The largest hurdle I have in believing that there is a God is the existence of evil. I know this doesn't make me unique, or profound.

I was watching Dirty Sexy Money earlier this week and resonated so strongly with the following clip. Brian is the religious one - but by no means the Saint - in the family. As the show develops, one realizes he really is the metaphorical example of all of us struggling with good and evil.



I love the honesty. The rawness. The emotion. It reminds me of when Jeremiah laments in the Bible by saying, "You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived. You seized me and prevailed..." As an Old Testament professor once said, deceived is a "soft translation." Deceived, should be raped. But you never hear that story in Sunday school.

I once preached a sermon in Indiana where I read the passage where Jesus said that "his burden is easy and his yoke is light." I followed up by saying, "yeah right!" Had I been bolder I think the better phrase would have been, bullshit.

There is nothing about this world that seams easy - and I say that having lived on both sides of the faith continuum. Why is there so much pain if an Omnibenevolent Being is behind it?

Here's the truth, I don't know.

As much as I love Robert Frost's poem, I think there are really three roads that can be taken in life.

There are those who take the road of naiveté. They say things like, "all works out for the good in the end" or "evil is just a byproduct of a fallen and imperfect world." Meanwhile ignoring the true sense of injustice in the world. Not recognizing that there is legitimate, undeserved suffering in the world.

There still others that say fuck it. They take the road of bitterness. There can't be a God. They don't understand evil, it makes no sense, therefore the only logical conclusion is there is no intelligence or compassion behind this world. Meanwhile ignoring the good that some how comes from nowhere, and the beauty all around us, and all the benevolence that can be generated by them.

And then there is the third road. This road gets traveled the least. It is a road that freely admits they don't have any answers on this one - but wish they did. It is a road that doesn't offer up cheesy clichés in the face of injustice or sorrow, but will cry with you when it happens. It is a road that doesn't become bitter at the evils society face, but recognizes there is work to be done to help overcome them. It is a road that humbles, but also empowers one to do something about it - even if little impact can be made - which is tough to accept.

And while I know the one taken less, I freely admit I do not know which will make all the difference in the end. But I know which one I have chosen.

Andy is looking for both of these in his future wife. However, Andy is willing to compromise on #2 if #1 is true.

Also, I have a surprise third post-secret for this post but it is in response to a comment that I feel is looming by Sarah (probably) or Erik (maybe) or Allen (long shot). But don't leave it up to them - as all three might fail. It will only come when expected comment is said.

Be sure to visit Post Secret for more interesting looks into the human condition.

Last weekend I visited my brother in Chicago to watch his play. It was fantastic and my brother was brilliant. But at 36,000 feet on the way home I did something I have never done in all the 202,011 miles I have spent in the sky: I asked the flight attendant out to dinner.

She was beautiful - not slutty beautiful like she was doinking all the pilots on layover - just classically beautiful.

Typically I would talk myself out of asking her to dinner for two reasons: 1.) I assume she probably gets hit on a lot and 2.) I typically fly United or American who don't have any flight crew hubbed in Atlanta. But this was Delta, so there was a good chance she lived in ATL, and about 2/3 the way through the flight I said to hell with the other reason.

So I got out of 10C and walked to the back of the plane and asked if she was based in Atlanta. She said she was for now, but in a couple of weeks was getting moved to the Honolulu-hub. I told her that I thought "that was unfortunate as I think she is a very beautiful woman and I just wanted to see if she wanted to go to dinner sometime." We talked for another 10 minutes, I gave her my card after she told me she was moving back in a year, and that was probably the last I will ever see of Kate.

I told this story to three people upon my return to Atlanta and all three said something along the lines of that was ballsy. But what woman, even if she thinks you are hideous, doesn't want to be told they are beautiful? The worst thing that happens is you feel a bit embarrassed, and she goes home with her day made. What's the loss?

The opening line of the movie Hitch is: "No woman wakes up saying: 'God, I hope I don't get swept off my feet today.'" Now that doesn't mean she wants to get swept up by me or you, but nevertheless she wants to be desired.

And men are really no different.

I know absolutely no one who doesn't want to find love. Don't read that so fast.
I know absolutely NO-ONE who doesn't want to find love.

Think about that. We all differ on religion, politics, financial desires, sexual orientation, how many kids to have, and what movies we watch. We all differ on everything from the trivial to the profound. The one thing we all share is that we all want to love and be loved. I think that is beyond profound.

In a somewhat ironic twist, I came home later that night after the show and saw Taylor's Swift's new music video Love Story for the first time. In a risk of embarrassing myself like I always do, I love Taylor Swift's music. And at the risk of sounding gay, Love Story is both incredibly well-written, and a phenomenal video. It captures the Shakespearean desire every single one of us share even in the trivialist of all moments like walking from class or riding on a plane 7 miles above the earth.

This flight didn't end in a Love Story for me or Kate - but I saw a beautiful woman and took a risk and tomorrow hopefully I'll get the chance to do it again.

I get a trade publication called Advertising Age sent to me on a weekly basis. I don't know why it started arriving, but I love it. It is a fantastic wealth of information.

Last week, I opened it and it answered a question I had been wondering for years: what do advertisers pay per :30 spot on a regular basis. Sure we always hear about the million dollar spots during the SuperBowl and what the last episode of Seinfeld pulled. But on average, what is a company paying for me to watch an episode of Chuck or Big Bang Theory or Bones or Dirty Sexy Money?

The answer: the average for a :30 spot in primetime TV is $124,920. But that is only half the picture. What about viewership? If you take spot rates and divide by average viewership, the advertisers spends $0.0171 per person to watch their ad spot.

But being the self-centered person that I am, I want to know about me?

Well, first of all, I learned that advertisers are willing to pay more for my attention than average - since the shows I watch averaged $186,316 (or $0.02431 per time I watch). But at a more humbling point, very few of the shows I watch are anywhere near the top 10. So I am expensive and unpopular. Done.

But what I think is even more interesting is what this says about what advertisers think our lives our worth.

Think about it. Say there are an average of 7 minutes of advertising per 30 minutes of shows. This makes 14 total :30 second units per half hour of TV. The average American lives to be 78.16 years old. If you do the math, that basically means that according to advertisers, the average American's life is valued at $327,829.

Now, my life is worth $465,980 - which makes me better than you - but still pretty humbling huh ;)

Well lucky for us, God and our love ones think we are entirely more valuable than the average advertiser.

Name of Show	:30 Cost	Sta	Day	Time	Viewership	Cost / Person
Sunday Night Football	$434,792	NBC	Sun	8:00 PM	14,207,000	$0.03
Fringe	$343,000	Fox	Tues	9:00 PM	9,906,000	$0.03
Grey's Anatomy	$326,685	ABC	Thus	9:00 PM	14,797,000	$0.02
Desperate Housewives	$318,552	ABC	Sun	9:00 PM	15,505,000	$0.02
Two and a Half Men	$276,433	CBS	Mon	9:00 PM	13,577,000	$0.02
CSI	$262,600	CBS	Thus	9:00 PM	23,485,000	$0.01
House	$260,179	Fox	Tues	8:00 PM	12,978,000	$0.02
The Simpsons	$250,000	Fox	Sun	8:00 PM	7,408,000	$0.03
Family Guy	$231,306	Fox	Sun	9:00 PM	8,384,000	$0.03
The Office	$213,164	NBC	Thus	9:00 PM	9,245,000	$0.02
Survivor	$212,800	CBS	Thus	8:00 PM	13,076,000	$0.02
Dancing With the Stars	$205,000	ABC	Mon	8:00 PM	18,592,000	$0.01
Extreme Makover: Home Edition	$200,347	ABC	Sun	8:00 PM	11,832,000	$0.02
Brothers & Sisters	$198,532	ABC	Sun	10:00 PM	10,326,000	$0.02
Heros	$198,379	NBC	Mon	9:00 PM	8,198,000	$0.02
Prison Break	$193,902	Fox	Mon	9:00 PM	5,372,000	$0.04
Dancing (Results Show)	$191,403	ABC	Tues	9:00 PM	15,065,000	$0.01
Private Practice	$182,656	ABC	Wed	9:00 PM	8,163,000	$0.02
CSI: Miami	$182,101	CBS	Mon	10:00 PM	13,884,000	$0.01
King of the Hill	$181,429	Fox	Sun	8:30 PM	6,589,000	$0.03
Worst Week	$179,727	CBS	Mon	9:30 PM	8,848,000	$0.02
American Dad	$159,533	Fox	Sun	9:30 PM	6,855,000	$0.02
Eleventh Hour	$155,400	CBS	Thus	10:00 PM	11,373,000	$0.01
Ugly Betty	$151,870	ABC	Thus	8:00 PM	8,521,000	$0.02
Law & Order: SVU	$146,679	NBC	Tues	10:00 PM	10,391,000	$0.01
How I Met Your Mother	$142,117	CBS	Mon	8:30 PM	8,977,000	$0.02
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles	$140,879	Fox	Mon	8:00 PM	5,726,000	$0.02
Samatha Who?	$140,124	ABC	Mon	9:00 PM	2,118,000	$0.07
Eli Stone	$139,898	ABC	Tues	10:00 PM
CSI: New York	$137,648	CBS	Wed	10:00 PM	15,873,000	$0.01
Big Bang Theory	$135,357	CBS	Mon	8:00 PM	8,597,000	$0.02
Life on Mars	$133,233	ABC	Thus	10:00 PM	11,333,000	$0.01
Dirty Sexy Money	$130,164	ABC	Wed	10:00 PM	5,852,000	$0.02
My Name Is Earl	$127,978	NBC	Thus	8:00 PM	7,166,000	$0.02
Without a Trace	$127,766	CBS	Tues	10:00 PM	12,611,000	$0.01
The Amazing Race	$127,634	CBS	Sun	8:00 PM	10,999,000	$0.01
Kath & Kim	$125,683	NBC	Thus	8:30 PM	7,515,000	$0.02
NCIS	$121,718	CBS	Tues	8:00 PM	16,288,000	$0.01
Criminal Minds	$117,359	CBS	Wed	9:00 PM	16,185,000	$0.01
Saturday Night College Football	$114,649	ABC	Sat	8:00 PM	6,739,000	$0.02
Kitchen Nightmares	$114,146	Fox	Thus	9:00 PM
Bones	$114,084	Fox	Wed	8:00 PM	10,559,000	$0.01
The Biggest Loser	$113,218	NBC	Tues	8:00 PM	7,265,000	$0.02
Boston Legal	$112,610	ABC	Mon	10:00 PM	8,746,000	$0.01
Pushing Daisies	$111,125	ABC	Wed	8:00 PM	5,501,000	$0.02
ER	$110,049	NBC	Thus	10:00 PM	9,408,000	$0.01
30 Rock	$104,178	NBC	Thus	9:30 PM
America's Next Top Model	$103,714	CW	Wed	8:00 PM	3,935,000	$0.03
Knight Rider	$102,754	NBC	Wed	8:00 PM	6,856,000	$0.02
Cold Case	$101,112	CBS	Sun	9:00 PM	11,095,000	$0.01
Fooball Night in America	$100,811	NBC	Sun	7:00 PM	7,561,000	$0.01
60 Minutes	$99,000	CBS	Sun	7:00 PM	17,470,000	$0.01
My Own Worst Enemy	$98,909	NBC	Mon	10:00 PM
The Mentalist	$97,006	CBS	Tues	9:00 PM	15,603,000	$0.01
Chuck	$92,645	NBC	Mon	8:00 PM	5,832,000	$0.02
Oppurtunity Knocks	$92,427	ABC	Tues	8:00 PM	5,960,000	$0.02
Deal or No Deal	$92,115	NBC	Wed	9:00 PM
America's Funniest Home Videos	$90,044	ABC	Sun	7:00 PM	8,916,000	$0.01
Deal or No Deal	$90,034	NBC	Fri	9:00 PM	6,633,000	$0.01
Life	$86,948	NBC	Fri	10:00 PM	4,978,000	$0.02
The Unit	$84,630	CBS	Sun	10:00 PM	9,713,000	$0.01
Ghost Whisperer	$82,400	CBS	Fri	8:00 PM	4,427,000	$0.02
Supernanny	$82,200	ABC	Fri	9:00 PM	3,205,000	$0.03
'Til Death	$82,108	Fox	Wed	9:00 PM	4,610,000	$0.02
Numb3rs	$81,700	CBS	Fri	10:00 PM
Old Christine	$79,535	CBS	Wed	8:00 PM	7,526,000	$0.01
Lipstick Jungle	$78,000	NBC	Wed	10:00 PM	4,764,000	$0.02
20/20	$75,950	ABC	Fri	10:00 PM	7,017,000	$0.01
The Ex-List	$73,800	CBS	Fri	9:00 PM
Gary Unmarried	$72,019	CBS	Wed	8:30 PM	7,357,000	$0.01
Wife Swap	$70,300	ABC	Fri	8:00 PM	4,104,000	$0.02
Don't Forget the Lyrics	$68,789	Fox	Fri	9:00 PM	4,347,000	$0.02
One Tree Hill	$67,902	CW	Mon	9:00 PM	3,420,000	$0.02
Toughest Jobs	$66,442	NBC	Fri	8:00 PM	3,972,000	$0.02
Gossip Girl	$62,139	CW	Mon	8:00 PM	3,398,000	$0.02
The Moment of Truth	$61,729	Fox	Thus	8:00 PM
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader	$59,900	Fox	Fri	8:00 PM	5,443,000	$0.01
Dateline	$59,708	NBC	Sat	8:00 PM
90210	$58,347	CW	Tues	8:00 PM	3,116,000	$0.02
Cops 2	$57,081	Fox	Sat	9:00 PM	5,528,000	$0.01
Smallville	$54,323	CW	Thus	8:00 PM	4,119,000	$0.01
48 Hours Mystery	$52,300	CBS	Sat	10:00 PM	7,319,000	$0.01
Cops 1	$50,367	Fox	Sat	8:00 PM	4,683,000	$0.01
Stylista	$48,942	CW	Wed	9:00 PM
Law & Order: SVU (repeats)	$46,884	NBC	Sat	10:00 PM
Everybody Hates Chris	$44,533	CW	Fri	8:00 PM	1,697,000	$0.03
America's Most Wanted	$41,730	Fox	Sat	10:00 PM	5,428,000	$0.01
Crimtetime Saturday	$38,000	CBS	Sat	9:00 PM	5,559,000	$0.01
Supernatural	$37,982	CW	Thus	9:00 PM	3,508,000	$0.01
Knight Rider (repeats)	$36,738	NBC	Sat	9:00 PM
Privileged	$33,305	CW	Tues	9:00 PM	1,873,000	$0.02
Crimetime Saturday	$32,600	CBS	Sat	8:00 PM
The Game	$29,583	CW	Fri	9:00 PM	1,805,000	$0.02
Easy Money	N/A	CW	Sun	9:00 PM
In Harm's Way	N/A	CW	Sun	7:00 PM
Surviving Suburbia	N/A	CW	Sun	7:30 PM
Valentine Inc	N/A	CW	Sun	8:00 PM

On a side note, I have been asked by a few to comment on my feelings about Sarah Palin as VP. I will do so in a blog that will be release on Monday. Enjoy the weekend.

Today started like any other day at Hilton Head. Woke up. Put swim suits on. Went to the beach. Had a baby...

What?

Had a baby?

Ok, that never happened before.

It was about 5pm and we were getting ready to go to a nice dinner for our last night of vacation and Andrea started to have some pain. So she called her doctor in Indiana. Well her doctor told her everything was probably fine, but to swing by the hospital to confirm.

Two hours in the hospital and it is confirmed: she's having the baby tonight. A whole two months early!!!

I take a screaming Jadyn (who wants her mommy) home and put her to bed, we read Little Mermaid. And now I am scrounging around, trying to get everything ready for the show tomorrow night, a show I probably won't be at.

But it's weird, ya know. I always thought the first person I would drive to the hospital to have a baby would be my wife, or at least my own child.

But in a unique way I feel like it is partly my child. Just four days earlier, while standing on the beach, CJ turned to me and said, "you want to be the first to know what the name of the child is? Asher James. Andrea doesn't even know that I have picked it yet." Who knew, four days later, and two months early, he would be here.

Andrea is most likely going to be moved to Charleston, SC tomorrow, and her and Asher are going to have to be there for three weeks. I am trying to convince them to move her to Savannah instead because the access is so much easier for everybody up north (and me in Atlanta). But we'll see.

That's about it from here. I have done a lot of stuff with my 20 years at Hilton Head. But having a baby is definitely a first.

UPDATE
Asher's First Video

I would like to thank the American Family Association for reminding me why, as a Bible-believing, Evangelical Christian, I hate Christian political organizations. Why? It only took one look at their 2008 Official Voter Guide. I seriously laughed when I saw it.

First off. It should be stated a 501(c)3 organization is not allowed to endorse a political candidate. The way around it is to release a voter guide about the "issues" and assume that those who align with your organization will align with the person with the most yes-es. You know the people at AFA wish Huckabee's name started with an "F" just so they could have put him in front of Guiliani (although then they probably wouldn't support him because his name would be a swear word and we all know the Bible talks A LOT about swearing {sarcasm} ).

So what did I do? The only responsible Christian thing to do: I created my own version of an official AFA (only this time AFA = "Andy's Faith Awareness") 2008 Voter Guide to make fun of them. I included a Jesus column (as well as a column for me and the AFA as well). I added eight "faith based" issues the AFA should have mentioned. And I also assigned a numerical value to the AFA, Jesus, and Andy column on a scale of 1 to 10 on how important that would be to each "candidate". Take a look.



Now admittedly, I do not get to speak for Jesus. I will acknowledge this. I wish the AFA would. But given my extensive reading of scripture, the above 1-10 scale resembles how I interpret a modern-day Jesus would rank the political issues. Please also note, that I do not always "agree" with Jesus. Why? It isn't because I am right and Jesus is wrong; but because I at least have the integrity to recognize that what I think about our current American socio/political culture is potentially wrong.

What I would rather point out is the difference between AFA and Jesus. I hate to break it to you, but Jesus could careless about gun laws and taxes. Remember his answer about paying taxes to Caesar? The ambivalence was astonishing. Don't get me wrong, I want small government. I want low taxes. But to say that low taxes is a "faith" issue is irresponsible at best.

But now lets look at what Jesus did talk about more than just about any other topic: taking care of the poor? Ohh but wait, it isn't on the list. Ohh so gun laws and taxes make the list, but taking care of the poor somehow is not a family value?

Let's talk about pro-life. Sure we all know Jesus is against abortions, but what about the death penalty? What about health care? I hate to break it to you, but being pro-life is more than being anti-abortion.

But then I get the predictable response from my friend when I object and she states:

Are you going to mention in your blog that it is the church’s responsibility to take care of the poor (not the government)?

Now I don't blame her for this comment. Why? Because it is quite the popular assumption within the faith community. But I have to call BS. That mindset is fine, but you don't get your cake and eat it too. If you are going to scream at the top of your lungs for traditional marriage and abortion, then you have stated that your intentions are to yield the "churches" role, at least in part, to the government. If you want to lobby the government for pro-life laws, then you better be willing to lobby the government for poverty laws as well.

So why does this matter? Well you will notice that I put "?" marks under the candidates column for the issues I created. When I originally went to do this I was going to include where I thought the candidates stood on these issue. But then I realized that was the wrong approach. The AFA (and other's like it) have a lot of authority in a very powerful constituency. Millions of people look to them for political guidance. But if they turn non-faith issues into faith issues (i.e. gun laws), and forget to mention issues that are faith issues (i.e. poverty laws), then they are doing a huge disservice to the American political arena, and more importantly the body of Christ.

As a Christian political group, we must recognize that we are following Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove and Fox News closer than we are following Jesus - and that is a horrendous offense. As Barack Obama said at a recent Sojourners event in Atlanta, GA, "before we get carried away, let's read our Bibles now. Folks haven't been reading their Bibles."

I will close with this. Before I get labeled a helpless liberal, I want to state sincerely I have not decided who I am voting for. The way I look at it, I am either voting for Huckabee or Obama. The point is, I would vote for each of them because of what my faith tells me is important. Neither Huckabee or Obama or Guiliani or Edwards are Jesus Christ. Neither one of them is right on every issue. The AFA can continue to follow Coulter and Hannity and Limbaugh and Rove, but for me, I will follow Christ.

On Friday night we had a "Tiffany turns 27" / "Andy bought a house in November" party. At one point there were about 35 people there. This surprised me because a.) I didn't think 35 people could fit it my tiny townhome, and b.) it took until 10:30 before somebody showed up that I didn't know.

It got me thinking though. It got me thinking about the movie trailer I saw in 2004 for Crash. I loved that movie. It was a movie about LA and racism. It was unique and brilliant. But it is a line from the trailer, which had relatively little to do with race, that had me hooked. The line was, "In LA, nobody touches you...I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other just that we can feel something." I lived in LA. I know this to be true. But it isn't just LA - it's everywhere.

In September I downloaded a song called Car Crash by Matt Nathanson out of the iTunes free single of the week section. I don't normally do this because the music usually sucks, but this one sparked my interest for some reason. It's lyrics are thoughtful. The chorus in particular:

I wanna feel the car crash
I wanna feel the capsize
I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop
'Til I'm satisfied
I wanna feel the car crash
'Cause I'm dyin' on the inside
I wanna let go and know
That I'll be alright, alright

I think it is fitting given the recent Duke University study that says we have fewer friends and confidants than Americans did 20-30 years ago. We are wealthier than we have ever been. We are more in control of our lives than we have ever been. We know more than we have ever known. We are more connected then we have ever been. Yet we are lonely. We miss that touch. Why? Why are we lonely?

I am a huge Scrubs fan. I have 134 of the 145 episodes on my DVR. I am not going to go into why I love the show so much. I am just going to show you one scene (it's worth the 2 minutes):



When I first saw this in January, I sent the link to my friend CJ and told him:

I wish you watched Scrubs so you would get this and not think it is weird/gay/ridiculous, but since [my girlfriend at the time] calls you my gay lover and [your wife] calls our friendship "special," I dedicate this video to you

Let's be honest. I would be JD because I am nerdy, quirky, and can't seem to stabilize a relationship. And CJ would be Turk because he's as cool and smooth as a black guy, and married with a kid.

My & CJ's friendship reminds me of David and Jonathan's in the Bible. I would probably be David because I am the one most likely to do something immoral sexually and then murder someone to cover it up. But the Bible says that at the news of Jonathan's death David said, "Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women."

Jonathan died before David had an affair with Bathsheba and then murdered Uriah to cover it up, only to be outed by Nathan. But I have a feeling that if Jonathan was alive, it wouldn't have changed anything. CJ knows I am not perfect. And not just in a generic, "we all sinners" kind of way. He knows I am not perfect. And inversely, I know he isn't perfect. But it doesn't change anything. If anything, it is why I love him more.

David and Jonathan weren't living in a "Crash" world. And as wealthy, and knowledgeable, and connected, and in-control my life gets, it is the guy love and connectedness I find with CJ (and others) that makes this life satisfying and full.

Today was AWESOME!!! I can't state that any better. Today was probably one of the top 5 experiences I have had in my life. Why? Because I think I killed a bunch of Navy Sailors!

Allen and I left the office this morning at 7:30 am and headed to Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, GA. We met up with a friend of the show (callsign Toolrod), and he took us onto the base. It reminded me of driving around Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. But this had a twist Kadena did not have: today I was going to the Navy's F-18 flight simulator!

Most of you know my love of aviation. Some of you know that for a six month period of my life I aspired to be a professional pilot until (and I don't claim this very often) God spoke to me (not audibly) and told me that wasn't the plan He had for me. Very few of you know that during that six month time period I actually visited the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO as I was very seriously considering entering it, as I aspired to pilot the F-16.

I knew today was going to be amazing. I found the F-18 astonishingly easy to fly. It accelerated like a fighter jet should. Rolls and climbs were remarkably smooth and quick. At one point I was climbing at a rate of 24,000 feet/min (your average airline flight shouldn't usually exceed 3,000 feet/min). The only real problem I had for the day was I couldn't figure out how to trim the aircraft very well, which meant I had a hard time keeping the aircraft at a constant altitude with no change. This surprised me because when I flew a Cessna I remember being surprised how easy it was to control the trim.

I had two highlights of the day:

1.) I pulled a 4G Inside Loop that started at 5000 ft, climbed to (if I were to guess) 12,000 ft, and then (and I kid you not) returned to exactly 5000 ft. I can't explain the rush when doing that and then looking at the altimeter and see it read exactly where I started (all while flying 600-700 MPH).

2.) I almost landed on an aircraft carrier. I had a little bit of a hard time figuring out the Instrument Landing System (I am used to the way it looks on commercial aircraft), but I got lined up perfectly with the carrier on the first try. The only problem was, I was a little low and didn't realize it until too late and crashed right at the back of the carrier. I certainly would have killed myself and a whole bunch of Navy Soldiers on the boat. But I was freaking close I tell you!

Now if someone out there from Delta can get me a couple hours in the Boeing 777-200 simulator at Hartsfield, I think I could die a happy man.

But what is the point of all this? Well lets be honest, I mainly just wanted to report on the cool thing I got to do. But it also got me thinking about interests and hobbies in our lives. I can't explain why I like aviation the way I do. I spend way too many hours a airliners.net and flying my computer game simulator at home. But this I do know. When I was in high school, I used to question why I spent so much time dinking around on the computer and with technology. I had no idea how God was going to use that. God creates passions in our lives for a purpose. So with aviation, I have stopped questioning why I spend so much time learning about it, and I just hope and trust that I will get as much out of it as I have with technology.

I am in Fort Wayne right now. One of my favorite things about going home is to catch up with friends I talk with occasionally on the phone, but see rarely. Lissa, myself, and another friend named Laura were set to meet at Buffalo Wild Wings. It turned out about half my graduating high school class showed up. But when Lissa walked in, all other conversation in my book ceased and the fun was about to start.

So you might be asking yourself, why is this girl so important? Do you have like a major thing for her? Not exactly. On paper, Lissa and I should be enemies. In our "Fox News" world, we should not be friends. We should have a TV show where we fight to the bitter death over just about any topic, accusing the other person of being anti-American and a horrible person¹. But there are few people I look forward to hanging out with more than Lissa. The night always seems to end too early.

Lissa is agnostic, liberal², cute, and smart. I am a Christian, conservative², ugly, and not-too-bright. But what I love about our relationship is that we have always had great respect for each other, and we have, with out actively trying, always abided by the rules of an article I came across on Cracked last week titled 10 Things Christians and Atheists Can (And Must) Agree On. The basic gist of the article are these 10 points:

1. You Can Do Terrible Things in the Name of Either One
2. Both Sides Really Do Believe What They're Saying
3. In Everyday Life, You're Not That Different
4. There Are Good People on Both Sides
5. Your Point of View is Legitimately Offensive to Them
6. We Tend to Exaggerate About the Other Guy
7. We Tend to Exaggerate About Ourselves, Too
8. Focusing on Negative Examples Makes You Stupid
9. Both Sides Have Brought Good to the Table
10. You'll Never Harass the Other Side Out of Existence

I think all of these points are right on. The only exception being #3, and while I think it is true in reality, it is a sad thing about modern Christianity. I mean, take a couple of different social choices away, the fact I abandoned any desire to go to Law School, and our Sunday morning activities, and Lissa and I live pretty much the same life.

But think about how great this world would be if we approached all people we disagreed with using the above guidelines. Think how politics would look. Think how families would look. Think how relationships would be different. Think how more civilized this world would be. Think how much fun life would be. And both sides are just as guilty of continuing the hatred of the other.

This Christmas I received a present³ from Erik (creator of allenhuntshowsucks.com). I even opened it with my family around the tree with all my other presents (we joked about the fact it might have anthrax). But I sincerely enjoy Erik as a person. We don't agree on religion. But we have respect for one another, and our e-mails back and forth are a lot of fun.

My hope (which they know) is for Lissa and Erik to one day realize the fullness (I didn't say easy) of life found in a relationship with Jesus. But until then, I am thoroughly enjoying the fun times and journey together.