February 24, 2009

I recently had a birthday, which was fun as always. I described it once or twice as the 13th anniversary of my 25th birthday. One of my fellow church members, who himself would be classified as a senior citizen, said, "Having a birthday is definitely is better than the other option!" Which of course is true.

But somewhere along the way, at home or in the car, I must have said something about getting older. And you know how little ears hear everything and pick up on the most interesting things.

A few days later, we were getting ready to leave in the morning for work and school. I was doing my usual routine of cleaning up after breakfast and making my lunch, after having made Jaylin's lunch and gotten breakfast ready with Laura's help. And to be fair, I should say ahead of time that Laura and I often share chores, each having things that we typically do. However, that division of chorse isn't hard and fast, so that sooner or later we each end up doing everything. But I guess Jaylin doesn't always see it that way.

As I was making my lunch, Jaylin, who was still finishing his breakfast, looked over at me.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," he said. "Mommy and I should be ashamed of ourselves. You do all the work, and we should really do more to help you, because you are really old."

So there you have it. At the age of 38, I have one foot in the grave. At the rate of all this work that I do, I probably won't be around much longer. I'll expect to see all of you at my funeral soon. Because I am really old, after all.

The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. - Proverbs 20:29

January 30, 2009

I've tried for a few days to come up with something to say here, but the few ideas I have had have been pretty weak, and I couldn't come up with anything besides those. So that raises the question: What do you say when you have nothing to say?

Some people are pretty good at that, apparently. I have been involved in conversations where people have talked and talked without saying anything at all. It's a talent that I apparently don't have. Once I run out of things to say in the conversation, I'm pretty much done. Once they run out of things to say, they keep talking. How do they come up with all that?

Of course, you could always talk about the weather. That's always a hot topic. Or a cold one, depending on the weather. Complain about how hot it has been, or how cold it has been, or about how it keeps changing from hot to cold, or how we get too much rain, or how we haven't had any rain in the longest time. Or about how the weathermen never seem to get it right. Always something to talk about with the weather, because we always have weather.

Or if you have nothing to say, you could always tell a joke:
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Nobel.
Nobel who?
Nobel. That's why I knock.
I must admit that I swiped that one off a Quizno's kids meal. And if your jokes aren't any better than that, then you won't have to worry about what to say next.

You could always use the technique that the television news people use. If there's a big story and you don't know many details about it, just say what you know over and over again. And over and over and over. This is particularly useful if you are on one of the 24 hour cable news channels. On the day that airplane made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, the television at the restaurant we were eating at was on one of the news channels. And it was obvious that there wasn't much actual information that was known, because we heard the same facts and conjectures repeated often in the time we were there, all by the same anchor.

Or if you have nothing to say, then you could always say nothing. As in not saying anything at all. Maybe I should have tried that from the beginning.

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God. - Ecclesiastes 5:7

December 30, 2008

As I sit and write this, there are just a couple of days left in 2008. And 2009 is almost upon us. Which brings the question, "Where does the time go?" That's really a pretty silly question, isn't it? Everyone knows that time doesn't go anywhere. Unless it steals our credit cards and takes a long vacation on a sunny tropical island, leaving us with a lot of questionable charges on our next bill. But I digress.

Time does seem to pass pretty quickly. Seemingly even more so the older I get. Events that were seemingly pretty recent actually happened years ago, but the memories of those events are still clear. Unless it is something that I really need to remember, like what I'm supposed to get from the grocery store.

So I was thinking about something that happened not all that long ago, in 1987. And that got me to thinking about how we said that. We would say 1987 as "nineteen eighty seven". But we say "2008" as "two thousand eight". Or there are those who put that superfluous "and" in there: "two thousand and eight".

Which brings me to my next question: When will we change the way we say the years, if ever? Why don't we say "twenty oh eight"? Well, because that just sounds silly, doesn't it. But then one hundred years ago, they did say "nineteen oh eight", didn't they? And that doesn't sound as silly. Especially when you consider that "one thousand nine hundred eight" is quite a mouthfull.

Maybe it will be in 2010 or so. Or how about 2015 - "twenty fifteen" sounds easier to say than "two thousand fifteen". And it is one less word to type, although everyone would just type 2015 as the year instead of "twenty fifteen". And surely by 2108, people will just say "twenty-one oh eight". Although I doubt I will be around to worry about that.

So here's hoping you had a great 2008 and that you have a stellar 2009. No matter how you say it.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. - Hebrews 13:8

November 18, 2008

Last Thursday, November 13, 2008, exactly two weeks before Thanksgiving, I was awakened by Christmas music. At first I wasn't sure what I was hearing, as I was just waking up. But then I thought, "That sounds like a Christmas song!" I quickly hit the snooze button and went back to sleep, figuring it must all be a strange dream.

But then a few minutes later, another Christmas song came on. And this time, I was sure of what I was hearing.

I keep my clock radio on one particular station. Not because that's necessarily the one I listen to, but mainly because it's the one my clock radio can pick up the best since we are rather far out of town. For several years now, this particular station has played Christmas music around the clock during the holiday season. But over the last few years, that season has started earlier and earlier.

And now it's to the point that the Christmas season begins in early November. Thanksgiving? What's that? Oh, you mean that day during Christmas when we get together and eat a big meal and try to remember to be thankful for, what was it again, oh yes - blessings.

Abraham Lincoln would be so proud. Of course you remember that Thanksgiving was started by the pilgrims to remember their safe passage across the ocean, and also for the bountiful harvest on their crops. A national day of Thanksgiving was signed into law by Lincoln during the Civil War. But that day was set aside to remember the blessings that God has bestowed upon us, as Lincoln's proclamation said, to "...fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union."

If you haven't started your Christmas shopping by that time, you better hurry. But don't worry, all the big sales are the next day. And don't forget about all the football games.

Yes, it seems that the real meaning of Thanksgiving Day often gets overlooked in our society. Of course, that is most likely because Thanksgiving has no retail value, except maybe at the grocery store. You don't go out and buy large, expensive gifts for everyone you can think of for Thanksgiving. So the stores pass right over the insignificant holiday and go on to the one that really makes money. And because products drive advertising, that's all we see on TV and all we hear on the radio. Might as well have some Christmas music to play along with all those Christmas commercials, right?

Don't forget about the real reason for Thanksgiving Day. Thanking God for all he has blessed us with and provided for us. And for the care that he has taken of us. For family and friends. For health and prosperity.

I have so much to be thankful for. And our trip to Jamaica over the summer showed us that not only do we have everything we need, we have so much more than what it takes to survive. While we don't look down on others, it sometimes takes being around those who have less to remind us of just how much we have. And that gives us even more reason to be humbly thankful to God.

So while I enjoy Christmas, and Christmas music, as much as anyone, I'll hold off for another week or two, thank you.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. - Psalm 100:4

November 7, 2008

We have a huge, vicious, ferocious attack dog. Or so everyone thinks. And his name is Buddy.

We got Buddy, a German Shepherd, a few years ago when he was around one year old. He has that classic German Shepherd look to him, like you would see on television or in the movies. Nice looking dog. With a big bark.

That big bark is sometimes nice, other times not so nice. It is particularly not nice in the middle of the night when all sensible people and dogs are sleeping. A deer might walk through the yard, or the coyotes in the distance might start howling. Or mabye it's some other reason. Whatever it is, Buddy will start barking. Loudly. I'm sure he's trying his best to protect us and keep unwanted critters away. At least critters that to his judgement are unwanted. So we keep him in his pen at night, because we have learned our lesson of having him bark right outside our window at 2:00 AM in the past. When he is in his pen, he is on the other side of the house from our window, and we can't hear him much at all.

But then sometimes he is barking at something legitimate. Such as one night when he was trying his best to let us know that the horses had broken through the fence and were standing out in the yard. But as in the story of the boy who cried wolf, we figured he was just barking at some random animal or sound as he usually does. Only when we got up the next morning and looked out the window did we realize what was going on. Now, on occasions when he keeps on barking, we do try to make sure everything is like it should be. If we can wake up enough to check it out.

Buddy's bark, along with his general presence, serve to keep others away as well. Some of the service people that come to our home - meter readers, satellite guy, delivery people, and so on - are afraid of him. Sure, he's a relatively big dog with some good sized teeth and a strong bark, but all he will do is lick you to death, or roll over so you can rub his belly. But strangers to our house don't often know that. We have had phone calls before from people saying, "I'm in your driveway with a delivery for you. Can you come get your dog so I can get out of the van?" So Buddy has them all fooled, but we know the truth.

But the FedEx guy has it all figured out now. He carries a big box of Milk Bone dog bones in his truck with him, and he gives a bone to the dogs at each of his stops. So whenever buddy sees the FedEx truck coming, he starts wagging his tail and barking excitedly, because he knows something good is on the way. We get a delivery, and so does Buddy.

I guess the FedEx guy has it all figured out - making friends of your (perceived) enemies has its advantages.

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." - Luke 6:35

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