A Survivor Christmas

Last night was the finale of the 15th edition of Survivor, the reality tv show where contestants must outwit, outlast, and outplay their opponents to win $1 million while at the same time being dropped off in a remote jungle. Last night's winner was Todd Herzog, a 22 year old flight attendant from Utah. In all my years of watching the show, he probably played the best strategic game of all.

One thing that is always a constant in this show is the scheming that continually takes place on the cameras but not always in front of the other contestants. Part of that scheming is trying to determine against whom you will have the best chance of winning $1 million. In the end, people you may have lied to, tricked, etc. have to vote on whether or not you get the prize compared to the other one or two final contestants. In previous editions, there has been much talk about which contestant's life demonstrated a greater need for the big prize. This year was no different.

Enter Denise, a 40 year old happily married mother of three who works as a school lunch lady for $7 an hour. Or at least she did work as a school lunch lady. Upon returning from the show and to work, she lost her job because her employers felt her presence might be too disruptive to the school. She now works as a janitor. Denise had made it to the final four. Those four contestants had banded together early and stuck together all the way to the end. However, Denise was always at the bottom of the totem pole of four. When it came down to deciding which of these final four contestants would be voted off, the one contestant who held the swing vote regarding keeping Denise in the finals and giving her a chance at the prize deliberated continually over Denise's financial situation.

As I watched the moral quandry this contestant went through and what I believe to be real anguish on her face when the decision making time came, I began to think about what I would do in her situation. I would love to give Survivor a try sometime. If I was able to make it to this point, what would be the major factor in my decision? A lot of folks say they want to go to the end with the best in order to be competitive all the way to the end. Then again, $1 million is a lot of money. Would I be willing to lose it to someone who may need it a little more than I because it would be a wonderfully altruistic or compassionate thing to do, especially knowing that millions of people would be watching and evaluating my every word and action? Or do I want to come home with a lot of money because that is after all why I'm playing the game?

Which brings me to Christmas, believe it or not. Jesus did what was best for us. I don't believe Jesus would have been a contestant on Survivor: Dead Sea had he been given the chance. But I do know that he gave up a pretty high position of power, prestige, and reward because we needed it more. He was motivated by obedience to his heavenly father and love and compassion for us. It did not matter how much he would miss out on; it only mattered that we might be given a chance at eternity with his father in heaven.

Merry Christmas!

K.I.S.S.

It's time of the year where I ponder the material wealth that I possess. I am not rich by any means, but my family has more stuff than should be legal in the 48 continental United States. This time of year brings about such ponderance because Christmas is around the corner and that means my children get more stuff. Yea! Everyone needs more stuff! (sarcasm implied and intended)

The storage and maintenance of our stockpile of stuff is a constant topic of discussion for the wife and me. Because of everyone's busy schedules, we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family this past weekend. It did not dawn on me until we were leaving the house for the two hour drive to my mom's that I forgot the rent a U-Haul because most assuredly I would need one to get all the new stuff home. Luckily, we crammed it all in the back of the van and did not have to leave anyone behind in order to do so.

Saturday afternoon I spent a few minutes at my grandmother's. As I sat on the couch talking with her, I gazed around her house. Not much has changed in her home in the last 38 years. Some of the furniture has been swapped out. The pictures get rotated each each year as the great-grandchildren get older. Everything is pretty much the same - even the smell (and I love that smell).

I sat there reminiscing of my childhood days spent in the house. I remember the smell of coffee in the morning. I remember the taste of my own weakened cup of java she would make for me in the Yogi bear cup that had to stay at her house. I remember the tastes of the homemade biscuits she would make on Sunday afternoon and how she would always make one for me shaped like a stick man. My favorite sensory experience was always the taste and smell of the fried shrimp she would cook up for us.

As I allowed that flood of memories to sweep over me, I finished my visual survey of her home. I was struck with how simple it was. The house is not big by any means - three small bedrooms, 1100 square feet at best (and she raised five kids in that house, without indoor plumbing for many of those early years). I was amazed most at the lack of clutter, i.e. stuff, filling her home. If my memory serves me well, it's always been that way.

K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple, Stupid. Those of us with too much stuff are probably stupid. I know I feel stupid. We need to be constantly reminded to live life more simply. I know that I wish I could squeeze my family into my grandmother's home and we all be happy about it. The simple life sure does look good.

Thank you Granny for the best gift I received this Christmas.

Excuses

Taking liberties with some movies and great works of literature, here's a burning question:

"O Blogger, Where Art Thou?"
"Bloggero, Bloggero, wherefore art thou Bloggero?"
"Are we blogging yet?"
"The Fall of the Blog: Star Wars Episode 7"

For the last few weeks, millions of people have not cared whether or not I have blogged. Tens of you have forgotten I even had one. Two of you have wondered when I'm going to get off my lazy butt and write something. For you two faithful fans, today is your lucky day. However, all I have are excuses for why I haven't posted very faithfully for a few weeks. These are in no particular order.

1. Too busy reading other people's blogs
2. After #1, I felt inferior to their witty humor, insightful societal or theological observations, or much more exciting lives
3. I've developed an allergy to Windows XP and unfortunately can't afford a new Mac right now
4. I'm just lazy
5. I decided to live my faith journey for a while instead of write about it
6. I'm recovering from my injuries suffered when the doors opened on Black Friday and I was trampled on my way to the half priced candy canes
7. I'm trying to watch as much tv as possible since the writers strike will force early reruns
8. I just can't seem to blog when the Panthers fall below .500
9. My fingers are too jumpy because of the increased sugar intake from all those candy canes
10. My brain is too dead because of repeated crashes after all my sugar rushes wore off
11. The weather is too crazy! It's 48 degrees one day and 70 the next!
12. Blog rhymes with eggnog and I just can't mix the two
13. Speaking of eggnog, I waited all night in the barn to see if the eggnog cow would see her shadow on Dec 2 and bring us eggnog this Christmas
14. Related to #12 & 13, I spent an inordinate amount of time wondering why eggnog is only on the shelves in December
15. I'm still trying to untangle all the stinking Christmas lights
16. Developed tennis elbow doing #15
17. Spent a lot of time wondering if what Tim Allen's character on The Santa Clause is true about Santa not visiting Muslim or Jewish children
18. Practicing Neptunesday really screwed me up for a while

If I can think of some more excuses, I'll put off writing for a few more days.

Just a thought.

To Choose or Not to Choose (part 2)

As promised earlier today, here are my second round of thoughts stemming from last week's After the Bachelor show. Be sure toread Al's, er, uh, I mean "Anonymous" comments for that post.
My purpose in writing this is not to bash Brad Womack, although he probably deserves it. I agree with Anonymous Al and all his comments. The little bit I've read about this guy confirms his cad status. I want to write about placing yourself in positions where making a choice, good or bad, is difficult and the situation could have been avoided.

Let's start with Mr. Womack, or anyone else playing the role of Bachelor or Bachelorette in search of a spouse. One has to take on a fairly selfish perspective to come along and choose from your own personal supermarket of potential spouses. It is preposterous in my mind to think that you can over the course of five or six weeks get to know one person over 14 others enough to seriously contemplate spending the rest of your life with him or her. The few times I've watched any of these shows, I've always been disturbed by the level of physical intimacy explored by the spouse hunter with every member of the harem.

Which leads me to a potential "blame the victim" label. The two women who were so hurt when Mr. Womack chose neither of them put themselves in a bad position. They committed way too much emotionally and physically to this guy, knowing full well that the other women were probably doing the same. He acted anything but gentlemanly with them, but they should had assumed the equal treatment going around.

Why do people put themselves in positions like this? This isn't about taking a risk in order to gain great rewards. Don't put yourself in a position where you can't make a good choice. When talking about a faith journey, there are so many ways to apply this. We tell people to flee temptation. The minute you feel like you could make a bad decision about anything, you should run the other way. Other people simply choose not to choose when it comes to faith. Of course, not choosing is still a choice.

Nothing profound here. I've probably waited too long to post again. Any profundity has grown cold. Moral of the story is don't put yourself in a position where you can't make a good choice.

Random thoughts for the day

I promise to post "To Choose or Not to Choose Part 2" within 24 hours (that would be 2:49 pm EST according to the time on the sanctuary computer, Thursday Nov 29) for those of you dying to read it. For now, here are some interesting and random thoughts I've been pondering today.

- Here's a link to a Brian Russell's sermon on compassion. I love the short prayer of Bob Tuttle he lists at the beginning. I really enjoyed hearing Tuttle's stories when I was a student, but this prayer is serious food for thought.

- Here's a link to Keith Drury's article on the extension of young adulthood. How much farther can it go?

- This morning our family devotions came from Ephesians 6:10-20. How do you talk about spiritual warfare with a 7 year old and a 9 1/2 year old? The warfare part was really cool to them - they are boys after all.

To Choose or Not to Choose (part 1)

This post is proof positive that it is better to go ahead and go to bed instead of channel surfing. Instead of making the better choice, I gave in to the temptation to watch a little tv before going to bed. I came across The Bachelor: After the Final Rose. Apparently, at the end of this season's matchmaking attempts, the producers were given an ending they never expected. Apparently, when the day of reckoning came, he did not choose either of the final two women. The links and comments on this are numerous. Here's a link to the Google search on "Brad Womack".

Having not watched the show at all and having only read about 30 lines of text regarding the show, I don't really have an opinion on the guy's decision. I did watch the final 30 minutes tonight where the two dissed women confronted him. And I did read enough after the show to find some evidence that the guy might be a cad.

Putting all judgments aside on this guy, I do want to address one thought I had while watching him squirm tonight. What an impossible situation to be in! First of all, there is nothing real about this reality tv show. The show's premise is that it's about how single men and women interact in the courtship process. But honestly, it looks more like the QVC of spouses. You have one person given fifteen possible mates that he or she has to narrow down to one over the course of about five weeks. It's hard enough to work through all the emotions of this with one person at a time, much less a dozen or more and to do so while the cameras roll.

I watched this guy struggle with justifying why he did (could not?) commit. How many times do we have difficulty making commitments when it comes to our faith journeys? Is it because we find ourselves in impossible situations or is it because of something else? How often do we put ourselves in "impossible" situations where our decisions impact our faith journeys?

I have a lot more similar questions and thoughts to add, but I really need to get around to making the right choice and get in the bed. Until I get around to posting part 2 of these thoughts, what are yours?

Give me a break!

I'm sorry, I just have to rant for a second. What should be a cause for celebration has turned into set of wacko advisories. The first two seasons of Sesame Street are now available on DVD. What could be better than that? Apparently, a lot of things. Those first two seasons have been deemed inappropriate for today's toddler - click here for the story.

Luckily, I can make up my own mind. I even bought my 7 year old son a real pocket knife for his birthday. Guess I'm either too stupid or too dangerous or maybe even both.

Who Cares?

Sunday the Houston Dynamo beat the New England Revolution to win their second consecutive Major League Soccer championship. Now let me say what 99.99% are thinking, "Who cares?" Probably none of you even knew there was a Major League Soccer league, much less that they had a championship game yesterday. I happened to come across while channel surfing during a football game. I saw it was soccer and kept on going. Only because it was a "by the way" comment during Sunday night's football game did I know the game was as significant as it was.

Neil Diamond has revealed the inspiration behind his number 1 hit Sweet Caroline. By the way, after forty years, it's working its way back up the charts. Who really cares?

A-Rod and the Yankees cut a new deal. He'll probably retire a Yankee. Even for die hard baseball fans, who really cares?

All of the above will make great answers for the 2007 edition of Trivial Pursuit or maybe win you a huge cash prize on the new game show sure to come out soon called Who Cares? . Perhaps the last two items are more noteworthy than the first because despite David Beckham, nobody really cares about soccer in this country unless their kid is playing it.

How many times have you oohed and aaahed over someone else's pictures of their grandchild when you really didn't care? How many times have you listened to someone spill their guts when you really didn't care? How many times has someone bored you with some story they though was just great but you thought, "I don't care!"? How many times have you been that someone?

I'll tell you who cares - good friends. Friends really do want to see all the new pics. Friends really do want to listen to you when you need it. I remember one time showing up unannounced at a friend's house at suppertime just to tell him some insight I had received while reading Ecclesiastes. It was during an especially vulnerable time in my life emotionally and spiritually. When it was over, I was pretty sure he probably thought "Who cares?" but I also know that he really did.

The best place to find friends like that is at church. They'll care about things that nobody else ever would. Friends at church will stick with you through things that no one ever would. At least they should.

God cares too. He may be busy keeping the universe going, but he also cares that your team won the MLS championship, that your favorite song was inspired by a president's daughter, and that someone with an overinflated ego may ruin the chemistry of your favorite baseball team. He cares about other stuff in your life too. While you're giving thanks for the many things in your life, remember he cares about everyone.

In Honor . . .

Today is when we take a day off to celebrate Veteran's Day despite what the calendar says the date is. Whether you honored the veterans Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, make sure you do. Saturday I was awestruck as never before on this holiday. My sons' Cub Scout Pack did their annual Veteran's Day project of placing flags on the graves of veterans. We began the morning with a short ceremony to honor the parents of any of the scouts who were veterans and paying tribute to all who have served our country.

After this very moving ceremony, the scouts dispersed to place the flags. I helped a group of the youngest scouts identify the appropriate graves for a flag. As we moved into an older section of the cemetery, the graves of veterans were more frequently found. We came across a whole section of WWII vets. Moving up the hill, the vets became thicker still. We had moved into a section of WWI vets. My older son was working in a newer section of the cemetery where the veteran graves were much farther apart.

It occurred to me why this is so. During the days of WWI and WWII, it was truly seen as a privilege and an honor to serve. It was seen as a duty to country. That's not the case anymore. It saddens me to view the current politicalization of how the military is viewed today. Since the Vietnam Conflict (is that PC term?), there have been many mixed feelings about how to view the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces and even more mixed feelings about the actions they are asked to take by their commanders. That's a shame. They deserve better. And we should still consider it our duty to serve. I hopefully will not die with many regrets, but having not served will probably be one of them.

To all the men and women who have served our country and are doing so, I salute you. Thank you for saying yes to the call of duty.

Broken Streaks

This has been the week for broken streaks. The Indianapolis Colts finally lost at home after 12 or 13 consecutive home victories. But even in their victory, the Pats were crying about "extra crowd noise" being pumped into the stadium. My streak of 8 consecutive wins at Free Cell on my office computer was broken as well. I was feeling like I was in the zone too, on my way to break my record streak of 16 wins. I guess I got overconfident and played a few bad cards.

Breaking a streak can have very consequential effects on our lives. Just ask people in the southeastern US what it's like to finally break the streak of rainless days and get some much needed water from the sky. Your checkbook can balance perfectly for months and then a careless error in the wrong column can crush your finances.

Sometimes the timing of the end of a streak is of more consequence than the actual ending itself. Just imagine if Cal Ripken, Jr. had suffered some injury that sidelined him just a few games away from breaking Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games played. Can you imagine being second on the list after almost twenty years of never missing a game? It would still be an accomplishment, but people would probably remember the injury more than the total.

Our ordinary lives are full of winning streaks that we don't notice until they are broken. We may not know that we have been happy for 187 consecutive days until something comes along to bring us grief. We usually don't realize that we have been "living on top of the mountain" of our faith journeys for 13 straight months until we have spent a week or two in the valley.

Honestly, we don't even think of our lives in terms of streaks so the metaphor may be a useless one. We do think of our lives in terms of good times and bad times, strong moments and weak moments. And we prefer for the good and strong to be longer in duration than the bad and weak. My thoughts for today are, "What do we do when the streak is broken?" What do YOU do?

The Not-So-Harsh Reality of Losing

Scan the television listings and you find 3 basic types of shows on the airwaves nowadays - karaoke gameshows, crime dramas, and reality tv. Several weeks ago while channel surfing in order to forcefully shut down all higher brain functioning for the day, I came across the reality tv show The Biggest Loser. The premise of the show is that between 15 to 20 extremely obese people compete to see who can lose the most weight. They are put into teams, given coaches and physical and dietary training. To make it exciting tv, they have to face challenges each week to make the process a little difficult and to also earn rewards. The show ends with the weigh-in. Each contestant steps on the scales to measure their weight change. The team that loses the lowest percentage of weight has to vote off one of their teammates, true to reality tv gaming.

I've never watched an entire episode of this show. I do, however, try to catch the weigh-in and voting at the end. They always show a picture of the person voted off today, compared to when they first came to the Biggest Loser complex. It's amazing the transformation each person has gone through.

Here's what I like about what little I've seen of the show. Unlike other reality tv game shows, the purpose of the game is to actually help someone out. You still have tempers flaring and interpersonal conflicts, but overall, the atmosphere is generally encouraging. These individuals have been selected because of their need to lose weight and their need for a better support system in order to do so. When it comes time for voting, there are genuine tears, unlike those found on those matchmaking shows. The rationale almost always given by the team as they explain the reason behind their vote is, "This person is strong and can make it happen when he/she gets home." It's like they do not want to put anyone in a situation where he/she won't succeed, despite how it might drag the team down.

Every time I have watched this happen, I have been amazed. I have been convicted. I have turned off the show wishing reality was actually like this, especially in the church. When you are on a faith journey, you want to be surrounded by people like this. Find a place where people can help you along your journey.

When you are on a faith journey, you also want to be that kind of support to others. You have a responsibility to help others on their journey. That's part of what Jesus meant when he said we had to lose our life to gain it. It's also what Paul meant when he said to look out for each other instead of looking out for ourselves. Losing doesn't sound so bad.

Just a thought.

change of thoughts

This morning I was going to write about marathons, Star Wars, and possibly misplaced squirrels. But something better came along. Together over breakfast, our family read the story about Paul at Athens. His description of what the Athenians called the "Unknown God" and who he knew to be the One true God really touched me. Here it is:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and
earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human
hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and
breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they
should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the
exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and
perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of
us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' Acts 17:24-28

Have a great day. I pray you come to know this God if you don't already.

Deep Fried Fun

Yesterday my family and I were blessed through the benevolence of someone to enjoy the state fair. For reasons I do not completely understand, nor care to, this year's theme is "Seriously Twisted Fun". I think it involves corporate sponsorship with Subway and a few other marketing ploys. I think the theme should have been "Everything Deep Fried".

Everyone knows about funnel cakes and elephant ears, at least I'm assuming you do. For you international readers, these are basically pieces of dough, deep fat fried and then sprinkled with powdered sugar, cinnamon, fruit toppings, and or chocolate. Pardon my grammar as I speak in the language of the common man, but who don't want some of that? Funnel cake is some good eating though I myself have not had one in thirteen years. My last funnel cake experience was at a county fair and ended with a not so happy stomach. I stood in line for one yesterday and though I wanted one very badly, I found an excuse at the last moment to forego this culinary delight.

Some of you may have heard about how you can now buy deep fried candy bars. Everyone who buys one says they are wonderful, but honestly, are they really? This year saw the addition of the following items to the deep fried menu - Oreos, Twinkies, PB&J sandwiches, and even Coke. Yes folks, they are now deep frying Coke at the State fair. I was unable to get a demostration or sampling of this new phenomenon, so I have little to share with you other than its existence.

Now you know what I mean when I say the theme should be "Everything Deep Fried". I joked with some people in my church that next year we need to host a booth at the fair and sell something deep fried. I don't think it really matters what it is - people will buy it and eat it. Perhaps we can combine two other fair favorites and begin selling deep fried cotton candy and deep fried candy apples. Let's go all the way and deep fry those guys who try to guess your weight or age. Who wants a deep fried teddy bear for knocking over the milk bottles? How about a ride in the world's largest deep fryer?

Two questions come to mind as I ponder this deep frying craze. First, have you notice the conspicously absent word in that phrase "deep fried"? What's it deep fried in? Ten years ago we would have said "deep fat fried" but the health consciousness of society cannot tolerate that three letter word to be used anymore, despite what type of fat it may or may not be. Don't forget that KFC used to be "Kentucky Fried Chicken" not too long ago. Did they think we would forget it was fried if we didn't say it?

My second thought is actually more relevant to the purpose of this post. (and you thought there wasn't one!) Again I ask, is it really that good? I've never tasted one, but can a deep FAT fried Snickers bar be an improvement on the original or have we bought into the group consciousness and/or peer pressure and said, "Omigosh! This is so awesome. You have to try this." while simultaneously ignoring our other consciousness that says "deep FAT frying is bad"?

Now for the spiritual application (drumroll please) - How often do we see similar situations played out in the church? How many times do we go with the flow despite how wrong it may be or counterproductive it might be, but we continue course because the group consciousness says it's ok? Or how about those times when we refuse to go along with the group consciousness but we should be? How do you tell the difference in those situations? How often do we practice state fair theology that says its okay to go against what we believe is right in normal circumstances because we only do so once a year?

I could give you lots of answers but no one wants to spend 45 minutes reading anybody's blog, at least not mine. However, I bet you have some good answers that others might want to read. What are they? I'll be anxiously awaiting them while taking some more Tums and refilling the fryer.

Hope and Holes

Last night filled me with a little more hope for the future of our society. The kids and I watched Kid Nation. For those of you unfamiliar with this show, it's reality tv involving kids. Forty kids between the ages of 8 and 15 have been dropped off in a ghost town out west and they have to make society work. They have a town council, division of labor, etc. They do all the work.

Last night's episode dealt with matters of faith. Through cunning editing, we got to see kids from all different faiths argue about whose faith was best. The town council was given instruction to make time during the day for faith observances and a time of rest. They were given the option of either planning one service of the "one size fits all" type or organizing several different services. When the town council decided to "force" everyone to attend one service in order to learn about the faith of others, there was rebellion. More arguments ensued. No one attended the scheduled service.

However, later that night, right before lights out, a couple of kids organized a prayer vigil on their own. They went around inviting kids to gather around the fire for prayer if they wanted to, no pressure. An amazing thing happened. Due to camera angles, it was hard to see how many actually attended, but there seemed to be a lot of kids - Christian, Jew, Hindu, and even self-proclaimed atheists. The scene was so moving that one 12 year old boy broke down into tears at the expression of unity.

Things got more interesting the next day. At the regularly scheduled challenge that determines the social class of each group of kids there is also a chance to earn a town reward. Last night the choices were a mini-golf course to provide some entertainment OR a set of holy books - the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, etc. Much to my surprise, the kids overwhelmingly chose the set of holy books.

Several thoughts come to mind. I value diversity and try to be intentional about incorporating it. So did these kids but they resisted a politically correct attempt to force it on them. Good for them! They proved when given the chance, they would actually reach out to those around them in respect and genuine interest, as proven by the prayer around the fire.

I'm still trying to process the choice of the holy books over the mini-golf. It's hard to judge how much the books were actually read because we don't get to see everything that happens, only what the producers allow. Yet, we saw all the kids taking some kind of interest in the books. At different times thru the day, a group of kids could be seen taking time to read them. Deep down I want to believe that what we witnessed despite all the careful editing is an attempt to fill what has been called the "God-shaped hole" within all of us. St. Augustine is credited with first articulating this concept, though he put it much more elegantly -

"What place is there in me to which my God can come, what place that can
receive the God who made heaven and earth? Does this mean, O Lord my God,
that there is in me something fit to contain you? ... Or, since nothing that
exists could exist without you, does this mean that whatever exists does, in
this sense, contain you? If this is so, since I too exist, why do I ask you
to come into me? For I should not be there at all unless, in this way, you
were already present within me."

Just a thought.

Which one is wrong?

For those of you freaked and confused by The Matrix or afraid of anything post-modern, this may not be for you. As I drove to the office this morning, something just didn't feel right. Or look right. I couldn't decide which it was. The temps today are forecasted to be another record-breaking high of 94 degrees (yes that's right - 94!) but the leaves on the trees are all turning beautiful shades of red, yellow, and orange because the days are getting shorter. Which one is right?

I'll admit to being fairly ignorant of the names of all the philosophical schools of thought. I could not tell an existentialist from a Epicurean, though I could tell you what makes them tick after talking to one of them. Today is one of those days that makes you wonder metaphysically what is real - what I see or what I feel? I see fall coming - in the leaves and on the calendar. I feel summer in its prime. Somewhere out there is a school of thought with a name that talks about such questions.

Unlike yesterday's post, this one has a purpose and meaning. Our faith journeys are in many ways directed and interpreted by what makes us tick, by what our perspective on the world around us is. For some, matters of faith and how they serve God are dictated by how they feel. For others, it is determined by what they see. There will be times in life where these two will be stand in stark contrast and lead to very different outcomes. How then does one decide?

What do you do? Which guides you more? How do you choose which way to go? As you ponder these questions, put on a tank top, grab some ice cold lemondae, and go out and enjoy the changing leaves.

Hi, I'm Brett Favre

Last night as I struggled to stay awake during the second half of Packer-Bears football game, I realized something. I'm Brett Favre. No, I'm not having some kind of schizophrenic psychotic episode nor am I developing a dissociative identity disorder, confusing my real identity as the Marlboro Man with that of Brett Favre, starting quaterback of the Green Bay Packers and certain hall of famer. At one point during the game while the announcers were lauding Favre's ability, even at this stage in his career (this is his 17th season), they shared a quote from one of the Bears defensive players. This player had called Favre "an old Tony Romo". Translation - he is too old to be able to do the things he is doing. All the talk the last twelve months about Favre has centered around when he is going to finally retire.

As I listened to the announcers talk about Favre and his career accomplishments, I began to do the math. Brett (we're on a first name basis) and I are about the same age, but he looks WAAYYYY older than I. I looked up his birthdate, and to my surprise, I'm actually 6 months older than he. My age compared to all the famous people in the news lately has garnered much of my attention. When I look at all the hot stars in the music business or in Hollywood, they are all a lot younger than I. A few years ago I had the painful experience of going to the doctor for a checkup and discovering that my doctor was younger than I. When I think about the 2700 years of schooling required for such a position, it really made me feel old.

I know that I really am not all that old. In fact, if not for the peach fuzz I mistakenly call facial hair, I would look more like a college student. But one cannot help but examine one's life, wondering if it has amounted to anything, or if anything is left ahead to do. I've already begun accumulating my list of things I wish I had done. Things like actually listening to all those financial advisors and opening an IRA when I was 22 or serve in the military when I had the chance.

They say that the more you learn the more you realize you don't know. They also say there is no shortcut to wisdom. I have been privileged to meet some men who have pastored for forty-five or more years. We don't listen to those men enough because "they're not in touch with today's world". Maybe they're not. Just because they don't have an iPod though doesn't mean they can't help you navigate through life.

So what does any of this have to do with me thinking I'm Brett Favre? Nothing really. You're just reading the meandering thoughts of a once brilliant mind going dim with age. You are participating in the angst of someone wondering if his life has really mattered up to this point. You are peeking over the shoulder of someone who is feeling a little goofier than usual today and also knows that there is lots of time ahead to do whatever he wants. And you're also being asked to pray for the Carolina Panthers. I really want to return to the Superbowl and live up to all the pre-season hype again.

Just a thought. Now, I challenge you to find some coherent way to comment on these mumblings. This is Brett Favre signing out.

Eight Days a Week

No, this is not a post about the Beatles, though their hit with the same title is nice little sing along (lyrics here). BTW, this was a single release only in the US, but enough about the Fab Four. I've decided I want a new calendar. Contrary to popular belief, the 365 day calendar we so enjoy with its quadrennial leap year is not the only calendar in use today. We may have clocked it "perfectly" in terms of our position relative to the sun and other stars, but some cultures and other parts of nature refuse to abide by such constraints. For instance, I learned yesterday that Muslims utilize a 354 day calendar to mark their religious celebrations. The moon, and many women with it, operate on a 28 day month.

So, I've decided I will start utilizing an eight day week. This will accomplish two things. It will give me an extra day on the weekend and it will give me an extra day each week to think of something to post here, assuming I keep to a regular Monday morning posting schedule. Now the logistics of such a change have to be worked through.

First, I have to decide what I will call my eighth day. I'm thinking about something totally boring and mathematical like Octoday. Or I can go with something more creative and relate it to Roman mythology and call it Neptunesday (after Neptune). That's actually not a bad idea because Neptune is the eighth planet and Octoday makes me think about an octopus which lives in the sea and Neptune was the god of the sea. Okay, Neptunesday it is.

Second, where do I place this eighth day? Do I insert it between Saturday & Sunday OR after Sunday. We still consider Sunday the first day of the week, but when you look at work calendars, at least in western society, many times, Saturday and Sunday are squished together in one block at the end of the week, making Monday the first day on the far left.

Third, how will this affect my interactions with the rest of society? My church expects me to show up on the first day of their old-fashioned seven day week and give a sermon. And what if I want to get a Chick-Fil-A sandwich on Neptunesday, but it just happens to fall on the Sunday of a seven-day week? They'll be closed. Extended family gatherings during the holidays might become an issue too unless they realize how much better the eight day week with Neptunesday really is.

Looks like the world will have to be changed. What do you think? Is it worth the headache? I'm pretty certain that an eight day week won't catch on. Maybe Neptunesday isn't worth the headache, but some things are. Matters of faith and how a faith journey shapes your life certainly are. Even how we do church is worth changing if it means we will grow in our relationships with God and it allows us to connect more people to a faith journey.

What are the things relating to our faith and church in particular that are worth changing, but might create a little havoc initially as you try to coordinate with the old way of doing things?

Did you hear that pt2

Staying with the theme from last week's post, let's talk about the need for an interpreter. When I lived in the inner city, I had a lot of contact with Hispanic immigrants. There was a large population of Hispanic people in my neighborhood. The school where I taught had a lot of Hispanic students. I heard everything they said perfectly fine. I understood very little though. I needed an interpreter. Of course, the more time I spent in these kind of conversations, the more I began to understand. But I never reached a point where I could make it without an interpreter.

Hearing from God is like that. The more you hear from him, the more you are able to understand on your own. However, there are some things you just want to verify that you are understanding correctly. It may be really big decisions. It may be that even though you are 99% positive you have heard correctly, there isn't any peace about the decision. That's where it's good to have an interpreter to consult.In fact, it's good to have several interpreters. Friends you can trust with the details. Friends you can trust to listen to God with you.

I've been using some interpreters myself lately. I'm glad I have them because I don't want to give somebody a big yellow pencil when they are trying to tell me they are having a heart attack.

In the news today

Here's a sample of interesting news that caught my eye today. Some are worthy to ponder, others are just for a good laugh.

God gets sued (be sure to read the whole article)

QB testifies to miracle from God

Meteorite causes sickness

BoSox rookies get hazed (you'll have to wait thru a 15 sec commercial)

Feel free to comment on any of these. Have a great day.

Did you hear that?

I was brushing my teeth this morning when I thought I heard my phone ring. That happens frequently because I use an electric toothbrush. Sometimes when I turn it up to extreme super max high speed with the grinding wheel so I can really polish my molars, it creates a ringing in my ears. I turned off the toothbrush and listened more closely and realized it was just the ringing inside my skull created by the 100,000 rpm motion of the toothbrush head.

By now you've probably heard about the mosquito ringtone you can download for your cell phone. We all know that as we get older certain parts of our body do not function as well. Our ears are two of those parts. The internal parts of our ears become less sensitive to higher frequency noises as we age. Someone has done the research and found out a frequency that teens can hear but adults cannot. I've been to the website above and tested it myself. My kids could indeed hear what I could not.

This morning as I was hearing things I didn't really hear and pondering things I couldn't hear, I began to think about hearing God. Most people are afraid to say, "I heard God speak" for fear of being locked away someplace where you can't hurt anyone. Most of the time it is true that when we "hear" God it is more like a feeling that we know what we are supposed to go and do, say, stop, or whatever. There have been times in my life where I knew what God was saying to me but pretended it was something else because I didn't want to do the thing he said. Those times usually don't end well until you turn it around. Luckily, I eventually turned it around.

There are other times where we misunderstand God or just hear him wrong. On a few occasions, my wife and I have stepped out in faith to do something we just postively knew was something God had told us to do. Halfway through the endeavor it became obvious we needed to turn around or just stop the thing altogether. The question then became, "How did we misunderstand? Will we ever be able to understand and know for sure what we are supposed to do?"

Misunderstanding/mis-hearing will go a long way in making you gun shy in the future. It certainly has for us. So what do you do? One of things you can do is bounce it off your friends who are on the same faith journey as you. Ninety-nine percent of the time they'll be able to help you discern if you are doing the right thing. You can always compare it to things you thought you heard in the past; for example, ask yourself, "Is this something that is out of character for what I know about God?"

Sometimes you just aren't going to know until you step out. When you do, don't worry if you discover that you may have misunderstood. Remain faithful on your journey - that's what he's measuring anyway. Above all else, keep listening because he will speak to you.

Now, I wonder what would happen if I hooked my toothbrush up to my car battery?