Perishable Containers

Poem inspired by 2 Corinthians 4:7

Our weak bodies are but perishable containers.

No use finding happiness in Earthly treasures.

We are empty vessels trying to be filled with

Your love and mercy.

I have everything but still I am thirsty.

Come Lord and fill the void.

Quiet my soul and let me hear Your voice.

Futile

Understated beauty no longer gets appreciated.

Modesty deemed outdated.

Quiet brilliance stifled by boisterous ignorance.

In this world there is no deliverance.

Superficiality consumes the soul.

Materialism makes the blood cold.

Futile is the search for fulfillment without

the Almighty.

Providence can not and will not be stymied.

Impossible is the task of finding a meaningful

life without the life giver and Creator.

Remember God's judgment lasts forever.

Why I'm Supporting Newt

I'm gonna start my post by saying that no candidate
is perfect. No human is perfect. But I think for
conservatives Newt Gingrich is the best available

option.

There are only two serious candidates. (There

could have been four serious candidates if Jon

Huntsman didn't act so arrogantly and Rick Perry

could actually articulate his message.) The two serious

candidates are Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

Look, I like some of the other candidates that are

running but let's face it they're not going anywhere

for various reasons. Both Bachmann and Santurom's

records are thin.

Here are the reasons why I support Newt. First,

I believe he's more conservative than Romney. I know

my fellow conservatives say, "But he sat on the couch

with Nancy Pelosi for that global warming PSA!" Yes, I

think global warming is a bunch of nonsense. I

also would prefer my candidates not to be a flip-

flopper on Cap-and-Trade. But at least he flipped

in the right direction. He's also flipped on a individual

mandate in health care. But again at least he

flipped in the right direction. Romney still supports

the individual mandate. And Newt's actual legislative

record is pretty conservative. As Speaker he

passed Welfare Reform and a balanced federal

budget. That's conservative to me!

The main concern for many conservatives is spending.

I trust Newt over Mitt to cut the spending. Mitt used

federal funds when his state was in budget crisis.

I also don't trust Mitt Romney in appointing judges

to the Supreme Court. He's flipped flopped on abortion

and gay marriage. Newt hasn't. The Supreme Court

has four big government liberals, four conservatives

and one that swings both ways. So the next Republican

president is gonna have a battle in his/hers hands!

Who do you trust to fight that battle? Mitt or Newt?

I trust Newt.

There is another reason why I support Newt that

has nothing to do with his record. Newt is charismatic

and that's important going up against President Obama.

I know charisma is superficial but unfortunately

we live in a superficial media world. I have a hard time

sitting through a Mitt Romney interview or speech.

He's just dull. I have no such problem with Newt

Gingrich. You either have charisma or you don't.

President Obama has it. Newt Gingrich has it.

Unfortunately, Mitt Romney doesn't. If we weren't

running against Barack Obama I would say Mitt's

lack of charisma is a non-issue. We can't put up a

bland candidate against President Obama.

I also appreciate that Gingrich is an intellectual and

articulate. The way Gingrich talks about American

history with such passion and a breadth of knowledge

is inspiring. I'm tired of conservatives being portrayed

as a bunch of dimwits by the media. To be fair Romney

is also an intellectual and articulate.

So those are the main reason why I'm supporting

Mr. Gingrich in the Republican primary. I live in Texas

so there is plenty of time till I vote and things can change.

But so far this is who I am backing.

Keeping Up with the Joneses

I want to write about a very powerful movie I viewed this
weekend. It came out last year but I barely got the

opportunity to see it over the weekend. The movie is

titled "The Joneses." Here's the trailer:

Don't let the trailer fool you. It's not a light, campy movie about

a fake family. In fact, I think has a powerful critic on American

consumerism. And with the economy in shambles I believe it

is a message that needs to be told.

I will give you a quick synopsis. (Warning: Plot spoilers.) The

Joneses are undercover marketers pretending to be a family

so they can sell products to a rich, suburban neighborhood.

And they become quite successful in their marketing. Soon

their neighbors and local businesses are buying what they got.

Each character is hiding something behind the facade of

being the perfect well-to-do family. Kate (the mother, played

by Demi Moore) is an ambitious businesswoman but has

trouble maintaining a serious relationship. Steve (the father,

played by David Duchovny) is a lonely middle-aged man
who wants to marry and have a REAL family. Jenn (the

daughter, played by Amber Heard) is a nymphomaniac.

Mick (the son, played by Ben Hollingsworth) is hiding that

he's homosexual.

Their lies and and hyper-consumerism finally rears its'

ugly head. One of Mick's friend's gets into a car accident

after drinking wine coolers that the Joneses were marketing

to teens. But the ugliest part was when Steve finds his

neighbor and close friend, Larry, dead after committing
suicide. The reason why he committed suicide? He was
about to lose his house because he over-extended his credit.
All Larry's wife cared about was having nice things. The

pressure of keeping up with the Joneses was too much

for him and he killed himself.

The movie is a powerful social critic. While everyone is

discussing the causes of this disastrous economy, I rarely

hear hyper-consumerism enter the discussion. The

recession began with the housing bubble bursting. People

were basically buying homes they couldn't afford.

As a Christian, I simply call this greed. I would like to

hear the American Church to speak more about the

immorality of hyper-consumerism, which is just

greed by another name. It is soul-crushing.

Materialism is rampant in our society and the Church

must be in the forefront in confronting it. Materialism

reduces people to just what they acquire and not

who they are as human beings. God sees our heart

and soul, not our things. You can't take your things

with you once you pass away.

Your Sweetness

I can bask in your sweetness everyday.

You light me up like the moonlight on a

summer soiree.

An encouraging word from you wipes out a

thousand naysayers.

You taught me to stand tall like a

skyscraper.

I want to hold your hand through

every season of life.

Through love and strife.

Say you'll always be by my side.

Join me for the ride.

So Much For Big Pimpin'

You know how Christians often get called hypocrites

by the media if they don't live up to their own standards.

Sarah Palin's daughter had a child out-of-wedlock and

she's a Christian! What a scandal! Or if some well-known

pastor (or sometimes a little-known pastor) resigns

because of some sex scandal, perhaps because of infidelity,

it makes national news. He's a hypocrite for not living

up to the values he professes!

Why don't rappers like Jay-Z get called hypocrites? He's

not living up to the values he professes in his music. His

music promotes promiscuity. Why isn't anyone calling him

a hypocrite? He's made millions selling a sick lifestyle of

promiscuity. The song that propelled him to fame was called

"Big Pimpin'". Here are some of the lyrics to the song:

You know I thug 'em, fuck 'em, love 'em, leave 'em

Cause I don't fuckin' need 'em
Take 'em out the hood
Keep 'em looking good
But I don't fuckin' feed em
First time they fuss I'm breezin'
Talking 'bout what's the reasons
I'm a pimp in every sense of the word, bitch
..........
So you can be livin' it up
Shit I part's wit nothin
Y'all be frontin'
Me give my heart to a woman
Not for nothin' never happen'
I'll be forever mackin'
Heart cold as assassins, I got no passion
I got no patience and I hate waitin'
Hoe get your ass in

Yet his wife, Beyonce Knowles, announced last night on MTV's

Video Music Awards that she's having a baby.

The media never calls out people who have no moral standards.

I guess it's better to claim you have no moral standards than

to say you do have standards and occasionally not live up to them.

Well so much for big pimpin'.

I've Got Moves Like Jagger!

This is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

I know this feeling all too well.

WASHINGTON Lisa Banks feels hopeless. She's lost an
essential part of her identity: Her status as a proud
full-time employee is gone.

Ever since the 44-year-old Germantown, Md., resident
was laid off from her job as an administrator for a federal
contractor in May 2009, she's sent out hundreds of
resumes, but only had four interviews. She says she's
depressed enough to try to seek out psychological help.

But no luck there either: She doesn't have insurance to pay
for it.

'I feel as if I'm invisible'

"I've worked all my life. I've been a decent person,"
she said. "(But now) I feel as if I'm invisible. Like
I'm not worth anything to society anymore."

I wasn't working for the longest time and it really took a

mental toll on me. I felt worthless. I felt like a complete

utter failure. I felt like a complete useless human being.

I couldn't look people in the because of the shame. It

was truly a humbling experience. Here I was an educated

woman having trouble finding employment.

I also isolated myself because of the shame and plus there

is not much you can do with no money. Isolation makes

everything worst.

I was looking for worth in my employment status instead

of where it really lies: God. I am a worthy creature because

God made me, whether I'm employed or not.

For anyone who is unemployed reading this I want you

to know you are worth so much. Don't give up hope.

Don't let rejection stop you. Wake up in the

morning and keep going. Keep your head up. God loves

You!

Better Than No Job

Paul Krugman of The New York Times recently dismissed the

job growth in Texas because they are low paying jobs.

Kevin Williamson of National Review Online does an excellent

job of responding to Krugman. Snippet:

How different? Let’s look at the data: In spite of the fact that

Texas did not have a housing crash like the rest of the country,

housing remains quite inexpensive there. The typical

owner-occupied home in Brooklyn costs well over a

half-million dollars. In Suffolk County it’s nearly $400,000.

In Houston? A whopping $130,100. Put another way: In

Houston, the median household income is 39 percent of

the cost of a typical house. In Brooklyn, the median

household income is 8 percent of the cost of the median home,

and in Boston it’s only 14 percent. When it comes to

homeownership, $1 in earnings in Houston is worth a lot more

than $1 in Brooklyn or Boston. But even that doesn’t really

tell the story, because the typical house in Houston doesn’t

look much like the typical house in Brooklyn: Some 64 percent

of the homes in Houston are single-family units, i.e., houses. In

Brooklyn, 85 percent are multi-family units, i.e. apartments and

condos.

Yes, Texas jobs do not pay what other states might pay but

our cost of living is low. Also, I would prefer to have a job than

have no job. A job is a job. Even a sucky, low paying job can

afford you opportunities to move up the economic ladder

if you choose to take advantage of them. So many employers

that I know locally help out with tuition if you want to go

back to school. This might shock some liberals: But some

businesses actually want an educated workforce so they

can promote within the company.

I Respect The Other Candidates But They Totally Suck At What I'm Good At!

Before you're going to call your opponent unelectable, I guess it's

nice to be polite about it.

Romney:

I respect the other people in this race, but I think the only
other person that has that kind of extensive private sector experience,

besides me, in the Republican race is Herman Cain.

Perry:

I respect all the other candidates in the field but there

is no one that can stand toe-to-toe with us.

Let's remember they all respect each other when they get down

and dirty during the course of the campaign! Let's roll!

I finally feel like this primary has started!