Fences and Good CDs

For those who haven't heard, congress approved the building of a seven hundred mile long fence along the Mexican border. It reminds me of an old joke. A Frenchman and an Englishman find a genie, who grants them one wish. The Frenchman asks for a ten-mile high wall surrounding France. He doesn't want anything to be able to get in or out. The genie grants it, then turns to the Englishman. "Nothing can get in or out?" he asks. The genie says, "That is correct." "And there are no gaps in the wall anywhere?" the Englishman continues his inquiry. "That is also correct," the genie replies.
"Well, in that case, I want the wall to be filled with water."


Building a wall is possibly the biggest waste of tax money ever. Should we contact the builders they used in Berlin?

Also, everybody go out and get the new mewithoutYou ablum, Brother, Sister. It's amazing.

Shalom

AUGH!

I got back from class this morning to find a massive puddle of water by my fridge. Never a good sign. I figured it was my ancient AC system, so I cleaned it up and went about my life. Neither my roommate nor I noticed a trail of water leading to the AC system, which we figured was weird, but meh.

As I finished cleaning it up, I noticed it was coming from my fridge. I opened my fridge to find it hissing at me. Not good.

It's leaking coolant.

Am I gonna die?

On American Culture

It has recently been said that the wave of immigration from Mexico is destroying our culture.
This cannot be further from the truth.

When a person speaks of American culture, he shows his true ignorance. America has no culture. At least not one to call its own. America was founded on immigrants from all over the world. English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, China, Korea, Laos, Nigeria, South Africa, whereever. After some tension at the initial influx, there cultures were embraced and have become integral to that of America.

There are things that are unique to America, to be sure. Various forms of music and food come to mind. But each of these drew from the cultures that surronded it, like a crystal drawing from the material around it to create a unique color.

It seems that many of those who are upset about this sudden influx of foreigners are Irish-American. In the nineteenth century, the Irish represented the largest number of immigrants coming into the nation. They were asked to leave their culture behind. They refused. Today, Irish culture is one of the most celebrated in America. Everything from the local pub to Saint Patrick's Day to the rise of celtic punk are owed to that refusal.

Many nations face a "problem" with defending their cultures. France has passed various laws to protect what they see as unique about them. Now, they face the issue of the large number of north African Muslims coming into their nation and the resulting xenophobia. Canada faces the issue of the Quebecois trying to protect their culture. It is threatenting to rip the nation in two.

America has always stood out among nations, asking for the weak, the poor, and the huddled masses. We have taken the cultures of many and made them one.

Why stop now?

Rock on.

Life In Exchange for Life

Isaiah 43: 1-13

As I have previously mentioned, Jewish Messianic tradition poses two views on the Messiah. One is that he will be human. The other holds that the Christ will be God himself. This passage from Isaiah makes it fairly clear that God will be Isaiah's only Savior.

He does, however, say that he will trade the lives of others for those of the Israelites. This can certainly be seen in history, with God favoring the Israelites over other nations. It can be seen more dramatically in the death of the prophets, who were given to Israel to show them the way, but were in turn killed. But once again, all is not as simple as it first appears. We once again arrive at a point where a prophecy has multiple fulfillments with one crowning fulfillment.

Jesus' death on the cross for our sins (and therefore, our lives) was the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy.

Rock on.

Godly Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:10

Regret is a bear. Every time someone stumbles, they go through a moment of reckoning in which they realize the mistake they made. And it hurts.

There are two ways to deal with this. The first is to spend a while in self pity and hate yourself, but then to get on with your life.

The second way is to repent. This means that you realize your mistake, turn it over to Christ, accept his grace, and let him help you change. Some argue that to not spend time dwelling on the fact that you sinned belittles Christ's death on the cross. CS Lewis argued that to do otherwise is the true belittlement of the Sacrifice. After all, "It is finished."

Rock on.

Update...U P D A T...ummmm....Y?

Ok, so...for those who don't know, I am indeed at college in Athens. And it's fun. Colllege is so much better than high school.

I've gotten involved with the Wesley Foundation on campus and it's a great group of godly (yea for alliteration) students. For those who dont' know, the Georgia Museum of Art is on the UGA campus as well, and while I haven't toured the galleries yet, they do have film nights, so I got to see the 1931 Weimar German classic The Blue Angel. They also have one dollar movies at the student center.

The guys in my dorm are...college guys. We're all pretty weird and different. But it's fun. My classes are going pretty well (for those who don't knowe, I'm taking Geology, English, World Religions, Statistics, and ROTC (which means my hair's short again...*sad face*)).

And now for the things I've already learned from school:

• Despite what you may think, getting up for a nine o'clock class is hard.
• On a related note, yes, you can stay up til three in the morning. And no, it's not a good idea.
• Just because you can eat the same thing for four meals a day doesn't mean it's a good idea.
• "I'll do it tomorrow" is the world's worst motto (I've been meaning to do this update "tomorrow" since I got to school).
• Having time between classes is nice. But it gets boring. Really.