It has been a while!!

I haven't posted in quite a while and a lot has happened since then. I had intentions of making a post right after the New Year but my schedule hasn't made that possible. I have a couple of New Year's resolutions. One is to get more healthy, I know that most people say that every year, which is the case with me. However, I have been on a diet since the start of the new year and I have lost some weight so it is actually working. The second one is to become more open with people in my life not that I have shut them out of it, but that I just want to share my life with my friends and family on a deeper level than I have before. Something that doesn't happen very often, but I actually came through on one of my New Year's resolutions last year and did well enough on the MCAT, better than I expected actually. So I am in the process of applying to the Rural Medcine Program that is offered through Auburn University and UASOM, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I will get in.

Another big happening in my life has occurred since my last post. On November 18th, 2008, I was confirmed into the Episcopal Church. It was something that I had been thinking about for a long time and it felt right and I can honestly say that it was the right decision. I have found my home for my faith and couldn't be happier with my church. It was nice to actually feel at home in church, which hadn't been the case for a long time, and maybe not ever. It is nice to know that wherever I go my beliefs and theology will never be regarded as wrong even if people do not agree with me.

I will make a concerted effort to post more often, because I enjoy it and it allows me to get some things off my chest that I cannot otherwise. Now it is back to Grad School World and writing my thesis.

She moves in mysterious ways...

In my heart of hearts, I know that God is always listening to me, my thoughts, my heart, and my prayers. But at some times, for whatever reason, I feel like She isn't. A week ago I was reminded that God is always listening, always hears our prayers. God may not answer our prayers in the way or time frame that we want, but is always, always listening. It did give me hope in a situation that I had all but given up on. I had given up on because it hadn't happend in the time frame or way that I wanted it to happen. But we know what happens when we tell God our plans. All of this reminds me of a quote of Mother Teresa, "I don't pray for success, I ask for faithfulness".

We have so far to go...

We have come so far as a nation, but yet we have so far to go. This past week an African-American man was elected to the be the leader of a country that at one time considered African-Americans 3/5 of a person. They were property of the white people and had almost no rights. This same nation once told African-American people that they couldn't drink from the same water fountain, sit on the same seats of the city bus, go to the same schools as white people. This wasn't all back in the 1800s this was just 40 years ago in "The Land of FREEDOM". Most of this was supported by some religious communities' interpretation of the Bible. Thank God that they saw there error and realized their mistake. It was a terrible mark against a country that many deem to be "The Greatest in the World" and "The Land of Opportunity" and since that time we have made large gains in correcting the prejudices and injustices against African-American people. And last week it took another large step when Barack Obama was elected President. As I said before we have come so far, yet we still have so far to go.

And on a holiday in which we celebrate and thank those veterans who have fought and died for our Freedom, this issue is never more important because the freedom of many people in this country is being denied.

This same type of prejudice and discrimination has happened several more times in history. The denying of women's right to vote and the denying of interracial couples to marry among other. And now it is being done again to the gay community and the fight for marriage equality. With the passage of Prop 8 in California, the marriage equality fight took a giant leap backwards. I am going to get on my soapbox and talk to the African-American people of this nation. I do this because they voted overwhelmingly to approve Prop 8. How soon they forget that just a few short years ago they were the oppressed people and now they have become the opressors. I hope that they would look back at history and realize that it wasn't long ago that they were considered second class citizens and now they are helping to do the same to the Gay community.

I hope and pray that some day this too will pass and we will look back on it like we did our discrimination of African-Americans and women and realize that is was wrong.

I finish with a Special Comment by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC on this issue:

The 21st Time

When I saw this video recently, I made me realize that how many times I have passed by those in need and not done something even though in my mind I felt like I should. It is something that I need reminding of on a constant basis. I also sometimes get frustrated because of the priorities that people in America have. Some are harping on the fact that we have to fight terrorism, around the world. Some statistics to consider, the most amount of people that were killed in one year due to terrorist acts was around 2,000. In contrast, 4.5-5 million people die each year from hunger. So which do you think is a good war to be fighting?

I also get frustrated because I want to help so many people all at once and get lost sometimes in the fact that I can't. But I take solace in the fact that I know many people who are committed to doing good in this world and that gives me hope.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Oh, what a redemptive feeling!

Today, as I was talking to my long time pastor and friend from back home, he made a statement that put into words how I had been feeling for the last year.

Growing up I always thought that being a Christian meant following a set of rules and regulations and being judgmental of others. I thought it was about determining what was right and what was wrong, and it never felt right. When I finally realized that it isn't about any of those things at all, it is about two things: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself. When that clicked with me it felt right, it was something I had been missing and didn't know it.

My pastor back home put it so well, "Oh, what a redemptive feeling it is."

The Gospel of Inclusion

This morning I was flipping through TV stations trying to find something to watch and I stopped on MSNBC ( I was really looking for the Olympics) and Dateline was on. It is the story of Bishop Carlton Pearson. The entire piece is in two videos, please watch.





Over the past year or so, I have had almost the exact same revelation. It wasn't as sudden as Carlton's but we both got to the same conclusion. How could a loving, forgiving God, who always gives you a second chance, eternally punish you. It kills me to see people preaching that Jesus would exclude anyone. Jesus lived on the margins. He was radical and broke the rules. If we could only follow the two commandments Jesus gave us then the world would be a much better place.

The Pickens Plan

Every American knows that the most pressing issue in our country today is Energy. If you stop and think it is tied to all of the other major issues. The economy is suffering because energy costs have sky rocketed and that cost is being passed onto consumers. It is the #1 issue facing the Presidential candidate this year as well. John McCain wants more offshore drilling, Barack Obama wants us to inflate our tires. Those are good short term ideas but what we really need to be doing is developing new technologies to not only end our dependence on foreign oil, but end our dependence on dirty energy all together.

I tend to give credit to people who propose something that flies in the face of what they do. Such is the case with oil tycoon, T. Boone Pickens. He is leading a charge to develop new technologies now to end our dependence on oil. If you have a minute go to his website www.pickensplan.com
and read his plan. This is something we should have been doing a long time ago, and the excuse that it will take so many years to get the infrastructure in place for this to work is a cop out. If we had started on this 10 years ago, and yes the techonolgy was there 10 years ago, then we wouldn't be having the energy problems that we have now. Take wind power for instance, it would take covering 50% of the state of Kentucky with wind turbines to power all of the American homes for one year. Or, with solar power, it would take covering 7% of the state of Arizona to power American homes for a year. It can be done, someone just has to take the initiative.