There’s not much worse than politicians and the hot air they create.  The arguing, bickering, lying, grandstanding, anger and hatred that sometimes comes from politicians mouths can make a person sick.  When they start speaking out about rape, it can get even worse.  Throw in the talking heads and it’s just downright disgusting.  It evokes thoughts of The Exorcist and projectile vomit.  As bad as those groups make my head hurt, the worst are the people who take to Facebook, Twitter and in small groups begin verbally assaulting the poor, the homeless, the welfare recipients and others like them.  I see comments about people on welfare not being allowed to vote, that homeless don’t deserve a voice, harsh and what I believe to be many other hate-filled comments.  Here’s what I want to know from these people.  What are they doing to help the people on welfare, the homeless, the poor, the sick?  Answer that and then I’ll listen to what they have to say.

A year or so back I walked the streets of Denton late one Friday night with 2 friends.  Our purpose was to talk to some people that were homeless and see what we could do to help.  Over time we befriended 4 homeless men and spent a year trying to help them get on their feet.  It was a challenge.  One moved, two others disappeared and one got so sick we couldn’t do anymore for him.  However, we tried.  We invested time and money in these guys and we got to share the love of God with them.  In fact, I learned some things about faith and community from these guys I have never learned in church.  Here’s what drove me crazy – people telling me what homeless people did or didn’t want that did not have the credentials of hitting the streets and working with these people.

I’m ranting, but hey, it’s my soapbox.  I see so many people abdicating responsibility to government who claim to be conservative, Christian and Republican.  Quit griping about the prayer in school issue and model prayer for your children.  Quit griping about how much is spent on welfare and give from your riches. 

So often, I find the people who gripe the least or the same people who not only give the most but overflow with grace.  Those are the people I want to listen to.  Those are the people I want to spend time.  Those are the people I want to be my mentors.

Lord, bind the mouths and touch the hearts of those who complain and fill them with vision and passion and a path to serve.  Lord, make me one of those people.

Grace and peace.

I have missed blogging.  So much has been going on, so much demanding my time and my emotional bank account.  I went bankrupt and I feel I have taken another trek into the desert and am coming out of it very tired in all aspects, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Yet, it is in these broken times that I have found myself allowing God to do His work in me and I pray that this is one of those times.

I don’t know what the coming days hold.  I don’t know how much I’ll blog but I do feel I have some things I need to get out of my head and on “paper” so I can kick them around and mull them over.

This blog comes with the same caveat as my previous blog – this is MY space.  It’s intended for me to say the things I need to say.  I don’t intend to offend anyone but my thoughts are sometimes raw and may not always be understood in the translation from mind to page.  And while I don’t won’t to offend anyone, this is my space for my thoughts.  It is not a place where my goal is to dispense wisdom or inspirational messages but to let my mind breathe.  I have found some people cannot allow others space to voice their thoughts and feelings and still act like adults.  I deal with it enough everyday and this is not the place for it.  In the workplace and in my day-to-day life, I will attempt to try and reach a collaborated agreement to resolve the problem.  But, in this space, I do not feel compelled to hold back.

On the other hand, if I talk about things that speak to you in some way, it’s up to you whether to converse with me about it or not.  I do not have an issue talking things through with others as long as we can agree that this is my space to throw things out, even throw things up at times.

I’m ready.

I’ve talked about it.  I’ve thought about it.  I’ve tried to do it on purpose.  I’ve done it on accident.var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src='” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-12356560-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}