America has often been called the melting-pot due to its vastness of cultural diversity. However, America during the colonial years was an experimentation in religious freedom. You name it, and they probably had it from the rigid, liturgical worship of Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, the free worship of Baptists and Quakers, to witchcraft and the occult. Today, I hear many people expressing their fear of "strange" religions coming onto the scene in Christian America, but these people fail to realize that America began with a conglomeration of strange religious expressions.

Early in the life of the new nation, European Christianity still dominated. Soon, this European environment began to stiffel the goals of the religious groups. In their attempt at religious freedom, many groups became intolerant to those who disagreed with them. A major point which must never be overlooked is that the majority of early Americans were not "church-going" people. Some statistics even show that under one-third of the population had any church membership whatsoever. Many others practiced the occult or other mystery religions. America was founded not only in Christian pluralism but in the even broader scope of religious pluralism. It would be very wrong interpret American history in the light of Christianity alone. Though predominately Christian, America was and still is the melting-pot of Christian diversity and religious pluralism.

On December 12, 1994, my preaching professor, Dr. Jimmie Nelson, asked us to submit a statement of personal pilgrimage. Looking back, a lot of crap was being deposited in my life that was ultimately spiritually and professionally formative. Most importantly, my rejection of Baptist Fundamentalism was solidifying.

MY PERSONAL PILGRIMAGE

I have no idea of where to start or to stop any discussion of where I am on my spiritual pilgrimage. Right now, I am simply worn out. I am tired and have lost any desire to do anything but rest. This past semester has had its challenges and rewards; but now, I am ready for a spiritual Sabbath.

Ever since the firing of Russell Dilday in March of this year, I have struggled to keep my vision focused and my steps from stumbling. I have nothing but good will towards Ken Hemphill; however, the shock of Dilday's dismissal only recently left me. I needed time to grieve, but none was allowed. I struggled to find meaning in such a loss, but none was found.

From the last half of the Spring semester to the first half of the Fall semester, one Biblical theme permeated my life. "Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Everything is meaningless!" - Ecclesiastes 12:8. My life was spiraling down into a blur, while all the time I hid the frustration and pretended it was not there. I could not live for long like that; I knew it, my wife knew it, and God knew it. Jesus had come to give me Eternal Life and Abundant Life. There was no way that God was going to allow me to forfeit such a grace.

This brings me to a second theme which could be used to describe my spiritual pilgrimage. "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs." - Jonah 2:8. In all of the trials and troubles, I had turned away from God and began to focus only on my pain and emptiness. I was clinging to the worthless idol of self-pity trying to find comfort while the whole time I was forfeiting the loving comfort of God's grace that could have been mine.

I cannot say that I was dramatically brought forth from this darkness, nor can I espouse any voice from heaven. However, I became aware that over a period of time God was warming and softening my granite and icy heart. Perhaps I can use the words of Wesley and simply say that, "my heart was strangely warmed." My pilgrimage had taken me to the valley of the shadow of death, but it was my Heavenly Father who walked me through.

I confess that I have a long way to go, but I know that God is capable of changing a life such as mine. Jesus' promise rings evermore clearly, "on that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." - John 14:20-21.

Right now I am still somewhat confused, but I do have a theme by which I can live . . . it is LOVE. Love is not easy, but it is required! Love often time hurts, but it is its own reward. Love is the ultimate paradox. It makes no sense for God to love me. It makes no sense for God to send His Son. It makes no sense for God to use His Son's death to rescue me. But, praise be to God for His indescribable gift; indeed, God is Love!

In the foolishness that I call my wisdom, I trust that God will be able to use me. In the weakness that I call my strength, I have faith that God will work in me. I have found my rest, my spiritual Sabbath. It is Jesus Christ my Lord. I find peace and rest knowing that, "for since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength . . . . But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things -- and the things that are not -- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption." - First Corinthians 1:21-25; 27-30. -- Αμην!

Make-A-Wish Foundation® of America
Destination Joysm
Beetle Boy Public Service Announcement

The Beetle Boy PSA re-enacts the actual wish of Michael, a 6-year-old boy who became a superhero for the day. The PSA also stars Make-A-Wish® volunteer, Stewart Snodgrass, who played the villain both in Michael’s real-life wish and this delightful PSA.

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It is Friday, how about something fun! Do you remember this guy from Sesame Street?



This post has been brought to you by the letters P and J, and the number 3.

When I was working towards my M.Div B.L. at seminary, my systematic theology (SYSTH 445 Fall 1995 TWTH 2:00 p.m.) professor asked us to write short ditties on certain topics of faith and practice in the Christian life. He wanted them short and sweet...kind of an elevator speech for what we believe. I offer these as introspection of who I was then and who I am becoming even today.

Baptism

Asserting that faith in Christ both requires and results in a death and burial to sin and resurrection to new life, immersion is the symbolic representation, given by Christ Himself, of a life lived by faith, in relationship with the Father and with the Son and with the Holy Spirit.

Christology and Hermeneutics

Having affirmed that theology is an interpretive matter, the next logical step is that Christology does affect theology. There is a dialogical relationship between the Scriptures and the Christology established by the Scriptures. The Scriptures are the primary source for the doctrine of Christ; yet, doctrine assists in the interpretation of scripture. Where scripture generates doctrine, doctrine interprets scripture. However, one must exercise caution and maintain hermeneutical humility so that tradition does not replace scripture or infringe upon the priesthood of every believer. For a practical example of how theology comes to be interpreted through Christology consider the cross and resurrection. Since Jesus is both God and Man, at the cross and resurrection both God and Man were present. The implications for theology are that God is one who suffers with His people, who has experienced the finitude of death, and who offers the reality of resurrection from the dead to those who faith Him and are found "in Christ." Hence, our Christology becomes the lens through which we interpret our Theology.

5 Images in the Cross

Battlefield: Sin has the ability to enslave and oppress, just like an enemy army during war-time. The cross (and resurrection) break the power of sin, just as D-Day and V-Day broke the power of Nazism in W.W.II. The decisive battle has been won and the war with sin will end soon.

Court of Law: The redemption found in the cross resounds with the justice and righteousness of God. Sin has violated the moral fabric of God's creation. Jesus by the cross and resurrection took away the guilt and power of sin. Being found "in Christ," one appropriates the righteousness of relationship with God.

Rehabilitation Clinic: Personal relationships shed a light on how the cross transforms human life. God is reconciling the world through Christ and offers the release of forgiveness. These two aspects of counseling find total redefinition in the cross which reveals the full extent of the love of God for humanity. The cross is at the center of our need!

Prison: The captivity that is felt as well as experienced in sin is very similar to the captivity of imprisonment. The futility of the human situation without the cross of Christ leaves one powerless and without purpose. However, the cross of Christ is God's power and desire to release the captive of sin from sin's realm of power. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!

Hospital: The very word "salvation" bears the image and meaning of healing, but more importantly, it is a healing that encompasses the entire human experience. The cross demonstrates the healing transformation found only in the suffering of Christ. Moreover, God is involved in our healing process on a continual basis in Christ. Without being too simplistic, sin has become a sickness in humanity which destroys life and administers a horrible death; however, Jesus Christ on the cross took upon himself our infirmity and became the medicine for the sin of humanity! Jesus has become our wounded healer.

The Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper is an act of obedience to Jesus Christ, symbolizing a disciple's faith in Christ to supply all his/her needs and his/her commitment to follow Jesus to the ends of the Earth.

My Millennial View

This issue is very difficult for me to discuss. As a Southern Baptist I am aware of the historical emphasis that has been placed upon the millennial focus of Revelation 20:1-10 in specific and the broader focus of the all of the text of Revelation. Having been given the task to choose one of the four main opinions (premillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism), I must respectfully decide to not decide from among these four.

The position which I maintain has much in common with amillennialism; however, I do NOT believe that the text of Revelation has to interpreted to reflect a literal Millennium. The text of Revelation is highly symbolic apocalyptic literature which fits a genre of literature all but extinct in our culture. However, during the first and second centuries the Believers could not communicate openly without veiling the content in symbolic language. For the original hearer, the message of Revelation directly confronted the evils of the Roman Emperors by names which only the intended audience would know. Moreover, the text of Revelation also reminds the early believers that Christ has won the battle and some day WILL return to claim that which is his.

I hope that all who call Jesus Lord will be united in the truth of the Gospel that just as Jesus left in humility, he will someday return in glory. I hold this belief in opposition to the suggested four options, not because I can ignore Revelation and the rest of Scripture, but because I hold to its absolute authority in matters affecting my faith and my life. Therefore, I disagree with the appraisal of Hunt that the rejection of a "Millennium" results in difficulty in substantiating a claim to Biblical authority. I take the text so seriously that I must remember to whom it was originally written and the factors which influenced its writing. I take the text so seriously that I must act boldly where Scripture is relatively clear and act humbly where the text is highly interpretable.

NINE BIBLICAL TERMS RELATED TO CHRISTIAN LIFE ACCORDING TO HUNT

1) Justification: pardon and acceptance into the family of God
2) Regeneration: given a new heart, a new nature, and new purpose
3) Sanctification: set apart for God and growth in His grace
4) Forgiveness: full pardon and full acceptance
5) Adoption: assurance of acceptance with God and belonging in the His family
6) Reconciliation: sinner's cessation of rebellion against God, removal of enmity between God and the person, and joy of peace with God
7) Redemption: being ransomed from the kingdom of darkness to freedom in the Kingdom of God
8) Salvation: wholeness or health, God's gift of forgiveness and life in Christ, and everything else God is doing to bring about the Kingdom purposes in Christ
9) Eternal Life: life which is abundant, full, and endless found only in Christ or life in the Kingdom of God

ONE BIBLICAL THEME OF MY OWN RELATING TO CHRISTIAN LIFE

10) Renewal: made new again and reestablishment of right relationship with God and humanity (Ψ 51:10; Isaiah 40:31; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Romans 12:2)

Positive and Negative Reaction to the Statement: "There is no salvation outside of the Church"

Two Positive Statements:
1. Since the Church is the physical representation of the Body of Christ, salvation must result in participation with the Church.
2. Since Christian doctrine is the distinguishing factor of the Church from other groups, organizations, and religions, the proclamation of salvation is uniquely gifted to the Church.

Two Negative Statements:
1. The Church must be distinguished from the Kingdom of God; salvation is found in the Kingdom of God, the Church is the agent by which the Good News of the Kingdom of God Present is proclaimed.
2. The Church's reason for existence is to proclaim Jesus Christ, being charged with the potential to transform the world, in order that salvation may be found, not inside the Church, but outside in the world for everyone!

ORDO SALUTIS

The ordo salutis, or order of salvation, is an area of much debate and discussion. Christ's scholars appeal to the scriptures in an attempt to understand the process of salvation. My attempt to define an ordo salutis will follow the same pattern. However, instead of looking all about the scriptures for the various words used to describe salvation, I will make my appeal to the very heart of the message of Jesus. Jesus came preaching long ago, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!"

This simple message contains all there needs for salvation. The two ideas of repentance and faith are inseparable, yet distinguishable in the message of Jesus. To repent is to turn from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. To have faith in Christ and gain entrance into His Kingdom is to live a life of repentance. In Christian experience, repentance and faith occur simultaneously, and are therefore inseparable. Repentance and faith are not just "the prayer of salvation," they are the beginning and the continuing of the Christian life. Christians are never done repenting and faithing Christ.

So, what about all the other words mentioned in scripture, like: justification, regeneration, sanctification, forgiveness, adoption, reconciliation, redemption, salvation, eternal life, and renewal? The answer is clear from my reading of scripture and experience in life. All of these other terms are attributes which help to partially explain the mystery of repentance and faith. To establish a required pattern for salvation is to re-write the scriptures and ignore the simple ordo salutis of Jesus, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" Paul says the same thing using different words, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. . . ." (Eph. 2:8) and "just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him" (Col. 2:6).

The Person of the Holy Spirit

As one considers the person of the Holy Spirit, the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit are focal. Just as the Father and the Son cannot be separated from their work, so the Holy Spirit cannot be removed from His work. However, how the Spirit relates both to the Divine and the Human is unique. Because the Scriptures present God as personal and intimate as well as holy and exalted, the Holy Spirit is no less personal or holy than the Father or the Son. The Spirit is ascribed actions which are personal in focus. Scripture speaks of Him as the One producing character, unity, and diversity in intimate ways both individually and collectively in the body of Christ. Moreover, Jesus refers to Him as the Paraclete, or "One called alongside." The work of the Holy Spirit clearly evidences His personality; One who is personally pointing people to an intimate relationship with the Father through the Son.

The Person of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is more than just a great teacher filed away in the annals of history. He is a living person who maintains identity in ways that often times seem paradoxical. Jesus was born into this world a homan infant male; yet, he was with God from eternity -- for he is λογος. Jesus Christ is a person of the Trinity who has always lived in perfect relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is neither one-third of God nor is he one-half of God and one-half human. Jesus is a whole person both in relation to the Trinity and in relation to his essence. The radical love of God was made manifest in Jesus Christ as he emptied himself and allowed God to reconcile the world through him. As a whole person, Jesus Christ was killed, with the implication that for three days λογος was dead. However, God made Jesus the first fruits of the resurrection when Jesus was bodily resurrected and bodily ascended back into the presence of God. Summarily, Jesus Christ bears the reality of paradox in wholeness as he is both one hundred percent God and one hundred percent human. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

Fifteen years ago I married the most beautiful woman in the world, the former Melissa Kaye Janczewski. I celebrate our life together. Thank you, Missy, for loving me!

Back in the summer of 2005, when I was Executive Director of the Mustard Seed, I was asked by the Rankin Record to write an article about the importance of community. I still love the Seed and encourage everyone to participate in the type of community that is nurtured there...

Rediscovering Community

I have found what is profoundly missing in the world and I discovered it at a Christian community for mentally challenged adults. Our world, and especially our culture, has lost any real comprehension and appreciation of community. While I cannot offer a concrete definition, I am referring to community that is defined by shared goals, shared hopes, shared needs, and shared resources. I am not talking about vapid utopianism or the nightmare of socialism. However, I am suggesting a deliberate effort to open ourselves to each other and recognition that the accomplishments of one are build upon the efforts of us all. We stand in such profound need of each other; yet continue to live as if everything we have and need can be provided by our hands alone?! I confess that my understanding of community is predicated upon a belief in the radical notions of Jesus Christ…that only through dying to ourselves and taking the position of a humble servant will we ever know the Gospel. Living shared lives is both good news and part of the Good News.


At the Mustard Seed I have found 40 friends who love me unconditionally and are overjoyed about our friendship. The residents of the Mustard Seed, whom we lovingly call the Seedsters, live in a condition and situation requiring total trust in others. They cannot produce and compete at a level that is needed to make it in this world, so they have to live by faith: a faith which trusts the promises of God for provision and companionship; a faith which motivates them to reach out to each other and work together for their common needs and desires; a faith that invites all who may come to participate with them in community; a faith that creates expectations for generosity, forgiveness, and accountability; a faith that says thank you!


Have you ever thought about what it takes to have a single egg for breakfast? Have you considered all the people that you have to trust in order to eat such a simple meal? Someone has to build a coop for the hens. Someone else needs to prepare the feed. Yet another has to shovel out the coops. Someone needs to inspect the hens for health. Someone else has to process the hens for egg making ability. Yet another is required to move the hens from the coops to the egg processing facility. Someone has to grade and evaluate the eggs. Someone else needs to prepare packaging for the eggs. Yet another has to load the eggs and carry them to market. Someone has to unload the egg cartons and place them on the store shelves. Someone else keeps track of the inventory to make sure that only fresh eggs are sold. Yet another has to scan the eggs and bag them so they are not crushed. Finally, someone is required to crack the egg and cook it to our satisfaction. All this work for just a single egg breakfast! We have yet to consider what it takes to make the skillet, provide the power, build the stove, and create the plate and fork! By the way, would you like toast, coffee, orange juice, and fresh fruit with your egg? The power of one person is an amazing force, but unless we cast away our selfish individualism and begin to celebrate our interconnectedness, we will never know community. We will remain lost and alone in a busy and uncaring world.


I have come to understand through the Seedsters that we are all incapable of making it alone. We really need each other and that is truly part of God's plan for us. In the kingdom of God we learn that having faith means the last shall be first, the least are the most important, and our care of the poor, sick, hungry, and disabled is non-negotiable. By ministering to and with the mentally handicapped I have found faith and faith has found me. I have found hope and hope has found me. I have found love and love has found me. I have found the Lord and the Lord has found me. Real community is rough around the edges, often difficult, and usually quite messy…but it is the only way for us to survive or, more importantly, for us to truly thrive. What are you doing to create community? If you need some guidance then visit the Mustard Seed and rediscover what community really is!


May the grace and peace of Christ be with you all...

Here is a prayer that I offered at Northside Baptist Church during Easter of 2004. I confess that it is not a "hip" prayer, since it was inspired by a contemporary Christian music song by Sandi Patty, "A Morning Like This"...

Gracious God and Heavenly Father,

I am sure it has been asked before; but, I just gotta know:

Was it a morning like this when your Son still hid from Jerusalem…
And Mary rose from her bed to tend the Lord she thought was dead?

Was it a morning like this when Mary walked down from Jerusalem…
And two angels stood at the tomb bearers of the news she would hear soon?

Was it a morning like this when Peter and John ran from Jerusalem…
And as they raced towards the tomb beneath their feet was there a tune?

Jesus, did the grass sing…did the earth rejoice to feel you again?

Over and over like a trumpet under ground…
Did the earth seem to pound, “He Is Risen!”

Jesus, was it a morning like this when you looked out again on Jerusalem?

You are risen…Hallelujah!

Everything has changed; nothing can be the same…
The old is gone…the new has come!

We have a lot of words and songs for you today as we begin our celebration of your resurrection…but first we want to hear your words and pray how you taught us to pray:

Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come!
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And, forgive our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.
And, lead us not into temptation; but, deliver us from evil!
For yours is the Kindgom…and the power…and the glory…Forever!
Amen!

I offered this prayer on April 24, 2005 at Northside Baptist Church. There are two direct hymn references and one heavily adapted song from Sarah McLachlan, "Push"...

It is to you Great God that we come this morning:

We stop to acknowledge your dominion over all and in our lives…

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to you;
Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Let all things their Creator bless, and worship Him in humbleness!

We pause to recall that you are the Lord of all history and still guide your kingdom today…

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to un-do us,
We will not fear, for You have willed the truth of Jesus to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him!
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abides;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Jesus who with us sides:
We will let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: Your truth abides still, Your kingdom is forever!

We rest and remember that we are sinners in the hands of a loving Abba and you are the lover of our soul…

Every time we look to you the world just melts away,
All our troubles, all our fears dissolve in your affection.You’ve seen us at our weakest but you take us as we are;And when we fall, you offer us a softer place to land.We get mad so easy but you give us room to breathe,No matter what we say or do, because you’re too good to fight about it. Even when we start to push just to see how far you’ll go,You won’t stoop down to battle but you never turn to go.Your love is the antidote because nothing else can cure us.There are times we can’t decide…when we can’t tell up from down,You make us feel less crazy when otherwise we would drown.But you pick us up and brush us off and tell us we’re okay,Sometimes that’s just what we need to get through the day.You stay the course, you hold the line, you keep it all together.You’re the one true thing we know we can believe in.You’re all the things that we desire: you save us, you complete us.You’re the one true thing we know we can believe in!

May our words to you always model the words that our friend and brother Jesus taught us to use:

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

What ever happened to good clean fun like this? Bring back the Muppets!

This is a prayer I offered on May 6, 2007 at Northside Baptist Church. This time I based my prayer on the words of Peter Gabriel, "In Your Eyes"...

Gracious God,

Thank you for allowing us to call you Father and come to you as your dearly loved children. Life is too hard, too complicated, and too confusing to face alone. Thank you for speaking in so many ways to us, but most importantly speaking your Son, the Word that was with you in the beginning. In our worship of you today we look to Him who is the pioneer and perfector of our faith and pray for the day when we can look deeply into his eyes. We seek renewal, restoration, and if necessary, your cleansing fire.

Enduring Spirit,

I get so lost, sometimesdays pass and this emptiness fills my heartwhen I want to run awayI drive off in my carbut whichever way I goI come back to the place you areall my instincts, they returnand the grand facade, so soon will burnwithout a noise, without my pride I reach out from the inside

Merciful Savior,

I don't like to see so much painso much wasted and this moment keeps slipping awayI get so tired of working so hard for our survivalI look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive in your eyesand all my instincts, they returnand the grand facade, so soon will burnwithout a noise, without my prideI reach out from the insidein your eyesthe light the heatin your eyesI am completein your eyesI see the doorway to a thousand churchesin your eyesthe resolution of all the fruitless searchesin your eyesI see the light and the heatin your eyesoh, I want to be that completeI want to touch the light,the heat I see in your eyes.

Gracious God,

Until the time comes when we can proclaim that we no longer see as through a glass darkly but actually see you face-to-face, we will continue to follow the model of prayer that your son taught us…

A prayer I once delivered at my church, Northside Baptist Church, based upon a goth-ish song by Evanesence, "Bring Me to Life"...

My God and Father,

Today I am seeking nothing less than the essence of new life that was returned to Jesus on the day of his resurrection nearly 2000 years ago. Yet, I am still left asking…

how can you see into my eyes like open doors leading you down into my core
where I've become so numb without a soul my spirit sleeping somewhere cold
until you find it there and lead it back home

now that I know what I'm without you can't just leave me
breathe into me and make me real

wake me up inside
call my name and save me from the dark
bid my blood to run
before I come undone
save me from the nothing I've become

frozen inside without your touch without your love Jesus
only you are the life among the dead

all this time I can't believe I couldn't see
kept in the dark but you were there in front of me
I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems
got to open my eyes to everything
without a thought without a voice without a soul
don't let me die here
there must be something more
bring me to life!

In the name of Him who faced death on my behalf so that I might taste with Him the sweet fruits of resurrected life…Jesus Christ!

Amen

Several weeks ago a friend of mine, James Stringer, caught me after church and asked if I would be willing to speak to the Clinton Civitan Club. If you know me (or my parents) you know that talking comes rather naturally; silence is the more difficult assignment. Nonetheless, when James told me that he not only would like me to talk about the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Mississippi but also include some patriotic thoughts, my mind and lips fell silent. How in the world was I going to connect my passion for the mission of Make-A-Wish with my patriotic feelings?

It may be wishful thinking, but I believe in good ideas and I strive to live into the ideal. Admittedly, my personal convictions (those deep-seated beliefs that if I changed, I would no longer be the same) are all based on someone else’s ideas, but when blended with my personality and experiences the combination in my life creates a unique calling. The collective will of a community expressed in representative government; the desire for wholeness and peace with each other, creation, and our Creator; and, the wonder of life seen through the eyes of children, currently captures my thoughts and imagination. In each of these three areas someone expressed a good idea then created a community that attempted to live into the ideal.

Without oversimplifying the various forces that led to the creation of the United States of America, our nation was formed by idealists with what are really simple ideas. I encourage all fellow citizens to refresh themselves with the ideas that formed and matured our nation. Specifically, I call to mind our Declaration of Independence, the Lincoln Memorial Address of Martin Luther King, Jr., our Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address.

In July of 1776 a few idealistic troublemakers announced their intention to rebel against King George III; yet, they first addressed correspondence to him because they felt it was the “decent” thing to do particularly in “respect to the opinions of mankind.” Attached to their complaint was a litany of grievances to demonstrate that their actions were not based upon “light and transient causes.” Nonetheless, our Founders sought “to alter or to abolish” the existing Form of Government and establish one that seemed to them “most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” Our Founders’ troubling ideas for government seem built on one idealistic premise, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Were their ideas just wishful thinking or could a nation be formed and maintained upon their ideals?

The equality of people envisioned by the Declaration of Independence was far from a reality over the past two hundred years of our history. Blacks, Hispanics, and Orientals were discriminated against politically, economically, socially, and relationally. Due to our failure of living into our nation’s ideals, a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. stood before the country and called us back to a great idea, yet fully realized. Even though anger was justified, he encouraged us to act ideally and “not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” because we are called to act on the “high plane of dignity and discipline.” His dream for this nation was simply that it live up to its potential and ideals so that “one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.”

As a side note, for those of us Christians out there, could it be that our nation’s Founders or Reverend King were motivated by biblical ideals? The Apostle Paul purports, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Or, perhaps it was even the words of Jesus, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). I wonder if, like the Founders, Martin Luther King, Jr. was guilty of building an entire movement on wishful thinking.

I serve an organization that was founded on wishful thinking. The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. From our humble beginnings in 1980 with one boy’s wish to be a police officer, we have grown into an organization that grants a child’s wish in the U.S. every 41 minutes. Twenty-seven years ago someone had an idea to give hope to a sick child and it reflected an idealism that was present in our nation from the very beginning.

I have been told by many that it is unrealistic to believe that every child in our state with a life-threatening medical condition could have their one true wish granted, but I think differently; and, by the way, our estimates are as high 212 Mississippi kids per year are medically qualified. I believe that once people in our state truly understand that they have the power to grant a wish and bring hope, strength, and joy into the lives of children and families, we will be overwhelmed with referrals and resources. Granting wishes was not my good idea, but it is now the ideal that I pursue.

I hope you will consider joining me in forging a community and nation that attempts to live into many ideals: A principled government serving free and equal citizens, a forgiven people given the task of reconciliation, and sharing the power of a wish with children in need. Maybe I am just plain wrong in my ideas about our nation, hope for a redeemed community or even the power of a wish; but, I choose to continue in my wishful thinking….

There is nothing more that I can say that Keith Olbermann did not say tonight about the Bush Administration's Iraq War Policy. You can read the text of his comments below or click HERE to watch the video clip on MSNBC.

It is one of the great, dark, evil lessons, of history.

A country — a government — a military machine — can screw up a war seven ways to Sunday. It can get thousands of its people killed. It can risk the safety of its citizens. It can destroy the fabric of its nation.

But as long as it can identify a scapegoat, it can regain or even gain power.

The Bush administration has opened this Pandora’s Box about Iraq. It has found its scapegoats: Hillary Clinton and us.

The lies and terror tactics with which it deluded this country into war — they had nothing to do with the abomination that Iraq has become. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The selection of the wrong war, in the wrong time, in the wrong place — the most disastrous geopolitical tactic since Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia in 1914 and destroyed itself in the process — that had nothing to do with the overwhelming crisis Iraq has become. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The criminal lack of planning for the war — the total “jump-off-a-bridge-and-hope-you-can-fly” tone to the failure to anticipate what would follow the deposing of Saddam Hussein — that had nothing to do with the chaos in which Iraq has been enveloped. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The utter, blinkered idiocy of “staying the course,” of sending Americans to Iraq and sending them a second time, and a third and a fourth, until they get killed or maimed — the utter de-prioritization of human life, simply so a politician can avoid having to admit a mistake — that had nothing to do with the tens of thousand individual tragedies darkening the lives of American families, forever. It isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault.

The continuing, relentless, remorseless, corrupt and cynical insistence that this conflict somehow is defeating or containing or just engaging the people who attacked us on 9/11, the total “Alice Through the Looking Glass” quality that ignores that in Iraq, we have made the world safer for al-Qaida — it isn’t Mr. Bush’s fault!

The fault, brought down, as if a sermon from this mount of hypocrisy and slaughter by a nearly anonymous undersecretary of defense, has tonight been laid on the doorstep of... Sen. Hillary Clinton and, by extension, at the doorstep of every American — the now-vast majority of us — who have dared to criticize this war or protest it or merely ask questions about it or simply, plaintively, innocently, honestly, plead, “Don’t take my son; don’t take my daughter.”

Sen. Clinton has been sent — and someone has leaked to The Associated Press — a letter, sent in reply to hers asking if there exists an actual plan for evacuating U.S. troops from Iraq.

This extraordinary document was written by an undersecretary of defense named Eric Edelman.

“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq,” Edelman writes, “reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia.”

Edelman adds: “Such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks.”

A spokesman for the senator says Mr. Edelman’s remarks are “at once both outrageous and dangerous.” Those terms are entirely appropriate and may, in fact, understate the risk the Edelman letter poses to our way of life and all that our fighting men and women are risking, have risked, and have lost, in Iraq.

After the South was defeated in our Civil War, the scapegoat was Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and the ideas of the “Lost Cause” and “Jim Crow” were born.

After the French were beaten by the Prussians in 1870 and 1871, it was the imaginary “Jewish influence” in the French Army general staff, and there was born 30 years of self-destructive anti-Semitism, culminating in the horrific Dreyfus case.

After the Germans lost the First World War, it was the “back-stabbers and profiteers” at home, on whose lives the National Socialists rose to prominence in the succeeding decades and whose accused membership eventually wound up in torture chambers and death camps.

And after the generation before ours, and leaders of both political parties, escalated and re-escalated and carpet-bombed and re-carpet-bombed Vietnam, it was the protest movement
and Jane Fonda and — as late as just three years ago — Sen. John Kerry who were assigned the kind of blame with which no rational human being could concur, and yet which still, across vast sections of our political landscape, resonates unchallenged and accepted.

And now Mr. Bush, you have picked out your own Jefferson Davis, your own Dreyfus, your own “profiteer” — your own scapegoat.

Not for the sake of this country.

Not for the sake of Iraq.

Not even for the sake of your own political party.

But for the sake of your own personal place in history.

But in reaching for that place, you have guaranteed yourself tonight not honor, but infamy.

In fact, you have condemned yourself to a place among that remarkably small group of Americans whom Americans cannot forgive: those who have sold this country out and who have willingly declared their enmity to the people at whose pleasure they supposedly serve.

A scapegoat, sir, might be forgivable, if you hadn’t just happened to choose a prospective presidential nominee of the opposition party.

And the accusation of spreading “enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia” might be some day atoned for, if we all didn’t know — you included, and your generals and the Iraqis — that we are leaving Iraq, and sooner rather than later, and we are doing it even if to do so requires, first, that you must be impeached and removed as president of the United States, sooner rather than later.

You have set this government at war against its own people and then blamed those very people when they say, “Enough.”

And thus it crystallizes, Mr. Bush.

When Civil War Gen. Ambrose Burnside ordered a disastrous attack on Fredericksburg in which 12,000 of his men were killed, he had to be physically restrained from leading the next charge himself.

After the First Lord of the British Admiralty, Winston Churchill, authored and enabled the disastrous Gallipoli campaign that saw a quarter-million Allied soldiers cut down in the First World War, Churchill resigned his office and took a commission as a front-line officer in the trenches of France.

Those are your new role models, Mr. Bush.

Let your minions try to spread the blame to the real patriots here, who have sought only to undo the horrors you have wrought since 2002.

Let them try it, until the end of time.

Though the words might be erased from a million books and a billion memories, though the world be covered knee-deep in your lies, the truth shall prevail.

This, sir, is your war.

Sen. Clinton has reinforced enemy propaganda? Made it impossible for you to get your ego-driven, blood-steeped win in Iraq?

Then take it into your own hands, Mr. Bush.

Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations.

Go there and fight, your war. Yourself.