It's not about the bunny!

Lately, I've been conflicted with knowing and acknowledging Christ's suffering in my life. This past week was the week that we set aside to remember the suffering Jesus went through on his journey to the cross. I'm ashamed at how difficult it is for me to sacrifice the luxuries I'm so accustomed to. I fail miserably at loving Him. I'm amazed that His love for me never fails.

It's increasingly more difficult for me to stomach the selfish materialism we partake of on Easter and other Christ centered holidays. I'm not sure if it's just cause my kids are older or maybe I'm older and wiser or perhaps I'm just being a judgemental pharisee, who knows. I just know that I don't much care for it anymore. I want my kids to understand why we celebrate Easter and that it's not about candy and Easter baskets. It's not about the bunny.

No, I'm not an Easter grinch. We did dye Easter eggs and had some peeps and Easter bunny cookies. I just think as our culture dives in head first into the pool of consumerism and away from Christ, as parents, we've got to work harder at finding a balance.

If you have a few minutes, watch this video. I'm not particularly fond of the music style but the message is powerful and timeless.

I pray I never lose sight of what Jesus did and that today is the celebration of the new life we can all have in Him! Not about having a "hoppy" Easter.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not parish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Nepal

I went to Pokhara Nepal in May of 2006. On the way to and from Pokhara I spent a couple of days in Katmandu. Where Pokhara is a resort town that is fairly clean with restaurants around Phewa Lake and Mountain Views, Katmandu is a busy urban place with dirty narrow streets.

I spent only two weeks in Nepal but I miss it. I miss the culture that is so heavily influenced by both Hindu and Buddhist religions. I miss the landscapes and have a picture of Gandruk on my computer as wallpaper to remind me of one of the places where I trekked. I have good memories of walking through the mountains with a backpack on my back and my feet as my only transportation. I miss the city too with little shops that sold steamed momo (a dumpling) with spicy sauce for twenty-five cents US for half a dozen. I miss the milk tea and green tea from the tea shops and homes in the villages.

During my stay in Katmandu on the way out of Nepal I went into a book store across from our hotel. I love book stores and this place was mostly for Westerners and held lots of English titles. I stayed in there for a couple of hours. I remember how they were playing 70’s music, burning incense and it had a very hippie feel to it. This story on NPR flooded my brain with memories of Nepal … link.

St. Patrick's Day Prayer

I'm not an avid St. Patrick's Day observer although I did choose to wear green today (mostly to keep my 9 yr. old from pinching me) and I do have some Irish blood in me.

Thought this St. Patrick's Day Prayer was interesting, maybe you will too. It really could be a prayer for any day so much like my other blogs, it will be archived here and that way I can refer back to it when I want to.

Sour Cream, Soup, and Funny Words

The other night we went to eat dinner at El Toro's with my parents and my nephew. My parents treated us to dinner to celebrate the almost 2 month gift that keeps on giving. We gave them a tile floor redo in their bathroom for a Christmas gift and it turned in to more of a remodel. We're still not quite done, just some trim painting and tile sealing to do but it's been fun.

Anyway... Jakeb, our son, ordered tortilla soup. It's not Papasitto's but it'll due for this small town. He didn't want sour cream to come on his soup. We told him that if it did, he could just scrape it off. Apparently, according to Jakeb, you cannot scrape sour cream off of soup. Thus, the funny word -

"unscrapeoffable" It is a verb and used in Jakeb's sentence, went something like this: "Sour cream on soup is unscrapeoffable."

How's that? Jakeb has messed around with words since he was little. Saying weird words with weird combinations and just finding humor in words that others of us just don't pay any attention to.

Here's another sentence: "Laughter is good medicine and can cause a family to have unscrapeoffable memories." I made that one up all by myself! :)

Here we go...

Ok, so I'm going to see how blogging goes for me. I always have thoughts, ideas, photos, etc. that I think are worth sharing so this will give me the forum to do that with anyone who happens to stumble by. If nothing else, it will help us as a family to archive some of our memorable moments.

We hope to be adding our kids as contributors soon, too. So maybe they will be able to enlighten your day as well.

Happy reading...

Lines from The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation by Paulo Coelho

She looked once more at the mountains, now covered in darkness. She saw the first star come out and thought that she had had a good life; she had been born and would die in a place she loved, even though it seemed that her love was unrequited, but what did that matter? Anyone who loves in the expectation of being loved in return is wasting their time.

It was all a matter of control. And choice.
Nothing more nothing less.

One thing I can tell you with absolute certainty; life can seem either very long or very short, according to how you live it.

Lectionary Reading for Ash Wednesday

It is apropos on the day that lent begins and I feel smug about my celebration of it – when most in my religious tradition do not – that I would read these verses from the gospel section of the lectionary reading for Ash Wednesday.

"Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don't make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won't be applauding. "When you do something for someone else, don't call attention to yourself. You've seen them in action, I'm sure—'playactors' I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that's all they get. When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
"Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.

Matthew 6:1-6 (The Message)

New Template

I rarely post here but maybe someday I will be inspired to post more often once again.

That being the case I updated my template since apparently my old one was not compatible with blogger.

The Road

How long have you been on the road?
I was always on the road.
How do you live?
I just keep going. I knew this was coming.
You knew it was coming?
Yeah. This or something like it. I always believed in it.
Did you try to get ready for it?
No what would you do?
I don’t know.
People are always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn’t believe in that. Tomorrow wasn’t getting ready for them. It didn’t even know they were there.

An old man answering a somewhat younger man’s questions about how he is surviving the post-apocalyptic world they find themselves in from Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road.

Scott Matthews

Good music ... check it out.

Scott Matthews Myspace Site

Dreams

I’ve been remembering my dreams more frequently lately. From what I understand, everyone dreams all of the time but some rarely recall their dreams. Like I said I wake up lately and I have vivid recollection of a dream from the night before.

My dreams have been strange and a few times disturbing. Nothing happens in my dreams that reflect normal life. Or maybe it does and those are the dreams I forget. Maybe normal life is not worth remembering kind of like the lunch you ate last Tuesday.

Some dreams I would love to forget and I am sure someday I will. Some dreams I would never tell anyone knowing they must reflect some part of me I do not like. Some dreams are too funny not to share.

Dreams make me wonder what is hidden in the shadowy corners of my mind.

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
Genesis 37:5 (NIV)

Theologians

Theologians, they don’t know nothing about my soul. Oh they don’t know.

- Jeff Tweedy Wilco

The Learning Curve of Gratitude

I really enjoy listening to NPR. There are people in my conservative Christian past that would cringe that I would like “liberal media”.

“Liberal” or “conservative” … who the heck cares? NPR is thoughtful radio that tells stories rather than just reporting the news. I love a good story.

One of my favorite features on NPR is a segment called “This I Believe”. Varieties of people write short essays about their deepest held beliefs and then read them on the air. I do not agree with what everyone writes. Who would? But I am struck by what people hold dear at the core of their being.

Sunday’s addition was written and read by Mary Chapin Carpenter about what she has learned from a recent illness. It is called “The Learning Curve of Gratitude” I resonate with what she says:

What I want more than ever is to appreciate that I have this day, and tomorrow and hopefully days beyond that. I am experiencing the learning curve of gratitude.

Go listen here (and hurry it's good) --> link

Words from Ecclesia

Tonight Andrea and I went to Ecclesia. As the service progressed I wrote down words that spoke to the part of the journey I currently find myself on:

Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

Oh my God shine your light on us
That we might live

“ … their god is their stomach …”
– Philippians 3:19
(I think my god is in my stomach as I seek to satisfy my sensual desires. )

I hoard for myself thinking God’s well will run dry. (How stupid of me).

Ecclesia is such a sacred place for me. I always leave knowing I’ve brushed up against Divinity. What I do with what I experienced there is up to me and I have to admit that in that I sometimes fail to make the best of it.

Lightly or tightly?

Love will fly if held too lightly
Love will die if held too tightly
Lightly, tightly, how do I know
Whether I’m holding or letting love go?

- Oscar Wilde

Strengths Finder

I took a strengths finder test recently to determine my strengths. It is amazing to me that someone could devise a test that takes 20 minutes and describes my personality fairly well.

Am I that simple? I’m sure Andrea (my wife) would say “Most definitely!”

Anyway, without going into the five strengths they say I have, here are some words and phrases in the strengths descriptors used to describe me:

Think, mental activity that may be focused or lack focus, time alone, muse, reflect, introspective, my own best companion who loves own company, inquisitive, adding info to the archives, learner, journey from ignorance to competence, adult learning experiences, careful, vigilant, private, serious, reserved, anticipate what might go wrong, do not give too much praise or recognition ...

Some are most definitely true but others I wonder about. I may be on the earliest portions of the journey from ignorance to competence but I am enjoying the trip.

Three Celebrities and a Funeral from Out of Ur

Great post on the Out of Ur blog by Gordon Mac Donald ... just read it! --->here

Little Bit of Soul

Put a little soul in your pocket
Put a little soul in the street
Put a little soul in something
Put a little soul in me

Put a little soul in your music
Put a little soul in your groove
Put a little soul in something
Put a little soul in you

Put a little soul in your living
Put a little soul in your time
Put a little soul in your religion
Put a little soul in mine

Just a little bit
Just a little bit
A little bit of soul

- King’s X

There are those who live believing they should be focused mainly on the spiritual. They say the spiritual is what matters the most. Like the Gnostics, those same people would ignore the physical and sensual saying that it is evil. The problem is that the spiritual alone promises what it can never deliver apart from life in a physical world.

There are those who say, “there is no spiritual – science has proven that the physical is all there is. Satisfy the sensual because it is what brings pleasure and there is no moral law to prevent indulgence.” The product of that indulgence is vain, or fat, or without love and a slow death comes from the comfort and pleasure. The problem is that the physical and sensual alone leaves one feeling empty.

It seems to me that the answer is to live from the soul. I’ve heard a few definitions of what our soul is. Many are either too technical for my mind to grasp or so simplistic they seem absurd. For me the soul is who I am in a holistic sense. It is both physical and metaphysical. It is life lived from both the spiritual and the sensual.

I don’t know how King’s X is defining “soul” but I do know that whatever it is, my life is missing a little bit of soul. It is a fine line to walk and I wish I could find the balance.

I am saying that the human soul was made to be strong … For too long we have belittled theology in favor of passion, or belittled passion in favor of theology. We were created to know much about God, and we were created to feel much for God.

- John Piper

Outside Magazine - Happiness with Karnazes and Thoreau

I was reading the January 2007 issue of Outside Magazine today. I dig Outside. It makes me want to take an adventure to a far away place with incredible landscapes and rich cultures. This issue was no exception. While reading I thought quite a bit about a trip Jakeb and I are planning. This spring we are going backpacking for a couple of days, probably on the Ouachita National Recreational Trail.

A group of featured articles in Outside this month are about happiness. In one of the articles the writer interviews Dean Karnazes during his successful 50 marathons in 50 days. He talks about how getting fit and eating right have improved his attitude and ultimately made him a happier person.

Another article talks about how simplicity makes a person happy and it quoted Henry David Thoreau. I think Thoreau and I would have gotten along just fine. I bet he was a very low maintenance kind of friend - assuming he had any friends.

Look at the following quotes from Thoreau:

"Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw at it still."

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."

"I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."

"Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only."

Some other quotes from the magazine I found interesting:

"Marry the wild ones: You can tame the wild ones but you cannot make the tame ones wild." - Eric Hansen's 94 year old grandmother

I know some who would disagree. I just thought it was funny that a 94 year old woman said it.

"I think Western culture has things backwards. We equate comfort with happiness, and now we are so comfortable, we're miserable." - Dean Karnazes

"The bold don't live forever, but the timid don't live at all." Unknown (from Karnazes' blog)

Something for you to think about on your next backpacking adventure.

A quote ...

We are not made strong enough to stand up against endless grief. And yet pain is the constant drone of life. So if we are to have any happiness at all, it is only in the passing instant. … Surely it is a sin to reject the few gifts we are given. Be happy in the flash of time granted us or hurt forever. Those are the harsh and contradictory rules Creation has laid down for the game we’re forced to play.

- Charles Frazier Thirteen Moons