TWENTY-FIVE and STAYIN' ALIVE!

DH & I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary Sept. 25 (we were in Dakar for a conference and to visit our kids, hence the belated post). Yay for us! We took the kids out to dinner and also invited the Ericksons, who met & married the same year we did (also joined the mission with us, Bill & Jim in '79, Becky & I in '82). I gave a corny little tribute to each of my kids. I know wedding anniversaries are about the parents, but face it, if we hadn't gotten married they wouldn't be here, and they have been (and continue to be) a major highlight of our lives for the past quarter-century!

I read a piece recently called "Married Today, Gone Tomorrow" by Janice Shaw Crouse which makes me even more thankful to the Lord for the longevity of our marriage. According to statistics, "If you married before 1950, the chances are your marriage lasted at least 15 years, probably 25 and likely even longer. If you married after 1980, however, your prospects are not as rosy. In fact, you are less likely than at any time since World War II to celebrate a Silver wedding anniversary — 25 years of marriage." [Go here to read the whole article: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JaniceShawCrouse/2007/09/27/
married_today,_gone_tomorrow]

This was published 2 days after DH & I celebrated our Silver Anniversary. By the grace of God or downright stubbornness (probably both!) we are still together and enjoy each other's company. Our 'nest' is empty (most of the time!) as the youngest of 4 children went away to school this fall, and we have been pleasantly surprised to find we still have things to talk about other than the kids!

So to continue the celebration of our Anniversary, I would like to include here a tribute to other couples whose marriages have, by that same grace of God & personal stubbornness, stood the test of time since 1980 (I've included a few married in the 70's as well since we are all essentially part of the same generation). If you're our friend and I missed you, let me know, and I'll include you in a later post!
[Alphabetical by first name]

Arlene & Dave R. 70's
Barb & Charlie R. '81?
Barb & Lee H. '70's
Bev & Court B. '82
Bill & Becky E. '82
Bud & Barb S. '70's
Chris & Karen P. '70's
Chuck & Becky K. '81
Chuck & Debbie B. '76
Colleen & Yudi B. '72
Dan & Audrey S. '81
David & Sharon F. '70's
Dee & Patty B. '70's
Dianne & Andy S. '79?
Eben & Sue C. '70's
Founeke & Ane D. '70's
Gene & Dawn M. '76?
Greg & Heather S. '74-ish?
Jeanie & Larry M. '81
Jim & Barb R. '70's
Larry & Stephanie K.
Martin & Luzia M.
Moise & Rebecca D.
Narci & Glenn H. '79
Paul & Kitty T. '78?
Randy & Anita T.
Ray & Deb H.
Rick & Carol R. '70's
Rita & Ron F.
Sandy & Gary G. '78?
Tad & Jane H.
Tom & Ruth H. '70's

Postmodernism explored/explained

As part of my ongoing quest to understand the postmodernist mindset, I offer this quote from apologist/theologian Rave Zacharias:

...we have now reached a degree of secularization in our society whereby "religious ideas, institutions and interpretations have lost their social significance." This secularization "is revealed in a very inversion of language. It used to be that the Christian worldview was so present in Western culture that even when you were expressing secular ideas you had to borrow religious terminology with which to do it. Now there is an inversion; our world has become so secular that even when you are communicating religious ideas you have to borrow secular terminology with which to do it. Secularization has become so powerful in our social fabric, that the moment you introduce (into a discussion) a moral idea, if it has any connection to a religious worldview it is ipso facto disregarded as (being invalid)."

Quoted by David Limbaugh

I am Lightly Nerdy

What is it about these Inet quizzes some people (like me) love to take? I mean, why would I take a Nerd Test, when I'm clearly not one?

Blogger/Blogspot as a Source of Internet Porn

I may have to switch my blog to another host. I used to like to browse neighboring blogs using the "Next Blog" button (upper left) but have found that this often leads to pornographic advertising. I was quite shocked, b/c there are supposed to be built-in protections against such things. I wrote to the company about 10 days ago, and just thought I would share my letter to them with you:

Aug. 22, 2007
I am writing about a number of violations to your Terms of Service regarding content, particularly the following:

* Pornography and Obscenity: Image and video content that contains nudity, sexually graphic material, or material that is otherwise deemed explicit by Google should be made private. Otherwise, we may put such content behind an interstitial.
* Commercial Pornography: We do not allow content that exists for the primary purpose of monetizing porn content or driving traffic to a monetized pornography site.

One of the features I USED TO enjoy about Blogger was the "Next Blog" button. I like to randomly troll the blogs in hopes of discovering a gem, as I hope other users might discover and enjoy mine.

I had not done this for some time and was in for a shock when I did. Yesterday and today when I did this, AT LEAST every 3rd (sometimes every other) page took me to pornographic photos (naked women, women with their crotches displayed to the camera, etc.). I respect your policy of freedom of speech (altho I don't totally agree with it in the area of porn), but why are these pages not preceded by an interstitial as mentioned above? What's more, MOST of them did not have the bar at top with the Flag Blog link. (Which means they also did not have the Next Blog option, so I just had to close down the page and could not continue exploring blogs).

I try to maintain a family-appropriate blog and cannot take the chance of my friends accidently opening such pages in proximity to my own. I will be checking back to see if their is any improvement, and if not, will move my blog elsewhere, and make known why I did so.

Here are the results of less than 1/2 hour of exploration using the Next Blog key: [Here I listed a number of URLs].

The following pornographic blogs had no Flag Blog option: [More URLs].

These were the only ones which gave me the Flag Blog option, and I did so, but I notify you of them just the same b/c Blogger has a reputation of ignoring flags: [2 more URLs]

I hope you will deal with this ASAP. It would be sad for a company like Blogger to become known as the "Best Source for Porn Blogs" in PC Magazine or Consumer Reports.

Why is God like that?

I'm on somewhat of an emotional roller-coaster these days, so anything I write should be taken with a grain of salt...

For years I've been trying to figure out why God treats similar people SO differently. Oh, I know he's trying to build different things in our lives.

Take two missionary families, who both go to the USA for Home Ministry at the same time, and both need to raise funds for a new vehicle. At the end of the year, one returns (ours) and is able to buy an old used Land Rover in constant need of repairs. The second family returns with enuf money to buy a brand new air-conditioned Land Cruiser. (That was over 15 years ago; we have had 3 more used vehicles in that time, and the Land Cruiser is still on the road).

Then there's the fact that we prayed faithfully for a teacher to come help home school our children so I could continue in ministry. In 17 years of home schooling, we never once found anyone, but fellow miss'ys in the same town had (and have) teachers year after year.

Some extenuating circumstances:
The second family in the car situation belongs to a home church which provides almost 100% of their member miss'ys' support, as well as many of their project expenses.
Some of the families who got teachers belong to a mission which pools all support so their teachers did not have to wait until they had raised all their support before they could come. Another family belongs to a well-known agency with thousands of members, and therefore abundant human resources.

Okay, but does God need me to make excuses for him by stating these extenuating circumstances? He would be a pitiful God indeed if he is able to abundantly supply the needs only of those who belong to rich churches or big mission agencies.

So why, all other things being seemingly equal, did he not do for us as he did for those others? Enquiring minds want to know!!!

Since I am feeling less emotional than when I began this entry several hours ago, here are some (slightly) objective observations:
-We certainly learned to trust in the Lord, not in vehicles! I remember a one-year period when I should have been stranded at least 3 times, but He miraculously intervened and I was rescued. (Still, He would have less work to do if He just gave us a good car).
-For the past few years, I didn't pray or recruit all that diligently for a teacher (but that was partly b/c I stopped believing God would answer -- not that He could not answer b/c he was certainly doing so for others, but for some reason in our case He would not).
-I am grateful for having home schooled my kids. Even tho I did so out of necessity, not conviction, I came to consider it a privilege.

Something to be grateful for: I know some miss'ys who have been trying to raise support for a long time, are convinced God has called them to the field, and long to be serving Him overseas -- but who just can't get enuf money to do so. We've had our ups and downs of support over the last 20-some years, but God has kept us here where, not only are we serving Him, but we love to be! In light of that, my other complaints seem petty.

Empty Nest Syndrome

"I missed them, but of the two of us, I think it was worse for Allie. She may have been a painter, but she was first and foremost a mother, and once the kids were gone, it was like she wasn't exactly who she was anymore. At least for a while, anyway." The Wedding (Nicholas Sparks), p. 59

This week we took the last of our 4 children to boarding school. She is 12, in 8th grade, and has been more than ready to go for over a year. But, oh, it has been soooo hard letting her go. Every now and then I say (only half teasing), "Remember, Susanna, if you want to stay home, just say the word..." and I get the typical adolescent, "Mo-om!" in reply.

So now, all 4 of our children are in Senegal, DD#1 as an English teacher, and the other 3 as students (only DD#2 actually has her big sister for a class, DS will have her next year). They are absolutely thrilled to all be together, as you can imagine (altho they are not living together in one place).

I'm not handling this Empty Nest stuff very well. I've been struggling with this all summer, having bouts of depression and so on. It's not so much losing the kids; it's: what do I do with myself now? The work I did in the local church before I started home schooling is all being done by Malians now -- and that's GOOD, we are supposed to work ourselves out of a job! So now I have to find another niche for myself. It would be nice if there were an office or a school for me to go work in, but it doesn't work that way. There's plenty to be done, but you have to be somewhat of a self-starter -- and I am pretty weak in that area!

I've started making lists of things I can do. But I don't want this to be just 'busy work.' And I don't want to do things which a local person could do, thus depriving them of a job/ministry. I plan to spend more time traveling with Jim on his many bush trips, and he will be glad have to have me with him. I may also have to start studying the Fulani language. I don't expect to become fluent (after 9 years he is not), but people always appreciate that you make the effort and it builds bridges.

On the other hand, having left off the kids... maybe it IS about losing them!

Where I've been...

I was somewhat shocked to see that I have not been to this site for over 3 mos., since April 25 ! I went to the States in May to attend DD#1's grad from college. We are so very proud of her. She graduated summa cum laude in English & Adolescence Education. She's even talking about getting her Ph.D someday. Meanwhile, she is coming to teach HS English at Dakar Academy for the next 2 years. For the next year, at least, all 4 of my children will be in the same place.

On the other hand, this also means DD#3 is leaving us to go to boarding school in 2 weeks, leaving us with an empty nest. I am surprised at how much this is bothering me, as it has been long anticipated. I am consequently going thru some sort of a Mid-life Crisis (as dramatic as that sounds!) and bordering on depression.

Whose Fault is it Anyway?

As we drove to Bafoulabe for our week of Bible teaching with 2 old friends, Moise (Moses) & Ananias, we were asking what they knew of many mutual friends. We got to a certain career soldier named Jacques, there was a pause, and one said in surprise, "He died! Two years ago (we found out later it was 7 years ago)! Didn't you know?" Since he could only have been about 40, I exclaimed, "Was it an accident, or was he sick?"

"He had AIDS," I was told. That's always an uncomfortable pronouncement, since AIDS is sexually transmitted (here almost always heterosexually) and Jacques was a Christian.

Ananias filled the silence: "He was stationed in the far north (Sahara Desert) so he left his family back home and just visited them from time to time. It was those (Tribe x) women who infected him up there!"

It turns out that Jacques' wife died about 6 months after him (no big surprise there) and their only child shortly thereafter (she was probably conceived after her mother was infected).

Later, as Jim & I processed this conversation, we noticed that even though adultery is a sin in the Christian faith, it wasn't Jacques' fault he and his family died -- it was those (Tribe x) women! Perhaps this was said in the interest of not speaking ill of the dead (although those prostitutes are probably dead as well!), but I think it goes deeper than that.

For one thing, Malians believe that if a man goes without sex for too long, he'll become crazy or unstable. So the unspoken message is that not only could he not help what he did, but that he needed to do it.

Besides, Jacques is our friend, and those prostitutes are strangers...

Jacques is a believer and those (Tribe x) women were Muslims...

Jacques is from "our" tribe and they were from "another..."

So it was the fault of "those (Tribe x) women," not our poor dear brother who was only doing what is natural to a man in his situation.

And we think Western society is guilty of avoiding responsibility...

What Color is God's Skin?

Our friend Neema (nay-mah) passed away last week. She was 35 y.o. and the only truly single person I've ever met here, because she was slightly handicapped. She had polio as a child, and the left side of her body was affected: she limped and had trouble getting into cars that were high off the ground (like most 4x4 vehicles owned by missionaries!), and her hand was twisted. In recent years she was quite sickly, tho I never knew exactly what with; she was always on the prayer list at church. They always referred to it as her sickness, tho I doubt it was still polio. She also had bad gum disease and therefore, terrible teeth.

So I told Jim that I've been picturing what she looks like now that she lives in heaven: standing up straight, with 2 strong arms and a full set of straight gleaming teeth. I imagine she is quite lovely now. He then asked me the funniest question: "Do you still see her as black?" What does that have to do with beauty?? Of course, she's still black!

Now lest you think my DH is a racist, he hastened to explain that his question was not based on which skin color is the most beautiful, but he was speculating whether something which has so divided people on earth will still exist in heaven.

I argued, "How else will we know each other if we don't basically resemble ourselves?" and...

"If God were to make us all one color, which would he choose?" To prefer one over another would simply justify the prejudices of this earth. Unless he went totally far-out and opted for green, purple, blue...

In heaven we will see the wrong in all our prejudices and not feel them anymore. Not all prejudices are based on skin, anyway, so changing that alone would be rather arbitrary. I reminded Jim of a pastor friend we have here, definitely a believer whom I expect to meet in heaven, who is clearly prejudiced against another ethnic group. They and he are the same color, but different tribe, and he is constantly making racist generalizations about them, something he has inherited from his culture, and a blind spot in his life. To him, his remarks are not racist, because he believes them to be true. That's the essence of prejudice, isn't it, the conviction that your beliefs cannot be racist because they are founded on truth?

There's a song that goes like this:
"What color is God's skin?
What color is God's skin?
I said, 'It's black, brown, it's yellow,
It is red and it's white,
Everyone's the same in the good Lord's sight.'"

Like the writer of that song, I don't believe heaven will consist of eliminating our differences, but rather of rejoicing in them.

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

HAPPY EASTER!

I have to confess that I am dreading church tomorrow. I know that sounds terrible for a missionary.

One thing I like about the Christian holidays here is that they are very church-centered. That's a good thing. But the services on Christmas & Easter get really long. Every ethnic group (about 10 of them) shares a special song, in addition to those who sing weekly: the Ladies' Choir, the 2 children's choirs, the Bambara Choir, the French Choir. At Christmas, all this took nearly 4 hours, so when our colleague, Mark, got up to preach his well-prepared sermon, someone whispered in his ear, "Just 5 minutes, okay?"

On top of this, Easter falls in hot season. Last year, it got to 118F (ca. 48C) on Easter Sunday! I just get more and more uncomfortable and resentful, not at all the attitude one wishes to have on the highest holiday of the Christian faith. We also used to invite our non-Christian friends to church for the holiday, because a meal is served afterwards, but I just can't do it. I wouldn't wish that marathon on my worst enemy.

Mind you, the church members don't think it's a marathon. It's an expression of joy. But I don't happen to believe my Muslim friends appreciate it quite as much. Maybe I'm wrong.

Precious in the Sight of the Lord...

Our family was camping for 4 nites/3 days, and one of the first emails we received upon our return was this one:

"Please pray for Sue's husband Sid and the rest of our family. Sue had a massive stroke on Tuesday morning and heavy cerebral bleeding. She was declared brain dead at 4:30 pm Tuesday.
Bev
We are hanging in there with God's help!"

Bev is one of my oldest friends; she was matron of honor in my wedding. Sue is her older sister, I'm guessing about 56y.o.(?). What a shock.

I told DH that I think what really struck me is that this means people our age are starting to die. For some years past, we have been watching as our own parents aged and passed away, as well as the parents of our peers. Most of them are gone now, so now it's our peers themselves who are dying. Sure, we have known some to die really young (Woody Phillips, Larry Eenigenburg, Jim Faber) but they were the exception, not the rule (and in 2 cases they were the sons of fathers who had died very young). And if our peers are "old enuf" to die, that means we could be next!

Mind you, I am a Christian and I do not fear death. On the other hand, I'm no Apostle Paul either, so I'm not saying I'm dying to go to heaven right now either (excuse the pun!). What I most "fear" about the thought of dying relatively young is missing watching my kids grow up, and knowing my grandchildren. I suppose I also "fear" the means of dying -- I don't like pain very much!

Times like this it's really hard to be an ocean away. I should be at that funeral, but all I can do is send my condolences from a distance.

Psalm 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

This joke is a hoot (but also sad b/c it's true)

Good joke: Zero Tolerance: Then and Now

Do you know about Randy Cassingham? He publishes a weekly e-newsletter called This is True with true outrageous stories he culls from the press & Internet. Subscriptions to This is True are free at http://www.thisistrue.com . Try it out -- he does not sell his mailing list, so you are safe to use your regular email address. Anyway, one of his big beefs is Zero Tolerance, which is esp. evident in the educational sector. So the joke above (from his Jumbo Joke site, [www.jumbojoke.com], which consist mostly of funny true stories, not actual jokes) hits the nail on the head rather painfully...

Randy also publishes a free monthly newsletter called The True Stella Awards, about outrageous lawsuits. The Stella Awards were inspired by Stella Liebeck. In 1992, Stella, then 79, spilled a cup of McDonald's coffee onto her lap, burning herself. A New Mexico jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages, but that's not the whole story. [See http://www.stellaawards.com/stella.html for the truth.] Ever since, the name "Stella Award" has been applied to any wild, outrageous, or ridiculous lawsuits -- including bogus cases! He searches for true cases, and you can subscribe by e-mail for free to get the case reports as they're issued. [http://www.stellaawards.com/]

How well traveled I am...

I thought this would be a pretty interesting quiz since I've actually traveled quite a lot. But for Africa, they only gave you the choice of 4 places I've never been ... not quite fair, since I LIVE in Africa and have travelled to several countries & capitals! The rest, however, is fairly accurate.

Your Travel Profile:

You Are Very Well Traveled in the Northeastern United States (71%) You Are Very Well Traveled in Western Europe (64%) You Are Well Traveled in the Midwestern United States (50%) You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Canada (40%) You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in the Southern United States (31%) You Are Mostly Untraveled in Eastern Europe (20%) You Are Mostly Untraveled in the United Kingdom (13%) You Are Mostly Untraveled in Southern Europe (7%) You Are Untraveled in Africa (0%) You Are Untraveled in Asia (0%) You Are Untraveled in Australia (0%) You Are Untraveled in Latin America (0%) You Are Untraveled in New Zealand (0%) You Are Untraveled in Scandinavia (0%) You Are Untraveled in the Middle East (0%) You Are Untraveled in the Western United States (0%)

How Well Traveled Are You?

My Kids R Home!

Ruthanne (Lizzi) & Benjamin got home from Dakar yesterday for Spring Break! They actually left 2 days early b/c our Brazilian co-worker, Alliné de Mota, was returning from a 3-month medical leave. She was to come on Tuesday, so I wrote and asked if she could delay just a couple days, b/c it also saved me making a trip out there and back. They all rode as far as Tamba with Walter, one of the other Brazilian miss'ys who was going to Kédougou, then got a bush taxi to the border, where we picked them up as usual. The only 'glitch' in the whole thing was that the kids were being picked up at 5am and Ben's clock didn't go off! But Walter had forgotten something and had to run home, so they got him up and he was dressed when he got back. It's soooooooo great to have them here!

Politics in Everyday Life

FIRST OF ALL, HAPPY 3RD BD TO DYLAN H.!

Today I realized that when I think of politics, I mean Republicans & Democrats, House & Senate, Libertarian & Leftie, etc... But at this moment, in our work here in Mali, we are involved in a political brawl of sorts that has nothing to do with parties or elected representatives or any of that. We are trying to dig a well in a remote, dry, crummy little village. But because of ethnic politics, we are being blocked from performing this good work for poor, destitute people who really need water.

Dictionary.com defines politics as:
1. the science or art of political government.

2.	the practice or profession of conducting political affairs.

3.	political affairs

4.	political methods or maneuvers

5.	political principles or opinions:

Pretty straightforward (boring) stuff. But then you get to the definition that describes our situation with the village here:
6.use of intrigue or strategy in obtaining any position of power or control, as in business, university, etc.

Or even better, here's the idiom to "8. play politics:"

a.	to engage in political intrigue, take advantage of a political situation or issue, resort to partisan politics, etc.; exploit a political system or political relationships.

b.	to deal with people in an opportunistic, manipulative, or devious way, as for job advancement.

Now we're getting down to it. Politics is about power.

Here's the situation: We are working in a village which is really 3 villages. Ethnic group A were the original inhabitants of what we'll call the A Quarter. Ethnic Group B has had their own 'neighborhood,' the B Quarter, for as long as anyone remembers. The C Quarter was formed over 15 years ago when the C people group were chased out of their homeland (a country ruled, incidentally, by Ethnic Group A) and became refugees. So the local A's in this particular village invited the C refugees to live in an uninhabited sector of their village, perhaps even seeing it as a kind of compensation for the wrongs perpetrated by their brethren in that other country.

Mind you, the A's were not making any great sacrifice. The reason this sector was uninhabited was that it was nearly uninhabitable. It's very rocky, unsuitable for farming, but not too bad for livestock, and group C just happens to be a shepherding tribe. So for them it wasn't too bad, except for one little detail -- no water. They were able to dig some shallow wells which were filthy, plus each day they would send a donkey cart to the A Quarter, a mile or more away, to fill several barrels with clean well water -- a job which takes about 5 hours daily. So when my DH started visiting the C Quarter, b/c of his interest in this ethnic group, all they could talk about was their need for water. They were coping, but certainly not thriving.

The last time we tried to do a water project for C, the leadership of A said, "Only if you help us first." (This project was a less expensive option than a deep well, a first effort). So we did our project there first, and they said, "The C's can keep coming here for their water. You are not to do a water project there." Within a few months, that water project failed. There were a lot of reasons for this, but could the hand of God have been part of it?

To make a lo-o-o-n-n-n-g-g-g story short, we managed to find some funding for a well in C neighborhood. There is an African-American organization that wants to do a lot of good things for the C's, and the C people have said, If you get us water, you can do anything else you want. There is a C Christian worker who wants to promote education, hygiene, improved animal husbandry, farming, and not incidentally, preach the Gospel. Water is the key to all.

This time, DH asked the C village chief to go to his A counterpart and negotiate. (Let's keep the foreigner out of the picture!) Chief A told Chief C, "That's fine, we're all one here, if you can get a well, go for it!" Mind you, this is a culture where you can never say no to someone's face. So his response was really the only thing he could say within the confines of his world view (but it is also okay to stab your neighbor, at least figuratively, in the back.) Nevertheless, DH decided to go to the next higher political entity, the mayor of the commune, to get official permission. You're supposed to do that anyway, so the government knows what's going on.

So there was a meeting at the mayor's place in another village. The chiefs & elders of A & C were all there. The A's were conspicuously silent. So the mayor wrote up an official document, authorizing the well. They were delighted, in fact, since it is a project of this country for every village and hamlet to have clean water, and they can't afford to do it all.

So the day came for the ground breaking, last Monday the 12th. There were several local officials there to each dig up their token spadeful of dirt. No one from A Quarter tho -- in fact, the mayor said Chief A had called him that morning to lodge a protest. "Why didn't they speak up when we all met together?" asked the mayor. "It's too late now, and besides they know that these people have a right to a well!"

By Tuesday 13th the work had been stopped b/c Chief A contacted the next higher government authority, the prefect, who has authority over the mayor. So now we wait...

Okay, so what is political about all this? Lots of things:
1. The person who controls the water holds the power. If C Quarter gets water, they will be less dependent on the A's.
2. If the little boys of C are freed up from getting the water for 5 hours every day, they will be free to attend the village school, where as yet no C children attend. Education is power, too!
3. Chief A says he fears that if C gets water, more people will come to live there. Again, he feels a threat to his power.

There are ethnic conflicts going on here, too, but this is too long already, and I don't want to go into that anyway. One really hard part is that we have a burden for the A people to be reached with the Gospel as well, and are praying for Christian workers to come to our Region in that capacity. We have showed the J film in the A language twice in the village. We fear that this conflict is cutting us off from future positive contact with these A's. :-(

But I wanna be a political blogger...!

Everybody knows it's the political bloggers who get famous, like Michelle Malkin or Mike Adams. Occasionally the religious ones make a name for themselves, like Al Mohler, but I'm not quite in his league. We're both Baptist, but that's all.

The problem is that politics make me very uncomfortable. I just hate the partisanship, the nastiness and the name-calling that goes along with it. And I don't like conflict, so I'm not comfortable debating politics.

And I really hate the thought of getting pigeonholed. Like I wasn't really in favor of the war in Iraq in the first place, so that puts me on the side of the Dems or the lefties or the progressives, choose your epithet. But now that we're in Iraq, I think we would be crazy to just pull out -- so I guess I'm a Republican or a conservative or something.

Take gun control -- I believe in the right to bear arms as enshrined in the 2nd Amendment. But I do not see why that right has to extend to assault weapons and all the crazy stuff Mike Adams buys for himself all the time; so I favor some limited gun control. So what am I?

I read about this woman the other day, a conservative evangelical like me, with a son in Iraq (unlike me) who has started peacefully protesting the war. Basically, everyone who thinks the way she does on other issues (pro-life, etc.) reviles her for this, and those who agree with her about the war revile her for her stance on typically conservative issues. Didn't someone say, If everyone hates you, you must be doing something right? I guess that's where she fits in.

So here I am, a non-political blogger, doomed to anonymity.