Rooting for the bad guy

The other day a friend and I were reminiscing about the good ol' days when we were younger and saw Star Wars for the first time. I'll never forget sitting on the first row of the theater as a third grader when "A long, long, time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . ." flashed across the screen. I remember that my friends and I all looked at each other and said, "Is this a true story?" I relived the same excitement and adrenaline rush when Lucas began to make the prequels of epsiodes 1, 2, and 3. When my wife and I went to see Star Wars: The Phantom Menace at a midweek matinee, I got chill bumps of excitement. I experienced the same excitement when I introduced my boys to this greatest set of movies ever made. But enough about my geekness.

As my friend and I relived our magical childhood, the subject of Darth Vader came up. Growing up, before we knew how Darth Vader became so evil, everyone hated him. No one wanted to be Darth Vader. You may have bought the Darth Vader figure and his tie fighter, but only so someone else could pretend to be him while you saved the day. That's not the case today. Kids like to be Darth Vader today all because they know he used to be Anakin Skywalker, who until he finally crossed the line to join the dark side, was a pretty good guy. I must admit, even I look differently at Darth Vader now, although I don't find myself necessarily liking him.

Is this a dangerous trend, excusing evil, even looking up to it, on the basis of the good that may have been done in the past or the knowledge that the evil doer will turn from his wicked ways? Or is it a lesson in grace, seeing the good in people? After all, Luke Skywalker says of his father repeatedly, "There's still good in him, I know." What do you think?

What is wrong with me?!!!

Pardon me while I engage in self-loathing and general American culture criticism, but we are so stupid! Because I have never smoked pot, drunk more than a sip or two of alcohol (only once voluntarily), or done anything other than prescription drugs, I do not have a very long resume of brain cell killing activities beyond normal childhood falls on the head. In order to meet the prerequisite quota of mind-numbing activities mandated by the Council of US Cultural Standards Enforcment Board, I watch television. Tonight I watched a few minutes of the Baby Borrowers and then the first sixty seconds of Celebrity Circus. When I stop to think that I have at least three blue million other similar options by which I can fulfill my duties, it makes me want to stand up and sing like Lee Greenwood, belting out "I'm Proud to Be an American." I'd probably change the next line to "where at least my brain is numb".

Thank you, and goodnight.

P.S. Despite looking like rather obvious product placement ads, none of the above links will net me any money.

Being Shaped in the Smithy

In case you're wondering, a smithy is another name for a forge or a blacksmith's shop. I made what many may think to be a mistake a few weeks ago. I gave my boys the idea that they could actually be blacksmiths. Now. In their back yard. It started out as an innocent experiment to see if we could heat some thin scrap metal up enough that we could shape it into arrowheads so that we could further engage in another dangerous activity, making and shooting our own homemade arrows. So, we arranged some concrete blocks to create a small forge, collected some firewood, and proceeded to experiment with our self-taught blacksmith skills.

It did not work quite as I had hoped. You can't really get hot enough coals with ordinary wood. Still, I received a pretty painful burn. Luckily I was the only one. That has not deterred my boys. Ever since that first attempt, I am constantly bombarded with requests to light up the old smithy again so they can play blacksmith. I have declined 95% of those requests on the basis of it's too hot to stand over a fire, it doesn't really work, I can't stand outside and just watch you for safety's sake right now, and at least one I don't feel like right now.

This past Saturday, I relented and gave them permission. I even took a chance and left them unsupervised with fire and hot metal implements. After a few minutes of watching their actions, I felt fairly confident they would not do anything foolish. Nevertheless, I prayed fervently for their safety before returning to the cooler interior portion of my house.

During those minutes of watching these two young blacksmiths at work in their forge, a profound lesson about parenting, coaching, and mentoring occurred to me. I had, foolishly I thought, made them believe they could actually be blacksmiths. And as far as they were concerned, they were actually succeeding. Isn't that part of what I am supposed to be doing as a father, instilling dreams in my children and helping them fulfill their dreams?

Likewise as a person on a Christian faith journey and as a pastor, part of what I am supposed to be doing is helping understand and strive for the dream of a better life that is marked by the grace of God as it is being reshaped into what he initially created it to be. It's not an impossible dream. I do not have to live a life marked by the effects of sin.

Saturday, I was one in the fire, being shaped and molded by my junior blacksmiths. And I'm glad I was.

Microwave Thoughts

We recently bought a gently and seldom used microwave to replace the one we had. Our old microwave just wasn't performing well. It cooked unevenly, if it cooked at all. You never knew what kind of noise it was going to make. Sometimes it would come on all by itself. Fearing for our safety, we consulted Craig's List to find a new one.

Because it's used, we don't have a manual. I need to search for one on the internet. One button has me really intrigued. As a male, I'm excited to see it in action. The caption on the button reads, "Inverter Turbo Defrost". I'm not exactly sure what type of high octane engine powers this function, but I can't wait to see it in action. It has to be WAY better than regular old defrost like on our old microwave.

This new microwave is a lot more powerful. Popcorn used to take forever and then a lot of kernels remained unpopped. This baby will pop a bag in less than two minutes and you can count on one hand the number of unpopped kernels. In fact, several times there were NO unpopped kernels. Which leads me to a second question - how do you get the smell of burnt popcorn out of the microwave? We left it open on the front porch overnight. That was a week ago. When we use it now, there is still the faint odor of Orville Redenbacher transforming into charcoal briquets. I would seriously like any suggestions on that one.

I don't like everything about this new microwave. Take the door. Our old microwave had a button you pushed to open the door. You have to manually open this one. Which isn't a big deal, but it doesn't openly easily. The kids have a hard time opening it. By the time I get it open sometimes, it has been dragged six feet across the counter.

The clock is hard to read on this one as well. Our old display was so much brighter, clearer, and easier to read. Certainly the engineers had enough wiggle room in their budget to put a nicer display on the unit.

Despite these two shortcomings, I really like the new microwave. My goal in life is to be as content with the rest of my life as I am with the microwave. It's so easy to find fault with everything and everyone around you. Even clouds with silver linings cast shadows. It all depends on what you choose to see, what you choose to emphasize.

Contentment can be very elusive when it comes to money. We live in a very materialistic society. And just because the bug of materialism may not have bitten you does not mean you necessarily live a life of contentment. Paul tells young Timothy that "godliness with contentment is great gain". That statement has caused me to wonder which comes first - the godliness or the contentment.

Contentment is easier for some than others. In God's infinite wisdom, he allows some of us (me) to struggle with it more than others. But I'm trying. And to think that a microwave is leading me there.