“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

D.A. Carson, For the Love of God

How about the choice to send one’s children to the best school available, if the local district school is not adequate academically or a good fit for a child? What about the choice to stand by a firm moral code, acknowledging that there is such a thing as right and wrong (whatever the ubiquitous post-modern rhetoric might claim to the contrary)?

Oh, no! It’s ok to talk about relativism, Buddhism, Humanism, and Hinduism, but don’t you dare talk about Christianity, or anything that Christianity stands for! That is one choice that can’t be recommended, not without inevitable consequences. Sure you can do it, but you’ll be sued, blackmailed, ridiculed, threatened, and abused if you do. Freedom to choose and freedom of expression is ok, as long as the expression is either meaningless, cruel, pornographic, violent or crude, or simply lines up with the predominant judicial and media political views (isn’t that a sad reality? So much for objectivity in the courts and the press…). But don’t you dare express your views that casual sex is dangerous, that it is psychologically and emotionally damaging, and that fulfilling, committed, permanent marriage leads to more satisfied, meaningful lives. Don’t you dare decide to tell a post-abortive mother that the feelings of guilt she is feeling are natural, and that there is a path to true healing (in fact, it’d be better if you didn’t say that she even needed healing in the first place – that empty, broken, depressed feeling she has is probably just a chemical imbalance – not because of her choice to kill her baby….)

You have the hard-earned, legal right to choose whatever makes you happy. “If it makes you happy,” the song says, “it can’t be that bad.” After all, this is America, where the people decide (if by “people,” you mean the aristocratic people in the black robes) what the law says. Just make sure your choice isn’t controversial (to the judges), genuine, or disagreeable to people that choose to live their lives however they want, regardless of the consequences to themselves or others. We might often forget about the next line of that song, where the singer asks why something that makes you so happy leaves you so sad. Wise words from a pretty forgettable pop song!

Finally, for the record, could you point out the section of the constitution where it talks about the “right to choose?” My copy must have been edited by the revisionist historians and textbook writers who have exercised their right to choose not to record the facts, unless the facts line up with their own personal political and social views and beliefs.

So go ahead, choose to disregard the comments I have made. Isn’t there a Right to Be Ignorant somewhere on the books? I wish I had chosen that a long time ago, because the truth about our current situation of agenda superseding reality is quite maddening.
-d.c.l.

Will she, or won’t she? That’s the question. And you might determine the answer.

My three uncles and grandma from St. Louis came down for the weekend, and we all had great times together. I don’t deserve to have such wonderful and generous family and friends. On the way home from graduation, I passed a beat up old pickup loaded with bed, furniture, and other luggage. The young driver was clearly a recent graduate, driving home all alone. I will not take the people in my life for granted. Thanks to all of you who have loved me, encouraged me, cheered for me, carried me, and shaped who I am today. I am speechless. And most of all, praise and thanks be to God, who takes us boldly from step to step as we follow His plans. May He ever be our Center.

So today, as my first post in some time, I want to list a few highlights of my time as a college student. If you don’t find yourself in the list, don’t be offended. This is not a top ten or anything, just the things I can think of off the top of my head:

Meeting Seth - Seth has become one of the most incredible friends I’ve ever known. Beginning as mere roommates at KK Amini Scholarship Hall, we have spent years together making many of my best college memories.

HODUC - Hallway of Death Unicycle Challenge: This was the game involving unicycles and deflated rubber balls being used as weapons. It has potential in the world of extreme dorm sports.

Asking Heather to be my girlfriend - it was coming long before college, but I’ll never forget that cool fall day when our friendship found another level of commitment.

Midnight pizza runs - sometimes, college work requires emergency pizza…thank goodness for the late night special at Papa John’s!

Stove cleaning - I cleaned the stove for the scholarship hall for an entire semester. This is not actually one of the greatest memories, but it is definitely a strong one. Every time I did it, it reminded me why I was in school…so I could never have to do it again.

Calculus - if you know the story or not, the wisdom from the class is timeless… “all you have do, do well in this class, is unerstan the concep and no make mistake.” Confucius, look out!

Men’s Glee - Singing the fight songs for Late Night in front of 16,000 people was truly memorable, a highlight of my freshman year.

Friends - no, nothing sentimental, the show! Seth and I watched all but the last part of the last season in a very short time. But it didn’t affect my grades at all!

Meet in the Middle - Heather and I during my second year often met somewhere between Tulsa and Lawrence for a part of the day. I’ll never forget the first time we met in Coffeyville - it was actually quite romantic, and a perfect memory.

Cream Soda - The cream soda tradition involved a relatively small circle of us. We opened the bottles on our arms, and then drank to levels where we could blow chords and melodies in our bottles, which Seth would arrange. “okay, now you drink down a half step.”

Working out - oh, who am I kidding. I don’t dare try to count the times it actually happened.

Snack runs - the honest truth…I loved “helping” seth out on KK Amini sponsored snack runs to Checkers.

Brazilian Stroganoff - okay, this is actually one of my worst memories. Our Brazilian made a vat of what he called stroganoff, but it was red and soupy, and it tasted like…well, I ate box maccaroni.

Nap times - Seth and I regularly took afternoon naps in our room on the world’s most comfortable couches ever bought at a thrift store. This also helped my grades. Thanks Salvation Army!

Acing my Sales Presentation - I worked my butt off and had a great presentation in Diane O’Byrne’s Sales Strategy class. Her guidance and encouragement helped give me the confidence and direction to pursue a good career.

Tom Lewin’s Africa class - He was a teacher who hated grades. I learned more from him than from most of the teachers I encountered at KU. He believed that learning was supposed to be something between the student and God, and that grades perverted the honesty of that true accountability. I am proud to have him in my Samsara.

Panera’s - This last semester, while I was taking 30 hours, Panera was an oasis in the middle of long and taxing days. I loved just relaxing and working while I drank my iced tea and watched people go by.

Buffalo Wild Wings - That was where I went after I took my last final of college! It holds a special place in my heart. Lawrence, KS, I love you, but I’m glad I don’t have to go back!!

Thanks for reading. Now that I have a life, I will try to update more frequently. Good Night, and Good Luck

-dave