Christian in the Rough

How the Conservative Party of Canada Lost My Vote

by Larry Hehn on April 18, 2013

I’ve been a die-hard Conservative for most of my adult life.

And, while I’ll never claim to be an aficionado when it comes to Canadian politics, I’ve noticed a pattern over the years.

It seems to me a large number of Canadians don’t really care which party is in power.

As long as the current leadership hasn’t ticked everyone off enough, as a nation we’ll just shrug our shoulders in resignation and vote for them again in the next election.

But if leadership has rubbed us the wrong way, we’ll look for whoever we think is the most likely opponent to beat them, and vote for them instead.

For a lot of Canadians, it’s not so much about the party line as it is about putting in power the person who offends us the least.

Which I suppose helps explain the recent Conservative Party of Canada ads.

Mere hours after Justin Trudeau (son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau) was elected the leader of the opposition Liberal Party, the Conservative Party ran this childish campaign:

I guess the idea was to convince us that Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party are an even worse option than the current Conservative government, led by Stephen Harper.

But I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - if you think smearing the opposition is more likely to win my vote than news of how well you’re running the country, then maybe you shouldn’t be in power.

Would it make sense for me to promote my blog by telling you how awful someone else’s blog is? Or try to convince my wife what a wonderful husband I am by telling her what horrible husbands other guys would make?

Hardly.

Then why do political parties spend so much time and money convincing us how bad the other guy is, and very little showing us why they are the right choice?

Sorry Stephen Harper and Conservative Party of Canada, I’ve had it with you. In your efforts to gain votes you didn’t yet have, you just lost one that you already did.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. – Ephesians 4:29

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How To Grow a Duck Dynasty Beard

by Larry Hehn on April 11, 2013

Ever since I decided, 75 days ago, to grow a Duck Dynasty beard, new and exciting things have been happening.

I’ve been referred to as Moses, Santa, and Grizzly Adams. I’ve had my own mother say, “Eww…you’re not going to keep growing that, are you?” I’ve discovered that egg yolks stick really well to facial hair.

And I’ve noticed a modest shift in traffic to my blog.

Over the past month, 8 of the top 13 search queries that led people to this site had something to do with Duck Dynasty. The most popular one was “how to grow a Duck Dynasty beard”.

With that in mind, I knew I had to do what any savvy blogger would do:

Shamelessly create new content to exploit search queries related to Duck Dynasty beards, solely to increase traffic.
Justify it by offering readers a solution to a current problem, so it doesn’t look like I’ve completely sold out.

Beard, Day 74

So, although my own Duck Dynasty beard is still a work in progress (great beards are measured in years and months, not weeks and days), it is my pleasure to share the keys I have learned over the past several weeks about how to grow a Duck Dynasty beard:

Avoid shaving.
Repeat Step 1.

Sorry if you were expecting something more complicated.

But as Phil Robertson once said when asked how long he had been growing his beard, “I ain’t growing it. It’s doing that on its own.”

Words of wisdom.

Results may vary depending on your genetics and hormone levels, but this isn’t rocket science, folks. You can’t force or rush a Duck Dynasty beard.

You just have to let it happen.

It can go against every fiber of our being, but sometimes the best thing you can do to help something grow, is get out of its way.

Have you ever tried to force things that were beyond your control?

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How Do You Kill 11 Million People?

by Larry Hehn on April 8, 2013

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler institutionally killed more than 11 million people.

As we pause today and remember those atrocities, hoping and praying that something like that will never happen again, we need to pay attention to folks like author Andy Andrews who ask the hard question - how do you kill 11 million people?

How can such devastation be allowed to happen? How can more than 11 million people be led to their deaths? What would cause a society to go so far sideways? And what can we do to prevent that sort of thing from ever happening again?

Because unless we know and recognize the things that set such wheels in motion in the first place, history is destined to repeat.

The plain and simple truth, he discovered, was that you kill 11 million people by lying to them.

In his book How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Andrews reveals the dangers of leaders who lie, and more importantly, a population that trusts such people to lead them.

Andy Andrews is an advocate of truth. How Do You Kill 11 Million People is a call to action, specifically to the people of the United States, but also to the world in general, to demand truth from our leaders and to take an active, informed, passionate role in shaping our society.

We’ve seen what can happen without it.

It’s up to you and me to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

This book was bought with my own hard-earned cash. It was not a freebie, so I felt no obligation to endorse it. I was not required to write a positive review. As a rule I only post reviews of books that I enjoy, and that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Embedded in this review is an affiliate link to Amazon.com. If you follow the link from here and buy a copy of this book, Amazon will award me a 4% commission on the purchase.

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Speak Up Or You’ll Wind Up Eating Celery

by Larry Hehn on April 3, 2013

Ask people to name their 10 favorite foods, and I doubt that celery would make many lists.

It’s definitely not in my Top 10.

But I used to eat a lot of it when I lived with my parents, in my late teens and early 20′s.

Back then I’d eat just about anything, and everything.

Seems I was always hungry, especially after playing hockey or softball. I’d come home and raid the fridge, eating whatever was handy.

There always seemed to be tons of celery.

So I’d eat that just to get rid of it, along with whatever else I could find. Heck, when you’re that hungry, sometimes quantity trumps quality.

But after a while…month after month after month…my frustration with eating celery boiled over.

I finally blurted to my Mom, “Will you please stop buying so much celery?!”

“I thought you liked it,” she replied, “You kept eating so much of it.”

“No!” I cried, “I’ve only been eating it to get rid of it. I don’t like it!”

I didn’t like celery, and was eating it just to get rid of it. My Mom saw how much I was eating, thought I liked it, and kept buying more.

Until I spoke up, she thought everything was fine.

But it wasn’t. I was eating celery, for crying out loud.

Why didn’t I speak up sooner?

******

Fast forward a couple of decades…

My wife and I are now seeing a counsellor once a week. Why? Because over the years we didn’t speak up on certain issues in our relationship.

We didn’t share how we were feeling at the time. Didn’t give our partner the chance to learn and possibly change things. Just grew more and more frustrated with each other until we finally snapped.

I’m glad we’re working things out now. It’s such a relief to speak out when things bother us, and deal with them then and there. It sure helps avoid a bunch of mental baggage down the road.

Just like me with the celery, I wish we had decided to speak up sooner. But I’m glad we finally did.

******

Let me encourage you, if something is going on in your life that is bothering you - tactfully, lovingly, speak up.

It may lead to some hard conversations, but in the long run it’s worth it.

It sure beats eating celery.

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Posts with the Most – Top Blog Posts Mar 2013

by Larry Hehn on April 1, 2013

Well, now that we’ve reached the first of April (no fooling!) it’s time to celebrate our favorite top blog posts from March 2013 – the Posts with the Most!

Once again I’ve assembled my faves of all the top blog posts I read last month, and invite you to join the fun by letting us know some of your own March picks in the comment section.

One of the things I like most about this monthly feature – besides the chance to promote some great blogs and bloggers I know – is to discover new ones!

So don’t be shy, dive right in. Enjoy these awesome eight, and let us know who else you think should be on this list.

Here they are, in random order…

The Day I Discovered What I Wanted to Do Forever – After going through her own battle with cancer, Haley Bellows now helps others through theirs. Via Prodigal Magazine.
I Don’t Know How to Do Justice – Jessica Bowman guest posts at In a Mirror Dimly, exploring what it means to “do justice”.
Actions Speak Louder Than Feelings – Andy Andrews shares a stellar way to get past a negative attitude.
Please take one – Billy Coffey offers a smart solution for settling our differences.
The hazards of walking barefoot in the grass – It’s a pleasure to have the incomparable katdish back here at PWTM, this time weighing the risks vs the rewards of going barefoot.
Don’t waste your fail – Ben Reed talks poop. In a good way.
push. – Alece Ronzino of Grit and Glory reminds us that live isn’t meant to be easy, but it is meant to be shared.
Affecting the world – A very rare double feature this month, from Billy Coffey. As a rule I try only to feature one post per blog per month. But the messages in both of these offerings from Billy were so distinct and so necessary, they earned their own separate spots. This one is about the ripples we leave behind us as we go through life.