Why I Believe in the 2nd Amendment

My wife and I just bought a new home.  Actually we bought a 110-year-old Victorian  that was recently remodeled just west of downtown.  We’ve been in the process of moving some ancillary items, storage, closets, kitchen non-essentials, etc.  We had planned to take it easy and have a big moving day this coming Saturday.  Everything was going swimmingly until Saturday night, or rather Sunday afternoon.

I had a gig Sunday morning in Denver, so I got up early drove up, and did my thing.  I finished about 2:30pm and was driving home when I got a hysterical call from my wife.  Apparently, sometime Saturday night, some homeless people, broke into our new home through the basement window, and made a general mess of things.  They didn’t take much, thankfully, but they ate pretty much all the food we had there, stole some medicine and alcohol and made a huge mess.

Jenn called the police, they came out and did a report, and we hoped that would be the end of it.  We were wrong.

We decided it would be a good idea for me, our two 80 lb labs, my friend Ryan, and our two handguns to stay the night last night, just in case they came back.  I printed off some makeshift signs and taped them into all the windows.  They read,

“WARNING!!!  If my two 80 pound dogs don’t get you, my gun and I will if you come into my home again.”

Well, Ryan and I were settling in, and about 11pm last night, we heard some noise outside.  Ryan said, “Brandon, I think they’re back.” He grabbed his .40 caliber and ran downstairs.  I grabbed my Walther PPK 9 millimeter and followed.  Ryan ran out the front door, I glanced out, saw a couple girls across the way and that Ryan had made his way around the side of the house  (where the basement windows are) and towards the back.  I ran to the back of the house and came out to find Ryan had cornered two guys next to our back deck.

We confronted them, warned them we had loaded guns and that we were calling the police.  Apparently Ryan had found one of them in the window well trying to get in.  I called the police, they arrived moments later, and a couple hours later, the situation was over.

It turns out our homeless friends (each supplied heavily with pot, the police found) had some warrants, and some other issues.  They said “their friend Trey told them about the house and that he stayed there last night and it would be a safe warm place for them to squat.”  They swore they weren’t they to cause any trouble take or damage anything, and that they were simply looking for a warm place to sleep.  (I told them they were in luck, they jail they’d be staying in tonight was nice and warm.)

Here’s the thing, I really honestly thought no one would be stupid enough to return to the scene of the crime the night before.  Again, I was wrong.

I am thankful we live in country where it is a constitutional right to keep and bear arms.  And I believe that this is one of those instances where that right proves the idea that legal and responsible gun ownership prevents crime, whereas unlawful gun use increases crime.  Because Ryan and I have been around guns, have been through training on how to handle a weapon safely and responsibly (we both had father’s in law enforcement and both considered a career in the field), we were able to use the threat of force without having to use any force and in the end no one was hurt and a further crime was prevented.

Thank God, that’s all that happened.

What is Calling?

What is God’s will?  What is the right thing to do?  How does one know that one is doing what they were meant, or made to do?  Are these are intrinsically American questions, rife with comfort so we are able to even examine ideas? Or is there something bigger, something deeper in all of us that, by ignoring, puts our fulfillment, and perhaps the help of others, in peril ?

Yes. No.  And maybe some grey.

I think that as long as I can remember I’ve felt like I was made to do certain things.  As a boy, adolescent, and young adult being an athlete meant a great deal to me.  As a result, I often thought or said things like, “I was born to do this.”  The rush of adrenaline, the thrill of winning, the feeling of a well-timed, well-executed play in hockey or volleyball, were for me the very elements of a life well-lived.

Similarly throughout my life, the resonance I’ve felt with music has often left me speechless, which for those of you who know me, is something.  I often relate to the moment in Chariots of Fire when the main character Eric Liddel, a missionary with great athletic prowess, tries to explain to his sister why he runs.  “When I run, I sense God’s pleasure.”  Liddell is saying that he senses calling, meaning, fulfillment, and great results when he does what he was built to do.  I often feel that way while playing music.

Which brings us back to the question of whether that feeling is legitimate or not.  It’s been said that human beings make decisions based on emotion, and justify using reason.  If that’s the case, what is to be made of this idea of calling?  What do we do with the things we dream of doing?  Are we merely justifying our own aspirations in the name of some greater good, or greater force?  Are we blaming God for what we simply want to do?

Or is there something deeply, intrinsically a part of us that resonates when we act upon it?  Is there something, unique to each of us, that causes us to act in a manner that another might not?

And if so, what are we to do about it?  Certainly we ought not throw up our hands and radically redirect our lives in a way that allows us to pursue dreams over our responsibilities.  Or is it our responsibility itself that drives us to pursue our dreams?

This last week I was in L.A. to sing in a close friend’s wedding.  I was impressed by my friend’s friends.  Each of them, in their own way, seemed to be acting upon something that drove them.  All of them were very successful.  All of them were doing things that sounded dreamy.

Over the course of a few days’ interaction these things became clearly apparent.  And over that period of time, I also ran into old acquaintances, and met new ones. It seemed to me that the people I met fell into one of three very stereotypical and generalized categories.  Dreamers, Settlers and Undecideds.

The Dreamers, were much as I’ve already described, they seemed alive, energized (not that they weren’t ever tired or stressed) but the seemed peaceful and fulfilled.  And they also seemed to each have acquired a measure of success in their field of influence.

The Settlers also seemed dreamy, but in a different way, they seemed to reminisce, to remember, and even commiserate.  Each of them also seemed to have acquired a certain standard of living (it was L.A. after all) but it seemed hollow, as if it could collapse at any given time.

The Undecideds were often younger, but not always.  Some fresh out of college, some in the workforce for years.  But each of them seemed to have the hint of both dreaming, and settling within them, as if one might pop out and blossom at any moment, given the right (or wrong) opportunity.

All of this has caused me to reconsider.  What am I doing with my life?  Am I doing what I ought to?  What I should?  What I might be able to do?  Am I fully alive?  Am I simply settling for the trappings of an average, middle class American life?  Of course there’s nothing wrong with an average, middle class American life.  But for me, and I hope for you, this causes more reflection, and ultimately more intention and follow through.

I guess the good news is that on the flight back I wrote a song.  The bad news, I haven’t finished it yet.

King of Glory-EP available on iTunes now

Hey everyone.  Just thought I’d let you know that my EP, King of Glory, is now available on iTunes, Amazon.com, Napster, Rhapsody and basically anywhere you usually get your digital music fix.  I’d love to have your feedback on it.

Along those lines, there have been multiple requests for lyrics, so I’ve uploaded the chord charts (w/lyrics) for each of the tunes here for your viewing, reading, playing pleasure.

Can’t wait to hear impressions from each of you on the project.  Thanks.

Brandon

YOU ALONE

Strength Not My Own

King of Glory – D

Change + Hope = $750bilion in Debt

First, I have to admit I stole the title from one David Wilson, a close friend and colleague.  I think it’s brilliant.

Second, I have to wonder if THIS represents the change we can believe in, the change we need or the change we need to be.  Sorry I get confused with all the Obama platitudes of the campaign trail and their, now, obvious meaninglessness.  The sad thing is we’re , let’s see…30 days into the administration?  Oy vey.

I sure hope he can turn it around.

I also understand, because I wrote about it several times, that it’s foolish to place all our “hope” in the abilities of one man, one politician, one party, etc.  I still think President Obama is a gifted, intelligent and well-meaning individual, and that he can still have a very successful administration.  I hope he does, and I hope that congress can be turned over like the tables in the Temple courts.  That bunch may be simply incorrigible.

Stimulus? Or Political Point Scoring?

I’ve often said that President Obama’s discussion of the economy, and the mainstream media’s parroting of it, has been likely bad for the economy but good for his election in November and his positioning of the Stimulus package that just passed congress with nary a congress member actually reading it.  But Economics professor, Bradley Schiller, says it quite well in this WallStreet Journal Op Ed.

Some cool headed thinking might be in order.  I hope the President’s mind is as apt as his mouth.

When Trekkies Go Bad

This just in from the odd news department.  Apparently someone with some Star Trek paraphenalia had a rough night.

Perspective

As I was getting ready this morning, something occurred to me.  Having spent a lot of time revisiting, reliving and rehashing the Ted Haggard story over the last couple weeks, it’s important to keep in mind that we are all a step or two away from ignominy.

As I thought about Ted, our relationship, watching him on Oprah and Larry King, et al, I thought of all the things I’ve done, or thought over the years that I wouldn’t want anyone to know, let alone broadcast all over.  It makes me exceptionally thankful for Jesus, the cross, and redemption.

I’m also renewing my belief in Rom 12:3 “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to.”  And Phil 2:3-5 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ.”

In this case, my job is to certainly examine things critically, but to remember that the same measure I use will be used in judging me, and that I need to think of myself more critically than I think of others.

It’s important for me to give others the benefit of the doubt, and hold myself to a higher standard.  Too often I reverse that.

Update on Haggard Story

Here’s a shameless plug.  This article, written for Slate magazine, is the best peice I’ve seen in any of the coverage over the last two+ years.  It’s shameless because it was written by my closest friend outside of my wife, Patton Dodd, but the article speaks volumes about what could and should happen here.

Also, after having just watched Ted & Gayle on Oprah, I am much relieved that Ted took the opportunity to say “I’m sorry.”  It is still amazing to me, how those two simple words carry huge weight.  I’m also very pleased at the overall tone Ted took which is markedly different from that which is portrayed in the documentary.  Here’s to hoping the health shown in those two small aspects is indicative of good things to come in this story.

Ted Haggard, Revisited

This marks the first writing I’ve done about the Ted Haggard scandal in a long (but unfortunately not long enough) time.

During the immediate aftermath of the sex and drugs scandal with a male prostitute in Denver that many thought would be the last chapter in the public story of Ted Haggard, I wrote much about the response I saw in my friends and family at New life Church.  I wrote of their immediate forgiveness, amazing to me now as it was then.  I talked about the response of leadership in the church and how it gave me confidence that New Life would survive one of the biggest church scandals in American history.

I hoped that would be the last I wrote of that chapter.  I hoped, that the hours, and days, and weeks, and months of time we spent as friends processing what had happened to this man we all loved and trusted, and how it affected us emotionally, spiritually, and for many of us, in our career paths, I hoped that it would be a long time before I wrote again, but that it would be about the wisdom we had gleaned from the process.

Well, certainly we’ve gleaned much wisdom, with it came a high price.  And now, looking back over two years ago, and upon further reflection deeper into the past realizing the duplicity was deeper than we had ever imagined, we see that the story, the public story, is not yet over.

I have spoken many time with Ted since all of this occurred. And my initial response was that he seemed to be getting healthier.  He seemed to engage in ways I hadn’t seen in him in years.  He seemed to really dialogue and honestly consider what was being discussed.  He seemed broken, and at times, even willing to embrace the process of healing.  There were bad moments and days too, during which he would rail against the injustices that had been dealt him.  I was careful to remind him, in those moments, that none of this would have happened had he not fallen, had he not decided to, as he says in the documentary “break the rules.”

My dear friend, Patton Dodd, wrote about this today, but I think it bears another angle of examination.  We got together with a few close friends to watch “The Trials of Ted Haggard” a couple weeks ago.  After the viewing, we sat around for a couple hours discussing its impact on us.

The comments were far ranging, some centered on Ted’s duplicity i.e., complaining about not being able to talk to the media (while talking to an HBO camera during the time frame of the settlement).  Others commented on the oddity of him smiling so much when talking about his moral failure, and the state he and his family were in as a result.  Others went to the financial dishonesty of the film – Ted complaining about moving “from safe house to safe house on the kindness of strangers” while driving a Cadillac Escalade given to him as a gift, and living in palatial homes in Arizona, or while on the golf course (not exactly known as the poor-man’s past-time) all the while receiving a large six-figure salary.

My wife  said something afterward that really stuck with me.  She observed that in the entire film, not once, not one single solitary time, did Ted take the opportunity to say, “I’m sorry.”  Sure, he seemed to (at least partially) understand that he was there because he “broke the rules” or he “screwed up” or something along the lines of admitting that he had done something wrong, but no where in the entire piece does he take the time to apologize to the thousands of people he hurt by his actions.

For me, that sunk in.  Also, for me, and the others in the room, who have all known Ted for decades it stung when he said that no one reached out to him, no one cared, all of the church told him “to go to hell.”

Nothing, nothing could be further from the truth.  All of the people I know, many of whom were close staff member, friends and long-time New-lifers have found a way to reach out to Ted in one way or another.  All of us have.  All of us offered the promise of authentic friendship. We all stuck our necks out to make contact with him, we had to be intentional about it, sometimes we had to make multiple calls and emails and visits to get the point across.  So to hear him say that  no one reached out, made it feel like those of us who did were “no one.”

I also understand that this was an edited documentary, so I’m willing to believe, until proven otherwise, that some of those moments just ended up on the cutting room floor.  I hope and pray they did.

I also hope and pray that Ted and his family find healing, peace and a good end to this story.  But I think, as many have said, that it won’t happen in the limelight, or in seeking influence.  Influence, to me is a byproduct of having something to offer people, and the ability to communicate it by word, or (preferably) deed.  I hope that Ted can find that truth again somehow, but I think it may only happen in the shadows, in the quiet, in the solace afforded by having no public influence.  Sometimes God’s grace is to give exactly what we need, and precisely not what we want.

poverty, money, and me

Culture11 is one of my favorite new sites.  A good friend shined me on to it after nearly going to work for them.  It’s a conservative group of good thinkers and writers.  They discuss all manner of interesting stuff, and they do it well.

In this article they discuss the state of charitable giving in the U.S.  They paint a bleak picture of American’s “generosity.” It should be noted, that America, overall, remains one of the most charitable countries in history, the question is whether we are doing enough with that with which we’ve been blessed.

What’s encouraging for those of us that claim to be evangelicals, is that “our group” tends to give more than any other in America.  What’s not-so-encouraging, is that on average we give only 3.4% of our income, what’s even less encouraging is that represents 21% LESS than Americans in the dust bowl/great depression era.

Imagine that…those who lived through the worst economic downturn in U.S. history were 21% more generous than those of us who are still living in unprecedented affluence.

There are encouraging things as well.  New groups are forming with a renewed focus on generosity and giving back to those less fortunate.  Bono’s latest venture, (RED)WIRE, is a prime example.  50% of the profits from the online music magazine/distribution channel go to purchase medicine for Africans with AIDS.

But it seems that there is far too little going on.  Far too few people with the ability to give are doing so.  In Culture 11’s article they mention that American church-goers (not Americans in general, just those that go to church) have $5.2 trillion annually in income.  That’s such a staggering number it’s hard to understand what it could actually do.  So let me break that down a little bit.

There are approximately 6.7 billion people on planet earth.  If American church-goers gave 10% of their income ($520 billion) that would be enough to give every non-American on earth roughly $100.  Considering nearly 50% of the world lives under $2.50/day it makes a difference. So if you take the $100/person away from those who need it less and add to those who need it more, you have a few months living expenses paid for every person on earth. Or maybe medicine for those with disease, or education to break the poverty cycle, or clothing, or adequate shelter, etc.

I think the simplest way to say it is this:  Christians have far more money, cumulatively, than we think we do.  If we all simply tithed, even if it were only on our expendable income,  imagine how much better we could make the world.

Here’s hoping we learn to.

As a follow up – check out this video for a way to do something simple, and effective.