Now, if you know anything about hurricanes, you know that hurricanes build strength over water and lose it over land. Fay made landfall on the tip of the Florida peninsula the weekend before and had been working it’s way up the whole week. It had followed the coast line and remained just enough over water to keep from dissipating, but far enough over land to keep it from really regaining any strength. So it dropped enormous amounts of water in the form of rain wherever it went, but didn’t have the strength to cause any real damage.

So for most of us, who have been through hurricanes, it wasn’t too worrying. After all, the storm was nothing but a big rainstorm. That isn’t to say we weren’t prepared. We had our hurricane kits and had made sure our insurance was up to date. But we do that every year when hurricane season starts. So we didn’t bother to make any special plans or preparations for this storm.

Other people, who I assume had never been through a hurricane, were in full panic mode. Every grocery store in the area was out of ice and bottled water. Batteries, canned food, and emergency supplies flew off the shelves. There were lines at gas stations for people getting gas for their home generators. I even heard of people evacuating the area!

And what ended up happening? The storm completely dissipated as it hit the Pensacola area. We didn’t even get as much rain as we were expecting. So the panic filled shopping and evacuations were completely unneeded. I just hope that this little hurricane that wasn’t, doesn’t cause people to become complacent and leave them unprepared when the next storm comes. Because when a real storm hits the area, the purchasing of emergency supplies and even evacuations will be necessary.

Around 9 am I woke up to hear someone knocking on the door of the house. Now, I was still pretty tired and I really didn’t want to wake up. So I waited to see if Stacey(my sister in law) would get up to answer it. But after the third knock, I realized that either Stacey wasn’t home, or she wasn’t going to wake up. So I got up, pulled on a pair of pants, and rushed down stairs to answer the door.
I’m sure I looked pretty wild. Barefoot, no shirt, my hair sticking up all over the place. I really wasn’t all that presentable. And the truth is I wasn’t very awake yet either.

So when I opened the door, I wasn’t really prepared for what I saw. There was the most backwoods, redneck looking lady I’ve ever seen standing at my door. She was wearing some type of flannel shirt and a pair of old jeans. But what really hit me, was that she was missing some teeth.

The first thing she did was hand me a paper that looked like it had been drawn with a crayon. Now remember, I’m not all that awake yet. So while I’m staring rather blankly at the paper, trying to decipher the crayon hieroglyphics she had drawn on it, she starts talking to me. (Click the thumb to see the paper she gave me)

It turns out, that she wants to know if she and her husband can have an old metal cage that had been left on the property by the previous owners of the property. I had been meaning to get rid of it ever since I moved in, but never got around to it.

So, still not all that awake, I told her to go ahead and take it. She gets this huge grin on her face(remember the missing teeth) and turns around to give her husband a thumbs up. Which caused me to look out at the street in front of my house. And there I saw the oldest most beat up truck I’ve seen in a long time. Her husband was just starting to get out of the truck. And believe me, he was just as redneck as she was. He started unloading sledge hammers to beat the cage apart with, and she ran down the stairs off my porch like she was afraid I might change my mind about letting them have the old cage.

They beat the cage apart, loaded it into the old truck and drove off. The strangest thing I ever saw.

What happened to church? When did church become a chore? When did it become a duty rather than a joy? For many people, church is just that. A place where people go because they have to, rather than because they want to. I don’t mean they don’t want to go. They do, but not because they like it. Rather they want to go because they feel like it is the right thing to do.

But it shouldn’t be that way. Church should be a place we want to be. Attending church should be the highlight of the week. That’s the way it was for the early church. Acts is full of stories about the new believers. And it’s clear that they enjoyed getting together. They didn’t see it as a duty or a chore. They gladly attended every service they could. Thousands would show up to hear the apostles speak and to have fellowship with each other. And it wasn’t about the the facilities, the comfortable seats, or the entertainment. The early churches were meeting in homes and outdoor fields. And yet they clearly had great joy and happiness. Everyone, no matter what their station or class was welcome. It didn’t matter who or what they had done. All that mattered was that they had accepted Jesus. Jesus loved them, and that meant they were family. And all of them enjoyed getting together to worship and enjoy Jesus. So what happened?

Why isn’t it that way today. We sing songs of worship, but we don’t think about what we are saying. The way we sing them is empty and meaningless. It’s just ritual and tradition. Where did the joy go? We fellowship with people at church, but we keep our guard up. We have to make sure we always keep our church face on. Not because our real face is wrong, but because our real face is different. And different people aren’t welcome. Only people who fit the traditional mold are welcome. So church rather than being a place of joy and a family, has become a place of meaningless ritual, tension, and rejection.

I’m not saying all churches are like that. There are exceptions, the one I attend being one of them, but the majority of churches aren’t the happy family they should be. They are judgmental, ritualistic, and depressing. And it shouldn’t be that way.

“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.”
- HL Mencken

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about “hate speech.” The main theme being that modern society should not tolerate or accept “hate speech.” And to some extent, I agree. I often cringe when I read or hear some of the things that people say. The hurtful and misleading things they say aren’t right, and they really shouldn’t be tolerated by the main stream of our society.

But unlike many who are calling for laws against this kind of thing, I don’t believe that laws are the way they should be handled. For one thing, laws won’t solve the problem. The racists, xenophobes, and intolerant people will still be there. They will still be around and will still be racist and intolerant. For another, who gets to decide what is defined as “hate speech.” Anyone can be offended by anything. So who gets to decide what crosses the line when it comes to free speech?

Freedom of speech, even for racist or hateful people, is far more important than not being offended by what someone says. As the quote above implies, once you start restricting what people are allowed to say, you will end up with laws against anything you say. While it’s never been my intention to offend, I’m sure there are things I’ve said on this blog that have offended people. So if we start restricting the speech of people like NeoNazis(who’s speech we all would agree is offensive and wrong), how long before this blog and others like it are told what they can and can’t say?

As the quote says, I don’t like having to defend the rights of people who are hateful and wrong, but I find myself having to defend their rights in defense of my own. I don’t think we should tolerate or accept hate speech, but I also don’t think we can ever outlaw it or be free of it.

Sometimes I forget how well off I am. I look around and see all the things I don’t have and forget how rich I am. Seeing the fancy cars, houses, and entertainment systems that others have makes me feel poor. But the truth it, that I’m actually very well off in comparison to most people.

I have a good job, a nice house, and a new car. Sure my car isn’t as nice as those that some people have. And my house isn’t as big as the houses that some of my friends have. But the house is mine, and the car is practically new. Most people in the world don’t own their own house, and most people can’t afford a new car.

When I think about how well off I am, I feel ashamed at how ungrateful I can be. God has blessed me with so much, and yet most of the time I’m not satisfied with it. No matter how much I have, I always want more. The truth is, that I have way more than I really need. God has provided me with so much that I don’t even deserve.

What should be happening, is that I should be thanking God every day for what he’s given me. Because I’m truly blessed by God.

Well, now that I’m back in the US, I’m having to readjust to the “always on” life that I had before going overseas. And it’s becoming a bit of an effort to keep up. I’m actually not sure how I did it before. And even worse, my current volume of mail and phone calls is actually lower than normal. So I know that as I get back into the swing of things, the amount of things needing my attention will increase.

Don’t get me wrong, I like being connected all the time. But after being away from it all for a while, I can understand how people get overwhelmed by it all. And why they want to turn off their phones and ignore their computers. Between work phone calls, personal calls, work email, personal email, and all the social networks out there, I can hardly keep up. Oh, and I almost forgot. I also have to(more like want to) keep updating this blog.

I know I can handle it. After all, I handled a much larger volume of information than what I’m working with now. I just am a little out of practice.