Monday, April 6, 2009

Our Prez

I just want to point out a funny thing about our prez. He stated again the other day that it is his goal to see the world free of nuclear weapons. Isn't that funny? I want to ride a unicorn and slide down a rainbow. I'm sorry, but after following the dealings with these mid-eastern nations I've noticed that they are like dealing with children. Not just any children either. The children who are absolutely Satan and backed up by their drunken mom. The whole world can get rid of their nuclear weapons and I guarantee that some leader from the middle east is going to get pooped on by a bird one day and get pissed and start launching bombs that we didn't know they had because everyone "said" they didn't have any. Oh, and we won't have any to launch back. Our prez...tsk tsk for living in la la land. Time to wake up and smell the uranium.

Marriage

Last week Iowa made gay marriage legal. If you haven't yet heard about this, wake up. Before I get too far in this blog I want to say that I don't really care too much about the whole gay marriage thing. Christians everywhere argue that the Bible says no to being gay (and it does) and therefore the state shouldn't allow gay marriage. The other argument is that gay marriage is bad for family. Those arguments to me are lame. VERY lame. The state should allow anyone to get married including brothers and sisters, my neighbor to his dog, whoever wants to get married should be able to according to the state. In my opinion the state should have no say in who can and can't get married. My beef is this. There are actually pastors that will marry gay people. You see, we all go to churches that have accepted divorce as a very common thing. We don't talk about it. We don't tell people that it is wrong. When people DO get divorced we don't ridicule them if they want to remarry. Technically, the Bible states that being married after a separation except for certain circumstances, is living a lifestyle of sin.
My argument is this. If the church does its job in holding marriage up as an institution between God and 1 man and 1 wife then we wouldn't have to worry about anything. Gay marriage could be technically legal and yet no gay couple could ever get married. While we speak of it. If the church REALLY was doing its job, no two non-christians could ever get married either. Why? Because again, marriage is a covenant between God and 1 man and 1 woman. In America everyone gets married. My brother Jake had a great post on how the church treats single people like lesser people. Look it up, he is right on the money. I have always just assumed that if people are married then Pam and I have that in common with them. But not necessarily so. If two people are married and both people don't accept and follow Christ. To me, they are something other than married. Maybe they are together by contract or something. Anyway, if we want to get pissed about legal gay marriage in Iowa then I suggest we get pissed about a lot of other false beliefs that we have about the Holy covenant of marriage. The truth of marriage and family has been cheapened by the church, not the state. Do your job pastors and refuse to marry non-christians, gays, and whoever else chooses to not pursue a Christ-like lifestyle, and it won't be a problem.

That is my rant for the day.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Catching Up

I was calculating in my head how many hours I've been in the office or working since Tuesday morning vs. How many I've been home. I am doing this NOT because I am burned out or feel I've been working too much. I LOVE my job and would do it for nothing if I could still feed, clothe, and shelter, my family. I am doing this because I sincerely miss my wife and son. If it keeps up like this, I am afraid Pam's gonna start wondering whether I love her anymore. I also want to point out that I fully realize that there are a lot of people that work longer, physically harder, and get paid less. I guess I want EVERYONE to know that I am in no way complaining. That being said, this is the story of my last two days.

I arrived at the office at 6:30am on Tuesday took an hour for lunch with Pam, Gabriel, and Nancy, then an hour giving blood (not at home with Pam and Gabriel, but not work either), then a half hour for supper. I got home at 9:30pm Tuesday night. I worked a grand total of 12.5 hours and was with Pam and Gabriel for 1.5 and was home for .5.

I was home from 9:30pm to 9:00am we went to bed as usual at 10:30pm. That takes our totals to work 12.5 hours and home 12 hours. Awake at home (having woken up at 7:30 because I slept in) 3 hours. Seeing Gabriel awake at home (him not waking up until 8 all week) to 1.5 hours. Then I didn't actually start work until 10:30 because Pam and Gabriel and I went for a walk in Davenport and stopped at Menard's to look for some stuff. Now total time at home is 12 hours, total time with family is 15 hours, total awake time with Pam is 4.5 hours, total awake time with Gabriel is 3 hours. I got to the office at 10:30 took .5 for lunch and didn't come home again until 8:30 this morning because some of the youth, who are on spring break, stayed at the office overnight to watch movies and play video games, and eat pizza. Total work time now is 34.5 hours. I got home and showered and went back to work (this time escaping to Mojo's) I was home for 1 hour. Now I've been working for .75 hours and
.25 hours writing this. Our Grand Totals are as follows:

Work = 35 hours 15 minutes
Home = Home 13.5 hours
Awake at Home = 5.5 hours
Awake at Home with both Pam and Gabriel awake with me = 4.5 hours

A couple of points:

*I may have the only job in the world where eating pizza, watching movies, and playing games can be called work.

*Counting Sunday's 6-7 hours and the hours I do today, tomorrow, and Saturday I'll have worked a relatively normal amount of hours for a person.

*I love my job

A couple of more important points that I want to reiterate:

*I miss my three family members a lot. If you miss a day of Gabriel's life at this point, it seems you are missing BIG things. I also wasn't woken up last night by my up and coming child kicking me through my wife's belly (that doesn't mean I wasn't woken up by someone else's child kicking me). I also miss my wife and just hearing her tell me about what's going on. Apparently she is meeting some people from her "Care of Candidates" committee to talk about not being a "Divinity" student anymore or something like that. "Care of Candidates" is in "" because it's been 3 years + some and they haven't really seemed to "Care" at all until Pam decided to change direction. Ask any one of them and I'll bet you that they wouldn't have a clue as to what mine or Gabriel's names are without having to look it up. Anyway, that is a whole different blog.

*I am not upset about the way things have been this week at all. I just like to inform people that the leaders of the church sometimes work on days other than Sunday.

*I know that Doug has had many weeks busier than this. I definitely don't want people to think that this is a typical worship/youth pastor way of being. Doug does 10 times the array of stuff that I do.

*Did anyone notice that my blog look is different. I made it up completely on my own. Yeah. That's right. I should start my own site called coolestblogontheblock.com.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Toothpaste

This is a blog that is long overdue. Three weeks ago Pam and I purchased a brand new, fat bottle of toothpaste. We use the tubes that you squeeze and roll up because I think they're cheaper. Anyway, we are still using the old toothpaste. Every night I have to seriously squeeze in just the right places to get just a tiny bit of toothpaste out onto my brush. I have had to start squeezing so hard that my knuckles turn white, then purple, then a gross gray color that makes me think that I may lose my finger.

Some might say, "Joel, why don't you just change the old to new?" I consider this Pam's call. She is in charge of the books and has this thing for the challenge of trying to make toothpaste tubes thinner than paper. I even saw her using a rolling pin the other night on it.

Monday, March 2, 2009

It Only Takes a Spark

So I got a rather odd song request this week after church. I was asked if we could sing "It Only Takes a Spark". They said that the song is their favorite and they would really love it if we could play it at church. Typically I would laugh and think "NO WAY AM I PLAYING THAT SONG". But more and more lately, God is revealing to me that my opinion on song selection is obviously not shared by everyone. In fact, I am realizing that there are very few people that REALLY appreciate the things in music that I do. Now, I don't think that my appreciations for things in music are any better than anyone Else's what-so-ever. I do think that they tend to be vastly different. That being the case, and my strong convictions that style of music matters zero to how a church should function in worship, I am considering doing a special music with this song. NOT for that person of course, but for all who think that Chris Tomlin and Paul Baloche are the very people God sent to this earth to teach us what TRUE worship is. I am putting a poll on the side of my blog. I would like your votes. I will put a number of songs, each with somewhat different styles, and you pick the ones that you would prefer in church. Your opinion will matter as much as mine, which is not much, but it will be fun in any case. Thanks.

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Finally I wrote a Song from the Bottom of My Heart

I Wish I were a Pirate
A song to be recorded in the near future
Words and Music by Joel Rohde
(Song will be posted as soon as it is recorded)

Verse 1:
I wish I were a pirate
What a wonderful life it must be
Paces we measure
For buried treasure
While sailin' the seven seas

Verse 2:
I wish I were a pirate
My sword I'd swing with glee
I'd swab the poop
While collectin' doubloons
And goose my fellow mateys

Chorus:
Arrrrgh Arrrrgh Arrrrgh
Yo Ho Ho
If I could be anything
A buccaneer, a swashbuckler, a sea rover,
a marauder, a raider, a rover, a free-booter,
a privateer...
A Pirate I would be


Verse 3:
I wish I were a pirate
I could swim all day in rum
No showers for me
I'm a pirate you see
Not a clean freak, sophisticate bum

Bridge:
Arrrrgh would be my word
A parrot would be me bird
On my shoulder he'd sit in the sun
I'd kill things just for fun

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Annoyed

A couple of nights ago our savior president delivered a speech to congress. This included a lot more promises and spurred a lot of standing up and clapping by the puppets in congress. As of Feb. 23rd President Obama's approval rating was 62.5%. I suppose this is okay. I would fall into the 37.5% that apparently don't approve, but who am I? This being my blog, however, I am going to rant a little on my views of Mr. Obama's plans.

I realize that the economy is in shambles or whatever. People are losing jobs, houses are being foreclosed, etc... but I am not understanding the logic behind a few proposals. Anyone in this country that is making $249,000 or more per year in America is now going to be taxed upwards of 40% so that we can afford the stimulus which spreads that money around to a HUGE slew of government run institutions that are supposed to help you and me.

In other words, President Robin Hood is going to take from the "rich" (anyone making more than $249,000) and give to the "poor" (anyone making less than $249,000).

I have no objections to the argument that people with that amount of money don't need to live in giant houses and have 13 cars and make fun of Denny's. But how about the Christian guy who started out making $19,000 selling home made rocking chairs? His business has grown to be a multimillion dollar empire making wood furniture of all shapes and sizes. Now he rolls in $400,000 a year and gives $320,000 to various Christian organizations that help starving children, rape victims, and defeating the illegal slave trade? Suddenly, they have to almost stop giving to some of those things all together let alone cut significantly the financing to the organizations he can still help. I do think that person deserves the modest 4 bedroom house that he and his 3 children live in off the $80,000 he actually keeps in a year.

Apparently 62.5% of Americans think that President Obama can spend their money much more wisely than they can. It's sad. It's socialism to its very core.

Then there is the guy who isn't generous, who is greedy, money hungry, and selfish. He makes $400,000 a year and owns a large corporation that sells it's products to small businesses. He doesn't want to lose his $800,000 dollar house, his 3 cars, or his status at the nicest eating establishments, or his ability to go on vacation whenever he pleases. To compensate for his tax increase he simply raises his prices. The small business owners who are scraping by paycheck to paycheck with hopes that their business will grow just enough to buy a house, get a van for their growing family, and pay off their student loans, now have to make a decision. They've never dreamed of being rich but if they did, they would probably look a lot more like the first guy. They either have to swallow the hit and lose prophet margin, or raise their prices. The problem is, they have already established a reputation in being a cheap family business that is family and community oriented. "There isn't a treat this cheap anywhere" is the common thing heard around their business. Do they raise their prices and risk losing the rep? Or do they just have to sell more to make up the difference?

Apparently 62.5% of people have elected a president that thinks he should be able to make the decisions like that for we the people. He has yet to keep any promise he has made, what makes us think that his new promises delivered on Tuesday night will be any different. Yet the majority of people actually think that he is still cool. WOW. We are shallow.