This is not what I wanted my 300th post to be about, “at 300 BoGo Left”. 300 blog posts is an accomplishment. Then my risk-averse friend asked me to look at a news story from San Jose, CA.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/police-arrest-suspect-accused-of-running-over-two-san-jose-protesters
George Floyd has pushed COVID-19 out of the headlines. Floyd died under the knee of Derek Chauvin. Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost 10 minutes. Another man died while in contact with the cops.
Then the protests in Minneapolis turned violent. Protests erupted across the country. Because stealing Cheetos from CVS is righteous. Today I learn that the protests are happening around the world. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/world/george-floyd-global-protests-intl/index.html Woo.
Where is God?
You hear, “Where is God?” in the video that starts this post. God is there. He’s just not the Big Lebowski.
Boomers have a god. He’s a drag queen named BoGo, short for Boomer God. S/he checks off all the boxes on the intersectionality scale. Brown, some blend of African-American and Latinx, gay (lesbian?), living in public housing, no legitimate employment, and collecting TANF and stamps. BoGo is an indulgent sugar daddy who will help us fight, fuck, eat, and drink to our heart’s content while preventing any negative consequences from our debauchery. BoGo was there in San Jose last Friday.
I have so much good happening in my life right now. Writing about yungins wrecking the city they live in isn’t something I want as my 300th blog post. Yet here we are in RVA, under curfew with blackened store fronts and police in riot gear chasing protesters out of Monroe Park. A woman in San Jose has been arrested for attempted murder. Woo.
I’ll get to the good stuff in my life deeper into this post. And more about God. The next thing is that these riots are only nominally about George Floyd. Floyd’s murder is just the trigger. The tension has been building for the last twelve weeks.
We Have Needs
The heat for this began in March when we were asked to quarantine ourselves. Young men need things. They need food, jobs, sex, respect, and a sense that they are making an impact. Youngins hunger for significance. We took all that away just as Spring was blossoming. The youngins were told that they had to stay inside, study online, tolerate the parents and their fucking annoying siblings, and like it.
I’m sure most did. We’ll never hear about the normies that behaved. It’s good that the normies are not news. We need the normies. The news and I write about edge cases. We write about folk who worship BoGo and Mao.
Where is God when the city erupts in violence because a cop killed a black man? Why can’t God intervene and George Floyd live? If God is a Loving God, why does this shit keep happening?
Shits Been Happening
I have bad news. More bad shit will happen. We live in Satan’s paradise. Our world is the devil’s playground. St. Lucifer is a predator who eats our souls. Bad shit happens because we abuse our free will.
Welcome to the Shit Show. Settle in because this is a century long ride featuring unending misery. The latest insult is a worldwide panic attack in response to COVID-19. We told everyone to stay inside. It’s not gone well.
With an empire as big as ours it’s a matter of time before another black man has deadly contact with the cops. Yet every time we are screamed at, “NEVER AGAIN!” Ok. Good luck with that. Get back to me when you figure out how to get 380,000,000 people to 100% behave the way you want them to in perpetuity. “NEVER AGAIN!” feels great when we are pissed off. It’s just not possible in the shit show we live in. Sorry, but BoGo lied to you.
So is God Dead? No. BoGo is a god for children. Father God is a god for grownups. The rioters believe in BoGo, not Father God. They believe in a buffet faith built out of Maoism and BoGo. Maoism teaches us to be angry at what we can’t change. Mao tells us that our misery is perpetrated by the bourgeoisie. So bougie folk are fair game. BoGo teaches that the Seven Deadly Sins are a task to accomplish and s/he’ll protect us from our debauchery. Followers of Mao and BoGo are on the menu for St. Lucifer.
Plus Two
The two people who were hurt by the car could have been killed. Thank God that they lived. The crowd wanted that car to stay put so they could sate their blood lust. Thank God the woman was able to escape.
Which isn’t what the news will tell us. The news will bend the story around so it fits this narrative, “a white supremacist viciously murdered two brown people by slamming his car into a crowd of protesters.” Hannah Graham’s murder will be invoked. The truth will be a bit more complex.
Since we are in the Shit Show as featured players, what to do? There are Recovery Fellowship meetings 24/7/365 filled with people who worshiped BoGo. BoGo worship gets you a repeating cycle of jail, hospital, rehab until you either die or stay in recovery. Giving your life to Christ gets you early escalated misery that pays off down the road.
Consequential Choices
We have a choice. No, you can’t opt out of the Shit Show. You are here. It’s the world you were born into. We can choose how we live in the Shit Show. God’s creation includes free will as a core principle. The rioters in San Jose chose violence and prayed to BoGo for protection. BoGo failed them. God did not fail them.
Choices have consequences. Terrifying a Latinx driving her SUV through a crowd of protesters has consequences. Driving an SUV through a blood-lusting crowd of rioters has consequences. Followers of BoGo pray to be protected from their choices. BoGo provides, so it goes. Then two people get run over and a man can be heard in the video asking, “where is God?”
God is where he always is. His resurrected kingdom lives in the hearts of His followers. The Way of Christ is a 2,000-year-old revolution that infested the Roman Empire. It was started by a dissident, no-account Jew carpenter born in Bethlehem. Jesus of Nazareth was martyred on a cross between two other convicted criminals. Over a century later Constantine gave a deathbed confession after a life-supporting Christians.
The Kingdom of Christ
2,000 years later Christianity is one of the world’s dominant religions. The Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, nearly 140 years after Constantine’s confession. My speculation but the spread of Christianity through the Empire had an impact. These days, the Extra Enlightened Woke worship Mao and BoGo. So, how is that going for you, EEW’s?
Enough pissing in the wind about things I can’t change. Some people are Devil’s Food cake. The world is a shit show. Bad shit happens too often. That’s three things I can’t change. Let’s talk about things I have changed.
Resurrected
In 1973 I became a saved Christian when I was 14. It wasn’t enough for my non-denominational friends that I was baptized Presbyterian. I’m a good kid who wants to get along with his peers. So if that means renouncing my Presbyterian baptism for a Pentecostal, Non-Denominational youth fellowship, put me down.
Jesus appeared to me for the first time in Summer Camp that year. He told me to go home. I thought he meant go home to my parents. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties searching for answers that I understood he meant going home to the Presbyterian Church.
I was living in Berkeley, CA at the time. It was another of my moaning, panicked moments when I thought everything was over. I was done. My Non-Denominational Friends had platitudes for me when I raised questions like, “if God is a loving God, why is my life so miserable?” I loved BoGo. BoGo was going to provide me every bit of the Seven Deadly Sins. Jesus had other plans.
Non-Denominational Friends?
The NDF’s didn’t like questions. They’d chant John 3:16 in panicked cadence whenever I asked about predestiny. If I suggested that God was Dead they’d go all holy roller on me, flop on the floor and sputter, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken“. Doubt made them nervous.
I thought maybe BoGo had better answers. BoGo definitely had the best weed. BoGo’s followers, though, sounded a lot like the NDF’s. They didn’t like questions. When I asked about history they’d foam at the mouth, flop on the floor and mutter quotes from Nietzsche. What to do?
I’m Presbyterian through and through. My Dad met my Mom at a youth fellowship at the First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield. I went to Sunday School every Sunday against my will for the first 13 years of my life. Jesus has a way of infecting your heart. He got me good at Summer Camp in 1973.
By BoGo’s Way
It’s 1984. I’ve just started as a member of Berkeley’s Taxi Unlimited. Most of the collective followed BoGo and Mao. It was annoying to see another collective member have a seizure because I asked about God. The closest Presbyterian Church was an easy walk from Blake Street. Earl Palmer was preaching.
Reverend Palmer, I’m another of your saved souls. After the sermon I managed to squeeze in a question about predestiny and your eyes lit up. You asked me to meet you in your office later that week. Here was a minister who didn’t flip out when questioned. My kind of minister.
So . . . all good, right? No. I had a lot to work through before I could give a confession of faith. I joined the First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley because I wanted to begin a quest for truth. Somebody had answers and this church felt like a good place to start.
Quest for Truth
I’m still on that quest for truth. I’ve learned a lot since 1985. First on my mind these days is the need to begin with mercy and grace. Next is to evangelize by missions and service. The third is to pray and tithe.
Whatever. Right? Kind of. We have youth who we made desperate by stopping the economy in the name of flattening the exponential curve of COVID-19. The tension has been building for twelve weeks. It just needed a trigger. George Floyd’s death is that trigger. God was there in Minneapolis.
He was also there in San Jose as rioters threw rocks and bricks at an SUV driven by a LatinX. It could have been worse. I pray the virus of the Holy Spirit infests some of the rioters. May some of the rioters question the truth BoGo and Mao taught them. Maybe some will go to their first meeting. I pray this in the name of Jesus.
God is Only a Prayer Away
God is only a prayer away. He is there if you ask. I’m not the usual guy to give the altar call. We need that today. We need those who worship BoGo and Mao to come to Jesus. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life Everlasting.
Here we go: if today is your day, the day when you are ready to give your life to Christ, then start with this prayer of confession, “Dear God, I want to be a part of your family. I accept Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. I accept my salvation from sin through your death and resurrection on Calvary.” There is also the Nicene Creed if you want to go deeper.
Many will tell you that everything is a blessing from here. Hardly. The early days of this are going to suck. Your heart isn’t used to the searing heat of the Holy Spirit as He burns sin out of your life. Don’t go it alone. St. Lucifer and BoGo are going to be pissed that you are now apostate. You escaped the slaughterhouse and that’s a problem.
There is Strength in Fellowship
Find a church. Engage with that church. Start your quest for truth. Surrender the things you can’t change, change the things you can, and let Jesus show you the difference. Last, welcome to the fam.
This post is number 300. At 300 BoGo left. God showed up. He’s been showing up for me since 1973. I lost my job at Altria almost 21 months ago as of this writing. It’s not been honey and roses on this pilgrimage toward heaven. It’s been shit most of the way.
I can bitch with the best of them. I’ve got plenty that didn’t go well. Yet here I am, sixty years old and grateful for what God has blessed me with. BoGo is badass but Jesus is better. Jesus is the Way.
The Good News
I own Baugh Holding Company. BHC owns Transit Webb and Arts Fire. Transit Webb is my ride-share business. I work with Uber and Lyft to get people from A to B. Transit Webb pays the bills while I figure out how to expand. Arts Fire is an artist management company that manages me. One day it’ll manage more than me. This guy, this near-do-well who keeps getting fired is a small-business owner.
Some of my first world luxuries:
- A rented two-bedroom, single-family home
- Two cars, a 2019 Ford Flex and a 2013 Subaru Legacy
- A Lenovo T-Series laptop, Lenovo Tab 4 Android tablet, and a Motorola G7 smartphone
- An HP A-I-O laser printer.
- The house is furnished
- The lights are on and I have running water
- I have food in my fridge.
That’s seven. That’s enough. There is a lot more but a fuller list doesn’t strengthen my point. My monthly cash burn is about $3,500.00. For the majority of the world that lives on about $2.00/day it would take them almost five years to earn what I spend in a month. I’m poor by the standards of my heritage.
Some Shit Show Truth
George Floyd is dead. Derek Chauvin is in jail. BoGo failed the protesters in San Jose and other places. Turns out the choice to tear up a city can get you hurt. We will work through the criminal justice process for Chauvin, Thao, Keung, and Lane. There is almost universal consensus that Floyd’s murder was wrong. It still doesn’t excuse an orgasm of violence perpetrated in our communities. More violence won’t bring Floyd back from the dead. Bogo sucks.
Post 300 is an inflection point for me. There is a lot more good on my horizon. Around me is a lot more shit show. The easy thing is to get triggered by the shit show and immolate. I’m too old for that rage against the machine. So I live on to write post 301 and more until Jesus calls me home.
COVID-19, Floyd, and other Shit Show? Nothing lasts forever. We’ll be fine. Things you can do are here. Do the Jesus Way. It’s better than the BoGo Way.