I just want to make a nod to three good friends who are writing great entries in cyberspace.

Prof. Gil Waldkoenig is starting a great discussion site about guitar in worship called Guitar Graces — Check out http://guitargraces.blogspot.com

Matthew Avanzino, a good buddy, is in a stage of life where he has some great, meaningful musings on the meaning of life, etc. — worth perusing on a rainy afternoon, if it happens to be one, and you happen to be reading this!…
http://www.trytheavanzino06.blogspot.com

Jeremy Blythe, another good friend, is in the middle of Guyana on a great adventure with his fantastic wife Miriam — they are working with a church there, and he has TONS of great stories to tell…
http://blythlywayinguyana.blogspot.com

In her amusing and frank blog, The Dude Abides, Cathleen Falsani talks about her book “The God Factor.” She gives me a lot of hope that Barack Obama could be the next president of the United States. That is the way things go, isn’t it — like a pendulum? I think we deserve a serious swing! President Bush and his cronies have so alienated and abused their constituents that I think we could ‘even’ have a midwesterner, and a black liberal as president! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

The reason I believe Kerry didn’t win wasn’t because of his charisma. He had plenty, as did Gore. But not the right kind. He wasn’t a Baptist. The only victories the liberals have had have been from dyed-in-the-wool Christians, Clinton and Carter… Can’t we learn our lesson, and find a Christian liberal that could stand up to the intensely oppressive right-wing regime? Barack, after reading Falsani’s blog entry, seems to be the perfect candidate!

Here is Falsani, from her blog, quoting an interview from a couple of years ago that is in her book, The God Factor.

Here’s one of my favorite things Barack told me from that chapter in The God Factor:
The God Factor

“The most powerful political moments for me come when I feel like my actions are aligned with a certain truth. I can feel it. When I’m talking to a group and I’m saying something truthful, I can feel a power that comes out of those statements that is different than when I’m just being glib or clever.

Is that the power of the Holy Spirit? I asked him.
“I think it’s the power of the recognition of God, or the recognition of a larger truth that is being shared between me and the audience. That’s something you learn watching ministers — what they call the Holy Spirit. They want the Holy Spirit to come down while they’re preaching, right? Not to try to intellectualize it, but what I see there are moments that happen within a sermon where the minister gets out of his ego and is speaking from a different source. And it’s powerful. There are also time when you can see the ego getting in the way, where the minister is performing and clearly straining for applause or an amen. And those are distinct moments. But I think those former moments are sacred.”

Obama is a real force to be reckoned with!

Check out my new podcast about Clint Howard, a good friend, and an amazing Appalachian storyteller and musician!

Click here to listen to the new podcast.

Check out www.clinthoward.org for more information on Clint, his music and concert dates. He’ll be at Merlefest next year, as he has been since the first year it was created!

Lars Clausen, Guinness World Record holding, unicycle riding, Lutheran pastor turned author, is a true champion of saying the unsaid.

His first book, One Wheel, Many Spokes (www.onewheel.org) was a great witness, and chronicled his journey through all 50 states in the name of native America — supporting the people of Alaska who had been his congregation.

In that book, Clausen delved into personal issues, and opened up his life to the reader… But his second book, Straight into Gay America, is far more intimate, far more vulnerable, and provides a window into the mentality of our nation today on the issues of homosexuality and personal freedom.

Clausen details his conversations with the liberal and conservative, with normal and ‘important’ people, and he opens up the wounds of his own personal journey, his own personal closet, as a straight unicycling Lutheran ex-pastor.

This is a story you MUST READ!

Enough said. Visit Lars at www.straightintogayamerica.com, or purchase the book at www.bloomingtwigbooks.com/shop

For a FREE E-BOOK of Straight into Gay America, please visit www.bloomingtwigbooks.com/siga/straightintogayamerica.html

Join the journey for Equal Rights!!

STRAIGHT INTO GAY AMERICA:
MY UNICYCLE JOURNEY FOR EQUAL RIGHTS
by Lars Clausen

Read the Free E-Book Straight into Gay America

From anti-gay preacher Jerry Falwell to the gay-rights directors of HRC, PFLAG, and Soulforce, Clausen’s personal journey as a Lutheran pastor forces difficult choices between the exclusionary status quo of his church and the inclusive commitment of Jesus.

In Straight Into Gay America people share their lives with the Guinness World Record-holding pastor who unicycles 1,000 miles for equal rights. Through roadside encounters and overnight stays, this is the story of everyday people living through the most polarizing political and religious battles of our times.

Please put this story in the hands of our LGBT
and allied advocates for equal rights:

USER-FRIENDLY WEBSITE:
Press Release - Book Announcement - Excerpts
www.straightintogayamerica.com

Purchase Straight into Gay America from www.bloomingtwigbooks.com

A word from Soulforce:
“Lars Clausen shares Soulforce’s commitment to ending Spiritual Violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered people. Straight Into Gay America will bring our churches and our nation another step closer to the day of Equal Rights.”
Mel White: Soulforce.org

My mother, the wonderful poet Cynthia Blomquist Gustavson, created another podcast yesterday — one that really takes me back to my childhood.

She wrote an incredible children’s epic poem called “The Ballad of the Rag Man” — it’s extraordinary, and you should listen. I’m neck deep in making my mother a new website, and she digs about 15 books out of the closet every day that she hasn’t published! She’s a great writer, truly.

Check out her podcast here:
cynthiagustavson.com/podcast

Or listen in here:

The Ballad of the Rag Man

And check out her website at cynthiagustavson.com for a bunch of free stuff, and for the radio I built into her site with some special music.