tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-111779322024-03-14T03:52:42.547-07:00Xan Hood - of Blood and DirtXan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comBlogger106125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-61085293870056388152011-01-05T16:13:00.000-08:002011-01-05T16:14:05.279-08:00What motivates us?I have been reading through Ecclesiastes. I find myself returning there a lot. A king who seems to have had it all, both of good & God, along with wandering out into the world to see what it had as well. I imagine he would have to be considered one of the great wisdom teachers that the world has known. Why? I imagine because he has been through it.<br /><br />One friend shared with me the other day, wisdom only comes through the pain of suffering through it.<br /><br />I am struck by his honesty about the world and what he sees. One passage specifically in Ecclessisates 4:4, "And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor."<br /><br />I find it intriguing for the king of Israel who inherited such blessing and wealth to come to this conclusion. If there was a man who seemed to have been able to have never engaged in such a topic because of his wealth, fortune, and status, he should have been able to have never dealt with it with the people around him. Who was wiser? Richer? More popular? But then again, even the king has the same places in his heart. Envy, selfish ambition, pride. It takes one to know one, isn't that how that phrase goes?<br /><br />It is interesting to engage with a culture and our world that has this often under everything else. At the bottom of most things, we could find this scripture coming to reality. I think that is why the struggle of the gospel and God's kingdom is always so opposite from this. When we find ourselves looking out and see this envy and achievement, it is pretty disgusting. Whether it be in church gossip or greedy capitalist. And when we look deep enough, we always see on the outside, what is often on the inside. I have no doubt, even Solomon in all his wealth and wisdom still felt this as well. Even the man who seemed to have it all.<br /><br />I think it is important for us to be the first to confess as Paul said, the chiefest of sinners, and in that be able to name those things within ourselves. I know for me, as I confess, and I admit it is the same inside, that somehow the work of the Spirit can bring me to a deeper place.<br /><br />I think the question of what really motivates us is a tricky one. Freud has his theories. But maybe it's exploring the depth of our own struggles where we find our need for a better motivation.<br /><br />I think that is what I am looking for these days. A great love. A greater motive then often what finds itself lurking in my heart. I am glad Solomon is able to guide the way.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-44924731059466654212010-07-17T15:34:00.000-07:002010-07-17T15:54:34.756-07:00John Muir's FatherI have been reading about one of the great wilderness prophets of America- John Muir. From what I have gathered, it seemed the mountains were a place of healing for him. He went west for something that seemed difficult to fully trace from his past, but as I came upon this letter written to him by his father after an article was published, I am reminded all the more of what, despite tremendous shame, he birthed for many. His father was a heavy reformed calvinist...<br /><br />My Very Dear John,<br /><blockquote><br />Were you as really happy as my wish would make you, you would be permanently so in the best sense of the word. I received yours of the third inst. with your slip of paper, but I had read the same thing in "The Wisconsin," some days before I got yours, then I wished I had not seen it, because it harried up my feelings so with another of your hair-breadth escapes. Had I seen it to be God's work you were doing I would have felt the other way, but I knew it was not God's work, although you seem to think you are doing God's service. If it had not been for God's boundless mercy you would have been cut off in the midst of your folly. All that you are attempting to show the Holy Spirit of God gives the believer to see at one glance of the eye, for according to the tract I send you they can see God's love, power, and glory in everything, and it has the effect of turning away their sigh and eyes from the things that are seen and temporal to the things that are not seen and eternal, according to God's holy word... You cannot warm the heart of the saint of God with your cold icy-topped mountains. O, my dear son, come away from them to the spirit of God and His holy word, and He will show our lovely Jesus unto you, who is by His finished work presented to you, without money and price... And the best and soonest way of getting quit of the writing and publishing your book is to burn it, and then it will do no more harm either to you or others.</blockquote><br /><br />Muir's father through beating and memorization had Muir memorize all of the New Testament and most of the Old Testament by 11 years old. As I read these words above, it made me grow to love Muir as a man even more. Much of Muir's words have such biblical imagery that open the natural world in a way that Emerson and trascendentalism was trying to get away from. Muir was bringing the gospel words in the places he was going. He was preaching something that at his father's level had no worth, and was outside of God. And yet, he was using the language and opening people to the beauty of creation. <br /><br />There is a story that as he spent time in Yosemite Valley there was erected a church for services for the guests. He would ask the question, why would someone worship in such a man made structure, when the temple of worship was all around them.<br /><br />I just got back from 5 days of fly-fishing with 14 young men. Many of them it being the first time to hold a fly rod, and catch a trout. On one day, we caught 231. Native greenback cutthroat trout. The most amazing red and greens.<br /><br />The man who led us into Rocky Mountain National Park was Ron Smith. One of our guides for Training Ground. He is 63, and been fishing those waters sense he was five.<br /><br />Ron reminds me of John Muir. He has a hard past with religion, but somehow, it always comes back to that, much like Muir. No matter the past, no matter the pain. The metaphors, the images, the heart always has the gospel in it. Many of our southern friends were a bit taken by Ron, since he doesn't fit the classic christian man. But one of my favorite quotes from the weekend is when Ron looks around the group during one of our times together in the evening all huddled together and says, "I meet Jesus every time I catch a trout. If I catch 15 trout, it's like I am re-born 15 times that day."<br /><br />I love the John Muir's of the world. Men who are a bit outside the norm. On the edges of what most would consider "in." And yet, you can't even begin to count him out. He is the prophet pointing to Jesus, much like Muir. And I am saddened as I read those words about Muir's father, that little did he know what his son was offering to the world.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-91392111496310317882010-06-28T20:45:00.001-07:002010-06-28T21:09:13.768-07:00Unity amongst brothers.Psalm 133:1 - "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity."<br /><br />We live in a day where there are many sons, but there are few fathers to guide those sons. I can think of nothing deeper, no ache common to man than to be affirmed, blessed, and guided into his place as a man. It takes a father to do that. God sets himself up that way. He uses the language of father describing himself. <br /><br />I love the line from Iron John by Robert Bly, "A land with no fathers demands a king." We too easily fall prey to that thinking, worshiping idols over seeking fathers since none seem to be around. It seems the case from Israel's first king Saul, who everyone wanted to be their great deliverer, onto present day Obama. Everyone is so disappointed he has not lived up to his potential as king. <br /><br />I think its because we need more fathers, not more kings.<br /><br />I find myself doing that more often than I wish. To be near a king, to be around power and prestige is far too often a denial of the true fathering I need to grow into the man I need to become. A king is like a genie in a bottle instantly granting you wishes. A father is more a guide to grow you up. I'd much rather take the safer route of just being instantly zapped. Then walking out the pain and process it takes to become that man.<br /><br />But, we find ourselves in a world in need of fathers. We have a king. One set in the throne above now guiding all men who look to him. We need fathers guided by our king of kings passing down the blessing of the Father. But few of them seem to have been through the agonizing process themselves from a son to a father, and live the day to bless the sons.<br /><br />And here lies one of the issues of unity in brotherhood. While brothers can bless one another, it is the father's blessing we are after. There appear few who can give it. We are like refugees starving for food clawing on one another when the food arrives. Or is spotted. Who will get it? I must claw my way through the crowd...<br /><br />There is a book by Bob Sorge called Envy. He explains that most envy comes from brother-to-brother relationships, sister-to-sister. We are not usually as envious of fathers, as we are the sons around him. The reason Cain killed Abel? Jealousy, envy of a brother for the fathers blessing. There is the story of Joseph. Why did they sell him? He was the most loved. His brothers despised that.<br /><br />Sorge explains the issues of the day is between brothers and the blessings.<br /><br />My biggest yearning is to be blessed, by God, by good fathers, and yet so is everyone of my brothers who are equally starving for the same. All deserving of the same. The question is, can we all be blessed, is there enough food to be passed around, or does just one of us get that? Are all our lives of equal importance, or are there just a few the king has in mind for greater things. <br /><br />I think of that scripture in the Psalms about living in unity with brothers really grabbed me tonight as I read it. How truly a beautiful thing that is. It means a king has come, and fathers are blessing sons. It means they can respect and enjoy one another. Cheer one another on. Bless each others success, and pray for their struggles.<br /><br />I think somehow that is what SHALOM means. It will finally come at the King's coming to finally restore us as fathers and sons, filled with the blessings. I pray till then, unity can come through more fathers blessing more sons. I think the more food we see, the less we will be crawling on one another thinking there is only a few sources to find it. We will most certainly be feasting at a large table. And I am glad there will be plenty of food. The wedding feast of the lamb. That's going to be one big meal with lots to go around.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-88679917170801752802010-06-11T18:39:00.000-07:002010-06-11T18:48:47.843-07:00Searching for knowledge.I was at a little coffee place I frequent in the mornings today. Every Monday through Friday a group of retired gentleman gather there to talk about just about everything. One man in particular who is in his 80's is becoming quite an interesting man in conversation. He is always asking me what I am typing on my laptop, and no matter what I say, he seems to know about it. In fact, he said he had thought awhile about getting on facebook, but he realized most of his friends were dead. I laughed at his joke. But realized, he wasn't kidding, he is as alive and interesting as any man I have met.<br /><br />Well, we were talking about Teddy Roosevelt today, and he said, you know he is a progressive right. Well, kind of I said. And he went on to tell me about the movement, and Woodrow Wilson, and FDR. I was kind of interested in learning about it and I said, "I need to look more of that up." And he just stared at me and said, "Well, I lived through it."<br /><br />And it just kind of hit me staring at him. That I hadn't even thought of saying, tell me more. Or what was that like. Or did I even connect that there are people alive, and men alive sitting at coffee shops right next to me that know these stories of the past. I was going to google it. He was it.<br /><br />I love technology. I really would love one of those ipads. But I wonder how man screens we are getting our information from, instead of seeing who is right before us. Or who we could talk to. I need to practice the art of asking and listening. and sitting. versus all the knowledge at my finger tips get the quick facts gathering life. I am sitting on my laptop in a coffee shop full of googles with real stories within them.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-23441871227951295702010-05-01T11:33:00.000-07:002010-05-01T11:54:00.317-07:00The Kentucky Derby - where would you sit?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_J3ONsFAjo-rIw8LDnej0VnyikjxsS3Tg4hjIwlI_iaHmlGRPnHsskkOaPANMQA1sabWlvrlBaNuWgApNZovG7GMhEKevzy8o-ap7j4nEJRYYH_nWhjtoUdOXXaDdh60bpqk/s1600/kentucky-derby-winners.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_J3ONsFAjo-rIw8LDnej0VnyikjxsS3Tg4hjIwlI_iaHmlGRPnHsskkOaPANMQA1sabWlvrlBaNuWgApNZovG7GMhEKevzy8o-ap7j4nEJRYYH_nWhjtoUdOXXaDdh60bpqk/s320/kentucky-derby-winners.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5466375264256466594" /></a><br />I have been watching ESPN today, as they broadcast the Kentucky Derby. I must confess I forget how men and women dress for things like this. The large hats and dresses. The suits and ties. Then there is the infield. It has been raining for the entire day, and the place looks more like woodstock. People out there partying, wearing green hair, shirts half off. There are mint juleps inside under all the air conditioning and probably PBR out there in the rain.<br /><br />I have wondered, where would I belong? Which group would I want to enjoy the Derby in?<br /><br />It just made me realize how there can often emerge two worlds. Two sides of people. The haves and have nots. Both are there, enjoying themselves. Different drinks. Different outfits. Different perspectives of the track. of the weather.<br /><br />Where would you go? Run out in the mud and get dirty? Or put on your derby hat and head into the grandstands and high society and mix with a few celebs and business tycoons?<br /><br />Sometimes I kind of wish for fun sake, we could toss them around a bit. Shake the place up and everyone switch roles. Maybe the little men on the horses would become the great men in the stand who are the wealthy owners, and the slightly overweight owners would head down to those horses they are watching in their binoculars, jump on the horse, and ride them around the track in all that mud covering their expensive italians suits. <br /><br />That is a race, I would like to see.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-42098316698012102272010-04-18T13:42:00.000-07:002010-04-18T14:01:22.653-07:00One Church Many TribesI just opened a book written to the Church from a Native American offering his vision of some of the issues facing the clash between Native Americans and us Anglo-Europeans. It is a fascinating book, I find myself highlighting most of the pages. Isn't it fascinating that as the people of God's Kingdom, we have never asked what did His original inhabitants offer to us as a way of understanding the Kingdom?<br /><br />The book's author, Richard Twiss of the Lakota Sioux tribe says this...<br /><br />"It may be difficult to hear or to accept, but I believe that because of clashing cultural worldviews, the Anglo expression of Christ and His kingdom has said to the Native expression of Christ and His kingdom, "I have no need of you. I don't need your customs, your arts, your society, your language, concepts or perspectives." If you look at a thing and cannot identify any value in it, you will have no perceived sense of need for it. And if you have no need for it, then you get along without it.<br /><br />He is sharing that after explaining, or maybe asking why there are no native americans today in major christian leadership roles across our country?<br /><br />It is a great point. What does God want to teach us through the original native people of this land as an expression of worship, of Kingdom thinking?<br /><br />I just have really been enjoying a deeply reverent, Kingdom minded, and Christ focused Native American who I imagine, might be one of those voices we might need to listen to.<br /><br />If you are interested, the book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-Church-Many-Tribes-Following/dp/0830725458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271623904&sr=8-1">ONE CHURCH MANY TRIBES, by Richard Twiss</a><br /><br />And a few vides on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHKtDoKoD80">youtube</a>...Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-47660754201740463702010-03-18T20:58:00.000-07:002010-03-18T21:22:06.324-07:00Laying a stone.I was watching Ken Burn's National Park series tonight. It is so well, well done. Evoking so much longing. It also reminded me of the wonderous beauties of some of the places I have been fortunate to go over the past few years. One of them a trip I took with my wife, Jayne, to the Grand Teton National Park.<br /><br />We were headed up paintbrush canyon, heading to the backside of the teton range from the park entrance to the east when there was a worker laying trail. There is a need in the trail system to upgrade the trails, and for many of the workers, they camp back in the parks, and work longs day, chipping away rocks, and setting up and rebuilding worn trails. I tell you, it is a back breaking job. Long hours. Sweat. No showers. Heavy lifting.<br /><br />We stopped to talk to one of the guys, and I asked why he did it. He was laying stones over a small stream bed, rocks that were the size of tires, each one having to be cut, and rolled into place.<br /><br />He said something of the sort, like, I get the satisfaction of coming back here years later, to see the work, and knowing what I am doing will be here for many years to come.<br /><br />I dont think I will ever forget that moment. In the midst of what seemed like a horrible job, I heard him explain the connection to the place. Putting something in place that will last many years, even beyond him. The cost was worth the pain.<br /><br />I need that reminder these days. I want to live that kind of life. So much of what we do, so easily is washed away at the next rain. the easy stuff easily can be washed in the next storm. only to have to be rebuilt, replaced. and often it simply is lost.<br /><br />I don't know how many boulders any of us can put in place in this life that are eternal. It is grace we can do any. We sure can't make a mountain, or build a entire trail system on our own. but if we grit our teeth, and we sweat it out, and pay the cost, I think we each have a stone or two to lay.<br /><br />I am in a time of my life, where I am feeling the weight and the cost of placing a few stones in their seeminly right place in the path. Its not sexy like it was a few years back. I mostly feel the cost, the pain, and the weight of the stone, and the pain of my back.<br /><br />Maybe that is what we all are given. To prepare the path, and lay the stones we are given to lay. Some of us think we have to carve and cut the whole trail, others just want to use the trail, without carrying any of its cost. and some are just laying down pebbles, that will soon wash away.<br /><br />I imagine for that man, the greatest joy is coming back. Walking up that trail, and seeing those stones he lay. The enjoyment of remembering that season of hard work. Seeing its place and purpose in the scheme of it all. I need that reminder these days, and I am looking forward to the day I can walk the trail, and see the stones I helped cut and roll into place, along with the so many others who offered theirs along the way. <br /><br />I guess for me right now, that is one of the great mysteries, where is this trail going? If someone came by and asked of where I am currently in the path, I would probably have to admit, I am not all that sure. Its headed in that direction, as I pointed. I know its good. I just am here, doing this part. <br /><br />I think of that day, when we can walk that trail, as it is finally complete. Fully restored. It will be fully paved.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-4016041090923054602010-03-11T22:11:00.000-08:002010-03-11T22:30:57.382-08:00Editing my life .I am two days away from turning in the final edits of a book I am working on due out this July 1st. It is my second book, and one thing I find is that the last read through is the toughest. It’s the last moment to make changes.<br /><br />When you are writing stories, for me, mostly personal ones for others to read, it is always a bit of a gasp. It seems that our lives are lived by our interpretation of what is happening. How we view the events of our lives. To tell them word by word, and sentence by paragraph, and form them into chapters, and a book, is in some essence to tell them a certain way. Interpret them. And sell them to people. Give a certain way for people to interpret their lives.<br /><br />I think that is what is always the hardest for me. I think God's invitation into our lives is to continually reinterpret what is really happening. It is so hard to have the lens of God, as St. Paul says, we see through a glass darkly. <br /><br />It’s funny because I did a television show for my first book. It was all quite a rather weird experience to be on Christian TV, and feel like those televangelists in those gold chairs. There was a moment when the host had me look into the camera, and really bring the thunder. It was all rather odd to me, but I did it as asked.<br /><br />They gave me the complimentary copy of the show. And to this day, I have never watched it. I could watch myself in this moment I think, but to watch myself in a moment past, is to look at what I know now, and kind of do a, "oh my gosh, what was I thinking, what was I doing."<br /><br />I am already reading through it, and feeling that again. Xan, why did you say it that way, or, is that really what that moment should be explained as? And yet, for that moment in time, I wrote it. and I thought it. and it will remain in print, till those moths come and destroy them. <br /><br />I had heard awhile ago, that one pretty big Christian author who wrote a very popular book as a young man, doesn't recommend his book to people anymore. instead he recommends another book he wrote later about the subject. that makes a lot of sense to me. the older we get, the wiser we hopefully get, and the less we find we know. which is what makes us wise, but makes us feel stupid for all the things we said when we "knew" so much.<br /><br />And so, this book is my knowing, and will have to be undone by my living on. but I think what I am trying to learn is to allow my writing, like my life, to be a work in progress. of where I am, when I wrote it. it’s kind of like knowing when you are taking a picture that somehow in 40 years; people are going to look at your clothes, or your haircut, and laugh. and say, you wore that? you kind of know that will be true, but you haven't any clue why or what they will say about it. it looks right for the time. <br /><br />and so it is with this book. it is me, in this moment, of this time. an offering of a perspective that will likely change. and yet, it is worth the sacrifice to bring it, and share it, because I guess we are all in that process of changing and growing, and by the time I realize how foolish it was, it will have been replaced by other fools writing books on other areas we think they have all the answers for. till the next one comes along.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-44229663705900369352010-03-04T22:10:00.001-08:002010-03-04T22:22:03.090-08:00Everything falls apart.I have been learning a few lessons these days. I guess the lessons are always there to learn, its just a matter of when we are ready to see them. When we have had enough. A good man I like to read says, "we learn by prayer or by suffering." And for most men, the only pathway is suffering. He wish it weren't true. <br /><br />There is a mentality I think in most men, that is both for his good, and his vice. It is, I can fix it. I can make it better. I can change the world. <br /><br />I think its probably good to get a sense of that. My generation seems to believe it. We can make a difference. We go out and live for purpose, passion, get involved in social causes like no other generation. We have a great optimism. I love to believe this has been true of my life. I have believed.<br /><br />But one hard lesson to learn, all things break down. Our bodies. Our bank accounts. Our dreams. Our understanding of just about everything. I think it has to. I think that is part of living. Part of coming to that end of ourselves. <br /><br />I think one of the things we must find is to see the world as broken, but fixable. To see a world with questions, and believe there are answers to be found. But there is something important I think, when we remain in hope, a hope beyond our own hope, that the world is also breaking down. and we can't fix it. <br /><br />I realized today how many things I have written down, and then crossed of when it was accomplished. I have this sheet that has a top 2 big things for the day, 5 people to call, 10 things to do. Its kind of my guide to keep me on track. Keep me moving forward, disciplined, focused.<br /><br />I dont know how many things I crossed off, probably in the 1,000's by now. But I think with each one crossed, I felt that much closer to some finish line of completeness. that somehow I could cross enough tasks of that I would come to the end of them all, and I would find myself at peace, and ready to rest.<br /><br />But dang it, the lists are growing, the email box is getting more full, and the demands are ever more, and I still can't get my truck's oil changed, and the dust, it just keeps collecting. I wipe it off, and it keeps coming back.<br /><br />I think I am going to have to learn to find peace and rest in the midst of the tasks yet to be marked off. or the emails to be gotten to. How does one take a break, when that hours of work, could help pay the light bill? is it fair to just take off, and go be with the trees, and your soul, and the one who calls to us in the midst. it is so, so hard.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-77240813690940937322010-02-17T22:26:00.000-08:002010-02-17T22:40:38.305-08:00Making a person.I am still so caught in the mystery of the making of a person. Meaning how two people, make one really tiny person. it is what happens every day, but somehow when you make your own, it all makes sense.<br /><br />I seem to have spent the majority of my life, building stuff. as a boy it was legos. a little older and I was working on complete baseball card sets. then it was a remote control car. then a salt water reef aquarium eco system in my room. then other things. i am tinkering with a business right now, and growing a ministry. which gets me to tonight. laying on my bed, exhausted from what seems like a lot of building, a lot of making.<br /><br />well, jayne and i have been sleeping with our little girl, kruzie in the bed. trying it out, her lying between us the last few nights. so here i go to lay my head, from what seems like 3 long years of making things, with a few pauses, and there is this little product of my and jaynes making.<br /><br />it seems so surreal to me. so much work is required in making things. things break down. you need more money. problems occur. re-thinking, re-strategizing. it seems the natural part of anything creative is lots of work. it requires a lot, and you have to put in the sweat. nothing just happens. but that to me, is the greatest mystery of lying next to this little girl. I helped make her. but it was probably the simplest making ever. <br /><br />and maybe that is what is so complex to me. the most amazing, unique, and remarkable creation, is a person. and somehow, we do the deed, the stuff comes out, goes to the egg, and the rest, just happens. and then one day, you look over on your bed, and there is something created. that is alive. and real. and a soul. moving and breathing.<br /><br />it is the most complex and intricate making. we make them. but, there is so much evidence, there is someone else so much more in the process than me. i think that is what is so amazing, while everything else is prone to break down, and rust, and come apart, without attention, this little one is growing, and changing, and while there is plenty of hands on, and doing, it is like this natural thing God has set up. God makes it all grow.<br /><br />I am not sure if this is "making" sense. But I think I feel so grateful that God is growing this little girl. most of what I make, tends to fall apart, at some point. and yet, there is such evidence, not this time, not this one. I feel outdone. outdone. and yet, I feel so honored that I get to play a part in continuing to make her. make and grow her into what she was made for, and who she was made to be with. her little makers (mom and dad) and her Big Maker. <br /><br />I just had to get back up from the bed, and say that.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-32412412643674345222010-02-14T09:16:00.000-08:002010-02-14T09:29:50.760-08:00Take the pacifer.My wife and I over the past few days brought home our much anticipated daughter, Kruzie from the hospital. It is hard to put all the words and emotions to her. She does some pretty basic things that would not make you blink if it were from a dog, or a person, but when it is your own, to watch her sleep, or even push out a "dirty" you can't help but see her as adorable. We are blessed, and so enjoying this new little one. I am excited to see how it will change our life.<br /><br />There are so many reflections to write. Good, bad, selfish thoughts, frustrations. Great joys. It is a flurry of places to go. But this morning I am starting at my little girl, and she wont take her pacifer. She is staring at me. Frustrated. What about, I could not tell you. I imagine its gas. Maybe she is too tired to sleep. Maybe she knows her father is thinking of other things, and not her. Kids are smart, right?<br /><br />You see, I like to accomplish things. Do things. And I tell you, a baby is like the anti- of all those things. It is a great juxtaposition for my life. She is staring at me. Beckoning me back, asking me to look at her. She has no words. Just kinda these sweet grunts. She can't even smile yet. Now she is in my arms, as I try and balance her on my chest, while putting my hands to this computer. She is now about to fall off. Hold on.<br /><br />Ok. better. <br /><br />I did this the other night, balancing her on my knees. and working late into the night while she was asleep. I was told by Jayne that is unsafe. So I am going to put her back in her little baby seat thing next to me.<br /><br />It would probably be easy to justify that this is the time of a babies life where momma is only needed. I can go on, and get things done, and try and make more money, so I can pay for all these things coming down the pipe. thats certainly what I feel. what seems the easy thing to do. work more and harder. <br /><br />but I do love the issue of my two worlds. one that just wants me to stare at her. the other that requires my intellectual thoughts and management. I forgot the other. probably much like how I forgot God is wanting the same. to wait. to sit on the lap. and stare. and enjoy.<br /><br />And so I want little Kruzie to take the pacifer, so she can be pre-occupied and I can get back to work. and on the other hand, it feels like a great thing I need more of. a baby who needs me. who just wants to stare at me. and I probably, honestly, just need to stare right back more. and enjoy. I can already see that being a great challenge in the years ahead. will I work with her on my lap. will I plug her into a pacifer, a DVD, a flurry of activities at school, and in life, or will I enjoy her. and be in her presence.<br /><br />so, as you can imagine. I probably need to go do that.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-54073304745673861452010-02-06T09:56:00.000-08:002010-02-06T10:09:05.907-08:00How to respond to Haiti?I have been pondering the great problems, and pain, and death in Haiti. And have wondered what is the appopriate response? Of course, mercy, Lord, mercy. But as they begin to ask the question what shall we do? And all the money comes into the country, what is the appropriate response?<br /><br />There is one side... that this was God bringing judgement. Pat Robertson.<br /><br />He got pretty slammed for bringing that up. It was a classic right-winger super conservantive comment. It would have come from someone, seems in this moments they are always looking for an uncompassionate christian to feed the angst. Robertson played into it perfectly. And his statements were quickly written off. How dare he?<br /><br />Donald Miller offered another take. Saying Robertson didn't represent his voice. He offered a very articulate message about Jesus caring, and having compassion. And talking a lot about the issues of christian leaders today, and how they get into their position of leadership.<br /><br />It felt weird to me. Because there is the old school thinkers of Roberton's era. Then my generation who gravitates to a voice similar to Miller. But as I read both, I felt they each made great points, and yet, they both had some truth to them. Could it be true there was something really dark to the Haitian culture, even propigated by our own colinialism? And could we bring compassion like Miller said, while thinking of this ias something incredibly dark, that Robertson could have been on to something? <br /><br />I didn't know what to say, because obviously you have to back up it up, to make a response to a response. But then I read an article in the NY Times from a man outside evangelicalism, and who has little to gain in the voices of Christians, but just seemed to offer simple clarity. It was a mix of all the issues of what has happened to Haiti. And to me, would be a great image of what as Christians, those who feel called to go, and serve, and fight evil, would be worth reading...<br /><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704533204575047163435348660.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">Haiti and the Voodoo Curse by Lawrence Harrison</a>Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-45853155170800891942010-01-11T08:10:00.000-08:002010-01-11T08:19:55.064-08:00Making people.Jayne and I are expecting our first little baby in about 4 weeks. There are a lot of things I can relate to in life, and dig up the associations, and feelings, but fathering a child, cleaning its butt, looking at a child with my own reflection, along with my wife, is not one of them. I can relate to people going through suffering, I can relate to people driving Jeeps, guys trying to walk out their story as a man. <br /><br />I can relate and understand in part many things, but one of them is not being a baby, or having a baby. And I have never been a father. I mean, I guess I have offered in part the heart of a father to the young men we work with at Training Ground. But that is ages 18-25. So I am doing everything in reverse. I am starting with a child in an age I can't recall, and have never had to do. I have never wiped a dirty diaper. Or dressed a little girl. Or gazed at something that is literally part of me.<br /><br />I went into the nursery the other day, and it just all kind of hit me. This was my future. I looked at all these little dresses and colors, and I saw my impending fate. I am a father. I have been for the last 8 months. But as that head pokes out, I think there it will finally hit me. and as she gets swadled in pink, and we drop her in the crib, it will all rush in. Do I have any idea what I am doing? Have I really read much? Listened to the parenting classes or all the advice? Well, kind of. But since I dont really get it, that this is all happening, its hard to really take in something. <br /><br />I dont know what to expect. But I tell you. Jayne is ready. and I think I am getting there too. We looked at each other a few months back and admitted we were kind of bored in life. Not that we dont have a good life, but just a bit boring. I get the sense whatever is coming through and peeking out, she will not be boring. <br /><br />And so I am told to rest. Rest as much as I can. sleep. go on dates. enjoy the last remaining days. your life will never be the same. I toast to that.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-38950161337116527892009-11-29T16:11:00.000-08:002009-11-29T16:27:26.490-08:00A case of 48 books for $48.A few months ago, I was given the opportunity to buy some of my first book from the publisher back. They had pretty much stopped selling, and were dumping them for $1 a copy, so I said, hey. Can I get a few? They said, how about the remaining?<br /><br />Somewhere around 1,300 books. <br /><br />It presented a dilemma. I am not traveling around speaking, or have any real way of getting the books into the hands of men, and young men at a large scale. They ain't flying off the shelves or in high demand. <br /><br />But imagine if all your hard work and labor of something was being discounted at somewhere around 90%. Maybe a version of you at a really cheap rate. I'd like to think while many of us would pay more for our own version then most, we do like ourselves. How could you not go in at 90% off of yourself. You would have to buy yourself at that price. <br /><br />And how many of yourself would you buy at that rate?<br /><br />1, 5, 100, or 1,300?<br /><br />I guess I figured if anyone was going to take that price, it should be me, right? So, I ponied up the money, and bought them. Priceless, original, out-of-print copies of my first book. Pretty dang cheap. <br /><br />And now they sit. and sit. 1,300 of yourself just sitting there with no one to want them but the person that made them. and to be honest, he's not sure if he made the right choice. I think all 1,301 of us are kind of getting bored at staring at each other. while they are pretty independent, this one has to eat.<br /><br />I figured, maybe I could sell them. so, i offer me to you, the 90% off me.<br /><br />you could hand them out to a youth group, use them for firewood, or a ministry, or just give the old beggar a few coins in the tin cup, but I am willing to get rid of them for $48 a box. which includes 48 copies. then $10 to ship them.<br /><br />So $58 for 48 books.<br /><br />I think Donald Miller's newest hard back is selling for about $58. so maybe that is where you need to make a real economical decision. 48 of xan, or 1 of Donald Miller. those could be some true odds.<br /><br />If you are interested, give me a holler at xanhood@hotmail.com<br /><br />Good tidings.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-69897766627674761122009-11-10T09:02:00.001-08:002009-11-10T09:14:23.665-08:00All things come together.As a young teenager, one of my good friends was Wade. We worked out together, dreamed of our girlfriends, and in some ways, felt a bit outside of the circle of friends we ran around with. He went to one high school, I went to another. We were dreamers without much to back that up, or without understanding of how that was part of a potential calling in our life.<br /><br />I just placed my first order with Buffalo & Company with his company that he has built called <a href="http://www.usimprints.com">USIMPRINTS</a>. Ordered some croakies as they say in the south, or sunglass straps for the rest of the world. <br /><br />I doubt it made much of a dent in their bottom line for the month, but it was a great full circle, and coming around for me. I have watched Wade grow his business, and watch him grow as a great man of integrity, and strength. He has supported our work at Training Ground with some of those profits. which has in turn, allowed me to grow in my calling as well.<br /><br />In ministry, you can often feel like a beggar. We are in the end of the year giving season, and so our plans begin for how to invite people into our work, and ultimately ask for their resources. While it's more dignified, it is still begging. Asking for something, that you know, will not necessarily return something in return for them. We are begging on behalf of others, not just for our ourselves, but we are begging.<br /><br />I have had to learn how to walk into that. I am not an easy begger. But God has called me to that, to intercede for others and their journey.<br /><br />I think that is what felt so coming around for me. I could step in the chain of business. I could trade one item of value for another. He could serve me a product I needed, and I could return give him the cash for it he was looking for.<br /><br />There is most certainly a difference in the realm of business and ministry. and some of us are called to beg, and others to give. and that goes from money, to counsel, to just about anything. we all should be beggers at some point, it is a gospel mandate. <br /><br />I guess, I just feel so grateful to be able to give back the market value of what is asked. not to necessarily ask for a donation. ministry folks need that. in fact, i kind of have this brewing theory that those in ministry, would do good to learn the other side of the table for awhile. and business leaders, could do well to learn what its like to in some form, beg. for others, or even themselves. <br /><br />its too easy to stay on one side of the table. either out of shame, or pride. I feel honored in this season at Training Ground, and for Buffalo & Company, to experience a bit of both. Both needed, both good.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-60209266666252725362009-11-07T06:54:00.000-08:002009-11-07T07:08:38.143-08:00Creativity.What does true creativity look like?<br /><br />There is a self expression inside creativity, that is marked with uniqueness and distinction of all its own. Nothing tied down, or limited. Its a form of making something all new.<br /><br />Being part creative, and part business, there is always a place between the two I have enjoyed blending. I think for capitalism to work well, you have to provide a service or product needed for people. It has to serve a need. If not, the business fails. So, there is plenty of marketing, and I guess you would are not say, "creative" ways to get people to see something in a certain way.<br /><br />And then on the other side is the pure artist. They are not bound by conventional means. Production is a negative. And expression and uniqueness is the full means to true art. Fleeing all that business and marketing crap.<br /><br />It is quite ironic that most of the art, whether it be writing, or music, or you name it, come from very well aware business and artistic types. They know there is a place for both. To get your music to be played in many places, requires some major commitments to be a good manager of your talent, your time, and your pursuit of sharing your art. <br /><br />I think that is why I love the two dilemmas. the artist needs to eat. the business man needs to create. neither probably are naturally wanting that. the business man wants the bottom line, the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the numbers for his investors. but most people buy, for very immeasurable reasons, often because of something like art. and beauty. and desire.<br /><br />the artist tends to want to stay in their focused place. not to be consumed by the world of production art, or mass anything. they are purists. but then, the rent payment comes around. and the cost for those guitars. <br /><br />I think there is a beautiful tension between those two. how do you create honest art that also creates a paycheck. and how does the businessman offer value to his stockholders, while knowing full well that even at the end of the day, when the rich investor goes home, he probably took some of that money to re-decorate his house, with designer chairs, and beautiful paintings, and sculptures that are all one of a kind.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-83478531111919510602009-11-03T12:14:00.000-08:002009-11-03T12:39:50.136-08:00From our friend, Sister Therese.I just received this from a lady I met a few years back who teaches at Training Ground the ancient practice of contemplative prayer. She is a benedectine nun here in town. I call her my spiritual grandmother. She wrote this in response to a newsletter we sent out at TG about our time hunting.<br /><br />Dear Xan: Thanks for the update. You are coming along fine.<br />I have a question - Why does hunting to kill an animal make a man?<br />Many blessings on your ministry to young men.<br />Sr. Therese<br /><br />Many different thoughts are there. John Muir spent time with Teddy Roosevelt, and one of their more argumentative topics was on enjoying animals vs. killing them. Muir the naturalist. Roosevelt the hunter. Muir thought a man was meant to come out of this place. that killing for sport was an adolescent experience.<br /><br />Here is a quote I read from Muir,<br /><br />"All hale, re-blooded boys are savage, the best and boldest the savagest, fond ouf hunting and fishing. But when thoughtless childhood is past, the best rise the highest above all this bloody flesh and sport business, the wild foundational animal dying out day by day, as divine uplifting, transfiguring charity grows in."<br /><br />There are many sides to this argument, but a look at the fall, tells us death will come. And maybe even God was the first hunter. Killing something in our place for Adam and Eve to put on their shame and nakedness. a shadowing of the blood needed to come. There is so much in this conversation. so much. There are some who hunt for merely trophies, other for the meat, others for the bonding time. not an easy one to try and sum up. but i believe any sane man, who hunts, needs to ask that question. and live from it in the hunting process.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-46854180765762499012009-09-30T22:27:00.001-07:002009-09-30T22:42:27.251-07:00Worship and Sex.From what I take on the great metaphors of the gospel, it seems one of the greatest is Jesus as the groom and the church as the bride. The culmination is the meeting of full consecration, and one joining the other together, and forever. I guess, Jesus making love to his church. It is actually very beautiful, despite having to wince a minute at the thought. <br /><br />It seems that our experience of worship (here and now), of entering into that holy communion has the taste of love making. Some divine experience of opening up, and inviting him in.<br /><br />I find myself to be a worshiper. but I can't help to think about how we schedule our sex with God. I mean, taking the metaphor he offers us, and we schedule it. 10 a.m. on Sunday. If I take this to a much more practical place, my own wife. I can only imagine what she might say to my weekly invitation.<br /><br />And that is not to mention the performance anxiety for those minutes. We have ourselves a little baby girl on the way, and with this being the only time we ever really "scheduled" all that metaphor making reality, lets just say, it was a bit difficult.<br /><br />I guess that is what is hard about sunday morning worship. its kinda of, well, scheduled sex. and while, I am not trying to make a case against church, or planning the songs, or practicing for the act, I just had a beautiful time with worship, over a cigar, some pearl jam, God, and a luke warm hot tub with dirt floating around. Quite an unexpected moment of joy in all this metaphor of love. Jesus just snuck up on me in an unexpected place.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-27833415095187187842009-09-26T17:39:00.000-07:002009-09-26T17:53:27.578-07:00Animal Sacrifice.The Training Ground guys spent the day down at a mom and pop butchery and processing place in Fountain, CO. We made sausage, but before we made it, we went to pick up our pig.<br /><br />She greeted us hanging on a rack. It was my morning coffee.<br /><br />We spent the morning with Dwayne and his son. They showed us around the place. Goats. Pigs. Chickens. And lambs. All in a holding cell, awaiting their ultimate fate in the wood shack room we went in. It is fun to pet a goat. Especially when it is a pet. But to pet it wondering, here in a few short days, someone is gonna come by and point. And instead of taking it home to little timmy for 12 years of dog food, and extra human loving, not this time billy goat.<br /><br />I have killed a few deer and turkeys now. so death is not all that new. but when we held down the goat, and it began to "bleet" and "baah" and the throat was slit, it all came to me. I stood back. and struggled.<br /><br />I think in part because in my mind, when I think of meat, and my daily dose of nuggets and round and square burgers, in my mind, someone else did the dirty work. and I dont have to take in the death, and the fall of man. I like the creation story. I like how beautiful it is. but I dont think much on how when Adam and Eve sinned, God went somewhere and skinned some animal skin, to give to Adam and Eve. the first hint of a sacrifice needed. that for us to have life, death had to come.<br /><br />I dont like death. and somehow I think even in those burgers and patties I think that maybe they just found their way into a patty. they somehow chose it. decided on their own to do that for my $8 combo meal. but watching the goat, watching its struggle and fight, and even its noise, as they held it down, reminded me that it was a sacrifice. <br /><br />When you hunt, there is a sense of sport. but today, there was nothing of the sort. it was for the meat. and there is something really horrible about having to do that to anything living. its not how it was meant to go. and yet, God's provision is blood. blood as a sign. for us. I am excited when the day comes when the one who was slain, is in completely in full reign. when the blood is gone, and all the tears are wiped away. and the lion and the lamb are together.<br /><br />and the little goat, can be what it was meant. no sacrifice needed.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-39680282099587571342009-09-05T21:39:00.000-07:002009-09-05T21:49:24.570-07:00Buffalo & Co.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIouTtK7a-uYWKBiU8POtjq057Yj-bbA1qGQUuieEafH4caVeJpSDyp1vNCJJ12lVtk1ASg3XTmbH8IN2g_d1nRAqnhtK6R9Ibf5xp_FIsMqFH-AilJrDmGD_qrOIq_Wni1O7y/s1600-h/Promocardfront.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIouTtK7a-uYWKBiU8POtjq057Yj-bbA1qGQUuieEafH4caVeJpSDyp1vNCJJ12lVtk1ASg3XTmbH8IN2g_d1nRAqnhtK6R9Ibf5xp_FIsMqFH-AilJrDmGD_qrOIq_Wni1O7y/s320/Promocardfront.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378211404524131746" /></a><br />I regret not posting in awhile. Life has been quite busy. I actually read a fascinating book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Money-Greed-God-Capitalism-Solution/dp/0061375616">Money, Greed, and God by Jay Richards. </a> a few weeks back. I don't believe a book has ever shaped me more in thinking about money and free markets.<br /><br />It has taken me down some interesting paths. From thinking about micro-lending, and social enterprise, and eventually to the thought of starting a business. I have thrown together a website that I am collaborating together with a few people. It is in the very early start-up stages. But we are moving forward with it.<br /><br />It is in some ways, my trying to reconcile my southern traditions of style and class of my upbringing, with a more western experience in Colorado. From blue collar roots to white collar. It is a twist on men's clothes, designing a new brand to speak to those in-between places.<br /><br />It's online here...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.buffaloandcompany.com">www.buffaloandcompany.com</a><br /><br />I would love if you took a gander.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-85091358931122024182009-07-02T13:40:00.000-07:002009-07-02T13:43:25.990-07:00Do dogs have political beliefs? And views on technology?I got this from my wife today in an email...<br /><br />Tacoma (our bernese mountain dog) got a hold of my phone and it's completely destroyed. Yeah, I know. I'm going to kill him. Just so you know, that's why you can't get a hold of me. I'm going to try to find one off craigslist. And he destroyed your Communist book.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-34528953129932452502009-06-30T21:42:00.000-07:002009-06-30T22:12:07.128-07:00Serving the poor by teaching them.It is interesting what has been coming out of the news about a new wave of thinking in Africa. One women wrote a book discrediting the beliefs that all the aid that came into Africa over the years has helped. But instead, made them dependent on it. Hooked onto assistance. She believes if change will happen, it must come from within. the old adage, “give a man a fish, feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life.” <br /><br />It seems to be the issues at hand for much of our country, regarding entitlements. government subsidies, and programs. “handouts.” It is a sad story to see the native American story. An independent people who lived off land without a need for printed money. But over time, as we have given them territories of often, barren lands, and offered them various financial assistance. They received checks for the resources taken from that land (oil or natural gas), which has them hooked onto our system for payments. A sweet Shoeshone lady, Sparky, in Wyoming told me all about it one day. <br />And I grieved at how we in part, made them dependent upon us. <br /><br />Behind all this often lies a poverty mentality. No sense of making the way through it. rising up. Often, there is very little motivation. Or reason. Those in power, are in power and in control. I will take what I can get.<br /><br />Karl Marx believed that we needed to overthrow the powers that be. All those benefiting from the working class. We should take them out. And give over control to all the normal joes out there. But the free market capitalist believes that you can earn your way to the top by hard work and dedication. No one requires you to stay stuck in that position. You have a choice to engage, or lay back on the couch and collect government checks. That is the beauty of free markets. You are free to decide.<br /><br />One of the all time great best-selling books is called, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. As the website explains, “the conspiracy of the rich” It’s premise is that a rich father teaches his son something much different than someone poor. And that secret really leads him down a very different path. I have some good friends who have read it, and reading it. and for awhile, I always saw it as some hoakie get rich quick scheme. But lately, I have been wondering if in it lies more of the answer to our problems in America. <br /><br />In my field of work, and with Training Ground, much of what we initiate young men into is the world of hardship, suffering, and hard work. Many of these young men need an experience of working with construction workers, and an experience outside the world of academia. And our entitled culture. It can be a wake up call of sorts.<br /><br />But what about the opposite side? What do they need? <br /><br />I wonder if part of that book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, is offering fathering. Some form of invitiation into capitalism, and business, and understanding of financial systems to get on top of the capitalism ladder.<br /><br />Getting back to Africa. I wonder what it would mean to father, initiate, and lead these men and women into ways of business, free markets, and economic freedom and prosperity. “teach them to fish.” For people who are poor, and come from poverty, well, they see themselves as always being that. As Jesus speaks of in the parables, you take one talent, and bury it.<br /><br />A friend, Paul, told me a story of how a project was taking place in Africa where they built a “chicken factory” for thousands of chickens for a village to raise and sell for profit. The delivery of 1,000’s of chickens arrived, and they received a call back in the states with the statement, “they ate all the chickens!”<br /><br />When you see a chicken. You eat it!<br /><br />But what does it meant to teach them how to take that chicken, and make a few more, which make a few more, and one talent becomes ten. That doesn’t come very naturally for someone who is just looking for the next meal. Or being handed a fish for the day’s food.<br /><br />All to say, it seems you have to change the mentality of the people. teach them. Lead them. And call them up. Karl Marx wrote off the wealthy merchant class (bourgeoise) because they did not care but anything but their own profits. Exploiting the lower classes for their own gain. But what if the wealthy class, went and taught this to the poorer class. They taught them their secrets in Jesus. And how to multiply talents. <br /><br />I just think that would be so beautiful. so redemptive. And to me, instead of dividing the lines further, like all this talk of socialism vs. capitalist, it might merge the two, and make them have a deeper respect for one another. Not to mention what all the rich people would learn from the other side in the process.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-59253403416862895252009-06-29T22:37:00.001-07:002009-06-29T22:51:30.231-07:00Communism or Free Markets?I am realizing that I have been writing a few 'political' blogs. I don't know why religious people always seem to end up there. Is it ego, ambition, or where the intersection of so many ideas get injected in the marketplace of humanity? I decided that I was going to read two viewpoints. Today in the mail arrived The Communist Manifesto. I felt very un-patriotic opening it up. And quickly hid it from any neighbors. McCarthy would surely be tracking me a few years back. But I also picked up Mark Levin's, Liberty and Tyranny - A conservative Manifesto. Two manifestos. Two very different opinions of just about well--everything. <br /><br />I just switched them up. Read a bit on one, then on the other. <br /><br />What a great new experience. Of course, both is slamming the others side. But the beauty of it all, is that it actually made me formulate some opinions. I got to hear from two leading sources. And I am realizing I am not as much a socialist, as I was starting to believe. It helped by reading from the source. <br /><br />But I also can't deny that Marxism, and socialism, still has dignity in it, and addresses some issues that are too easily pushed aside. There are class struggles. There is the rich and the poor. Bourgeoise, and proletariat. Marx writes, "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." I think there is a lot ot be said about that. While I don't agree with the solutions formed, I think we need to spend more time (us conservatives) on looking at how capitalism can easily usurp the less for profit and gain. the abuse of capitalism and greed has caused a lot of people to re-examine motives, and control. and ask what is the best economic system.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-32794437165490796142009-06-07T22:14:00.000-07:002009-06-07T22:31:29.868-07:00Fox or CNN?What political side do you lean on? Right or Left?<br /><br />And from that, do you watch your news, or your counter-ideas?<br /><br />I found it interesting to watch the presidential debates months back, and hear on one side, how Obama missed the point, while the other channel was enthralled by his composure and statements. Same speech. Two sides. Two opinions. Which did you want to hear?<br /><br />It is intensely hard to hear things and take them in, objectively today. There are always two sides. And with our country so polarized, I find that we would rather just have people affirm our beliefs, whichever side they are, than challenge them. It is so much easier to have people tell us we are right, than question them. <br /><br />I keep flipping channels wondering, which side do I believe? and which side am I supposed to be on? And while we are there, am I supposed to have a side?<br /><br />There is a lot of good fights out there needed between the two. What is light without darkness? Good without evil? It will always be the case. Two differing views. But I think that is beginning to come out more and more. We can't just blindly live for the one, and not see the other.<br /><br />This all really came out of a question of which news to watch. <br /><br />I am glad to know in this confusion my calling as a christian is to follow Jesus. That's the more clear command. But where he heads and what the spirit is doing, seems to wander a path that is not as one sided as it once seemed with the religious right. maybe that is our greatest problem. we went a bit too far to a side. and an affiliation. I guess, we used each other. Rove and Republicans used evangelicals. Evangelicals used Rove and republicans. But with all that using, what did that give us other than a false sense of power? And control?<br /><br />I think for now, I will take my meals more buffet style. a little from the left, and a little from the right as I try and make sense of it all. that means having to think a bit more while I watch. and listen. I rarely talk politics to anyone I know, really. kind of weird. But I think I am trying to take it in. seems this blog is my confession at times.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11177932.post-88110596942032183142009-06-01T20:44:00.001-07:002009-06-01T20:47:55.350-07:00A site for the Training Ground guys.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJ3CtBaIyjj5rGiAdLeNito-xrOnKic4kllqJmEzuvQnINUYvFu-J4P2txklqVlWtZseuBtwnnb3aoIBgYATTDgRQKoKvwBSyZ68S_BRDvp1LkAU4xbCDbOMBYzA_o90tvJZn/s1600-h/SnowyGroupShotWorn.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 163px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXJ3CtBaIyjj5rGiAdLeNito-xrOnKic4kllqJmEzuvQnINUYvFu-J4P2txklqVlWtZseuBtwnnb3aoIBgYATTDgRQKoKvwBSyZ68S_BRDvp1LkAU4xbCDbOMBYzA_o90tvJZn/s400/SnowyGroupShotWorn.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342571515277178882" /></a><br /><br /><br />For those who might be interested in following along some of the journals of the guys going through the summer '09 Training Ground session, you can visit <a href="http://www.tgcommunity.com">www.tgcommunity.com</a>. One of the guys from the fall class, Sam Scott, who is our media intern, has put together one phenomenal interactive site to really get a feel for what happens around the place. From videos, twitter updates, and blogs from their week.Xan Hoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18037768592075782062noreply@blogger.com