...must be nice rocks...

Well, looks like someone hasn't been listening to their Larry Norman lately...

Neither have these guys...

See, they could have gone and spent our money on so many other things. All they would have needed to do was listen to a couple of Larry Norman songs, right? Required listening before going to work with NASA or choosing a life in politics, "Readers Digest" and "Great American Novel."

"It's 1973, I wonder who we're gonna see
Who's in power now? Think I'll turn on my TV,
The man on the news said China's gonna beat us,
We shot all our dreamers, there's no one left to lead us.
We need a solution, we need salvation,
Let's send some people to the moon and gather information.

spoken: They brought back a big bag of rocks.
Only cost thirteen billion. Must be nice rocks." ~ Larry Norman, excerpt from "Readers Digest"

"Great American Novel"~ Larry Norman

i was born and raised an orphan
in a land that once was free
in a land that poured its love out on the moon
and i grew up in the shadows
of your silos filled with grain
but you never helped to fill my empty spoon

and when i was ten you murdered law
with courtroom politics
and you learned to make a lie sound just like truth
but i know you better now
and i don't fall for all your tricks
and you've lost the one advantage of my youth

you kill a black man at midnight
just for talking to your daughter
then you make his wife your mistress
and you leave her without water
and the sheet you wear upon your face
is the sheet your children sleep on
at every meal you say a prayer
you don't believe but still you keep on

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it

you are far across the ocean
but the war is not your own
and while you're winning theirs
you're gonna lose the one at home
do you really think the only way
to bring about the peace
is to sacrifice your children
and kill all your enemies

the politicians all make speeches
while the news men all take note
and they exagerate the issues
as they shove them down our throats
is it really up to them
whether this country sinks or floats
well i wonder who would lead us
if none of us would vote

well my phone is tapped and my lips are chapped
from whispering through the fence
you know every move i make
or is that just coincidence
well you try to make my way of life
a little less like jail
if i promise to make tapes and slides
and send them through the mail

and your money says in God we trust
but it's against the law to pray in school
you say we beat the russians to the moon
and i say you starved your children to do it
you say all men are equal all men are brothers
then why are the rich more equal than others
don't ask me for the answer i've only got one
that a man leaves his darkness when he follows the Son

That's all I got today.

Readings...

Here's some things I have found interesting as of late...

article about Joni Mitchell calling Bob Dylan a fake...huh?

One of the best books on war I've read (he's not a pacifist)

Profit Over People by Noam Chomsky: Neoliberalism and Global Order (1/2 way through it)

cool Bible link sent to me by Don Roberto

Take me out to the ball game....

Here are the pictures I promised of the ball field built by Mandi's Ministries. It is specially built with a baseline made of a rubber type material. This allows kids in motorized chairs to get around the bases. It was awesome to get to see one of JCs games. Like I said in the last post, people from all over Oklahoma are utilizing this field. It was great to see all the kids interact with each other, and watch the great sportsmanship each of them had.

Here is Randy and JC playing catch...and JC running the bases below...

"...don't it make ya wanna dance...don't it make ya wanna smile..."

Finally getting back to doing a post here. It's been a crazy month with much going on. Three weeks until the little one arrives. Two baby showers later, and I think we have everything covered! A big Thank You! to all the ladies that helped with them and gave us so many wonderful gifts to welcome this little girl into the world. It has been quite the whirlwind preparing. Thank God we have awesome friends and family that all helped along the way. I was gone the last few weeks, and we had some great shows. John Henry and The Engine opened a couple of the shows for us. They are a good band from St. Louis. One of the venues they played with us was the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines, IA. This place was awesome. It has been open since 1938. Everyone from Duke Ellington to Glenn Miller played there. One thing I try to do is check out the 8x10s that the club has hung of all the performers. I almost didn't go look at the Val-Air, but was glad I did. We also played The Cotillion Ballroom in Wichita, KS. I always love playing this place. It's a circular building with a dome roof. Both of these are great venues of the Mid-West. The picture to your left is a new sculpture at the site of the Larry Joe Taylor cook off that we play every year in Stephenville, TX. The festival used to be located in Meridian, TX and they moved it a few years back in order to gain some more room. Rusty Wier was a fixture at this festival and I thought it was great for them to honor him in this way. The sculpture is right next to the ramp that each artist walks up to get to the stage.

I had a couple days off on this run in OKC and got to go see our drummer Randy's kid, JC play a t-ball game. Randy and his wife have a charity that has built a special needs accessible baseball field. I took a bunch of pics but wont have access to my camera for a couple of days because I left it on the bus. I will post pics soon, I promise. The field is awesome, it has a special rubber baseline so that kids in chairs can get around the bases. They have done a great job with it, and it was a blast to finally be able to see it. Folks from all around Oklahoma drive a long way to be able to utilize such a great resource.

Like I said, give me a couple of days, and I'll have some pictures for you.

I've been reading quite a bit lately. There seems to be this innate desire in me to have all the answers for this little one coming. Not only specific answers, but general answers about why things are the way they are when she gets old enough to comprehend things. I want to have honest answers for her. Sometimes I sit and hope that maybe things will get better and I wont have to answer certain questions. Regardless of what your beliefs are on how technology is turning our individual societies into a "global culture", it's happening. Our children will have much more interaction with other children around the globe. Just like everything else, there will be good and evil to come out of this. For instance, will my daughter be socially interacting with Iraqi children? Will the discussion of why our soldiers are still in Iraq come up? What am I supposed to say to that? "Well honey, you see, if we hadn't occupied your friends country you wouldn't be having this conversation with her." Maybe, but I wouldn't be telling the truth. Maybe half the truth. Obviously this discussion is years down the road. But that's the kind of things that have been occupying my mind. Do I raise her up with a strong nationalist mindset? The Pilgrims did no wrong, and our founding fathers were all Christians with only the best intentions? Somehow I see this myth beginning to fade already, and sometimes I wonder if it is for the best. The last thing I want to do is to instill a false sense of pride and superiority. Luckily I was raised with a strong sense of accepting everyone as who they are. Hopefully I can do the same. I know a ton of questions she will have to answer on her own, and I will only be there to help guide her along. That in itself is the hard part to grasp. I'm sure I aged my parents way beyond their years trying to answer a few on my own, so I'll probably be dealt some of my own medicine:) But I'll do the best I can in preparing to help her make the decisions that send her down not the safest path, but the most righteous. It's getting late, so I'm going to have to continue this post tomorrow night. remember when I started this, I said I was using this as a venting tool, so it might be a little scattered. As I read back over it, it is just that. But maybe I can tie it all up...maybe. Until next time, Peace and Love.