Evolution and Homosexuality

I've been wondering for awhile now: do homosexuals believe in evolution?

Miss Representation

Just saw an interesting preview of the movie Miss Representation.

I wonder if the producers and supporters of this movie realize that the media's portrayal of women is simply symptomatic of a morally decrepit society. I have the impression from the trailer and the website that the proposal is to force the media to properly represent women. That is ridiculous. The media is empowered by money, and the money comes from society.

The train of thought beginning at 1:40 really bugs me. Representation in Congress is by majority vote. I'm sure that someone could argue that there are less women politician candidates because of equality issues but regardless, the issue is again a symptom. What is parity? Is an equal # of men and women in political offices really parity? I see that women in my line of work have to make sacrifices that they don't want to make in order to be as effective as men. There are sacrifices that I don't want to make that make me less effective than other men. So its not a sexism issue, it's a choices issue. So, it doesn't surprise me that at 15, many women who previously wanted to be president no longer want to be president. Their aspirations and desires for life changed.

Condoleezaa Rice has a brief speaking part in the the trailer I saw; I have to say her comment portrayed the most realistic understanding of the root problem. So maybe there is a chance that the documentary hits the nail on the head but I suspect it will miss the mark.

Egypt - a Guide for Westerners

One of the Egyptians I work with shared this video with me. The producer wanted to make the cartoon to show how Egypt differs culturally from Europe. He probably was just trying to be informative, but from the perspective of a westerner living in Egypt, it has to be the funniest, truest thing I have ever seen.

Driving in Egypt - a guide for Westerners

After a 9 month hiatus from journaling, I have decided to re-open with my rather secular, but remarkable and easily forgettable observations on driving in Egypt.

First of all, I was hoping that the revolution, aside from improving civil liberties, would also result in safer, more intelligent driving. My hopes have been squashed.

Tips for westerners to remember when driving in Egypt:

1. Driving in Egypt is the vehicular manifestation of life lived purely in self-interest and without social cooperation.
2. Right-of-way at traffic circles is exactly opposite of Europe. If you are on the traffic circle then you yield to those entering the traffic circle. That's right, you frequently find traffic circles jammed with cars yielding to miniscule flow of cars from feeding roads. Perhaps it is the Egyptians clever thinking "the right has the right of way." This unwritten rule is also a window into the mind of the Egyptian.
3. Nose position matters. If the front of the car next to you is slightly ahead of yours, the car that is in front has the right-of-way. This is also how I have effectively navigate traffic circles using European rules.
4. Honks (part 1) have inflections with meanings. When I observe stupidity I typically lay on the horn, which is perceived as a sign of anger, which in turn somehow makes me the bad guy for being angry at the stupidity.
5. Honks (part 2) when beeped in short continuous stacatto somehow give the right of way to the honker (usually a mini-bus driver) to weave through traffic and cut you off or tailgate you and get angry with you even though they are being stupid.
6. Continuous honks (part 3) LONG-LONG-SHORT-SHORT-SHORT are celebratory.
   
7. 90' left turns are the devil. Egyptians are not ambi-turners. To execute a left turn, typically you must turn right, then proceed down the highway (opposite the direction you wish to go) to make a U-turn and proceed in the direction you desire.
8. In Cairo, a city of 20million, there are almost no stop lights. The stop lights that do exist are ignored. Traffic police are expected to direct traffic but generally do a piss-poor job. To direct traffic they use small hard-to-see non-standard hand signals.
   
9. Egyptians do not plan ahead when driving. Despite the need and/or desire to (for example) to take an exit, they will drive in the left lane (of a 4-lane highway) and veer suddenly without signaling and at the last minute across traffic to take the exit with no sign of remorse - and in fact expect those in the lanes they are cutting off to yield.
10. Egyptians can easily turn a 3 lane highway into a 5 lane traffic jam and turn a 3 lane highway into one lane traffic jam (Lanes, Part A).
    
11. (Lanes, Part B) The lines on the road mean nothing.
12. (Lanes, Part C) Think about how many times you wished you could use the entire width of pavement to allow for more traffic to get through. Then realize you are a civilized rule-follower and that the extra built-in pavement you enjoy in a civilized country (looking apparently un-utitlized) allows room for reaction, space in the case of an accident or vehicle breakdown, or a place to move over when yielding to emergency vehicles.
13. No speed limits. Or if there are, they're not enforced.
14. Signals mean nothing. And everything. A left turn signal may mean that you can pass on the left, or something else, but it almost certainly doesn't mean that the vehicle is going to turn left.
15. Headlights evidently also have multiple meanings, like honks. Typically an Egyptian flashing their headlights is a friendly reminder that you have your lights on (usually at night). That's right. At night. During the day it might mean that they think they recognize you and want you to stop in the middle of traffic to say hello.
    
16. In the government's recognition of Tip#1,7,8,10,11, and 12, the road builders erect huge curbs to force cars along prescribed routes and unspoken rules. Imagine cars as fish and the road the waterway. The fish are funneled.
17. Just because you are driving on a two-lane divided highway doesn't mean that some Egyptian observing Tip #1 won't come the opposite way on your side honking their horn (Tip #5) and flashing their headlights (Tip #15).
18. While Egyptian road construction is piss poor, with no apparent leveling, it is quite amazing that they keep their roads relatively pothole free as they are with the heat. Nonetheless, they are quite bumpy. Despite being bumpy, Egyptians are horribly averse to being bumped and in light traffic swerve to avoid bigger bumps like the plague (see Lanes, Part A). They slow down to a crawl to go over speed bumps, effectively making a traffic jam (again, see Lanes, Part A).
19. The road is also a good place for donkey carts to travel.
20. The road is also a good place to stand while waiting for a bus. Plus, the further out into the road you stand, the more chance there is that somebody will slow down for you.
21. Pedestrian right-of-way. Rule A: if pedestrian is not moving, they have the right-of-way. Rule B: if the pedestrian is moving, cars have the right-of-way. Alternate Rule A: if you don't make eye contact with pedestrian, cars of the right-of-way. Alternate Rule B: if you make eye contact, pedestrian has right-of-way.
22. Egyptians are chronically fatigued so don't be surprised if they fall asleep at the wheel.
23. As bad as Egyptian drivers are, the worst are undoubtedly hijab-clad women.
    
24. You know you've been in Egypt too long when you begin to believe that new-looking, non-dented cars must have magical properties.

How to Pray

I was thinking a bit on “how to pray.” I thought I’d share some of the verses that have helped me frame prayer and thoughts I have on the subject.

Thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice, we all have a personal relationship with our Creator. We don’t need a priest to speak to God for us – Jesus is our priest (and that’s another topic maybe we’ll get around to someday). We don’t need a sacrifice to become right with the King – Jesus was our sacrifice. God wants to have a personal relationship with us because that is the reason He created us. Since God has opened the way for us to have a personal relationship with Him (by the sacrifice of the Son), we can talk to Him like He’s standing in the room. We know that God is all around us, all the time. We can speak out loud to Him and He listens. He may not act, or act in the way we expect, but He listens. He may not speak audibly, but He listens. For me, I aspire to have my prayer be simply conversing with God. Although I admit that most of the time, prayer is just a time I set aside to especially talk with God, usually when I need something. That’s not how I think it should be, just how it is for me right now.

What do I say when I pray? Jesus gave us the framework in “The Lord’s Prayer” Matthew 6:9-13.

"This, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

I can pray this word-for-word or I can use the themes to construct my own prayer. This is how I break it down:

… hallowed be your name… worship God. Acknowledge He is holy. Convince your heart, body and soul to love Him, to bow down to Him, … praise Him for his greatness. If you run out of ideas for this, look in Psalms. It has so many elegant expressions of worship.

… your will be done … of course God will carry out His will. But He can make two or three or more different choices and still be acting out His will. You’re acknowledging that He’s in control – and starting to set aside your own will, the will for which you might be praying. You are starting to think about whether or not your will matches His will and you are checking your intentions. When you are honest with yourself then you will already start changing your will to His will. And you seek His will, not your own.

… give us this day … He is our provider. He gives us everything we need.

… forgive us our debts … He already did it, through Christ, but we remember Christ’s sacrifice for us, and more importantly, His Love. We repeat this love by forgiving others.

… lead us not… even though we are saved, we still live in the world. Satan still tempts us. We want to be pure, to be Holy… we already are in His eyes, but we can mock Christ’s sacrifice if we continue to sin – so we ask for His help to not sin. This is hard to comprehend but for the sake of understanding prayer, we’re simply asking Him to help us in our humanness.

Using this framework, a simple prayer might be

"Lord you are Holy. You are the Master of Creation. Let your will be done in my life. Help me to have your will. Thank you for forgiving my sins. Help me to forgive others. Let me walk in your light and truth and love."

For me this prayer is an icebreaker. It helps me make sure my heart is right with God before I ask Him for stuff. God wants us to ask for things. Matthew 7:7-11

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Also in James 4:1-3

"What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

Asking for things may sound like a selfish act but that is Satan’s lie. When we ask for things in Jesus’ name – with the right motive, as the previous verse says - we have the heart of God and are asking in Love. When you ask God for your children to grow up to know Jesus, is that selfish? If you ask for God to bless your marriage, is that selfish? No, those are things that God wants to do for us, and even though He knows we need them, He wants us to ask so that we are consciously acknowledging His provision in our lives.

I have to cite my one of my favorite verses. Philippians 4:6-7:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Finally, prayer doesn’t have to be in words. The Spirit helps us pray. Romans 8:26:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Car Trouble

Lately I've been having a bit of a problem with the cooling system in my car.

The first time, I noticed that the engine temperature was getting really hot, so I dove into a service station, which happened to be right there, I mean, like I was passing it when I was having the cooling problem. The service station had everything I needed for the sudden car trouble.

The second time, I pulled into my parking spot at work, shut down, and noticed steam emanating from my hood. I opened the hood and there was a geyser of coolant spraying from one of the hoses leading to the car's radiator. I thought, well, that could have happened anytime on the way to work - but it didn't; it happened as I parked.

Wow, that is amazing.

Immediately I attribute little blessings like this to God's watchful eye. He is taking care of me.

The only problem is, I don't know if He's taking care of me like James, or like Matthew.

James 1:2-4 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Matthew 6:25-27 says "“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? "

So is this a trial for me to develop character or is it just God taking care of me? Maybe both...

I know that in this fallen world, things are going to break. Stuff is going to get old. Cars are going to need to be fixed. It's nice to know that despite that, I can live out my life like the birds of the air and just embrace the lovingkindness of my Father watching over me. It's nice when a trial brings a gleam to my eye rather than the weight of the world on my mind.

Parent Prayers II

I have decided that I nearly completely missed the mark with my post parent prayers. In recent months I have determined that maybe I should be less concerned about what I will pray for my children than with what I will pray for myself. Matthew 7.

Not that I would cease praying for my children. Or less.

It's just that I've realized that my sense of responsibility to care for them by praying for them, by asking God to bless them and keep them safe, to hold them in His hands, to know and love Him, has blinded me to the work that God needs to continue to do in my own heart. I feel frustrated, impatient, irritable, and only God can fix those things.

So to my laundry list of prayers, I've added requests for me. To be:

Patient
Wise
Selfless
Committed
Imaginative