Election

So today millions of Americans are going to be heading out to vote. In fact if you are thinking of not going out to vote, think again and just get off your butt and do it.

Maybe you are not a fan of either candidates…well note that there are not just two candidates and as an American you can write in anyone's name.

Maybe you don't think your vote will count…I think after the incident in Palm Beach County Florida in the 2000 election proves that every vote counts. Even if you live in a State like Maryland that has voted for the same party since 1988 (but 1988 and 1984 were an exception because the democratic party candidates in these elections were awful and no one with a sound mind could vote for them), it still counts.

Finally, it is a privilege that Americans can vote in their next leader. There are places in the world (including the place that I live) that don't even have elections, the leaders are chosen by the leaders in power and if you have a bad government, the problem is just perpetuated. And don't forget that many people fought and died for this freedom. Its not just about filling out a ballot (or electronically pushing a button on a screen), it is more then that, so just get up and vote no matter how you feel about the election.

Maybe I should post?

To all my readers (all 3 of you),

I have not posted in a little while and I apologize to you all. My schedule right now is all over the place and I will be doing some travelling over the next couple of weeks and will not have internet during certain times. I will be heading to the Philippines this weekend for a quick weekend trip. I will update you all on that trip after that has happened. Also, one of the greatest events of the year, the NFL Draft is coming on in a couple of weeks. I don't have time to do any posts before the draft, but I will make sure to give you all my two cents on the draft either right before or right after.

Anyway, come back closer to the end of April and maybe I will have something posted for you. I will try to get back into the groove of things in late April and May.

That's not completely true?

So I hardly write about things outside of the goings ons that affect my life, besides when I first started this whole blog thing, mostly because I want to keep things pretty light hearted here. But when I come across things that are just not true, I find I have to write something on it, and that is what Renee found when we were looking through the Beijing Olympics website. On the "Places of Worship" webpage, the Chinese Olympic Organizers note that "China is a country with religious freedom and respects for every religion." They then go to list 5 religions and how one might go about worshipping. Some things to point out is the fact that the 5 religions listed are the only religions recognized by the Chinese government, so if recognizing 5 religions is "every religion" and "religious freedom" then maybe they are telling the truth, but I'll let you decide on that. And if religious freedom looks like being able to worship in government approved worship places with government approved worship materials and books with government oversight, then they are surely very free. Unless you hold a foreign passport, like we do, then it is pretty hard to worship with "freedom." To note, there are many people that come to find the Father in the heavily regulated Christian church in China (not to mention the many more that come to know Him in underground churches), but that goes to the fact of how powerful the Gospel message is.

Anyway, just wanted to get out some truths from the statements you might see leading up to the Olympics.

Also as a completely different side note, I have been reading a lot of doomsday-sounding articles about the US economy and a lot of the media have been fashioning the word "recession" in their articles. Again, I want to keep things light, but go ahead and look up the definition of recession and see if in fact the US is in one (or close to one for that matter), sometimes, even in the US, you have to weary of some of the things being said. Just another thought.