I have so many things I want to say to you, but how do I know if they are appropriate to say and how you will respond?

On January 20th Obama will be inaugurated as the President of the United States of America. He has very high hopes placed on him and many expectations. Whether you voted for him or not, there is no doubt that he and his family could definitely use our prayers as Barack takes office and his next 4 years in office.

Apparently in the Canadian election, for every vote every party gets, they receive $1.83 in return. Did you know that?

Most computer/internet users have things that they believe to be common knowledge but those things are not universal to everyone. You can check out a list of helpful tips for beginner computer users right here and even if you're not a beginner it helps to read the list because I found some things I didn't know before.

Author Donald Miller gave the closing prayer at the opening day of the Democratic National Convention. Cameron Strang, President and Founder of Relevant Magazine was originally supposed to do the prayer but ended up deciding against it. You can read his reasons for doing this here. He ended up asking Donald if he would do it and Mr. Miller accepted. You can read an interview with Miller here about why he accepted to do the prayer and what he sees as important in our world. Lastly, check out the prayer he prayed below and maybe give yourself some time to pray it yourself. There are great changes that need to be made in the US and this is the time when we need to be on our knees asking God to help us make them.

Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen.

I am really enjoying the bit of Olympics that I've been able to see and I'm very proud of our athletes who have been competing for us. I was quite perturbed when alot of people, a very large amount, were saying how sad it was that we hadn't gotten any medals yet. I like medals just as much as the next person for our country but I guess I've never been a person to in sports say you have to win everything. I'm not a hugely competative person and I think its just as good if the person gives 100% in what they're doing as if they win the event. During this "drought" of medals last week, our swimmers set like 15 national records but didn't get any medals. They did a great job over in Beijing and they will do great things in the future. Guarenteed if an athlete screwed up they are beating themselves up for it more then we ever could so why don't we just let them know that we're behind then 100%? I pray safety for all of our athletes and citizens who are over in China right now and that they would succeed in doing their best...and if that ends up being a medal then so be it.

Some people grow up in homes where they have to be perfect because their parents expect them to and nothing less is acceptable. Imagine growing up in a country like that? It seems that is the attitude that China is showcasing at these Olympic games. They seem so caught up in showcasing how far they've come and how "perfect" they can be that they might have forgotten the point of the Olympics. There are many small things that have happened over the past weeks leading up to the Olympics and I'm sure there will be more things that come out about China but here are just a few to start off and I'll probably add more as time goes on.

The girl who sang the song during the opening ceremonies who everyone thought was so cute wasn't really singing at all. She was lip syncing and another girl was singing because the other girl was deemed as not cute enough by the Politburo of China. That's a great message they're sending to their young people that they couldn't have an "imperfect" Chinese girl displayed for everyone, she had to look "perfect".

The fireworks display that took place during the opening ceremony that was supposedly live...some of it was...and some of it was prerecorded. I guess this sort of things comes with modern technology but I guess I just don't get the point.

I watched the men's team gymastic competition last night. The Chinese team ended up winning and they seemed overjoyed about it and all the people did also. During the competition the announcer mentioned they have a saying in China that 1,000 silvers don't equal one gold. So basically you go and try your hardest for your country, win a medal but don't get congradulated because it's not the colour that they want. Why do we turn our backs on the people who do what we ask them to just because the outcome isn't what we wanted? The Vietnam war comes to mind of an example of this in America and I wouldn't be surprised if its happening now to the soldiers who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. We expect so much of people and yet have such disdain for them afterwards it seems. That was sort of a rant but just something I've been thinking of.

Edit: The Chinese woman won the group gymastics competition but there is some question about the age of the contestants. The legal age to compete is 16 and there is definitely a question as to why the birthdates of He, Yang and Jiang didn't jibe with other registration materials that showed they might be as young as 14. Check out the picture and judge for yourself.

The debt of the United States of America at the moment when I type this is estimated at 9.5 Trillion dollars. For an exact figure you can look here. Let's see how this stacks up against other first world nations. The UK is at 645 Billion Pounds, France is at 1.2 Trllion Euros and you can see Canada's debt here. So basically we live in a time where governments and its people spend more then they have which is something that has been said time and time again in the past 100 or so years. But what will be the result of all this debt? What are some resolutions for the problems we face? What will happen if we continue on this course? There's a new documentary called I.O.U.S.A. that hits theatres this month that hopes to do all of that. You can view the trailer for the film right here.