Pastor Physical Challenge: Perform A Wedding Ceremony Without Mentioning God at All

A close buddy of mine who I work with told me recently that in July, he is going to be performing a wedding for a relative.

Only one catch. He can't mention God.

Apparently, his relatives aren't cool with the idea of God. In fact, they made it very clear to my buddy that they want NO reference whatsoever to God in his message. You have to kind of wonder why they'd ask a full-time pastor to do that. Kind of like going to a puppy and saying, "Okay, no cute stuff, okay. No jumping, or licking or wagging your tail or any of that nonsense, okay?"

Personally, I don't know how I'd talk about a marriage with a reference to God. This is all I could come up with.

Areligious Marriage Ceremony

Dearly beloved.

We are gathered here together in the presence of friends and family and - well, that's pretty much it - to witness this sacred celebration. And by sacred I mean, like, not transcendent in any way, really, except that invitations went out, which makes this event more special than normal because it's not everyday that you get a invitation to something. Except for kid's birthday parties, which also has invitations, and cake. But is far less formal. As you can tell by the tuxes and fancy dresses.

At any rate, we're here to see this man and this woman pledge their undying love to each other - and by "undying" I'm certainly not referring that there is an eternity or an after-life. It's more a figure of speech, really. Like, "It's hotter than Hades," which does not, on its face assume that hell exists, just if it did, it'd probably be hot, which is more a reference to popular notions of eternal damnation - made more palpable by literary works like " The Inferno" by Dante - than anything else.

So, these rings symbolize...well...metal. Because as we've already noted, we're not going to start discussing ideas or concepts that are higher than the physical plane. And symbol clearly points to something deeper, which is something clearly not present here.

So will you join me as these two lumps of carbon and water vapor pledge to be in reasonable proximity to each other for an extended period of time, until their biological processes cease.

Amen. Uhh, I mean. The End.

Memories Make Us Who We Are: But Are Some Memories Worth Having?

"How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd."
- Alexander Pope

I watched a strange and bizarre but strangely stimulating movie the other night. It was called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I'm not sure how I felt about it. The premise - and I'm not ruining anything here - is that there is a company that will erase your memories of people, especially relationships. Especially painful relationships.

It got me thinking a lot.

If you could erase the memory of something or someone, would you do it? Would your life be better? Would you be more healed? More whole? What if you had a really ugly relationship that still kind of hurts? Would you be better off if you had no memory of that?

There are certainly things I've seen and experiences I've had that I wish I wouldn't remember. I tend to remember them at exactly the wrong moment and exactly the wrong time - like when I'm trying to pray. Part of me wishes I've never ingested those things, seen those things, done those things.

Some of you might know exactly what I'm talking about.

I guess, in a way, the kind of process the movie was adovcating is a shortcut. The healthy way would be to do the hard work with the help of God. This means that God could eventually take a horrible thing, and transform it into something that you can use later in life, maybe even to help others. The Apostle Paul writes, "Death where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?" If God can take away the sting of death with his power and love, then surely my bad relationship is a fair candidate.

It'd just be easier to simply erase the memory.

But easier isn't necessarily better.

One more thought. There's a scene in particular that affected me. Whenever a "patient" goes to get their memory erased, the company makes a cassette tape of the patient explaining their thoughts about why they're erasing the memory. At the end of the movie, Jim Carrey listens to Kate Winslet's thoughts about him. And she says some really hurtful stuff.

I started thinking about my thoughts. If they were transcribed, and the people I know and think about read them, would they bring pain?

What kind of thoughts am I thinking about my best friends? My wife? Are they fair? Am I feasting on destructive thoughts? Is the way that I think about others similiar to the way that Jesus Himself thinks about them?

And if not, why?

Bigger Might Be Better, But It'll Get You Into Lots of Problems

So recently, I started my new job working at Family Community Church in San Jose. FCC is one of the fastest-growing churches in Silicon Valley, which is definately a great thing. I definately feel as though the church is a place that God is using to transform people's lives. There are so many people, in fact, that we have a big problem.

They don't fit.

We tried adding services, but who wants to come to church at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning or 1:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Church growth experts always tell you: Maximum seats at optimal invitation hours. You need more empty chairs during weekend services that are at times when people can invite their friends. Which means Sundays from around 9-11. And sometimes Saturday night.

So, my church, FCC, is in the middle of a 12 million dollar building campaign. That might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that a nice, good sized house in this area goes for nearly a million. The whole thing started in October of 2003, when our head pastor, Pastor Bill, started looking for a bigger property to move into, and we found one.

We found a steal of a deal from a company that was going bankrupt and needed cash quick. We bought a GIANT property for 8 million dollars. Ours is worth about 4 million dollars, just to give you an idea. This place is 11 times bigger, and could accomodate a weekly attendance of about 9,000 people. Right now, we're about 2,800.

So we bought it. Because it was like buying a brand new Honda Accord for 5K. It was like, "What's the catch?" But there wasn't one.

Now we needed a loan for 4 million more to buy the place, plus 4 million more to put in seats, build offices, etc, etc. because the place was just a shell of a building. Nothing inside.

But we couldn't get a loan that big. So we raised 2 million dollars through tithing in a few months, and then used that as collateral, and then Bank of America gave us the money. So we have a loan for 8 million, plus the 4 million we're going to get when we sell our place, which we have already done to this other church.

So this is a 12 million dollar thing.

And all in time for Easter 2005.

But wait.

I know what you're thinking. It's already Easter 2005. That's passed? What's going on. Coupla things.

1. The City of San Jose didn't want a church buying a building that large in the middle of an industrial complex. Cities are all about making money, and if FCC occupied prime industrial real estate then a: some commerical merchant, who would pay millions in taxes, couldn't and b: they would get NO money from us, since it's a church and is non-profit. So they denied us what's called a "building permit."

2. So we showed them that legally, they couldn't do what they were doing. Cities cannot deny churches real estate unless they provide a reasonable alternative. Since we were getting the building so cheap, there was nothing they could do.

3. Meanwhile, you can't legally buy a property without a building permit, and the company that wanted to sell was like, "Hello? You buying this or what" So FCC had to agree to pay 50,000 a month as a form of "layaway" for this building until we could purchase it.

4. This went on for six months. That's 300K, out the window. Plus, now we're six months behind.

5. So we finally had the building permit. Now the fire inspector said that we were a convention center, and that the Power Company's Gas Line was too close to our building for it's intended use. So we had to wait another month and pay 80,000 dollars for a specialist to say, "This gas line isn't going to explode." By the way, that same gas line ran underneath my old house that I lived in with Jon in downtown San Jose.

6. Then the price of steel went through the roof. Iraq happened, and all the US and international steel prices tripled because of war-time stuff, like reconstruction from all the bombs we dropped. Kind of like oil, now, reaching 60 dollars a barrel today when normally it's around 40. So we had to re-draw our plans wirth architects using less steel. This took another month.

7. Meanwhile, we haven't built anything in our building. Finally, last month we started building. But then...

8. Fire inspectors inspected our plans and determined that with so many people in one place, it wasn't a church anymore with church code specs, but rather a convention center. This was exactly the opposite of what they'd told us before. So we had to halt construction, build some new fire walls, and get the plans approved.

9. We did everything the city asked, but the person who can approve our plans is on vacation for the next two weeks, so we can't get signed off so we can re-begin construction.

So we're looking at Nov-Dec of this year. And I think maybe even that's pushing it.

It's really quite terrible. I am blogging all this because I have seen now, because I work at this place, the amount of time that Pastor Bill has to spend on this building project. It's more than a full-time job, and he's a got a volunteer staff of about 10 people working on it full-time too.

It's just a shame.

Newest Addition to Tieche's List of Favorite-Favorite Movies

I have several mental lists that I keep of my favorite movies. Now, for me, there are my favorite movies, and then there is another, deeper category. I call this list my favorite favorite movies. The list of favorite movies changes frequently. But I don't frequently revise my list of favorite-favorite movies. For a movie or book or song to be a favorite-favorite movie for a person, it usually has to come at just the right time, speaking something into our lives that helps us and in some ways defining that moment.

Which is why movies like "The Incredibles" and "Shrek 2" - which were probably my two favorite movies of last year - probably won't make my list of favorite-favoritemovies. Favorite funny movies? Yes. Best comedies? Yes. But favorite-favorite? Probably not. Although folks have told me I resemble Mr. Incredible, and though I do aspire to be a super-human at some point in my life (a theologically accurate desire, I might add), the movie didn't uncover some deep part of my soul.

This might be premature, but I think I might have discovered a favorite-favorite movie.

It's called "Stand by Me.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "What? You've never seen that?"

No. No, I haven't.

I don't know where I was in the 80s. Apparently, I was spending far too much time in my Castle Grayskull playset, attempting to figure out how the Autobots, He-man and G.I. Joe could oust the Decepticons, Cobra and Skeletor and his henchmen from power of that sacred castle. But in 1986, I wasn't watching many movies. I didn't see Top Gun until college. Same with Ghostbusters (though I watched the cartoon). I guess my parents didn't take me out to see movies much. And since it was Rated R, and I was 11, most of my peers probably wouldn't have seen it either.

So when it came out, I missed the movie "Stand by Me."

I picked it up in the video store because I saw that it had recently been released onto DVD. It's a teenage cult classic for my generation, but I had never seen it. My wife had nearly every word memorized. She used to have posters of River Phoenix in her room. But I'd never seen it.

I'm kind of glad I waited. It's one of the finest coming-of-age stories I've ever seen. Like adolescence itself, it was childish, and yet unbelievably profound. It takes place in that time before girls take over your being. Movies don't usually grab my attention and touch me as deeply as this movie did. And I think the reason it's so powerful is because it's not about the plot, but about the characters. It's about boys.

TEDDY DUCHAMP (Corey Feldman): Teddy's father is abusive, taken to fits of rage and at one point held Teddy's ear to the stove, nearly burning it off. As a result, Teddy is filled with rage. The scene where he attempts to dodge a train shows how much he longs to escape the pain of life. One of most poignant moments in the film is when an adult insults his father, calling him a loony. Teddy goes nuts. It's unclear to me why Teddy turned so violent defending the father that was so physically abusive. Something deep was triggered, and at that age, it's usually about identity. Teddy keeps repeating, "My dad stormed the beaches of Normandy, you faggot, I'll kill you." There's a deep need in boys to have fathers they can look up to. When fathers do something terrible, that shakes a boy's confidence. It's unclear if Teddy's dad was actually in the war, or if that's something Teddy made up and is just clinging to. The war made his dad crazy, Teddy seems to theorize, which is why he hurt him. There has to be a reason why his father hurt him. Because if his dad is just crazy - if that's all his dad is - then that's all Teddy is. And he's not willing to accept that. The mantra he repeats about his dad's service might be the last remnant of hope Teddy has. That his dad, at core, before he went crazy, is a soldier and brave and heroic. Which means that Teddy has that in his blood too - to be brave, and good and heroic. Cutting down his father is removing the last strain of hope Teddy has in this world - that he's worth something and can be something good.

CHRIS CHAMBERS (River Phoenix): I have never seen a child-actor give a performance as good as River Phoenix does in this film. It was as though someone turned the camera on, and he was just honest. It was astounding. How a 12-year old can do that, I have no idea. I mean, Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, Anna Paquin in The Piano, maybe Dakota Fanning in I am Sam and Elijah Wood in The War were all good, but this was extraordinary. It made me depressed, thinking he died so young and had so much potential. Chamber's big scene is when he admits that he stole the lunch money from school, and then got expelled. But he tells his best friend, Gordy (Wil Wheaton), a part of the story that no one knew: that plagued with guilt, and wanting to be a different type of boy, Chris returned the lunch money to a teacher, admitting to it. But the teacher kept the money, and bought a new dress with it, and turned Chris in. The scene where he attempts to deal with his past as a troubled boy trying to be a different type of young man, and trying to break free from the destructive paths because he knows he's better than that made me weep. He's crying, and at one point says, "I never thought that a teacher..." Here he was, fundamentally trying to do something good and a trusted adult betrays him. He is punished for trusting and doing what is right. And this nearly makes him want to give up entirely on life and on himself. What good is it to do what's right if adults treat me the same and look at me the same and I get the same result? As a teacher, this was a really sobering scene.

GORDY LACHANCE (Wil Wheaton): Gordy is the artistic, gifted child who can't compete for his father's attention with his older brother Denny (John Cusack) athletic prowess on the football field. But Denny is aware that his brother is a gifted writer and acts as a protective family buffer from their father's neglect. Denny offers Gordy the acceptance and affirmation about his writing that he needs. When Denny is killed in a jeep accident, Gordy has nothing to protect him in his family. He says, "I was the invsibile son." Gordy dreams that he's at his brother's funeral and as the casket is being lowered, his father says to him, "It should have been you, Gordy." It's unclear whether these words were spoken to Gordy, but clearly his father has articulated that message precisely, whether it's been spoken aloud or not. In the most moving scene in the movie, Gordy tells Chris that he hates writing. "That's your dad, talking," Chris says. Gordy protests, saying that writing is dumb and he wants to take shop classes to be with his friends. "You're not doing that," Chris says. "Oh, thanks, dad," Gordy shoots back.

I wish the hell I was your dad. You wouldn't be going around talking about taking these stupid shop courses if I was. It's like God gave you something, man. All those stories that you can make up. An' he said: this is what we got for you, kid, try not to lose it. But kids lose everything unless there's someone there to look after them. And if your parents are too fucked up to do it then maybe I should.

At the end of the movie, Gordy is sitting crying, repeating "My dad hates me. My dad hates me." Chris keeps saying, "Your dad doesn't know you."

I was a mess at this point. Just having had a son, I thought about all the wounds fathers have inflicted on their sons. And how many of the young men in my class are walking around with giant wounds, feeling - in the words of Willy Loman - "temporary about myself" because of their father's words and actions.

Overcoming those emotions is part of growing up, and getting past that pain is part of what it means to become an adult. Of course, there are a lot of men who never do get past those hurts.

I think in many ways, we're all looking for someone to put their arm around us and say, "I'm proud of you, son. You're a good person. And if somebody says different, don't listen to them. Because they don't know you."

It's the deepest need of young men.

And it's exactly what God whispers to us every day. How much I need to hear that...

Naked Japanese Guys and Father's Day

I had my first Father's Day this past Sunday. Well, my first one as an actual father.

I was speaking this weekend at a Single's Conference for Menlo Park Prebyterian Church - one of the largest churches in the Bay Area - in Monterey. Heading into the retreat, I was terrified. MPPC is the church where John Ortberg is a pastor. John Ortberg is one of the men in this world who I admire the most. And I had this fear that I'd totally mess up, and someone would go up to him and say:

"Hey John. You know that black book you have where you keep your list of complete dolts who you never want to have contact with? Well, I have another name for that list."

Anyway, so I was a bit worried, but it went really well. Hopefully I didn't make his list.

Afterwards, Nicole and Justus and I went to Monterey. It was gorgeous, but I found a number of things:

1. It's tough to take a stroller through sand.
2. When you choose a place to set up for your picnic, try to steer clear from Japanese guys wearing speedos.
3. If you happen to set up your picnic next to a Japanese guy in a speedo, make sure it's really a Japanese guy in a speedo and not some woman sunbathing topless.

These are things I learned.

Kinda awkward.

Anyway, it was a great picnic - I just faced the other way. Justus got me some great gifts. He got me a card that had a daddy whale and a baby whale. I think it might have been my wife's way of hinting I need to lose weight.

He got me a picture that he and his mommy took at a portrait studio that I can put on my desk.

He got me an iPod shuffle, so I don't have to work out with my big expensive iPod and worry about it breaking.

So that rocks.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Thanks to Jon Ziman for this link. This is just bizarre.

I don't know how it works, but I think sorcery is involved. Either that or advanced math. Either way, it's evil.

Click here to be amazed and astounded.

"Finding Neverland" Inspires Us to Take Creativity As a Healing Force Seriously

You gotta be real careful about movie recommendations from friends. There are only like two or three people who I trust completely with movie choice and selection. If they say it's a good movie, it's a good movie. If they say it's a bad movie, it's a bad movie. The best kind of friends are the kind that understand your taste. I remember this one time, my buddy Jon had just gotten back from seeing the movie "We Were Soldiers." He said, "It was good. You should read about it. But you probably couldn't watch it."

I'm not good with violence. Gives me nightmares. I'm ultra-sensitive to that, for some quirky reason. So that's good advice.

Another buddy of mine, Jeremy, once described the movie "Zoolander" to me with such gusto, that I fell out of my booth at Outback Steakhouse. We watched the movie that night. I laughed so hard, I nearly cried.

"There's got to be more to like than being really, really, really, really, really, really good-looking."

This doesn't mean, however, that every movie I like, they like. For example, two of my close friends hated the movie "Anchorman" whereas I thought it was hysterical. Mindless. Yes. Funny. Oh, yes. (note: I saw it in movie theatres, however, at it was rated PG-13. So if you rent the UnCut version on DVD, it might be raunchier, and therefore, less funny.)

There was one scene, when the male newscasters are complaining about hiring a woman. One of the anchormen, in an attempt to articulate reasons why women shouldn't be journalists says:

"I hear their period attracts bears."

I laughed like a hyena. That's just funny.

I say this because I finally took the advice if one of my friends, Jonathan Ziman, and saw the movie "Finding Neverland" last night. My wife had been bugging me, but I didn't want to. Now, for me, the words "Neverland" conjure up sleepovers at Michael Jackson's house, which is creepy. So I didn't want to see it. Then Jonathan told me he really liked it.

So I watched it.

For some reason, now that I'm a father, movies about children and their relationships with their parents affects me in a deeper place. Before, I was like, "Wow, that's sad" and I'd feel it, but only a little. Now, watching that movie with Justus in his bouncy seat by my feet, I could barely keep from crying. There's a scene where the four boys of the household are jumping up and down on their beds. Their mother, in an attempt to get them to settle down says, "Last one in bed's a rotten toad."

James Barrie, Johnny Depp's character leans against the door and says:

"Young boys should never be made to go to bed. They wake up a day older, and before you know it, they're grown."

Barrie believed that the imagination was a way to provide meaning and substance and purpose in this world, that can be so filled with disappointment. His story of Peter Pan, the boy that refused to grow up, is a beautiful metaphor for that which we all long for: a place free of problem, aging, death and disease. A place of joy.

Barrie created joy for those around him. The movie helped me realize that's a big part of my job as a husband and a father.

And a big part of my role as a Christian.

Funny Employee Reviews: How To Know You Stink At Your Job

A close friend/mentor of mine wrote me an email asking me to write him a letter of recommendation because he's going for his Doctorate of Education up at George Fox University in Oregon. I was honored, mostly because it's an easy assignment for me to write a letter attesting to this guy's intelligence. I think he chose me because he knows that I'm quite a gifted writer. Some people have a way with words and other people...well...don't, I guess.

At any rate, I was going to try to write a letter of rec for fun for my buddy filled with malapropisms and misuses of big words so that the letter was actually the *opposite* of a rec letter. But my brain isn't on yet. So while I work on that, here are some funny employee reviews that made me chuckle.

"Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig."

"His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity."

"I would not allow this employee to breed."

"This employee is really not so much of a 'has been', but more of a definite 'wont be'."

"Works well under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap."

"When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."

"He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle."

"This young lady has delusions of adequacy."

"He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them."

"This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."

"This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts, the better."

"Got a full 6 pack, but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together."

"A gross ignoramus - 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."

"He certainly takes a long time to make his pointless."

"He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."

"I would like to go hunting with him sometime."

"He's been working with glue too much."

"He would argue with a signpost."

"He has a knack for making strangers immediately."

"He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."

"When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."

"If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he's the other one."

"A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."

"A prime candidate for natural deselection."

"Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."

"Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isnt coming."

"Has two brains: One is lost and the other is out looking for it."

"If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week."

"If you gave him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change."

"If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the oceans."

"Its hard to believe that he beat 1,000,000 other sperm to the egg."

"One neuron short of a synapse."

"Some drink from the fountain of knowledge, he only gargled."

"Takes him 2 hours to watch 60 minutes."

"The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead."

Explanation of Tracks 1-5 of Tieche's Transformer CD

The following are some brief explanations about why I chose the songs I did for my Transformer CD. These are the first five songs. More to follow...

1. Treasure of You (live Abbey Road recording) - Steven Curtis Chapman
When my wife and I got married, we tried to figure out what to hand out as a party favor. Now, if you’re ever been to a wedding, you know that tradition says that the bride and the groom are supposed to spend anywhere between 1 and 3 dollars giving their guests a stupid, pointless trinket. So, we decided to do something we felt was better. We put together a Wedding CD, with songs from the wedding. We put the song Todd Brown played for communion. We put the father-daughter dance, the mother-son dance. And we put this song as the first track. Our wedding counselors used to refer to each other as treasure, which we thought was cute. Steven wrote it for his oldest daughter, Emily, who was going through a very painful and awkward time in her life called adolescence. Every time I play it, I think of my high school kids and how they need to be reminded that they are a treasure.

2. Waiting Room – Larue
The title of this song is taken from a quote from C.S. Lewis who once said that life is just a waiting room. I first heard this song in 1999, when I was a missionary in Hawaii and for some reason, the line I don’t want this world/to carry me to sin hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized then, for the first time in my life, that left to myself, I’d drift right to the wrong things. I started thinking about my life and realized it was true: I am sinful and much like glass is predisposed to shatter when hit correctly, or nitro-glycerin is predisposed to explode, I am predisposed to sin. It was then I think I started to realize that I needed to be “saved.”

3. Company Car – Switchfoot
I first heard this song while working as a Database Engineer, a job that was about as good of a fit as Snuggles the Fabric Softener Bear being a hitman. Switchfoot has always pressured their listeners to examine American materialism in their songs, but this one hit a raw nerve with me because I really felt as though I was becoming “one with the ones that I never believed in” and that I was “winning Monopoly but losing my soul.” . A few weeks after I heard this song, I listened to a pastor in Nashville talk about how we only have one life, and Jesus never promised it would be a life of luxury and ease. “Take up your cross and follow me” is hardly motivational, if you’re into comfort. But I figured that I could either be on the road with God, or on a different road without Him. I opted for the former and two weeks later I quit my job.

4. Fool for You - Nichole Nordeman
Right after I became a Christian, I attempted to tell everyone I could about the wonder of Jesus Christ and his teachings. Shockingly, not all my friends and family reacted with as much enthusiasm as I had. Some of them even thought I was a loon-bag. Especially difficult were the conversations with my friends from college, who are some of the smartest guys I know. They made sure to know just how stupid I was to believe in such 2000-year old hocus pocus. It was a very confusing time for me, and Nichole articulated for me just what it means to be a follower of Christ: that sometimes it sounds nuts, but it’s true. And all the proof you need that God is loving and personal is found in the person of Jesus.


5. I See Love - Third Day, MercyMe, Steven Curtis Chapman
I have never cried so hard at a movie as I did when I saw the movie “The Passion of the Christ” mainly because I realized in a very real way how much Christ loved me. A lot of people had no idea what the movie was about. A lot of people misinterpreted it, or didn’t get it. I guess, in many ways, it wasn’t a movie you could really enjoy unless you know Jesus. The movie didn’t concentrate on His teachings or even give much background info: it assumed the viewer kind of knew all that. So to a lot of folk, the movie was just a brutal beating, followed by a nasty, slow death. This song is the final track from a soundtrack of music from various artist who were inspired by the movie. I agree with these guys: when I saw that movie, I saw love.

Want to Know God Better? Read Your Bible. Or Watch G.I. Joe.

This past weekend, the Pastor in my church was doing a sermon on anger. At one point, he mentioned how his son, Ronny, used to deal with a lot of anger as a child. He would do and say things that puzzled his parents. And then the pastor said that he went into the living room where his son was watching cartoons, and he heard some of those same destructive phrases coming from the TV set.

The show that his son was watching?

G.I. Joe.

His point was that sometimes we mimic the way we express anger from those around us. I have no problem with that. But let me tell you, I was deeply troubled in my spirit when, from the pulpit, our head Pastor seemed to imply that there are potential negative spiritual ramifications to watching G.I. Joe. This not only flies in the face of common experience of thousands of Christians, but I also believe is unBiblical. The Bible is silent on thousands of contemporary issues: G.I. Joe is not one of them.

First off, just look at all the people in the Bible who were named "Joe." One of the major characters in the book of Genesis is Joseph, known to his friends as Joe. Famous king of Israel? Jehosophat. Notice it's spelled "phat." Joe's so phat. The man whose tomb Christ was buried in. Joseph of Arimathea. The earthly father of Christ? Also Joe. And all of these men are *good* example in the Bible. They are not deeply flawed. It's as though the Bible itself is saying, "Yo! Joe!"

Secondly, I find it no mistake that the name of the arch enemy of GI Joe is Cobra Commander. Cobra? Serpent? Hello, Genesis 3. Later in the series, the arch enemy was "Serpentor." You can't get more obvious, people. Also, in the Gospels, Jesus says that there is an enemy that has come to "Steal, Kill and Destroy."

The enemy = Destroy. Take off the "Y." Destro. This isn't some secret Bible Code. I mean, it's all right there.

And lastly, let's examine the leaders of the fearless G.I. Joe squadron. First, there's Snake Eyes. In Revelation, it says that the serpent will strike at the hell of the Son of Man, but that he will crush it's head. Where are the eyes of a snake? In its head. What will the Son of Man crush? That's right. Snake Eyes.

Also, there's Duke, which is a title similar to prince. Jesus was frequently called the "Prince of Peace."

And most obviously, there's the American Indian leader who came *after* Snake Eyes in the series. Jesus said, "When I go, I will leave you a helper." What is that helper? The Holy Spirit. The name of that American Indian leader? Spirit. Coincidence. I think not.

And lastly, the most obvious example. There's the name of God. What is the name that the Lord gave to Moses? The actual name of God Himself? Jehovah. Je-hov-vah In the Hebrew, spelled, GI-Hoe-Vah.

GI-JOE-VAH

Think about it.

I know this might seem a bit overboard, but I think it's high time that this church examined more fully what the Bible has to say about Saturday morning cartoons. I for one, am considering going to seminary and doing my doctoral work on "The Christology of Optimus Prime" or perhaps "Eschatology, the End times, and the ThunderCats. Ho!"

I Have Seen the Enemy....

When I was a kid, I wished that I had a yearbook from the future that listed what everyone was going to be doing in 10, 20 years. Where people were going to end up living. What jobs people were going to end up doing. Who was going to go to college, and drop out to start their own online flower delivery service and make so much money, they retire by the time they're 35.

That kind of stuff.

I really wanted to know, for example, who I was going to marry and whom, and what job I was going to have. When you're in your teens, you desperately want to figure out your own life and where you're going. I just wished sometimes God would give me a 20,000 foot overview of my life, kind of like troops do when they get briefed.

"Okay, you're going to go to this beach, fight here and then march to this forest and wait."

You get the idea. The older I get, the more I kind of start to see what it is I'm here for. Mainly, I see it in the things that make me so angry, I can barely think straight. This honestly doesn't happen that much, but I think it's a clue to where my passions really are.

At least, partially, I think I was born to fight for the heart of the church, to make sure the community I am a part of never loses sight of the goals and the sight of Christ, to create vibrant, radical, counter-cultural communities of love and grace where healing, hope and joy can always be found and people feel connected to God and to each other. A place where we are introspective and fight to follow the tough, difficult teachings of Jesus Christ.

I think I was born to fight for the heart of my church, and for The Church at large.

In short, I was born to fight against this.

Wanted: Man to Resolve Conflict Between Bickering Anacondas

Yesterday, I went with the senior class to Six Flags Over Marine World up in Vallejo, near Oakland. Every year, the seniors go there. Every year, I go with them. It's a lot of fun bonding with the kids.

To me, Six Flags Over Marine World is like a cross between a zoo/auqarium and an amusement park. But for me, it's a bit like a camera-phone. It's not that great of a camera and not that great of a phone. Same thing. It's not that great of an amusement park and not that great of a zoo.

Plus, I only counted four flags. So that's a rip off.

But I did learn some things about myself. I learned that I don't like roller coasters too much anymore. They give me a headache. And I kept wanting to turn around and tell the masses of young people, "Would you mind not screaming so loud?"

My favorite parts were when I got to sit in the shade and watch the animal shows.

When did I turn into my grandfather?

The Killer Whale show was astounding, mostly because I got to sit next to Rob Iverson, my pal, fellow teacher and marine biologist. The whale was 4,000 pounds and 16 feet long. Rob said that the largest Great White shark on record is somewhere around 19-feet long, which is astounding because this whale was just ginormous. When it swam around, the pool, which was 68 feet wide and 30 feet deep, swished around the way that water moves in a bathtub when a toddler tries to make waves. I mean, it was sloshing around like coffee in a mug. So much power.

The best part was at the end when the whale breached entirely out of the water, and did a one-and-a-half forward flip. It was magnificent. The trainers said that all the tricks were variations of naturally occurring behavior, but I'm pretty sure in the wild, Orcas don't jump 25 feet in the air to hit red balls with their snouts. And rarely do they time it perfectly to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy."

Everyone knows Orcas like Prince's later stuff. Alphabet Street. New Power Generation. Etc.

The other super cool part of the day was the Tiger exhibit. There were Siberian Tigers and Bengal Tigers. The Bengal Tiger was about 500 pounds and was white and black. It was pretty darn big. But we were told the smaller two Siberian Tiger cubs - who were 10 months old, would grow to be about 750 pounds, which is just gigantic. There were two men in the "natural habitat" with the tigers. I asked them if they were in danger. They said, "Potentially."

Hmm.

There was this one part that was kind of weird. There was a sign near the cage that read, "May get wet or sprayed" and I thought that was curious. There was a pool for the Tigers to lounge by, but I thought that the likelihood of getting wet from the pool was pretty rare. I mean, unless one of the Tigers did a cannonball, or something. But then I saw one of the tigers start scratching a tree, and then turned, faced his haunches toward the tree and let loose what appeared to be a large blast of water behind him.

It was - apparently - not water. This is what they were referring to with the "spraying" verbiage. And it's literally spraying. Like a good blast from a garden hose with a nozzle. We're talking that much urine.

I think they should change the sign. "May get pissed on by a Tiger. Stand back."

That's a more helpful sign. The trainer said that every week, someone gets "sprayed." He said it doesn't smell, though.

"It's the color and consistency of movie popcorn butter," he said.

"But not the taste," the other trainer said, laughing.

I didn't want to know how he arrived at that conclusion.

"Hey, Jimmy, you want some popcorn? It's got Tiger Urine on it!"

There was a pretty cool part, though. This one Siberian tiger cub started "stalking" the older white Bengal tiger. It would hide behind logs and when the white tiger would look over, it would duck really low, but you could see its tail sticking out. So funny. Then it got closer, jumped on top of the log and then onto the white Bengal tiger. Apparently, Tigers don't hunt by instinct, but learn by watching tapes of Jimmy "Superfly" Snooka.

The white tiger then just batted this cub and it went flying. So the cub came back and appeared to attempt to eat the white Tiger's huge paw.

"Hey, Odin! Stop that!" the trainer yelled. He went over to the cub and pulled him away from the white Bengal tiger who was now agitated a bit.

It was then that I realized that this guy's job was pretty much to stand in a locked, sealed cage and break up fights between fully-grown tigers.

And you thought your job was tough.

List of Tieche's Most Spiritually Impactful Songs

So this Sunday at Take2, the College and Young Adults ministry that I now *gulp* head up, I'm going to be talking about the power of media and the arts.

I'm going to be sharing clips from movies that have touched me, or affected me. And then I'm going to talk about how when I was in college, I had a really close friend named Eric who pretty much was the most influential person in my life spiritually during those crucial formative years. Eric didn't always have all the words, but he always had the music. And back in the days of Mix Tapes, the music he gave me influenced my thinking and spirituality in profound ways.

I often joke that early in my Christian walk, I got most of my theology from Point-of-Grace.

I think that music influences us all deeply. And we all have soundtracks to our lives: songs that for some reason, mean a whole lot to us.

I was thinking about making a CD of the songs that have affected me most spiritually. As part of Take2, what I could do was then pass it out to all the folks who come as like a handout, a favor. And on that CD would be the 10-15 songs that have most affected me in my life. I thought that might be a good way to encourage other folks to share their own "playlists" of songs they love.

It would also talk about the importance of art for Christians.

So, after combing through a couple 1000 songs, I chose the songs that had tremendous influence or impact on my life at crucial points. Some, like track 4, helped me realize I need to quit my job as a technical writer for the Air Force and do something that mattered with my life. Some, like track 12, is my wife and I's song. Some, like track 11, just move me every time I hear it. So my CD, right now, looks like this, listed in no particular order:

1. Lord of the Dance (live Abbey Road recording) - Steven Curtis Chapman
2. Waiting Room - Larue
3. Stand - Bebo Norman
4. Company Car - Switchfoot
5. Fool for You - Nichole Nordeman
6. I See Love - Third Day, MercyMe, Steven Curtis Chapman
7. All Things New - Watermark
8. Crazy - MercyMe
9. You Answer Me - jennifer Knapp
10. Redeemer - Nicole C. Mullen
11. May Your Wonders Never Cease - Third Day
12. Make Me Whole - Amel Larrieaux
13. Every Season - Nichole Nordeman
14. What If I - Greg Ferguson
15. Why (live) - Nichole Nordeman
16. Every New Day - Five Iron Frenzy


I'll explain why I chose those songs tomorrow.

Josh Shipp Speaks To Group of Mutants: Hijinks Ensue

Last night, I had my buddy Ryan Roberts and his girlfriend Michelle over for dinner last night, and I was telling them that story from my men's Bible study the other night. My friend Josh Shipp, who is a travelling motivational speaker, was telling us that he was up in Napa, speaking this past week. Now, Napa is Wine Country, which is a known to be a wee bit affluent. Anyway, Josh was telling us hat he spoke in this junior high school that was literally built like a mansion. He was saying there was like, mahogony furniture in all the classrooms and there was a 3-million dollar auditorium - for a middle school.

And one of the guys Jon was like,

"Oh, and how are the kids and Professor X doing?"

And then someone else said,

"The assembly was great, but all these fires just kept blazing up out of nowhere."

And then Jeff Rev was like,

"And all the doorknobs were covered in ice."

And then I was like,

"And there was this kid in the front row made out of rock."

Man, that was funny. I'm know that what is said in group is supposed to say in group, but I am going to keep breaking confidentiality, because that joke was funny.

Four of My Seniors Not Graduating: How To Motivate the Unmotivated

Yesterday, was the last staff meeting of the year at Gunderson, the High School where I work. Now, at this point, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Are you kidding me? He's going to post an entry about a staff meeting?"

No.

Okay, yes.

It was weird yesterday because they announced who is going to be leaving next year, and thanked them for their contribution. There are 57 teachers on campus, and 9 are leaving. I didn't do the math, because quite frankly I can't, but that's almost 20 percent.

Some of those losses are good things. There are two teachers in particular who needed to change careers, and they knew it. So that's a good thing.

But we lost three teachers who I considered pretty good teachers - to private high schools. They were sick of the fight - sick of dealing with Gunderson-type students. I don't hang around other high schools, but I would really like to know if teachers at other schools complain as much about their students as the teachers at GHS do.

And I wonder if our kids really are worse than kids at other schools. I have four of my students who aren't going to graduate this year because they didn't pass government, which is a required course. They knew if they didn't pass, they wouldn't walk. They had been warned with letters. Their parents had been called. They had been brought into conferences with administrators and the teacher. They knew. And yet they still failed. Now, I talked to the teacher, who is my friend. He said:

"Tieche, I gave them the test during review week. I gave them the freaking test. Cut it up, put it on index cards. We got in groups. We went over the answers. I had 19 people fail with 50 percent or lower. I gave them the freaking test."

Hard to argue he's not being fair.

And yet, I had four students not pass that test. It does leave you wondering, "What the hell?"

One of my colleagues, who is honestly one of my favorite people on campus, kind of lost it in front of his kids. They weren't doing their work, or didn't come prepared with a project, and he just exploded on them. He was like, "You're the reason this school is in the crapper. Students like you. All of you. You wonder why people are convinced that Gunderson sucks? It's because of you. You don't do any work. You don't care about anything. You're going nowhere, and you don't even know it. You need to do everyone a big favor and just stop coming to school. Stay at home, and stop dragging down the rest of us."

I don't know how effective that method of motivation is, per se. But my point in that story is to show how much anger there is in some staff toward the students. I have a feeling that sentiment is boiling right under the surface in a lot of folks.

I wonder if that's the same at every school. I've always enjoyed learning because it's fun. And one of the common denominators in all my friends is that they like to learn. Not that they've necessarily gone to Stanford or even taken any college classes - but they love to learn. They ask questions, listen, read, talk. They're inquisitive.

Lot of kids in high school now don't particularly care about school.

I wonder why. And I wonder what to do about it.

Psychologist say that everyone is highly motivated to do something. Some students are highly motivated to play XBox. Some students are highly motivated to talk to the opposite sex.

But when you're faced with not graduating, and the consequences are clearly outlined for you, and you still fail a class where the teacher gave you the test?

What can you do with that?

Story of "O"

I've been deeply affected lately by Shakespeare's tragedies. It's the end of the year, and I'm quickly taking my seniors through all of Shakespeare's major tragedies because I was never exposed to them when I was in high school. We did Hamlet, and the kids liked it. But they're really into Othello.

After quickly going through the text, this week, we watched the modern film version of Othello with Kenneth Branaugh and Lawrence Fishburne. I don't care much for Fishburne's Othello - he makes some acting choices that make him seem almost epileptic - but Branaugh is more than brilliant. Watching him you can't but help think that this is a man who was born to do this.

Today, we started watching the movie "O" with my students: it's a modern updating of the Shakespeare tragedy "Othello." Not line for line, but idea for idea. High schoolers really get into Othello. I think it's because of the themes. Othello is a story about a black Moor who's risen to a powerful position of influence as a General in Venice. He's an outsider who can't trust many, except Desdemona, a woman he marries secretly. She is white. he is black, and the racial tension therein underscores the entire play. When Othello chooses Michael Cassio as his second in command, Iago's plots to cause the Moor's downfall. He builds an intricate snare of lies and half-truths to eventually causing Othello to fundamentally distrust Desdemona. Othello's tragic flaw is his jealousy - the green-eyed monster that doth mock the flesh it feeds upon - and Iago builds an intricate .

In Iago, Shakespeare creates a character who, a bit like Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, is simply evil. We never find out why Iago does what he does. Is it wounded pride that he was overlooked for a promotion? Is it sexual jealousy about Desdemona? Is it racial prejudice? All unlikely. In short, Iago does what he does because that's who he is. He hates Othello. He just does.

This is probably why Shakespeare purists hated the movie "O", because in it, the character of Iago, whose name is changed to Hugo, is provided a real motivation. The story is transplated from Venice to a rich, private high school set in the south, where Odin James is the star point guard. Just like Othello, he gains his acceptance - albeit a shaky acceptance - from the white folks because of of his abilities in "battle" as a "floor general." The coach is Hugo's dad, and in the opening scene you understand why Hugo hates O. While presesnting Odin with the MVP trophy, Hugo's dad calls Odin up and says that he loves him like a son.

There's a scene where Hugo, played by Josh Hartnett, goes into his father's office. It's a single shot of the office. You can only see Hugo, who walks in slowly into the dim office, and sits down. His father is off-screen.

"It's been a long time since you invited me in here to have supper with you," Hugo says, sitting down.

"What is going on with Odin," you hear the voice of his father, Martin Sheen, say.

And you just see Hugo's face drop. Almost imperceptively.

"I don't know," he says. "I saw him today in English class. He seemed fine." Hugo pauses.

"I'm getting an A in English again," he says.

"That's nice," his father says. "I'm glad I don't have to worry about you. It's Odin I'm worried about. He doesn't have anybody else. Heck, there isn't another black person on this college. We need to help him."

His father stands up, and walks by the camera, his face never visible.

"Why don't you stay here and finish your dinner," he says.

The camera slowly zooms in to Hugo. Watch his reaction shot. It's brilliant. He slowly sets down his tray, then zips up his jacket over his mouth, and holds his arms close to him. It's as though it just got cold in the room. Or that he's trying to protect himself. Or that he just pulled the covers over his head, like a toddler.

This film had the misfortune of being slated to be released in April of 1999, but then Columbine happened. Miramax held the film because of pressure from Washington. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote this about it:

We have a peculiar inability in our country to understand the contexts of things; when it comes to art, we interpret troublesome works in the most literal and simple-minded way. In the aftermath of Columbine, Washington legislators called on Hollywood to police itself, and rumbled about possible national censorship. Miramax caved in by suppressing this film. To suggest that ''O'' was part of the solution and not part of the problem would have required a sophistication that our public officials either lack, or are afraid to reveal, for fear of offending the bottom-feeders among their constituents.

So now here is ''O,'' a good film for most of the way, and then a powerful film at the end, when, in the traditional Shakespearean manner, all of the plot threads come together, the victims are killed, the survivors mourn, and life goes on. It is clearly established that Hugo is a psychopath, and that his allies are victims of that high school disease that encourages the unpopular to do anything in order to be accepted. Those who think this film will inspire events like Columbine should ask themselves how often audiences want to be like the despised villain.

Odin's final speech is powerful, and the final scene in the movie makes even my most rambunctious classes sit quietly. Good stories will do that.

Religion and Politics: Americans Rate Themselves As More Religious

I read an article this morning on the wires about religious devotion in the United States.

The article cites a poll that says that Americans are more "religious" than their counterparts in Europe.

Nearly all U.S. respondents said faith is important to them and only 2 percent said they do not believe in God. Almost 40 percent said religious leaders should try to sway policymakers, notably higher than in other countries.

"Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian policies and religious leaders have an obligation to speak out on public policy, otherwise they're wimps," said David Black, a retiree from Osborne, Pa., who agreed to be interviewed after he was polled.

In contrast, 85 percent of French object to clergy activism — the strongest opposition of any nation surveyed. France has strict curbs on public religious expression and, according to the poll, 19 percent are atheists. South Korea is the only other nation with that high a percentage of nonbelievers.

Australians are generally split over the importance of faith, while two-thirds of South Koreans and Canadians said religion is central to their lives. People in all three countries strongly oppose mixing religion and politics.

Another interesting part of the article focused on why America is so "religious."

Researchers disagree over why people in the United States have such a different religious outlook, said Brent Nelsen, an expert in politics and religion at Furman University in South Carolina.

Some say rejecting religion is a natural response to modernization and consider the United States a strange exception to the trend. Others say Europe is the anomaly; people in modernized countries inevitably return to religion because they yearn for tradition, according to the theory.

Some analysts, like Finke, use a business model. According to his theory, a long history of religious freedom in the United States created a greater supply of worship options than in other countries, and that proliferation inspired wider observance. Some European countries still subsidize churches, in effect regulating or limiting religious options, Finke said.

History also could be a factor. Many countries other than the United States have been through bloody religious conflict that contributes to their suspicion of giving clergy any say in policy.

Okay, first of all, I found it interesting that a lot of experts consider the fact that the more "modernized" a nation is, the less liable it is to be religious. It's like saying, "The more you grow up, the less likely you are to take that "outdated religion thing" too seriously." Which I think is unfair.

It's also interesting to note that many countries are suspicious of mixing religion and politics. Which is really a shame, because when mixed properly, it can be a really powerful and beautiful thing. I think about the Civil Right Movement, or the International Justice Mission, a group of people who storm into nations and using any and all available legal means, rescue people from slavery, illegal indentured servitude, prostitution rings and forced child labor. It's astounding.

What do you think? Are Americans more religious?

List of Top British Works of Literature for AP Makes Me Feel Really Dumb

NOTE: Because I love lists, the following is the list of works of British Literature that the College Board surveryed, similiar to my earlier post about works of American Literature. This list is even more daunting. Of this list, I've only read 7 of the 26 works on this list, and I didn't include any of the works that only got 2 or 1 stars. I hadn't heard of most of them. Tristram Shandy by Sterne? Wide Sargasso Sea by Rhys? What?

Top British Novels
Jane Eyre – 12 stars
Wuthering Heights 13 stars
Great Expectations – 11 stars
King Lear – William Shakespeare - 9 stars
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce - 8 stars
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad – 8 stars

6 Stars
Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
Hamlet – William Shakespeare

5 Stars
Passage to India – EM Forster
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Equus – Peter Shaffer
Othello – William Shakespeare - 5 stars
Lord Jim – Joseph Conrad – 5 stars

4 Stars
Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe
Persuasion – Jane Austen
Murder in the Cathedral – T.S. Eliot
The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare


3 Stars
Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
Dr. Faustus – Philip Marlowe
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead – Thomas Stoppard
To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare
Macbeth – William Shakespeare
Mrs. Warren’s Profession – George Bernard Shaw

Colson Betrays Self, Faith with Statements Condeming "Deep Throat" Souce Mark Felt

When I was a junior in college, I was a sports writer for my school newspaper, The DePauw. At one point, I got a tip from a source that a bookie in Indianapolis who was placing illegal bets had been busted by state authorities. The clincher was that several members of our 9-0 football team, who were headed for a conference championship, had been found in this man's books, placing bets on college football.

Now, as you know, placing bets on college football when you play college football is illegal. Even if you're not in the actual game, the fact you're in the NCAA as an athlete means you can not bet on NCAA football.

So our team's star quarterback, our team's star wide receiver and a rarely used back-up quarterback were all under NCAA investigation, and were going to be suspended from the team for a little while. The team tried to keep this whole thing under wraps. The coach told the team members specifically NOT to say ANYTHING to the media - meaning me. But I got the story anyway, and wrote it up. I think I actually might have won an award for it from the Society of Professional Journalists.

But Dave Wheeler, who was the rarely used back-up quarterback, was in an class called "Contemporary Playwrights" with me from 7-10 on Tuesday nights. I remember the day after the paper came out with my story, he was in a class with me. The teacher, who reminded me a lot of Jabba the Hut, was kind enough to bring up the fact that Wheeler had been in the paper and that I had written the article, and that now, we were in the same room. Nice of him.

"So, Mr. Wheeler. I hear you have a gambling problem," the teacher, Fred Nelson, said, laughing and throwing his giant head back.

"Yea. I'm an addict, I guess," Wheeler said, through his teeth, glaring at me.

I sat there, arms folded, unblinking.

"This all would not have been a big deal if the newspaper hadn't made such a big deal out of it," he said, referring to me.

I'd had enough.

"Actually, it wouldn't have been a big deal if you hadn't bet on college football," I said. It was one of those times in my life when I didn't think of the perfect come-back line seven hours later.

Wheeler stood up, his wooden chair falling back.

"You want me to f*ck you up, you worthless piece of..." Wheeler said, pounding his fist on the table. He was so mad, I thought he was going to crawl across the table and like, bite me, but his buddy grabbed his belt and sat him back down.

"Heh heh heh." Nelson laughed, his giant body a casement of flesh that heaved up and down. "Now that's what I call drama! Heh heh heh."

At break I got on my bike and rode to the paper. I didn't want to hang around outside class for Wheeler. And I figured at least I'd have reinforcements at the paper. Although most of my friends at the paper were mightier with the pen than with the sword, if you know what I'm saying.

It's called blowing the whistle.

And it's not popular, especially among those upon whom the whistle is blown. But I've always been taught that when you see something wrong, you need to do something to prevent it or stop it. Even if it's unpopular.

So, for example, if the company that I work for is lying about the books that it keeps, and I know, it's my responsibility to alert the authorities.

Or, if I have a student who is being abused at home, and I see evidence, or the student tells me, then I actually am mandated by state law to blow the whistle.

Or, if my boss, who happens to be the President of the USA is breaking the law, and there's a massive government cover-up, and I'm the Deputy Director of the FBI, then I blow the whistle.

I'm talking, of course, about Deep Throat, the anonymous source used by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein who uncovered a shocking abuse of power by then President Richard Nixon. For decades, the identity of this source was unknown, until former Deputy Director of the FBI, Mark Felt recently came forward and admitted it was him.

The scandal that Felt helped the Washington Post uncover eventually resulted in dozens of Nixon aides being arrested and jailed. One of the most famous of those imprisoned was Charles Colson, the head of White House communications, who served jail time. During that sentence, Colson began to seriously reconsider his direction in life and as he recounts in his famous biography "Loving God" it was because of prison that he came to know Jesus Christ.

Felt's willingness to shine light in some very dark places eventually caused Colson to see the light. Eventually, because of Colson's experiences in prison he started "Prison Fellowship Ministries." Thousands have heard the good news because of Colson's efforts.

Which is why I'm really, really, really, really, really confused about his public condemnation of Mark Felt. I read this quote this morning.

Chuck Colson, the head of White House communications in 1972, Felt could have helped America avoid a wrenching political crisis, the ripple effect of which was felt in the country for decades, if he had gone through proper channels.

"Mark Felt could have stopped Watergate," said Colson, who served time in jail and is now an evangelical Christian broadcaster. "He was in a position of that kind of influence. Instead, he goes out and basically undermines the administration."

What? What? Felt didn't undemine the administration. Nixon did. Colson did. G. Gordon Liddy did.

Colson should be thanking God for Mark Felt. His denouncement of him strikes me as shockingly hypocritical. Is this Colson's new ethic? Is he really implying that keeping political power - saving the face of the president - is more important than anything else in the whole world, including truth and doing what is right?

That's kind of what you'd expect from politicians. But not Christians.

I am getting so sick of politics.