Saved by a Pair of Slippers

Had a burned out bulb and was fishing around trying to adjust the fan while changing it and my wedding band must have touched an exposed wire. ZAP POW ZIP! Felt like a horse kicked my hand. Fortunately, I was wearing rubber soled slippers or it could have been a new hairstyle at best and a dirtnap at worst. Phew!

Only in America...

Okay, get this... Major League Baseball Player Milton Bradley (no, really, that's his name) throws his bat at the umpire for calling the third strike (really, in his direction, he didn't hit the ump). Ump holds a grudge and later "bates" Bradley into throwing his temper. Seems Big Bad Bradley has a well documented temper and the umpire uses profanity in a confrontation with Bradley. Bradley goes after the umpire, his manager holds him back and ends up dumping Bradley on the ground, tearing up his knee.

Do we have the broad strokes? Umpire says something mean and baseball guy goes nuts and hurts him's wittle knee.

And the umpire gets suspended for the rest of the season.

My mouth is open with astonishment. The ump said a discouraging word to someone who threw a BAT at him, and because the player has a temper tantrum and thereby hurts himself, the ump gets suspended.

There is no responsibility or accountability any more. None.

From the Eyes of Babes

I admit that little things amaze me. Aly said, "why is orange juice yellow?" She's right, of course, it is yellow, but because the name is "orange" juice I've never thought of it as yellow. In fact, when I looked at it, I had to convince myself that it WAS yellow and not a shade of orange. Amazing how compelling a misconception is; this small one didn't take much to overcome, but you can imagine how difficult big ones would be to overcome.

Speaking of Generation Gaps

Technically, blogging is one of those newfangled things that us old folks might not embrace in our dotter-hood. Maybe my natural opinionation overcomes the generation gap in this case. That, and I really do enjoy 'chatting' with the younger set (that would be Sherlock and Dami and the occassional Schwabbies... and we'll throw Malissa in with that younger set because she's so young at (anxious) heart.)

The Day and the Hour

Something came up as a tangent in home group last night (Malissa knew this was coming)...

I'll reserve the Biblical view until later...

Can we, as human beings, add OR SUBTRACT a single day from our lives? From a worldy perspective, of course the answer would be "yes" but from a Christian worldview, can God be frustrated? Will poor eating habits, extreme sports, or purposeful intent shorten our lives from that which God had ordained for us?

What say you?

The Tasered College Student

I watched the video; an obnoxious adult (not a kid) disrupts a lecture by John Kerry during QandA, taking over the mic and proving his idiocy, then resists removal by campus security. Screaming, kicking and yelling, under a pile of officers, some of them women, and gets tasered. He turns into a screaming puddle and the whole thing escalates.

Was he abused?

I don't think so, though I admit it's borderline.

1) It was on video, but we don't know if he was grabbing officers inappropriately, so we really don't know what they were responding to.

2) Idiocy has concequences and now the student knows that.

3) Tasing hurts like crazy, but it isn't permanent and it beats clubbing the guy in the head.

4) He also deserves it because he's probably not going to learn his lesson and he'll file a lawsuit. I hope the judge tasers him.

Was it necessary to tase him? It's hard to second guess officers in that kind of situation. They couldn't wrestle him out the door, they didn't want to club him... maybe the officer thought it would take the fight out of him. If so, it didn't, so maybe it was a poor choice. What should they have done? They're choices were: Tase him, Club him, let him go and if he didn't leave, you're left with the first two choices again. Tasing is the best of those options.

Jesus was tempted for 40 days in the desert and wilderness where he was tempted (or "temptated" as someone I know and love would say) by the devil.

SO...

What did that look like? Was it...

1) a physical confrontation where the devil bodily appeared and spoke out loud to Jesus?
2) a vision or set of visions that took place on a spiritual plane?
3) like we experience temptation in which the devil (or demon) is not heard or seen consciously but effects us subconsciously (but because Jesus could discern spirits, he would know what was really taking place, while we don't know if it's our own flesh or words whispered by demons - indeed, since Jesus had no sin nature, we can't look to this and say that we of the sin nature type are EVER tempted by demons; out flesh is plenty loud enough on it's own.)

Which do you think it was? Yes, I understand that how doesn't really matter, but since it DID actually happen, one of the options above is true.

I know I can count on Green Lantern answering this post, but please everyone else who reads this, post your comments.

I-Pod You Not

Maybe two of my readers are old enough to remember when the Walkman first came out. What joy, what heaven! Little tiny (by 80's standards) boxes you could play cassette tapes on and listen through wired headsets with cheap speakers. They were instantly banned at school, and since I practically lived there, I never used my walkman. Just as well, the box was small, but wear do you carry additional tapes?

Now we have iPods. I'm impressed by the bright little shuffles, smaller than a beltbuckle, holds hundreds of songs or dozens of sermons, even if searching is difficult. I do not like the ear buds, but I don't like headphones of any kind. Same problem as before, though. Where do I listen to it? I have a radio in my car and a stereo in my office and home. So when would I listen to it?

The answer is the problem. You would listen to it when you're away from those other players. Like when you're walking, shopping, going to church, or anywhere out in the world. You know, when you could be interacting with other people instead of listening to your own little world.

Raise your hand if you've ever talked to a child and discovered they couldn't hear you because they were Pod-ing? Don't iPods insulated us from others? Aren't they, in fact, a form of pride, telling all those around you "hey, you have nothing to contribute to my life!"? Aren't they a form of self-sufficiency?

Now, of course, there are ways to use them appropriately in the proper time and place. I'm just wondering how many times and places there actually are.

Are Blogs Prideful?

We had a great sermon on Pride this Sunday. I was like a greasy spot on the chair after being struck by lightening repeatedly. I'm extremely proud. Not because I think so highly of myself (I really don't), but because I think a lot about myself.

I enjoy attention. I like making people laugh or think or both. The stories I write are meant to engage my reader's thoughts and to explore important themes, which I think are a good thing.

But what about blogs? I don't keep a journal because I think things that are written should be read, hence this blog. But isn't it prideful to think that my opinions are of interest to others? In a story, the author is supposed to be invisible, but this post alone has more "I's" than a potato!

Now, my understanding of pride is that it is like Ayers Rock in Australia. Huge, monolithic and barren. Our efforts to whittle away pride is about as effective as an ant's filing away at Ayers; he can feel awfully proud of himself for the two inch mound of dust that he's chipped away, but Ayers is still undiminished, and probably bigger from added dirt.

It's like the sermon from the week before on judgmentalism, in which we should strive to be like the humble tax collector beating his breast instead of being like the haughty pharisee. Human nature wants to START at the tax collector and work our way to maybe the midpoint between the two, but the Bible says, no, you remain the tax collector while on this Earth. You don't get "better" you just are honest about what a wretch you are. With pride we are to live ever aware in the shadow of Ayers. We can't do much about it, but we can turn away from it every now and then, thumbing our nose at the mountain and squeaking out a little humility.

But probably not while blogging...

Okay, no traction on the post before (which was and is a serious question -- thanks, Scott, for your input).

I'm reading a novel, Pearl Harbor, by Newt Gingrich and some other guy. Good read, very detailed. In explaining who The Newt is to my wife, I said he was a presidential hopeful, but because he had an affair while trying to impeach Clinton on his affair, that he wouldn't have a decent shot at winning. Hypocrisy being a bad thing, after all.

She pointed out that it's a shame that we worship celebrities for doing the very things we vilify in politicians. It's amazing the incredible dissonance our culture indulgence in without shaking apart.

Guiliani, on the other hand, has not only had an affair, but has a soap opera personal life, but it's not slowing him down in the polls. Has he somehow managed to bridge the celebrity/politician gap, getting it both ways? Of course, if he runs against Hillary neither can go after the other's personal life without inviting a mutual attack... kind of an electoral MAD. By having so much mud on both sides, would this end up a clean fight?

May we not find out...