The Supreme Court handed down a decision today, helping to secure the 2nd Amendment as it was intended; the protection of an individual's right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. In celebration I have gathered some of my favorite gun stats and gun-related quotes. Enjoy!
"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good"
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest."
"One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms."
"Taking my gun away because I might shoot someone is like cutting my tongue out because I might yell `Fire!' in a crowded theater."
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. [...] the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.
‘‘Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? ... If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?’’
I have discovered a neat, possibly new, feature with iTunes where you can download movie trailers. I am a pretty big fan of movie trailers generally speaking so I found myself click, click, clicking on all sorts of trailers. Mostly, I found movies that I'll likely rent in the future and then there was one that caught my eye...Religulous by Bill Maher. Oh great, a pseudo-documentary about religion. One part of the trailer stuck in my head more than anything else though. In one scene he is conversing with some dude who appears to be dressed as Jesus for an Easter presentation. It is a brief interaction with the following being said:
Bill: "Why doesn't he just obliterate the Devil, and therefore get rid of evil in the world?"
Dude Dressed as Jesus: "He will"
Bill: "He will? What's he waiting for?"
It is a tough question to answer. What is He waiting for? Why doesn't God bring his kingdom to earth and end the suffering. Why, if heaven is the greatest place to be, do we need to waste our time with the current state of affairs?
There is, of course, the basic answer of not knowing God's plans or His timing. Which is true, we don't know God's plan and I truly believe we lack the ability to ever fully understand it. The thing is, I still struggle to understand this question myself. It doesn't shake my faith, but I wish I could get my head around some possible reason to wait.
Then, the morning after, as I replayed the question in my head, something hit me. Maybe He is waiting for something so amazing and precious that it is worth holding off the apocalypse for. Maybe He is waiting for all those people...His people...His children...to come back to Him. Maybe He waits, weeping at the sight of having us live in this broken world, but knowing that the alternative would leave so many behind...or worse. He has done the work, paid the price, and opened the door to us all, and now...maybe he is waiting for us.
Maybe He waits for your teacher or coworker or friend. Maybe He waits for someone you haven't met or never will meet. Your mail carrier, the cashier, the girl who cut you off or the guy who's riding your butt while you drive. Maybe He is waiting for Bill.
Maybe He is waiting for my mom and my dad and my sister and my aunt and uncle and cousins.
Maybe He is still waiting for me to fully give my life over to Jesus.
Maybe He is waiting because He knows that once that ship sets sail, once the end of this age comes, there is no turning back. Those left behind will have run out of the chances to accept God's grace that each new day brings.
Maybe He is waiting for you.
This is my first official Father's Day and I couldn't be happier with my daughter and wife. They are my real gift. The idea of being celebrated for being lucky enough and blessed enough to have somehow won the heart of my wife, then have a perfect, beautiful baby with her is kinda crazy when I think about it. Maybe down the road, I'll have to make tougher decisions and perhaps some larger sacrifices for my child that will make me feel more like I've earned a special day like this, but right now I feel like I owe. Having Olivia and Jessica in my life is such a privilege, I feel like I should be getting them something!
I have a lot to look forward to, and boy do I. I look forward to all your laughs and smiles and I look forward to the times I can comfort you and hold you. You're what makes this day special, sweetheart.
Hmm...I wonder if they would prefer a big screen TV or a MacBook as a token of my appreciation.
"And the sun will set for you,
The sun will set for you.
And the shadow of the day,
Will embrace the world in gray,
And the sun will set for you."
There have been many blessings in my life that I am so very thankful for, but there are still times when the joy of my life is muted by circumstance and stress and exhaustion. In those times, I allow myself to drift from the truth of who I am and whose I am. I allow myself to dwell on things I don't have or the places I can't go or friends who...aren't.
It is time though to get on my feet and continue on the journey though. I can't hold up my life for things. They don't bring real joy. I can't hold up my life wishing I was somewhere else. Everything I truly love is right here. I can't hold up my life waiting for people who don't enjoy my company. Not everyone is going to like me and they don't need to.
I've wasted enough time on these things and more. No more...at least for tonight. Tonight I play with my daughter. Tonight I spend time with my wife. Tonight I remember what it is that gives me life. The rest of the crap is a waste and I have to say good-bye.
"Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple. Sometimes goodbye's the only way."
Lyrics from Shadow of the Day by Linkin Park
It is hard for me to look in the mirror and see great things in myself, so I thought I try to see myself through the eyes of some of my friends and family. This is what some had to say about me in three words:
Loving, Funny, Seeker
Reserved, Funny, Smart
Trustworthy, Witty, Complex
Dependable, Hardworking, Lighthearted
Compassionate, Good-looking (thanks Mom), Smart
Loquacious, Facetious, Voracious
For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.
"How do you know if you are going to die?"
I begged my mother.
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
"When you can no longer make a fist."
Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.
~Naomi Shihab Ni
