I'm Going To Be Busy.

I love being myself. I love being both the things I am and the things I have never had the chance to learn to be. So, in starting this blog, I am going to set the agenda of what I am going to say, and how, and let you know what I am about as a man.

Just a little less than three weeks ago an election was held that our children will look back on as the time that our nation chose the path it will take, permanently. I could be wrong in that assessment, but I do not believe I am. This nation, and its people, have chosen, by a comparatively small margin, to be sure, to embrace the ideology of its past. America's religious past, its patriotic past, a heritage in which its people believed that they were uniquely chosen to be "a city on a hill." A city that believed that they were to bring liberty, democracy, and Judeo-Christian morality across the earth as the champion of those ideals.

Most of what I read by newspapermen, columnists, politicians, thinkers, actors and others of what I would consider the intelligent and professional classes, including even most of the richest people in the world, has imparted a clear reaction on that probable sea-change. That reaction is one of horror, disgust, of undisguised hatred, of pure unrestrained rage. That reaction is shared by most of those who I know and chat with online, and most of those who are on my contact lists in all the personal communities and chat clubs and groups I connect with. As far as they are concerned, what America has done has sealed her doom and ensured that the earth is going to enter a time of darkness and bloody war. They are convinced that the 52% who did not vote with John Kerry and ensured the re-election of George W. Bush and the Republicans have gone insane, on the order of Caligula, Nero, Attila, Torquemada, Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. They are convinced that the United States has begun the end of science, of technological growth, of creativity, of the cleansing of the environment, the healing of race and gender and sexual-orientation-based relations. Indeed, these masses have decided that, at least in America, if not beyond, the evolutionary transformation of mankind from bondage to dogma and belief in monotheistic religion to enlightened faith in itself and autonomous morality has been brought to a screeching halt.

I am the face of that enemy. I am a Christian, of the faith of those who today, in both America, and in more places in this world than you can imagine, are hated and despised. But I am also many other things. I am a lawyer, a small businessman, a husband and a father. I am someone who loves to read about scientific breakthroughs, about creative means to cleanse the environment without harming the right of people to property and achieve commercial success. I am someone who desires to see those cursed with birth in lands filled with poverty and corruption delivered, the power of those over them broken. I am someone who does not react in a knee-jerk fashion in favor of powerful global corporate conglomerates and their networks, especially when I see their exploitation of the poor. I love movies and comedies and romances, and I am not appalled at nudity when it displays beauty and committed love, or at violence when it displays courage and the defeat of evil. I love to listen to all kinds of music, from Mozart to Beyonce. And I love all kinds of sports; not just the traditional American sports, but the Olympics and World Cup soccer, that is "futbol."

I do not believe that forbidding homosexuals to marry, or my faith's doctrine that their desire for same-gender sex is not genetically predetermined but environmental in origin automatically means that I condone physical attacks upon them or loss of employment or access to health care or the right to property or the thousand and one things which I take for granted as a free citizen.

I do not believe that I am an American imperialist full of chauvinism simply because I prefer limited and representative government, through the nation-state, rather than control of the world through an all-powerful United Nations, which exercises its dominion through unelected elites.

The bottom line is, that I am an advocate for my faith, what the Bible calls an evangelist. It is not an arrogant thing to assert, nor is it elitist. There are plenty of other men and women, who both educated and devout, present the cause of Jesus of Nazereth to the world. I just simply have some ability to express myself with a pen and a computer keyboard, and I have Internet access. So, I will speak.

In the year 138, an Athenian philosopher named Aristides encountered the Roman Emperior Adrian, and through his learned advocacy stopped 50 years of bloody persecution which slaughtered millions of Christians, at the risk of his own life. I won't try to have a messianic complex, but I have to admit, I am walking in the midst of the fire, so to speak. So many people I read on places like Orkut and Yahoo and MySpace and ICQ and MSN are so intelligent, so learned, so talented and frankly, so much fun. Irregardless to their hostility to what I believe, I really like meeting them, befriending them, spending time with them. But so many hate what I believe. Well, I will try to be Aristides here and now.

But the way I will do it is to start by talking about what matters to us all. I hope to show it in my links, to others' articles, and to the pieces I'll write on other blogs I have. I will talk science, sports, travel, international law, even a little geopolitics. And I'll do my best to listen, and think carefully before I speak. Listening makes anyone a better advocate. I'll do my best, after all, I'm around a lot of smart people.

Adios for now. God bless.

Hello, this is the First One.

Well, this is a birth of a new baby. I guess that's what I'm calling my blogs. One for spirituality, that's www.Re-Intro.blogger.com. One for the law that I still try to stay involved with, that's www.1LoneStar.blogger.com. One for just a combination of business--human rights--current issues, etc., that's what you may have seen before--CafeShiloh.blogger.com.

But here is my youngest, and I think, my gateway drug. Hi, this is about keeping things light, positive, fun, and emphasizing friendship first. There is more than enough bad news, serious news, controversial news. This is just about being part of a human family. Gail and I have met so many different kinds of people, we just can't get enough, and we can't talk to all of our acquaintances and friends often enough. But we'll try.

Example of what I'm talking about? Well, here's one. I had no idea that there was such beautiful resort properties in places like Honduras, or places that can be bought for cheap money in Vanuatu in the Pacific. I have been reading about that on the Washington Post, they have a travel page. I'm going to be working on that. Well, I hope to use that as an excuse to get Gail and I traveling as we get the money to do so. I'll be putting links to articles like that over the next few days.

Well, I have to go. Take care, and send me your link, if you have a blog. Or just e-mail us. One of our most exciting and brightening moments is when we see your messages. I'll be reopening our chat pages on ICQ, Yahoo, and MSN, closed for the last two weeks, so I hope to start talking with you guys, especially with audio chat.

Take care. God bless.