What's Your Poison?

Go to "Death by Caffeine" to find out how much of your chosen caffeine you can have before it kills you!

What is a missionary?

Missionaries - we all know who they are. They're the people who live in exotic, far away lands, with people of different cultures. Bringing Christ to the Nations. Different languages, different cultures, different people, different countries. It takes a special kind of person to be a missionary. They're special. They're called. They're God's Important People. Lots of special training, lots of special work...right?

There's another kind of mission field, though. I go out into it every day. Showing Christ to the people around me. Following God's will and God's Word - even when it's not convenient or easy. Believing and trusting and HOLDING FIRMLY to Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Praying and living each day believing that GOD'S will shall be done - not MY will. Living according to His will, His word, and His purpose.

That's my mission field. I'm a missionary to lots of people - including fellow Christians. Who knows what they need - maybe just by being there I can help them in their faith walk. Maybe just an email, or a smile, or a comment is all they need to help them right now. Maybe it's something greater. Maybe I'll never know the purpose to which God is putting me right now. But that's OK, because I know that He is putting me to a purpose. He does have a plan, and it all works together for the good of those who love Him.

No, I don't have to go to exotic, far-away lands to serve in a mission field. I'm in my mission field, day in and day out, doing the mission I was called to do. I just pray that I can do it well, and faithfully. It's hard sometimes to remember I'm in a mission field. It's hard to "show Christ to the nations" - or even my friends and family sometimes. But, I also hold tight to Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Which Dino are you?

I'm a VELOCIRAPTOR! w00t!

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Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

My coworker *rocks*.

I got in this morning to see a small bag of chocolates sitting on my desk. Asked my coworker about it and she said that since everyone in the "contractor's triangle" had their "stockings" filled (small stockings for each of them at their desk, I'm guessing), and I don't sit over there so I wouldn't get any, she dropped off a few chocolates for me.

Nice to come in to. :)
Thanks, Chris.

Thoughts for the day

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy,
they just promised it would be worth it.

Links for your enjoyment

If you're looking for free, downloadable books for your PDA, here are a couple of links for you.

Memoware has free e-books in several formats, and a searchable database. If you create an account there (also free), it'll even save your search preferences!

For more free books, go to Baen Books' Free Library page. Eric Flint explains the reason behind the Free Library on that page. New, original material from current authors who Baen publishes. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to try to buy Baen books whenever I can, just because of that policy.

And, for some fantastic Christian music, go to Lost & Found's website. They do great Christian music, and believe that music should be sung enthusiastically.

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs

There's an excellent article here about our Law Enforcement in society. I encourage everyone to read it and really think about it. I'd reproduce it here, but it's not mine to post.

Are you a sheep, a sheepdog, or a wolf?

Woof.

The Rules of The West

Rules of Utah, Idaho and the Wild West are as follows:

1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.

2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.

3. Let's get this straight: it's called a "gravel road." I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

4. They are cattle. That's why they smell to you. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-80 goes east and west, I-15 goes north and south. Pick one.

5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during the hunts, we WILL shoot it outa your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar you can get them at the bait store on the corner.

9. The "Opener" refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.

10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no "vegetarian special" on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah.... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!

13. You bring "Coke" into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring "Mary Jane" into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.

14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.

15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards -- it spooks the fish.

16. Colleges? We have them all over. We have State Universities, Universities, and Vo-techs. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they still wave at everybody when they come home for the holidays.

17. We have more folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines than all of you put together, so don't mess with us. If you do, you'll get whipped by the best.

18. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers! Refer back to #1!

Winter Weather Car Tip

Want to save yourself some time in the morning? Try this trick that a friend of mine from Michigan passed along.

Get a large garbage bag, at least a 30-gallon one. I like to cut it open along the 2 side seams and fold it out along the bottom seam (leave the bottom seam intact). Now, go start your car's windshield wipers, and turn off the car when they're in the "full up" position, so they stay that way.
Now, lift the wipers out of the way (away from the windshield), take your garbage-bag-plastic-sheet and spread it out across your windshield. Once it's flat and spread out as far as you can make it, put the wipers back where they belong to hold it down.
If you have any bag hanging over the sides of the windshield, open your front doors, and tuck the bag in. Shut the door to hold the bag.

Now you won't have to scrape that 3/4" of ice off your windshield tomorrow! It's great for keeping off snow, frost and (of current interest throughout the Midwest) freezing rain and sleet.

Small plastic grocery bags and a twist-tie or two may do a fair job at keeping the ice off the side mirrors, as well. I've tried drawstring garbage bags on that, so far, with a 50% success rate (one stayed on, one blew off). I'm trying the grocery-bag-twist-tie thing next.

Stay safe, dry and warm!

Happy Saint Nicholas' Day!

Yes, today is St. Nicholas Day. You thought it was a bit later in the month, didn't you? Nope, that day is reserved for the Lord's Birthday.

St. Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra during the 3rd century A.D. It will come as no surprise to find out he had a reputation for secret gift-giving. He is the patron saint of sailors, pawnbrokers, merchants, archers, children, and students.

The most famous legend told about him is this one.

A poor man had three daughters but could not afford a proper dowry for them. This meant that they would remain unmarried and probably, in absence of any other possible employment would have to become prostitutes. Hearing of the poor man's plight, Nicholas decided to help him but being too modest (or too shy) to help the man in public, (or knowing the man too proud to accept charity), he went to his house under the cover of night and threw three purses filled with gold coins through the window opening onto the man's floor. One version has him throwing one purse for three consecutive nights. Another has him throw the purses over a period of three years, each time the night before one of the daughters comes "of age". Invariably the third time the father lies in waiting, trying to discover their benefactor. In one version the father confronts the saint, only to have Saint Nicholas say it is not him he should thank, but God alone. In another version, Nicholas learns of the poor man's plan and drops the third bag down the chimney instead; a variant holds that the daughter had washed her stockings that evening and hung them over the embers to dry, and that the bag of gold fell into the stocking. For his help to the poor, Nicholas is the patron saint of pawnbrokers; the three gold balls traditionally hung outside a pawnshop symbolize the three sacks of gold. People then began to suspect that he was behind a large number of other anonymous gifts to the poor, using the inheritance from his wealthy parents. After he died, people in the region continued to give to the poor anonymously, and such gifts were still often attributed to St. Nicholas.

I'm a triolet!

What poetry form are you?

If they told you I'm mad, then they lied. I'm odd, but it isn't compulsive. I'm the triolet, bursting with pride; If they told you I'm mad, then they lied. No, it isn't obsessive. Now hide All the spoons or I might get convulsive. If they told you I'm mad then they lied. I'm odd, but it isn't compulsive. What Poetry Form Are You?

Movie Review: Enchanted

This one's a fun little ride. It shows what happens when the naive little Disneyfied world collides with modern-day New York City. It takes a lot of the Disney conventions and gently pokes fun at them, encouraging us to laugh.
Since it is pretty much a Disney-ish movie, you know how it's going to end. Everyone gets their Happily Ever After. Sorry if that spoiled it for you, but geez, Kev & I both saw the ending coming from a mile away. You probably will too. It doesn't matter, as the "how will it END?" really isn't there. The movie knows you know how it's going to end, and therefore doesn't waste any plot-points on hiding it. Good move, in my opinion - that screen time is better served giving us another joke (like Prince Charming stabbing a bus - and getting completely told off by the bus driver).
Susan Sarandon camps it up as The Evil Stepmother - and she does a great job. The only jarring note was her platform "KISS"-style boots. I thought they looked awfully clunky, but then again I'm sure that pretty much everyone else is going to love them, so it's not like those ruined it or anything. Her...um...assets are displayed to great advantage, I must say.

And Timothy Spall. God love him, that guy's found his niche and he's gonna play it for all he's worth. For those of you that remember him as "Wormtail" from the Harry Potter movies...well, let's just say you won't be surprised at his character.

Prince Charming is appealingly brainless, and James Marsden makes it work. I have no idea how - in most hands that kind of naive, brainless approach by a "real person" would've been incredibly annoying, but he makes it, appropriately enough, charming. And if he's doing his own singing...WELL. Great voice on whoever it was that did the songs.
Same with Amy Adams, a/k/a "Giselle", a/k/a "Prince Charming's intended". She was the perfect choice for this role, as she plays the naive, almost brainless "Disney Princess-to-be". I do like the scene where she discovers "angry". It's VERY well done. And again, if she did her own singing...brava.

Anyway, it's a fun spoof of the traditional "Disney" style movies, without breaking the "happily-ever-after" requirement.
Excellent.

Movie Review: Mister Magoriam's Wonder Emporium

This is an extremely bizarre movie. For those of you that haven't seen it, Dustin Hoffman plays Mr. Magoriam, a magical man who owns a magical toy store. When he decides that 243 years is long enough to live, he leaves the toy store to his assistant, "Mahoney". The magical toy store is evidently sentient as well, and expresses its displeasure at losing Magoriam by, essentially, throwing a fit. The magic stops working, everything turns black, and Mahoney decides to sell the store.

Subplots: Mahoney is a child prodigy-turned-frustrated composer. She keeps trying to make "the perfect composition" but never can quite do so. Turns out she needs to believe in herself.
There's a small boy who helps out in the store, and whose only friend is Mahoney. He's not only a magical kid, he's a total freak - building life-size statues of Abraham Lincoln out of Lincoln Logs, for example, and doing so in a matter of minutes. He collects hats. His mother expresses concern about his lack of friends. He says he doesn't know how. Mom says "introduce yourself." So he does, to...
The accountant, Henry. Magoriam has hired Henry to dig through over 100 years of receipts, notes, and random business papwerwork to find out how much of a legacy Magoriam is leaving to Mahoney. The only amusing points of the movie really came when dealing with the accountant. Magoriam decides that an accountant must be a "counting mutant", so everyone calls him "mutant". And he accepts it. I don't get it.
Anyway, the kid introduces himself to Henry, the "mutant", then gets Henry to walk him home. He invites Henry up to see his hat collection, nad he and Henry start playing "pretend" with all the hats. Mom, of course, shows up in the middle of their game and looks extremely disapproving about all this.
The movie ends, of course, with Mahoney deciding she does have the magic after all, and the store is restored to normal.

I found it highly annoying. Let's take the kid. Mom's barely there, but fine, she's a single mom, cut her some slack. But her interactions with her kid are horrible. Her suggestions on how to make friends are "find someone you don't know, and introduce yourself." That's it. The kid's already told her that all the other kids his age consider him a freak, so who does she think he's going to make friends with? And once he comes home with a friend, she kicks the friend out. Great, mom. Let's just make it perfectly clear that you're unhappy your kid isn't normal, hey? And he should just KNOW how to become normal and make you happy. Whatever.

Mahoney is another irritant. Much is made about her inability to finish a composition, evidently because she doesn't believe in herself. She has many awards littering her apartment, showing she won many piano playing competitions, prizes, scholarships...and yet, at the toy store, she encounters someone who says he was in her Physics class in college. Um...what? If you're good enough to win prizes, awards, and scholarships for your musical talent, you don't go to a generic local college and take PHYSICS class - you go to Interlochen or Juilliard or Tanglewood to learn how to be a better musician! You surround yourself with music, learn how to write music, play music with your musical peers - you don't go to PHYSICS classes!
By the way, with all the noise made about her needing to believe in herself and then she'll be able to finish her composition, the composition gets rather left out of the denoument of the story. Just so you know - don't go waiting around to hear what happens to her composition. She doesn't finish it.

And evidently all it took for her to believe in herself was for Henry-the-mutant to believe in her. Tell me you didn't see that coming.

Magoriam's death, by the way, was pretty weird. He just decides one day that, even though he's perfectly healthy and happy, he's done living. Bye.

I'm seeing a lot of problems with that concept. I imagine a conversation after that movie: "Daddy...why did mommy decide to leave us?" "She didn't, she was very sick and there was nothing we could do." "But Mr. Magoriam died because he wanted to. Why did mommy want to leave us?"

Yeah, thanks.
So, the messages for your kids in this movie are:
People die because they want to.
Make new friends, but only of people your own age, even if you're a freak and nobody your own age will talk to you, because otherwise mommy and daddy will be disappointed in you.
Believe in yourself and you can do anything - except what you really really wanted to do in the first place.

Okeydokey then.

Dustin Hoffman, and the credits, were really the only enjoyable parts of this movie. Well, other than Justin Bateman getting called "mutant". A lot.

Too Right I Call It Pop

Now pass the cheese.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Doesn't seem to be showing the "percentage" lines correctly, although it did in preview. Weird. Stupid code.

Being Good Is hard To Do

I was talking yesterday with a friend about how difficult it is to lose weight. The formula's easy enough: Calories In < Calories Out. It's the implementation that's difficult.

I want something that's going to work for life, instead of being just a weight-loss "system". I want something that's going to be healthy. I want it to work, instead of "doing all the right things" for weeks on end only to find that...hey, wow, I lost a pound. Whoopdeedoo.

I want it to work without surgery. I want it to work now. I need results, doggone it. And I want to do it without having to dang near obsess about Calories, Carbohydrates, the Glycemic Index, Grams of Fiber, or Weight Watchers Points.

I want to do it with normal real food, that I can make myself, not some prepackaged expensive stuff that comes in miniscule portions with some big-name weightloss company's name stamped on it. And most of all, I want to still be able to enjoy food.

I guess that's my biggest problem, really. I enjoy food. I don't want to give up food, and I'm extremely tired of "well, if I eat this NOW, I won't have any 'extra' Points / Calories left over for that thing I wanted later." I'm tired of having to do calculations and keep records of what I eat and enter numbers into my PDA for five minutes just so I know if I can have that one snack I was eyeballing.
I'm sick of it. I'm sick of being fat, but more than that, I'm sick of trying to not be fat. Calculating and adding up numbers and worrying about if I have "enough" Points left to actually have a bag of pretzels is not normal. I don't know how I'm going to lose weight, but dangit, I'm NOT going to continue trying to do it the way I have been.
We'll come up with something, I suppose. And if we don't, well, I've been fat this long. I'm kinda used to it. It's not good for me, I know - I'd be FAR better off exercising more, eating less, and generally getting thinner and healthier. But for now, I'm just going to try to come up with something that works for me. Once I find it...I'll let you know.

Happy Fangsgiving!

OK, note for the future: Combining Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays all in a 3.5-day visit is just too much. Seriously. I'm exhausted, and I didn't even do anything!

Mom got to surprise dad with his Christmas gift - a new Camcorder and tripod. She and my dad really are grateful to all my online friends that helped out and gave advice about what to look for - and what NOT to buy!

Nephew Raymond luuuuurvvvveeesss opening presents. Anyone surprised? No, I didn't think so. He LOVED his books he got from Gramma & Papa and from Aunt Kim & Uncle Kev. He wanted mommy & daddy to read "what I see in church" and "Martin Luther" and "The Creation" and "My First Catechism" and... :D

He also luuuuuurrrrrrvvvvveeeesss Kai. I was a little concerned about that one, to be honest - most 2-year-olds just aren't crazy about being around a dog that's the same size as them. And even the ones that are used to big dogs like that really aren't "good" with them - they're always sticking their fingers in his nose / eyes / ears / mouth and constantly need watching to make sure they're not torturing the poor dog. But not Ray. Nope, he knows exactly how to behave around dogs, and he was always very careful to be nice to Kai. He LOVED giving him treats and pets and hugs! Of course, that meant he also wanted to pretty much feed the entire Thanksgiving turkey to Kai, who was right there encouraging him! Kai even let Gramma know that she was not to play too rough with Ray. When he squealed because she was tickling him, Kai was right there and grred-barked at her, as if to say, "thus far. No more." Then when she stopped, he backed off and sat down and watched to make sure that Gramma and mommy were going to treat HIS human puppy well! Goodness. I really didn't expect that.

Kev really likes his new FM Transmitter he got for Christmas from my parents, and I'm really happy about my Shiny New Mythbusters DVD collection! :D
Mom was happy with her new crocheted bags for shopping (so she doesn't have to use paper OR plastic anymore!) and with her 6 bags of Vanilla Creme Drops we managed to find - and the new Carhartt gloves we got her.
Heather & Seth liked their Crocheted bags and homemade cookies! YUM.
Dad liked his Carhartt gloves and we completely surprised him with a scraper that attaches to a reciprocating saw. :D

Overall, the visit was a good one. Tempers and patience were starting to go on Sunday, since we were all tired from the visit (and we think Ray's teething again, so he did not have a good night, which of course means mommy & daddy didn't either) and we were all kinda bummed we had to go Back To Reality Land, but in general, I think a Good Time Was Had By All.

Well, duh. Go say thanks!

As usual, it takes a post or nudge from my sweetie to get me to think of these sort of things. I emailed everyone I know about it, but did I think to put it in my blog? Nooooo, of course not. But he did, so now I think to do it too.

Let's say thanks is a website where you can create a postcard by selecting a picture, entering your name, and either selecting a pre-fab message or creating your own. The postcard will be entered in the Queue of cards to be sent to a soldier who's serving in the US military.

Go on, go say thanks.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Something interesting happened after church yesterday that highlighted one of the many reasons I really like our pastor. After service, we always have "announcement time" - anyone that has something to announce that they want everyone in church to know about gets a chance to say their piece.
Usually these announcements revolve around "Hey, the youth group fundraiser items came in," or "the LWML is meeting right after service" or whatever, and we did have those kind of announcements. However, at the tail end of the announcements, a little girl in the front pew raised her hand to say her announcement. She said...something. She was pretty quiet about it, so nobody farther away than maybe 5 feet could hear her. Many adults, especially those in charge of a service or program, knowing that nobody could hear her, probably would've cut her off, or asked her to wait a second and then tell them on the way out what she had to say.

Not Pastor. He listened quietly to her announcement, and even moved a little closer to her so he could hear the whole thing. When she was done, he repeated it so that everyone could hear it, just like he would for any person who had an announcement but couldn't speak loudly enough to be heard. Again, many people (even, sadly, many pastors) would have chosen to just tell the little girl "that's a good idea" or "that's nice" and exited. But no, Pastor said that she wanted to remind everyone to wash your hands before eating, so you don't get sick, and mentioned how important the reminder was, and thanked her for reminding us.

Many people would've blown her off, or just not acknowledged her waving hand, figuring that "oh, it's a little kid, she just doesn't get it, this is for important (read: "big people") stuff." Our Pastor, though, understands and recognizes that everyone contributes "important stuff" to a church, and that everyone deserves respect, regardless of their age.

Yet another reason I really like our Pastor. I truly believe God called him to our church, and we are so blessed to have him and his family with us.

Get ready to get dirty.

Discovery Channel did an interview with Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs. If you haven't seen this show yet, and you get the Discovery Channel, I highly recommend it. It's an honest guy, showing how people do an honest day's work in the most filthy jobs imaginable - and every one of them contributes to the smooth workings of our lives.
If you don't have the Discovery Channel, you can at least check out the website: http://www.discovery.com/dirtyjobs

It's a great show. Mike's a great, very earthy, very funny host. Oh, and there's a pig. Sometimes.

comment from yesterday got me thinking.

So, I'm reproducing it here in today's post.

I think I see another imprecision.....

To believe something exists is really very different than believing IN something. Luther said it is not enough that someone believes God exists, or even that He sent Jesus to die on the cross and that Jesus rose again from the dead. Even Satan believes that.

Believing IN something means you are trusting in it, you are basing your life on it. It is one thing to know or believe that God exists, it is completely another thing to trust IN Him and His Word and to know that He will provide what we need, especially when we are tempted to sin.

I sincerely doubt that the person who said she didn't believe IN war would ever consider putting her trust in war. I even doubt that many soldiers put their trust IN war as a guiding idea. But they believe it exists. They make their living doing it, and they probably believe IN the cause that brings the war about.

So when we are saying "I believe IN God the Father Almighty....and the rest of the creed, we are saying far more than "there is a God and He exists" But many people aren't actually going any farther than that.

So good call!

She's right. I used the wrong definition of "believe" and this could have caused quite a bit of misinterpretation as far as the rest of what I believe, and the rest of my post. Thank you to her for correcting my definition, because I would NOT like to cause confusion over my beliefs because of it.

I believe in God. That means I put my faith in God. I do not put my faith for salvation in war.
However, I do believe that war is sometimes necessary. War, in and of itself, is a bad guiding idea, as she said. However, to steal a quote from another friend of mine:
"People are free because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

To all those people who have stood ready, who are standing ready, and who will stand ready to do violence on my behalf, so I may remain free...

Thank you.

What I believe - and what I realized

I believe a lot of things. For example, I believe that people use the English language very imprecisely. I heard someone on the radio this morning saying she "doesn't believe in war." Oh really? It exists, and I know lots of people that can prove it. I believe in war - I know it exists. I think she meant she doesn't believe that waging (or fighting in a) war is moral - but I can't be sure what she really meant, because she didn't use the language precisely.

I "believe in" war - I know it exists. Likewise, I BELIEVE IN God. I know He exists. I BELIEVE that I am a sinner, a "lost and condemned creature", as Martin Luther said, and that nothing I do can EVER pay the debt of sin I owe. I believe that everything I do is tainted by sin, and therefore it will NEVER be good enough, on my own, to make up for my sin. I believe that I sin every day, and even if I could start to make up for the sin I do, I have so much sin and evil in me, and commit more sin every day that I don't even realize I'm doing, that there's no way I could ever catch up. I also believe that God loves me, and wants me to be with Him forever. But, because of my sin, I - by myself - cannot join Him.
But here's the best part. I also believe that God sent His only Son to earth to pay for my sin. I believe that Jesus was both God and Man, that He died on the cross to pay for - not his OWN sin, for He had none - but for MINE. For every single person that ever was, and ever would be. Our sins are paid for. Covered. And nothing I did, nothing I can do, EVER came into play. He did it all on His own, without any input from me, without any help from me.
I believe that, because of this incredible gift of love that Christ gave me, I am washed clean of sin. ALL my sin is gone in God's eyes, because of Christ's sacrifice. Because of this, I can come to God as one of His own beloved children, and He will give me what I need, and what is best for me. He always hears my prayers - not because I deserve to have Him listen, not because I'm a "good person" (because nobody can EVER be good enough for God on their own), but because His Son made me His own.

I believe that Christ shares His body and blood with us every time we participate in the Lord's Supper. I believe that He gives His life to us every time we partake of His body and blood. I believe that He is truly present, that His body and His blood are really, physically present at every Holy Communion. The Jews in the Old Testament were forbidden from eating or drinking the blood of animals they killed, because that blood contained the very LIFE of the animal. That was not theirs to eat - they were only to eat the meat, not the life. Christ gives us his LIFE, and shares his life with us when we eat his Body and drink his Blood. I believe it's not a symbol, or a representation of Him - be3cause it's not a symbolic life! We're not going to "symbolically" go to heaven with Him - we are going to live with Him.

I believe that participating in the Lord's Supper with fellow Christians shows that we share the same beliefs. I believe if we do NOT share the beliefs of the people we are with, that we should not attend Communion with them. See that word "union" in there? If I'm not IN UNION WITH the people around me, I SHOULD NOT pretend I am by attending Communion with them. I SHOULD NOT lie to them, and possibly even myself. I will, instead, pray with them, sing along with them, and participate in the aspects of worship we DO agree on.

I realized this weekend that another of my "beliefs" was very wrong. I tend to think of "the mission field" as Somewhere Else. It involves leaving home and going to people in a far-away place, with a different culture, different habits, and probably a different language than I have. It likely involves a passport and lots of vaccinations. Missionaries are specially-trained people who have to learn a lot, including new languages, and spend years in a culture they didn't grow up in, teaching people who never met them before about the Gospel.
Guess what?
That's not the ONLY mission field out there, and the specially-trained people aren't the only missionaries. We all are missionaries. Everywhere is a mission field. Home, family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors are all a mission field. Sometimes it's a "small" task, and sometimes it is a decades-long mission to share Christ with a single friend, relative, or co-worker. It always involves lots of prayer, lots of patience, and sometimes, lots of grief.
We don't always see the "payoff", but that's the way mission work is, sometimes.

We don't have the luxury of waiting till "the right time", either. Who knows what will happen? The people of Noah's time sure didn't expect 40 days & nights of solid rain when that first storm started - and by the time they realized they were in trouble, it was too late.
Christ's coming will be the same way - once He has come, it's too late for that talk with your neighbor, your co-worker, your friend. Once He comes, it's too late to believe, as well. Sorry, time's up.

So...we need to share our beliefs with others, and we need to do it every day. I don't know how God's going to use me today, but use me He shall, and I'll try to be ready for Him, and do what He wants me to do.

And a BIG thank-you to our Pastor for helping me to clarify and realize all of this.

Totally and completely irrelevant

Yup, so I just decided I wanted to post something, but I have nothing to post about. So here I am, being a complete attention-ho, and posting just because I can, just to give visitors something to slog through before they get to the cool stuff, like Guy Fawkes Day (and really, who doesn't like holidays celebrating explody things? Only that sorta celebrates the non-explosion of Parliament, which I'm sure the Brits are fairly happy about, and they celebrate by making fireworks explode. No, I don't understand it either, but as far as I'm concerned, any excuse to make things go BOOM is good, so I'm all for it. Well. SAFELY, anyway. I mean, y'know, not if the BOOMS are pointed at people and intended to hurt them. That's bad.)

In other news, it smells like someone's computer just caught fire. Great Caesar's ghost that's nasty. Ooooh, hey, that sounds like someone's using a portable fire extinguisher.
Y'know, you'd think, with odors like that, and stuff, that the fire alarm would go off or something, don'tcha? Ah. Turns out the foam insulation on a water-cooler / water-heater just caught on fire. Exciting. Emergency numbers have been dialed.
Wow, burning styrofoam stinks.
I mean really stinks.

But at least nothing went boom. Which could, in fact, be bad OR good, depending on the way you look at it. And it's a good thing that it happened now instead of, say, 12 hours from now. THAT would've been messy, because nobody would've been here to notice the smoke, and wouldn't have unplugged the water dispenser, and wouldn't have put out the fire. So it would've kept burning until it caught the wallboard on fire, most likely, and then the sprinklers would've gone off and my computer and shiny new flatpanel monitor would've gotten wet and probably fried.

But still, that was nasty.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day

Don't blow anything up. Especially Parliament.

TAG!

I've been tagged by The Rebellious Pastor's Wife, to participate in a...game? Thought exercise? Meh. Internet...thingy, called the "Blue Tea Meme".

Rules:
It was started by a lady who has a blog called Blue Tea. (Thus the name!)
According to the original poster, the rules for this meme are: “Devise a list of 5-10 courses you would take to fix your life. It’s more fun to be in classes with friends, so include one class from the person who tagged you that you’d also like to take. Tag five.”

Hrm.

She mentions Woodworking and Home Repairs. Yeah, I like that one. Sign me up for that.

And car repairs. I sure wouldn't mind knowing what the heck is wrong with my car and how to fix it. I might still send it to the guys in the shop, but hey, at least I'd know what they're doing to it.

But as for the rest...wow. fixing my life is a pretty tall order. It's pretty borken, some days. And I'm pretty sure some of the stuff I'd like to know will never be on a Curriculum -- ANYWHERE -- I'll have to think about it. I mean, I seriously doubt that anyone's ever going to offer a class in "How to Remove Highly Annoying And Incredibly Stupid People From The Gene Pool Forever", ya know? How about I work on finding a couple classes that might be potentially useful to me somewhere down the road, instead?

Like...Cooking, maybe. I can follow a recipe, but the actual Art Of Cooking is sadly beyond my grasp, I think. My sweetie has done wonders in teaching me as much as he has so that I actually can, and do actual real live cooking now, but I'd still like to know more.

If we could branch out into some rather Unorthodox classes, I'd also like to learn how to...um. How to put this so it won't gross people out completely. {think}

How to hunt, how to field-dress, and how to do what's necessary to get the meat from the animal into my freezer. How's that? So...um...Hunting Lessons?

More outdoors stuff:
Plant & Tree identification, and uses for the varying plants & trees. Herbal lore, medical uses, other applications.

Fauna: Identifying animals from their tracks, scat, and calls, especially Owls and other birds.

I guess that's all for now.

Um. Who to tag. WildStrawberry, Captain Spaulding, and Kylee.

Here I stand. I can do no other.

(Thanks to Captain Spaulding for the idea).

Happy Reformation Day! On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a copy of his treatise on indulgences, later to become known as "the 95 Theses", to the door of the church at Wittenburg. And so began one of the largest movements of the Christian faith.
Martin Luther never set out to start his own denomination. He wanted to reform the Roman Catholic church, not leave it. But, once it became frighteningly obvious that the church as he knew it would not reform, he could not help but leave.
It's tempting, is it not, to go to church every week, and sit in the pew, and think about how nice it is that we certainly don't have to do that. Thanks, Luther, for doing all the hard work for us. Only that's not really true. There are still errors that crop up in peoples' beliefs. It is our duty and obligation to point out these errors and to help our fellow Christians (and non-Christians) to correct them. However, we should NEVER do this out of a sense of sanctimonious holier-than-thou superiority. It's not about "scoring one" on someone else, or making OURSELVES feel better because, hey, at least we're not like that guy.
No, it should always be in love that we do this. Because we CARE for someone and we are CONCERNED for them. This means, of course, that most of our "error correction", so to speak, will be a tadge closer to home than Luther's was. That doesn't mean it'll be any easier! Sometimes it feels far more difficult to try to point out the errors of a brother, a sister, a parent, a close friend than it would to try to...well...Reform The Church! And, while your relatives and friends probably won't try to cut off your head, they may very well cut off their relationship with you.
Wow, that hurts, doesn't it? Just makes you want to run right out there and start with the error correcting! Woohoo, let me at it - a chance to tick off my family, get them to never talk to me again, and have them think I'm a stuck-up, intolerant jerk because I am the one who said, "No, that's wrong, and I can't agree with that." It's very difficult to stand up - especially to family - and say, "I'm sorry, but I can't agree to that practice; it's wrong". It's even more difficult to follow that up with "if it continues, I'm sorry, but I cannot worship with you." But that's exactly what we are told to do in Matthew 18! If it's hurtful? Well, it's the pain that is supposed to help bring the erring person into line!
And what if it doesn't? We keep praying, we keep doing the right thing, and most of all, we keep loving them, and trying to help them. And, of course, we must be willing to accept error correction ourselves. None of us are perfect, and we will err too - so we must be willing to accept help in correcting our errors, as well.
It's also tempting to say, "Hey, that's between them and God, let THEM work it out." Unfortunately for us, God doesn't really give us that option. He told Ezekiel that if he appoints a watchman, and the watchman sees trouble and fails to warn the people, and they die, it's the WATCHMAN that's responsible. If the watchman does warn the people, and they ignore him, it's on their own heads. We are the watchmen. Each of us has been appointed by God to be a watchman for each other! God will hold US accountable for THEIR actions if we see them going astray and DO NOTHING. So if we see an error, it is our DUTY and OBLIGATION to point it out, and do everything we can to help that person correct it. And it is their duty to point out our errors, as well.
Even if it's family.
Even if it hurts.
Even if we don't like it.

Luther puts it best.
"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason—for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves—I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen."

God help us all to do what is right. Amen.

Thanks.

You called as I was finishing that last blog post. The phone rang as I was hitting "publish", so I know you couldn't have read it yet. But somehow you knew I needed to get out of MY headspace and just talk to you. It was just about "nothing" - we talked about how we were doing, how he was, how you were, and a bunch of other things, and very much did NOT talk about how miserable I was.
That's exactly what I needed. Somehow, you knew. Somehow, you always know, even when I don't tell you.

That's why you're my best friend. I thank God every day for sending you into my life.
Thanks.

I'm TIRED.

Nothing profound today. No philosophy, no insight, no...well, nothing but whining. Really, you'd be better off skipping this and going about your day. Seriously.

Still here? Honestly, just skip it. Mark it as read and just go do something productive.

Fine, if you're still here, it's not my fault. Don't tell me about the ten minutes of your life you want back later. I tried to warn you.

I'm tired. I'm tired of having to plan and pack for an entire week at a time. I'm tired of having to pack lunches and dinners for Monday through Thursday. I'm tired of having to remember to pack my clothes for 4 days every week. I'm tired of not being able to just come home for dinner every night.
I'm tired of having no idea what to say when people ask me "how's work going?" I don't know. It's OK, I guess - tedious, but OK - but I'm tired of being away from home to do it. I'm tired of having no idea What I Want To Be When I Grow Up.
I'm tired of being depressed. I'm tired of being fat. I'm tired of feeling like this, because some days it's like I'm in a mental fog. Nothing's interesting, nothing's funny, it's just kinda...there. And quite frankly, I'm tired of having to think about stuff like "should I eat that" or "we shouldn't go out to eat" all. The. Time.

I know it'll go away. I know I'll feel better in a few days - maybe just after a good nights' sleep, maybe it'll take a few days, whatever. But right here, right now...I'm tired.

*sigh*

And now I have to go pack so I can leave my family behind for another week.
I am so...flipping...tired...of having to do that.

See? It's nothing but a Pity Party that I threw for myself. Toljaso.

"Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain"

-Friedrich von Schiller

And boy, was HE ever right. Our phone went out this past weekend. Normally no big deal, but we had kinda hoped to do some online stuff, and if the phone's out, the DSL is out, so I called Verizon's 24-hour line.
It's now an automated line, which quite frankly I like infinitely better than the human-staffed line. For one thing, I don't have to wait on the phone for an hour for a live person to answer, just to get the same questions the automated line asked me. For another, the automated line doesn't get snotty with me and ask me stupid things like "if your phone is out, then how are you calling us to report a problem?"
The fact that it's an automated line is very important. Remember that fact.

It asked the usual things, phone number (with area code), what kind of problem am I reporting, etc. Then I got the following two questions:
"Does the phone have a dial tone at all?" No.
"I know this is highly unlikely, but are you placing this call from that phone?" Um. What?

Really, it did say "I know this is highly unlikely".
I think my brain just melted.
I mean, really, think about that.

They know that you're not gonna be able to call the phone company if your phone doesn't work at all, especially to the extent of "no dial tone". And yet...apparently there are enough incredibly stupid people that will place calls to the phone company, reporting no service on their phone, and no DIAL TONE on their phone, and will do so using the phone that is supposedly out of service, that the phone company needs to program that question into their automated helpline.

I weep for humanity.

Customer Service?

I thought this would be obvious. I mean, y'know, you'd think it'd be obvious - giving good customer service results in more business. No, I don't mean "the customer is always right" kind of customer service - sometimes the customer is patently wrong, and needs to be told so. I mean good, intelligent, responsive customer service.
For example: calling your customers back when they're trying to patronize your business! We needed some home repair work done (replacing the fascia behind the rear gutter, and re-attaching the gutter. Oh yeah, and do it without ripping the phone wire out, which is right underneath the gutter. In fact, the gutter would currently be resting on the wire if we hadn't propped it up.) so we called the guy we've dealt with in the past for similar home repairs. He'd always done a good job, and the charges were reasonable, so we felt fairly confident in calling him.
Kev left a message on his machine (the usual practice) and we waited for a callback to make an appointment.
And waited.
And Kev called again.
And we waited.
We waited two weeks and didn't hear a thing. Finally, this past Saturday, I looked in the Yellow Pages, saw a listing for "General Contractor" in our town, and called them. Explained the gutter situation to the real live person (NOT an answering machine) on the other end of the line, who said she'd pass along the information and we could expect a call back to set up an appointment to check the situation out and get an estimate.
Less than one HOUR later, we got a call, he came out and checked out the gutter, gave us an estimate and said he'd be out either Tuesday or Wednesday, and he'd call the night before to let us know which it'd be.
Yeah, guess who we'll call next time we need home repairs done. And guess who just lost our business - forever.
Seriously, if you're not accepting new business right now, or you're on vacation, or just aren't going to return calls for a month, say so on your machine. If you're so overbooked you couldn't get to us till December, call us back to say so! Don't leave your potential customers hanging! I mean, really, if you can't be bothered to even call back to confirm an appointment, with someone who's seeking YOU out and wanting to give you money, I have to wonder how much you can be bothered to QC your work after it's been paid for. Nope, not going to call you anymore, dude. Bye, bye, former contractor guy.

Schott Construction, you have MY business for being professional, for being there, for promptly returning calls. Next time we need home repair / general contracting done, we're calling YOU GUYS the FIRST time, so we don't need to look for a "second time".

Note to self

When making instant oatmeal at work, make absolutely sure that there is enough hot water in the container to get all the oatmeal wet. Because dry instant oatmeal is even more disgusting than Alton Brown says it is. Bleagh. Now I want some of the leftover apple pie in the contractor's triangle just to take the memory of the taste & texture away. Yuck. Or even that scorched coffee I smell right now.

Blog Action Day?

Today is supposedly blog action day. The environment is a Big Issue; something that obviously affects us all - and vice versa. Want to learn how to reduce your impact? Leave No Trace will help you learn. Great organization; great classes. Check 'em out.

I hate this phrase.

The phrase "Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's ALL small stuff." Drives me nuts. I don't know why, exactly. So, hah, you get to read my Random Mental Mutterings while I try to figure it out. Lucky you. But at least you get to click away from the page. This kind of thing clutters up my brain all the time.

So anyway, I think at least part of it - the biggest part, really - is that yeah, it may all be "small stuff", but dangit, it's the small stuff that always drives me nuts. BIG STUFF I can (usually) deal with. I think because it's supposed to be irritating / annoying / depressing / generally icky-mood-inducing, so therefore it's not quite as much of a surprise when hey, now I'm irritated, annoyed, depressed and icky-moody. I know the cause, I know it's temporary, and I know it'll go away eventually. Problem solved, I can get on with my life now.

But the "small stuff" - that crap is always there, it always happens, and it's always trying its best to goop up my happy place. And it's never any ONE thing I can point to, and say, "well, sure I'm depressed, look at THAT Bad Thing." No, it's just little crap, gooping up the happy place. So even if I do try to point to something, it feels like "gee, THAT is what's getting me down? I must be pretty pathetic to let that get to me this bad..." Yeah, wow, that sure is helpful. Now I've got my Happy Place all goopy and I'm feeling pathetic and stupid for letting "small stuff" goop up my Happy Place!

I just need to remember: Dust is a very small thing. It's a vast collection of "small stuff" - but it can be a Big Problem in machinery. Dust - a Very Small Thing - can cause scratches and dings in die molds, necessitating expensive replacement, motors to quit working, and generally make life Very Unpleasant if it's not removed or otherwise allowed for. So, when life's Dust is gooping up my Happy Place, I'm not pathetic. I'm just in the middle of a Dust Storm right now. Come back later, maybe I'll be out of the Dust Storm, okay? If you really want to help, give me your hand and maybe show me the path OUT of the Dust Storm. Without any stupid platitudes. Especially that one about small stuff.

And hey, ya got a mop? Cause this Happy Place sure could use a good de-gooping.

Product Review

Hershey's Special Dark Raspberry Flavored Kisses


Yuck.



Although, for a product review, I suppose I should post more than that, hey?
Okay...

The first thing that hit me when I opened the bag was the overwhelming chemical smell of fake-raspberry. I tried to eat one of the Kisses, and I didn't taste so much chocolate or raspberry so much as BLEAGH. Again, the chemical taste of the artificial "raspberry" flavor that was added just overwhelmed the chocolate flavor. And, since it was "Special Dark", that is a powerful lot of overwhelming going on.

Very chemical-y taste all through it, and a nasty, bitter aftertaste.
Or, in sum:

Yuck.

Helping Out?

One thing, though, that I know we can all do to help - personal contact. It's not really that much - a phone call, an email, a letter, a package. Tell your friend, your relative, your loved one that you still miss them, you're still waiting for them, you'll still be here for them when they come back home. They need to know that, need to hear that more than ever. It's difficult when you're "over here", especially when you're the HomeFront Spouse, trying to keep a life going that formerly took two of you to make it work...but even five minutes here and there makes a difference. It lets them know that hey, they haven't been forgotten, that you do still love them, that you are still waiting for them.

I know how hard it is to tell my husband the little things about my day. Our phone conversations generally go something like, "yeah, my day was OK. Busy. Yours?" "yeah, about the same." "Well...um...love you. See you in a couple days." "Yup, love you too. See ya." How hard would it be to tell him "Hey, I had a meeting today and this happened and then I saw a hawk on the way home, and the dog slobbered on my feet again today." Just as easy, right? And it makes it more "homey", more personal.
So why don't I do it? I don't know. Sometimes I just don't think of it. Sometimes I'm just so damn lonely for him that I can't think of anything beyond "I want to be with you and I want it NOW."
Maybe I'm afraid he'll get bored and tell me that I said the same thing yesterday. Maybe I'm hoping i can be brilliant and wonderful, to impress him, to make sure I'm still going to be someone he wants to have come home, and when that doesn't happen, I don't want to admit that Mrs. Brilliant And Wonderful is really just covered in dog slobber.
I dunno.

I do know that I'm gonna do the best I can to make sure that the people I know who are overseas get to hear about their families as often as I can tell them something - even if it's just about homework. Even if it's nothing more than, "Hey, your stupid dog slobbered on your kids last night..."
Because there's something right with the world if the worst I can report is All About Dog Slobber.

I realized last night that I'm getting just a teeny little taste of what the people deployed to Iraq have to be feeling. For some reason, last night it really hit me that if Kev needs me to be home, for anything at all, for any reason...there's not a dang thing I can do about it. Not one. Emergency? Sorry, it'll be at least 3 hours before I can be there. Just want me there? Well, see ya in a few days.
I can't imagine what it must be like to know that hey, if there's an emergency...sorry, can't help. Need me to be home to help out with something? Ask someone else. Just want me there? Hope you'll still want me in 6 or 7 months, because that's when I can be there.

Just mind-blowing. I can't imagine that at all - and when I try, it's incredibly depressing.

To everyone who is making that sacrifice, both here and overseas....thank you. To you and your families, who are putting up with that separation for our country and others...there are no words. Nothing I can say that expresses my deep and abiding gratitude for you. Thank you. Thank you so much. There's not enough I can say; not enough I can do to express it...but I will try.
Every little bit I do to say thanks is loaded with so much thanks that I just have no idea how to express it all.

If I had the money, I'd buy you all breakfast. Since I don't, I'll continue to try to express it the only ways I can - by helping out and supporting the ones I know in the small, insignificant ways I do...and continue to look for more.

Thanks.

Pictures from the PCC!

You can tell how much fun KAI had - here he is, listening to the Leave No Trace lecture:

offering to drive:


And completely wiped out after a full day of caching and socializing.

Pokagon Cacher's Campout

We had a fun time this weekend, for this weekend was the 3rd Annual Pokagon Cacher's Campout. They had various activities for the cachers, including some temporary (non-loggable) caches, a "reverse closest-to-the-pin" contest, and a Film Can Toss. And of course the requisite Potluck Dinner, raffle drawings and other assorted distractions.

The highlighted speaker of the day was Bill Houk from Leave No Trace, who did a great job at educating us on the " Seven Principles of Leave No Trace", why they exist, and how they could be applied to not only geocaching, but other forms of outdoor activities. (It helped that Bill himself is a geocacher, so he knows a lot of the challenges and opportunites that face geocachers).

We met up with Torry, who did his usual excellent job at providing humor, sociability and quite a few raised eyebrows. Anyone who knows Torry can just imagine the comments that were being made during the "human waste disposal" section of the "Leave No Trace" presentation...including comments about the "poop tubes". The nice ladies sitting in front of Torry were in a constant giggle-fit from his comments (thank goodness they found him amusing...)

After the dinner and so on, we followed Torry back to his campsite for some excellent homebrewed beer and socialization. Much fun was had by all, and we didn't get back home till around 11:30 pm.

VERY good day.

Sleepy now.
That's the consequences of a Very Good Day, I expect. Ah well. Thanks, Torry, for your hospitality.

Always what we need, not necessarily what we want

God provides. He always does - and it's always what we need, not necessarily what we want. I have to keep reminding myself of this as I wonder about my contract. I was originally hired to the end of this year, and I'm starting to look again for work. Will I find it? Dunno. God provides. He provided this job, and a place for me to stay (well...two places, now. I'm extremely grateful to the kind woman who first invited me into her home, sight unseen, and put up with me for several months. And I am also VERY glad and thankful to my friends who have now invited me into their home to our mutual benefit.)
But, even though He provides what we need, that doesn't guarantee it will be an easy time. Being away from family and home each week, only going home on weekends...that's rough. Knowing that other people have it worse - away from family for over a year, having loved ones serving in the Middle East...that's WORSE, but knowing that others have it worse doesn't make my position any easier for me. I've never quite understood how other people (not everyone, obviously) can say, "Oh, I like to remind myself of other peoples' situations - then mine doesn't seem so bad and I can cheer up!" It doesn't work that way for me. I see other peoples' situations, then mine doesn't seem so bad...yeah, that part works. But then I don't "cheer up", really - I just think, "Geez...I must be some more kinda selfish shallow person to still feel like this is difficult when they have it so much harder." Then I feel worse, not better.

A very dear and wise friend told me, though, to remember that just because someone else has it worse / harder / whatever doesn't mean my feelings are invalid. Just because I'm not happy about my situation when someone else has it worse (and there's always someone with it worse) doesn't mean I'm selfish and shallow and I have to cheer up now. I guess what I'm looking for in that situation is "permission". If someone else has it worse, I almost feel that I'm not allowed to feel sad / depressed / anything-but-happyhappyjoyjoy. Well, the heck with that. I'm not really a happyhappyjoyjoy person, to be honest. Never have been. I'm sure that doesn't make me terribly easy to get along with, and I'm (again) grateful (and a bit puzzled, to be honest) that so many people are willing to try.

But anyway, God never said He'd make everything easy for us. Matthew 19:26 says "...with God, all things are possible", not "all things are easy" or "all things are preferable" or "everything works out the way you want it to." Faith moves mountains, but God doesn't say those mountains shift themselves around with no effort from us. GOD does the hard parts, but he's not some Great Vending Machine Santa Clause Wish Granter In The Sky, where you put in the right prayer coin, or the right ritual, or just wish hard enough and boom, we get Exactly What We Wanted! A new pony! A bike! Whirled Peas! Everyone to get along! Kumbahyah! Whoopee. Nope, not gonna happen. I firmly believe that God set up this job opportunity for me, and He wants me here, but I still had to apply for the job. The offer came out of the blue, and other circumstances surrounding the offer and eventual hiring were enough to tell me that this is where I'm supposed to be, but God never said anything about it being what I wanted, or expected, or that He'd make it easy. No, it's not what I expected, it's not really what I wanted (or especially where I wanted!) but it's where I needed to be, and where He needs me to be right now.
MY benefit from it may be just a financial one, or there may be other "Me reasons" for me to be here. It may be that the primary reason was to set me up to benefit someone else. I really don't have all the answers - but it's enough for me to know that God does. He's always working for our GOOD, even if it's not our PREFERENCE. That's tough to remember sometimes, especially when I reach to the other side of the mattress at 2am and there's nobody there.
But it is enough to get me through the 2am "nobody's there", and keep me going. I hope for something more preferable to come along, but until that time, I'm content (not happy, necessarily, but content) to be here, where he wants me, doing whatever He wants me to do.

Now...I'd PREFER to go have a chocolate-chip muffin. But...it's not good for me, so I'll have some Kashi cereal. Which, incidentally, tastes nothing like a chocolate-chip muffin.

Lest We Forget

It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC

God of our fathers, known of old,
Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine -
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart:
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

Far-called, our navies melt away;
On dune and headland sinks the fire:
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds without the Law -
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget - lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust
In reeking tube and iron shard,
All valiant dust that builds on dust,
And, guarding, calls not Thee to guard,
For frantic boast and foolish word -
The Mercy on Thy People, Lord!

  -- Rudyard Kipling

What do you remember?

You had to see it coming. Honestly, it's September 11. 9/11. EVERYONE is going to be blogging, and emailing, and chatting, and posting stuff today about the attacks 6 years ago. It's the first major successful attack on US soil from an external source since Pearl Harbor, for pete's sake. The first major successful attack on the continental US since...what, 1814? And it was done using our own pride, our own open-mindedness, our own confidence in ourselves, our country, our way of life.
All of which were changed, even just a little bit, in an instant.

What do YOU remember? I remember it was a day just like any other day. I was doing my job when I got an email from a co-worker, entitled "OH MY GOD!!!!!"
I opened it up, and in it was a picture of a plane, flying into the World Trade Center. I figured my co-worker was forwarding some sick joke received from someone else. Only it wasn't a sick joke. CNN's website was overloaded that day. All work, or even pretense of work, ceased at my workplace that day, as we all gathered around 2 small TVs, trying to see what exactly was going on.
It wasn't a sick joke at all - it was sick reality.

And I remember the small things. I remember who I was standing next to, and right behind, and right in front of, while 2 dozen of us gathered around a tiny, 11-inch TV screen. I remember trying to call home, and the cell towers not handling the traffic.
Later, I remember talking to my dad about it, and I remember him saying that he never got to see the World Trade Center. They'd gone to New York City before it was built, and he'd put off going back since then, since there was always another demand on his resources. Besides, it'd still be there later.
Only now it won't.

I remember starting to walk back to my desk and hearing "OH MY GOD THEY'VE ATTACKED THE PENTAGON!!!"
I remember watching the Twin Towers collapse. I remember, later, reading accounts of the best and the worst of people on September 11 and the days following. I remember reading about all the people rerouted to Canada - and the wonderful people of a little town called Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada, who opened up their hearts and homes to everyone stuck there. I remember the patriotism. I remember flags flying everywhere.

I remember a lot of things. Rage. Anger. Disbelief. Grief. Determination. Pride. Gratitude.

It's interesting how easily we can forget. It's interesting how easily the events of six years ago can be put behind us. Where is the rage? Where is the anger? We can't sustain those forever - nor should we. Ongoing, relentless rage and anger and grief only serve one thing - HATE. Hate is what STARTED all of this, and hate will not finish it. Determination, yes. Hate, never.
But where is the pride? Where is the gratitude? Why is it we still whine about what we don't have? Must have the latest, coolest, hippest gadget. Must have MORE. Must GET more.

We'll never BE more by GETTING more. We can only BE more by EXPRESSING more pride, more love, more gratitude, more determination, more empathy. We BECOME more by being good people. If we don't remember ANYTHING else, we absolutely must remember that.

Be good people. Take pride in ourselves, our country, our fellow humans. Be grateful for the blessings we've been given. Say "thank you". Show other people we appreciate what they do for us. Show them we accept them for who they are - not what they can become, or who we'd like them to be. Accept people as they are.
This also means we need to accept that some people will never, ever accept US for who we are, and that they will do their best to eliminate us, and our way of life, by Any Means Necessary. And we must be prepared to defend ourselves. Being good people DOESN'T mean being Caspar Milquetoast or Pollyanna, stupidly hoping against hope that if we're "good enough" then everyone will like us. It's never going to happen that way, because Good People are always a threat to Bad People. ACTIVELY good people are even MORE of a threat. Ironically, being Good People is probably what started this in the first place - but it's also the only thing that will also end it. I'm not going to argue politics, or say that everything we've done is unequivocally good. I'm not that naive, nor am I completely stupid.
However, I do firmly believe that our country, and the beliefs that she is founded on and the rights that are guaranteed in our Constitution, are a threat to many governments and many organizations' way of life. The more people you have that think, and are encouraged to do so, the less chance there is of those people being dominated by the few people that want to run things.

Again, we're back to "Who watches..." and again, the answer is, "we do, because we must." We must be Good People, and we must be Intelligent, thoughtful people.
Think. Watch. Listen. Pray.
Then go out and Be Good People. People will remember you for it.

Stuff from the weekend

We visited my parents over the weekend. Lotta fun. We went to the Point Betsie Lighthouse, which was open, so we toured it. Dad & I went up to the Very Top. Mom & Kev stayed down - they were Incompatible with the stairs. Not real user-friendly stairways. See?

Bottom Stairs:


Looking UP the stairs:



















Then there's the upper set of stairs. Looking up at 'em, and looking down at 'em respectively:

But the VIEW was incredible.
















From here, South & North Manitou Islands and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore were visible. That doesn't happen every day, so we were very fortunate to see them.


We learned about the history of the lighthouse, its significance for Lake Michigan, and how important it still is for navigation.

Ships sailing the horseshoe of Lake Michigan - Lake Huron cut east at Point Betsie to go between the Michigan Mainland and the Manitou Islands, rather than cutting west of the Islands. It offers much better and safer navigation. the lighthouse and its grounds were sold to the historical Society that now operates it...all except for the actual light, which is still used as a navigation aid and is owned and maintained by the Coast Guard. It's all automatic now, of course. The original Fresnel Lens that was in the light house is still in existence, and has been restored. They're hoping to eventually house it back in the light house.

We took Kai to the beach on Sunday. He enjoyed playing with the waves, but he got ambushed by one that was a fast-moving roller and really splashed him hard when he was "biting" a smaller one that had just crashed in. He's not real big on swimming, so after about 1/2 hour of playing in the waves, he was done and wanted to go home.

We had a great time visiting my parents. I wish we lived closer so we could visit more often, but this is where God put us for now. Maybe later He'll have us move, but for now this is where we're supposed to be.

From the Scenic Overlook

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have cros't the bar.