There Is No Time Like the Present

I have been struggling in my mind over the future. Ever do that? I have called friends and mentors for guidance, and I have flippantly prayed. You know the kind of prayer that seems like work to fit into 5 minutes. Well, it seems God listen to that too. Though I am ashamed to know he does.

I have been avoiding the future. I have all summer at school before I need to decide definitely where I’ll be working. I’m nervous about making a major decision because it seems ages ago that I chose the things that have brought me to where I am now.

I remember the peace I felt sitting in the Burt Gazebo on a cool Fall Preview night. I remember the “Ah Ha!” moment when I finally chose journalism, though it had long before chosen me. I remember the clear calling to ministry that welled inside of me like a sincere hunger to serve God and love his people.Though the light bulb moments of my life have clearly defined my path thus far, I cannot remember how I came to them. Is there some magic process to making the “right” decisions?

Depressingly enough, I am currently going through the book of Ecclesiastes as a part of my devotion time. I say depressing because “Every thing is meaningless” does not exactly inspire hope about choosing a career path. However, through the straight-forward preaching on Matt Chandler’s podcasts (available at http://www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/database_scripture.html) I am starting to grasp what it means to live “Beyond the Sun.” If you’re interested in learning more, I highly recommend downloading the podcasts and listening for yourself.

I am also working on finding the next step for me. I called Shawn Shannon to ask for advice, and she gave me a good start on the recipe of making Godly decisions:

1. Surrender yourself to God’s will

2. Gather information

3. Pray specifically and fervently (not flippantly)

4. Wait for divine providence

Currently I am in the waiting stage. Another thing I was interested in knowing was how you can be sure you’re in the right place. I walked around my prospective place of employment and tried in vain to find an “Ah Ha!” or deep peace feeling. The walk seemed rather silly and too caught up on sensibility to be a good judge of the job.

Today, I rode my bike the three and some odd miles from my house to the public lake and went for a swim. It was a big-sky Texas day with deep blue stretching out into infinity and giant cumulous clouds giving the hill country the appearance of mountain ranges.

As I rode I could smell the perfume of spring in the country—an odd mixture of wildflowers, earth, the occasional cow and a Texas breeze bringing a million other scents together into one clean breathe after another. You may laugh, but that is the smell of my childhood, the smell of home.

The mixture of familiar scents and the beauty of the sky was overwhelming. I felt deep peace and an understanding that for today that feeling was all I needed. The words from the age-old hymn How Great Thou Art rang in my mind as the only response to what I saw and how I felt.

Later after mulling over the moments of that bike ride and trying to form them into the best word picture possible, remembered a passage in Matthew that made me smile.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?.... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:25-27; 33-34

I know I am where I need to be right now. The future is in God’s capable hands, and I will now forever be reminded of that when I look around my own backyard. Look at the birds of the air, look at the lilies of the field, they do not worry past today, and I will endeavor to do the same. The future is not as good as today.

The great state with an even greater energy crisis:

To make his breakfast, Ed Begley Jr. pedals for 10 minutes on a stationary bike hooked up to the batteries that run his house. In the time it takes many Americans to sleep between snooze button cycles, he generates enough energy to make two pieces of toast.

On the amusing HGTV series Living with Ed, a recent TV show following environmentalist actor Begley’s life with his wife Rachelle, viewers get insight into the life of an energy conservationist. Through his many energy efficient schemes, Begley is constantly bugging his spouse with his solar oven, environmentally safe cleaning products and calculations of how much water she wastes in a long shower.Though the show is an apt caricature of the clash between the energy conscious and wattage wasters, the demand for power is on the rise, as is the price.

Electric rates tied to natural gas, weather

In Texas’ deregulated energy market, TXU Corp. and other companies have struggled to keep up with the costs of powering such a large state. During the summer, especially, electricity bills go through the roof due to the necessity of air conditioning.

Another rate raiser is the market’s over-dependence on natural gas. Texas generation plants are 47 percent gas-powered, and the rest are primarily coal. When the gas storage is low, the electric prices go up. Also, if the weather is colder or warmer than expected, rates rise again.

It stands to reason that a state so plagued by capricious weather would not seek to tie its electricity rates to the rise and fall of temperature. Just as one day may be freezing and the next day in the 90s, so one month’s bill could be low with the next skyrocketing.

The other stable source of power currently in Texas is that from the coal industry. Recently, TXU attempted to build 11 new coal plants referred to as the “ring of fire” by protesters. The plans fell through, and the company cut back to a trifecta of plants, which salved those opposed to TXU’s proposition. However, the move did not solve any long-term environmental issues with new coal factories.

Along with the new plants, and the other 17 currently operating sites in Texas, will come tons of toxic combustion waste and carbon dioxide. The American Lung Association estimates that 24,000 people die prematurely each year from power-plant pollution, and Al Gore swears it creates the controversial global warming phenomenon—which was once again supported by the snow two weeks ago in central Texas. It sure is getting warmer here.

Although the coal industry produces cheaper kilowatts, the dangers outweigh the benefits. So where’s a Texan to turn? Oil prices have been steadily rising, as seen at the pump; natural gas is still an unstable market, despite new bills to search for it in the Gulf, and coal is just plain dirty. Dare I say, “Nuclear?”

More nuclear plants planned for 2015

That’s the direction TXU is headed. The company plans to build up to three new nuclear plants by 2015. The chairman and CEO, C. John Wilder, commented in a press release, “Nuclear generation offers the potential to deliver our customers lower, stable prices and continue to reduce Texas’ over-reliance on natural gas.”

But what about risk? Everyone’s mind flashes to the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, the world’s worst nuclear power accident.

It occurred when a flawed Soviet reactor design met with mistakes by plant operators. According to the Chernobyl Fact File report published by NucNet in 2006, the result was two explosions, 31 deaths of plant workers, the possibility of 4,000 premature deaths due to radiation exposure and a black cloud over the nuclear energy industry. So far, out of those 4,000, only 50 have died prematurely, according to a mid-2005 study.

Along with the death toll was the high risk of contracting thyroid cancer, but among the 4,000 cases connected with Chernobyl, there has been a 99 percent success rate of survival with treatment. It was a horrible disaster—a view of nuclear power at its worst. But the reason for the explosions was a faulty design. On the positive side, engineers have created a much safer form of nuclear power that is now being used all over the world, including Texas.

Compared to the almost 50 deaths each year in direct connection to the coal industry—remember the Sago Mine disaster in January 2006—the Chernobyl statistics are relatively small, though it will take a major marketing campaign to get the general public to see that. There is also the concern of nuclear waste which has to be stored until the level of radioactivity is reduced to a safe level. The storage time can last for 50 years in the case of low-level waste.

Renewable energy still untapped

Other viable options for reduction of electricity costs come in the form of nature’s renewable wind, solar and water or hydro power. Texas has an abundance of all these resources, especially its summer sun.

With innovations in solar panels, some that even look like roof shingles, the same sun that causes the high temperatures Texas is famous for could power the air conditioners to keep us cool. As a state, we are not yet harnessing these renewable and free resources enough to make a large difference in our electricity bills, but the time to start is now.

According to a recent survey by the World Coal Institute, the main sources for global energy are the non-renewable fossil fuels: oil, 34.3 percent; coal, 25.1 percent and gas, 20.9 percent. The other 19.7 percent is made up of nuclear, hydro, geothermal, solar and wind power.

The current trend has served well for years when the U.S. had control over more oil than it does now. We burned through resources like there was no tomorrow. But tomorrow is here, and it is time to reevaluate the system before we’re all stuck on stationary bikes trying to make toast.

Party loyalty is not genetic; choose for yourself

When I told my 17-year-old sister that I had voted for Democrat Chris Bell in the recent governor’s election, she reacted with anger and said, “I can’t believe my own sister would become a Democrat!”

I tried to explain that I wasn’t a Democrat; I merely voted for one. But there was no calming her down. I don’t fault her because I see my teenage self in her reaction. Being raised the same way I was, with both parents highly active in the Republican Party on county, state and national levels, there is a truth she holds to be self-evident—Republicans are better than Democrats are.

According to a recent search of Facebook, 1,037 students at UMHB listed political preferences ranging from very conservative to very liberal with 19 holdouts for the Libertarian Party. My political profile, along with 319 other students, reads moderate, placing me in neither party’s camp.

This distinction allows me to be loved and hated by both because Republicans think I’m a liberal nut job, and Democrats think I have a mild case of right-wing syndrome. However, it is the moderate voters who swing elections, so both parties have to court them with incentives and “what you want to hear” speeches.

Though I can’t make up my mind, it seems that many students have, which is amazing considering the short time we’ve had the ability to vote.

Junior nursing major Katrina Jackson is a part of the more than 600 students in the very conservative to plain-jane conservative category. She said that voting on beliefs is the way to go.“Traditionally, I have voted for the Republican Party, not because of the party itself but because of the values held by most Republicans,” she said.

One problem with strictly values voters is the tendency to be stuck on one party whose values you believe match up with yours. Jackson, though, disagrees with this methodology.

“I have been a crossover voter, and that was because my values didn’t match up with the Republican candidate running.”

So, choosing the right candidate could involve research—no wonder many students aren’t interested in voting or simply vote along party lines.

According to a 2003 comprehensive review of personality and political orientation, several other factors that have developed from birth influence our political decisions. The New York University study identifies numerous personality traits and preferences that divide the parties further than voting records alone.

Liberals are messier; their rooms are cluttered and colorful. Conservatives’ rooms are neat, ordered and conventional. Conservatives are more religious. Liberals are more optimistic and like abstract art. The lists go on and on.

A 20-year University of California Berkeley study started in 1969, cited childhood personalities as a key to political preferences. It found that children who developed close relationships with peers and were rated by teachers as self-reliant and resilient were more likely to be liberal. Conservatives, however, started out as fearful and vulnerable children, making them cling to the traditional views of the right.

I’m sure the study is exaggerated beyond belief, but it does bring up what I believe is the main reason many voters side with a certain party. From childhood, our parents politically coach us to favor their beliefs. In fact, most students’ first-time voting was with at least one parent. Now in college, few students examine why their moms and dads said to vote a certain way.

I don’t think the issue is black and white. I am a moderate because I agree with both sides on different issues.

Winston Churchill had one answer about the journey voters may make by crossing party lines.

“If you’re not a liberal when you’re 25, you have no heart, but if you’re not a conservative by the time you are 35, you have no brain.”

His point and mine is that you don’t have to be a certain party member just yet, and if you are, know why. Use your heart and your head to vote your convictions.

Time's Person of the Year

While browsing through the extensive magazine section of a Barnes and Noble, I looked up to see my distorted reflection on the cover of TIME Magazine. With closer examination, I saw that it was the highly sought after “Person of the Year” issue.

The cover said “You. Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world” under a graphic of a reflective computer screen. Dreams of seeing myself on the cover of TIME fulfilled, I walked up to the checkout line with little fanfare, save that of my own horn. To my disappointment, I still had to pay for the magazine—$4.95 plus tax, and I even offered to autograph it for the humorless sales attendant.

At first, I thought it was a bad choice on TIME’s part. You? What a cop out. Why even designate a person of the year if it includes everyone? According to TIME, it is because we are all the newsmakers of 2006. Individuals are the new gatekeepers controlling the information flow in the age of digital democracy.

It is the rise of Web 2.0 sites that have given anyone with computer access the ability to report, publish and broadcast news to the world with the perfunctory click of a mouse.

According to O'Reilly Media, Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of Internet-based services, such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.

For college students, Web 2.0 is our guilt-free cyber-stalking on Facebook and MySpace—now the only way to keep in touch with friends even if they live with you. It includes popular sites such as YouTube and Second Life, and is addictingly fun. Blogging gives everyone a chance to publish whatever they have on their mind albeit politics or family recipes.

In 1968, Andy Warhol correctly predicted, “in the future everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.” His prophetic remark has come to fruition, and while it has opened amazing lines of communication between peoples of the world, digital democracy has not ushered us into peaceful utopia.

Some of the self-published works make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and the naked hatred they can represent.
TIME insists that it is this autonomy that makes the web interesting.

“Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There's no road map for how an organism that's not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion.”

No road map? There is always MapQuest or my personal favorite Google—our dependence on the web in evident when our first solution is to turn to it for help.
It is the information highway that beats all other forms of media. Now we can be present all sorts of events. Digital cameras, videophones and bloggers’ fact checking bring in a more authentic and immediate news.

If this continues, and I believe it will, I will need to look for a new job. Media is an ever-changing profession, and as I posted on my blog last week—we have to keep up with the times. I wonder if I can put my TIME’s Person of the Year accomplishment on my résumé.

Emily Dickinson's words and other musings

Emily Dickinson gives me hope. I read her poetry and realize that life isn't so bad. Here is a few lines lifted out of some of her poems into a creation of my own:

Sequestered afternoon...
Woe appears
Enacts Intoxication
Incautious of the sum
I could not see
Things overlooked before

Taking lines from poetry is a good inspiration for other writings. Thing overlooked before-- Today I was contemplating the depravity of man. Which is of course a depressing subject. But, does it have to be?

Reasons to live

Sin, the fall, so necessary
Vital
Grace is not a mass produced, Made in China, mail-order plastic toy.
It is not something that comes cheap.
Grace is the honest expression of what cannot be bought.
It's not on Ebay or sold in WalMart. To a millionaire grace's cost is more than $1 billion.
To a poor man, it is more costly than the next meal.
Deprave culture. Sinful nature. Hate.
Make grace meaningful.

SJ Photo-A unique crucifix that I hang over my bed. I bought it in a Catholic relics shop in Queretaro, Mexico. It is one of the only crosses I own and I keep it over my bed as an extra reminder of Christ's sacrifice when I rise and when I go to bed.



Finally, I mused on the phrase "finding time."

Finding Time

Is time lost?
Time marches
Time passes
Time flies
Time disappears
Where did the time go?
Who has stolen it?
Is there a reward for finding it?
Father Time must be worried--
The whole world is struggling to keep track of his offspring and yet,
time stands still
We are the ones who are lost.

The End of the World as We Know It

SJ Photo-My holiday background. A picture of holly-like berries I took behind the conference center at school.

I admit it. I'm giving in. I realize that I live in a BLOGosphere and I have a desire to create, vent, discuss and, well, write. This blog should serve that purpose. One of my faults is the inability to keep a steady journal, so this is also an attempt to document my life and to publish my news articles on the www. world. I hope that this will not be a mistake...