Anyone who was raised in church or has said a salvation prayer knows some verses of scripture. John 3:16 is very familiar - "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". We can then fast-forward into the daily events of life and look at the position of the Church that the world perceives. The world sees the church as a condemning, morally superior institution. We have, unfortunately, gotten that stereotype legitimately because of our general actions of being against so many things but not known for what we are for. Let's go on to the next verse. John 3:17 "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved". Whoa! Stop the horse! So Christ didn't come to condemn the world?? It says it right there in scripture. In order to take a shower to get clean, do you have to rinse off with a hose before stepping in the shower or do you just get in? If someone is broken, hurt, in pain, in need...and comes into the church and sits down to listen, how often do they feel eyes looking at them with contempt? What is the purpose of the church? To condemn, isolate, to be pious, morally superior, higher than thou? You better not say yes because the fact is Christians don't perform any better at moral/ethical behavior than non-Christians. It's a sad fact. Why? Because we don't look to see what the next verse says. We get spoon-fed a little on Sunday and go about our merry way. We don't eat a full meal, digest it and learn from it. We spray a little Christianity on ourselves like deodorant..expecting it to last till next Sunday.
Instead of standing on a soapbox screaming our lungs out over what we are against, why not spend our time being examples of healthy marriage, being in our kids lives, teaching, loving, helping those in need? Through that comes opportunity to witness the Gospel. No one is going to listen to the fire and brimstone preaching of someone waving a Bible on a street corner. Let's let the broken, dirty, beaten and bruised come in. Show them a better way rather than preaching to them how bad and terrible they are. Maybe, just maybe...they too will find a better way as a result.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Vermilion Oil Rig 380 on fire and leaking
Yet another rig has blown. Initial reports said the rig wasn't drilling at the time of the explosion. Now we know it was drilling....and is now leaking. All 13 crew members rescued. One injury. This begs, again, the question of why are we out there?
Our own Bakken reserve has more oil than all of Saudi Arabia from beginning to end...but we aren't allowed to drill it because of environmental restrictions. So, we push oil rigs into deep water and when (not if) an accident occurs...it's 5,000ft deep where pressures are 2000 lbs per square inch. Sure would be easier to deal with if it were on a plain in North Dakota where we could get to it. In January 1991, 700 oil rigs in Kuwait were blown up. By November, all the rigs had been extinguished and capped. The Deep Water Horizon blew on April 20th and is still leaking. One rig - 4 months and counting. The Bakken reserve would allow us to sever all dependency on foreign oil while we work towards alternative energy. All while mitigating the environmental risks that we are currently facing in deep water. To give you perspective...the test depth of our latest Seawolf class attack submarine is only 2,000ft. A few atmospheric suits can go to 2000ft. Only our DSRV (Deep Sea Rescue Vehicle) can go 5,000ft. We are drilling in a place that exceeds our technical ability to fix when something goes wrong.
It doesn't matter if you are on the right or the left. Common sense dictates this: We must have energy. How do we get it while exposing ourselves to the least risk? We are in the worst possible position for a country. We are risking our environment at depths we cannot reach. We are dependent upon oil-producing nations who wish to kill us on religious grounds. We are so far in debt, our grandchildren will be paying the note. Our economy is in the toilet. Want to solve all the above? Institute a stimulus program that opens the Bakken reserve, exploits nuclear power, put Americans back to work actually producing something. Cut our dependence on foreign oil. Terrorists wallets will dry up. We will be managing wells within a technical level that we can economically handle.
Our own Bakken reserve has more oil than all of Saudi Arabia from beginning to end...but we aren't allowed to drill it because of environmental restrictions. So, we push oil rigs into deep water and when (not if) an accident occurs...it's 5,000ft deep where pressures are 2000 lbs per square inch. Sure would be easier to deal with if it were on a plain in North Dakota where we could get to it. In January 1991, 700 oil rigs in Kuwait were blown up. By November, all the rigs had been extinguished and capped. The Deep Water Horizon blew on April 20th and is still leaking. One rig - 4 months and counting. The Bakken reserve would allow us to sever all dependency on foreign oil while we work towards alternative energy. All while mitigating the environmental risks that we are currently facing in deep water. To give you perspective...the test depth of our latest Seawolf class attack submarine is only 2,000ft. A few atmospheric suits can go to 2000ft. Only our DSRV (Deep Sea Rescue Vehicle) can go 5,000ft. We are drilling in a place that exceeds our technical ability to fix when something goes wrong.
It doesn't matter if you are on the right or the left. Common sense dictates this: We must have energy. How do we get it while exposing ourselves to the least risk? We are in the worst possible position for a country. We are risking our environment at depths we cannot reach. We are dependent upon oil-producing nations who wish to kill us on religious grounds. We are so far in debt, our grandchildren will be paying the note. Our economy is in the toilet. Want to solve all the above? Institute a stimulus program that opens the Bakken reserve, exploits nuclear power, put Americans back to work actually producing something. Cut our dependence on foreign oil. Terrorists wallets will dry up. We will be managing wells within a technical level that we can economically handle.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
You are where you are because you want to be.
This was a very hard pill for me to swallow the day my boss Bob told me this one day back in the mid-90's. I left work hacked off at him for not sympathizing with my pain and disgust with the job environment. It took a couple of days before I'd even speak to him. He hadn't been rude. He was trying to give me some advice. He was also right. You hate your job? Get another one. You don't like your living condition? Move. You don't like your educational level? Go back to school. You don't love your spouse? Get counseling or get out of it. Don't like your church? Find another one. Don't like your car? Get another one. Get the point? We are where we are in life largely because we have chosen to. Our lack of making a decision is a decision none the less. Now there are things that paint into a corner for certain. But staying in that corner is our decision to make. The next time you complain about something...just how much do you hate it? Enough to do something about it?
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