myblog

It's a good thing that results of elections aren't permanent. At least with this election there was some satisfaction that not everything and not everyone I voted for lost.

The great debate

Yes this prop 8 ruling has brought out a lot of strong feelings.  The debate about whether a physical image of Groom Christ loving the Bride Church is superior to a physical image of Christ loving Himself or the Church loving herself.  The debate about whether physical realities are reflections of spiritual realities or not.  The debate about with so many straight divorces, anything that encourages lifelong commitment is a good thing.  All of this is the debate about the definition of marriage.  About how so many people are hurt by other's opinions that their relationships are only second best.  Not bad, just second best.  But who is to say what is second best, or if there is a second best?  Who is to say that gay monogamy is or isn't without question superior to or equal to or inferior to straight promiscuity?  The debate about whether God really did create them male and female, and whether that matters in a fallen world with all sorts of realities that didn't exist in the original design.  The debate about whether there even is a design, or if it is all random.  (Sorry folks, I'm not yet to the point where I believe order can just magically appear out of chaos without intervention by an intelligent Being).  The debate about whether natural means good or simply means That Which Is, neither good nor bad nor in between, but Just Is.  The debate about whether a man's need to be connected to other men and a man's need for sex are one need or two needs, or whether they should or should not be one need or two, or whether there is no should to it at all, again, it just is, get over it, accept it.  The debate about acceptance without approval still not being acceptable.  The debate about whether live and let live is good enough, or that no, there must be acceptance and approval.  What?  People not approving nor disapproving, just simply loving and leaving the judging to God?  Oh yes, the love the sinner but hate the sin debate.  The debate about whether holding to a standard of holiness automatically makes one a hypocrite, and that therefore to avoid being a hypocrite that standards of holiness must be abandoned.  Yes one big giant great debate.  But as others have written, and I will echo here, none of these debates change the fact that Love is a reality, not an imaginary thing.  I believe the intangibles and the invisibles (things like happiness, joy, contentment, etc).  are real.  Only a few folk reduce everything to chemical reactions in the brain.  I don't at least not yet.  I'm not yet at the point of being able to believe that my own sense of being is an illusion and that there is no "I", just an illusion that there is an "I".  So at the end of all the debates, we find the debate about personhood and whether or not even our wills and intentions are merely an illusion that such a thing as "self" exists.  And if I don't exist, then how could God exist?  Yet I remain firmly convinced that God does exist.  Which leads to the debate about how do we know what God's will is?  The debate about is the Bible really God inspired, or is it truly just a human history with some mythical supernatural events thrown in for show?  Yet I remain firmly convinced of the reality of the supernatural and also that it manifests itself in the natural world.  As one person has said, if there is no God, my faith in God is fairly harmless, but if there is God, then my denial of God's existence, authority, love for me, etc. places me in a rather unsafe position.  Oh yes....the debate about whether eternity exists or whether we just die and cease to exist.  Yes, this Prop 8 debate really does go to the depths of it all, in my opinion.

a little church history

I sometimes wish I had only left churches because of moving out of town. Sadly that is not the case. One I left because rather than finding the ritual to be rich, I found it to be extremely boring, and had major questions about things like whether or not God has a mother, whether the Vicar of Christ is the Holy Spirit or a man, whether saints in heaven have more clout than saints on earth, etc. One I left because I found out that to volunteer was to be promoting oneself (I’m not making this up!) and that if God wanted you to be in a ministry, He wouldn’t tell you, He would tell the leadership and they would ask you. One I left because a close friend on staff was asked to leave and did. I don’t know the details of that conflict and don’t want to. One I left because my whole reason for being there was not a good reason. Now since 1997 I’ve been at the same church for thirteen years (more than at any other) and aren’t planning on going anywhere else. I don’t know about the church politics and don’t want to. I don’t think I’d find a church where I agree with everything, especially in regards to not having to ask for forgiveness from God because He finished that at the cross, the possibility of being under condemnation because of communion/eucharist when there isn’t any overeating or getting drunk on wine or folks being left without food, or that I shall escape the wrath of Antichrist against the church because I know that the servant isn’t greater than the master, and it’s totally illogical for Him to warn us about something we’re not going to have to suffer for His name, and if I’m afraid to suffer persecution for Him my faith would be pretty wimpy in my opinion. So I pretty much ignore these disagreements because otherwise I would be missing out on all the community and fellowship and being on the giving and receiving ends of the ministry of intercession/prayer.

Summer Rolls On

Another Tour De France completed by watching the stages narrated by Phil and Paul for the past three weeks.  It certainly is fun to watch and to listen to their "commontree".  I also feel very tired after watching, but not as tired as if I had ridden myself.  This is a summer tradition at our home.  We have no reason to go see it live in person.  In May we were on the side of the road as the Tour of California peleton sped past in a manner of a few seconds.  Came home to watch it on TV which was not as exciting but had much better views from their motorbike cameras and helicopter.

In other summer news, our yard is not quite yet at maintenance but gets a little bit closer each weekend.  Yesterday I spent five hours working out in the yard before I decided I had enough for one day.  It is nice to have something to do outdoors which is productive in a way.  I haven't gone bicycle riding in this heat, and in the cool early hours of the day, when there is yard work to be done, I'd rather get it done than go bicycle riding.

A couple of weeks ago we did something we almost never do, we went to a live theatre show, Spamalot.  Today we are going to see another show, Screwtape.  In fact I think the last theatre show we went to see was several years ago, Mame.  The only things we used to do a lot of which we don't anymore, besides that, are go bicycle riding, to minigolfing, and go bowling.  Of course bicycle riding is the cheapest of them all, and has the best views and scenery.

Emily Cat

Emily Cat was put to sleep at the vet a few weeks ago.  We did a fair amount of grieving and weeping for our sweet feline creature (SFC) who lived with us since 1997.  I'm still surprised how much I loved that ball of fur that had dropped to a weight of only 5 pounds and was getting weaker by the day.  Grief and weeping beat the heck out of being numb, I have no question of that.  We're going to take a break from having a pet for a while while we go thru withdrawal etc.  I'm still not a dog person but I'm very very slowly becoming more compassionate toward dogs and less judgmental.  Most of my close friends are dog people but that doesn't keep me from loving them and enjoying their company.  Well I hope everyone had a great July 4.  We went to a restaurant with outdoor tables, had a great dinner and watched the local fireworks from there.  Other than the company and the food, the third best part about it was the free parking and easy exit afterward.

October 2009

Arches are Cool

This Year's Vacation: An Exceptional Road Trip

Recently was on a two week vacation visited Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Fort Laramie, Colorado National Monument, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Four Corners, Painted Desert / Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona Meteor Crater, Sedona, Grand Canyon.  What a beautiful country we live in.  What a wonderful place to live and work and just be in.  How fortunate we are indeed.   I plan to go back to some of these places on another vacation and to spend some more time just being there and experiencing those places.  Now I am even more grateful to live and have the freedoms we have to travel and to see the wide open places in the West.  Yes, a few of the wide open places in between these gem jewels were more boring than others.  But there is such a peace and tranquility in them that transcends the boring.  This MDOC (Mountain Desert Ocean City) really enjoyed this trip.  I am so glad that this nation has decided to set aside these special places to be protected and preserved.

Quiet Summer

Even though the school year has started, it is still a quiet summer.  No local fires, hailstorms, earthquakes, floods, H1N1 flu outbreaks, major traffic accidents, mobs or riots, just a nice quiet summer.  Planting flowers and trees in the yard.  Tearing out some old rotted wood and putting cement blocks in its place.  Pulling weeds by hand.  Repainting the outside of the house.  Last weekend went to an area museum with Lego exhibits and a exact cast of the Sue T-Rex skeleton.  As Spock would say in Star Trek, "fascinating".  And at work, a newly implemented student information system is keeping life very interesting there, no boredom to be had.  So thankful to live in the US and specifically, the West.

Yes, it's an old picture

Yes, the picture of me is from 1978 I think.  Sigh, back in the years when I used the piano as a means of isolation, venting, hiding, and self-protection.  I'm grateful that I haven't seriously practiced since the year 2000, when it became just too difficult to carry on.  After years of practicing ten and twenty hours a week, I had finally had enough.  The costs had overwhelmed the profits.  It was time to do some major catching up in other areas of life like being social and dealing with people and not drowning in introversion......and I had already been doing more people and less music since my conversion in 1984, but the music came to an abrupt end.  Once someone you love deeply has told you that they get the feeling that you love the piano more than you love them, and you stop to think about it and realize they are exactly right and they are not imagining it and embarrassingly to admit not using hyperbole or exaggeration, you abandon the piano for the person.  Or at least I did.  Some would say how awful, he gave up his artistry, he gave up his concerts, what a shame, what a loss.  (Some still say that. They shake their heads in disbelief).  I say Thank God!  Enough with music idolatry.  Enough with music snobbery.  Enough with "ART" at the expense of everything else.  Enough with an offering that is never acceptable, a work that is never finished, a performance that is never done.  Freedom, Hallelujah, Freedom!  And in April 2007 I finally tossed a couple of bookshelves of sheet music and books which I hadn't looked at or worked on in over ten years at least, into the dumpster!  God forbid anyone else should be cursed with them.  And then I began to wonder about all those compliments about how people had been so moved and blessed and entertained.  Music as ministry?  Ha!  What good are Chopin and Beethoven and Brahms to those who are homeless and starving and have no medicine and only one set of clothes?  Do I really believe that piano recitals are a luxury?  YES, an emphatic yes.  He did not say "I was feeling depressed and you cheered me up with your music".  Ok, Ok, so David played the harp and Saul felt better.  But I'd almost wager that David didn't take 15 years of harp lessons practicing five to ten to twenty hours a week on the harp so that he could play harp concertos with the orchestra and do solo recitals for King Saul.  As Pooh Bear said, "Oh, bother".

Yard Work

I dug most of an old stump and several of it's roots-just-below-the-surface out of the yard today.  It's probably been about 25 years since I did anything like that.  I had to stop and take frequent rest, even though I was in the shade and the temp had not yet reached 80.  It felt really good to get the exercise.  We're slowly getting our yard fixed up.  The geraniums in front seem happy enough, and the poppies are slowly building from the ground up.  Looks like none of the bulbs will be coming up until next year, we were too late getting them planted.  But that's OK.  I left the core of the stump that was more than  about six inches under the surface.  After about four hours of digging dirt, chopping roots, and splitting wood, I had enough.  Fortunately the stump has been rotting for some time, so it was not nearly as difficult as it would have been had it been a fresh green stump.  Why am I writing about this?  I really don't know.