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I like country music. Stop right there. Hold your horses. Back it up. Rascal Flatts ain’t country, so I don’t like Rascal Flatts. If the group, band, or soloist rolls under the country banner and never even mentions, George, as in Jones, Cash, Jennings, Williams, or even Junior…then you probably have a wannabe pop band that’s from somewhere south of Vermont and couldn’t get air time on the KISSN fm’s. My grandma listened to more country music in her lifetime than probably anyone I will ever meet. That’s what she did. She always had a chair in which she would listen and sip a drink with the occasional …mmm, likened to what you hear after a preacher lays down some opinionated biblical sweetness. If she was still here, I wonder what she would say about the “country” on the radio in 2009. I have no idea what she would say but I know it would make you laugh. I think she would say something like this, “they need to listen to Waylon’s boy and say it like Shooter says, “…put the ‘O’ back in country.”

These are all my opinions. The only seriousness that is invovled up there is the fact that I can’t listen to Rascal Flatts. It’s girl music and it doesn’t sound like country. Everybody has a right to their own opinion, right? And the opinions I have made thus far are accepted by everyone, unless you’re a high note fan. Most may disagree but for the most part, the argument would be civily acceptable.

I’m scared. I’m a follower/believer/Christian and that means what? In the words of the great Pat Green, “You don’t have to guess what I’m against, if you know what I’m for.” What am I scared of? I’m scared of “what I am for” as I still consider myself a follower/believer/Christian. I’m not scared to take a stand on “what I’m for”, I am scared of not being supported because of these opinions.

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I am for the underdog. I am for baptisms. I didn’t vote for the white guy. I will always be for life. I am for bearing arms. I am for those who serve our country. I am for cold beer. I am for giving more than I have. I am for second chances. I am for worshipping loud and proudly no matter who you call God. I am for the literal constitution, bill of rights and amendments, not the loop holes.

I have been questioning how open I should be with “what I’m for.” I know not everyone would agree and therefore I wonder. But, I also want to be open and honest if these issues happen to come up. As I begin to seek support to live as a missionary, (I am literally shaking because of this) I fear my past, what I have blogged and tweeted…What about you? Do you show your cards after you bluff? Are you open about your beliefs and opinions?

I think I will be quiet as if I have a good poker hand and always muck my cards. Then I stumbled upon this yesterday.

1 Corinthians 8

1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.3 But the man who loves God is known by God. 4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one.5 For even if there are so‑called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”),6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. 9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols?11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

I’m for proving my faith without saying one single word.

God is teaching me that my faith is all about quality and not quantity.

I can’t quit listening to the Silversun Pickups “Panic Switch” it’s sexy.

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@RickWarren can tweet deeper and more concise thoughts in 140 characters than I can in a essay I have been preparing for 3 months.

I really hope the story of this NFL season isn’t the Favre, Vick, or the low scoreboard in the new Cowboys stadium saga.

If I had to make the choice of either giving Tony Romo a wedgie or punching Jerry Jones in the mouth I don’t think I could contain myself. I would give Flozell Adams a sponge bath for the opportunity to do both.

I am going to opt out of hunting this year…to save money. Even though I know that monster buck is out there…I’m still debating selling my bow…I got it so dialed in I’m like Robin Hood…ask my mother in law.

Sometimes I think I take the Bible too literally…Sometimes I wonder why people ask hard questions based on the Bible yet don’t want to hear the hard answer based out of the Bible.

The first 35 seconds are great after that Wanda may entertain ya.

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Ecclesiastes 5

10 Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless. 11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on them? 12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of a rich man permits him no sleep.

If I am honest, I am stuck between these two expressions of wisdom.

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Simple Kind of Man

Forget your lust for rich man’s gold
All that you need is in your soul
And you can do this if you try
All I want for you my son
Is to be satisfied

My wife and I have sat down and thought and prayed and debated and doubted our plans…Our plans to move out of the country and to live as missionaries. I really believe our house will sell next month but I find myself asking, “Then what?” It’s scary to look at all the stuff we have accumulated and then realize that we must get rid of it all. We succumbed to lie that “stuff” will generate happiness. I get mad thinking about how stupid we were to make this and that purchase. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with having stuff but I think we should always ask, “Is this necessary?”

This life style of keeping up with the Jones’ makes me think about gambling. Gambling, for the most part, is a gray area. It can be fine at times but at other times, it’s just a waste. I like to play poker for a little money but I can’t stand going to a Casino and walking out with less in my pocket. The gray area for me is the entertainment factor. If I have given back to God and then paid my bills, then my “entertainment money” can be justified. I think.

I say “I think”, because that money could have been given to a greater cause than my entertainment. But, so could anything I spend money on.

Psalm 20:4 May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

To be happy and successful our “entertainment” must “entertain” God as well. And then, only then, will He give us the desires of our heart. That’s a bit daunting, “entertaining God!” It’s probably easy as a simple man.