Memorial Day...

A day to get ahead on the household chores, a day to remember those who have gone before.

A day to watch a baseball game on ESPN, day to recognize the sacrifices strangers have made for us.

A day in which we spend 30 seconds between the barbecue and the concert in a moment of silence trying to remember what we were commemorating, or a 24 hour period of time set aside to humbly ask God to lead us on the paths of peace and thankfulness.


I think that we have so much free time, that we've forgotten the meaning of holiday.

I just had a good idea. The house that I'm living in (at least for the next week) is being renovated and the owner has contracted a company that, not surprisingly, uses Mexican workers. I was in the kitchen and over heard the landlord ask one of the workers if he knew how to paint, followed by a simple 'no' and then some Spanish dialogue between the workers. The second part of my good idea has to do waking up this morning to the familiar, if not so appreciated, sound of tejano music. It seems to be on whenever the workers are present, essentially so they have something to keep their minds occupied.
So here's my thought. Why not air a broadcast over all of Los Angeles (or Houston or wherever) that would teach English to Spanish speakers? It wouldn't cost them anything. It wouldn't be intimidating. There would be extra work (although I'm sure that if they were intersted you could set up a company to provide them with practice materials for a small price). And I think it would be very popular for all the migrant workers who have lots of hours and little education but would like to do better. It would be similar to those 'Learn Urdu in 21 days' tapes, except that it would go on for months instead of just a few hours. It could have review for most of the time, new material for some of the time, and advanced material for a little bit. You could even do spinoffs on preparing for your US citizenship. It just seems like the low income Hispanic population has a lot of untapped potential. It seems like a good way of showing Christ's love through service to a large group of people.

I know that some of you don't follow international politics with the same interest that I do, but I thought this story might be of interest in the light of the difficulties in forming the Iraqi government.

Independence Hall June 28 1787.

The 13 colonies have won their independence from England, but are now engaged in the struggle of forming a new government. Big states and small states were deadlocked in conflict about representation. New York had packed to go home. Benjamin Franklin, 81 years old, slowly rose to his feet.

"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for divine guidance (protection). Our prayers, Sir [to Washington], were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can arise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building little better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded, we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages and what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate incidence despair of establishing human government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held at this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."

The assembly immediately prayed and then adjourned for three days of prayer and preaching. Upon returning they felt a new spirit of unity and eventually agreed on the split House and Senate that makes up our legislative branch.


So my questions are two:
"Do we really expect a nation of people who have rejected God to peacefully and successfully form a government similar to the way a group of Christian humbly asking Christ for his blessing did?"
"How should we pray for this situation?"

Yesterday I bought the Lord of the Rings extended edition. Note that this isn't just the first movie, its all three extended versions in their twelve disc glory. Now I find this odd for three reasons. First, I don't actually own a dvd player and would have to borrow someone's in order to watch it. Second, I have no plans to actually watch them in the near future. Third, and most introspectively, this is the first thing that I can remember buying in a long time that is a pure luxury item. Of course, I've gotten coffee occasionally, but its always with the conscious purpose of trying to deepen the friendship. I would never go out by myself to get coffee just because it sounded good. I kinda accidentally got the movie, but that's complicated so I'm not going to try to explain it. Anyways, it feels weird to just buy something because I want it.


In Other News...
I got witnessed to for the second time at work today. Its a good thing we have the Holy Spirit working because their dialogue "Do you know Jesus? Ok, here." and 1970's tracts would not persuade anyone by themselves.

$10M Prize for Hydrogen Fuel Technology. Here's a good idea. I've always been in favor of alternative fuel sources, but its nice to see more people trying to gather interest and investment.

By the way, for any of you who have blogs that I link to, tell me if you'd like me to use your blog title instead of your name. I certainly don't want to make anyone feel insecure.

I was really longing for home tonight.