Gifts and The Meaning of Christmas

 

Christmas is near.

This is the last full week before the big day and I’m nearly caught up with gift buying. I still need to buy for mom and dad. Last year I got him a hand held massager. Companies started making nice ones a few years ago. These plug in to charge. Gone are the days of the throw away battery (like C and D) run devices that last just into the new year. How many foot baths and neck massagers have gift givers tossed after a few weeks?

Everyone, at one time has fallen for a ‘sham wow’ knick knack. Two years ago I got my mom one of those heating pods where you snap a device the size of dime inside a gel infused bag. It looked impressive at the fair. The demonstrator, speaking in I-can’t-believe-how-amazing tones, showed the various uses for the magic device. I’m not a heating pad type of guy. Unless I’m in the throes of a nasty flu, I’m not likely to tuck in under a big comforter with an additional hot bag. But my mom loves the heating pods and heating blankets. I’m sure she has a small space heater in her room as well.

My gift was the perfect complement to a permanently cold body. But like all the other gifts it eventually collapsed, like a failed business stock price shortly after its initial offering. But heating pods, like foot massagers and neck rollers aren’t meant to solve a long term problem. They’re meant to bulk up our pile under the tree and give us something to open, use, and discard. They’re also new ideas when we really need something. Gift cards are no one’s first or last choice. A gift card is better than a pair of shoes that don’t fit or a biography about a person you don’t like (Hillary Clinton).

But cards are also lazy. It’s like, “I couldn’t think of anything so here’s my obligation”. Yes I know, I give them too. Some people have everything they need and more that they don’t. And they’ll likely take that ABBA greatest hits collection right back and spend the credit on an air can cleaner for their laptop anyway. A gift card just makes sense most of the time so why all the pressure? I guess it’s the hunt. That elusive, perfect gift and the story behind how you found it, is what still motivates us to buy for others. Sure it’s risky. But you gain hero status with a hard fought search for an original copy of “Sharknado”.

It's not so much the gift, but how it proves your knowledge of the giftee that is the real reward. In cases like this it’s the gifter that is blessed. I looked for a new model die cast model car yesterday for a friend. He’s a big fan of Ford Mustang cars and never misses a chance to point one out on the road. After 5 stores I gave up. The gift had to be purchased that day. No amount of 2-day shipping from a vendor in South Carolina would work. I did find an embossed sign with “Mustang Ave” on it at Hobby Lobby. I picked up a hat with the iconic logo embroidered on the crown for good measure. It was hardly a search high and low type of gift, but I was pleased with my pick. Hopefully he was too.

It’s better to give than to receive. We need reminders every year.

Gifts and giving is only one part of Christmas anyway. The big part is Christ, the reason we gather and celebrate. Does Christmas carry the same weight as Easter in the holy day calendar? Does it even matter?

Both concern the Savior, His birth and resurrection. What’s important to me is recognizing both days and letting the ornamentation blur into the background like colored lights. Nothing is wrong with parties, dinners, presents and pageants. Paul reminds us in Romans 14:5-6 “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord;” In other words, don’t get caught up in which festivals carry more importance or which group has a greater claim on piety. The birth of Christ unites us, as does His death and resurrection.

The presents we buy for each other represent something selfless we do with our time and money. In a small way it’s an effort to be more like Christ. It’s easy to get carried away with events and gifts and travel, but in spite of the heavy consumerism of the holiday it’s still about Jesus.

The significance of the Savior of the World cannot be overstated. No gift, given or received can match what God the Father offered to us over 2000 years ago.

Merry Christmas!

 

Death and Life: Speech for Growth

The Prescription for A Creative Life: Speak Truth

The book of Proverbs shows the importance of speech for both the Christian in their own lives, and also for the non-Christian.

Provers 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit."

More specifically it shows the value of righteous pronouncements and positive speech. Why is this exactly? How is it that our words have such an impact on the direction of our life? It’s not fair if we’re having a bad day and happen to get down on ourselves. But not acknowledging our part in the direction of life is the same as ignoring gravity. It’s a natural law of the universe that exists, whether we acknowledge it or not.

 The words we speak contain the seeds that become our future.

The Natural World

Apple seeds create apple trees; it’s the same for all fruits. Plant, water and wait. The soil in which the seeds mature contains nutrients necessary for growth. It’s such a natural part of the earth we live in we don’t think about it often. Our natural world contains the perfect amount of water, air and soil for life to thrive. You can’t grow grapes in the Sahara Desert or expect fescue grass to cover the alps, but it’s a life giving place just the same. It exits to increase, fulfilling the mission of God in Genesis to “Be fruitful and multiply.”

That command isn’t just for people, it’s how our world is designed to function.

Language is the spark of life. God spoke, and it was. He put everything necessary for growth here on earth in the beginning. We shouldn’t be surprised that He calls us to use our speech for creation. How do we do this exactly?

We do this in our own lives through positive (biblical) confession and in the lives of others through scripture.

If God filled words are the spark of life, then negative words are the poison that destroys life. Both natural laws exist in the same environment, death and life. It’s the same with our words. We uplift and show people to Christ or we put them down and cause death in them.

“A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4

The Spiritual World

There were a couple of famous trees on the University of Auburn campus until about 10 years ago. If you ever watched an Auburn home football game the TV cameras always panned the iconic Oaks that stood for over 150 years. A hostile Alabama (tide) fan spiked the trees after a tough Iron Bowl loss in 2010. He called the Paul Finebaum show in 2011 to brag about it. The trees didn’t die all at once, that’s not how poison works. It moves slowly and penetrates all the way through the bark. You might not notice it for years.

A tree can look quite strong and rugged for years but be dead inside. First the leaves dry up and stop producing. Then the bark peels off in sheets while the wood softens inside and stops fighting off infection. It doesn’t fall over though. It stands there for years, taking up space. It’s quite easy to kill a tree. You could drill holes in just one or two roots and pour in an herbicide. No one would even know.

There are countless people walking around struggling with wounds from poisonous words spoken over their lives. The same growth that comes from life giving speech, can turn into death with negative speech. We don’t shrivel up and die when someone wounds us, we die over time because the poison works slowly. As Christians we have the ability to speak biblical truths over those around us. But it isn’t just truth the way that something is truthful.

The Ideal World

Oklahoma is much hotter in the summer than Illinois. That’s a true statement. But it doesn’t contain any creative power. It’s an observational truth and nothing more. It might make you prepare a little differently for a trip. You’re body will need to adapt to a steamier climate if you live in Illinois. But facts about the weather can’t help us grow spiritually or encourage growth in others.

But biblical truths are both facts and seeds. They contain the nutrients necessary to build the Kingdom of God in this world. The Creator uses us to reach others. We provide medicine or we provide poison. It’s never too late to turn poisonous words into Godly truth.

 There’s also good news for those who’ve been poisoned by a boss, a friend or even family.

We have an antidote. We have the words of life and the creative force that restores. Death can’t hold us because it couldn’t hold Him.

What’s the prescription for a creative life?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

We acknowledge the Creator when we speak life and create growth.

 

 

Last Week: Writing Again

 

Last week was a working week for me.

What I mean is, my writing increased to include 2 to 3 hours of evening work. It’s been a little while since I’ve been able to write anything for money. Thankfully now I’m writing consistently again for a one-time project. I don’t know how long this contract is going to go, but for now it’s paying. That’s a good thing because I was running out of ideas for how to attract business. I’ve neglected my website and even my email marketing. Email marketing isn’t quite right but it sounds more professional. In truth I’m just bombing digital marketers with “got any work” inquiries. I won’t say it’s a complete waste of time, but so far I haven’t had any hits.

I really hate doing that. There’s a reason I never wanted to sell insurance. I hate cold calls and cold emails. It’s seriously obnoxious to be hit with texts and calls about the same nonsense. Currently I’m getting spammed by local house flippers who desperately want me sell. My method is to just ignore it.

How are MY messages received I wonder? “No! I don’t want it, now go away” is what I always imagine them saying. Probably because that’s what I do. But still, there is a type  of person that responds. Usually it’s just like “thanks, we’ll add you to the list”. That’s at least a glimmer of hope in a dark sea of ignores though.

But the glimmer isn’t enough for me. If I have to do only that to get business, I’ll do something else. I don’t want to write for online companies that bad. I’ll deliver Amazon packages or answer phone calls and help people fix their internet or something. That’s why this marketing stuff with Sam is a good start. It allows me to get better at writing in a particular industry while learning how to do key word research. Not to mention, learning about SEO and SEM strategies and putting that knowledge to good use. Once I get over the “I’m not in the mood to do this right now” attitude it usually goes well. Writing a big blog with various pieces and connections is a puzzle; it takes at least 2 of us to put it together.

One to write and one to say, “Fix this, change that. Is that a fragment? Do you even speak English?”

Depending on how quick Sam get’s me the updates, next week will probably look a lot like this one. Multiple nights spend cleaning up my outline, then watching an hour of Netflix before going to bed. I love and hate spending my evenings writing for work. The content is less fun than whatever newsy stuff I decided to read and regurgitate for my blog. But it keeps me accountable in a way that updating the blog could never do. I work harder when there is a project on the table. Even a project that drags a little and forces me to do more research than writing, is still better than no projects at all. Because as much as I like to pretend otherwise, I’m lazy when given the chance.

I don’t mean I’m lazy necessarily, let’s say…content with my effort. Does that make sense? I’m not great at that last 2% of finishing touches if it requires an extra hour. I’m more the “I’ve already worked on this for a whole two weeks and you’re telling me the formatting needs to look different? Umm, No. I’m done. You clean it up.” I guess it’s my fixation with checking boxes. I’ve gotten better at this over the years. Awareness is the first stage I suppose. I like to finish, because the stuff inside the package is better than whatever fancy ribbon you tie on it.

Not everyone sees it this way, editors for instance.

Speaking of ribbons and packages, Christmas forces me to tie up all my lose ends here before the New Year. I’ll be taking a week of vacation between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Before that I’ve got family in town so It’s closer to a week and a half of play time. I don’t want any projects to bleed into that if I can help it. I love Christmas. It’s not just the gift exchanges and seasonal joy, it’s the promise of hope through the birth of the Savior. I know it seems like Christmas is about families and travel and time off. Anyone unfamiliar with the roots of Christmas would think it’s an end of year bash, with eggnog and ugly sweater contests. Nothing wrong with any of that, but the importance will always be Christ and His death, resurrection and second coming.

Without Him, the celebration is empty. Merry Christmas!

 

 

Sick of the Lockdowns in China

 

Is the Tide Receding for the CCP?

Calling the medical tyranny in China “lockdowns” is making a mockery of the term.

Lockdowns are what occurred in the United States and a lot of other nations. Canada and Britain saw tough measures, while Australia and New Zealand tossed their liberal credentials aside and let the goons loose on anti-lockdown protests. On some level most countries’ governments overstepped their bounds by giant leaps. Police harassed elderly couples with curfew citations out walking their dog.  Most countries imposed mandates for masks and vaccines. Largely because of what the truckers did in Canada, governments backed off after that.

The truckers didn’t go far enough in their rebellion, but they did make their point. When the law finally did break up the demonstrations, Justin Trudeau paid an awful price. He’s the most hated man in the country by regular citizens. All because of vaccine mandates for cross border truckers, Ottawa’s overreach caused other mandates to fizzle. A lot of vaccine mandates in the US were a non starter as well. Especially now that the jab has cost more lives to Covid than natural immunity alone, leaders look silly in their insistence.

China lockdowns are otherworldly. When you realize that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) takes the position that the country is theirs and everyone else just occupies space, their thuggish behavior makes sense. Not only did the virus begin there, in a Wuhan lab, but the party has insisted on an inhuman policy of Zero Covid. That means hazmat suited teams test everyone where they live. If positive, the individual can’t leave his/her apartment. Some have been welded inside their room, many are beaten for protesting the demand. Business owners have had enough too. I saw a great video of a restaurant owner with a hammer, destroying the barricade around his shop and shouting about the injustice of it.

Some of the blue states like California and New York had draconian lockdowns but nothing like a communist state. I complained loudly about the mask requirements here. I sent emails to my governor and my city council member, who voted on masks for Tulsa. People in the US didn’t complain enough in my opinion. They let fear of a pandemic take out their rights as citizens to live, work and worship. And that’s in Oklahoma, where the response was mild relative to much of the country. I won’t go down another trail and rehash 2020. But there has been no retribution for government overreach during those dark days.

 There needs to be a full accounting, or it WILL happen again.  

I know the Chinese are used to just keeping their heads down and avoiding certain activities. But they’ve been through a crazy number of restrictions from an oppressive government that’s scared of its population. It pushes them hard because if the population ever knew their power, the communist party would cease to exist. Every town, city or rural area would lock up the local official in an apartment and weld the door shut. But no one can convince a population to cast off restraint and fight for their future, for their children’s future. It must come from exhausted, angry people who’ve decided they’d rather die or go to prison than live under this regime another day.

I do hope the people of China are there.

But it’s also a great time from the regime’s point of view to start a war. They’ve been looking for a reason to attack Taiwan and subdue those “rebels”. It’s a wealthy country that got rid of their dictatorship a while ago. Beijing has always claimed it as a province. But Beijing also claims a massive chunk of the South China Sea that’s very far off the coast of China. In all international relations though, it depends on how far your influence extends and not what proclamations you make. They can claim it, but can they control it?

I’m optimistic on the future of China and the Chinese people, but I won’t put a date on the collapse of the CCP. They’ve handled these situations before, including the Hong Kong protests just a few years ago. Is Hong Kong more or less free of Beijing’s grip? They are less free today and no one disputes this.

But there is another big reason I’d love to see a little short term chaos among the communist leadership, American businesses and their unscrupulous practices. Apple just made a deal with the CCP to disable the Airdrop feature on the iPhones of Chinese citizens. It’s the way regular citizens share data, phone to phone, bypassing the heavily censored towers. I know at this point, tech companies working with the CCP to throttle dissent is as common as smog over the cities. But it’s despicable; here as well as there. A collapsing system would expose much of the dirty secrets of Americas top companies and their business practice.

The Chinese government covers up for a lot of mischief like a high tide. But when the tide goes out, we’ll see who’s been swimming naked.

 

Popular Uprising in China: Zero Covid Exhaustion

 

The Chinese are Fed up with Lockdowns Finally

The Chinese are protesting in various cities against the zero Covid lockdowns. Whenever I read a story about the Chinese people it amazes me what they put up with. From the lack of press freedom to the social credit scores, they are constantly hounded by their oppressive CCP (Chinese Communist Party). Ever since Covid 19 escaped from one of their labs in Wuhan (I believe) the party has instituted a “Zero Covid” requirement on the public. Health officials in hazmat suits stand outside of apartment buildings testing and retesting citizens. No one who tests positive is allowed outside of their apartment. In some cases they are literally locked inside.

It's monstrous, and it’s been going on for too long. Maybe they’ve finally had enough. An apartment fire broke out in the city of Urumqi on November 24. Some reports said firetrucks weren’t able to get close due to blocked parking. 10 people were killed and 9 were taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation. The local officials issued some boilerplate statement about the building not being on lockdown. In other words, hey they weren’t under quarantine. They could leave whenever.

 Some residents apparently “lacked the knowledge or capability to rescue themselves”.

Ham fisted responses from officials, plus irritation from lockdowns is creating a backlash in major cities. It’s unclear how many of the demonstrations are due to the fire deaths and how many are Covid and lockdown related. Some protesters shout against the chairman (Xi Jinping) and the Communist Party, calling for his removal. From all the accounts I’ve read, there is an exhaustion with the loss of freedom. It’s not even the big ideological freedoms that westerners like, speech, press and religion. Losing the ability to walk to the market and buy groceries without being harassed is more to the point.

I’m surprised we haven’t seen this anger from the public on a massive scale. The Chinese put up with too much. The CCP is finding out how discontented people are being forced to stay home for months at a time. Has Xi Jinping overestimated his power or will this popular uprising fizzle out? China cracks down quickly on any form of dissent. During the 2011 Arab Spring when uprisings happened all over the Muslim world, China kept it from happening at home. I remember a few weak attempts by protestors to start shouting and marching in Shanghai against Communist rule. The government stopped it quickly by sending in goons and arresting the leaders. So this might be nothing.

But I like to think, hope, that this is the start of something big in that country. If the Tiananmen Square crackdown from 1989 tells us anything, it’s that Beijing doesn’t play around. That year was a rebellious year all over the country. University students engaged in marches and demands for much of the year. But unleashing the military on them at the most famous spot in all of China ended the rebellion. The fear of another big crackdown has kept the public in check for the most part.

But you can only push people so far. The best case scenario for the Chinese people is that the CCP gives up power completely and puts some form of democracy in place. This won’t happen easily and likely it will take long revolution, and lots of death. But how powerful is the Communist party anyway? I imagine in most cases the local functionaries won’t be able to do anything against an angry mob. Don’t forget how large of a country China is, 1.5 billion people. Violent protests in every major city across the country will force some kind of change.

The next best case is that XI Jinping has to step down and the rest of the government eases restrictions dramatically. This isn’t as good of a deal for the people of China because the same system that brought them zero Covid is still in place. But at least the arrogant Xi would be gone, as well as the lockdowns. I don’t think this is likely to happen however. Once the demonstrations prove useful the people will keep them going until the whole system collapses. But as a practical matter, having the government give up this medical tyranny would be better than what they have now.

Third, the government effectively stops this popular revolt and puts a chill on future revolts. That’s basically what the nineties looked like following the Tiananmen Square massacre. The security state got bigger and scarier. But they’ve gotten bigger and scarier since the lab leak at Wuhan so what’s the difference? That may be the conclusion the citizens eventually draw. We can suffer under this medical tyranny or we can fight to get back our basic rights. Either way, we aren’t going to live like this anymore.

I’m praying for the people of China.

King or Judge? Fix the Corruption First

 

I Samuel 8

I’m unfamiliar with large swathes of the Old Testament. Or if not unfamiliar, at least like a pond where the sediment needs to be stirred. A lot of it comes back to me when I start reading in I Samuel. It’s a famous passage where the children of Israel ask Samuel, the priest, for a king to rule over them. Samuel’s sons were judges in Beersheba but were known for their graft.  

“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, ‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us king to judge us like all the nations”. (4-5)

When this story is told in Sunday school classes it’s usually accompanied by a warning to those ‘foolish’ Israelites. Samuel as well gives them a lecture about what’s to be expected when electing a king. He tries to talk them out of it. But I’m sympathetic to their concerns. Who wants to live under leaders that are knowingly corrupt? That’s why they started with a complaint about Samuel’s sons, the future judges of their country. And I can guarantee it wasn’t as clean as the text makes it sound. I think the people let him know that this was at least somewhat his fault.

That’s just me reading into this story.

It makes sense. Large companies run like this sometimes. A competent CEO prepares to step down and hand the business over to his son. The son’s always been someone who couldn’t organize a beer run for a tailgate party, let alone make consequential decisions. Nervousness sets in with the executives as they plead with the old man to consider an alternative. What they never say, but really could, is that this is kind of your fault sir.

But here is where the story takes a turn. Samuel hears their complaints and prays to God. “And the Lord said to Samuel, Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (verse 7) We would expect God to say something to Samuel not raising up the next generation right. But God knew the heart of the matter was not corrupt leaders, it was a collective hardness of heart among His people that created selfish leaders.

Corruption grows in the soil that surrounds it. In other words, the same culture that rejected God’s commandments, permitted corrupt judges. This doesn’t let Samuel’s kids (Joel and Abijah) off for the hook. But it does point to a lack of the fear of the Lord in the hearts of the people.

 Samuel’s sons were not capable of judging righteously because they didn’t follow God. Samuel represented the last of the honest, God fearing servants in the land. He managed to paper over the cracks of his sons’ dishonesty while alive, but how long can that go on?

We all get disgusted by selfish people who take advantage of those they’re supposed to watch over. This is true in all areas of life, business, entertainment and nonprofits. But corrupt leaders don’t just fall out of the sky. There are warning signs at an earlier stage of development. Think of the talented football player that keeps getting off with a warning when the police arrest him for DUI or vandalism. Without accountability, anyone is a potential victim of their recklessness. They learn no lessons except that someone will handle it.

Individuals are responsible for their own behavior, always. But societies get more of what they permit in their leaders. It looks like Israel, in the time of Samuel, is no different. God tells him to explain to the people what having a king will mean.

“He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots, he will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make weapons of war and equipment for chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. (11-15)

It goes on like this for another 3 or 4 verses. This is God saying ‘you think you’ve got it bad now, just wait’. The crux of their problem with judges (God’s appointed rulers) is the lack of honesty they exhibit. But under a king, the people give up so much more. And, they get to pick a king from the same group of dishonest leaders. I love they respond though, essentially “We want a king like everyone else to fight our battles.”

It’s like when the contractor tells you that pool you want to build won’t work because your ground is too sandy. You say “So…when can you start?”

The short lesson is this, if you’re seeing rampant corruption in leaders you need to look deeper. Chances are the culture is rotten and permitting of it at multiple levels. This isn’t moral relativism, but it would help to root it out closer to home first. We don’t have a fear of God and it shows up in various ways when we let corruption slide.

The children of Israel never went back to the judges model. I’m sure they wished at times for a simpler, less invasive, style of government. But even in their ignorance He rescued them from total destruction and raised up Godly leaders.

 

 

 

Spying for the CCP: A New Era of Confrontation

 

Chinese Spy Sentenced in the US

A Chinese Intelligence officer was sentenced to 20 years for trying to steal proprietary information. It’s an important case because it’s the first time a Chinese citizen has been extradited to the US. I’m not sure how all the diplomatic/legal back and forth play out. 

Xu was convicted last year; this year we finally got the sentencing part of it. The FBI has been aware of his ‘fishing expeditions’ since 2013.

He was arrested in Belgium. The FBI had been monitoring his communications with a former GE employee. Xu wanted information on GE’s composite aircraft fan that no one has been able to replicate. That’s only his latest episode, the crime they actually got him for. Using various aliases, he sought out current and former employees of aviation companies and paid them to come to China for university talks. The junkets were paid for by Xu, with the intention of capturing as much technical information as possible.

The GE employee convinced him to come to Belgium for a trade show. It was here the illegal exchange happened, Xu asked for a digital company manual. 

He is set to do 20 years. How high up was this guy on a spy grade anyway?

If he’s a foot soldier it’s likely Beijing takes the loss and moves on. If he’s a high ranking official they’ll want him back and probably offer trades to get him. I wonder how it works on a diplomatic level though. Do we trade spies or offer up some other deal? Like waving certain legal cases currently on the docket at the WTO (World Trade Organization)? The US and China both sue each other all the time at the WTO. Part of signing the agreements to engage in trade requires recognizing the legitimacy of the court. But that’s small potatoes stuff, breaking tariff agreements and dumping complaints. Stealing technological trade secrets is serious business that requires old fashioned diplomacy.

Xu worked for the Ministry of State Security (MSS) which is responsible for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence. It will be interesting to see if Beijing arrests American foreigners for the similar crimes. It’s not unusual for them to do this anyway. Apparently the case against Xu is very strong. These cases are always so murky. When you extradite a foreign national you better have a damn good reason for it, especially one working for the government. Hopefully the blowback isn’t too severe on Americans living and working in China.

This story caught my eye because of the increasing amount of spying happening from the CCP every year. Americans are starting to get a sense for how the Chinese government operates but it’s taken a long time. I think we were all naïve in the late nineties about their goals. I certainly was. I believed prosperity through private business and foreign capital could raise the living standards. And, that prosperity would create an ownership society, laws to protect capital and free (ish) markets. It looks now like that was a ruse from Big Business to open factories and save money. No one believes the ‘wealth leads to freedom’ campaign anymore.

The problem is the US can’t just decouple in one swoop. At the very least, our federal and state laws need to take a skeptical approach to all Chinese investment. They don’t take our companies there without forcing local partners on them that steal their data and intellectual property. American companies with a presence in China will be expected to give up any useful, legally protected R&D. I’m not opposed to free markets either. But we should only be free with those countries that reciprocate.

No matter how many of these spy stories pop up our feeds I wonder how many people think it’s a big deal. Intellectual property theft between businesses in the same country is bad enough. But losing IP to a foreign country, especially one that sees itself as an enemy could be devastating. Not just devastating because our industries will no longer compete, cutting edge R&D often determines what kind of military your country will have. If we don’t stay on top and protect our critical industries, we will lose out to a more powerful China.

We are very close to being there. Our navy is getting chased out of the South China Sea. Beijing is collecting allies in the region and using ASEAN to support its claims about the ridiculous nine dash line. Eventually the US will get pushed out, unable to keep its hegemony in the region. But we can stop helping Beijing. 

Keep arresting spies, and make it as public as possible. 

David's Trust In God's Vision: Psalm 140

 

Psalm 140: We Don't Need the Big Picture In Life

Trust leads us forward toward the victory when all else seems lost. It hurts not being able to fight back when your enemy is cheating. David knows this feeling all too well. From court treachery to devious friends, the king is always at war. The Psalms prove this out. It takes practice to rest in God’s plan for our situation.

David lets God know about the evil men. He uses words like “scheme” and “snare” and “trap”. We can assume David knows where to look for the traps, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to sniff them out. But it must be exhausting not knowing who to trust, and assuming everyone is a potential traitor.  We learn one big lesson from David about desperation. God vision is perfect, and we can rest in His goodness; our vision is limited and we shouldn’t try to understand the full picture.

Why can't we have the full picture?

Without faith we can't please God; with faith comes trust. Handing someone a paint by numbers set to design great art, ruins the art. It's not original if someone helps you with every stroke. God designed us a certain way, with attitudes, skills and desires for a purpose. He gives us just enough of a vision of the future to keep us going. Joseph’s dreams about his brothers got him in trouble early in life. Anyone with a mouthy younger brother can relate to their frustration. We know of at least two dreams he shared with his older siblings. The theme in both cases, my station in life is significantly better than yours. Or at least he thought it would be. And for sure, God gave him these dreams as a picture of future events.

But we don’t see all the other times Joseph was insufferable. But he was young and adored by his father, another thorny reminder of his brothers’ lower station. But Joseph learned skills as an overseer at Potiphar’s home. He was in charge of food inventory and figured out what it took to feed large numbers of people. I’m sure he learned to read people as well. God gave him the ability to interpret dreams. Joseph likely didn’t think he'd ever be a high government official. God allowed him to see bits and pieces along the way. Eventually, he got an audience with the Pharoah to interpret the dream of the 7 years of plenty and 7 years of famine.

Why do our enemies keep winning?

David’s plea sounds like an ongoing problem for him. “They continually gather together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; the poison of asps is under their lips.” (2-3) He’s learned to trust God with the big picture and the small picture. He’s also learned not to try and understand all the ways in which evil men try to trick him. But David does know God’s goodness. “I said to the Lord: “You are my God; Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord. O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle…” (6-7)

Like Joseph’s learned skill in managing inventories, David has learned to read situations and people. How many times did he fall into a trap and regret it? Those in power are constantly under assault from all sides. The ones who survive know how to avoid traps and deal ruthlessly with their enemies. King David’s wisdom, and lasting success, comes from letting God handle the treacherous situations.

I’ve been watching the Arizona election drops for the 2022 race. The election was a week ago but, like any corrupt state, they’ve still got a handful of ballots to count. Elections are rife with corruption, that’s what 2020 taught me. I can’t say exactly how Arizona will try to steal this one for the Democrat candidate, but they will. There are too many ways to keep the election from being a straightforward vote and count system.  If there were ever a time to plead with God for a cleaning up of our institutions, this is it.

Conclusion

Arizona is the most egregious, and current, example because it’s essentially still a red state that’s at risk of turning blue. It serves as a model of how quickly, and easily, and state can become corrupted. Sadly, many of our American institutions (religious, cultural) are empty shells, existing like a vacant coastal city after a hurricane warning. Like much of the country, we are on borrowed time. Corruption is eating away at us. It’s time for a rebuild. Will we see a famine first?

 Like Joseph and David, I don’t need to see the full election picture to know that God is bigger and able to expose the fraud. The wicked are on a timetable, no one gets away with sin forever. “Let not a slanderer be established in the earth; let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him.” (11).

Book Review: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

 

The Unity of the 1936 Rowing Team from Washington

When I first picked up the book I knew as much about rowing as I did logging in the Northwest. I suspect it’s this way for most people. There was a time, however, when rowing was the biggest collegiate sport in America, at least it was in certain parts of the country. In The Boys in the Boat: Nine American and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Daniel James Brown tells a Depression era story of working class kids overcoming great odds and winning it all. It takes a great writer to resurrect the past just enough, and make Americans wonder why we hadn’t heard this gem of a story before now.

Brown tells the story of the rowing crew through the person of Joe Rantz, a Washington native. It’s both heartbreaking and encouraging to understand how someone can struggle just to feed themselves, while working their way through college. Joe’s father, Harry, left Joe to care for himself, abandoning him at the behest of his second wife. She didn’t like Joe. He was from Harry’s previous marriage and therefore not welcome. Joe was still in high school. The grueling days living in cabin and scrounging up meals built a toughness in him that made rowing a perfect fit.

The ‘Boys in the Boat’ teaches us how rowing crews come together and why unity is essential for victory. The University of Washington’s coach, Al Ulbrickson, relied heavily on George Pocock for some of the technical aspects of rowing. Pocock, a Brit, set up a business building and selling racing shells out of the University years before. He understood rowing, its spiritual and physical characteristics. He wasn’t a coach but could diagnose a problem with a team from afar. As a result of his eye, Ulbrickson relied on him at times to work on the phycology of his athletes. Joe Rantz was the recipient of this expertise for a time.

 Rantz’s freshmen squad showed talent almost immediately. They Beat the University of California, a perennial rival, at the yearly regatta in Poughkeepsie in 1934.

Ulbrickson made wholesale changes from the time the freshman won their first major race to the Olympic victory in Berlin. By the time they became the varsity crew, they’d been changed out so many times that they never felt secure. Their inconsistency almost doomed them. Eventually though Ulbrickson settled on a team with a smart coxswain and a strong lead. The coxswain, Bobby Moch, figured the most efficient way to win was to get into rhythm as quick as possible and ramp it up near the end. The boys wasted less energy this way because they were able to move as quickly as crews with a faster tempo.

Their secret was unity. The more in tune rowers are with one another, the less wasted motion there is. It’s why a lot of signature wins from the Washington boys were come from behind attacks. Moch keep them at a slower rhythm relative to other teams. The Olympic victory played out a little differently. I won’t spoil it, but Brown doesn’t disappoint in his tense, excited description. The boys from Washington, now representing the United States, had a few staggering impediments on the final race. One was a sick rower and the other, an unfair lane assignment. Al Ulbrickson complained mercilessly to the committee about the lanes 6 and 7 with their heavy crosswinds.

While the story is the Boys, there is a fair bit of history about the Depression and the Nazi’s grand display in Berlin. It’s impossible to talk about 1936 without detailing Leni Riefenstahl’s big vision for the Olympics. Her ongoing fight with Joseph Goebbels plays out against the camaraderie of the US rowing team. More than anything, the story is best when talking about the hardships the team experienced, rowing in the cold and getting comfortable with pain. It’s why Brown focuses so heavily on Joe and his hard scrabble existence that followed him like a shadow. Money is nearly impossible to come by. He even gets beat up by a game warden who catches him fishing illegally and selling the bounty for cash.

What comes together at the end is a true American story of triumph and overcoming odds. One of my favorite passages is near the end. It perfectly sums up the feelings of the boys and how the team had replaced the individual.

 “All along Joe Rantz had figured that he was the weak link in the crew. He’d been added to the boat last, he’d often struggled to master the technical side of the sport, and he still tended to row erratically. Bu what Joe didn’t yet know—what he wouldn’t, in fact, fully realize until much later, when he and the other boys were becoming old men—was that every boy in the boat felt exactly the same that summer. Every one of them believed he was simply lucky to be rowing in the boat, that he didn’t really measure up to the obvious greatness of the other boys, and that he might fail the others at any moment. Every one of them was fiercely determined not to let that happen.” (page 326)

I’m impressed with author Daniel James Brown’s exhaustive research. Much of the story relies on historical records from over a hundred years ago. He must have poured over countless newspaper headlines from the Washington papers to recount the races, times and weather details. The personal stories are always the best though, and readers will get a hefty dose of human struggle and triumph. Highly recommend.

 

 

Doctor Phil's Blind Spot: Too Many Opinions

 

I heard Doctor Phil on Joe Rogan the other day. Rogan’s talkathon podcast is quickly becoming a fount of information for my constantly humming brain. Doctor Phil is a great source for information about drug abuse, and fentanyl’s debilitating effect on the country. On this particular episode they talked about the nastiness and discord in the country right today. Also discussed, the craziness of transgender bullies and the danger of social media. 

Doctor Phil's show is in a lot of ways a public service, but like other successful people he approaches all conflicts the same way. Get folks together and talk it out.

He thinks all problems can be solved by sitting down and hashing out differences. Or at the very least, gaining an appreciation for other points of view. It’s a tired view of conflict and whose time has come.

 Blame social media all you want for ramping up conflict, it doesn’t excuse the fact that one side wants to destroy the country as founded. All of his homespun examples of ‘gettin along’ sound like breaking up a fight between boys at recess. This is fundamentally misguided.

First, not all arguments are made in good faith. Did male swimmer Lia Thomas become a ‘woman’ because he always felt like a girl, or did he do it to dominate collegiate events? We all know the answer. Pretending Thomas’ transition is anything but a charade is phony.  

Second, some arguments are built on faulty logic, misinformation and attitude. The only way to un-wire some people is by ignoring them, or by physically stopping them. I put climate change doomsdayers in this camp. They do outrageous stunts for attention, hoping to disrupt the lives of commuters and cause them irritation. They shut down subways, roadways and destroy art. They’re destructive like children when you ignore them. They deserve a good punch to the face, hard.

The United States is under attack from a global communist cabal. It’s working hard to dismantle our strength and unity. It hates law and order. It hates capitalism. It hates Christianity and the message of salvation, dignity and grace. It wants to enslave humanity. It uses as many points of conflict as it can to create wedges of separation.  

This isn’t one of those times where you find out what the other side wants. We know what they want, chaos. They want a revolution in sexual pleasure, immediate gratification and a lack of accountability for all of it. What part of that does Doctor Phil want to negotiate with?

This whole attitude reminds me of screaming kids at Target. Parents learn to negotiate with kids here. When did children start getting everything they wanted? I’ll give you the toy if you promise not to scream. You can hear it in Doctor Phil’s wondering out loud, but some views are just warped. Some opinions are faulty, illogical. As if all our desires must be met on some level. As if all our opinions have weight.

There’s probably a close link between wealthy societies and decadence. Entitlement persists, it’s in the air. It’s a poison that affects rich and poor. Stomp your feet loud enough and someone will attend to you. Decadence is the stage right before societal collapse I imagine. Rogan mentioned those kids throwing soup on art to protest some climate nonsense. Camera crews stand around documenting their every halfwit proclamation. Daytime TV dopes try to get them in a room to talk about their very important protest.

Twenty years ago I would’ve given Doctor Phil a break. Society hadn’t degraded to the point where letting kids choose their gender was the stock and trade of the Democrat Party. But he’s seen too much. At some point he’ll have to recognize this two sides bullshit is for a previous age. This isn’t a Right versus Left thing anymore. That might explain his reluctance to be righteously indignant. You either believe that children are a precious gift and we owe it to future generations to tell them the truth, or you don’t.

What truth do we owe? The truth about good and evil, and the truth about sin and consequence. The universe was created in God’s image, as were people. We don’t get to decide which sex to become, or which sexual identity to put on like a pair of boots. Sin entered the world when Lucifer fell from heaven. Since then, he’s tried to destroy God’s creation and confuse humanity. The evil that exists in culture is a direct result of Lucifer’s war against the Creator. We have to start there.

We live in a time of great confusion around the world. The time for milquetoast responses is over. Kids are at risk in this world of lies if we don’t fight for them.  

 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them

Romans 1:18-19

 

Justice Run 22

 

My first marathon is finally in the memory bank.

 From preparation to finish it was the toughest thing I’ve done. I’ve got a better idea now of what to do differently, and how to prepare more efficiently. In the preceding weeks, my friends and family asked me to list goals for the race. Mostly I stuck to my 4 hours and 30 minutes answer. That’s what I expected to get, running the practice pace I was used to running. It all depended on how much juice my legs had near the end of course. That’s always the x factor for marathons; how much is left in the tank after 20 miles? What about 23?

My real goal was completing the run, while actually running the entire thing. That I did manage. The 4:30 will have to wait though, the best I could swing this time was 4:50. I’m ok with that for now. I have a specific window next time to aim for.

This was a park run. Each leg was 6.55 miles. That meant for the marathon, we had to run it 4 times. The race organizers didn’t need to close roads or divert traffic. This was all done along the river parks in Fort Worth. Making it only 6.55 miles long allowed for greater control over the whole event. Each mile had a table with water, electrolytes and snacks. They staffed each one with volunteers and ran 4 wheeled carts between the tables all night to check on the runners. The best quality of running a marathon in a park is the flat surfaces. The hills were nonexistent.

My training has been in the morning for the last 2 years at least. The summer evenings make it impossible for me to get any distance in the heat, so I run early. This marathon started at 4pm, which was unusual but didn’t stop me from signing up. I knew the trickiest part would be figuring out what to eat and when. That turned out to be the biggest problem of the night. I didn’t eat enough before or during the race, my thinking being that an empty stomach is better. A full belly slows me down and makes me sluggish. That couldn’t happen. I opted to eat almost nothing. I don’t normally eat before I run in the morning, why would I change that for the afternoon?

The first half of the run felt great. I kept my pace just over 10 minutes a mile and tried to stay there. After mile 16 or so I started to feel it in the legs. I think my pace slowed down significantly after 20 miles, the last checkpoint before the turnaround. The exhaustion forced me to stop at every table on the way back just to catch my breath and fill up with water. It proved a much needed rest period before continuing to the next table. The finish was such sweet relief I almost cried. My brother and his wife and kids were there to cheer me in. We took a few pictures, and my health went downhill quick.

I threw up in a garbage can and tried to drink water and feel normal again, it didn’t work. My brother asked one of the guys at the information booth to give us a ride to the car. I was in no condition to walk. The guy at the booth was a doctor. He noticed my pale complexion and said I looked dehydrated. I allowed him to take me to the medical tent. They gave me an IV and called the ambulance. They gave me 4 bags of fluid, took vitals and sent me home. The whole affair was a little embarrassing, but I was grateful for the fluids and the care. My mom and brother met me at the hospital. It was after 2:00 a.m. when we finally left.

What did I learn? Eating during a run is a necessity. Those gels aren’t enough when you’re burning hundreds of calories every hour. No more starvation mode. This came from a habit of not eating during morning runs. Second lesson, take more electrolytes at the stops. I didn’t like the taste so I avoided them. Next time I’ll just gulp them down I guess.

There were a lot people praying for me to finish strong. I’m grateful for that. My final effort was otherworldly. I didn’t have enough in the tank, but somehow managed to come in jogging. Thank God for His strength. When I am weak, He is strong.

 

Fit to Print

 

Every time I sit down to do another political piece I get overwhelmed. The war in Ukraine is a perfect example. There is more going on behind the scenes than I can imagine. Even if I study for an hour just on the specific news of the day, how do I know that what I’ve read is true? Once you realize that most news and information is propaganda, it makes it tough to honestly write about anything. I don’t mind changing positions when better information is available but what if nearly everything I’m told is a lie?

Not a lie in the 100% bullshit way. No one can get away with that for long. You can’t tell me it’s raining in Oklahoma on a sunny, clear day. I can look out the window and know it’s a lie. But even as I write that, the president went on TV today and got a booster shot. He then proceeded to tell people that getting the shot would keep you from getting Covid and spreading it to others. It’s an easily verifiable lie! His own CDC told the nation almost a year ago that the vaccine doesn’t prevent transmission. We’ve known this. So it doesn’t give me a lot of hope that the rest of the news is correct.

Mostly what I see is skewed stories that show a kind of partial truth, but wildly miss the real thrust. This is willful of course but extremely frustration. I watched about an hour of a PBS show called Independent Lens last night. Broadly it was about the tech industry and its manipulation of private data. TikTok was featured heavily. It’s a Chinese app that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) manipulates for their own citizens. In the US, Tik Tok is getting the can’t-be-trusted label because their servers are in China. We can’t really know what they are doing with all the data. But it’s a Communist country after all, the citizens have no rights and neither does private industry.

So far that’s fine. It’s true. But it’s also true of our own tech companies and only recently has Mark Zuckerberg starting dumping on Tik Tok. He didn’t make any inroads in China with his own platform, Facebook, and now he’s getting beat locally by Tik Tok. The film was upfront about this I thought. But all of these platforms work by collecting huge reams of personal data. That’s the trade-off that we’ve (citizens) agreed to in essence. They talked about shadow banning of individual accounts and outright hiding pages because of sensitive content. They only featured left wing accounts though.

As if, the Left isn’t allowed to share their content on Tik Tok without getting blocked or banned on a massive scale. They featured some high school girl who talked about the Uighurs in China. Tik Tok sent her a warning, then they disabled her account after multiple infractions. It’s a tragedy for sure, both the slavery of the Uighurs and restricting this girl from sharing it. But it pales in comparison to the manipulation of our own platforms.

The Right was summarily banned for nearly all of 2020 on most platforms. Facebook in particular, banned anyone from denying election results. Well, not the elections that Democrats lost of course, just 2020. That’s a lot of people and none of them on the Left. You can find a few individuals on the Left but it was a tidal wave on the right. They know this. The US government put pressure on these platforms to censor, ban or report countless Q followers known as “Anons”. All because they rejected the official version of the election, how is that different from what China does?

Some of the reporters tried to make a case that misinformation is a problem for regular readers. It's not. 

It's a problem for the government. It doesn’t want to compete with other sources. It wants to have the official version, just like Beijing. Whether the information shared is true or not is irrelevant. If Facebook wants to police it, good luck to them. But they’ve always claimed they aren’t responsible for what individuals put on their site. Fair enough …then why cancel so many people? They’re trying to have it both ways. When the government insists on something you do it or get punished. That’s what’s really going on with Facebook and Twitter and all the others. They don’t want to run afoul of Uncle Sam or get dragged through the courts like a pro life Christian at an antiabortion rally.

Having this Independent Lens show talk about the marginalized liberals was like explaining how the dust bowl was tough on livestock without mentioning the destruction of homes, soil and livelihoods. It’s not untrue but it’s a disgusting example of misdirection.

I wanted to write something about the Russia/Ukraine war but I don’t really know what’s going on.

The Rock in Times of Trouble: Psalm 61

 

King David’s Perspective on God’s Greatness: Psalm 61

I picked Psalm 61 because I appreciate David’s perspective on trouble. He magnifies the Lord to the point where his personal issues fade. It’s a wonderful practice for Christians today. “When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (verse 2)

It’s a verse about perspective, but not in an intellectual way. This is all heart and passion and desperation. It’s the kind of thing you write when structures are crashing all around and you don’t know where to go. David’s Psalm provides us with the best window into his mind and emotions. He always reminds himself of God’s bigness in all situations.

God is a High Tower, a Shelter and a Foundation for all those who fear His name. When we examine all the ways God is bigger, we rest in the knowledge of His plan.

It’s true for kings, it’s true for us.

The Rock as a high place

The first attribute of God in Psalm 61 is His highness. Being high above allows us to see the whole picture clearer. As a kid we used to visit a small touristy town called Dubuque, Iowa for the scenery. Usually around the fall, the leaves change enriching its beauty and bringing tourists from all over the state. They have a trolley that climbs a track up a steep hill where you can see 3 states (Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa) and the Mississippi River. It’s a stunning view. Everything else looks small and insignificant by comparison. Illinois and Iowa are mostly flat, farming states. It’s not often that we get to see such a distance.

Nothing changes in our circumstance when we get high up and take a look around. But our perspective shifts, enough to take on a new appreciation and a grander scale. When we allow God to be our high tower, He gives us opportunity to let Him take control. That act is one of faith, it’s made clearer by our perspective shift. In I Samuel 24, David gets a chance to kill Saul but decides to send a message instead. Saul is tormented by jealousy over David’s popularity. He took his men into En Gedi to find and kill David. Along the way he stops to use the toilet in a cave not knowing that David and his men are hiding there.

Instead of killing Saul, David cuts off a piece of Saul’s clothing and shouts at him. The message from that day was clear, “I could’ve killed you easily.” Saul repented to David after that. He realized his family was safe from retribution, a big part of the reason for the chase. David’s high tower moment came from within; God convicted him about even cutting off the piece of clothing. He said “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 24:6)

Such was David’s reverence of God’s plan, that He wouldn’t harm the anointed servant. He writes “You’ve given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. You will prolong the king’s life, his years as many generations” (verses 5-6)

The Rock as Shelter

David’s second attribute of the rock is as a shelter. We’re all familiar with the value of a shelter. Whether in hiding from enemies or as a covering from rain, large rock formations cover us from the elements. I remember going to a popular picnic spot as a kid in a local park. We always went there in case the rain, a likely scenario in May, disrupted our plans for barbeque and hiking. The park had a nice open air shelter with picnic tables and grills just under the covering. On a few occasions we had to grab our food and tableware and high tail it for the shelter as a popup shower moved in.

Noah and his family understood the value of a shelter as the rain came and filled the earth. They were saved due to their obedience and trust in the rock. Coincidentally they landed on a rock after 40 days. A mountain chain in modern day Turkey is the likeliest place for it. The ark became a shelter from the deluge; because of Noah’s obedience, God provided a way through the trouble. On the other side of that obedience was new life, and a future he couldn’t have imagined before the flood.  

Obedience requires trust. David points to this in verse 4 “I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.” Noah’s trust that the rains would come and overwhelm the earth, seemed truly crazy. But only a lifelong closeness with the Heavenly Father will dispel doubt. The ark became a shelter for Noah and his family, not to mention the animals, but the presence of the Lord is our permanent shelter from trouble.

The Rock as a Foundation

David’s third attribute of God is as the immovable rock or foundational rock. What’s so important about an immovable rock? We can count on it to be there. 

In the storms of life we need something to grab onto that won’t be washed ashore. My favorite example of the immovable rock is from Daniel chapter 2 and his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The king had an intense, meaningful dream that he didn’t understand. He called his soothsayers for help. When they couldn’t help he tried to kill them. Daniel stepped in and gave the interpretation. He saw a statue made of gold, silver, bronze and clay. It represented all the kingdoms of the earth. But a rock crushed it to pieces and grew into a mountain that filled the whole earth. 

The rock represents the Creator’s dominance over the whole earth. Kings and kingdoms rise and fall, but the God who put everything in place will reign forever. Notice too how important it was that the rock was not made from human hands. The other kingdoms were all built on human ability and intellect. The rock was here from the beginning. It’s immovable, permanent and unyielding.

Conclusion

It's particularly important to realize how much bigger God is than the current political climate. I think we are in a rock sort of period right now. In the next decade, God is going to upturn a lot of old families, castes, societies and governments. 

He is going to remind us again, that He is the Lord of all and His foundation lasts for eternity. I like how Elihu defines the justice of God “When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble? And whether it is against a nation or a man alone? Than the hypocrite should not reign, Lest the people be ensnared. (Job 34:29-30)

Psalm 61 is for us today. The chaos may come, but God is our Rock.

 

Rick Rubin's 'Coaching' Philosophy

 

The Inherent Creativity of Music Producer Rick Rubin

I heard Rick Rubin on the Joe Rogan Experience, the other day.

His name is familiar because I used to listen to a lot of metal. He’s produced records for System of a Down, Metallica, Slayer and many others. He’s worked with a lot of hip hop artists and even top 40 radio artists like the Dixie Chicks and Kanye West. The list is impressive. I assumed he’s kind of a studio genius because of his work, but he calls himself a coach. Helping artists find their path instead of setting up a specific route, is his style.

Be Receptive

The thing I got most from the interview, creatives need to change their process or setting or way of thinking on occasion. It’s helps to reset the mind so ideas can flow more freely. This is implicit in the interview. Writing is a creative discipline so I listened close. He recorded an album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a rented house. They had done 4 albums before Blood Sugar Sex Magik and had bad experiences in the studios. Rubin didn’t elaborate on why. He hinted that this might have been their drug phase. The point was, lets mix this process up and change the energy in the room. It’s a theory that’s worked well when bands want to get unstuck.

He's a feel guy, not a process guy. What that means to me is, he doesn’t have a plan or strategy when he sits down to record. It sounds like he gets the most of out of people by forcing them to think differently or feel differently.

Be Open to Change

I need to change something about my writing process because I lack inspiration most of the time. Not that I need to be inspired to write. Often it’s a slog that requires working through ideas until something sounds good. This works most of the time, but it’s limiting too. My words are flat for a long while until they start to round out with complexity. I start out with ‘See Jane run’ types of sentences. But new ideas pop into my brain, eventually. I don’t experiment with other environments because I like consistency. But I think a change in approach is exactly what I need.

The problem I have with feel versus process, is the seeming lack of discipline in feeling. This might be a stereotype. When someone tells me they just kind of feel things out I assume they’re lazy. Like someday they might not feel like working, or working a slow pace. But when a giant in the music industry says it, I take notice. It’s not a lack of discipline where Rubin is concerned. But he is more in touch with his instincts and keeps working the problem by testing and discarding.

Be a Fan

Rubin didn’t give one specific piece of technical advice. Other than his early work with LL Cool J and trying to record a raw sound, he talks purely about instinct. He comes off polished and almost seminar ready. I imagine the book he wrote forced him to evaluate his philosophy on creativity. Although the idea of the bearded Rubin at a hotel conference room pointing to a slide show paints a hilarious picture.

One more piece of advice that rang true. Don’t create for an audience other than yourself. This isn’t a quote. I’m paraphrasing because I like to personalize. He said he never created anything because he thought there was a market. He recorded hip hop albums because he was a fan of the music. He paid for a boutique pro wrestling company because he loves the sport. It never occurred to him to make tweaks or changes to appeal to the largest amount of people. Trying to figure out what people want is a recipe for disaster. When you lose the joy of making your own product, what’s the point? It doesn’t mean you can’t change course or come up with a better way to create. It just means, opinions from others shouldn’t decide your direction.

He summed up his ‘coach’ philosophy like this “How you experience the world is what makes you artist you are, or the creative person you are”.

Conclusion

Of all the advice people give, this one rings true to me more than any other. Rick Rubin essentially said, be yourself. It’s the most innocuous, banal piece of advice that you hear. It’s also the most worthwhile. Riches and fame are fleeting and difficult to achieve. If popularity is the goal you’re in it for the wrong reasons. Whatever “it” might be in your life. God created us in His image with unique talents of our own. Our creativity is a reflection of His design. When we work through our interests and take pride in creating, we Honor Him.

Now I just need to come up with ways to change my writing routine.

 

 

Fair Snare

 

I went to the fair yesterday for my usual one full day of bliss. Not really bliss, but I do enjoy the fair as an adult. Most years I eat too much and spend the evening trying to recover. This would be the year that I didn’t over do it. This time, I would be responsible.

 We hardly went as kids. There was no money for it and in Illinois the fair is kind of the last hoorah of summer. Bad timing with all the back to school shopping.  Here in Oklahoma it’s the first week of October and still feels like summer. I certainly went once or twice as a kid, but I remember it being a smaller deal. For some reason it all felt very no-big-deal-ish.

Probably because I live within walking distance, in Tulsa it’s a large-scale event that lasts 10 days. I’ve decided my favorite part of the whole experience is the livestock shows. A friend came over to my place and we walked through the livestock complex first, looking for horses or goats or pigs. It might be my mistake, but for some reason I thought there was a horse show. Maybe that’s not a state fair thing. We did see a pig show and a parade of malcontent sows. They'd rather not be on display I guess. 

Getting pigs to move in a particular way and stop when you want them to seems like miserable work. I think W.C Fields said something about never wanting to work with kids or animals. In this case the kids were leading the animals. Some kids looked to be about 8 or 9 years old, but experts.

We figured that the pig show was similar to a dog breeders’ show. The hogs are judged based on specifications of the breed. The judge gave a hilarious description of the hefty pig as being “athletic and feminine”. Oh, and she apparently has a “stout frame”. As funny as that was, no in the crowd seemed to disagree. They applauded the same as if their toddler just won a spelling bee. The ones in attendance probably knew exactly what to expect. There weren’t a lot of random city types gawking at the event like me. Most had either entered a pig or knew someone who had.

Same deal with the bulls. We got to sit in the open air stadium and watch the judges select the champion bull. They stood next to their handlers as still as possible. It’s remarkable to me that a human can lead such a massive animal around by the bridle. Some of the handlers were petite teenage girls. One in particular was having a hell of time keeping her bull still. He kept jerking his head around, obviously annoyed with the whole process. She handled it like a champ though, just walked him around in a circle until he calmed down.

I witnessed a sow giving birth in one of the indoor birthing centers. I imagine the hog farmers planned this timewise for such an occasion. The sow next to her had given birth to 8 piglets the day before, this one had 10 before we left. A crew of ‘professionals’ stood around helping the mother with the process. The girl doing the dirty work, getting her arm inside the birth canal and pulling out piglets one at a time, was a pro. She pulled out each piglet and handed it off to another girl who wiped it down while the vet clipped the umbilical cord. Of all the events to see, this was the best.

We did the usual food and drink stuff. I bought a Italian sausage with the works and had ice cream. Later I filled up on a funnel cake because, this is a fair after all. The last two years I’ve been seriously disappointed in the main course food. The desserts are always good but the meat is consistently dry and I struggle to find something that makes me seek it out every year. Maybe it’s never been great. The food is all savory smells and visual enticement but after taking a bite it’s like, why did I spend so much on this shitty sandwich/stick/burger?

It's mostly why I’m always ill after walking around the fair. The main course food is terrible so I fill up on sweets and sugary drinks. Yesterday was no different. I wanted a lime aid for the walk home. It would be my final purchase this year so I got a souvenir size cup. Yeah I’m a sucker. I spend the next couple of hours eating tums and trying to feel normal again. I didn’t even eat that much relative to other years. But the fair, in all its wickedness, couldn’t let me go without a kick in the stomach once more. I thought I’d gotten out this year unscathed but nope. Like the demon that took Gandalf down with a final snap of his whip, the fair caught me just before I climbed out.

Next year will be different, possibly.

 

Sabotage on Nord Stream: Whodunnit?

 

"Listen up Ya'll it's a Sabotage". Apologies to the Beastie Boys but what's going on with the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea? 

There were two explosions today under water. The gas stated bubbling up to the surface. It looks like someone sabotaged them. No one is confident to say for sure, but it’s a little too convenient given the hostilities between the US and Russia. I know the war is officially between Ukraine and Russia but let’s be honest, it’s a proxy war. Since World War II it’s been NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and Russia; NATO is really the United States.

There are two major pipelines in the Baltic Sea that supply gas to Europe, Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. NS2 isn’t operational yet but only because of some official signatures. NS1 had been shut down for maintenance work in August. Both were ready to go until today’s explosion. Germany will be affected the most. A large percentage of their energy is tied up in Russian gas, despite warnings not to buy Russian gas from US presidents. But they’ve taken so many nuclear power plants our of operation they had little choice. Their green movement always pushed harder and had more resonance than here.

How is it connected to the war in Ukraine? My first thought was that Russia did it to punish those NATO countries supplying tanks and weapons to Zelenskyy and co. Not only does it force the price of gas sky high, it makes European citizens angry enough to riot against their own government. That might be wishful thinking. Wealthy European countries don’t overthrow their hometown governments…or do they? This is a perfect pinch point for a revolution. High prices and freezing temperatures create a volatile mix in the population.

The US might have done it too. What do we stand to gain by crippling our NATO allies and shutting off the tap from Russia? We can sell LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) to the continent and make a small fortune. Without Russian gas they’ll have to look elsewhere. Who else can supply so much before the snow starts falling? I’m not an expert on LNG but, apparently it’s dangerous to transport. Transporting a few thousand, highly flammable and combustive tanks is not a great idea. One Twitter account called cargo ships with LNG on board “floating hindenburgs”.

Most think America is responsible. I’ve seen countless clips of President Biden threatening to kill the Nord Stream 2 deal from earlier in the year. One showed former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, threatening to shut down the Nord Stream 2 project if Russia invades Ukraine. It’s as close to a threat as I’ve seen.

Right now at least the US is the biggest suspect. The CIA warned Germany just a few weeks ago about possible attacks on the pipelines; quite ballsy if they did indeed sabotage it.

I’m not sure why Germany wants to be a slave to Russia for this much it’s energy anyway. Germany will become a model to the rest of us on the dangers of handing over national security to a historic enemy. Energy policy is not like transportation or immigration, the pain is felt right away when you don’t get it right. Biden shut down the Keystone XL pipeline after taking office. His energy department has slow walked new leases for drilling ever since. Prices went up almost immediately. 

Hopefully this long cold winter puts an end to the green lobbies everywhere. Enough with these damn Marxist, humanity hating demons. They’re anti life and anti progress. 

A bigger concern for Ukraine however is the potential release of nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin has threatened to do it. Might he use them as a response to the sabotaging of the pipelines? This assumes that the United States actually did blow a hole in them.

I’m usually full of opinions on the state of the world. Not tonight. I’m praying a lot more nowadays. A full scale war with Russia is a genuine possibility, especially if Putin thinks his back is against the wall. But I’ll continue to believe in God’s perfect plan and timing. When all seems lost, our God is victorious.