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.

This thing we call life.

People always tell you that life never happens how you plan it. Don't you hate it when they are right. I also know that God has a sense of humor. Today, I realized that my grandmother was a prophet because she also used to tell me "Be careful what you pray for, because you just might get it." Sometimes it is really hard to follow the path that life sets out for you but really you don't have a choice.

I finally did this

For a long time, I have wanted to do a blog and finally got around to starting one.

First of all, the name of the blog "The Evolution of Faith" came from one of my friends Erin Warde, so I have to give her credit for the title. The title has several meanings. Two very important areas in my life are science, my vocation, and my religion. Also, over the last year+, I have experienced a major transformation in my life. Not only have I found myself but also rediscovered and transformed my faith.

Check back, I will do my best to post often.