Rejoice and be glad in it! I am looking forward to becoming involved in the church and continuing my walk with God.

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That their is such ignorance and bigotry among the public is not new. What is new, in my opinion, is how politicians are just as ignorant as their constituents. When I worked in politics we took advantage of the voters stupidity but we didn’t succumb to it.  Things are indeed different.

We used to say, “the masses are asses” around the state Capitol building. Unfortunately, now, the Capitol is full of those same asses.

There is also this awful religious aspect that in the name of God, marriage must be defined as between a man and a woman.  My pastor recently declared the best thing organized religion has done in the last decade is push people away from church. I wholeheartedly agree. As a lifelong Christian, I’m embarrassed and offended by the things done in the name of God. I am very confident in both my Faith and that God is not present in the souls of those preaching to oppress any other child of God in any way.

Just as the preachers preached segregation and George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door and children threw rocks at black men swinging from trees in the deep south are now horrors from our past, so shall the things done to marginalize the LGBT community be seen when history looks back.  Those on the wrong side will be ashamed and will have to atone.

The bigger issue to me is the need for those that do embrace thought, education, science, and real Christianity to stand up and be louder than the noise of the thoughtless, uneducated, and fake Christians.

Tide detergent is an easily recognizable brand with no serial numbers which make it a target for shoplifters to then re-sell at flea markets and send to Mexico. Other items being sold are shampoo and liquid soap.  This type of theft really struck me as apocalyptic. I mean, back in a good economy people were stealing jewelry and prescription drugs…now it’s soap.

There are still millions that are among the “long-term unemployed” and there are 13 million among the unemployed. This doesn’t even count the “underemployed.” There are those that have taken part-time jobs or jobs beneath their qualifications level just to have some income. Those are not counted on the unemployment rolls.

I believe we have settled into a new reality of unemployment and those of us fortunate enough to have jobs are playing the fiddle loud to drown out the calls for help from those that are struggling.

Easter Sunday is fast approaching and as I come to an end of the Lenten season and my time of meditation and prayer I, too, feel a rebirth. I am thankful, grateful, forgiven and content.

While I still mourn the loss of my father, I am getting stronger every day in knowing that the gifts he gave me throughout his life have well prepared me for the strength we all need in our own lives.

Apple is not the only American company that is benefiting from what is, let’s face it, essentially slave labor in China. But, they are such an easy target. The self-righteousness of the company and their fans make it a delicious target for scorn. How are you enjoying that iPad now that you know these things?

So while Apple sits on $100 billion in cash, it’s factory workers earn less than their average consumer spends on Starbucks in a month.

I’m confident every piece of technology I have in my home is made in China, so I’m not going to chuck too many rocks at Apple. I will say that the U.S. government needs to step in here. If we have thousands of unemployed factory workers and we can’t begin to compete with $358 monthly salaries, what is our answer?

I support global economic policies and free and fair trade. The flaw is that when we’re the only one abiding by the rules we’re the ones that get the short end of the stick when it comes to jobs. We get cheap goods, but unfortunately we don’t have the jobs to earn the money to pay for them! China could care less if their employees live in poverty and don’t have basic human rights. Plus, when we do make something they either pirate it and make it cheaper or can’t possibly afford the goods we ship over there.

What a mess. Isolationism sounds better every day.

I have lived in Austin for 9 years and have not found a church home. I get motivated and start spending my Sundays checking out churches and while I use the time to meditate in prayer and let God’s grace wash over me, I have yet to find a church home that I felt would be a permanent place for me. It’s been very disheartening. I’ve been to some wonderful churches with some wonderful people that greeted me and made me feel welcome, but I haven’t had that moment in a church here that I felt…”this is it.”

I have felt that before. The first time I heard the Reverend Mark Craig at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, I was moved by the Spirit. His messages each week felt as if the Lord was speaking through him directly to me about an issue that was weighing me down. When I joined the church I said to Rev. Craig, “I knew this was the church for me when you spoke of God’s grace and how I felt it move me to join.” He replied, “That wasn’t me…the was God.” I cried.

I’ve recently been having church in my home. I open the Bible and read a scripture lesson and play my favorite hymns and sing out until I feel moved by the Lord. I’m sure my neighbors are tired of hearing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” but it’s best heard at top volume!

Since my father died, I have been struggling with the loss. I’ve realized it isn’t just the loss of my father, but also the loss of “community” I have felt. I used to have a strong sense of community in Austin. I had a friend I considered a brother. A true and valued sacred friend. That friendship ended and he turned out not to be the true and sacred friend I believed, I started to drift. Then I lost my father and shortly thereafter ended my long-term relationship. Suddenly, I found myself alone and longing for that sense of family and community foundation I believed had been so firm. As it crumbled beneath me I turned to the one thing that always brings me comfort…my Faith in God. Praise Him! As my grandmother would often say, “Give it to God. There is no burden he cannot bear.” It is an instant antidote.

As I struggle with this lost sense of community, I am searching for that home. That warm embrace of a church home and church family that reminds me there is more to life than self…there is a walk with God that is a shared experience.

I plan to visit Dallas and the Rev. Mark Craig as I continue on this great spiritual journey of Lent. I am looking forward to Easter with a joy I have not in many years. I will be with my family and we will spend the day in church and I will be surrounded by the community and love that I have been missing.

I have been saddened to see that Austin is not a very religious city. The churches here have many empty pews, the messages are dry and rarely do I feel inspired and moved. The music in the churches here is the worst! The hymns are mostly dirges the congregation slugs through with the enthusiasm of a root canal. I remember growing up in a church that when it came time to praise the Lord through song we did so with a spirit that made those great stained glass windows shake. I grew up with my eyes on my grandmother in the choir loft singing along with her to those hymns that made me vibrate with the joy of Christ.

Maybe it’s a Southern thing. The South is called the Bible Belt for a reason. Maybe I need to be back in the bosom of the South and feel the “everlasting arms” of Christ’s love there. Maybe I should go to seminary and be ordained and start my own church. Maybe my calling is to bring the love, grace, peace and serenity offered in religion to others. Plus, I would have that place hopping with some old time religion, for sure.  There would absolutely be dinner on the ground and what I feel is the real work of Christian love…to give people peace…not to put the fear in them or the bigotry…or the unwavering commitment to the Republican Party. HA!

I don’t comment a lot about this issue because it’s pointless. But, I did want my heterosexual friends to watch this and then dare look me in the face and tell me their love and their marriage is a right they get by virtue of their birth that I, as an American and a Christian, can’t also have.

How dare these two sit there and express their love and flaunt it in my face? HOW DARE THEY get to vote on whether or not someone could get married? What also makes me so very angry is I am better than these people! I grew up in a loving, Christian home. I am a productive member of society and I am 100% sure I paid more in taxes last year than these two have paid their entire lives. HOW DARE THEY get to say that marriage and love is between a man and a woman and their relationship is all that matters in the eyes of the law and the Lord?

People wonder why gay and lesbians commit suicide, why they wind up dropping out of college and working retail for the rest of their lives. Why they can’t commit to stable relationships and have low self esteem and feel disenfranchised and “less than” and this awful video puts it right out there for you all to see. This is worse than that idiot Kirk Cameron saying homosexuality is “unnatural” because everybody knows actors are stupid and their publicists will eventually force them to apologize so they can get booked somewhere.

Your ignorance and bigotry in the name of God gets me so riled up I can’t even communicate how it makes me want to punch you both in the face. My God teaches the same grace and love and serenity, but he never says to close your heart and your mind to others. You are awful people and I hope every gay person you know spits in your face.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was quoted this morning that he didn’t care about the very poor. He was trying to make a point that he was laser focused on the middle class of America and it wasn’t meant as some rich man saying he didn’t care about poor people.

But, as a very rich white man, does anyone really think he knows what is middle class and what is poor in the first place? When you rake in $57,000 a day, you tend to lose touch with how people live paycheck to paycheck and lay awake in their beds at night wondering if they can pay all the bills, wondering if they won’t disappoint the kids if they can’t afford a summer vacation….wondering if you really have to stay in a marriage with someone you don’t love anymore because you can’t afford to pay child support and have an apartment for yourself.

As a presidential candidate, I think you ought to be concerned about all Americans. The poor need a safety net and, yes, sometimes we need to help take care of them. There’s this conservative belief that every poor person is poor because they are lazy or they want to be poor and suck off the government tit. It’s a ridiculous notion.  People are not poor by choice for the most part, they are poor because of circumstances.

I also have news for conservatives struggling by on less than $57,000 a day. You are not rich. Mitt Romney’s 15% capital gains tax doesn’t help you. You wind up paying more taxes to make up the shortfall of what he did not pay. Oh, and here’s another tip…you can support that 15% tax rate because you say you support the American Dream, but there is no way in God’s green earth you are going to get super rich and benefit from those low taxes. You are always going to be exactly where you are. Spending your life being a fool hoping your ship will come in and you’ll benefit from your lifelong support of low taxes for the rich.

Maybe conservatives that are not rich support the conservative for their values. Maybe because they are God fearing and liberals are satan or worse…atheists. Vote with your pocketbook. Keep your religion out of your voting. No one is ever going to take away your right to have a close relationship with God. What they will take away is your ability to tithe because they run the economy in the ground and you don’t have any spare money to give to God.

I just returned from seeing The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep. While many disagree with Prime Minister Thatcher’s policies, I believe her core conservative principals were honorable and she carried out her vision admirably. There was a quote in the movie that I can not confirm was uttered by the real Prime Minister, but when I heard them they washed over me as if they were my own personal beliefs reflected back at me from the mouth of Meryl Streep.

“Be careful of your thoughts, for they become words. Words become actions, actions become habits. Watch your habits, they become your character and watch your character for it becomes your destiny.”

Beautiful! I realized I stand on principal and there are many times when I may be seen as elitist or judgmental and that quote made me hold my head high. I do believe in character and that it defines  you.

My own shortcomings are moments when I fail to live up to my personal standards. When that happens, I regret my actions and I am embarrassed at my failure. I learn from those mistakes and get back on a path towards right. One that upholds my world view and the moral character and compass that was instilled in my by my parents and grandparents. I strongly believe there is a right and wrong, black and white. My areas of gray are very few and very thin. Sometimes that is to my own detriment, as there is a lot of grey in this world.

My convictions can cause me to lose associations with people and I accept that as a consequence of my character. My father used to say, “If you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.”  I have no desire to surround myself with people of such low character. I guess the reason for this soapbox is that I know so many people that are laying with dogs. I struggle with maintaining relationships with people that surround themselves not with people that lift them up or inspire them but clamor to bring them down to a base level.

Now, I’m not an angel. I often make mistakes, but the difference is that I realize I’ve made a mistake. It’s the people that don’t think there is anything wrong with sitting down at a dinner table and telling strangers about who they just slept with without wearing a condom that I can’t believe I am subjected to in the first place. How does that happen? There seems to be a culture of bragging about one’s lack of manners, culture, ambition or knowledge that I find puts me in the position of being a “prude” when I am far from it. I believe there are things about oneself that should remain private and when you don’t make them private, don’t be offended if I call you trash and refuse to associate with you. I just don’t care to get fleas, that’s all.