I do not know how he does it, but each week Tom Woods sends some of the most thought provoking quotes in his Graced Again newsletter. After finding the following in my inbox today, I had a hard time believing that the year in which it was written was correct.
Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all. If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to “babes” and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond. When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the “and” lies our great woe. If we omit the “and”, we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.
– A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, 1948
Over the weekend I had a few casual conversations with people about the finish of the Tour de France. “They’re all dopers!”; “Who isn’t doping?”; and “Did you watch the drug tour?” were common catch-phrases. I even got flack from family for tuning in to Versus each evening to watch the race. It is clear that the doping scandals of 2006 and 2007 have turned off many would-be cycling fans. This brings me to the point I was trying to make in this post (albeit with sarcasm), which is that I actually think pro-bicycling is doing what other professional sports should be doing to eliminate the use of performance enhancing drugs: cheaters are being caught and clean riders are continuing to race.
My only criticisms over the way cycling handles doping cases have to do with 1) media leaks which circumvent the due process rights of the riders; and 2) casting the net so wide, or weaving the holes so small, that innocent people get caught up in what can easily become a career ending rush to judgement. Suspend or ban riders when there is clear proof of cheating, but provide the same protections that we afford common criminals. That said, here in America we seem to prefer to bury our heads in the sand (e.g., the PGA has no drug testing program whatsoever), or we just accept that doping is okay so long as the doper plays for our team (as appears to be the case in San Fransicso).
As I read through the BCP this afternoon, I found the following prayer to be sort of a continuation of the theme from last week’s post.
For Trustfulness.
O MOST loving Father, who willest us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of thee, and to cast all our care on thee, who carest for us; Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which thou has manifested unto us in thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
– The Book of Common Prayer (1945 Version)
In this edition of No, Not Again. Seriously, You’ve Got to Be Kidding, Right? You’re Not?!? Oh…Great!, Vino has tested positive for homologous blood doping after winning Stage 13 of the Tour de France. No wonder Americans are turned off by pro-cycling, a once noble sport that clearly has its priorities out of whack when it comes to performance enhancing drugs. Europeans just need to learn how to look the other way or plead ignorance, a la Sargent Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes: “I see NOTHING! I know NOTHING!” You do not want to tarnish someone’s record, right?
Update: On the heels of Vinokourov’s exit are Moreni (for exogenous testosterone usage) and the malloit jaune Rasmussen (for lying about his whereabouts and missing doping control tests)! While I am glad to see dopers and cheats ejected from the sport, I do have concerns about the media leaks, rush to judgement and punishment that entire teams have to endure because of the actions of an individual.
I have been an avid Palm user ever since the M100 was released in late 2000, quickly ditching my bulky Franklin planner. Since then I have owned a succession of PDA’s: Palm M500, Palm Tungsten T, Palm Tungsten T2, Sony Clie PEG-TH55, and the Palm Tungsten E. While I have sometimes romanticized about going back to a paper planner (or even none at all), the ability to sync with my busy work schedule at the press of a button and take it with me has always won out. Recently, I retired my standalone PDA and entered the smartphone world with the purchase of a Palm Treo 700p (say “trio”).
Similar to the feelings I had when I first laid hands on the M100, I now cannot imagine myself going back to having to carry two devices (PDA + phone). In fact, for me the Treo combines just the right combination of portability and power to meet most of my mobile computing needs (perhaps a mobile companion or EeePC could round things out?). It will be interesting to watch how this market evolves now that Apple has gotten into the mix with the iPhone. I suspect that better web browsing, a major weakness of most smartphones, will be the first iPhone feature that the competition tries to copy. For now, however, I am happy and content with my Treo.