LeWar Rages On

In case you're out of the Twitterverse loop, there is a rather large phenomenon taking place in Real Time that is affectionately known as LeWar.

The comedian Michael Ian Black has the distinct honor of being the one to issue the "clarion call", as he calls it. Click here to learn about the origins of this "war", and/or to get caught up on all things Michael Ian Black.

This probably wouldn't have had any steam at all, except LeVar Burton made the mistake (?) of responding, which only fanned Michael Ian Black's flames, and next thing any of us in Twitterverse knew, #LeWar is ranked higher in popularity than Shaquille O'Neal (who, by the way, has been cordially invited by Mr. Burton himself to join LeVar Burton's "team").

So what is this "war", in a nutshell? To see who can get the most followers on Twitter, which apparently is a point of contention for Mr. Black. There is a rumor that the comedian Rainn Wilson of The Office fame might be recruited to Mr. Black's side as a way of properly contending with Mr. Burton's heavy hitter Shaquille O'Neal.

Stay tuned for more updates, or better still ... just join Twitter, add @michaelianblack, @levarburton, and let the games begin!

LeWar Rages On

In case you're out of the Twitterverse loop, there is a rather large phenomenon taking place in Real Time that is affectionately known as LeWar.

The comedian Michael Ian Black has the distinct honor of being the one to issue the "clarion call", as he calls it. Click here to learn about the origins of this "war", and/or to get caught up on all things Michael Ian Black.

This probably wouldn't have had any steam at all, except LeVar Burton made the mistake (?) of responding, which only fanned Michael Ian Black's flames, and next thing any of us in Twitterverse knew, #LeWar is ranked higher in popularity than Shaquille O'Neal (who, by the way, has been cordially invited by Mr. Burton himself to join LeVar Burton's "team").

So what is this "war", in a nutshell? To see who can get the most followers on Twitter, which apparently is a point of contention for Mr. Black. There is a rumor that the comedian Rainn Wilson of The Office fame might be recruited to Mr. Black's side as a way of properly contending with Mr. Burton's heavy hitter Shaquille O'Neal.

Stay tuned for more updates, or better still ... just join Twitter, add @michaelianblack, @levarburton, and let the games begin!

Shift in direction

I've decided that, since I'm not the politico I was starting to turn into since the election, and since this blog has gathered a significant amount of dust, it is time to suck it up and broaden the proverbial horizons. Dusty blogs make me sad.

I'm serious, they really do!

My political opinions still stand, however. That's not going to change. My political opinions are not going to win me legions of friends either, so I'm not naïve, I will no doubt piss off the unenlightened which is fine but not my goal by any means. My goal here (in the beginning) was to educate and inform, either through my own information or by providing links (see sidebar). Folks, we don't have anyone but ourselves to blame for the state of American government. If you didn't vote then you forfeited your voice - that's your own problem! I personally used my vote to vote for what's known as a "third-party" nominee - I didn't vote for Obama or McCain. That being said, I'm thrilled that I was alive to witness and experience this historical event in our country's history. I don't think Obama will run this country into the ground; but only time will tell. He's got a lot of potential stretched out in front of him ... I just don't think he'll rise to the challenge, because he's got even more hooks deeply entrenched in big business than you can shake a Republican at.

The real change will come when someone who's NOT invested in corporate America gets elected President. Of course by then it may be too late, but who knows.

I'm especially disappointed by Obama's decisions about the war. If you follow NPR then you probably don't know that he just deployed 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan!

Anyway. I digress. No, Obama's not my favorite, but I'm open-minded. He's no slouch; I'm sure (read: hoping) he's got a few tricks up his sleeve. I just hope I'm right! I hope he at least listens to the third-parties...

Okay, I'm off to update a few things around here, stay tuned for more posts, of the less-politically inclined variety...

Space ... the final frontier ...

Today's date in history is now even more significant - especially for Star Trek fans. Today the ashes of Gene Roddenberry and his wife, Majel, were launched into space. Majel died just about 6 weeks ago of complications from leukemia. (I just love the name Majel; that's my grandma's name, my dad's mom, who died a long, long time ago. She didn't have her ashes launched into space though.)

Also on this date in 1967: the Outer Space Treaty was signed into law. That popped up on one of my iGoogle widgets and I was intrigued enough to look into it a little further to find out what exactly that entailed. Come to find out it was signed in 1967 by our country, the U.K., and the Soviet Union and this treaty "forms the basis of international space law". Eventually many, many more countries signed it since then; since January 2007 98 countries became "states-parties" to the treaty and another 27 are awaiting ratification.

After reading that I wondered about the exact date the original Star Trek series debuted, so off I went to imdb.com. I fully expected to find that the TV show followed behind the Treaty being signed. Nope - in fact the show launched over a year before the Treaty entered into force! That surprised me, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Anyway, on Star Trek's imdb.com entry was the news item about it's creator's ashes being launched into space today.

So why is all of this so interesting to me? Because I am a HUGE fan of the Stargate TV series, both SG-1 and now Atlantis, although I like SG-1 best. From the original movie starring James Spader all the way through 10 seasons of SG-1, 2 made for DVD movies after that, (Continuum and Ark of Truth) and now the Atlantis installment ... my love of sci-fi television really had it's start with Star Trek: The Next Generation which many people I've talked to feel was the best Star Trek of all. But I'm not trying to start an argument here: since TNG I've gotten into Voyager, but when we ran out of Voyager episodes to watch and we were shopping around for a new TV series to get into, that's when I discovered Stargate: SG-1. That captured my imagination in a way a TV show period hasn't done in a long, long time. I mean, I ate up Voyager - I was really surprised, because I remember when it came out and I couldn't have been less interested in it. But when I sat down to watch it about a year and a half ago ... I couldn't believe I ever passed it up. Captain Janeway became one of my favoritest and most memorable heroes.

Stargate however ... Stargate's appeal is in how much closer to our present day and age it is set. The military representation is one everyone can relate to because it's current. And if you didn't have any respect for the USAF before, you will after watching Stargate SG-1. I got really sucked into it and now I'm not afraid to admit that part of me believes something like that really, truly exists in an underground military station somewhere in Colorado. The idea behind Stargate is nothing short of brilliant - that the ancient Egyptian gods were in fact aliens from outer space who came here to take over our planet. Even in spite of the goofy costumes the actors wore in the early episodes of Stargate, I find that to be plausible. As soon as I got done reading about that Treaty on The Free Dictionary I immediately thought of the episode on Stargate SG-1 where all the world leaders convened to talk about what to do with the business of commanding the SGC. The episode was called "Disclosure" and was from Season 6. Now the premise of that episode was not to sign a Treaty ... but then you have to wonder how much the architects of that episode pulled from our own history, from our own lawbooks ...

At the same time I also believe that I might be wrong. The fact that I believe it might be true simply points to my unyielding hope in what might be "out there" ... or I just have an overactive imagination.

In any event, finding out about that Outer Space Treaty really surprised me. I never knew that existed, not that it was supposed to be a big secret. One thing that isn't secret is all the new technology that gets released to the general consumer public AFTER it gets tested by the United States military and/or NASA.

One really has to wonder. Or at least, I'm wondering ...

I hate my job

What a dilemma: the economy is terrible right now. I can't just quit my job and go out and expect to get another job working somewhere else in my line of work. Or somewhere related to my line of work ... it's not that I'm not grateful for my job; I certainly am. It's just that with every passing day I am reminded more and more that my usefulness here has long passed, especially since they don't value my length of service in this job, they don't appreciate my level of experience. They pretty much let the newbie kids run the show, and it really rankles my chains!

It doesn't help that I keep making mistakes of the "senior" variety also. Last night's show was pretty horrible. Thank GOD above that all that happened on a Saturday night. And nobody's going to look at the fact that despite our maladies last night, we all showed up to do our job, and we felt our mistakes deeply ... I could go on and on.

And that's just it, I don't want to go on and on anymore! I'm happy to pass the torch, I have no more use for this business myself, I just can't figure out where I'm supposed to go next.

Actually I do know what I'm supposed to do, I just don't have the guts to take the plunge ...

Party like it's 1829

I am pretty sure Obama's inauguration as President of the United States is going to be an affair the likes of which hasn't been seen since Andrew Jackson's inauguration.

Nearly 200 years earlier, the first territorial governor of Florida, Andrew Jackson, had his own mind for change:

Jackson resigned from the Senate in October 1825, but continued his quest for the Presidency. The Tennessee legislature again nominated Jackson for President. Jackson attracted Vice President John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Thomas Ritchie into his camp (the latter two previous supporters of Crawford). Van Buren, with help from his friends in Philadelphia and Richmond, revived the old Republican Party, gave it a new name as the Democratic Party, "restored party rivalries", and forged a national organization of durability.[16] The Jackson coalition handily defeated Adams in 1828.

During the election, Jackson's opponents referred to him as a "jackass." Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later became the symbol for the Democratic Party when cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized it.[17]

The campaign was very much a personal one. Although neither candidate personally campaigned, their political followers organized many campaign events. Both candidates were rhetorically attacked in the press, which reached a low point when the press accused Jackson's wife Rachel of bigamy. Though the accusation was true, as were most personal attacks leveled against him during the campaign, it was based on events that occurred many years prior (1791 to 1794). Jackson said he would forgive those who insulted him, but he would never forgive the ones who attacked his wife. Rachel died suddenly on December 22, 1828, prior to his inauguration, and was buried on Christmas Eve.

Jackson was the first President to invite the public to attend the White House ball honoring his first inauguration. Many poor people came to the inaugural ball in their homemade clothes. The crowd became so large that Jackson's guards could not hold them out of the White House. The White House became so crowded with people that dishes and decorative pieces in the White House began to break. Some people stood on good chairs in muddied boots just to get a look at the President. The crowd had become so wild that the attendants poured punch in tubs and put it on the White House lawn to lure people out of the White House. Jackson’s raucous populism earned him the nickname King Mob.

From, Wikipedia.

Of course, as many of us know Andrew Jackson went on to commit some of the most horrible atrocities against human life, tantamount to the Holocaust: he is the one responsible for banishing Native Americans living in Georgia to their death, on what came to be known as the Trail of Tears. I'm pretty sure Obama is far more even-keeled a personality than that ... but one never knows. The future is rich with potential; hopefully that future is in good hands with Obama, but only time will tell ...

Party like it's 1829

I am pretty sure Obama's inauguration as President of the United States is going to be an affair the likes of which hasn't been seen since Andrew Jackson's inauguration.

Nearly 200 years earlier in 1829, the first territorial governor of Florida, Andrew Jackson, had his own mind for change:

Jackson was the first President to invite the public to attend the White House ball honoring his first inauguration. Many poor people came to the inaugural ball in their homemade clothes. The crowd became so large that Jackson's guards could not hold them out of the White House. The White House became so crowded with people that dishes and decorative pieces in the White House began to break. Some people stood on good chairs in muddied boots just to get a look at the President. The crowd had become so wild that the attendants poured punch in tubs and put it on the White House lawn to lure people out of the White House. Jackson’s raucous populism earned him the nickname King Mob.

From, Wikipedia.

Of course, as many of us know Andrew Jackson went on to commit some of the most horrible atrocities against human life, tantamount to the Holocaust: he is the one responsible for banishing Native Americans living in Georgia to their death, on what came to be known as the Trail of Tears. I'm pretty sure Obama is far more even-keeled a personality than that ... but one never knows. The future is rich with potential; hopefully that future is in good hands with Obama, but only time will tell ...

Crap

I *totally* disagree with you, and I think you suck as a producer. I think your news judgment is flawed and you have no business producing newscasts.

Mystic Tan

For whatever reason, I found myself looking at a local tan salon's Mystic Tan web page. I don't know about you but I cannot think about Mystic Tan without being reminded of that episode of Friends where Ross goes to get one of these for the first time.

The irony of commitment

The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating - in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

--Anne Morriss, Starbucks customer, "The Way I See It" #76

12 Days to Election!

I haven't made a post in a while. I've been very busy at home and at work. I don't want to make a meaningless post just to make the date stay recent. I'm still leaning heavily towards Nader.

I was thinking about how I had been contacted by the Nader '08 campaign to take on a leadership position for his campaign here in Florida. I never returned that call. Oh how I regret that now, not that I would have been able to do anything about it; but I could have at least returned the call to say how honored I was to have been contacted.

First impressions are lasting.

About Ralph Nader

I can write about him, right? I mean he stands side-by-side with the Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. But I couldn't help noticing how he drastically outpaces both Ms. McKinney and Bob Barr in fundraising ... and upon closer inspection of his website, not to mention the latest Newsweek article on his presence in Florida, well ... it's pretty hard to just overlook him. I mean, heh, this is Ralph Nader we're talking about.

My earliest memory of Ralph Nader dates back to the early days of Carty Finkbeiner, Mayor of Toledo. Let's just say Mr. Nader wasn't exactly a fan. Okay, the truth is whenever Nader was in town it was guaranteed to be a great day in the news industry because when Nader and Finkbeiner got together sparks would fly tantamount to the Fourth of July. But then Carty has that effect on just about anyone he deals with. The biggest point of contention as I recall was the now-defunct Jeep plant. Something about eminent domain, I think. I can't find it exactly, and my mom would know better than me.

But I digress.

Take a look at Nader's website, votenader.org. Pretty impressive not to mention easy to navigate compared to votetruth08.com. Also, I wouldn't put a big ol' picture of Roseanne Barr on the front page either. I'm not even sure I would bury a benign text comment about how she supports me either. Not in a bid for the ultimate expression of American patriotism: the Presidency of the most powerful country in the free world. And I like Roseanne! But I wouldn't use her as the celebrity vehicle to promote me for President. That's just dumb. (I've made sure not to point people to that website for that reason.)

After reading the latest Newsweek article on Mr. Nader, I can honestly say I'm rethinking my vote. The point for me is not to vote for who's most likely to win - the point for me is to vote for who is most likely to effect change. Mr. Nader seems to have chosen a very strong running mate in Matt Gonzalez, too. Matt Gonzalez was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2003. This was significant because he ran as a Green Party member at the time.

So I urge you dear reader to give Ralph Nader a closer look, as I am doing. He has a proven track record. He has more ballot access than Ms. McKinney, and I don't mean to knock McKinney's run for the Presidency. But I still believe my vote counts, and Ralph Nader feels the same way I do about all the issues that are important to me. I want there to be effective change - I don't want to just be sweet-talked about it, like I feel Obama is doing. And although I don't dislike McCain, he's been making some stupid mistakes. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin. I just don't know about her. Part of me likes her, part of me is really scared of what she would do to women's rights if she got anywhere near a leadership position in the White House. I think I would rather be sweet-talked about change, quite frankly.

Moreover, I think Ms. McKinney and Ms. Clemente stand a better chance of having their voices piped through Washington if Nader became President.

Common Enemy

I really have to work at suppressing the urge to make political slurs. I am conscious of the smarmy remark as it bubbles up within me: the kind of remark that would make those who share my political ideologies laugh out loud and nod their heads approvingly. I began to notice my tendency to do that after listening to my co-workers making comments (we all work at a television news station - uh, kind of can't escape the political coverage there). It's completely understandable. It's school spirit, good old-fashioned competition.

Except these days it is all too evident how damaging it can be to fly the flag of our political ideals. It really only serves to alienate us from each other, and so I decided to try a different tack: I've decided to listen to those whose views I fundamentally disagree with to see if I could learn something from them.

Let me tell you, that is not easy.

It really does have the effect of making one want to lash out or turn away and clap your hands over your ears. So I decided to listen: I'm listening to Obama supporters, McCain supporters, and anyone else who cares to share their views with me, whether I agree with them or not. It really takes some skill to be able to do that - not to sound arrogant, but I'm here to tell you if I can do it, anyone can do it. In fact, I believe more of us should do it.

From talking to people I already see the positives that BOTH sides have to offer: democrats are good at some things, republicans are good at others. Neither side is good at EVERYTHING! Both sides, ultimately, need the strengths of the other. What if all the countries who are trying to put astronauts into space worked together instead of racing each other to be the 'first' to accomplish something? Imagine if you had the strength of the Russians working with the strengths of the Chinese and Americans to explore the final frontier? I bet those 3 countries working together could come up with some amazing things! Better lifestyles all around!

But of course, that means setting aside some pride and stubbornness. And frankly, I see both Obama supporters and McCain supporters being able to do that. Because if there's one thing both sides agree on, it's the strength of the citizens of this country. Even in the midst of our current economic situation, everybody knows this country is going to bounce back eventually, somehow, some way. It might be sooner, it might be later, but it's going to happen.

Perhaps in the voting booth there should be a place where voters are encouraged to write one positive thing about both candidates whose views they 'oppose'. Find one positive thing, something you like about the candidates you didn't vote for. Nobody is completely evil - Randy Pausch said that (The Last Lecture). Everybody has something good to offer, even if it takes a while to reveal itself.

Another thought I had was maybe if enough people voted for a third party, it would get the Democrats' and Republicans' attention in a way that would force them to look at each other as compatriots rather than as enemies. In other words, the third parties would become their 'common enemy', the one thing that brings 2 bickering parties together, usually. I'm not naive, I know the next President will be either Obama or McCain; but my pressing question is what will the next President do to get both parties to work together? Do they even know what to do? What happened to that spirit that unified the House and Senate members singing "God Bless America" together right after 9/11? The 9/11 terrorists are not sufficient anymore; that's why I think a good, strong third party, preferably the Green Party, but I'll take just about any one of the bigger ones, to get Democrats and Republicans to build off each others' strengths, rather than dividing our fine country.

Bad News These Days

Wall Street is setting the kinds of records today it would rather not set. Obama and McCain are at each other's throats. People are out of work also in record numbers. All day long I sit and listen to this, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about moving to Canada. Running away, no matter how nice it sounds, never works, and running away is precisely what is wrong with our economy right now. People like me who ran away from our civic duties, taking all our freedoms, rights and privileges for granted for too long. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record but it's the truth. So far I've spent my adulthood mostly in blissful ignorance of the houses of cards being built out of our economy, content to let someone else make the decisions for me, content to not have to deal with the boring details that take me away from my very own pursuit of happiness. Because after all, I'm worth it ... right? It's all about me - isn't it???

Well I'm not running away this time. No matter how much it hurts I plan on staying put, weathering this storm and the storms ahead (this Wall Street crash is not going away any time soon). I have a lot to learn; I hate to admit it, but I really don't know that much about the finer workings of our government. And when you multiply that by how many other 30-something adults like me out there? Not to mention the 40-somethings, 50-somethings ...

... and THAT'S what is wrong with our economy today. Among other things.

SarahSoda.net

What is this website about? The Presidential Election 2008, specifically the third party candidates who have been blacked-, whited-, yellowed-, and just generally edged out, and especially The Green Party whom I've thrown my support behind 100%. I'm even registered with the Green Party in the state of Florida.

Normally this is where I would air my views, opinions, stories about my day, etc., but now I'm turning it into what I hope becomes a springboard for discussion and research into the candidates and issues that we'll be voting on come November 4th. My main message is this: there are more than 2 choices for President in nearly all 50 states of this fine country. You don't hear about anything other than Democrats and Republicans on your news because the Democrats and Republicans have reaped so much power and persuasion in recent years, in Washington, the media, corporate interests (yes, they're both guilty of it) that they have reached a level where they can dictate who goes to the debates, who gets the advertising time and dollars and ultimately who gets the votes. Corruption is running amok in our government, and the immediate solution is to get everyone to vote for a third party - ANY third party - although I personally prefer the Green Party and I am registered with the Green Party in the battleground state of Florida.

So to read a couple posts I've made, go here. And click here to find a whole bunch of websites I've come across through my research that I'd like to share with everybody, most notably at the top of the list a documentary I think every red-blooded American, every American who has to pay taxes should see: it's called, Split: A Divided America, and it's an unbiased view of bipartisan politics in present-day America in light of this particular Election year.

Inaugural post on the new website

Hello, and welcome to my shiny new, very own, personal website. You have arrived at SarahSoda.net where I make my home and publish my thoughts, etc. More to come later, but for now, to read my views on this year's Presidential Election click here.

Red + Blue = Purple

I just finished watching a documentary that confirmed many of my suspicions, and echoed a few of my sentiments about politics in America today. I wish everyone who is old enough to vote could watch it before they go to the polls on Election Day - it's called, Split: A Divided America. I saw it on the Independent Film Channel, so I don't know if cable subscribers get that channel.



What made this documentary so compelling were the questions they asked, although the people interviewed were about as diverse a group of people as you could hope to find in America: from experts to regular people, old to young, from the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt, conservatives, liberals, and many people in-between. Noam Chomsky was interviewed; Tucker Carlson (former host of Crossfire on CNN) was interviewed, former heads of both Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns of years past.

They worked behind the scenes and offered their insight.

And the truth is the political campaigns, especially today, are deliberately negative (as a way of keeping voter turnout down - isn't anyone else bothered by the fact that the ONLY people who are bothering to put people in the White House only represent 30% of our country? Are you comfortable with that??), and are run by the same people who promote ... toothpaste.

Tucker Carlson called the political advertising "narrowcasting" because of how it narrows the viewpoints on any given subject. I forget what his exact words were, which is a shame because he really hit the nail on the head.

One other expert (I forget who just now) wanted to know why some housewife in Iowa is more bothered by the idea of an Islamic radical killing her and her family, than she is about her husband's job security, or the fact that they don't have health insurance for their family, or the quality of education her children are getting. His point was, this woman is going to cast her vote based on something that ultimately, is very unlikely to happen, rather than being focused on issues that are very real to her (read: all of us) on a daily basis. In other words, what is the likelihood that she will have to pick up a gun to defend herself (in Iowa, mind you) from Osama bin Laden - or Al Qaida period - than she would have to take her kids to the doctor?

Anyway, the documentary did a GREAT job of telling the story of what's really going on inside the political arena of today's America going into Election 2008, and they didn't just interview experts. They interviewed Citizen Joes and Janes, and they discovered that for all the differences the media chooses to paint our country in, the fact is the majority of us actually agree more than we disagree.

If you watch the political ads and you really care about what direction our country is headed ... I highly recommend you watch this documentary. It doesn't make a case for any political party, so there is no particular endorsement to be found there.

Familiarity breeds contempt

Our Daily Devotional:

Too Familiar?

Revelation 2:4 NIV: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

It has been said that, "familiarity breeds contempt." One author writes, "Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity�unsuspected unfamiliarity, and then contempt." The notion is that when frequently exposed to something, we begin to lose sight of its value. We treat it as though it is not worthy our consideration, time, or attention. Perhaps we do not actively view it with disdain, yet we, by simple neglect, hold it in a subtle contempt. For most of us, modern society is well exposed to Christ and Christian doctrine. There are Bibles to be had, churches to attend, and opinions on Christian philosophy at every turn. And that is good, right? Consider cultures that do not have such offerings. People hide to meet and worship, and scripture is still sacred and hungered for. One might contend that they are richer than we, for they still see the worth of such things, and hold them in high regard. But we are blessed, right? We have all we could want. If only we could want what we have a little more.

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© FaithWriters.com CHRISTIAN WRITERS WRITING JOBS

written by Randy Chambers
http://reflections.daybyday.org

Inaugural season

I am so excited! Tonight I come home and find out that my husband picked up Season 1 of Stargate SG-1 at Wal-Mart!!! HOORAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! This is quite the coup.

This all began last Christmas when, armed with a $20 spending limit and one night to spend it, I embarked upon the search for my husband's Christmas present. I was working my way through the electronics/media section of Wal-Mart when I spied a display of Stargate SG-1 DVD collections, divided by season. However, Season 1 was nowhere to be found, so I settled on Season 2... and that's how it all began.

Since then, we have diligently and faithfully watched every episode from Season 2 through Season 10 AND The Ark of Truth. Now, we are not only able to complete our collection, now we can bring the whole saga full circle.

More later.

How to not give up hope

This was taken from my iGoogle widget, "Faithwriters Daily Devotional". I found this one to be particularly profound...
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Our Daily Devotional:

Off To A Good Start?

Hebrews 10:36 NIV: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Resolve, endurance, fortitude, perseverance, determination, steadfastness, tenacity--all characteristic of someone who holds the course, fights the good fight, and finishes the race. Many there are who with great bursts of energy jet from the starting line once inspired to follow Christ more closely. Many there are who quickly lose steam and falter, fade in their own strength, and fall far short of the finish line. So many of us start out strong, only to give up when the Christian life becomes a struggle. We grow weary. We tire. Our inspiration turns to hopelessness. Our enthusiasm becomes exhausted. Why is it so many of us give up? Perhaps we have forgotten what we live for, would fight for, and were at one time ready to die for. Perhaps the obstacles have taken toll and left us without of anything left to give. We do have hope in Christ. He will help us get through. But we must not lose sight of our purpose, goal and our Lord. We must not give up. We must not quit. We must find through Jesus the determination to carry on.

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© FaithWriters.com CHRISTIAN WRITERS WRITING JOBS

written by Randy Chambers
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