Is it just me or do others wonder how, after listening to NO mayor Ray Nagin speak, how in the world he got elected to that post? The guy may be intelligent, but he seems lost.

We had a "church function" last night (I hate to call it that, it was just an open gathering for any who wanted to attend) and I can't recall a time in recent memory that I felt more out of place in a group of people. It's very frustrating, I'm excited to be in this fellowship but I just don't fit! It'll be interesting to see what the future holds, as I hope to be able to serve but, as I've found in the past that may not be possible.

Which brings me to another point, I sit and listen often to these young, post-modern, edgy kids (I'll say 18-25) talk about how no one accepts them for who they are, etc. And I'll agree they probably have been burnt in the past due to their non-conformity to the culture, which I'm totally with. But when the time comes, they also need to step up and accept those different from them. It's like with the diversity push and acceptance of different religions, we are pushed to accept everyone, which is right, but they don't accept us because maybe we are the prevailing majority or what the culture views as "normal." They need to follow their own rules if they are going to play that game.

Finally, I'm not going along with the push from Congress and the major sports to up the penalty for athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs. It's not that I think they should be allowed, but right now the definition of "performance-enhancing drugs" is just too ambiguous to have this debate. And yes, I do believe that Congress has better things to do than be worrying about this at the present time. Okay, a teen somewhere committed suicide after using some sort of steroid, do you know that teen suicide is the number two cause of death among college students and number three cause of death among youth overall (http://www.1-teenage-suicide.com/). Yes, this is a problem, but one among many in our society. Define the problem, list the causing agents, have a clear plan, and then proceed. Right now its way too reactionary for me, I'm fearing too much of a knee-jerk reaction where the innocent will be harmed.