Bowers for President

Enough horsing around, guys. It's time to get serious. I have a family now, a wife and stepson to provide for and take care of. One day we hope to grow our family which is some added responsibility. True I did recently get a promotion and that's all grand, but I want my family to truly live comfortably in a wonderful home with beautiful things, people waiting on them hand and foot, and all the luxuries of life

However, in order to do this, I've got to stop being one of these hard-working Americans and give politics a shot. It's a much cushier lifestyle to be the one governing and taxing people. They have brain trusts to provide them ideas, budgets to provide them Armani suits, lobbyists to provide them money (and ads, and ideas, and political views), and taxpayers to provide them a salary and pension. Sounds like my kind of gig.

So with that, it's official. I'm declaring myself as a candidate for the United States Presidency. Bowers 2020. Yeah I gotta wait until I'm over 35; I'm gonna be President but I'm not so awesome that I'm gonna be one of those Amendment to the Constitution game changers.

But 2020 is my year! I have carefully studied a list of seemingly unwritten prerequisites for this gig down, so I think this one's in the bag. Here's the checklist:

You have to be male. 1 for 1.

You have to be married. 2 for 2. Only James Buchanan wasn't and a Civil War broke out after he was in office. I don't know what you might infer from that but it is part of the equation. It also doesn't hurt if your wife is good-looking. Check. And check.

You have to be rich. Occasionally filthy rich. Crap. But on second thought there may be hope. A couple of Presidents were actually born poor and the last one Herbert Hoover was President during the beginning of the Great Depression. Being as how our economy has gone down the Johnny Flusher, I might be able to play this angle. We're still in there with a chance.

By 2020, it is estimated that almost 20% of the U.S. population will be Hispanic. You say "Yes we can", Barack? I say "Si, nosotros podemos!"

It helps to have a military or law background. My dad was in the army so I was born an army brat. And I took a law class one time. Close enough.

You have to like golf. The Bushes did, Clinton did, Ford did. I can roll with that.

You have to be an idealist. People get confused about this one, and that is their downfall. Look at Obama. He had ideas on how to correct the wrongs of government. Wrong position. You have to have ideas, Barack, just ideas. Not solutions. Solutions are dangerous; they can fail. Take a stance; talk about the issues. But for goodness sake don't discuss solving them.

Believe in aliens. Jimmy Carter did. Ronald Reagan did. And to hear Republicans talk, Ronald Reagan is a god. In other words, outright insanity is perfectly acceptable. I don't consider myself insane, but I can play a part and throw a couple of Area 51 references into my campaign slogan.

You have to give people hope. If I've noticed one thing it's that Democrats wanted things to be different than in the Bush years and Republicans are praying for something different than Obama. I will instead focus on copying every move of Bill Clinton's presidency. Well except the Monica Lewinsky one. His time in office seems to be something people can agree on. I've been trying to find someone that thought Bill wasn't a good President; hasn't happened yet.

There's the road map. All I need is a campaign bus, a swell tie, and some smooth talking and I'm on my way.

Can I count on your vote?

My people kinda rock

In case you didn't know, my people are kind of a big deal. Let's meet the starting lineup.

Name: Sara Murphy-Bowers

Occupation: Marriage and Family Therapist

Favorite things: Big Bang Theory, House, Yoga Pants

Interests include: Blogging, Pinterest, Crafts, Juicing, Crafts, Exercise, crafts, and craft ideas from Pinterest

Name: Evan Leftwich

Occupation: 5-year old bundle of awesome, Emperor: Quail Ridge Children's Center

Favorite things: Action figures, Star Wars, Stuffed Animals

Interests include: reading Berenstain Bears, Shaving cream painting, lining up action figure men, racing action figure men, fighting action figure men, action figures playing football, and other activities involving action figure men

Name: Jonathan Bowers

Occupation: Enablement Lead, ServiceSource

Favorite things: sports, religious studies, Big Bang Theory, the original nintendo NES, and the two people listed above

Interests include: OCD laundry duty, church volunteering, iTunesU classes for maximum nerd power, and whatever the two people listed above are up to.

We're a formidable bunch.

She's a mean cook and juices like a champ. She will take on any craft project you can throw her way and can be hilarious!

He can create any fight, war, game, or race in recorded history with his action figures and will belt out a tune without shying away just because there's an audience.

And me? Well I will take the Pepsi challenge against others with the power of my dorkiness and awesome. I'm my wife's personal calculator and I know senseless trivia like a champ. For reals, if I get onto Millionaire or Cash Cab we're retiring.

Look I know I've got it good. Just look at my sports addiction. Aside from her overwhelming awesome, when I need two hours to just be a guy and watch Chelsea play Saturday morning, my wife encourages it.

As for the 5-year old bundle of awesome.........

.........well he's a Chelsea fan too.

So now you know to be on the lookout for us. Undeniably cool while at the same time bringing dorky back. We're kind of a big deal.

Post-Education Education 101

Well, I've been out of college for a while now, and since I am a dorky and borderline sick individual, I have found myself missing learning. Don't worry, I have a doctor's appointment next month; I'll be sure that a psych eval is part of the checkup. But seriously, I've always had such an insatiable desire to learn more that suddenly going into the workforce and repeating a function is not stimulating enough for me. So one of my new year's resolutions is to experiment with self-teaching. I've got a number of areas to target.

1. Religion

I have said that I was going to do this a hundred freaking times now and this year I'M GONNA DO IT. I was amazed at what I learned in a Religions of Asia course I took at Western (Dr. Samuels, wherever you are, your class was kind of bitchin'). We learned about the Quran, the prophet Mohammad, the perversion of the Muslim faith by biased (and borderline racist) media outlets suggesting bin Laden embodied Islam. There was a quarter devoted to the four noble truths, the eightfold path and the Buddha. Then we threw in the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, and the sacrificial Purusha Prajapati of Hindu culture.

There are some that would suggest that I compromised my faith in taking this course. I actually had people tell me I had sinned against God for opening another faith's religious text. I assure you that neither happened, and in fact, I came out on the other side more appreciative of Christianity, stronger in my faith, and more understanding and loving to those of other faiths. This process makes me a BETTER PERSON. And I'm back for round two.

2. Finance/Economics

I think I threw up a little bit when I typed that. I HATE economics. HATE. I'm using the word HATE to describe my feeling towards economics. I can keep up with a bank account and balance a checkbook, but whenever I've had a financial question, I've turned to my dad, the finance guru of the family. But as much as I love to rely on his acumen, it's time I became a big boy and did this stuff myself. I'm married now, I have a family, the man's supposed to do this stuff and be good at it. So 401k, stock options, portfolio building here I come, albeit reluctantly......and with extreme nausea.

3. Astronomy

I LOVED astronomy as a small child, or at least the idea of it. Outer space, the vastness of the universe, and the hope that if I learned it well enough I could use a light saber, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, and defeat Darth Vader. When I was in the first grade I would scribble the solar system on sheets of paper and hand them out to the rest of the class as study guides. I even put care into placing the big red spot on Jupiter. I had them drawn out, the sun and the nine planets orbiting them. That's right....NINE. I don't give a crap what they say, Pluto is a planet, dammit! And I'm going back to astronomy class by myself to debunk the 8 planet solar system if it's the last thing I do. So there you have my motivation; astronomy was my childhood ambition and I'm sticking up for the little forgotten planet.

4. P.E.

I don't want to learn 10,000 nutrition facts and recite vitamins and their function. I don't want to go back to middle school gym and do jumping jacks (although I do want to play dodgeball Billy Madison style). None of that is really what I'm talking about. I just REALLY need to get my occasionally lazy ass up and moving. My wife is incredible with hitting the gym for cardio and yoga. I admire her for that, but it's time to stop admiring and time to start imitating.

I want all of these to represent growth spurts of the mind, spirit, and body. A mental and physical exercise to keep sharp, aware, and always growing. I pride myself on trying to broaden my horizons, and these are some exciting steps towards that goal.

So there ya go. Four academic quarters in the year. Four courses. Tomorrow: lesson one. Class is back in session.

Growth in Language

A popular comedian once said that language will always give away a person's ultimate knowledge and motive. One of the growth spurts I've seen is the evolution of vocabulary and language as we mature. Some of this evolution personally has often come out in cynical quips where I suggest that the whole world is just collectively taking a shit.....totally unfair mind you, and I'm working on that.

The definition of words and phrases change with time.

If you made a bad grade on your report card, lost your backpack, or God forbid stayed out past your curfew, you were going to be in "trouble". Then adult trouble comes and makes that look trivial. Then as I grew spiritually I learned that even the adult "trouble" is of little consequence and my God far too strong and loving for it. This is a lesson that I have done a real crap job of learning, but once again I'm working on that.

The letter "A" stood for a good grade in grade school, the letter "B" stood for the same in high school, and the letter "C" took on the meaning of "Thank the Lord Almighty" in college. Now the letter "E" for employed means "Thank the Lord Almighty". But then I grade and criticize if I'm earning and moving up quickly enough. Those are things that take time and patience, traits I've learned I naturally have in short supply. But I'm working on that.

Love's meaning has changed. I have "loved" vanilla ice cream, pizza, my teenage mutant ninja turtles action figures, my parents. Then I found a God's love, unconditional and pure. I found my wife's love, true, deep, honest love. I fall short of deserving God's love and try to match my wife's love; I'm not always perfect, but I'm always working on it.

For years in my growth spurts I have "loved" some phrases. "It's story time", "It's pizza night", "Snowbird said school is out today", "You got an A", "You got a raise", "You graduated." But I tell you now that they all sound so amazingly insignificant to me now.

Because now there is a 5 year old child in my life that loves me, likes me, laughs with me, because he genuinely thinks I'm a pretty cool dude. Because I've heard a child's love in a phrase. A phrase that when I hear brightens my day, no matter what is going on. The rest of the world shuts up, slows down, and I am content and smile. To be moved and understand the power in that simple phrase, that is a lesson I don't have to work on. That one I get.

"I wanna sit by Jonathan!" he exclaims. Sweet music to my ears. So simple, yet so full of love.

Thanks, Evan. I wanna sit by you too, buddy.

New Beginnings

I love my Church.

I mean REALLY love it. The atmosphere, the people, the vibe, the worship, the message, all of it. I love how REAL it is; you can feel this church. There's a pulse, a rhythm of a group of people that acknowledge shortcoming, pull weight, and come together for a purpose to share God's love. Powerful stuff.

Recently we have begun a transition to a new facility. My church's growth spurt. We've completely revamped the sanctuary and kids/teens' room (refer to visual aid below). And I have been amazed by the countless hours of volunteer work. It seems as though someone is ALWAYS there doing something to have us ready Sunday, January 1st.

I had the pleasure of speaking to the youth of the church during SLAM Wednesday night, a pre-kickoff of sorts to life anew in our very own building at Revolution church. I spoke to them about living the message of Live. Love. Serve. That if they placed their faith first in God, were honest with Him, that He would show them the way, pick them up, carry them when they could go no further, and love them when they deserved it least. That when you give a little bit to God, He gives you back tenfold in blessing, peace, joy, and love.

And then when I was supposed to be the teacher, God was schooling me. I reflected and remembered that we persevered. My wife and I have kept the faith. It hasn't been easy at times; we've tithed till it hurt, put in volunteer hours until we're weary, and the payoff that God has given us has been amazing. We gave money to our church when we had very little to give. God handed me a promotion. I volunteered at the church on my days off until I was weary. God gave me paid time off from work and extended vacations to recharge the batteries. Give it to God; I promise you He pays back.....and with crazy interest. I'm living PROOF.

Sometimes it's been difficult to give it all to God. I am far from perfect; in fact, I'm your typical class A garden variety Christian. I love God, try my best, and still finds ways to screw things up. But this church has given me new energy in Christ, reminded me what my passion was for, reminded me that it was okay to be broken because I love a God that heals. Oh God how I love this church.

And we're in a unique position to share that vibe. A new building, a fresh start. So brace yourself, folks. January 1st my God is going to start blowing people's socks off. Care to join?

Lights.....Camera......God.