Liam’s noises

Liam makes his most interesting noises when he’s just a shade or two less than content. I wonder if he gets that from his dad. I wonder if the most interesting things I say occur to me in my agitation.

More Liam pictures

From yesterday.  Today he got his shots.  Shots suck.  Liam and I are in agreement about that.  I’ve never heard him scream like that or wanted to cry so much on someone else’s behalf.

Liam comes to work with Dad – and rolls over!

Liam came to work with his Daddy again today. I think this is going to be fun! While we were taking a break from working to change diapers and make a few images, Liam surprised me. Right in the middle of our photo shoot, he rolled over on his own! I took one picture before and one right after (both are below). It really surprised us both. I gasped and he cried. I had to put him back on the changing table to calm him down – crazy kid!

Enjoy the photos,

Andrew (daddy)

Picture of Liam

Here’s another picture for those of you who have asked to see Liam more often.  Enjoy!

Their Hipocrisy, My Hipocrisy

Yesterday I spent an hour or two investigating the lifestyles of tele-evangelists and other Christian leaders. This link provides reasonably-researched information with a minimum of commentary: Lavish Lifestyles of Evangelists. (Warning: there’s so much information here that you could spend quite a bit if time reading it.  Site opens in a new window.)

I was all prepared to rail against the hipocrisy of these Christian leaders.  Since when is it okay for Pat Robertson to associate with murderous African dictators for the purposes of mining diamonds or for Kenneth Copeland to fly a fleet of jets worth $50-$60 million?  How is that suffering for the gospel?

But I stopped short.  As I wrote this blog post in my head, I realized that I have no moral authority to make those statements.  You see, I have my own sin issues.  And as much as those things make me sick, my own sin sickens the Holy Spirit.  Are there grades of hipocrisy? Is there some way I can speak out against my brothers without first dealing with my own speck?

I realized this morning in the shower that the only antidote for hipocrisy is another h-word: humility. When I before God humble myself and confess my pride, then before my brothers humble myelf and confess my sin, I earn the moral authority to grab the plank in my brother’s eye.

But then I started to question whether men like Pat Robertson and Kenneth Copeland are even my brothers.  Do they follow a God that asks for sacrifice, or just a god that asks their followers to sacrifice?  Are they committed to leaving everything to follow Christ, or are they leaving Christ to follow everything?  It’s important that I ask these questions of myself, because Jesus certainly asks the same questions of me.

For what it’s worth (rather a lot, I think), Peter writes the following in the second chapter of the book of Second Peter:  “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.”

Have these men brought the way of truth into disrepute?  Maybe.  But that’s a question I cannot answer.  Will I bring the way of truth into disrepute?  Will you?  As Shakespeare said, “THAT is the question.”

What to do about Immigration?

Note on the text: This is an old post that I never finished. The deficit of my attention-economy makes it likely that I never will. I’m publishing it for what little it’s worth. – AJS

Someone was talking generally about politics Sunday and complaining that many people are willing to criticize without offering solutions. I certainly don’t want to fall into that camp with regard to immigration. Thus far I’ve only pointed to both sides and delcared what we shouldn’t be doing. You can read those posts here and here. I’d like to start discussing solutions with you, my fair readers. But first, a few words about tone and context:

The immigration debates have fallen victim to one of the chief ills of our political system today: polarization. Any issue seems to be reduced to two sides that have positions of sound-byte depth. Each side will establish their position, then proceed to fill the air with the shouting of the aforementioned sound-bytes, never stopping to listen to dissenting voices. Those who do stop to listen hear nothing but their opponents shouting with vigor equal to their own, albeit with different talking points. Our challenge as those who seek to be informed citizens and change agents is to take a position that falls into neither of the poles, but with a depth of analysis and a solution set that will appeal to both of them.

The factor that separates this debate is the drawing of the lines between those two poles. The immigration debate is producing unlikely bed-fellows, like Big Business and the ACLU. The uncertainty over where the lines are drawn allows us a great opportunity to be the signal in the noise that breaks the polarization cycle.

Check out this really cool video

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A really cool video
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Funny Maggie

I looked under the desk a few minutes ago and Maggie had a computer cable wrapped around her neck. She was just sitting there. Funny dog! I hope she’s not trying to send me a message or anything.

Liam is one month old!

Roughly 4 weeks ago today, he was in Lisa’s womb. Now he is beginning his life, fitting into a family, and wowing the ladies with his incredible cuteness and charm. Daddy’s pretty attached to him. The blankie pictures are especially for Tricia, Susan, Naomi, and Eva, who gave him his blankie and still love their own!