Politics and Impressions

I normally stay away from politics on my blog, but I watched most of the opening of the Democratic National Convention, as well as the forum at Saddleback a couple weeks ago. From what I've studied and read about the candidates, here are my impressions.

1. Politics are more about painting the candidates (and their wives/husbands and children) in a certain light than it is about substance.

The reason I say that is because so often the politicians are polling people so they know what to think. I understand that they are to represent their constituents, but we all hope to nominate someone with backbone and a strong character that we can trust. Most of the time it seems that when they do speak their own mind, then they have to clarify, follow-up, or salvage something from the inevitable media backlash (see McCain's comment on how many homes he owns, or Michelle Obama's comment on her finally being proud of her country).

And sometimes it just seems like it's a big production designed to evoke a response. At times tonight I felt so awkward watching the DNC, not because I don't like them, but because it was such a forced show. Almost everything seemed to be staged-it was like watching a play put on by middle schoolers where they were trying to say their lines, but it wasn't believable. *Sigh*

2. People on both sides of the partisan split are hypocrites.

The Moral Majority/Religious Right spent countless thousands of dollars making sure everyone knew of Bill Clinton's womanizing. But you don't hear hardly a peep from them when it comes to John McCain cheating on his first wife with his present-wife. One month after their divorce, he married Cindy.

And the Democrats for years have stayed away from religion, preferring not to mix faith and politics. Now they are recruiting every young and popular evangelical to take part in their party-and for what purpose? From Shane Claiborne to Cameron Strang, Donald Miller and more, what used to be labeled by the media as extremism (standing up for your religious faith and beliefs) in the Republican party is now acceptable in the Democratic party. As for me, I'm glad that there are Christians in the Democratic party in prominent positions-I just wish they were invited for reasons other than political purposes (they need more votes).

3. I think most people who don't look into the backgrounds of each candidate will end up voting for the person that they would like to be their friend.

I truly believe the general public will tend to pull for the one who they would like to have coffee or play a round of golf with. For them, the election will be based on how winsome the candidate's personality is, instead of the substance of their character. This is just a sad truth of the world we live in. People will spend more time on their email, Myspace, Facebook or Youtube entertaining themselves instead of using this massive wealth of information available to better themselves and their country. Or maybe posting blogs like me....

In all honesty, every government is less than ideal. This is another reason why we long for change, and we long for a leader we can place hope in. Ours is a system where we have to choose between flawed sinful candidates to lead all of us sinful citizens. This is why we all secretly long for another kingdom on this earth. A kingdom where our leader will be trustworthy, loving, just, fair, and true. (Note: this won't happen at the Republican Convention either). It's the Kingdom of God, and all creation groans in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the day it arrives. And the leader will be our King, Jesus Christ.

Summer 2008

Hey friends,

So a lot has been going on in my life. Good stuff too! I got engaged on June 7, I’m turning 30 in a couple weeks, and getting married 2 weeks after that. I moved out of my townhouse-found a renter for my place, which is amazing. Chrissy and I went to West Virginia for a week to spend time with my family, especially my grandparents who might not be able to make it to our wedding.

Last week I snuck away for 5 days with Pastor Clay and Joey to West Palm Beach-we took a songwriting retreat, and in 5 days we wrote 10 songs together for the next album for the church, which is pretty exciting! The majority of my songwriting has been for artists away from Calvary, so to write worship songs for my church is a great blessing to me. It’s hard to describe the emotions in my spirit when I see and hear our church singing a song that God birthed in my heart, but I know it’s not because of me-it’s something that only He can do. If you only knew some of the terrible junk that I’ve tried to make into a song, you’d understand! :)

I’ve tried to stay up on the writing, but the last month or so has been tough. For the readers out there, I read an incredible book recommended to me by the esteemed New Testament scholar Ben Witherington called “Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes” by Kenneth Bailey. I liked it so much that I’m using it as one of the textbooks for the class I’m teaching this fall at Ocean’s Edge School of Worship .

The school starts orientation next Saturday, and the first semester I’m teaching Biblical Foundations of Worship, which is a narrative overview of the story of scripture. We walk through the Bible chronologically, studying the historical and cultural context and how worship plays a major role throughout. Second semester after Christmas I teach Culture and Worship, which takes a specific approach to music, audience and context. I use “Whatever Happened to Worship” by A.W. Tozer in that class for discussion.

We also launched our worship website at church and I’ve done a few guitar instructional videos as a resource to people who want to develop that part of their gifting. I’m not sure how many are posted, but I recorded 3 this summer which should appear via Youtube and Ocean’s Edge Music soon.

And in the middle of all that mess, I did a kitchen remodel with the help of my parents, Chrissy’s uncle and David Dalholt. New cabinets, counters, sink, (kinda new) appliances, new tile floor…and then I moved out. :( That place looks good!

It’s been a crazy few months, but some great stuff has been happening. And I usually don’t post this stuff in a blog, but I feel bad-I haven’t posted in a couple months. I’m gonna try to post a couple more before I shut down my Myspace and move over to Blogger completely. Please please please keep Chrissy and I in your prayers over the next few weeks. It probably won’t get any less crazy until a month after the wedding, so we need strength and patience!

Also, please remember to lift up my grandpa if you can. He started chemo this week for his cancer-please pray for strength and healing for him. If you ever get to meet my grandparents, they would easily make the list of your favorite people in the world. They are so awesome! Also, please pray that my grandma would be encouraged and that she would have strength to help him during this time. I really appreciate all of you and the prayers that you have said for them already.

Andrew