How to Survive Election Commercials

I live in Ohio, a battleground state, which means that currently I see three different kinds of commercials: presidential campaign commercials, state campaign commercials and Geico commercials (by far my favorite).

If you're anything like me, you made up your mind about this race before the last week of election season; unfortunately, however, there must be others out there who haven't decided yet over the course of the two-year presidential election. But for those of us who have, the ads run ad nauseum during our sporting events, newscasts and TV shows.

To help you survive these frequent interruptions of biased viewpoints and inane statements, I have come up with a list of activities to more productively or entertainingly (I just made that word up) use your time:

1) Mute the TV and make up the words on your own. You'll be surprised at how accurately you can match up your own words to those that are actually being said. One tip--make sure to use a low, angry tone when the screen shows the opponent's image in black-and-white with terrifying newspaper headlines in the background.

2) Catch up on your Bible reading and prayer time. If you're like me, you always wish you had more time with the Lord, but how much time would you be spending with Him if you prayed during every election commercial? That's one way to cover this country in prayer.

3) Pick up a new hobby. I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar, so what if I learned a new chord during every commercial? I could be playing "Free Bird" by the election. What have you always wanted to do but just don't have the time for? Learn a new language? Write the great American novel? Take up croquet?

4) Spend time with your family. If you've seen every commercial enough times that you have them memorized, maybe you should be watching less TV and spending more time with the wife and kids. I'm writing this one for myself after a Saturday spent binging on college football games.
Whatever you decide to do during the commercials, make sure you're educated about the issues and have prayed for guidance, and then go out and vote next Tuesday.

Christians in the Media

An interesting article in USA Today yesterday looked at one of the reasons that conservative Christian have such a loathing of the media: a lack of evangelicals in the workplace.

As a journalist and a Christian, I’m always interested in this debate over how liberal-subjective the media is. Most conservative Christians I know like the media about as much as they like a root canal (except for Fox News, of course).

I understand why they feel that way. I frequently find a liberal bent in the media. Whether it’s the choice of which stories to cover, which sources to interview, which facts to lead with or which words to use in headlines, you frequently hear one side of the story more prominently than the other.

But as a trained journalist, I also understand the other side of it. More and more, these people have to put together lots of information under impossible deadlines and things slip out when they don’t have enough time. Most of the time, I believe the media’s bias is more of a subliminal thing. The rest of the time, you’re either watching MSNBC or reading the New York Times.

So though I don’t hate it as much as a lot of churchgoers, I do see the problems. And when you hear things like the Pew Research Center’s poll that said that only 8 percent of journalists at national media outlets attend church weekly, it’s easy to understand why they just don’t understand us.

Maybe the solution is more Christian journalists in the secular press. Or maybe we are just going to have to get used to the fact that, as long as we live in this world, Christians are going to be misunderstood.
What do you think?

Mr. Mom

Can I admit that I love Mark Driscoll? The co-founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle combines two of my favorite parts of Christianity: He has the energy, outward focus and cultural awareness of a young pastor, and the conservative and well-thought out theology characteristic of someone much older. When “Emergent” types like Brian McLaren claim to speak for my generation, I’m glad Driscoll is there to hold on to an orthodox view of Jesus.

If you want an example, check out this video at this Web site: http://theresurgence.com/should_husbands_be_stay_at_home_dads. He answers the question of whether it’s OK for a husband to be a stay-at-home dad in a balanced way, but still gives the hard, biblical truth: “No.”

That’s something a lot of Christians might bristle at today. Why does it matter who is making the money? Isn’t it better to have one parent stay home if the other is making enough money to provide for the family? A lot of pastors would be tempted to say that it is.

But that would be giving in to the culture, not looking at the Bible. It’s in the nature of men to be providers and caretakers. Both men and women are made in the image of God and reflect parts of Him, and men are made to reflect God’s provision and authority. Some can take that overboard and become workaholics who aren’t involved in their kids’ lives, which is also a sin that should be avoided at all costs.

But too often our culture says that it doesn’t matter which parent handles which responsibility, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Christian men should set the example by being real men and providing for their families while also being an active parent in their kids’ lives. I’m just glad some of the next generation of pastors like Mark Driscoll still believe that.

The Calm in the Midst of the Storm

I’ve been reading too much news. It seems like I can’t resist or escape paying attention to the economy these days, and every time I do it’s just depressing. To be honest, I was feeling a little overwhelmed by it this morning as I was researching what to write about for the blog. Every story is about the crash of credit or the election (in which, of course, each side is blaming the other for the crash). I imagine many of you are feeling the same way.

Thankfully, I was reminded by a small, still voice this morning that my faith is not in capitalism or politics. My faith is in the Lord. So instead of a nice rant bemoaning the greediness of our materialistic culture, I thought I would get out of the way and let the Word of God do the talking, specifically Matthew 6: 25-34:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I pray that the Lord will protect each of you today and give you His peace.

God's Financial Wisdom

Proverbs is one of my favorite books of the Bible, because I love to read it and see how God's wisdom stands the test of time. The book is several centuries old, and almost all of the advice remains as practical and relevant to our day as it did in Solomon's age.

Sadly, like most things in life, it often takes hardship and tragedy for us to realize that God knows what He is talking about. So when God says, “Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts,” in Proverbs 22:26, we all understand the wisdom of that today. But if you told that to someone 3 years ago, they would have laughed and said that God doesn’t understand the current market.

That’s one of the reasons Christian-owned financial firms are doing surprisingly well at the moment. With Wall Street suffering massive losses from the housing crisis, companies like the Evangelical Christian Credit Union (ECCU), which provides banking for churches and ministries, are actually growing in the current conditions.

"We don't do residential mortgages or investment vehicles that have underlying mortgages," Mark Holbrook, president of ECCU, said in an article in Christianity Today. "The vast majority of churches and ministries are fundamentally sound."

Christian companies like this are seen as a safe place right now, and deposits at ECCU, which manages $3 billion in assets, are up 12 percent this year.

Sounds like they have a strong foundation to weather the current storm. Wait, does that sound familiar?