This is an iron-sharpening-iron moment. Please standby...

We call ourselves followers of Christ. But I have to ask... really? You think so? Maybe because all too often, I have to ask myself. Are you following? I want to seriously consider how we make decisions... the little day-to-day decisions. Coffee? Tea? Water? or perhaps... Buy? Save? Invest? Borrow? I'm not trying to say that one of them is a better choice. I'm asking where your decision making nexus is located.

I've always been interested in learning about how people think. What makes them tick. I remember this one conversation with a gal. We were discussing a situation after the fact. So she was talking about the facts about the situation and then she told me how she had decided to proceed. So I asked her, how she arrived at that choice. And it was simply, "It felt right." I'm not trying to make her look bad, but seriously... How do you even start to discuss something when the support for the decision is purely emotional? There's no point of reference. It's just pitting one person's feelings against another person's feelings on the matter. Have you seen how arguments become circular and there is no honest move to compromise? I think it is because we want what we want and there is really, seriously, no way to discuss or compromise with someone who takes that kind of stance.

I haven't forgotten the left-brain dominated people. ^_^ Yeah, I must count myself among them. We have this idea that logic is the best way somehow. We can reason our way to the wisest decision. But this assumes we somehow know it all. But we don't... as much as have individual expertise, the range of knowledge is so specific that honestly... I think the best thing logic can come up with is pragmatism. Just go with what works. But there's a problem... How do you know it's actually working? You don't. We rationalize when it's convenient for us. We say it's logical, but really the problem is our basic assumptions. If your assumptions are off one iota, your extrapolations are going to be way off. So try to follow logic and you may end up a madman knowing neither right nor wrong, or you end up eviscerating yourself by saying there is neither right nor wrong.

To sum it up, when we just follow our emotions/logic, we fulfill those times described in the Old Testament, "everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes." So what other choice remains? I'd like to summarize it simply. Jesus is Lord. I think that this has yet to sink in fully for me as well. But I'm trusting that we will recognize His voice when he calls. And we will follow...

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http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/13/lw.adultery.confessions.whats.next/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/12/studentsteachers.online/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/2613399/Mosab-Hassan-Yousef-son-of-Hamas-leader-becomes-a-Christian.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/nyregion/13detain.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/08/26/o.divorce.dreams/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/25/manta.ray/index.html
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/19/smallbusiness/make_sleep_work_for_you.fsb/index.htm
http://www.slate.com/id/2198942/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1051871/Stalins-mass-murders-entirely-rational-says-new-Russian-textbook-praising-tyrant.html
http://www.nysun.com/business/unthinkable-happens-manhattan-apartment-prices/84900/
http://www.smartmoney.com/10things/index.cfm?story=august2008-10-things-banks-will-not-tell-you&split=0
http://www.newsweek.com/id/156372/page/1
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1051981/Why-men-women-choose-partners-look-like-parents.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2199258/pagenum/all/#page_start
http://slatev.com/player.html?id=1784543751
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7616346.stm

<RANT>
"The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

Idiot.

Anyone read the story of chicken little? (if you haven't... please do.)

I've been watching the story unfold about this "financial crisis" and I'm struck by how no one has really taken the time to flesh out this "crisis" people keep talking about. We need to bail out these companies or the whole financial system will grind to a halt. Please... who do you think you're talking to? This smells suspiciously like another "knee-jerk reaction" that has been orchestrated from the bowels of the White House. 9/11 to Iraq. Make people afraid and they will do anything you like. I'm going to tell my representatives to kill this stupid bill. I've had enough of inflation and moves in the public sector that majorly benefit the big movers and shakers in the private sector. A 700 Billion dollar move is NOT something to be made in a week... much less two or three. STOP and THINK! This crisis has sat for this long and I haven't seen a problem. You know what needs to happen? SOMEONE NEEDS TO FIGURE OUT THAT THEIR HOUSES AREN'T WORTH THAT MUCH!!! and you know what that takes? Time. I'm all for throwing money at big problems that need money. But this isn't a capital issue, it's the fact that people misunderstood the nature of the risk. So the taxpayer should help by taking on that risk?!? Because the investors and big guys are scared crapless about how much these "securities" are really worth? Yeah, let's put that on a national ballot and see how far it gets. McCain would look good up against those kinda of odds.
</RANT>

We now return to our regularly scheduled program