Robert Byrd, dead at 92

It's hard for me to think of former Senator Robert Byrd as anything but a cartoon character.  The first time I remember seeing him was during the Reagan presidency, I believe.  Byrd was leading a filibuster of something; he went from talking about how funny his bird dog looked when you first woke him up in the morning to mint julep recipes to these huge, Shakespearean gestures and grandiloquent pronouncements of the doom that would ensue if Reagan's tax cuts (or whatever) were enacted.

He always struck me as being idiotically partisan.  Maybe I'm being unfair; he certainly didn't often agree with what I thought needed to happen.  

Maybe the force that drove him was the conviction that West Virginia would never prosper without huge infusions of federal money.  So he turned into the King of Pork, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars back to the Mountain State.  But where has all that federal spending left West Virginia?  It's still not the model of modernity.  The state still does not value education.  Life expectancy is low and dependency on government is high.  Drugs.  Teen pregnancy.  Adult illiteracy.  POVERTY.  

The war on poverty has been lost for a long time, because poverty isn't just a condition of the pocketbook or bank statement.  Poverty is the result of the wrong attitudes and values.  Dumping federal money on such a problem doesn't solve the problem, it just gives the people around the problem more money.  It doesn't change hearts or attitudes or values.

World Cup, Soccer, Etc.

I joke with people when they talk about how soccer is the most popular sport in the world, especially when that statement leads to something like, "Isn't it awful that Americans don't pay more attention to soccer?"

No, it's not awful. We have a unique culture and we pay attention to sports that the rest of the world doesn't care much about (e.g., American football); their loss.

And it gets my temper up when people make statements about soccer being "the REAL football." Nope, the real football involves helmets and third downs and 300-pound linemen trying to beat each other to death.

So I joke with people; when a former student of mine wrote a post about how excited he was about the World Cup, I pretended to think that he was talking about tennis. Etc., etc.

But I AM excited about the World Cup; I was listening over the 'net when the US won the game against Algeria the other day. And I'm watching this afternoon, cheering for the USA to teach those punks a thing or two about soccer. (It may not be the REAL football, but it's exciting.)

Preaching Every Weekend

I started working at Kentucky Christian University seven years ago, in
the summer of 2003. I started preaching shortly afterwards.

Over the past 6.5 years, I have probably preached every Sunday with
only about a dozen exceptions. But I've been preaching at churches
some distance from our home, and my wife & kids have been going to
church here.

I'm tired of not being in church with Beth & the kids. I'm tired of
preaching every Sunday without getting fed myself. The only teaching I
receive is in chapel @ KCU; if it wasn't for some of the great
preaching I hear there, I'd starve to death spiritually.

It's not enough. I need to be in church, with Beth & the kids,
listening to & learning from someone else's preaching.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Perry L. Stepp, Ph.D.

Vice President for Academic Affairs
Leader, Quality Enhancement Plan Team
Associate Professor, Bible and Theology

Kentucky Christian University

Big Day for the Stepp Household

Today is a big day at our place.

For the first time ever, all three of the Stepp-children (yes, we call
them that in public, just to ruffle feathers) are working!

At jobs!
Outside the house!
Making real money!
Getting paid by someone other than their parents!

I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but it's a real
milestone when the youngest gets his/her first job. Wow.

I feel old, now.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Perry L. Stepp, Ph.D.

Vice President for Academic Affairs
Leader, Quality Enhancement Plan Team
Associate Professor, Bible and Theology

Kentucky Christian University

Test

A hypothetical situation: What would you do if someone was telling lies about you, for the purpose of making you look bad, but the circumstances were such that you could not say anything to defend yourself?