Written by Yep…..my thoughts exactly….
Posts tagged Management
It’s Not a New Problem. It’s Not a New Solution….
…..but it’s a problem that has no solution being offered at this time.
These are the problems I want to attack. I don’t want to do what you’re doing. I don’t want to do what they’re doing. I want to do what’s not being done.
I used to think that I needed to correct everything. I still catch myself acting that way sometimes. But overall I’m learning that this is a complete waste of my life. It’s a pride issue that makes me think that I can do things better than those doing it. God let me know a while back that this mentality is very far from where He wants me living.
So, for the last few months I’ve been attacking the things that I think need done, that nobody else is doing. It seems to be working. People are much more receptive. Much more grateful. Much more supportive. And much more encouraged.
And me? Well, I’m much more happy. More motivated. More alive. More grateful. More inspired. More loving.
No, not every day. I can still be a very prideful asshole. A lot.
But at the end of the day it’s greatly reduced and I’m able to help a greater number of people in much greater ways when I ignore what others are doing, and just do what I can do that’s not being done.
Hope that somehow inspires you to play chicken with your life’s freight train as well…..
I Bet a Homeless Pastor Would Rape Every Kid in Town
Everybody knows that all the crime in the world is caused by those without homes.
For instance, the 7 year old girl that was raped in the bathroom of a restaurant on Cantrell. The server who did that was clearly homeless.
And break-ins. Every single time somebody’s house is broken into, the goods are always found under bridges, in tents and even in shelters.
And kidnapping. What about all those kids that are kidnapped, only to be found days or weeks later in the basement of some homeless persons tent??
Yep, you can bet money that if a crime has been committed, it was done by one of those people who don’t have a home.
Every drunk driver? Homeless!
Every serial killer? Homeless!
Every bank robber? Homeless!
Every wife-beater? Homeless!
You see, last night I sat in a zoning committee meeting because one city director seems to think that having the OFFICES of a non-profit that serves our homeless neighbors in the same neighborhood as a school is a safety threat.
We’re not talking about a shelter, a mental health clinic, a detox unit, etc….
We’re talking about offices, and a small warehouse.
Is there any logic to this absurd mentality that homeless people are generally bad people who are preying on those who do have homes??
Complete ignorance.
The same people who want to fight these services which are the work of Christ, had the audacity to brag about some local churches banding together to defeat services to the impoverished in our area.
Look around people! Christians!
How many “pastors” or “ministers” are in the news for child molestation and the like?
How many people without homes are in there for the same things?
How foolish to tout Christianity in fighting services to the homeless by generalizing all homeless as pedophiles, while there’s more of a problem with it in our Church leadership than there ever has been out on the streets.
Just yesterday a local “pastor” was sentenced to a year in prison for having sex with a 15 year old boy. Tally them all up. There’s more than you can count.
So, when you want to plant another church…..
You better not do it by a school!! Because all those pastors are going to be putting everybody’s kids at risk!!
And should one of those pastors become homeless? Oh shit!!
Wake up “Christianity”….
This crap is so far from the teachings of Christ.
What a sad, and embarrassing state of Christianity we have found ourselves in when our biggest battle is defending the work of the gospel against those who claim it so recklessly….
“10,000 homeless veterans could be left without housing”
The following is an email that I received yesterday from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. It’s worth a look if you give a rip about veterans, homelessness or politics.
What I want to know is how many of these House voters touted their “patriotism” in their campaigning, only to turn around and screw those who have given just about all they had….
House Set to Eliminate HUD-VASH Vouchers
10,000 homeless veterans could be left without housingWASHINGTON, Feb. 17, 2011 – The U.S. House of Representatives is currently considering H.R. 1, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011, which would eliminate $75 million for approximately 10,000 new permanent supportive housing vouchers for homeless veterans.
These HUD-VA Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers represent a collaboration between the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to help chronically ill veterans who are not able to obtain and maintain housing without assistance. A vote on this bill is expected by the end of the day.
The vouchers in question were approved by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in the 111th Congress, and would bring the HUD-VASH program to the 40,000 voucher level. That would represent two-thirds of the number of vouchers most experts and federal officials agree are needed to end chronic veteran homelessness.
This morning at a House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing, Ranking Member Bob Filner (D-CA) expressed shock over the elimination of these vouchers, which would provide housing and services to approximately 10,000 veterans who are homeless today.
Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-FL) said he was less concerned about the cuts because he has been told about 11,000 of the 30,000 vouchers authorized since 2008 are not yet being used.
The VASH program is one of the most critical elements of the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness among veterans by 2015. Last year, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan told Congress that a total of 60,000 vouchers would be needed to end veteran homelessness.
VA had included funding for program expansion in its FY 2011 budget, and the Senate Appropriations Committee inserted funding for 10,000 new vouchers in its HUD funding bill. Both actions spurred hope that the number of homeless veterans – estimated at 107,000 – would continue to decline.
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) urges all homeless veteran service providers to contact their senators and representatives this afternoon to strongly object to any move that would eliminate approved HUD-VASH program funding for new vouchers.
To contact your representative, click here.
To contact your senator, click here.
You may also call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your representative or senator’s office.
UPDATE: Heated Harping on Harps for Homophobic Happenings (see what I did there?)
Yesterday I shared the disaster at one of Arkansas’ Harps locations with you. The manager decided to put a “family shield” over a picture of Elton John, his partner and their kid. See yesterday’s post here.
Well, here is a statement released by Harps:
Soooooo…..is this the best PR statement you’ve ever heard? Or do most of you still think they are stretching to recover what they’ve lost by all of this??
And as always, please comment HERE…..on the actual blog!! :)
Just Because We Live Here, Doesn’t Mean We All Live HERE
I heard it was now 2011. Some must not have gotten a new phone book on their porch.
We catch a lot of crap in Arkansas, just because we live here.
But we bring even more crap on ourselves when we live HERE:
Pic belongs to Jennifer Huddleston
By HERE I mean a place where we think we need to cover a magazine cover because it has a gay man on it. Or is it that he has a son?
Either way, this would have completely ruined my entire family had Harps in Mountain Home, AR not protected us with the magical “Family Shield”. Can I throw up now?
Give me a freaking break folks!!
I would really love to hear your take on this…..are they stupid, crazy, right, wrong?? What?? Leave your comment below….and read others’ opinions on twitter here.
Confessions of the Currently De-Churched
The following is an email that one of my friends sent me the other day. It wasn’t written to be read or discussed publicly, but once I finished it, I knew it had to be. I told him that I would publish it anonymously.
Church people often struggle to understand the “de-churched”. Even though the “de-churched” make up a significant part of today’s Church, they are often overlooked and have their entire faith questioned. You can’t deny it happens. But, is it right? Read what my friend has to say…..
wow, it’s every where and no one can or wants to see it, or is in complete denial, it works well with most humans in the community of faith, woe unto us who see the reality of homelessness, mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, pornography; issues of morality at one time were real social issues of great importance to the church and people of faith, proving people do change with the times, even people who go to church, pretty much 100 percent of all the stuff Jesus did or said on the aforementioned subjects was so clear it’s blinding, although they do have some damn fine and impressive debt free facilities and do give gas cards in lieu of not giving contributions for needed actions that will help people. Pretty simple things that save peoples lives. What’s a life going for these days on the open market? Churches are in my less than sane opinion and worldly view personal experience a religious world created system of theistic beliefs, bureaucracies run by people locked inside a psychological mind set of a world that exist mostly within the four walls of the buildings, or humongous campuses built with cash as Earthly altars to God, of course God is money, so it makes sense. God by the way told me He could care less about your balance sheets or donations being down year to year, that’s an excuse. I respect some people want to stay tucked away from the scary world full of “those people” so they run to the suburbs and buy a ton of Glocks, then they give money to over seas missions and such, they do give money to St. Francis House, which is good though I don’t know how much or what it is for, I don’t know much these days except that people that run churches who identify with Christ have developed a bad vision problem. This may be a real chance to open up some of our local churches for the homeless, being you can count me soon to be there, all I know is to keep on fighting cause it is all black and white knowing God is own your side. Which can be Hell if he actually is not, my internet being on is a miracle. May God bless your work and continue blessing you Aaron. Always question authority. Unless it gets you fired from your paying job or you are independently wealthy. Go ahead anyway, the worse thing that can happen is always the ones that you think never will. Or is it just the other way around?
I’d love to know your thoughts…..if you dare!!! Leave a comment and let’s talk!
“Escape is Never the Safest Path”
“Escape is never the safest path” – Pearl Jam, Dissident
More often than not, the fight is not our problem. Sometimes even the loss of the fight is not our problem.
Sometimes our propensity to escapism is our biggest enemy, and we may not even realize it.
Running is stupid. Yep, you read that right. I said running is stupid. I’m sorry if you an ultra-fit marathon freak who runs for lunch.
I don’t run. But, I’ve always been a runner. Instead of training for the Little Rock marathon, I’m actually learning how to not run. I want to be the best dang non-runner around.
Most of my life was spent running. Running from things. Escaping.
I will quickly pull off anything I can to avoid things that I perceive to be potentially unsafe, dangerous, or that may go against my plan and desires. I will fight, to avoid a fight.
Lies, passive-aggressive behavior, avoidance, denial, neglect….
Drinking, drugs, gambling, sex…..excess…
I would run, and fight twice as hard to avoid facing and resolving a much simpler dilemma. Doesn’t work. The run is typically more damaging than the initial fight would have been. The run takes me so far from where I want to be. The run removes me from everything that I actually need in that time.
It’s so often easier to screw up everything around us in an attempt to deter ourselves from what we have deemed unapproachable. We like to run. Divorce. Drugs. Prostitutes. Porn. Vodka. Tunica. Overtime. Friends. Family. Fishing.
The run kills us. The run kills our families. The run kills our everything. The run is a killer. But we run anyway. The run brings isolation. But we run anyway. Have you ever really gotten to know someone or grown closer to them while you were out on a run? Likely, no. Most people either run alone, or they have others around them but there just isn’t a lot of interaction going on. Mostly burning and sweating in the silence of isolation.
My run was meth. Oh, I’ve ran a lot of different ways…..but that was always my “go-to” run.
Drugs, just like most runs, actually compound the need to run. More conflict = more running.
More running = more problems = more running.
See, I told you running was stupid.
When I’m teaching on recovery and what it takes to completely and successfully step away from addictions, this is one of the biggest things I have to stress. Quit running. Quite simply, running can no longer be an option. Whatever you ran to, you don’t run to anymore. But even that is not enough. You have to determine to NEVER run to ANYTHING.
Escape is never the safest path. Nor is it the smartest, wisest, or even easiest. Rarely does it pay off.
Conflict can be embraced. It’s not a %&*#ing bad word. It’s not. The *#@?ing run should be a bad word. The run is a life sucking &!%#$(*!
We have to learn to fight well. Yes, that can be done. Jesus taught some of the best fighting techniques. We like to think He is some sissy little hippie who would never dare instigate a potential burst of violence. Wrong. You can’t read the gospels of Jesus Christ and not see that He is a walking time-bomb. He is a conflict driven badass. He is a warrior.
Some of the worst conflicts of my life, be it addiction or even my faith, have proven to be some of the most amazing things that I’ve experienced.
Conflict. What man intends for evil, God will ultimately use for good. Don’t be a runner. Running sucks.
Make up your mind that running is simply not an option, and watch what happens in your relationships, your career, in your checking account, and most notably in the way that you love/respect/feel about yourself.
Escape is NEVER the safest path.
(This post was first written for, and used by, Eikon Church in a series they were doing on confrontation)
Target Ain’t People – The Real Beauty of America
Target. You know….the store? Surely you’ve heard the latest ranting about their political and financial goings-on.
If not, you will. I need not preface this video with an explanation as the video does it well enough.
THIS, my friends, is the real beauty of America. Regardless of your political stances or opinions…..you must admit that the ability to do THIS, is one reason we all stay here…..
Thanks to Anne Rice and Basil, I’m Quitting Christianity and American-ity
Thanks to these two, I would like to announce that I am quitting Christianity, American-ity, Southern…whatever, and I will no longer divulge my gun ownership status.
Anne gave me the guts. Basil gave me the desire. Anne told me it was ok, when Basil made me cry.
I’ve wanted to return to Nashville, TN someday. However, if this dude goes any farther than a 3 inch rope, it just won’t happen……I don’t even know if I will call myself American ever again.
Don’t Forget the Wannabes Who Wish for Your Wisdom!
All of the “professional” bloggers will tell you that you much find and accept your niche’. Theirs, obviously, is just simply blogging. Fine.
They blog. They blog about blogging. They talk about blogging and to some extent they have full creative freedom when it comes to shaping the future of the culture of their blogging niche’.
Their niche’ is sustainable as many of us who are not “professional” bloggers and whose blogs don’t generate enough revenue for us to quit our jobs will eat up their “wisdom” in hopes of building and bettering our non-professional blogs.
You see many bloggers who have “made it” taking the time to write posts that will help the wannabe blogger. I love that about the blogging community. Most of those popular bloggers do not display an elitist attitude about their success.
What does this look like in the other blogging niche’ communities though? Are bloggers who have made it in other particular niche’s sharing their success with others who have a message they hope to spread? Are they teaching others how to attract up-and-coming bloggers to that niche’?
If you blog about something other than blogging, who is your go-to person to see how you can grow your niche’ and personal blog? Or do you simply rely on the “professional bloggers”?
“Mr. President, We Can Not Wait Any Longer!!!”
This is one of the many reasons that I can’t stand to hear the claim that undocumented immigrants are a “drain” on our society….
Christian Recovery As We Know It Needs To Be Stopped In It’s Tracks
I don’t have all the answers. I know, you’re shocked, right?
But as Christians we are supposed to be following the only one who does have them all. Why, then, do we allow our minds, hearts, people, churches, and doctrine to be infiltrated with things that are absolutely contradictory to what He says?
You probably know where I’m going. It’s just…..where I go….
Sometimes I just have to clarify some of it though and that’s what I’m wanting to do here. You see, I fight a battle. I’ve pretty much come to realize that no matter the cost, my life is about this battle. It’s the battle for absolute freedom from addictions.
Why a battle? Well, because the Church is accepting secular ideals about addictions that contradict Jesus. Christians are selling the notion that addictions never fully go away. And other Christians are buying it. More critical is the fact that most new Christians who are battling addiction are buying it by the truckload.
I’ve posted many posts on here that show the conflict between secular recovery ideals and the very teachings of Jesus. The two simply do not mesh. This post isn’t so detailed in showing the conflict. It’s just a post that says, “Hey! We need to re-examine this thing called recovery that we’re doing in our churches”. It scares me how much the Church and “trustworthy” well known pastors are taking this stuff in and dishing it out like candy corn at a church hayride on Halloween.
For one who is battling addictions, the point of beginning a recovery journey is probably the most critical of that journey and if people are not getting a solid foundation of Jesus and His teachings on these matters then we may as well just invite them over for some crack and vodka.
Screw “cool”. Screw PC. Screw addictions. If it takes being labeled a super hyper-charismatic radical freakshow to put people with addictions before the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, then that’s what it’s going to take. I won’t give up.
He set me free, and I’ll not shut up.
One of the greatest Christian cliche’s that I’ve ever heard is this:
“Jesus got up and got out, so that you can get up and get out”.
It’s time we remember that.
Every Time I’m Stupid Enough to Think I’m Smart
This is probably the kind of blog post that has been written 11,672 times, in as many different ways. Oh well.
I’ve found myself, as I do about once a month, realizing that I am completely insufficient. I’m a lame dude, lame employee, lame friend, and I’m a lame husband. I totally suck at life.
Said it before, say it again…..the ONLY good thing in me is Jesus.
But half the time, I’m just stupid enough to think that I’m smart enough to take these things on without Him. Every time I’m stupid enough to think that I’m smart enough, I start the whole stupid cycle all over again!
Doesn’t seem to matter how “far” we get, or how good we think we’re doing. We all have to continually stop and acknowledge that He is the only thing good in us. He is the only thing good in me, I can assure you! You can quickly see it in my life when I start thinking I’m smarter than He is…..
What a foolish and arrogant man I am, to think that I can truly succeed at anything without Him.
That’s all.
Anyone else continually live in this cycle, no matter how many times you think you’ve learned your lesson?
