kingdom politics

i have been thinking way to much about politics lately and have even veered my purpose of this blog way to much. while i have still been non partisan i feel i have become a little side tracked. my goal has always been to ask questions that will lead people towards God.

the last couple weeks even though i have been blogging on politics my mind has been frustrated in what i was doing. i have been reading a lot lately in 1 samuel 8-14. this is the story of how saul became the first king of israel. the israelites wanted a king like all the other nations. God told samuel to give them what they asked for. it was not samuel they were rejecting, but God. they voted to put a human in the throne over God

God brought saul to samuel as a guy who was just trying to find his donkeys. in this meeting samuel told saul that he was the hope of all israel. here saul responds why me, i am the smallest of the lowest of all of israel, there is no reason you should choose me.

saul reigned as king for 42 years. but during his reign while off to war he decided to make a sacrifice to God that samuel was supposed to do but he was late. of course this was not his place and he disobeyed the Lord by doing this. saul's punishment for this act was that his family would not continue on the throne.

so many times we try to set up our own kingdoms and do things on our own. we want things just like others have them. we choose the temporary over the eternal.

where are the things that we set up and do on our own? do we know what the consequences would be? and would we still choose the same thing if we did? why did the israelites want a king? why did God appoint saul king when he knew he would mess up? or is this the reason that he chose him?

last weekend laughter in politics

last weekend was the funniest part of the campaign on both sides. palin was on snl and obama and mccain were at the alfred smith fundraiser. check these videos out. it is nice they can laugh at themselves

a little of this

1. last weekend i went to a renaissance fair. people dressed in time period clothing. it was a good experience i was glad to share with my friends.

2. i heard shane claiborne spoke at iwu last week. i wish i had known.

3. the red sox were eliminated by the rays. they made a great run and played tough, so thank you sox for another good year. i also heard that derek lowe wants to return to boston. that would be awesome.

4. the patriots are 4-2 with a backup quarterback.

5. i have been reading a lot of stanley grenz and robert webber the past couple weeks for my cultural trends in theology class.

6. i listen to a lot of podcasts. my new find is steven furtick. he is 28 and planted elevation church it runs 3500.

7. i am working on a sermon on the kingdom of God. i am preaching it next week at the wesleyan church in logansport.

partisan mccain

yesterday when at a town hall meeting a lady said she was not able to trust obama. mccain then took the microphone from her and stated, "there is no reason not to trust obama, while he and obama disagreed with each other on fundamental issues their is no reason to fear barack obama as president.

has mccain with this statement just thrown in the towel? does he believe it is over?

observation

as i was walking today i saw a few construction workers sitting out front on the lawn during their lunch break. it looked like they were having a pretty good time. laughing and hanging out as most would during a break. then i heard a beep. next thing i know one of them turns, opens up the microwave and pulls out his warm lunch.

on my mind

1. our lease runs out in less then a month. we are currently looking for a new home.

2. our senior pastor just resigned. his last sunday is oct 12th. he has no plans at this point and our church is searching for a new pastor, any body out there want the position?

3. we watched baby mama a little while ago. it was the funniest movie i have seen in a long time.

4. i am throwing out a few resumes here and there. if there are any bites i would finish my masters online. if anyone knows of anything let me know.

5. patriots are 2-1 with a quarterback who hasnt started since high school. imagine what they could be doing this year with tom brady.

6. in the playoffs the red sox won game 1 with game two tonight.

7. manny had an infield hit in their first game against the cubs. i miss him.

8. jenny's birthday is three weeks away. #27

9. it has been in the 40's the last two mornings. i love sweatshirts. fall is here to stay. except it is supposed to be almost 90 on sunday.

10. i think i might write in someone else for president.