a cute thing max did.

so yesterday Heidi said to me "maybe you could put a post on your blog tomorrow." so I asked what I should blog church about and she replied "I don't know, some cute thing max did."

not sure if this would qualify but Max and I went to the homecoming of my cousin brad in Lindon. while we sat in the back of the meeting Max got bored, Heidi usually brings a bag of tricks for him. I forgot the bag so he lasted about 20 min then started to entertain himself by hitting me and putting his hands in my face and grabbing at me. really annoying at the time but if you think about it he has just missed my attention because I have been working more then normal as of late.

I decided not to try a strange primary for him as he did not do well in sacrament. we headed back to the Nichols house to wait for the open house to begin and max started asking questions about the church and if it was Jesus' church because it was strange that our church was Jesus' and this church was also. It turned into a good teaching moment as we talked about other churches and why everybody doesn't go to the same church. I sure was glad I had the answers. it was a little difficult to word it so a kid will understand but a good father son moment.

Fathers Day Gift

the hipocracy of subaru

The problem I have with subaru is not the cars but a couple of ads they are running. In one ad they come right out and say "yes we are tree huggers" well thats all fine and dandy I think its great that a company would take it upon themselves to do positive things for the environment or at least minimize the negative impact or "carbon foot print".
However in one ad they tell a story about a guy who loved his old forester. He and a friend drive 2 cars for 2 days to get to a place called subaru heaven. Now subaru heaven is a nice place,rolling green hills, under a big beautiful tree where some genius decided that cars as good as subaru's should be parked to die. Because "you don't let your 300000+ mile forester be towed off by some wrecker to who knows where." Well let me tell you where. It goes to a wrecking yard where it can be salvaged for parts and then recycled. But I guess if your car is good enough you and a buddy should take 4 days off work to drive and burn fuel in 2 cars to park your too good for recycling subaru under a nice tree where it can leak fuel and oil and other chemicals into the roots of a tree that is clearly over 100 years old. I really don't know how they can call themselves responsible let alone tree huggers when this ad they are running just goes against everything that tree huggers stand for and I really don't know how a person who knows anything about environmental responsibility could feel good about just ditch their car under a tree in such a clean beautiful part of the world.

Freedom of Religion

I planned on doing some editing to my last post because I wasn't finished with it, but people have already read it so I decided to put the rest of my ideas in a second post. Freedom of religion has to be kept within some bounds. Now you may think this is not freedom but the same as God gives us freedom that freedom is within some boundaries. First off I think religion should be defined as a group with specific rituals and practices that are centered around worshiping God as the creator of all things. This is a short loose definition and needs work but the idea is it eliminates satan worship as a recognizable religion and removes it from political protection. There are other weird concepts out there that this also eliminates. I also think that as a recognizable religion it should not tear down other groups of people or religions or promote violence against others.
Once we clearly define religion we can define the freedoms it has. The state or government should not have any influence in what religion its citizens participate in and should not sponsor or show favoritism towards any specific religion. It should also not oppress any religious group or idea. I love the saying Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion. I think as a community we should embrace what common threads we share with those of other faiths and celebrate and support each other as it promotes piece and happiness in a community. This is why the displaying of the 10 commandments in state owned buildings and prayer in school and in congress should be allowed, it brings us together as a people. By tearing those things down we are separated and secluded. Our beliefs in God are pushed back to the point we will only openly discuss Him on Sunday in church. To me this is not freedom it is oppression. By allowing small groups and individuals to take away our rights to freedom is wrong. I am offended that the 10 commandments are not more prominently displayed where others can see and be reminded of the way we live our lives I am offended that prayer is not being said in schools. I am offended by those who are offended.

Seperation of church and state

I've been thinking about what this means to me. Some have really strong feelings about it and are seriously missing the mark I feel. Here is what I think. The state has no say how a church runs its self as long as the church as a hole does not promote breaking laws. The church does have some say in how the state runs as its members are citizens of the state and its ideals represent in some cases large numbers of its citizens, our government should run by the people and for the people. However the state does have the responsibility of running its self based on the wants of the general public as a majority as long as those wants do not oppress the rights of others and as long as those rights do not negatively effect the general good of the community.
I also believe that the government is owned by the people and is a servant of the people. All government buildings are owned by the people and should be used as the majority of the people want them used, for example if the majority wanted prayer in school the school should allow it to be done. If a minority or individual does not wish this to be the case they are not forced to participate. If the people wish to have things like the 10 commandments displayed inside or outside a government building then they should be. If an individual feels they do not want them to be there they need not look at them. There is no statement in the constitution that an individual has the right to not be offended and we need not run our government based on this idea. If there is sufficient numbers of people that want something removed they have a right to petition and if they meet the requirements that item should be placed up for a vote. I am tired of small groups of people taking away the rights of the majority and forcing their will on the rest, this kind of thing is what causes the fall of a nation.

Easter with max

In charlie and the chocolate factory the kid gets one candy bar for his birthday, he is so happy to have it and he shares with the family. Its sad and heart warming at the same time. Well for Easter we decided to bring it down a notch for several reasons, watching what we spend and lower the stress level were 2 of them. I was at wal mart on sat. Easter weekend and it was like Christmas eve (man i hate that place). I grabbed Max a chocolate rabbit and figure that's good enough for this year. Max loves loves loves chocolate. So Sunday morning no presents, no baskets and he didn't notice anything was different. Then HD hands him the choco rabbit and he says "whats this?" then requests help opening it. He bites the ears off and puts it back into the box and hands it to me and says "I don't want it, you can have it." Sad and heart warming at the same time, just like the movies. Ok it was more funny and weird at the same time but hey at least he wasn't whining about no basket full of peeps. (i miss my peeps)

Help Wanted

Small business owner seeks the aid of AIG executive to run company into the ground. Responsibilities would include filling out government bail out paper work, Liying about how the money is used and paying self and others large bonus'. Would need experience in miss use of tax payer money and self preservation at the expense of others. Would be under contract with the option of increasing pay if company tanks within the first year of hire. Benefits include large portion of the country hating your guts and small groups picketing outside your large estate, could also have the option of taking a large severance package once company is able to collapse on its own. Early retirement with excessive dividends based on how far into the red you can get the company.
Look forward to working with you and giving each other huge amounts of other peoples money which will be vastly undeserved.