Why don't we want to do the things we know we should do?

I'm really paraphrasing the questions David posed this morning to us at Emmaus to "why do our actions not match our words"? Is it laziness, a lack of will, our own desire for ease and convenience gets in the way, a lack of an ongoing encounter with God and His power? Is it the fact that we live in a "me" centered world where our default setting is self? Yes, on all accounts, guilty as charged.

Now, I could start the blame game in order to slide out of actually feeling the implications of this. We live in a world that is focussed on appealing to our nature to be served and catered to. Watch any commercial, read any newspaper, look around you and start counting how many things you see that appeal to our self serving nature. Heck, even listen to our worship songs and count how many times the songs are all about us. Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful what Jesus has done for us and we can't fully lay down our lives until we experience the ramifications of his ultimate sacrifice for us, but maybe, just maybe, we dwell too much on how much we are loved, blessed, healed, rescued, saved, protected, etc and not enough on daily taking up our cross and following the Lord.

Jesus had thousands of hungry people who followed Him because he fed them and healed them and took care of their needs. When the rubber met the road, how many of those followers were there for what they could get out of Jesus versus in response to what they had received from him? I want to be like the woman who used her tears of love for Jesus to clean his feet. She was overcome in her emotions and captivated by His love. In that place, she didn't give a rip about what others thought about her or her actions, she only cared about what Jesus thought about her and what she could do to please Him and Him alone. It's a lot easier to say than to do but Lord help me to live that way.

My take on the Tea Party

Here's my observations about the Tea Party that I have made through various conversations I've had with Tea Party affiliates over the past several years. Also, by reading the articles/videos sent to me via emails.

1. They are typically anti-government. As Grover Norquist stated "I don't want to abolish government, I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub" Republicans who don't sign Norquist's pledge to not allow any tax increases are faced with zero funding for their campaigns and therefore don't get elected. It is what has led to such intransigence in Congress which now has the lowest approval rating in the history of the US. The Republicans who have made this pledge are no longer beholden to their constituents and what will be best for the people they serve, they are beholden to the big money of the Corporations and the powerful lobbyists who work for those corporations.

2. Anyone who happens to disagree with the Tea Party are viewed as having sinister anti-American motives. In some ways, it;s reminicient of what was going on during the McCarthy era with the whole communist argument. Herman Cain said "Liberals want to destroy America and make it mediocre" While West, another tea party favorite, thinks liberals are a threat to the gene pool. Isn't freedom of speech in the Constitution?

3. Since they have signed a no tax increase pledge, it allows for a no compromise situation. Mitch McConnell, the head of the Republican Senate, says that his sole aim is to make President Obama a one term President. How can you get anything done when this is the fundamental goal? And you wonder why there is gridlock?

4. If you are poor, according to the Tea Party, you are either too lazy or too stupid to be rich.

5. Their ideological purity sees compromise as weakness. They typically deny the science of global warming, that's labeled as liberal mumbo jumbo.

6. Here's one of the biggest thing I see, they are unmoved by facts and undeterred by new information. If it doesn't fit with their perspective, then it must be wrong, even if the facts prove otherwise.

7. There is a hostile fear of progress and progressives are viewed as evil. I'm sure that Theodore Roosevelt would be turning in his grave to see this happening.

8. There is a fear of other religions. At the moment , Muslims seem to be the target of that fear.

9. They have a pathological hatred of the US government.

10. They are disingenuous in that they say they are for smaller government and less federal control, but look at the States first in line for the stimulus funds they voted against. Same goes for help from the Feds if there are any natural disasters. Where were they when huge deficits and unfunded programs were charging up the US credit card. Silent, right?

Northwest Gems

At least once a year, for the past several years, we pack our car with as many bikes as possible and head off for the day to bike the Hiawatha Trail. This year, we celebrated our daughters 25th birthday meandering down the 13 mile trail with several of her friends. I say 'meandering' because the trail is almost 100% downhill. In fact, if you actually have to pedal and exert any effort, your calves begin to wonder what is going on.  The trail is well maintained and the scenery is spectacular. Last year, we spotted a bear cub, a large moose with her calf, lots of deer and tons of tiny chipmonks. There are 5 tunnels to bike through with the first tunnel being a mile long. It's pitch black in the tunnels, about 65 degrees and dripping water lands on you enough just to startle you. The headlights we rented provided enough light to prevent us from crashing into the sides where there is a small runoff stream. The light at the end of the tunnel is always a welcome sight, especially since it's not a train. Once out of the tunnel, there is a lovely photo opportunty in front of a small waterfall.

It takes several hours to get to the end of the trail where a shuttle bus is waiting to take you and your equipment back to the first tunnel to bike back to the original starting point. The day would not be complete without dinner at the Moose Creek Grill in Kellogg, Idaho. We rave about this place because the food is always fabulous, all cooked from scratch with desserts that make my mouth water just thinking about it. The owners are so accomodating that they opened up early for us and started our order before the waitress had even arrived for her shift. Can't wait until next year!!!