Perspective

So I was thinking today about how to start this blogging experience. This will be, after all, my very first blog post -- the first of many, I hope. While most of what I intend to write is commentary, I decided it was important for you, the reader (if any), to know at least enough about me to put what I have to say in the context of a life ... my life. Indeed, one of the most important factors in understanding another human being is understanding something about his or her perspective. Perspective colors everything we think, say and do. It also colors the way we perceive that which is outside of ourselves. Someone who is five feet tall looks at someone who is six feet tall and sees a tall (in a general descriptive sense) person. Whereas someone who is seven feet tall looks at the same six footer and sees a short person. So, here is some information about my 6 feet 2 inch tall perspective.

The popular media and political strategists of today would likely label me an Evangelical Christian. Admittedly, I'm not very fond of labels, particularly as they apply to people. They never tell the whole story of a complex life and worldview. Nevertheless, if by Evangelical Christian they mean a Christian (in the strict Biblical and Antiochene sense of the word, not some warm fuzzy moral sense) who believes that it is his responsibility to spread the gospel (ten points if you can tell me what that word actually means) of Jesus Christ because he said to do so, then I guess I can live with that label.

I am also a husband and a father who is hopelessly devoted to his family. I would kill or die to protect my wife or children and I happen to believe that family is crucial to any healthy society. I do not believe that "It Takes A Village" to raise a child as long as Mom and Dad take their responsibilities as parents seriously. I truly believe that the breakdown in the moral fiber of the United States is directly attributable to the breakdown of the family in this country and that all of the liberal apologies for the state of the contemporary American family, while accurately descriptive and certainly sympathetic, do not change the fact that the moral fiber of this nation was stronger when traditional families were stronger. Period.

I am fairly educated, but the longer I live, the more a I realize that formal education is nothing in which to take pride. Don't get me wrong, I believe that a good education can be valuable. However, there is a temptation to become prideful about academic achievements rather than to ask how you can use what you have learned to serve God and man (in that order, by the way). Further, an education is useless unless it does two things. First, it must teach you HOW to think. Secondly, it must make you WANT to think. Facts and dates and formulas are fine, but unless you seek to understand not only the "whats" but also the "whys", you are no smarter than a $40 hard drive. I find that much of our formal education focuses too much on the "whats" and not enough on the "whys". As such, we cannot point to our diplomas to justify our worth. We must instead constantly seek to better ourselves with a view, not to serving ourselves, but to loving and serving God and to loving and serving people.

Enough of that soapbox. There is more about me to know, but I think that's enough for now. I may let you in on a little more of my life as it becomes necessary. Until then, have a great life and we'll talk again soon.