Restitution

Is there no food for the hungry?
No peace for the weary below?
Are the lost not restored to their loved ones?
Or the fallen to those they have known?

The sun rises on all that are living,
And so sets on the fearful at heart.
And the moon shines on all the deceitful,
So the moon shines on all in some part.

So still we will seek restitution-
~Though we know it is not of this earth~
For we seek to escape fallen nature,
Though fallen we were from our birth.

Yet still we will fear fallen virtues,
For virtues were fallen through Eve.
For there, in the garden by Satan
Were the first of mankind so deceived.

So because of the grace we have lost here,
Beneath sun, moon, and stars up above.
We now know of the pain of the weary,
The lost, and the hungry unloved.

With this knowledge we'll seek compensation,
For the wrongs that have victimized all.
And as humans we'll seek restoration,
Here on earth, beyond God and the fall.

So I bought a car. A mini SUV, actually...I like it. It's a stick, and I don't know how to drive stick. So, I like my new car.
It is actually called a Dodge Raider. An 87 Dodge Raider. With a rebuilt engine. It's AMAZING.
Drives well - shifts well, and it's a really cool color. In other words, I like my new car. Suv. Truck. What ever it is. :D



EPIC. :D



So yeah. I like my new vehicle. :D

So. I had a thought. A few of them, in fact. And I figured, as long as I'm writing for a blog, why not spout those thoughts here.

I thought about taxes.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not thrilled about giving away my money to the government, but it has to function on something. Nevertheless, I considered the advantages of raising the regulations and taxes on oceanic drilling, and the advantages it might have. Now, stay with me here, things won't get too crazy. I hope.

If taxes raised on oceanic drilling, then the companies would be giving their money to the government (no, way). But what if that money was earmarked for emergencies? (This is, of course, assuming the government is sensible.) But then the companies would be paying for their own clean up. Not to mention that the government would look more intelligent as a result of their willingness to help out a company with their own money. (allegedly)
In other advantages, the extra regulation would create a need for people to watch over the regulation on the oceanic drilling. More people, more jobs. Government jobs, I'll grant you. But jobs nonetheless. I mean, who ever complained about government money, anyway?

Another advantage to this proposition is that if oceanic drilling becomes too expensive, then the companies will move to land, and hope to drive prices down by drilling in nature reserves.

Now this brings up a concern, which I feel the need to address immediately. In the event that the companies want to drill on land, the environmentalists will object. I myself have not had much experience with environmentalists, but I think they would object. But they also object when we drill in the ocean. And when we fly airplanes. And when we lite candles. What they intend to drive cars with, I do not know. But I do not find their objection valid if we want to continue to drive to work every day. In any event, they should begin to realize that with this new tax on oceanic drilling, solar energy will be more popular. Until the sun becomes environmentally threatening.

Back to the company. When they move inland, they will have to hire more people, which will provide jobs. Their land purchases will provide money to the government (again), and voters will be happy with congress. Well, as happy as voter will ever be. tax will still exist, so citizens will be unhappy, but that is unavoidable.

This only to say, there are a myriad of reasons why we should support a higher tax on oceanic drilling. Who wouldn't want to? It hands over control to the government, makes us more socialist, and, in the end, the world is safer, right? I once heard someone say "The power to tax, is the power to control. In a democratic country, you can't have one without the other." Maybe their right.

In conclusion of this issue, I honestly think the government does not need a larger playing hand, and neither do the environmentalists who are paying them. The oil company, BP, could have done little to change what happened in the Gulf. Mistakes are made, and BP has more then payed for theirs. Perhaps the future should show more responsibility, I agree. We are to keep our earth well taken care of. But I do not believe BP will be the one causing this to happen again. And I do not believe we should give up, in any way, underwater drilling. The price of oil will go up again, and we will have to buy from across the ocean. I would rather not get my gas from the Middle East. Sure, drill on land. Sure, use ethanol. Sure, buy a Hybrid (and go into debt to get it). But the oil companies are not the enemy here, they are only the ones who were around when a mistake happened. And they did their best to solve it. Take home point: let us not hand over more control to the government because we believe that the problem is greater then it truly is.

Switchfoot

The stage is totally unlit. The audience waits in uniform silence, almost holding their breath. Suddenly, a man begins to sing, loud and clear, voice echoing through the open-air auditorium. The music begins. The lights come up, revealing a band dressed in t-shirts and jeans, singing as if it is the only thing they know. The band is Switchfoot. The message is clear.

Switchfoot formed in the 1990's, back when bands like 311 and the Foo Fighter's were coming into existence. Originally, they had intended to name the band “Chin Up”, but the name did not quite fit the message they were looking to convey to the general public. The name “Switchfoot”, a term used to describe what happens when a surfer turns their board one hundred and eighty degrees, fit the band's message perfectly. Jon Foreman, lead singer and co-founder of the band, sought an impact in the young culture, whether secular or otherwise. Jon wanted to communicate one thing: he wanted to call the youth, his audience, to wakefulness. Jon made a direct effort to instill the question in his listeners: what is truly important? In following with this, Jon wanted his listeners to conclude that God was the only important thing in this world of trends and deadlines.

Switchfoot's debut album had a title track that seemed to follow this message with defining clarity. The album was named Legend of Chin; the track, Ode to Chin. The song starts out much like any alternative rock song might: electric guitar, descending scale, background drums. But in following with his original message, Jon asks a question: “what's your direction?” Jon sets the stage for a song that lays claim to a sort of “down-to-reality” feel. He is setting up the rhetoric of the song to communicate that what he says about life is true. The very first few seconds of the song being the listener back to reality. The descending scale proceeding his question, the “tinny” sound of Jon's voice (as if one is listening through a radio), and the question all seem to point to a very “realistic” feeling for the listener.

Jon follows up the first line with a demand: “tell me what's wrong, tell me what's right...think about somebody else for tonight, cause God's more then words, you're more then this; so what's your direction?” Jon has called his audience selfish. He has called them selfish and a facade. And yet, his claim does not seem to defray the audience. Perhaps his follow-up chorus does the trick to keep the audience listening. Jon chooses to answer his own question within the framework of the song, he presents his message, the bands message by saying: “go where you are, anchor your roots underneath, doubt your doubts, and believe your beliefs.” He makes a very clear, very honest request of his listeners, without revealing what he thinks of their lack of belief in God. All he requires of them is that they be who they are. All-in-all, Jon's rhetoric has sought to convince a young, teenage audience to be more genuine then they have been.

Following in the same fashion as Legend of Chin, Switchfoot communicates a rather strong question to their target audience, in their 1999 album, New Way to be Human. Even from the album cover, one could tell that Switchfoot is pushing the same message as their previous album. The cover of the album was bright red and had only a large thumbprint as the artwork, ironically, a symbol of humanity. The title also followed in keeping with humanity, but it did not suggest that the audience was alright with the humanity they functioned in. The very meaning of the title “New Way to be Human” hints that the current way to be human is not something the band approves of. The band seems to be driving at a need to change, to be different, to be a “new human.” This, mixed with the thumbprint, communicates that their new way to be human is, perhaps, the new way to be human. That is to say, the visual rhetoric of the album cover seems to communicate that Jon's new take on humanity, is the only “cool” one, according to the band.

The title song underscores, re-iterates, and expands on the rhetoric of the album cover. The song comes right out and makes the claim that the cover hinted at: that his way, is the only way to be human. Jon builds to his claim by breaking down the “importance” of common pop-culture concepts. For example, he opens with the line “everyday it's the same thing, another trend has begun.” Hinting that trends are something old, an everyday thing, or “un-cool.” Later in the verse, Jon solidifies this by calling it like he sees it. He says, “it's a race to be noticed.” And, as if to make sure the audience knows this is a bad thing, he follows the comment with “it's leaving us numb.” Both comments, combined with the album cover and the name send a very clear message: to the band, current culture is “un-cool” and undesirable. But he does not leave it there, he adds a kicker for the audience: the chorus. After claiming that trends are common-place, and noticability is numbing, he finishes by saying “With all of our fashions, we're still incomplete. The God of redemption, could break our routine.”

by using words like fashions and incomplete together; and redemption and break together, Jon gives his listeners a sense that the pop-culture of the world is not as fulfilling as they might wish. The rhetoric of his claim is found most subtle in the way he uses “God of redemption” and “break”, as if breaking from the culture Jon disapproves of is the new way to be human.

In some ways, Jon's tune seems broken itself. The song is poppy enough, to be sure. His voice is clear, and his song seems to be over-all, a good seller, as far as musical-culture goes. But that seems to be the issue, for his musical rhetoric and his message appear to be in conflict. But perhaps that is the point. Jon seeks to communicate that the way to truly be human is for a person to find their identity within the framework of the “God of redemption,” not within pop-culture, which is the very method he is using to say this. In many ways, an ironic piece of rhetoric is very useful, if placed in the correct hands. In Jon's hands, the irony of his song seems to have the desired cultural impact.

The cultural impact of Switchfoot is nearly immeasurable. Like Nirvana, Switchfoot started out as a garage band and had something new to add to culture that the rest of the musical world could not. But, unlike Nirvana, Switchfoot sought a higher calling then music. They wanted to teach their audience something. They wanted their audience to move beyond the cultural norm that had been defined by those that preceded them. Switchfoot shaped their rhetoric accordingly.

In their hit album, Switchfoot re-recorded a song that would later become the first to make it to the radio. Dare You to Move. The earlier version of the song had been in the album Learning to Breathe, but Beautiful LetDown made the song famous. Within the song, Jon opens with a very down-to-earth feeling, much like Ode to Chin. “Welcome to the planet,” is the first thing he says, and he moves through the song with an overtone of discontent with the present. He says again and again “I dare you to move, like today never happened,” as if his audience has some mistake to correct, and living as if today happened is not compatible with truly living.

Jon underscores this, or rather, proves this in the bridge when he states: “maybe forgiveness is right where you fell. Where can you run to escape from yourself...?” Once again, Jon is only seeking to convince his listeners that the only important thing in this world is God, the “God of redemption” or in this case, forgiveness. He is using his rhetoric to argue that his audience ought to “move” into forgiveness.

This song is, like many of their songs, a good example of rhetoric. Throughout music, in all fields the purpose is to sell a feeling to the listener. Music is emotional. But unlike most music, Switchfoot's music has a different tone to it. They appeal to logic, alongside emotion. Switchfoot uses their songs to instill new ideas of existence in their listeners. For Switchfoot, they are a published band, and their credit stems from this. But for their music, they present the emotion first. In the case of “Dare You to Move,” the emotion is found in the first few words “Welcome to the planet, welcome to existence, everyone's here.” Jon is setting the stage to a larger picture, while making the audience feel as if they are not alone. He presents the song and the “dare to move,” to open up the emotions of the listener to hear his true message, he argues: “the tension is here, between who you are and who you could be; between how it is and how it should be.” Jon carefully uses all three aspects of the rhetorical triangle to appeal to the audience to “move,” as it were. This is consistent with all of the music Joe Foreman writes.

The rhetoric of Switchfoot's music appears to be the only consistent thing their music contains. Jon Foreman seems to posses the desire to change the style of music the band plays, every time they record an album. But perhaps this is part of their message. Switchfoot consistently communicates a need for their audience to change. Everything from talking about becoming a new human, to “moving,” or in their later works, “awakening.” But Switchfoot moves far beyond just using their music the communicate that the audience needs to re-form their beliefs. They use everything from the name, to their life.

Switchfoot places their life on display as an example for their fans. In 2006, Switchfoot hired a cameraman to follow, film, and post videos of them on a podcast. This alone, began to show that Switchfoot was not afraid to be on display for their listeners. The entire purpose of the video was to convince the audience that Switchfoot was willing to act what they sang. They “proved,” as it were, that they were able to not only to sing a message of change, but to act a message of difference. Switchfoot displayed their own “New Way to be Human.”

In retrospect, their new way to be human had a deep cultural impact. Switchfoot was a band of Christians in a time when Christian bands were just coming into their own. As a result, their rhetoric had to be new and innovative, and even today, is it. Switchfoot communicates a message of change, of new humanity, and their fit their music, their life, and their name to the message. Jon never intended for Switchfoot to be a Christian band, but Jim Farber of the New York Daily News argues that the band always intended to be “Christian by faith.” The rhetoric of the label, or lack there of, had a very interesting effect. Switchfoot began as a secular band, and continues as one. Yet they sing about the Christian God time and again, and, as Jason Dunn indicates, the majority of their fans are secular.

Secular or no, Switchfoot has made a dent in culture. A person cannot look around themselves without seeing the effect at least once a week, if not once a day. Switchfoot was one of the first three bands to make it into the “Christian musical culture,” with DC Talk and Jars of Clay, but Switchfoot was willing to set them selves apart from the rest of the so-called “Christian-bands,” and, in an even deeper effect, place their lives on display for the world to see.

Today, one can look around and see Christian bands everywhere, but it started, in many ways, with Switchfoots' willingness to “take their own medicine,” and be different. In the end, Jon Foreman was right when he said “It's the new way to be human, it's nothing we've ever been.” But it is a song that Switchfoot has now become, and they sing their rhetoric well.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith,

Nathan

Lost Phone...

I lost my phone yesterday. It made for a bad day. I began to think about the difficulties of patience. Again. I wondered if perhaps each of the difficulties I have in life is truly a blessing, and I simply fail at exploiting them.

See, I have been having trouble with my phone lately. My phone does not, and never will, work as a USB storage device. I know this, because I have practiced using it as one, and after much research, I found that my phone can never be used as a USB device.

The wonderful company Sprint informed me that they would be willing to replace my phone (which, by the way, was stolen) for the small sum of $100, the amount of my rebate for my previous phone. I officially love Sprint. The phone they replaced my first phone with is a HTC Hero. The HTC Hero has a Google operating system. As a result, the phone is usable as a USB device. This, in many ways, is a blessing.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that, as the wonderful, selfish, lazy American that I am, I am happy with the fact that God chose to give me what I wanted. I am not a follower of the prosperity gospel. In fact, I am not even close. I will be blessed that day that God takes from me everything that does not matter. I would rather live that way. What I am saying is that I was going to need a flash drive here soon, as a result of a few video projects due this Christmas. God provided one, through a mistake that I made. This is a blessing.

Perhaps it sounds like this is a rather expensive flash drive. But that may be the point. God has to talk pretty loud for us to listen. Let us face it, we are stubborn people. We don't like to hear what God has to say about our lives. In fact, many of us hate it enough to claim He does not exist, even when the depths of our heart we see Him as imminent, and we have just hardened our hearts. As a result of a lack of hearing, God has to talk loud, even sometimes painfully, for us to hear.

So. I lost my phone yesterday. I learned that I am impatient, and untrusting of God's plan. And, God chose to bless me with a new phone, despite my incompetence. The greater of the two was learning about the kingdom of God, and how small I am in comparison. May God bless me again soon.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith,

Nate

P.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s

Long, Impatient Day

Long day. I'm not one to complain about my day, but it has been a long day. God knows how to test my patience beyond my ability to be patient within myself. Everything from people to cooking food. That's what I do for a living, I cook food. I'm not a chef, and I'm not a professional cook. I am not even an aid. I'm the guy that cooks omelettes and asks the costumer how they are. Needless to say, an easy job. I have never been someone to dislike costumer service, and I will never complain about it, I enjoy it, and I hope I always will.
This being the case, I will move on. People try my patience, and this only because they insist on making sure their lives end up in the worst possible condition. I encountered four of them today, three of them fall into that category. I do not know why people want to waste their lives on things which are not truth. No, I take that back, we are all born God-haters, so I know why they do not want truth, but I have seen them seek truth, or at the very least, I have seen them appear to seek it. I suppose, in all truth (no pun intended) I understand where they are at, but I still cannot agree that they are justified in being there. This leads to a difficulty in wanting to understand them. I don't want to say that I do. In some way or another, I have no desire to say that I understand them, because I am afraid that they will take that to mean that I approve of what they are doing with their life.

Devest

I was thinking today. Odd, I know, but I figured I might share a few thoughts for the sake of posterity.
Have you ever realized how little time we spend with one another in this life? It's like nothing we ever know matters if there is no one to relate it to. In the reverse of that, there's nothing to relate to, if there's no one to relate to. An odd thought, I know, but what if we cared about the people we came across as much as we cared about what they could do for us? Honestly, if we have no definition outside of God, then we have no fear of helping others, right? And if you want to argue that God does not exist, or does not care, then the people you encounter are your only relation in this life. Let me rephrase, the intelligent, soul-possessing beings we encounter in this life are our only true evidence that the world exists outside ourselves. Shouldn't they make or break the difference, then?

Jesus died. Christian or no, there is no way on earth to deny the death of the historical figure of Jesus. We can argue it up and down the wall, but when we take it to the historians and the scientists, even they conclude: Jesus of Nazareth died in or around 33 A.D. Have we ever stopped an thought about that? Jesus, the Son of God, the command of God in the flesh, died. An eternal, ever-living, unchanging thing, died. Shouldn't we just step back and hold our breath? Shouldn't it mean more then just a man on another cross? All of history stopped for Him, the very foundations of the earth shook...and we can't even give it a second thought, because we know the ending:
Of course, He rose from the dead, so big deal if He died, right?
Not the point. Not even a scratch on its surface. Jesus died. The Father, perfect in unity with Him, turned away and poured His wrath upon His only Son, the very meaning of the universe, and the Son passed out of existence on this earth. Shouldn't that just make us want to stop and weep? The Son did. The earth did. His disciples did. What makes us so much different?

Jesus spent 33 years on this earth, and has gathered the largest following history has ever seen. I think that ought to make anyone, anywhere turn their head and listen to what He had to say, even 2000 years later. We have, most of us, spent less time on this earth, and still to less constructive virtue then Jesus. To the man that changed all of history, whether you believe in Him or not is irrelevant when it comes to that fact. Any historian can take a short glimpse of history and derive that if there was one man who had the greatest impact on the history of the world, it was Him. This being the case, perhaps He had something to say. Jesus wasted no moment on this earth seeking the greatest treasure the earth contained, and as He sought, He showed care and love to those around Him, to the point of pain and death. He cared enough to go without bed or comfort, because those H walked with, and those that would not walk with Him, meant more to Him then His own comfort. And how many of us this day have put our comfort, however insignificant and unnecessary, before others?
We spend so little time on this earth with other people, and we find so many things on this earth more important then them. That those few hours of sleep I didn't get because my sister needed to talk on the phone. That meal I might miss because I had to help someone move into their new house. That TV show I don't want to go without, but I may have to because Grandma's at the hospital again. That new video game I couldn't get right when it came out, because my girlfriend wanted to go to dinner. And on and on and on...insert selfish "obligation" here.
I had a good friend once tell me that we ought to start "devesting" in people. When I asked him what he meant he answered "many people invest in things to gain a profit of some kind or another, but Jesus gained no profit in what He did, He did it because He loved us, and He lost everything as a result. Sure, He ascended to Heaven in the end, but He had to endure God's wrath for us...and that is what broke the bank. I think it is time we started to follow Jesus' example and 'devest' in the people we love, expecting nothing back."
And I would agree with him, it's time for us, as Christians, to begin acting like Christians, and caring more for others then for our next, personal entrainment. Because personal entertainment passes away, and so do those we know in this life, and which side of the divide would you rather find them on, when you reach heaven? Cause it's not about being the one with the most converts...it's about caring enough to give without thought of reward, so that they might be right with God as well.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith,
Nathan