1. The proper way to pick oranges: grab the orange, tip it up and away from you, and pull toward you (this ensures the little green star-shaped stem piece will remain on the orange, thus ensuring the orange will stay fresh longer)
2. My fallback career as an orange picker is shaky
3. Mom and Dad's big manly poodle is not as manly as my intact male Labrador (Shadow spent lots of time behind Dad, sitting down so as to prevent unauthorized sniffing perpetrated by Lomax)
4. Even if I did NOT take and hide the last piece of Dad's annual Christmas jigsaw puzzle, I will still be implicated
5. It doesn't matter how many times I try to replicate something Mom cooks, it will never taste as good as when she cooks it
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
The Dark Side of Christmas
My dog and I are headed to Fresno for a few days, to have Christmas with my parents, so I'm guessing there won't be much blogging until I get back. But let me leave you with an excellent article on "The Dark Side of Christmas." Here's just a bit:
Merry Christmas and many blessings to all of you.
...I say that many of the Defenders of Christmas have it almost as wrong as the secularists. Their vision of Christmas — centered on words, a rather generic baby, and nostalgic visions of families and fireplaces — actually gets no closer to the real Real Meaning of Christmas than do generic wishes for peace and joy in this holiday season.The whole article is worth your time and contemplation.
What they forget, neglect or conveniently ignore is what we can not-too-dramatically call the Dark Side of Christmas.
Merry Christmas and many blessings to all of you.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Pointy Hats and All?
Yes, I know they were talking about the football team, a few members of which exhibited barbaric behavior on a recent mini-cruise...but come on. The Yahoo! News headline read:
Four Vikings Charged in Boat Party Scandal
They're vikings. Scandalous behavior at boat parties is what vikings do.
UPDATE: The humorless folks at Yahoo! News have since changed the headline to read "Four Viking Players." Wussies.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Christmas Comes Early
I've been having a tough time of it the last month or so. Struggling -- physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It's not "the holidays" or their ensuing crush of activity-based madness, or any other such earthly thing. I'm having a tough time because I haven't been spending enough time with God -- time in prayer, time in the Word, really seeking Him and keeping up my end of the relationship. Observably, when my habits in these areas slip, everything else is quick to follow. I guess you could consider it a confession of sorts.
The insignificant things draw together to become the quicksand in which I find myself mired. I cannot see past these small things: minor inconveniences, frustrations and annoyances, temporary setbacks. I am disappointed in myself, confused about circumstances. I am focused on the wrongs, sometimes merely perceived wrongs. I might be frustrated with God, or wonder where He is in all of this as I flail and swat at these mosquitoes...if I were to stop for just a moment and think of Him at all.
I forget how big He is sometimes.
A friend of my roommate's visited us one evening last week as she was passing through town. She's more of an acquaintance to me; we worked together for a few months, but don't know each other deeply. There's something about my life that I didn't realize she knew.
My only brother was twelve years old when he put a gun to his head and ended his life, in a classroom after school on a Monday afternoon in February of 1988. I was fifteen. The things I could write about that day, or about the moment I knew what had happened before anyone told me, would fill more pages than you would ever want to read.
Apparently, this acquaintance of mine went to school with him; she didn't know him, but she obviously experienced what happened. And she had a difficult life back then, was struggling with suicidal tendencies herself. What stopped her, she said to my roommate last week, was my brother. She saw how his death affected everyone else, and she decided to live.
To me there is a significant difference between acts ordained by God and acts allowed by God, though sometimes it's difficult for temporal beings like we are, limited in the scope of our knowledge, to accurately judge which situation applies. We could talk forever about what's called in Christian theology "The Problem of Evil," and there are some who will refuse to be consoled and in bitterness rail against God for allowing us to bleed and die and hurt each other and ourselves. It's a conversation for another time, too much to go into here.
There are things He knows that we do not, cannot, know. He is the God who takes what was meant for evil -- though His very heart breaks at the evil we have chosen -- and purposes it for good, bringing beautiful, mysterious redemption out of blood and sorrow.
I remember how big He is sometimes.
The insignificant things draw together to become the quicksand in which I find myself mired. I cannot see past these small things: minor inconveniences, frustrations and annoyances, temporary setbacks. I am disappointed in myself, confused about circumstances. I am focused on the wrongs, sometimes merely perceived wrongs. I might be frustrated with God, or wonder where He is in all of this as I flail and swat at these mosquitoes...if I were to stop for just a moment and think of Him at all.
I forget how big He is sometimes.
A friend of my roommate's visited us one evening last week as she was passing through town. She's more of an acquaintance to me; we worked together for a few months, but don't know each other deeply. There's something about my life that I didn't realize she knew.
My only brother was twelve years old when he put a gun to his head and ended his life, in a classroom after school on a Monday afternoon in February of 1988. I was fifteen. The things I could write about that day, or about the moment I knew what had happened before anyone told me, would fill more pages than you would ever want to read.
Apparently, this acquaintance of mine went to school with him; she didn't know him, but she obviously experienced what happened. And she had a difficult life back then, was struggling with suicidal tendencies herself. What stopped her, she said to my roommate last week, was my brother. She saw how his death affected everyone else, and she decided to live.
To me there is a significant difference between acts ordained by God and acts allowed by God, though sometimes it's difficult for temporal beings like we are, limited in the scope of our knowledge, to accurately judge which situation applies. We could talk forever about what's called in Christian theology "The Problem of Evil," and there are some who will refuse to be consoled and in bitterness rail against God for allowing us to bleed and die and hurt each other and ourselves. It's a conversation for another time, too much to go into here.
There are things He knows that we do not, cannot, know. He is the God who takes what was meant for evil -- though His very heart breaks at the evil we have chosen -- and purposes it for good, bringing beautiful, mysterious redemption out of blood and sorrow.
I remember how big He is sometimes.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Monday, December 05, 2005
Joyful Noise
I went to a terrific concert Sunday night. If you don't know the band Kepano Green, you should.
The cool thing is, I had thought they were broken up for good. I was listening to a CD I've had forever, and I wondered if I could still get any more of their music, so I did a Web search. Lo and behold, as they say...I found out they were playing locally. God bless Google, yet again.
One of the guys commented during the show that he spent his childhood singing and playing guitar and piano, and that he was amazed and grateful to have an audience come to hear him on purpose. I have often said about Neil Finn that I would happily pay him just to call me up and sing to me every night, and I wouldn't be sad if these guys did that either.
Listen to a few of their songs on their myspace page -- "Believe" is fantastic, and so is "Benediction." Then go to the Kepano Green website to look for concerts and buy CDs, or download their latest CD, Valley Drive, from iTunes.
The cool thing is, I had thought they were broken up for good. I was listening to a CD I've had forever, and I wondered if I could still get any more of their music, so I did a Web search. Lo and behold, as they say...I found out they were playing locally. God bless Google, yet again.
One of the guys commented during the show that he spent his childhood singing and playing guitar and piano, and that he was amazed and grateful to have an audience come to hear him on purpose. I have often said about Neil Finn that I would happily pay him just to call me up and sing to me every night, and I wouldn't be sad if these guys did that either.
Listen to a few of their songs on their myspace page -- "Believe" is fantastic, and so is "Benediction." Then go to the Kepano Green website to look for concerts and buy CDs, or download their latest CD, Valley Drive, from iTunes.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
...And Things That Make Me Feel Better
There was a kid in my third grade class named Michael Moore. Sometimes I wonder where he is today, and whether he's happy or sad about sharing a name with this man.
(Hat Tip for this link goes out to mad genius Doug TenNapel).
(Hat Tip for this link goes out to mad genius Doug TenNapel).
Things That Suck
1. Vacuum cleaners
2. Nursing infants
3. Chest wounds
4. This
The Rose Bowl is coming, and Texas is my new favorite team. Hook 'em, HORNS!!!
2. Nursing infants
3. Chest wounds
4. This
The Rose Bowl is coming, and Texas is my new favorite team. Hook 'em, HORNS!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
