I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
…not much in general, but I did want to try my hand at the ability of this thing to allow me to type an email and it publish it to my blog. However, since I am here I think I will pontificate…
I’ve been thinking (I know a dangerous thing where nothing good can come out of) recently about how each generation kind of stops listening to the generations that precede it for a time before they realize that the previous generations might have some information that might help them. I came on the realization over time, but examples of this have been popping up as of late. More than likely it has to do with my involvement with the youth groups. The latest case was from someone who has been going through a rough time in college. I wonder why they don’t try to contact one of us adult types that they used to seem to trust and confide in while in high school. The impression is that they forget that many of us adults have gone through similar situations or have the impression that we have always had it “all together.”
A case in point, over the summer I asked one former student if they would like to have a Bible study and if they would consider helping me run it. They said that they felt that they would bring shame to His name if they would help lead it. Replied to them basically, with where I had been during college. My vices and actions then would probably, by some peoples standards even preclude me from serving now. But god doesn’t care as much for the past, if you have given up the sin that separated you from Him in the first place. In the case of the former student, that if you are earnestly seeking God and trying to quit doing what you are ashamed of (i.e. repent), then he will forgive the sin. I still have things that I struggle with which some would be surprised about and I have found peace in God and know that as I keep trying (the song “Pressing On” by Reliant K comes to mind) that he will bless me, though the blessing is probably being limited to a certain extent by the fact that I still give into the sin that I am trying to stop doing (Don’t read into this too much, everybody has something that they struggle with spiritually). The apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh analogy is a good example of what I am trying to say.
Now let’s see what got all of this started again? Oh yeah, the fact that we are all kind of self centered and it isn’t until later in life that we realize that there are more of us out there with similar struggles that we can draw strength from to help us find out what God wants us to do. Enough for now.
I’ve been messing with this thing for the past hour or so and have been figuring out how to tweak it. So now maybe I should type something else.
For the most part I am over most of the anxiety problems. The only lingering fears are when I want to share my point of view on a controversial subject or my faith. Not sure where in my childhood this was learned or acquired, but it doesn’t matter. I’m going to conquer it by heading into a subject. Maybe by this, I’ll conquer the last remaining angst things and be able to express myself more fully.
So the topic is my political beliefs…Typically, I am a conservative independent. What does that mean? I will vote Republican more often than not, unless the Democratic canidate meets a couple of criteria.
Pro-Life – as a scientist (a meteorologist) I am amazed by the technological advances that have been made in the way that we can image an unborn baby and make out distinct features of the face and such during the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy. Not to mention that it seems that we are able to save premature babies earlier and earlier in a pregnancy. So when does a life begin? To me at conception, since from a science standpoint, there is consciousness within the first trimester as was talked about in a study a couple of months back. And from a theological stand point, as it says in the Bible that God new us even before we were formed in the womb. So if a canidate doesn’t meet this criteria then I probably won’t vote for them.
I can easily vote for someone like Bart Stupak (who happens to represent my district here in Michigan) because, he fits the social conservative things that I believe in. Of course, the Dems have some other things that I could vote for like helping the poor, though they need to rein in their typical tax and spend attitude to a certain extent.
There was another point that is important to me, but I don’t remember it right now. Probably because I’m too tired from staying up all night.
I’ll proabaly vote for W as well for this reason (maybe this is what my other point was?) The supreme court. I believe that while the Constitution has some leeway for interpretation and minorities should be protected, I believe that the courts have begun to overreach their intended jurisdiction and that the legislative and executive branches of the government need to put their checks and balances into play with the current court and I pray that conservative judge get appointed during the next presidential term. I’m not necessarily looking for a reversal of some court cases that I feel were the wrong decision (though that would be a good outcome), but just stem the tide of what seems to be the pushing out of the Christian values that from an historical perspective is what the founding fathers of the country started everything.
So that is my take on some of this stuff. I probably should go to bed now so that I can get up by noon and do a presentation with a fellow ham on ham radio at the Vanderbilt middle school.
This is my first try at a blog. I’ve wanted to try one since I found my brother-in-law’s, a couple of years ago. So this is my first try. I’d like to keep posting consistantly. I have a tendency to try things for a while and then drop them. I don’t want to do that here. This will probably parallel my personal journal to a certain extent, although more than likely this will be an heavily edited version. Not to mention as in the title of this blog, I will probably talk about youth ministry and I’ll probably leave out the names and situations that one can run into with teens, so as to not betray their trust. Kids need love from caring adults as they are trying to become adults. This I have learned over the past 4 years of teaching Sunday school and working with both youth groups (junior and senior high) for the last 3 years.
Of course, the other half of this blog is dedicated to meteorology, which I have been doing since I took a chalk markable weather map home in the second grade. here I am 30 years later and I’m still drawing weather maps and presenting forecasts. It’s just that now I get paid for it.
There are always related subjects that will appear in here as well. Church related items. Ham radio related items. Just about anything.
So how’s that for my first try?
