things and realize that my own life, my own marriage have not yet reached this point, this picture of what marriage ought to be.  My own past mocks me and tells me that I have done enough damage and how can I say these things with a straight face.
There is a simple answer.  First, I am human. I will fail,  we all will fail at some point.  None are perfect save he who sits on the throne and the perfect sacrifice at his right hand.  Second, I am forgiven, my sins have been cleansed.   They are no more.  I may not be able to forget them, and I will carry some scars and those around me will carry scars from what has been done, but those sins have no power.

I know I have kind of bounced around so if you are still reading, congratulations!  My mind tends to go everywhere and when I write I do as well. Especially in a format like this.   But back to topic.
Marriage as I said is a sacred thing.  The more I have seen marriages around me collapse, some after many years the more I realize that more must be done to support married couples, more must be done to help those who are hurting, more must be done to make the younger generations realize what marriage SHOULD be, not what we have let it become.  So many Christians live no differently than those outside it. marriage is not a permanent institution to them.   Just as our relationship to Christ cannot ever be severed, so a marriage is not severed.   Abuse and adultery are the acceptable reasons for a divorce.  Otherwise It is wrong.   And even in the previous cases Christ can bring a change of heart and a transformation of one or both involved.   If this does not happen, then the marriage will die, and a divorce occurs.  This does not make the divorce right.   It is still a terrible thing.   Perhaps if we understood this within the church then the rate of divorce would be far lower.  

These are thoughts I have had for a long time, but not really known how to express them.  For several years I have tried to put to words the ideas behind it and I still feel its not quite adequate.   In the past two years I have seen marriages of friends and those around me break up and dissolve and it has begun to tear at my heart.  I am angry that we do not see what it is that has been destroyed.  

I say that this cannot be laid at the feet of Hollywood, or the secular media as so many do.  If the church and as a whole had not abandoned marriage and the celebration of what marriage is and uplifted it then there would have not been a vacuum for the secular left to fill.

I think, that at this time I will go ahead and wrap this up.  If you are still reading, thank you.  If you agree, disagree, love, hate, think I am full of it, let me know.   If you agree, or like, share this blog.

thank you for reading and I hope that if nothing else, you now have something to think about.
--Jason

 

How to know? Speak out or stay silent?

Short post this time.  I believe I am feeling a real burden to speak to some friends about what I perceive to be a real issue from a spiritual and theological standpoint.   But I do not know if I am being spoken to by The Lord to bring this up, or if I am just bring a busybody and obsessing about something g that isn't even an issue.  I also wonder that I even have the right to say anything given the fact that I have my own spiritual issues to deal with.  I do not want to be judgemental, and I have no desire to pronounce judgement o their souls, but I still worry.  For those that bread this blog, I am seeking advice, please respond here or email to jpat1973@Gmail.com or Facebook or G+ .