Odd Bible Stories

I've been taking a break from blogging to put in more time on my current work in progress. It's getting near the end and I'm anxious to start editing it but won't allow myself to until it's finished. Today I thought I might just clear out a few snippets of post ideas I have hanging around in Evernote. The Bible is full of stories that tell of the way things were, but are often misinterpreted.

There are lots of sports written about in the Old Testament. Baseball was huge from the start, the whole book started with "In the Big inning. . ." But let's not forget about tennis because David served in Saul's courts.

A lot of people wonder what Daniel did while being punished. Or course he was reading in the den, reading between the lions.

One of the most important things is that the foreign cars were much bigger back then, because of course, all the apostles were in one Accord.

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Bush Gore Explained

Perhaps I should start a category for stale, old jokes, but until I do.... This morning on the radio I heard about a petition circulating to pardon or free former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. Edwards was famous for many things, among them using public money to go to Las Vegas and gamble, lots of corruption accusations (and a conviction or two), plus some of the most memorable bumper stickers. When he ran against David Duke, the former Grand Dragoon of the Ku Klux Klan, there were bumper stickers (not sure his campaign put them out) that said, "Vote for the crook!"

So thinking about the former governor this morning I recalled another old story I used to share. Back in 2000 we had a little unpleasantness concerning the vote for President in the State of Florida. There was talk about hanging chad, who the people really meant to vote for, etc, but few people really knew what was going on. A few years earlier, the State of Louisiana sold ballot counting machines to the State of Florida. Presumably they got a good deal on them, and it was these machines that were being used to count the Presidential ballots in 2000. The first time they ran the ballots Edwin Edwards won.

Here's a new one for those that just have to have new humour, I stole it from a friend on Facebook:

The economy is so bad that, I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. CEO's are now playing miniature golf. Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 Congressmen. Angelina Jolie adopted a child from America. Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore.A picture is now only worth 200 words. They renamed Wall Street "Wal-Mart Street". Finally, I called the Suicide Hotline. I got a call center in Pakistan and when I told them I was suicidal, they got all excited, and asked if I could drive a truck.

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Leaders Stand Differently

Random thoughts that crossed my mind after lunch: I just read a quote by Ken Kesey that said, "You don't lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case."

Now, my brain is so full of information that I know 3 things about Ken. The first is that he was a member of the ROTC movement. You recall that one right, the Run Over To Canada movement of the mid to late 60s? He later got a pardon and/or served time for his desertion and was able to come back to the US. The second is that he wrote One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. As far as I know he never wrote another book, or at least one as successful. Lastly, and more importantly for this quote, he participated in an Army experiment for hallucinogenic drugs in the 60s in California when he memorized the formula for the drug and went out and made it. Two years later his magical bus tour had to stop because the US finally made LSD an illegal substance.

I'm unclear when he made the quote (he may be, too based on the quantity of his intake of drugs) but even in the mischievous, and later illegal way, he led as he described.

Listen To Me

This is a video I uploaded to Facebook. It is The Frequently singing an original song. Words by my daughter, music by Jones. They have been singing and performing for about six months and have written several songs. This one in particular I find to be a hauntingly sticky song that I hum for weeks after they sing it.  

Having said all that, let's see if it works. The audio is a little less than perfect for several reasons, mostly because I was videotaping it, this was the first song of the set and I had neither found the right place to film from nor had all the board set up right. We also had a grounding problem that caused them to get shocks from the microphones and couldn't run the guitars through the board. But if you take out the technical problems the Dad/Roadies fought over, the music is good. Especially for 12 (and one 11) year olds.

• Final practice before BETA Convention in Mobile http://bit.ly/n3pMN2
• Facebook page http://on.fb.me/prPd4e

Cut It Short

'I made this [letter] very long, because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter.' Pascal

It comes as no surprise to some, but I'm not very widely liked at church. Especially in the older crowd, or as I have heard them called (and often repeated) the Blue-Haired Crowd. Mind you I am not accusing all of the older generation, many of them are more God-fearing and righteous (in the right manner) than I am. In fact, there are still many I look up to. The reason for this is that unlike most in my age group, I show up at the business meetings, and I open my mouth. When I do it makes those who are comfortable in their status quo relationships at church uncomfortable.

The town I live in is one predominantly made of outsiders. People from all over come to live on the lake. Long ago I stopped asking people if they were from here and rather started asking them where they were from. My ability to discern they weren't from here was amazing to them--at least until they figured out how I did it. The church I attend, however, is full of people who ARE from here. I have had many conversations with other transplants, including some of the leadership of the church, about how difficult it is to "break-in" to the inner circle. Briefly recapping what I just said, I live in a town full of outsiders that embrace outsiders, and attend a church of insiders who don't always embrace outsiders. About 3 years ago I considered leaving, and had a friend tell me that if my family went somewhere else in a matter of 5 years we would see that things were the same there, at least here we know who is what. It was really then that I started to open my mouth.

One of my favorite authors, Ted Dekker, wrote a book entitled The Slumber of Christianity in which he described exactly the situation I see happening in the church as a whole, and my church in particular. People who get so comfortable in their Christianity and their status that they cease to zealously strive for Christ. Churches become a place to go socially, to connect with other like-minded individuals and not a place to rock the boat. They have been in the church for decades, and choose to run the church the way they want regardless of if it is the right way. Again, I do not mean that everything they do is wrong, but more often than not the decisions appear to be more self-serving than not.

An example is what happened in our recent recession. As the economy soured and money, particularly offerings and tithes, dwindled we were constantly called upon to "give sacrificially" or "give 'til it hurts." At the same time, the budget was amended to stop spending on things such as sending the staff to more conferences, less literature for the library and eliminating scholarships for mission trips.The message here was that members were to give until it hurts, but the church would be wise stewards of the money and not spend it on frivolous activities. Not only did I see this as a problem, but we had a speaker at our revival that year who specifically called out the same areas as things that were important that needed to not be cut out just because times get hard.

The lead group in this matter is one Sunday School Class which remains nameless. As mentioned a few times, not everyone, even in this class, is a part of the problem. There is a Sunday School Class of people my age that I have long joked will become the new class that does this, and I had to bite my tongue when I happened to be around when they were told they should move their class into the same room due to size (one meets while the other is in church then vice versa). This Sunday my small men's class joined them because their teacher was absent at the last-minute. Between getting started late because of this last second change and the subject we were speaking about (which in some ways hit upon some of the topics in this post) we spent 5 to 7 minutes praying at the end, and ran way longer than we should have. This in turn caused the older class to be late getting in.

As we broke up and the other class entered, I was standing in the back and a gentleman asked me who had taught today. I commented that at the last second my teacher had been called up off of the bench, smiling and being cordial. This gentleman was not very cordial or smiling and asked me if he knew he was supposed to be done fifteen minutes before. As my own mood began to change I told him no, he didn't and also that the guy in the yellow shirt was the one he would need to talk to. He told me he would just talk to the Associate Pastor (whose hats include Education Minister).

I walked away quite angry. So angry that on my way to the MPR where our contemporary service is held I decided quickly that I would not participate in the Lord's Supper (normally done on the first Sunday of each month) because my heart was not in the right place. We ended up not having the Lord's Supper, and I did calm down. Perhaps this whole post is just me ranting to get over it, I can't deny the distinct possibility of that. Part of me thinks that if he had made the comment to anyone else they would have allowed it to fall like water on a duck's back while I took it as water under a duck's butt.

It seems best for me to have been the one commented to, because I don't know what anyone else would have said or done. And that is a whole lot better note to end this rant on. In case you wondered though, the difference is that water on a duck's back falls harmlessly, water under a duck's butt sometimes gets crapped on.

Related articles

• Interpretative Labeling (byrdmouse.wordpress.com)

Finally Made It!

After weeks of trying, I finally have a post prepared that I'm not ready to publish immediately! One that can wait until tomorrow that will be covered up because it has nothing to do with the nation's 235 birthday (though still related to the freedom's gained). On a simpler note, I also finished a post that WordPress's only "correction" was wrong. That means that my constant blogging has improved my writing so much that I need less editing afterwords.

(Yeah, that one was a pun, a bad pun).

Social Media Pecking Order

My pecking order will only consist of social media outlets I use, feel free to rank or insert others if you use them as well.

Twitter is 140 characters, succinct, quick, blurb-driven for fast attention of lots of people

Facebook, three times as long as a tweet at 420 characters, allows for more expounding, but only seen by people you a) are related to b) are friends with or c) you knew in high school and probably wish you hadn't found on Facebook (those you are glad found you or vice versa go in category b)

Blogging is unlimited length, but you lose readers quick. It is a way to rant and rail when you can't do it in short order.

That's my take on it anyway. When I went to tag this post one of the recommended tags was "Chicken Coop" so I added it. Not sure why WordPress suggested it, but fire in the hole!

Growing a Human

While Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." was not the subject of the conversation the other day, it did occasion me to think of the following analogy. It is one I have contemplated for some time. Growing up we get a skeleton for our faith. This begins as our parents show their faith to us. Notice I am not saying just the Christians, Muslims do it, Hindus do it, atheists do it. Parents show their children what is important to them. More often than not, these are the ideals that the child grows up with as well. How the parent treats them, as important or not, also begins to send messages to the children as to how they should treat the matters.

Now the skeleton by itself is extremely flexible-in someone else's hands. Knees can bend in 2 directions because there are no tendons or muscles to restrict them. A child's view of religion is not very deep. It is very open to interpretation, and without guidance it can lead to anything. As we are able to grow in our faith, we understand better and are required to take fewer things by faith having gained an understanding of the truths behind them.

As we get older and bigger we add tendons and muscles and maybe eventually skin. The reasons for some of the bones being where they are becomes evident. Or at least it becomes clear that they simply are where they belong. You can't get muscles before the skeleton. And while the muscles and tendons can be seen as restricting the movement of the skeleton, it is the way the body is meant to be. The truth of the way the body should move. The more body we have built, the more truth we understand, the closer we come to having something to put skin on, and a face. Eventually if we are lucky enough, we can get a complete body. It isn't by chance or accident, and it isn't overnight.

One of my absolute favorite CS Lewis books is Til We Have Faces. It is an allegory of the Psyche/Cupid myth, and contains, of all the unlikely things, idol worship and a class of priests unlike any you would ever expect to meet in a Christian work of literature. Idol worship, sure, idol worship by the "good" guys? Not expected. It all boils down in the end to a point where the question from God to the main character is how can we speak face to face, unless you have a face? Without being able to comprehend the biggest question of all, how can it be discussed?

On a macro scale (and unless you look deeply at the remainder of the plot) this mimics the legendary agnostic Douglas Adams' answer to the question of life the universe and everything. We are given the answer (42) but cannot understand the question until a greater event has occurred.

No, these two don't go hand in hand. And likewise the moral of Til We Have Faces is not that we cannot understand anything about religion until we understand everything about religion. That is more a Josef Heller novel. The point of it all is that we start to grow our human body as a child. The input our parents give (or don't) is important in starting that off. That start also gives us the impetus to continue (or not) to build our understanding of how it all works until such time as we are able to no longer have to rely on faith alone to grasp the fundamental truths of it all.

Eight Points I Learned on Father's Day

Starting on Friday the 17th, I started seeing a few people on Twitter talking about disconnecting to reconnect on Father's Day. Their challenge was to turn off your smart phone and reconnect with your children for Sunday. The idea intrigued me, but I was not quite ready to commit by re-tweeting and telling everyone I would not be connected. I was also not ready to quit cold turkey.

For Saturday, I tried checking my email, Facebook and Twitter feeds less often, as well as not trying real hard to catch up on the multi-player games on my phone. I don't think I even checked this blog Saturday in an attempt to wean myself from the computer and smart phone. Sunday morning I woke up, as usual before everyone else, checked my social media feeds one more time and set the phone down. Here is what I learned:

• When my iPhone is on but not being used, the battery only drained 12% over 24 hours. Compare this to the 33% it drained during the single hour I fed my youngest, watched 2 episodes of Everybody Hates Chris and caught up on everything on the phone.
• The 3 newspapers I read online daily did not go out of business or stop printing because I was not there reading them.
• No one got mad that I hadn't played Words With Friends with them in nearly 42 hours.
• Same thing for Disc Driving.
• The animals in the Tap Zoo, Tap Birds, Tap Fish and Tap Exotic Fish games my daughter plays on my phone (and gets angry when they die for lack of me feeding them) did not die, not a single one.
• If you decide not to use your phone for anything other than calling your own father and for the electronic bible you've grown to use that's fine, but if your wife texts you, you still have to answer because she doesn't know you're not using your phone. DO NOT mess this one up!
• Turning your phone off is fine, but if you neglect to tell everyone, do not expect your oldest daughter to either a) turn hers off or b) notice you turned yours off. Texting her to tell her this would be a great idea, but disingenuous to the concept.
• My wife often tells me she only sees the top of my head thanks to my iPhone. It never does any good to argue with her and explain that I only mess with my phone at set times of the day and it just happens that those set times are the same times she looks at me (there's probably a message I haven't yet gotten in that one). The most important point: Not using my phone for a day did not kill me.

Over the course of the next day I will be catching up on the other things I've slowed/stopped, such as responding to comments on this blog. Thank you for your patience. Overall it was an enjoyable day. While annually is way too long before I try it again, weekly is probably too much. I do believe that I will try it again, more frequently. Most importantly, I have learned that the next time I do it, I will admit it and announce it. Turning off the phone is an easy to accomplish task, even for those that do not want to admit it.

 Phil Cooke's Plan http://philcooke.com/less-than-24-hours-until-we-disconnect-for-fathers-day/// 

Overthinking Eating

There are two main styles of eating with a knife. The European style has the knife in the dominant hand for better control and power over the knife. After using the knife, they switch hands to have the fork in the dominant hand. The American style is more pragmatic, with the knife being in the non-dominant hand so that the fork is all ready for eating. My style is an American-European style, with the knife in the dominant hand, but then I eat with my other hand.

Pragmatism is the only real American philosophy we have created or exported. It is an important part of all we do. It is decidedly un-pragmatic of me to over think the use of eating utensils, but I was thinking about it after reading the blog of a friend's son. He is in Kenya, and in his blog this morning he told of a small boy who ran from the church before the pastor started preaching. The pastor left the pulpit to bring him back and explained that he was so hungry his stomach was hurting. The ever-pragmatic Alabaman had a bag of peanuts in his backpack in case the pastor ran long and they were unable to beat the Methodists to the restaurants.

Sorry about that, I slipped back from Kenya to America at the end. Have you ever known someone so hungry they ran from church? Have you ever known a preacher to leave the pulpit before his sermon to get one small boy? My answer to the first is no, and it makes me ashamed to have so many leftovers in the fridge. My answer to the second is that it is an un-American, un-pragmatic thing to do. The needs of the many should outweigh the needs of the few. But I do know a man who would leave 99 sheep to go and find the 1.  In fact, He did leave them, I am the 1. Are you too?

Justin Evans' Blog http://justinevans0502.blogspot.com/

Specks and Beams

One thing that used to bother me in reading the Old Testament is that the Israelites kept switching from following God to the gods of the day, Baal, Ashtoreth, and others. Another typical reaction, other than "Why?" is that as they turned from God they started going downhill. Soon, they realized it, turned back, and He blessed them all over again. In many ways reading some of the books of the Bible are like watching a scary movie. We find ourselves screaming at the screen saying, "Look behind you! Have you never seen a scary movie?"

Typically speaking, we gloss over the law especially as it relates to the part of the law we no longer practice. Sacrifice a bull for this, a goat for that, two birds for this. Only clean animals without blemish, sprinkle the blood here, burn the fat there. When you start to think about what the temple looked like, it had to be a bloody, sticky, gooey mess. And the tabernacle was a bloody, sticky, gooey, portable mess. It was like a slaughterhouse floor at times. The gods that the Israelites periodically switched to follow had similar rituals. They had graven images, idols, statutes and didn't care if the animals were clean, unclean, or human, but their altars were just as bloody, sticky, gooey and all around messy.

There are some places in the world where no matter what religion you follow, or even if you don't follow one, just seem to exude holiness. Granted, some more than others. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is one. Any of the medieval cathedrals, and many of the cathedrals in the US demand respect. You don't walk in and sit down talking on their cell phone. Even if you don't follow that denomination there is a hushed reverence, like a library on steroids. This is more so in the highly organized or structured denominations/religions. And yes, some has to do with what you believe in. A Catholic in a cathedral is more reverent than a Baptist. Daddy Byrd, when he worked at the Church of the Redeemer, would bow toward the altar when he crossed the nave of the church, even when he was working. To a lesser degree, that is why I can't text or Twitter in our sanctuary while the pastor preaches (I can do it at services in the MPR-Baptist for gym).

So, when you add up reverent location with similar looking, smelling, and feeling it was not that large a leap for the Israelites to switch. Some of those coming to sacrifice may not have even realized the difference. It still looked like the tabernacle or temple, it still smelled the same, it felt the same, the priests were the same, what was that new statue on the way out again?

It is often easier to see the mistakes of others than it is to see our own. We rail against the Israelites while we read not realizing the ease with which something can be substituted until the original is no longer there. Subtle changes that taken in part are not much different but taken holistically have the opportunity to completely change the context of the subject matter. Perhaps we are too hard on the Israelites. Hundreds of years of slinging fat and blood against the altar they may not have realized how far off they were straying. Have we strayed in our religious practices, too? The answer is probably not what you first think, but if you honestly evaluate it, the beam in our eyes interferes with us seeing the Israelites' specks.

Freedom

For the past 47 months I have driven past a point on the side of the road, oftentimes twice a day. It is a spot with a historic marker on it, and even though before yesterday I never stopped, I knew what had happened there. When I was in school (late 80's) the 60s were the last bit of history the teacher could squeeze in, albeit ineffectively. Kind of like my children barely get in the end of the Cold War. One thing they did get in, much more than I got was the civil rights movement, especially the Freedom Riders.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the bus burning incident just outside Anniston. There were multiple events staged in Anniston and Birmingham to commemorate this chapter of the movement. Whether it was truly a pivotal chapter or just another chapter is arguable, and not an argument I want to get into. To the best of my knowledge, and those around me I asked, none of the commemorative events took place at the point I pass twice a day. There were some of the remaining Freedom Riders in attendance at these events. For one or more it may have been their first return to Anniston or Birmingham, but other than a personal visit to the site I know of no events that took place here.

Did those who put on the commemorative events slight the sight by not returning to it? The 14th of May was the last "cool snap" we've had in Alabama, our next cold front isn't scheduled until October, it was only 74, so it should not have been the weather. Can anyone imagine a September 11, 2001 commemorative event in 2051 being done at 42nd and Broadway instead of just off of West St? What message does this send out? We want to remember the events, but don't want to be inconvenienced by actually going to the remote spots where nothing is?

When I was in high school my teachers rushed the Civil Rights Movement. It was the end of the year, they were out of time with too much curriculum to teach, and most of them (from the South) had grown up and learned in segregated environments, not like the integrated schools I did. Not that it wasn't an important subject, just that perhaps it was still too sensitive and too fresh on their minds. On the other hand, my children discussed this a great deal in their school, and I could not be happier.

For my part, I got all the lesson I needed as I drove off from the marker. Four kids, teenaged by the looks, had come out to the field adjacent to the marker, in the area between the old AL 202 and the new AL 202. They were riding four-wheelers, laughing and having a good time. None of them seemed to care that the group had a mix of race. All I saw was four Alabama teenagers, enjoying a hot afternoon in early June. Perhaps I saw someone's dream.

Related articles

• Freedom Rides: 50 years later (sfgate.com)
• Museum opens in Alabama to honor Freedom Riders (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Perspective

We often think of the optimist/pessimist statement about the glass being half full or half empty. A standard engineer joke is that the glass is twice as big as needed. But how often do we think about it like Bill Cosby did? The Cos said, "Is the glass half full, or half empty? It depends on whether you're pouring, or drinking."

I have a page called Quotes I Love and Future Fodder. It is rather long, as I have been adding to it for several years, but as I read through it in advance of posting it I gleaned this quote as a potential topic. It is the old "outside the box" thinking. So often we get caught up in looking at an issue in just one way, as having only one solution, and overlook the obvious.

Take any issue on your plate today, and think of it in a different way, from a different angle or perspective. The view you get may just reveal the key ingredient you need to move forward.

But while you're at it, don't get too proud of what you do. One of Michelangelo's most famous works was described thusly by the artist: "I've finished that chapel I was painting. The Pope is quite satisfied."

Update: By a coincidence, while I was finishing this post, Jonathan Fields posted this one: http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/steven-spielberg%e2%80%99s-brand-of-visionary-thinking/

Comparison Without Commitment

Yesterday, Michael Hyatt tweeted a blog by Nicole Wick who explained why ebooks are not quite there yet. Having seen the medium rise, and having seen many people, including Mr. Hyatt indicate it is here to stay, I clicked on the link. While she left out the fact that my iPhone believes the word ebook to be misspelled (wanted the hyphen), she did share that she did not own a reader except an iPad. She did have some valid concerns that are weaknesses, though I disagree with her calling them fundamental flaws. I have three books as PDF files, one by Scott Adams, Michael Hyatt, and Tosca Lee. These are short, brief, and long respectively. I am not impressed with books as PDF files. I also have on my iPhone 6 different e-book readers plus an awesome bible app (Olive Tree-worth every cent of its big price) that has the option of adding other books. The only major e-book reader I have not tried is the one Ms Wick uses. As a result I do not try to say which is better.

Mr. Hyatt pointed out that she did have an iPad. After getting upset she didn't own an e-book reader, I started skimming and overlooked that. After he tweeted to point that out, I went back and re-read the article. It was then I noticed she has only bought electronic media since--no printed books. This brings me to say I was wrong with my initial thought. She is trying to give it a fair go, if only the iPad. However, it does bring me to the point I have here. Oftentimes people form opinions based on one side and refuse to change, especially with regards to technology.

The Mac vs. PC is a prime example. As an engineer, I am intimately familiar with the Microstation versus AutoCAD debate. I have used both of these four extensively and can provide an educated opinion of which I feel is better and why.

Another example is people who believe that one style of church worship style or music is better than the other. Our church has both a traditional and contemporary service, and there are sharp opinions on both. It also reminds me of people who say if it isn't King James it isn't Bible.

It is not quite as saying different strokes for different folks though there is some validity to that. Ultimately what it boils down to, for me, is before you compare, commit to trying both sides. Don't just discount the other side of a choice without seeing If it has merit. Don't announce the flaws of an object until you have seen that they are truly there.

Ms Wick's original article: http://bit.ly/kHsGcz

If I did it right Mr. Hyatt's Tweet: https://twitter.com/michaelhyatt/status/77361396173647872

The Spoiled Ariel

This morning as I sip coffee, read the Bible and contemplate what to do with the day I stumbled upon the word ariel. I'm reading the English Standard Version, Dr. Thweatt finally got me to switch after literally a lifetime of reading NIV (my lifetime up to then anyway). In 2 Samuel 23:20 it describes that Benaiah "struck down to ariels of Moab." Being a modern-day scholar of useless information (it's really only useless if you never use it) the word intrigues me. In addition to occasionally converting useful numbers into metric I also from time to time have been known to convert things into cubits or furlongs. An ariel, while sounding like a name or misspelled antenna, appears to be a unit of some type. Anxiously I glance down to the footnote only to read that the meaning of the word is unclear.

Knowing the section was translated from Hebrew this started me wondering, what was the translator thinking? I speak American English, a smattering of the Queen's English and Southern (pronounced su-thurn). The rest of my lingual skills include a few sayings occasionally trying to decipher German, Spanish or french instructions and dialectic variations to include sarcasm or smart aleck-ness. My limited experience with translating does afford me the knowledge that sometimes a word in one language doesn't exist in the other or needs multiple others to approximate the more succinct foreign word. This is a word that confounded the scholars that brought us, not just the ESV, but the book of 2 Samuel. The meaning of a word, in a non-dead language is unknown, even though it translates to ariel in English.

In Moby Dick there is a scene where the nets are emptied and a "spoiled serpent" is noted by the narrator of the story. The existence and meaning of this serpent has been examined and over-analyzed for decades, over a century. There have been paragraphs, term papers and theses written about it but the only one I really remember is the one that supposes the printer either couldn't read Melville's writing or just created an errata that was not caught but copied repeatedly.

These two thoughts are combined for your contemplation. Meanwhile, I'm back to see what happened to Ben. 

All the World's a Stage, but When Does the Curtain Fall?

More people are scared of public speaking than of death. This is a scary fact, because almost everyone goes on living after speaking in public, but few get a chance to go on living after death. So what is it that frightens people about speaking in public? Now everyone is not afraid of speaking. Some who are find ways to overcome it. Personally I have never been afraid of it, and have relished the oppportunities, but one aspect I feel is the reason I believe most who are scared are scared. It is the fear of disappointment. When you know someone is watching your performance, most humans tend to want to perform better. Knowing that someone is expecting some earth-shattering, important epiphany of a proclamation from you is frightening when all you have is your own meager life experience to share. Some dress better, some try to use a different voice to project better. It is all because of the desire to perform at the level of expectation of the crowd, those there to see you.

This is not the approach we take for the remainder of our lives. When we are by ourselves we don't act better, we don't talk better, we don't perform better. We become relaxed, we take our shoes off and kick back, we revert to language that we would never think of using in front of a crowd (whether it is foul, offensive, or just slang). The odd part is that even when we are alone, we perform on the most important stage, for the most influential audience, God. We don't try to church up our everyday life because no other humans are watching, yet we are under the constant gaze of the Almighty.

We desire others to see the best us we can be. We try to be the most useful, helpful, educated and informed subject matter expert for those watching us. He sees the unfiltered us, and doesn't hold it against us. Never a better time to be thankful for His mercy and His grace.

Support for a Palestinian State?

Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas sat down for a discussion on a Palestinian State but Netanyahu wanted to tell a story first.

He spoke, "Moses was hot, so he went to the Jordan, took off and folded his clothes and went for a swim. When he got out, his clothes were gone. He stopped a passing Israelite and asked if he had seen his clothes. The Israelite said, 'A Palestinian stole them.'..."

Mahmoud interrupted, "Wait! There were no Palestinians in Moses' day!"

Netanyahu said, "OK, now that that's out of the way, what did you want to talk about?"

That's it, all I had to say. You can't hit a home run every time, but even a foul tip can be someone's take home prize.

When Life Gets in the Way of Life

I am a writer. This is different then being an author, because an author gets paid. It is also different then someone who writes, because a writer has been published. Now my 2 published works consist of a Master's Thesis, which sits on a shelf in the university library collecting dust because the though of a book on a shelf in a library with my name in the spine is more important than me checking it out and not returning it so I can own a book with my name on the spine, and an article in a Nationally published scientific journal. So in other words, unless you are a geek, researcher or a close friend you won't ever stumble across my published works-yet. I threw the friend in to feel better, they don't want to read them either. Writers write, or they lament about not being able to. It has been a busy time so I have not had much time to write. With a wife, three daughters ranging from 6 months to 14 years, a 38-year-old house on the lake, 3 cars, and a job (or is that being redundant?) there isn't a lot of time left over. Especially if you are into things like regular sleep. I'm not particularly, but often need it anyway.

So this morning I woke up (late) about 5:30 and thought today's the day. It's time. The story is burning a hole in my brain. So after making coffee, reading my Bible and finding where the laptop got put before yesterday's birthday/end of school/swim/aw heck everybody's invited party, I browsed to where my current, active story is and realized that I have not worked on it since 27 Apr.

A lot has happened since that day. First off, I saved the file a half hour before straight line winds blew through downtown and made it look like a hurricane had hit. They were, after all, hurricane force winds. That afternoon was the powerful tornado storms that has knocked the State for a loop. I have replaced the dryer element, twice. I have built a deck, installed a hot tub, changed the spark plugs, EGR valve, rotors and brake pads. We had a birthday/end of school/swim/aw heck everybody's invited party. I started this blog and have made all these posts since then (not a bad activity since I started it to sharpen my writing when I don't have time to continue my story). I have again spoken at a church business meeting and probably angered some older members (not just old people, old members, there is a difference). I joined a new Sunday School Class, comforted friends whose parents have passed, and gone fishing twice. I interviewed for a new job at work wearing blue jeans and without having shaved. I have drunken a lot of coffee. And we have all grown a month older.

The only thing that hasn't progressed in the last month is the story that burns inside my head. The thing I want to work on most is the one thing that has not moved forward. Life gets in the way of life. It moves at the speed of life, and keeps us from our life. But in the end, it's only life. I've forgotten now who said it but for the Christian this life is the closest they will ever get to Hell, but for the non-Christian it is the closest they will ever get to Heaven. Life moves fast, but it is a terminal disease.

Judas was a Judas before Judas meant Judas

This morning I was reading in John and it mentioned that Judas Iscariot was known to have dipped his hand in the til from time to time. The disciples are considered to be some of the greatest followers and yet Judas was a known crooked person and walked among them. There's a chance that since John wrote his book well after the Resurrection that he was "editorializing" and adding facts they only figured out afterwords. I don't imagine after Easter Sunday they sat around auditing the late-Judas' books to figure it out. One of them had to know beforehand. It is te same where you work, there's gossip to be heard--or shared. Judas was a Judas before Judas meant Judas and the disciples knew it. More important, Jesus knew it.

But he let him stay. He left him in charge of the money. Clearly the money tempted Judas, but Jesus let the temptation ride. He did not rescue Judas from himself. The man who raised the dead, healed the sick, turned water into wine, and spoke in parables the people understood even when his followers didn't did not save one of his 12 closest and personally chosen friends from himself. C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, "If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will...then we may take it it is worth paying." Jesus let Judas be Judas because it was a price worth paying for all of us.

Judas was a Judas before Judas meant Judas

This morning I was reading in John and it mentioned that Judas Iscariot was known to have dipped his hand in the til from time to time. The disciples are considered to be some of the greatest followers and yet Judas was a known crooked person and walked among them. There's a chance that since John wrote his book well after the Resurrection that he was "editorializing" and adding facts they only figured out afterwords. I don't imagine after Easter Sunday they sat around auditing the late-Judas' books to figure it out. One of them had to know beforehand. It is te same where you work, there's gossip to be heard--or shared. Judas was a Judas before Judas meant Judas and the disciples knew it. More important, Jesus knew it.

But he let him stay. He left him in charge of the money. Clearly the money tempted Judas, but Jesus let the temptation ride. He did not rescue Judas from himself. The man who raised the dead, healed the sick, turned water into wine, and spoke in parables the people understood even when his followers didn't did not save one of his 12 closest and personally chosen friends from himself. C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, "If God thinks this state of war in the universe a price worth paying for free will...then we may take it it is worth paying." Jesus let Judas be Judas because it was a price worth paying for all of us.