Just Random Stuff

I've spent waaaaaaaaay too much time this week thinking about serious things. So I'm going to take a brief mental vacation with no set itinerary and no garmin to tell me where to turn. Let's hit the highway, shall we.

I have somewhere between 200 and 400 albums sitting in my basement. (Those are those big black "CDs" for those of you born after the Carter administration.) One of my pre-Christmas purchases is a USB turntable. Though I don't want it to consume all of my spare time, (You know, the hours between 11:00pm and 6:00am.), I am really looking forward to converting much of that to a usable form. Back in the day I was quite... um... compulsive about my records. I had a directory of every album; what song, which track number, when produced. I had the same kind of directory for my alphabetized comic book collection. Hmmmmm. Maybe I really was a nerd or geek or whatever the term as way back then.

I used to be a very picky eater. No, really. I mean even more picky than I am today if you can imagine that. I don't think I would have ever tried broccoli if it weren't for wanting to be polite and impress Lesly's mom when they had me over. I never ate mac & cheese until my sophomore year of college. I had my very first orange the winter of my senior year of college. Oh but I did love (and still do) my M&M's. I figure I averaged over half a pound a day my freshman year. Then I put all the M&M's "Pounder" bags on my dorm room wall like wallpaper, alternating between plain and peanut in a beautiful yellow and brown checkerboard pattern. And I didn't even gain any weight! (You can see the skinny me on my facebook wall)

Why is it that when there's ice on the side of the road people drive thirty miles under the speedlimit. But when the ice is covering the road the seem to go 30 MPH above it?

I always get confused. Does a westerly breeze mean the wind is blowing out of the west and to the east or out of the east and to the west? And when it's already raining outside, why does the weatherman come on and say something like, "There's an 80% chance of rain today." If it's raining right then wouldn't it be a 100% chance of rain?

How unfair is it when the city tells us we should use less water and then complains that their revenue is down because people aren't using as much water so they need to raise the rates? Why is crabgrass called crabGRASS and not crabWEED? I'd feel so much more inclined to try and rid my lawn of it if it were a weed and not just another form of grass.

And finally, since my cat poops in the litterbox should I throw my litter away in a poop can?

DayVee Goes Retro

Thanks to my teenagers I’ve recently discovered Facebook. It’s been really fun tracking down people I knew decades ago and renewing old friendships. It’s like playing a combination of my own private versions of “Where are they now?” and “This Is Your Life.” But this stroll down Memory Lane has brought several interesting things within me to the surface.

Obviously to start with, I am getting OLD! Sure I don’t feel like it most days. (I can still run faster than any of my kids!) But I see a name that I should recognize and it takes me several moments to place them and dust out the cobwebs to really remember anything about them or a shared experience. I haven’t seen or spoken to some of these people over half my lifetime ago.

Which of course brings up the fact that I am such a terrible “keep-in-toucher.” There is but one person from my high school years on my current Christmas card list and the same goes for my college years. And I can’t even remember when the last phone conversation I had with either of them was. And it’s not like I was a real loner way back then. I think I was kind of fun and very social. I wish I had the “gift” my dad has. I call him Mr. Friendly. He is so good at all the people kind of stuff.

And though I have many fond memories of past things and people, the first thing that usually pops into my brain as I reconnect is a regret about some way I recall in which I was not as nice to them as I should have been or some other such way in which I think I may have wronged them. Then I feel silly because if I do bring it up the other person doesn’t even have a clue about whatever it is I’m making an apology for.

I understand that who I am today is such a mixture of my past experiences and those who touched my life in small and big ways. Somewhere along the line I suppose I got this warped idea that living in the now and not in the past means never, ever looking back so that’s pretty much what I’ve done. But in doing that I’m sure I’ve missed the many blessings these past friendships may have produced. Now I’ve got A LOT of catching up to do. This should be fun!

Rescue

This Advent my pastor is doing a series call "The Great Rescue." A week ago he started with God's creation of man for relationship with Himself, the fall, and the promise of the rescue to come.

I used to think Adam and Eve were so stupid. How could they, after experiencing perfect fellowship with God before the fall, make the choice to throw that all away by violating the only boundary they had? But as I mature I've become much more sympathetic and less critical of their situation. I guess I see myself so much more in Adam than I used to. I know the thousands of times I've failed to stand firm against temptations or chosen to listen to the voice that tells me "Surely you won't die." What is it within us that makes us want to stand right on the edge of a boundry, getting as close as we can to crossing the line? Shouldn't we be smart enough to know boundaries are for protecting us? Why don't we just avoid walking by the tree that tempts us so it won't even be on our mind?

It really makes me long for heaven. I'm so greatful for The Great Rescuer.

How I Spend My Lunchtime

My youngest son will turn 10 this month. All he's been begging for is a hamster. His older brother had one and his older sister currently has two. So we yielded to his wishes and got one for him this past Sunday. But something didn't seem quite right with this hamster from the very beginning. I don't know, maybe it's because my son named her Snowball even though she was dark colored, speckled and long haired. She also made these terrible noises when you tried to pick her up. And she had this odd odor. Much more stinky than just your normal hamster odor.

**

Once we got the little critter home and in her spanking new cage she just didn't seem very interested in exploring like every other hamster I've ever known. At first I thought she was just traumatized by the whole process of being in a new environment. So we all let her be for a day to allow her to acclimate to her new home. On day two she still didn't seem very hamster-like. No real running on her wheel. No stuffing her pouches full of food and hiding it in her bedding area. Not much activity at all.

Well, I knew something more was wrong than just being the new fur ball on the block. So last night (that would be Wednesday and we got the hamster on Sunday) we decided we would return the little animal, get a refund and look for a suitable replacement at a different store. Today I decided I would save my son from any odd feeling he might experience in taking the pet back so I went home over lunch to make the return. Boy am I glad I did. Poor little Snowball had gone on to that giant running wheel in the sky. So, doing my duty as a dad I hurried up and cleaned the cage as thoroughly as I could to rid it of any remaining health hazards and prepare it for a new occupant. (I wonder, do hamsters worry about things like living in a house where a death just occurred? Do I need to have the new animal sign a disclaimer that I've disclosed the history of their dwelling to them? Help me any of you animal attorneys out there.)

Then I put "the remains" back in the little box in which we brought her home and proceeded to the pet store. Here's a recap of that exchange.

"I need to return this hamster."

"What's the problem?"

"It has expired. I only bought it Sunday."

"Hmmmm. It seems we've been having a lot of bad luck with our hamsters lately. So do you want to exchange it or get a refund?"

"I'll just take the refund."

Needless to say, we'll get our replacement at a different store that is having better "luck" with their hamsters.

** Not an actual picture of the deceased hamster.

The Strange Change Machine

The family I grew up in wasn't very affluent by any standard. My mom was, and still is, a great budgeter. I can remember the ritual each payday of going grocery shopping with my parents and getting to run the "clicker" to help keep track of how much we were spending. In those days you paid cash or you didn't buy it. Some weeks we'd even have enough left to buy chips or some other luxury item. As a matter of fact, we were pretty poor I guess. Though I never really knew it or felt that way. Sure I knew lots of other kids who had more toys or neater stuff than I did. But I was content and happy so it really didn't matter.



Christmas was always such a highly anticipated day. It was always the one time of the year when something amazing happened. Somehow I'd waken and find things under the tree I'd been wanting so badly but was almost to scared to hope for because I didn't want to be disappointed. One of the items that to this day is on the list of my best childhood gifts ever was the Strange Change Machine by Mattel.

It was so cool! You'd take these plastic squares and place them in the heated chamber. Like magic these squares would morph (no a word they used back in the 60's) into creatures. Once cooled the creatures were hard forms that you could play with on the plastic mountain-like surface that came with the set. Then at any time your could place the creatures back in the heating chamber. This would soften them up so you could put them in the compressing chamber, turn the crank and remold them into the square they started as, complete with the Mattel logo imprinted on it.

I have no idea how much this cost my parents. I don't even know if they realize what a treasure that gift seems to me even now, evoking all the warm memories. It makes me wonder what things will my children remember from a childhood Christmas. What's on your list of best Christmas gifts received as a kid?

Yesterday was a really good day. Yesterday was also a very tough day. I tend to be a very introspective person. These past few months my head has been quite the high traffic area. I have so many seemingly random things firing off between my ears. Yet somehow I sense they are interrelated. I just haven’t been able to fit all the pieces together to know what the big picture of my life looks like. Just a glance at the front of the box would help. I think I at least have most of the edges in place. Well, here goes.

The details of what’s printed on the first side of the cardboard doesn’t really matter all that much. It only helps us understand the extent of God’s grace and how far He’ll go in order to write on the other side of our cardboard. And as a matter of perspective, side A is just a blip compared to eternity spent experiencing the reality of side B. So can we please spend more time celebrating everybody’s side B rather than needing to see some one’s side A to somehow make us feel like our side A is less bad?

To what extent will God go to get my attention? Will I or others I love suffer because that was the only way God could get through to me? I hear stories on know people who go through terrible, tragic events. But it is through those events they refocus their heart on God. I’d like to think my reaction to losing my spouse or a child, or of having a disease would be to still sing ‘Blessed Be the Name” with the same gusto I do now. But those words are so easy to thoughtlessly sing when He seems to be in the “give” mode. Will I be just as convicted to sing of His blessings when “take away” is the status?

Okay, here’s a big one. At first I thought I shouldn’t put this here online. But then I realized, I only get like one hit a week so who’s gonna know anyway. The sin I struggle with most, the thing that rules over me and that I hate most about myself is pride. I don’t mean it in the sense that I think I’m better than others or that I look down on other people. And I don’t mean that I think it’s wrong when I know I’m doing some things well, like trying to raise good kids or having a good work ethic.

But so often I know I lock God or others out of the equation because I’m “smart enough” to figure things out on my own. Or I decide it’s just easier to depend only on myself because I’ve seen far too many people bearing the lifelong scars, mental and physical, from relying on the wrong person(s). And besides, I am dependable so you can rely on me without ever having to reciprocate because I don’t need to rely on you! I am also very good at rationalizing that God has gifted me with the brains so isn’t that close enough to relying on Him that it counts?

I really hate to stop here. But I’m out of time. I hope I can continue this soon. We may be getting close to a breakthrough.

Lost Vegas

Last week I was in Las Vegas for a few days attending a business related conference. Since I don’t indulge in most of the activities that are available to those making “Sin City” their destination of choice, (Okay, I confess, I did drop a few dollars into a slot machine. But that’s it.) I was afforded a lot of time to walk around and make some observations. Don’t mind me while I just note some of them here, in no particular order.

I was reminded anew of just how blessed I am to not have an addictive personality and have some measure of self-control. Oh how many have made just one or two bad choices that have reaped an avalanche of consequences that could have been averted with a simple “no” before it all got started.

The reality is far different than the image. As I landed and took the shuttle to the resort at night I could see all the bright lights advertising all the fun that awaited the visitors to Vegas. Sure there are some very interesting themes to the casinos and in the architecture. But it’s all a façade, a scheme to draw you inside where the real theme is “give me lots of money as I fool you into thinking you are being entertained and you have a slight chance of winning a little bit.” Overhearing some conversations during breakfast at the conference, there were people who had lost more money the night before than all the expenses my company incurred to send me and two others there for three nights and four days. And it’s as if these people were bragging about losing that much. Hmmmm. Since they like just giving it away, I wonder if they’d go for just handing the cash over to me. I’ll let them brag all they want. And I’d even double tithe on it!

It’s not just the image versus reality as it relates to the casinos. The explicit sexuality on display just makes your feel defiled by simply walking down the street. There are groups of people on seemingly every corner trying to pass out pornographic advertisement for either bars or “services” of all kinds. (I’m not talking “classical” or “contemporary” worship service styles either.) It seems almost any depravity can be found if the price is right. After all, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

But in addition to the disgust it was all very heart wrenching and sorrowful. What could drive somebody to sell their bodies like that? Did they run away from home because they felt unloved? Were they trapped in that lifestyle due to addiction or something else? Had they come, drawn by the bright lights and promise of success, only to find themselves making one “temporary” compromise after another to make ends meet? It made me want to get home and tell my wife and kids, especially my daughters, how much I love them and how special they are.

The whole time I was there it was like there was just this dark, icky sensation that enveloped everything. Almost as if I was the only one who could even see the real evil that lurked behind the glittery false fronts. Or if others could see it, they just didn’t care. People are funny that way. Most of the time they really do know right from wrong. But often it’s easier to rationalize why wrong isn’t so wrong than it is to take a stand and live in a way that is different from the world around us.

I’m still unpacking the many things I’ve been contemplating after my Las Vegas trip. So I don’t really know all of what I’ll take from that experience yet. Jesus loves the world and the world desperately needs Him. What is my part in His plan? What's yours?