gid: June 2004 Archives

Senator Alexander,

I noticed on your website that you had a great picture of you with the late President Reagan. I had the opportunity to hear President Reagan speak at the 1988 Republican National Convention as well as the opportunity to read and listen to many of his speeches. Reagan never wavered on his commitment to traditional family values, and I am disturbed that you have. By turning down the opportunity to co-sponsor the marriage amendment bill, you have actively failed to represent the constituents that voted you into office. At this critical point in our nation?s history, we do not need politicians that give technical and complicated run-a-round answers instead of a simple yes or no. By refusing to co-sponsor this bill, you have voted NO to the sanctity of marriage, and by doing so, have failed to represent the constituents that voted you into office.

Sincerely,

J. David Gidcumb

And this is his response. I know this was the canned response, that was sent to everyone who wrote him, but I have a lot I would like to say about my opinion of politicians that are reactionary vs. proactive.

June 17, 2004

Mr. J. David Gidcumb
214 Signal View St.
Red Bank, Tennessee 37415

Dear David,

Thank you for getting in touch with me regarding a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage.

I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman. That is the law today in Tennessee. In addition, the federal Defense of Marriage Act, enacted in 1996, gives Tennessee the right to enforce our definition of marriage even if other states adopt a different view. Since same-sex marriages are already outlawed in Tennessee, I have not yet been persuaded that it is also necessary to amend the Constitution. The Constitution of the United States has served our country well for more than 200 years. I believe it should not be tampered with unless absolutely necessary. If a federal court somehow took away Tennessee's right to enforce our law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, I would certainly then support a constitutional amendment restoring that right.
Thank you very much for writing.
Sincerely,

Lamar

Posted by gid at 03:57 PM | Comments (1)

June 17, 2004

Blind Spot

Maybe I am just blinded by the little programming world that I live in but it seems to me that this index could not be correct. I have to say that I do not know one programmer that is getting paid to program in c. I think I know a few c++ programmers but not c.

Posted by gid at 03:57 PM | Comments (0)

June 12, 2004

God's Sovereignty

Right now I am reading through The Sovereignty of God by AW Pink. I started the book several years back, and have just picked it up again. I have done quite a bit, more then some but less then others, of reading over the last 10 or so years that I have been a Christian, but I have not run into anyone who is as well thought out as Pink. I think Pink is not read as much as be should be because of his English\King James use of old English. Though, it is really not that bad.
I have been struck, while reading this book, by one prevailing though. Every Christian I know would tell me that God is sovereign, but I don?t think they truly believe it or don?t know what they are really agreeing to. I don?t want to say anything else about my previous sentence because that is not why I am writing this blog entry. I am in the chapter five: The Sovereignty of God in Salvation. The chapter is broken out into section, and I want to just post some of the section on The Sovereignty of God the Son in Salvation.
Pink said this:

Grant that the One who died upon the Cross was God manifest in the flesh and it follows inevitably that what Christ has purposed that will He perform; that what He has purchased that will He possess; that what He has set His heart upon that will He secure. If the Lord Jesus possesses all power in Heaven and earth then none can successfully resist His will. But it may be said, This is true in the abstract, nevertheless, Christ refuses to exercise this power, inasmuch as He will never force anyone to receive Him as their Lord and Saviour. In one sense that is true, but in another sense it is positively untrue. The salvation of any sinner is a matter of Divine power. By nature the sinner is at enmity with God, and naught but Divine power operating within him can overcome this enmity; hence it is written, "No man can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (John 6:44). It is the Divine power overcoming the sinner's innate enmity which makes him willing to come to Christ that he might have life. But this "enmity" is not overcome in all-why? Is it because the enmity is too strong to be overcome? Are there some hearts so steeled against Him that Christ is unable to gain entrance? To answer in the affirmative is to deny His omnipotence.

I am not really going to comment on what he said. I think he speaks for himself. What I do want to say is while reading this I was reminded for the verse that Billy Graham gave to President Bush to read during Reagan's funeral which was:

Psalms 37:
22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

I am just left in awe of a Sovereign God!

Posted by gid at 03:56 PM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2004

work

Well, I have been very busy at work lately. I've been working quite a bit of overtime trying to get my first big project on my new team completed. It goes into UAT (user acceptance testing) on Tuesday. Though, it had to be finished today. It was written in c# and ASP.Net. Plus there is a large piece of SQL for SQL Server that goes along with it. I have to say I am most proud of the query. It is the largest piece of SQL I have seen. It turned out to be 1500 lines. The query was well written, :) and it is fast for its size. The project itself looks small, but it has taken me the better part of 3 months to complete. There was a lot that went into it...

Me at work Jon (a coworker) shot this picture of me a few weeks ago, and I just came across it on my desktop. I thought that there might be someone out there that would like to see it.

Posted by gid at 03:55 PM | Comments (0)

June 07, 2004

living an eternally significant life

Well on the 3rd I turned 30. I have to say that I am starting to feel old. I really did not think 30 would be a big deal. My wife turned 30 on the 13th of May, so I had a few weeks to think about what it would be like for me to turn 30. I kept thinking that turning 25 would be a much bigger deal then 30. I mean, at 25 you are a quarter century which is half way to 50. My thinking that 25 was a big deal and that 30 would be nothing has just not panned out that way.

I guess I started college about 6 years later then the average person, so all through my college years I hung out with people younger then myself. That being the case I always felt that I was younger then I actually was. Even now, most of the people I would call close friends are 5 years younger than me. All that said, I was thinking this morning about Ronald Reagan?s death and the finality of life. I was thinking about all the great things he achieved and how history would remember him as a great man. I guess some where deep down I always had some illusions of grandeur about how my life would turn out. Not that this is the end of my life, but I do suspect that I will not achieve some of the lofty goals\ideas I had about where I would end up.

After a bit of thought, I think I am okay with that. I realize that my goals were more about me then Him.

I guess this is where I confront that recurring theme in my life of living an eternally significant life.

Posted by gid at 03:54 PM | Comments (0)