Thanks to internet spammers (is there another kind of spam?) whenever I want to make changes to my blog or leave an anonymous harassing comment somewhere, I have to decipher a whirly gig of numbers and letters. This is affectionately called the ‘in form captcha’. The phrase was apparently coined by someone from Brooklyn.

There are different forms of this, my favorite being answering a short math problem. Some are pretty legible and contain a phrase with a line through it. Others make me actually have to think.

“Ok, H…N…Z…uhh I’m dizzy. Ok, enter. What?! I typed them in right, I swear. Hmm, was that an R or a P with an I next to it? “

In just 0ne month Jessica and I will be heading over the great empire of China. We are very stoked about this trip and being able to serve some of the neediest children in that country. We’ll be spending most of our time at PHF interacting with special needs oprhans but will also be hanging out on the nearby university at some English corners. Can’t wait!

I can not believe that USC lost to Oregon State! I’m slightly depressed about this one.

Today we heard the heartbeat of the next little Foosh to be born. There are two things that make the whole pregnancy thing more of a reality for me - since I don’t feel tired, sick or bloated.

Hearing the heartbeat is the first one. At 10-12 weeks the hearbeat is discernible above Momma’s and is about twice as fast. It’s crazy to think how quickly the baby is growing and how much it is formed at this point.

The second thing that makes it more real is the first ultrasound which will happen sometime in December and if we’re lucky will tell us if we have a boy or girl.

Ok, this will be my last political post for today but I really need some help.

Jess and I were talking this evening about the challenges of voting. The reality of our system is you get to vote for one of two parties/people for President. I’m not a math wiz but I can almost guarantee that with those odds neither candidate is going to line up with all of your personal beliefs/ideology on how the country should be run. So most people vote along party lines not really caring too much about the issues save for the ‘hot button’ ones like abortion, the environment, taxes, war, etc. Even within those issues you can usually pick one that is important/divisive enough that you would never vote for the other guy.

So the quandry.
Do I vote for the guy that is closest to having the qualifications to be President and closest to holding the same beliefs as myself? If I were looking for someone to fill a position in my company would I hire in this manner?

Do I look at lesser known candidates in hopes that I can find one that matches up with my beliefs more closely and essentially cast a symbolic vote for them, if such a candidate exists? I did this once in the Governor recall in California and actually felt pretty good about myself.

Do I refrain from voting so as not to sell out and vote for someone I’m not that thrilled about? You know, instead of casting a lesser of two evils kind of vote. According to some people I would then have no right to complain about our President.

I’m sure at least one of you has felt like this so I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. How do I vote? Do I vote?

Is the GOP so excited about Palin because of the contrast to McCain? From a superficial standpoint you can not get any more different than the two. I can’t remember a vice Presidential candidate getting as much attention, ever. One side loves her to death and the other side passionately hates her.

Why has there been such an attack on Palin who is merely the VP candidate? And don’t give me that ‘one heart beat from the Presidency’ line. If that were the only reason, every VP candidate would get pummeled. It seems that the campaign has shifted from Obama vs. McCain to Obama vs. Palin. Does anyone else find this odd? Is the greatest threat to the Democrats Sarah Palin? Are the Republican faithful going to vote based on the VP candidate and not McCain?

Check out two opposing views centered on the experience of Obama and Palin:
Left
Right

I used to think David Blaine was kind of cool/creepy. I mean the video I saw of him pull a card out of a basketball at Knicks practice session was pretty crazy.

Besides his street magic stuff though, his latest feats of accomplishment usually have him doing nothing for x amount of hours and then having a 2 hour ABC special which climaxes with him having accomplished his ice/box/water sit-in. His latest feat though is far different. I mean if he doesn’t pull it off he ‘might go blind’! I know I’ll be glued to my tv set.

The leaves are just beginning to fall off the trees (trees with leaves are still a bit foreign to me) and yet it’s still in the mid 80’s. I love the weather in Eastern Washington.

3 weeks into our Fall youth ministry season and things are going great.
We’ve had some new students join the worship team and the music has been really good - high energy, large guitars, dynamic drums, etc. Since we’ve only been playing together a few weeks with minimal practice, we still have a ways to go but the progress has been exciting.

Tonight’s message was a challenging one to put together as I tackled a very Christian/religious sounding topic - Holiness. The basic gist of the message was how to live in a counter-culture and counter-religious way. When Jesus called his first followers he didn’t tell them to stop swearing, drinking, and having sex before they could follow him. He just said, ‘Follow me.” Unfortunately the religious establishment (aka church) has developed a persona that makes people think they have to be perfect before they can know God. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
On the other side of the coin, those that have grown up in a religion don’t typically move past a feeling of obligation when it comes to their religious practices. Religion and obligation walk hand in hand. In this case religion is about as deep as following a sports team.
Faith on the other hand is born out of desire. A desire to grown, learn, and live what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It was this process that took the first disciples - who were young fishermen - and transformed their lives and affected their culture. And it’s this faith that grounds my life, causes me to look beyond myself, and gives me hope even in dark confusing times. Holiness isn’t being perfect, it’s following Jesus. The natural cause of following Him changes my life and refines my character, making me less religious and more of who I am truly meant to be.