Ahhh, football is in the air!!!

The nights are getting cooler. There is a hint of fall in the air. I know Indian Summer is just around the corner, but I don't mind. The NFL football season kicked off this weekend and the Vikings started in impressive fashion; 24-3 over the Vick-less Falcons. Life is good.

Today is going to be stream of consciouness, so return your seatback to it's full, upright position, consult a physician before you begin, and you must be this tall or accompanied by an adult to ride.

In regards to the 'rejuvenation' issue, I think I have a possible solution. The past several nights, or every other night really, I have gone to the club to work out. The first night I brought an iPod with Chris Tomlin and Out of the Grey. That was awesome. Second time, Seren and I went together and we went through the work-out she was assigned by her weight-loss class. That was pretty grueling. Third night (last night) I brought a radio and listen to the TV that was playing the Sunday night football game. That also was fun. I think the answer is working out. I had the misfortune of working out on the eliptical machine that was next to the mirrors last night. I really need to get in better shape. Ugh. I think I will feel better, in the short and long run, if I keep working out. The night (and I say night, rather than evening because I'm not going until about 10:00 or later) is working. I can't work out before work because we are stuck with one car, and so while Seren is working, I am on the bus. But that's OK. Gives me a chance to read. This morning I read Power Healing. I'm way behind. I'm only on page 90 of 250, and I need to have the book finished (along with the book of Mark) by Wednesday night for the PASS class. I'm saving Mark for last since I already know how it ends. Power Healing is a good book that is prompting me to do some serious soul-searching, but there was that barely visible line that I mentioned last time. PASS was moved to Wednesday because we are going to be particiapating in Alpha starting on Teusday. That should be real fun. Oh, which reminds me, since we bugged out of church yesterday after worship, I didn't get to hear Greg's first message as interim head pastor. I need to go to the website and check that out. So I will do that, and leave this stream of consciousness to babble queitly through the rocks in my head.

The smoldering husk that was my Links tab...

Teri Sue has deleted her blog, David hasn't updated his since early June, Paula's gone underground, and Chris Reeve's has been abandoned. I suppose I can't blame them. It's been over a month since I updated mine. It's not that I don't want to update it, but it seems that it's a combination of 3 things. First, there doesn't seem to be time. Two, there is a barely visible line between the things that I can announce in a public forum and the things that I can't/shouldn't and figuring out the difference that time and effort. And third, I'm not sure how I feel about most things at any one time. Bless my wife, though. At least she is keeping at it.

My wife asked me an unusual question this morning. She asked me what rejuvenates me. This comes from my feelings/comments to her yesterday. Last night I was feeling a little anxious. It was the end of a three-day weekend and I didn't feel ready to "take on the week". This morning my dear wife hypothisized that the things that I do when I "unwind", such as play PS2 or watch TV, do not actually rejuvenate me, which leads to feeling like I do. I can't say that she's wrong. But I don't know what the answer is.

So Friday night, while Mat and Charlie spent the night at the Lewis' house, Rand, Seren and I went to Barnes & Noble for the Harry Potter Release Party. Man, the place was a *ZOO*. We got there at 9:30 (the book could not go on sale until midnight). There was a drawing, and some HP word find puzzles, and several costume contests, but for the most party, the three of us just found a place to sit down (between the bookshelves as all the chairs were taken), and read books. Seren found the latest Evanovich book, Lean Mean Thirteen. Rand was reading the Knife of Dreams, I beleive. I picked up an interesting book titles Atlantis Raising. I read the first 4 chapters and I think I'd like to read more.

Anyway, we finally got the book at 1:15 in the morning. My dear, misguided wife told my son that he could read until he passed out. When I woke up at 8:00 the next morning to go to the Single Parent Oil Change at church, sure enough, he was passed out. That afternoon, we went to Martha's wedding, with Rand (and his book) in tow. It was a nice wedding, BTW, but I had allergies and took some Benadryl and Alleve which almost knocked me unconscious. I ended up leaving early and falling asleep in the van. But, even will all of that, Rand finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by 6:30 Saturday evening, about 17 hours after we got the book. And it is 784 pages. Yeah, the term 'voracious reader' comes to mind. Now Mat and I both have bookmarks in it, and Seren is waiting in line. I should finish it tonight. It is a very good book so far (I have about 100+ pages left) and seems to be a very good end to the series.

Let's see, what else is new... We had Teri Sue, Jason, his three kids, and his parents over for lunch on Sunday. With David and his two kids, it made for a rather busy house. Jason's mother is an interesting character; an older charasmatic. I always thought that was an oxymoron, like black republican or conservative democrat. It was alot of fun having everyone over. There is something nice about having a large group come over and just talking.

It brings to mind my last birthday party. I remember distinctly sitting back and looking at the people all around our dining room table, everyone talking together and having a good time. I really enjoyed that night, and I feel great love and a strong kinship with every person that was there. I mourn what I have lost since then. I wish I could go back to that night. Even just to experience it again. Oh oh, I'm starting to sound like CoCo the Talking Guitar. Calculated Existential Angst. Thankfully, I can't keep a serious thought going for long.

I passed the Cisco QoS test yesterday. One down, 7 to go. Actually the magic number is now 2. That's how many tests my company is waiting on me to pass. It's come down to a race; Can I pass these two tests before Craig passes his MCSE? I'm not worried, the company need to send Craig to a bootcamp.

As for me, I am beat tired. Exhusted mentally, physically and spiritually. PASS class was good last night. I felt the presence and work of the Holy Spirirt to a degree that I have not in a long time. When I got home, I resolved to get to bed early tonight. Too many nights of burning the midnight oil study have caught up to me. However, just I was ready to roll over and drift off to lala land, Seren gets a call from our neighbors. They were having a maritial crisis. So Seren and I went to their house and talked to them, individually, then together for a couple of hours. All I can say is 'Ago Ministro'. At times like that, that becomes like a mantra to me. "I serve". I'm just glad that I don't have to rely on my own strength or my own wisdom to do these things.

Speaking of serving, tonight is the "18-mealer". Boy, I don't like that play on words. But the only alternative I can think of is MEFFGA (Massively Enormous Free Food Give Away). And that has *no* gravitas. Anyway, regardless of what it is called, it should prove to be a good time. At least it has in the past.

So this morning during worship (which, BTW, was lead by Mike and Jen Wall, after a 2 year hiatus), I was struck with an analogy. I saw the Holy Spirit as a conductor of a vast orchestra. We are the instruments. God writes the music. The Spirit calls some of us to rise our voices in worship and calls others to bow our heads in prayer. Through the good times and the bad, the Spirit leads us to follow God's music the way it was meant to be played, in every way bringing glory to Him.

It was really good to have Mike and Jennifer leading worship again. It was great worship.

On a more familial note, Rand and Mat asked us today if they saved up $150, if we would give them $50, so they could buy a second trampoline. Of course we said no. One trampoline takes up enough yard space, thank you. 15 minutes later, Matrim comes in and askes if he can save up and buy the right to save up and buy a trampoline. Oh, man. This kid is gonna be a lawyer.

Wow, has it really been three weeks since I posted?!? So what's been going on... hmm. Let's start with lessons learned:

1) I'm glad I don't live in Iowa, but in Minnesota, where people realize that Premuim Gasoline should cost more than regular.

2) Divorce sucks.

3) Valley Fair is best in small doses.

4) Transformers is a fun movie, but not life-changing.

5) Saw preview of I am Legend movie coming out this Christmas. I hope I do not learn a single thing else about that movie until I see it opening night.

6) Series finale of SG-1 would have made a good episode, but sucked as the finale.

7) God is good, all the time.

8) Summer is hot and air-conditioning is good.

9) Did I mention divorce sucks? I think God hates it for a reason.

10) I can make 800+ sno-cones in 2 hours. Recall Taste of Heaven 2007 for details.

That is all. For now...

Due to lack of interest, 2008 Presidential Campaign has been cancelled

Fox Network replaces long-running election series with additional season of American Idol

Emotional crew strikes set for the last time.

"Existing presidential canidates are welcome to audition," says network execs.

"Only one generation..."

So, yesterday in church, John was praying for fathers. While he was praying I got the message, "Only one generation." This is something I think I have heard from other sources. It is the idea that people tend to perpetuate the family environement that they grew up in. People who grew up in abusive situations seem to have abusive families as adults. Because of that, however, it only takes one generation to break that cycle and create a new family tradition. So one generation can re-write our entire society and culture.

On the other hand, just as negative effects are carried forward, so are positive. And that same generation that can eliminate the bad things can also remove the good things.

So, in the wake of this Father's Day Weekend, I will pray for families everywhere. In particular for parents. That they will have wisdom to raise up a generation that can break the cycles of mental and physical abusive.

Would you recommend a movie you had not seen, or a restaurant that you had never been to? And if someone gave you a recommendation without trying it first, how much would that recommendation be worth?

This has been brought to my mind because of 2 things I have heard in the past week, from two different Vineyard pastors. The first was our own Chris Reeves. He commented that if the Vineyard model was working like it should, we would see dozens of people coming forward for prayer every week.

The second was from Columbus Vineyard Paster Rich Nathan. I have been listening to him online for the past few weeks and I really enjoy his sermons. Allow me to paraphrase... "The people out there, the people who don't know Jesus, no longer care about the truth of Christianity or the facts of Jesus' life and death on the cross. They don't want a reasoned, logic debate about the existence of God, or a treatise about sin and redemption. What they want to know is, do you know a power that can free me from enslavement to the filth of this world, that can give me purpose, significance, peace, and if you know that power, I will follow that power."

So, I come back to that original line of questioning... Have we as Christians experienced the freedom, and do we continue to experience the freedom, from the fear, the pain, the degradation, the hatred of this world? Not that we do not experience those things, but that they do not rule over us. That we continue go to the Power that is greater than these powers, and find freedom. And if we have not, if we do not, why would anyone ever listen to us when we tell them about Jesus.

So just about my entire family is reading a series of science fiction books about a character named Honor Harrington. This is a very good series.

Anyway, in this series, 2 large star nations are at war. One of this nations has a number of allies. This same nation also has a significant technological advantage over their enemy. Over the course of the series, one of this nation's allies switches sides. The reasons for this are varied, but the result is that the enemy nation gets access to much of the advanced technology. Many of our hero nations secrets are given away.

It has only recently occurred to me how devestating something like that could be on a personal level. I have private areas of my life that I keep hidden from almost everyone. I say almost because there is one person with whom I share everything. If that person were to betray me, were to want to hurt me or humiliate me, that person would have more than ample ammunition. It comes down to a matter of trust. Thankfully, I trust this person implicitly.

I am reminded of a quote I heard many years ago, and I cannot remember who said it. It went something like this...

"If all the people of the world came together and made one giant heap of all their troubles, from which each would take an equal share, most people would be content to take their own troubles and go home."

When I first read that, it made no sense to me at all. Then I understood it to mean that most people have less than their "equal share" of trouble. However, a new meaning is dawning on me. I think some people have a certain amount of ... pride? in their troubles. An attitude that says "They may be troubles, but their are *my* troubles". It leads to a line from a BNL song.

"Won't it be dull when we rid ourselves Of all these demons haunting us To keep us company?"

I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but there are definitely times when I feel like a real dope.

I have a head for numbers. I can memorize words fairly well. I can pick out faces pretty well, also. What I apperently cannot do, however, is remember a name to save my life. No, I take that back. I'm even pretty good at remebering the names of actors and other celebrities. It's remembering the name of people that I meet that confounds me. I think that is what impresses me most about our head pastor. Once he hears a name, it seems, it is enblazened in his memory and he can greet people by name that he has only met once.

Two cases spring to mind. Yesterday we went on a prayer walk after church. One of the people in our group is someone that I see almost every week. Whenever I pass him, I nod my head and say hi. But I cannot remember his name. I couldn't when I 'introduced' myself yesterday, and I can't today, only slightly more than 24 hours later, even after mentally noting to *remember* his name.

Second, I need to get VPN access from work so I can work from home. I filled out the form and my manager told me to give it to Chris. Now, I think Chris is the PC Tech that I see wondering about, but I don't know. This is a guy that I see a couple times a week. We have had conversations. Entire diagaloues. And yet, I am not sure whaty his name is.

Don't get me wrong. It is not that I don't care about these people. I do. I just cannot seem to write the name down in my little mental notebook. I can remember where I've seen them. I can recall what they do. I can even remeeber if they are a Lost fan or prefer Grey's Anatomy. But the name continues to elude me.

I'm sorry, what was you're name again?

Just a quick update...

If I were a string, and someone were to pluck me, I would resonsant at a frequency that only dogs can hear.

That is all.

Actually, that is not all. It has occurred to me that a taut string is not a good analogy for my life right now. You see, a string is only pulled in *two* directions.

THAT is all.

A word about profanity...

I am not, contray to what some may think, entirely opposed to cursing/swear words/ profanity/etc. This may be suprising to some because several people that I know quite well have probably never heard me swear. To me, these words are the last resort. They are words to be used only when no other word can express the urgency or volitility of a situation. They are the atomic weapons of verbal discourse. Therefore, if you ever hear me use a curse word, please know that something of significant import has happened, is happening, or will happen very soon.

This is also why I abide cursing in movie that I watch. Movie usually involve extreme circumstances; circumstances in which swaering is altogether appropriate. Movies also often include people punching, kicking, or shooting each other. Like swearing, these activities may be appropriate in the situation portrayed in a movie, but not in real life.

So the other day I'm standing in line with my 9-year-old at a family restaurant and the person ahead of us has a shirt on that contains a profane word. What's worse is that this man was holding a baby! Oh, pity the child. Sure enough, my son notices the shirt and whispers in my ear "That man is wearing a shirt that says the f-word." I didn't know what to say. I just said that "Some people are stupid." Perhaps not the best choice, but it was true enough. I came oh so close to tapping the man on the shoulder and saying very politely, "Excuse me, but my 9 year old son was wondering why your shirt has those words on it and I don't have an answer for him. Could you explain it to him?" I would have, too, if I were sure that this person had A) at least half of a functioning brain and B) a shred of human decency. But based on his choice of shirt, I could not be even reasonable certain of either of those things.

It's gonna be a hard night's day.

So I have come to the considered opinion that this world, in general, sucks. Sure, some of the people in this world are tolerable. Some are even pleasant to be around. But the world itself is lousy.

So, God, what ever it is you have planned, I'm ready for it. And, please not another flood. That wasn't a permenant solution last time anyway. I'm talking about smashing this place apart peice by piece and starting over. New Heaven, New Earth, and all that jazz.

Now I am not one to blindly repost others' work. However, this is so homurous that I cannot resist.

A note on the author... You may notice that for for quite a while I have had a link to James Lileks' web site on my links. This past week, there was a significant shakeup at the Star Tribune and Mr. Lileks, who for years has written an excellent column for that paper, found himself re-assigned. Now, in the past when I see a copy of the Star Tribune, I look for exactly 4 things, in this order; James Lileks' column (recent called the Quirk, but I prefer the former and longer Backfence format), Dilbert, Isaac Asimov's Super Quiz, and anything in the Sports section about the Vikings. Now I will only have 3 things to look for in the Strib.

While the Quirk has been fun, Mr. Lileks' blog, the Bleat, is better. There are very few blogs that I would consider paying money to read. So, check it out. I understand that it may not be everybody's cup of java, but I really enjoy him. Besides, his picture reminds me of Jeff Berletic. See now everyone will run off to Lileks' site just to see what I'm talking about :)

OK, so maybe that was more than a "note". I was going to copy the best part of the blog entry that inspired this, but, rather than waste precious electrons, I will just post a permalink to said blog. Please read the description of the Immigration Bill.

I aspire to write half as well as Lileks. It's odd. On one hand, I think people who write this well should be richly rewarded for their skill. On the other hand, content this good should be availabel to everyone.

So, our own Giving Tree has moved beyond given us leaves and twigs to giving us whole branches.

You see, when we moved into our house in Apple Valley, we found, whaddya know, an apple tree in the backyard. Rumor had it that all the houses in this development has an apple tree planted in the backyard. Could be true; All the street names are apple vareties. However, all was not well with Mr. Apple Tree. The tree was splitting down the middle into 4 parts, and there were large areas of dead branches in the tree.

The first summer we lived here, the tree gave us apples. Hundreds of little, gnarled apples, rotting all over the yard. The second summer, there were no apples. Only twigs all over the yard. Compared to the apples, the twigs were a blessing. However, this summer, our third in this house, it seems the tree is upping the ante. My dear wife noticed that one of the four sections seemed to have shifted. I walk over, grab a branch out near the end and pull it gently toward the house (away from the nice fence that it was suspended over). Not 3 steps into my stroll did we hear a loud crack and one of the four sections (the smallest of the four) snapped off.

Which meant that my son and I got to spend the next hour and a half breaking down the large branch into small, ready-for-the-fire-ring bits. Is it wrong to burn wood from a tree that is still standing, in sight of the tree? Perhaps it will be motivation to heal up; "See? This is what happens to trees that fall down in these parts."

As for the rest of the tree, it'll come down eventually. We may even get a chainsaw and go all Friday-the-13th on it, but that requires work. And a chainsaw. And possibly a tourniquet.

I do, however, what to take a chunk out of each remaining trunk when they do come down and whittle a little canoe for each of my three boys. Just a little reminder of their own little Giving Tree.

OK, time for Salvation Theology 201.

First a refresher from Salvation Theology 101: God calls us to Holiness. His covenent requires that we abide by His laws. Failure to abide by His laws results in death and eternal seperation from His presence. However, "all have sinned and fallen away from God". Therefore, we are all subject to the consequences of sin; Eternal seperation from the God (i.e. Hell). God is holy, and God is good, and God is just. Therefore, He cannot just waive the requirements on us in this convenant, but He can, and has, provided a substitute. Jesus came to us, lived a sinless life (and in doing so, did not incur the blood debt that each of us owe from our sin), and yet, still paid the price that the convenant demands of us. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe for me, who had a debt that I could not pay.

But here are my questions... How is it possible for one man to pay the debt of billions? It's relativily easy to see how Jesus paid for *my* sins, but how could one life pay for all sins for all people? Wouldn't the sacrificial calculus be one sinless life in exchange for one life marred by sin?

Secondly, how does the resurrection figure into this? I have heard others say that the resurrection is proof that Jesus has broken the power of sin over us. But that doesn't fit into the sacrificial nature of the exchange. If a death and resurrection is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the convenant, would not *my* death, followed by a resurrection, be sufficient for my sinful life?

Now, I know, based on my faith, that Jesus' death has enough for all, and that my death apart from Jesus, even with a resurrection is not sufficient. But these are the "I wonder how that works" questions that occur to me. I am perfectly willing to accept that these questions are unknowable to us, but known to God. But if there are answers to these questions that God has given to us, or that the Spirit will enable us to work out, I for one would like to explore them.

Any ideas out there?

Gotta post about this while it's fresh. Simple, commonplace event that reflects a larger truth.

OK, 11:30 PM, Friday night. I'm at the grocery store getting Ben and Jerry's for me and the wife. (I wish I could say it was all Seren's fault, but she only mentioned B&J, I then pushed her into it.) (Also, I should note that when I was 15, my sweet tooth was knocked out in a bicycle accident... Unfortunately, it was replaced with a bionic sweet tooth.)

Anyway, I walk in. It's late and there is only one checkout person. Fair enough. I note that the person currently being rung up only has a few items, but the woman next in line has a *full* cart. UGH. Now, I'm not shy about asking if I can jump ahead of a person with a very large number of items if I only have 2 or 3. However, I knew that I would not be able to run back to the frozen section, make my selection, and be back before that woman's items started to be rung up. C'est la vie. So, I proceed to collect my 2 cartons of "the good stuff" and return to the check-out aisle. Sure enough, that LCW (large-cart-woman) is in the early stages of ringing up. Meanwhile, a woman with 3-4 items is standing behind her. Let us refer to her as 3IG (3 item girl, although to be fair, she was probably as old as I am). So, I'm behind LCW and 3IG in line. While LCW is being rung up, 2 more people with no more than 6 items get in line behind me. Then LCW2 arrives. This woman is the subject of our post today. She also had a *full* cart of food. Well, with the vertible calvacade of customers, the checkout woman does what any sensible person would do; She called for help. A scant few minutes later, Ed arrives and opens the checkout lane 3 lanes down. As soon as I hone in on which aisle he is opening, I suggest to 3IG that she move over to it. It would probably have been reasonable to take the pole positon myself, but that wouldn't be fair. Anyway, I knew the checkout woman in the aisle that I was in. She is about as professional a checkout person as you are like to find working late shift in a suburban grocery store, and I was confident that she would wrap up the order quickly.

Anyway, 3IG makes her way over to the newly opened aisle, but LCW2 is quicker. She lurches afore mentioned large cart, cuts off 3IG, and is waiting in front of "Ed" the instance he flips on the light for Checkout Lane 7. The person directly behind me mutters, "Unbeleivable". Whcih suprised me. Only because all three people behind me in line were asian, and I was under the impression that they were all somehow related. This did not turn out to be the case.

Luckily for 3IG, LCW2 seems to be married to a man who is accustomed to living in a civilized society and points out that 3IG, and her 3-4 items should probably go first. This invitation did not extend, however, to the 3 other people who stood there, small number of items in hand. As I said before, C'est la vie.

So, that bigger truth I mentioned before. This did not spring, I think, from a Me First mentality. I think this was simply Me Only. Perhaps it's the optimist in me, but I don't think LCW2 wanted to exclude or jump ahead of anyone. She just wanted to get her things done as quickly as possible. But the source of this attitude is the same; "The world isn't go to look out for me, so it's up to me to do it". The world... actually, it's more appropriate to say the people in the world... teaches each and every one of us that we need to take care of outselves, and concern for others is far too rarely rewarded. This isn't right, but I don't have an answer. Well, other than God. But He's such an easy answer that it feels like cheating to always say "Well... God." But for this, that's all I have.

So it's been a while. As I was telling Seren the other day, I feel shallow, but I think it has more to do with the water level being low than any change to the ocean floor.

However, I saw something today that I needed to comment on. It was a poster at the middle school. It's a case of accidental profundity. The poster said in big bold letters "Everyday is a gift".

Now I assume that the writer meant to communicate that every day is a gift. But I realized, as I thought about it, that the missing space does change the meaning, but the unintended meaning is still true. Everyday is a gift. The commonplace, the expected, the simple, the relied-upon-but-rarely-appreciated is a gift. Every day brings hope, a chance for a new beginning, an oppurtunity to do it right, whatever 'it' might be. Everyday, on the other hand, is the food on the table, the roof overhead, the love and support of family and friends. And it's the everyday that allows every day to have so many possibilities.