It's Time....

If you don't know, every year I get to direct this thing called Greek Conference where more than 300 folks from the southeast and myriad random places up and down the eastern seaboard gather to learn more about who God is and how he impact their Greek experience.

I'll be blogging from there this weekend, but at http://greekconference.blogspot.com/ not here. So if interested, check out the site!

Cats...

A year and a half ago Kim and I had a dilemma. We wanted a change. Kids were not an option, I had done a great job of killing off my fish, so we had one last resort - actual pets. We discussed a dog - but couldn't agree on the type. I wanted some sort of beagle or small dog of the sorts - Kim wanted what I describe as a 'punting dog' one of those suckers that yaps so much you want to kick its butt across the lawn.

So we settled on cats. I had cats growing up and we managed to find one at the shelter that we thought was kind of like a dog. A month later we had two cats.

We have had 2 cats for going on 18 months now. They are such interesting things. All along we wanted a dog. In actuality we got 2 semi-dogs. 2 semi-humans. 2 semi-amazing pictures of dependency, need, sin and grace.

Both Kim and I are laptop people. Well we were. Or kind of are. I think that Sabby & Emma have chewed through no less than 5 Dell powercords in 18 months. Lucky for me we have a dealer up the street or I'd be in real trouble. Our light cords downstairs look like brail and it's a wonder that one of them hasn't been electrocuted. We made the mistake of leaving them without a friend checking on them for 3 days and one of them (most likely Sabby) left about 5 craps on the living room floor. We had to have them declawed (by the way an extremely harmless and beneficial move) because they just couldn't help tearing up our furniture or kneading it to death.

When they are truly awake and in their prime they are pyscho. They chase each other up and down the stairs, bite one another, jump on the counters, lay on top of the cabinets and get in every area they are not supposed to. The water bottle becomes our best friend - especially on a long Saturday or a lazy Sunday when we just spray the crap out of them to stop them from doing things that are destructive to themselves and our livelihood.

In short - they are very much sinful animals. But they care deeply about their masters.

Sebastian and Emma are great. Very not like what you'd expect out of cats. You snap your fingers and Sabby will run up and rub against you. Anytime there is even a semi open lap - Emma will jump on it, remote, magazine or laptop be damned. They are extremely friendly, but also take care of each other. Sebastian will clean Emma and likewise. They are great pets to have.

They are loyal. When I hit the garage door on the way home - inevitably one and usually both will be waiting by the door. When we go to bed at night, inevitably less than 5 minutes after we are done talking Sebastian will jump on the bed, do a full walk around the bed to make sure everything is ok, and then retire to the floor. Emma meanwhile sleeps at Kims feet - and we can only guess how many times she kicks her off at night (as an aside - these 'cats' are so loyal that if if i get up to work or write or surf in the middle of the night, guess who is sitting on the desk next to me - Sabby). When I wake up in the morning the bound down the stairs even though the food is already out for them. They are ridiculously loyal. AND they are CATS for crying out loud.

As I write this at 3:00 in the morning, Sabby has taken where my laptop usually is on my desk (it's on my lap) and has fallen asleep in front of me. As I pet him he responds with affection and love. When I get up to walk to the bedroom he'll follow me and when the alarm goes off at 6:45 even if i don't want to get up, Emma will be there to wake me up and Sabby will be ready to bound down those steps as I go after the coffee.

Oh that we might have a similar relationship with our master. That we might be that complicit in our sin but also so thankful in our grace and so obedient in our regular activities.

Did I mention that I'm actually allergic to cats?

politics, a funny thing....

So I admit that among my addictions to ESPN, 24, Lost and Studio 60 I also love, love love MSNBC and it's people. Because of that I am a Newsweek subscriber and because of that I spend more time than I should following essentially inconsequential political news as I gear up for the '08 election.

Of course this comes as no surprise but I have long thought myself a Republican. I love Bush. Respect his faith and his character. He had me at hello - to steal a line from my wifes favorite movie - when he said:

When I act, you will know my reasons. And when I speak, you will know my heart.
I believe in tolerance, not in spite of my faith, but because of it.
I believe in a God who calls us not to judge our neighbors but to love them.
I believe in grace because I've seen it, and peace because I've felt it, and forgiveness because I've needed it.
I believe true leadership is a process of addition, not an act of division.

Whether he lived those words as president I guess is for you to decide, but he certainly drew me in and has given me no reason to doubt his faith-led presidency ever since (well the war had me slightly questioning, but only slightly and that's a whole other topic that would take at least 3 comments for me to respond).

Whatever, the point of the post is this. Howard Fineman, who I love, in said article basically puts the Presidency frontrunners into 3 categories - the charismatics, the front-runners and the base-wooers. Very interesting.

Most interesting is the fact that the very 2 candidates I most see myself voting for in my first ever actual presidential election (yeah, i suppose you actually have to become a citizen before you can vote) both fall into the 'charismatics' category.

Long a self-proclaimed Republican - I honestly have no idea how I'd vote between Guliani and Obama were I faced with that decision. Both are men of faith. Both have significant shortfalls in the midst of their faith and belief yet both are honest about it. The 'platforms' seem to carry less weight than ever. I honestly don't know.

What I do know is that Hillary is a psycho, Edwards a fake, McCain unstable and Romney a very misled Mormon. That leaves me 2 guys that I can support. 2 differing parties - two when you get down to it - very similar views.

It's gonna be a helluva next 18 months. Do your modern Christians stick to the ranks or do they change course. What is the 'christian' mandate in the election. Plenty of "post-moderns" are quick to defend the liberal mindset - will they vote for Billary - I mean Hillary? Will the "moderns" vote for whatever the Republican party puts up there regardless of personal preference - or will they go with the young, charismatic, honest and real Obama? Will the Dems of faith go for the golden child - Edwards - or will they pull for Obama? Given the worse case scenario - will Christian republicans actually vote for the very Mormon Romney? Will Democratic Christians rally around slightly crazy Clinton?

Very interesting to think about. I think we are truly - as Newsweek reported 2 years ago - living in the purple. But how will the Evangelicals respond to that? It'll be interesting to see. Especially for me since the 2 guys I can see myself voting for the most - might be the farthest apart.