After blogging on a blogger or wordpress hosted site for nine years, I have finally migrated over to my own hosting.

What this will mean?

1. There are certain things that get easier for me, particularly with posting media.
2. The radio show and podcasts will be found there.
3. If you clear out your cache, when you go to RandyBohlender.com, you’ll really be going to RandyBohlender.com.  I’ve been psyching you out this whole time.
4. Your auto-delivery via email will probably not work, I’m trying to sort that out, watch the real RandyBohlender.com for a fix.
5. Each year, on the anniversary of the move, every faithful reader will get a free pony.*

Thanks for making the jump with me -

rb

*still working out the logistics on the pony. please do not hold me to this.

In the midst of of this sword slinging, there’s a short side story that gets lost.

In chapter 9, they’re approached by the Gibeonites, who have constructed an elaborate ruse for the Israelites.  Wearing distressed clothing and carrying moldy bread, the convince Israel that they are travelers from a far land.  The truth is they lived a three day from where Israel stood.

They were not aliens, they were homeboys, but their trick worked.  Based on their appearance, Israel decided it would be better to draw up a peace treaty than to fight people who had no assets nearby to plunder.  In other words, if there was nothing in it for Israel, why not just make peace?

Of course, peace was made, and three days later Israel stumbled into the Gibeonite cities.  Here, under there nose were cities they could have captured, they realized that making peace had actually cost them great loss.  In their anger, they considered retribution, but realized they’d made a promise not to kill them.  Instead, Israel made the Gibeonites water carriers and wood cutters of them.

All’s well that ends well?

Not so much.  Now they were stuck living with a Gibeonite wood cutter under foot.  Yes, the Gibeonites were useful in some respects, but they constantly reminded them of their own poor discernment.  They’d gained a slave, but it was the result of a mistake, not a victory.

And once a Gibeonite, always a Gibeonite.  Every night as they lay their heads on the pillow, the wise men of Israel had to wonder….will the Gibeonites rise?  We’ve kept our portion of the bargain – will they keep theres?  Are we aiding and abetting tomorrow’s enemy who will rise up and kill us with our own weapons?

I’m struck by the idea what who and what you make peace with is as formative to your life as who and what you make war with.  What exists in your house that you’ve made some sort of uneasy truce with?  What habit, what lowered standard, what diluted conviction have you chosen to ignore, thinking there were other battles to fight?

Make war for a reason – but make peace the same way because peace can be every bit as exhausting when it’s made in a happenstance way.

Don’t find yourself stuck with a Gibeonite wood cutter that you did not want to begin with.

____

Special note – Saturday’s radio show feels extremely important to me on this 10th anniversary of 9/11.  Join it live online from 730 WTNT or via podcast once it’s posted Saturday morning.  As well, join me at that same podcast link Monday through Friday mornings for the 3-5 minute Daily Short(s).

It’s an unforgettable color.  Friends of mine – residents of Manhattan back in 2001 – call the color ’9/11 Blue.’

We were afraid for America on September 11, 2001.  We didn’t know what it all meant, but we knew it had all changed.

On the one year anniversary, I was on staff at the Cincinnati Vineyard.  I pressed for an anniversary observance. Some on staff questioned if anyone would come.  I pressed harder.  When the service started, we were standing room only throughout the main sanctuary.  People wanted to mourn – to feel – as a group.

I’d designed a service featuring multiple speakers, each one processing their own thoughts on a specific stage of greif.  Intentionally, I’d kept ‘anger’ for myself – probably because it was closest to my feelings at the moment. Externally, I spoke in controlled tones.  Internally, I roared at the injustice of it all.

Ten years after the fact, I’m more concerned for our country than I was then.  I’m concerned about what we celebrate and how we mourn.  I’m concerned about what we value and what we cast aside.  It feels like we stood strong against external attack only to suffer at our own hands.

These are the thoughts I have going into Saturday’s radio show, to be broadcast the day before the anniversary.  Please pray that I find the words to address some of what I’m sensing.

Side note: TV is full of retrospective documentaries this week, but my choice of processing has been via Springsteen’s The Rising, written primarily with the events and people of 9/11 in mind.  In ‘Empty Sky’ he writes of the pain felt by a husband who lost his wife.

I woke up this morning / I could barely breathe
Just an empty impression / In the bed where you used to be

Video and lyrics here

The Missouri legislature has been called into special session this week.  Special session is exactly what it sounds like – an unscheduled session of the state governing bodies, usually reserved for emergencies like natural disasters, budget crisis’ or the renewed fear that we may be invaded by Arkansas.  Not this time, though.  What brings everyone back to Jefferson City?

Jobs.  The governor is calling the State Senate and Legislature back from their jobs and lives to the Capitol because the good people of Missouri need jobs and need them now.  The fact that the jobless rate also receives more press than any other issue is merely coincidental.

Couched as a jobs bill, the legislation at hand involves $360,000,000.  I started to write $360 million, but looking at all those zeros means something.  Look again.  $360,000,000.  How many zeros in what you made last year?  Less I bet.  A lot less…but you don’t have your own aerotropolis.

The idea is to turn Lambert Field into a major shipping destination for China.  In theory, they will fly all sorts of things…Chinese things, we’re told….into the US via St Louis.  Then, there will be a lot of empty Chinese planes on the tarmac in St Louis and those pilots will need to get home, so they’ll fill the planes with American Red Meat because everyone who’s ever been to a Chinese restaurant knows they eat a lot of Mongolian Beef and need our beef to supplement, I suppose.  Remember this beef I have with the beef part for later.

$300 million – that’s $300,000,000 to you and me – has been earmarked for tax credits for people who build warehouses within a close proximity of the airport.  Keep in mind that there are empty warehouses near the airport now. Never the less, we will need many, many more warehouses for all our Chinese things (I’d be more specific but even the supporters of the bill don’t really know what the Chinese might want to ship us.  We do know, however, that they’ll want to ship beef back).

We want this to happen – and we want jobs – so if you build a warehouse in this zone, we will give you a tax credit commensurate with the amount you spend on warehouse.  For example, if you build a $5,000,000 warehouse, you get a $5,000,000 tax credit.  These is not a tax deduction – this is a credit.  If you don’t know the difference, you certainly won’t build a warehouse.  Trust me, you want the credit, because if you can’t use the credit (and who can really use a $5,000,000 credit?) you can SELL the credit at a discount to some major corporation who can use it.  So let’s say you discount it by ten percent and get $4,500,000 for it.

You now own a warehouse worth $5,000,000 and you have 90 percent of your investment back.  Oh, and you don’t need to keep the warehouse.  You can sell it.  Even  if you discount it by 10 percent, you can make $4,000,000 in profit on a $5,000,000 building (taking into account you still owed a half million after the tax credit sale).

What about the jobs?

Oh yes, the jobs.  You got the tax credit because you promised that you believed this would create jobs.  That’s it.  You didn’t need to promise you would deliver jobs – only that you thought it would work.  Since when is “I thought it would work” an allowable defense in a court of law?

So if you do keep the warehouse and employ people – here’s a bonus for you.  Those employees don’t need to pay St Louis’ earning tax so long as they work there.  Neither do you.  And you can lease up to ten percent of the space as office space, and anyone directed from that office space is exempt as well.  How long do you think it would be before a major firm in downtown St Louis moved one executive office to a 10×10 space in your warehouse in order to except their thousands of employees from the St Louis earnings tax?  It would happen quicker than you could say George Jetson.

One more thing – if you operate your warehouse, you’re excepting your employees from the state income tax…and the half that you normally pay?  You keep that.

Where’s the beef?

Here’s the kicker – Remember the backload of all those Chinese cargo planes?

Per the US Government’s information sheet,  China won’t accept US beef.  Apparently they’re going to jettison the cargo somewhere over the Pacific, reigning down ribs and chuck roast on the islands before setting down with an empty plane on the tarmac of Bejing, because they can’t bring our beef home.

Remember Alaska’s bridge to nowhere?   These are Missouri’s warehouses for nothing.

Why Why Why?

It’s interesting that in 1000 words, I can shoot more holes in this than the FBI shot in John Dillinger, yet the bill has the support of the governor and both parties.  When I see one party enthused about legislation, I get concerned.  When I see them both enthused, I get very, very worried.

The bulk of this jobs bill is about issuing profits to a few cronies.  The bulldozers are standing by.  The union workers are waiting. I’m confident the contracts are already written up and waiting to be signed minutes after this bill is signed.

And jobs will be created…for a short period.

Until the warehouses are built.

And then, perhaps in mothballing warehouses when they discover they’ve inflated their value based on tax credits and now don’t know what to do with them.

This is not everything wrong with the bill.  Honestly, this post could be twice as long as it is and mention things like stem cell research and the ignored Hancock Amendment, but I’m already losing some of you.  I wanted to remind you to call your representative before you fell asleep entirely.

Do you understand now why I didn’t podcast this?   The sound of me beating my head against my desk would have been deafening.

REMINDER: I’ve started podcasting The Daily Short(s), Monday through Friday, five minutes of thought for your day.  Today I riffed on the idea of who creates jobs to begin with…

Starting Monday, September 5, I’m going to be scrapping the regular Midweek Blurb in favor of The Daily Short(s).   These will be a daily podcasts in the same RSS feed as the weekend show.  If you’re already subscribed, you’ll get them automatically.  If you’re not subscribed….(sigh)….how can we even be friends?

Here’s what you can expect from The Daily Short(s):

• Brevity  Every morning as I shave my face and head, I listen to the NPR 5am news roundup because it is 4 minutes in length.  I usually finish within seconds of the broadcast finishing.  My thought is, as many of you start to shave your heads, you’ll do something like this with The Daily Short(s).   Of course, because you’re newbies to shaving your head, I have the freedom to go another minute or so, but they will not be long.

• Politics with Humor.  I find the election season incredibly entertaining, which is why I appreciate Mitt Romney, who’s been running for President for 6 years.

• Life with Seven.  The full on radio audience is no place to share family stories, but The Daily Short(s) will be perfect.

• An Occasional Deep Thought.  If you’ve tracked with me for a while you know I drift back and forth between the profound and goofy.   I’d imagine there will be some depth at various points.  It’s hard to dictate but I’ll do my best.

So there you have it.  The Daily Short(s), starting Monday, September 5.  I’ll see you weekday mornings and then on Saturdays we’ll bring in everyone for the full show. Go to HERE to subscribe or find the player OVER HERE.

What’s more fun that a good debate?  The running commentary with your friends, of course! The Republican presidential candidates are facing off on Wednesday, September 7th.

I’m inviting you to join me online at 8pm eastern, 7pm central on 9.7.11.

Tune into the debate on your TV, open your laptop and let the party begin…we’ll have realtime reactions to candidates answers, polls, and relevant links on the fly.

Register for a reminder email before the event.

Regan - A Zoe Baby

Guy Kawasaki tells start up companies to ‘make meaning’.  Good advice for ministries too.

The photo to the right is the meaning that we’re making.

Little Regan was born August 27th. His brother, Josiah, is a year older.  He was adopted by a family one year ago.  When Regan came along, God placed him in the same family with Josiah.  Rarely do siblings adopted a year apart end up in the same family, but God has a plan…

I can only imagine the destiny on this brotherhood.  God so desired they grow up side by side that He orchestrated events beyond all likelihood to see that they had a mother and a father AND their own brother.  I’m also humbled that the Zoe Foundation had a small part to play in both adoptions.

Stories like Regan and Josiah’s remind me that what we do matters and give me the encouragement to press on.  Thank you to those of you who have contributed to The Zoe Foundation* as well as our personal missions support to see that little ones like this are set in families.

*FYI, we have a few other recent Zoe babies pictured on the front of the Zoe site, along with an auction for a special edition Make the Tracks JHS guitar pedal.  It is quantifiably cooler than a Red Ryder BB gun.

That flies in the face of most of the very good teaching that we’ve heard on hearing God.  Usually, hear the voice of God with opportunity.  We feel directed to do something based on what door opened, who invited us, what new chance we were given…but if we think that’s only the way He speaks, we could be missing it.

Musician Jason Upton‘s recent tweet sent me into hysterics because it accentuates our ‘must do’ mentality.  We live as if to admit defeat is to assume the role of a failure.  

Untrue.  Defeat happens to everyone, but to really be a failure takes a lifetime.

I spend more time in frustration with what I’m not able to do than I do listening to what God might be saying in it.  

I think I need to find that couch.