Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Rats and Death



My son's rat died a few days ago. The poor thing developed a tumor in her throat and gradually faded away. The last few days were very tough watching her suffer. She finally passed away on Saturday after a very courageous battle for a rodent.
Lem was devastated and had a hard time dealing with his little pet's death. It hurt his mother and me to watch him try to figure out his emotions. He has been strong about it although he has shed many tears over the past couple of days.
Death is a painful part of life. One that was brought about by our own doing. We begin dying the moment we are born. It is a sobering fact of life that one day we will face our own mortality. We as Christians believe there is life after death, but I am convinced that most of us do not really trust that this is true. If we did, would death be as troublesome to us as it is?
It is okay to mourn at the passing of a loved one, but shouldn't we celebrate more? Knowing that they are in the arms of their savior should be a comfort to us. Perhaps we should mourn for the ones left behind, but rejoice and throw a party for the one who passed. I have told my wife over and over that I want my funeral to be a party, full of clowns balloons, and music. Celebrate because your glad I'm gone, or because I am with my Jesus. I don't care the reason, just celebrate!
But I digress. My son has handled the death of his rat well. And although Jasmine was nothing more than a mere rodent, we will all miss her. God bless you ratsky.
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Monday, December 29, 2008

Pastor Terry Hershey

I first was introduced to Terry Hershey back in 1992. He was one of the speakers at the now defunct Jesus Northwest in Vancouver, Washington. He spoke on intimacy and gave one of the best talks I have ever heard. Below is an excerpt from his book "Jesus In Skin". I hope you enjoy it and please check out his website at http://www.terryhershey.com .

"This little boy was having nightmares. You know, the bad kind where you have to go to mama. It's really no use going to dad because he just says, “Go to mama.”
“Mama, mama, I'm having nightmares!”
“It's OK honey. Here's what I want you to do: I want you to go back to your room. I want you to knell down by your bed. I want you to pray to Jesus and he'll fix it.”
“OK, mom.”
He went back to his room, knelt down by his bed, prayed to Jesus, got back in bed and he had more nightmares. All mamas out there, you know this story. Back and forth to mama all night long, six times: “Mama, mama, I'm having nightmares!”
“I know, honey.”
“I know mom. I'm going back to my room. I'm going to kneel down by my bed. I'm going to pray to Jesus and he'll fix it. But before I do that, can I just lay in bed with you and have you hold me?”
“Well, sure honey. Why?”
“Because sometimes, mama, I need Jesus with skin on him!”
I understand where he's coming from. And it reminds me of a story in the Gospel of Matthew. A very strange story actually. Jesus is talking to a large group of people and his mother and brothers come to visit him. And Jesus, who is the PR man's nightmare, says the thing that you don't expect him to say. He pretends he doesn't know his family. He does an amnesia thing: “Who is my mother?” And the disciples are thinking, “Lord have mercy! He's been in the sun too long.” And then Jesus says something extraordinary. He points to the people in the crowd, just the people who there and says, “This is my mother. This is my brother. This is my sister.” If Jesus meant that, it's going to change the way we live, that we are literally linked. Now he's not making some theology about the nuclear family. He's not saying this is the way you treat your mother and brothers and sisters when you go home for Christmas or Thanksgiving. He's saying something more profound and that is this: that if we really are brother and sister then no one, no one is on a faith journey alone. No one.
If that's true, if we really are brother and sister, then it literally changes the way we live. But if it's true, then that means there is going to be some good news and bad news with this which is at least better than the sermons I got when I was a kid. Those sermons were bad news and then more real bad news! But this at least has some good news. But we'll start with the bad news first.
If Jesus meant that, we are really brother and sister, Mother Teresa said it best. She said that one of the reasons we don't have peace in our time is because we have forgotten that we belong to one another. So bad news number one: none of us can make it alone. Now this is bad news because we live in a culture that we pride ourselves in self-sufficiency, self-reliance, we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. When we're flat on our back we shake our fist at the world. We can handle it, thank you very much! I mean even as a country we do this whole “we can do it.” None of us can make it alone.
Bad news number two: if we really are brother and sister, then guess what? We've got to quit keeping score. Now that really is a problem because in this culture our value, our worth, our very identity is predicated on keeping score: what we do, what we produce, what we achieve, what we accomplish, and how busy we are, anything that's newer and faster and more up to date. And then what happens is if our paradigm for our value and worth is keeping score, then we're no longer brother and sister and we see one another as competitor or adversary. And then I spend all of my energy because I'm keeping score, I spend all of my energy putting you down or trying to lift me up. And I use a lot of conversations talking about us and them. The problem is this: if our paradigm is keeping score then we're scared to death to be real with each other, to be ordinary.
There's a great story about a Sunday school class of first graders. The kids were acting up so the teacher tried to settle them down: “Kids, kids, kids, kids, kids!” she said. That's how you can tell you've taught Sunday school too long! “Kids, kids, kids, kids, kids!” She said, “Let's play a game. I'll describe something to you, you tell me what it is. It's a furry little animal with a big bushy tail and it climbs up trees and stores nuts in the winter.” Nobody said anything. She said, “You are a good Sunday school class. You know the right answer to this question. Furry little animal, big bushy tail, climbs up trees and stores nuts in the winter.” Finally one little girl raised her hand. The teacher said, “Emily?” Emily said, “Well teacher that sounds like a squirrel to me but I'll say Jesus!” If we're really brother and sister, a squirrel can just be a squirrel because we have nothing to prove and no one to impress.
Which leads to the third piece of bad news and that is this: if we are really connected, if we are really brother and sister, if we are on this faith journey together then that means we're going to be connected to some people we don't like, people we didn't choose, and people who are different. Here's the extraordinary irony. Some day, because we are brother and sister, someday God's grace will touch you, will touch me through someone I did not choose and someone I least expected. And some day God's grace will touch someone else, some one different through me in a way I did not anticipate.
You see, when I look at that person who is different I need to recognize that God did not put them on this earth for me to change or for me to convict or me to save. God put them here for me to learn from, listen to, to challenge and be challenged by, and to enjoy together this dance called life.
OK. That's the bad news. Now the good news. Three pieces. One: if we really are brother and sister, then we don't need to pretend we've got our act together! We can literally do this: whew! Why? Because if we're brother and sister there is nothing to prove and this is not a race or a contest or a beauty pageant. Which leads to good news number two and three and that is this: we can receive from one another without keeping score and we can give to one another without expecting a pay back.
Where I live in Seattle, there is a program in a town called Bellevue called Buddy ball. Now, Buddy Ball is a program for baseball that mixes able-bodied children with children with disabilities. It was started by an extraordinary woman named Beth Campbell. She started it for her own son who is ten, who was not allowed to play in—and I love the way we say it with kids—he was not allowed to play with “normal children” in Little League. So she started Buddy Ball. He had a variety of disabilities and it's called Buddy Ball because if you can't run, a buddy runs for you. If you can't hit, a buddy hits for you. If you can't throw, a buddy throws for you. You've got to go to a Buddy ball game! It's an extraordinary thing to see a kid in a motorized wheelchair as he gets to go by himself, to see a kid in a motorized wheelchair trying to stretch a double into a triple. It's a hard thing because he raises his hands to cheer. When he does the wheelchair stops. You've never seen such joy. I'm quoting from the Seattle Times now and it said this...oh, I have to say, you have to know the rules of Buddy Ball and one of the rules is it is against the rules to strike out! Once you get six strikes, you automatically get to go to first. I know a lot of you are saying, “Hey, I could have played baseball that way!”
I gave a talk once to some professional psychologists and ministers and I talked about getting six strikes and going to first. And this man was so angry because he got in my face and said, “How dare you teach that kind of freedom to children!” I said, “Sir, you could use more roughage in your diet!” We're scared to death when we live by grace instead of keeping score. And the Seattle Times says this: when that son gets to first, it says he doesn't stop there. It says, but he doesn't go to second either. It says he runs into the crowd and he hugs everybody. And then it goes on to say this: “It is what sports can be. People running and jumping and playing because nobody's keeping score because nobody cares.”
And I say to you, it is what community can be. Some place where we can run and jump and play because at least for a minute or a day we quit keeping score. Why can we do that? Because we know that essentially we are brother and sister, we are connected and we are not ruled by fear and we are not ruled by score. And in the end because we are connected, we can literally be Jesus in skin.

From "Jesus In Skin" by Terry Hershey


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Friday, December 19, 2008

Is Anyone There?


Although I enjoy writing this blog and would continue to do it whether or not anyone reads it; I would like to take roll call and find out if anyone actually does. If you do ever find yourself looking this way could you at least leave a comment and let me know. It would be greatly appreciated.


Merry Christmas.


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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Now You Can Smell Like the "King"



"Burger King has introduced a new cologne that has the fragrance of "flame-broiled" hamburgers. The scent is supposed to really "turn on" the women. Here is a snippet from NBC's Today Show.

The way to a man's heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a woman's heart — according to Burger King — may be through a new meat-scented body spray.
While fast-food chains aren't exactly best known for selling signature
fragrances, on Sunday The Home of the Whopper rolled out a men's body spray called Flame by BK. The 5-ml bottles are available for sale in Ricky's stores in New York City and on a dedicated Web site, firemeetsdesire.com.
If you're salivating for a chance to marinate yourself in flame-broiled flavor, relax: The experience can be yours for just $3.99 — a small price to pay for some seriously mouthwatering mojo. "-Sarika Dani


read the full article here

Would you want to smell like a Burger?
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Why Does He Get Good Press


Chuck Colson recently wrote an article where he discusses the difference between Buddhism's idea of celibacy and Christianity's idea. The funny part of it all is that if a Christian espouse this kind of lifestyle, it is considered old fashioned and out of date. But when the Dalai Lama discusses it, he is saying something profound! here is a slice of what Mr. Colson said in his article.

"A prominent religious leader recently said that sex, however pleasurable it might be in the short run, leads to long-term trouble. He argued that celibacy is the way that leads to “more freedom.”

If you’re thinking that the leader was ridiculed for his comments, think again. The Associated Press described him as “waxing eloquent.” It probably helps that the “him” in question was the Dalai Lama."
...

read the entire article






Thoughts and comments...
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More Memories

In my mind, we had only lived in our new little apartment for just a short time. But frankly, I really don't know how long we had lived there when this next event happened.


One of my favorite memories of being younger, was my mom reading to me every night. I loved books from an early age and wanted her to constantly read to me. She read to me on a nightly basis, although sometimes reluctantly.

On one particularly occasion my mother was reading to me my favorite book-"The Ginger Bread Man". We were sitting on the couch cuddled next to each other. We were about half way through the book when something strange began to happen. My mom stopped reading and was silent for a small period of time. I looked up at her and it seemed to my four year old mind that she was going to sneeze. She motioned (at least that's how I interpreted it) for me to move away. I stood up from the couch and watched my mom fall down on the cushions as she began to convulse. Her eyes rolled back into her head, she foamed at the mouth and made low growling sounds.

As a small child, alone and watching strange things happen to my mom, I was scared beyond belief. I didn't know what to do! There was a wall dividing the dining room from the living room. Not knowing what else to do, I ran to the other side of the wall and cried as I listened to my mom lying on the couch having convulsions.

Although it seemed like an eternity, it was more than likely just a few minutes. My mother came to after coming out of her seizure. She was disoriented and could barely hold an intelligible conversation. She asked me what had happened and I told her as well as a 4-year old vocabulary could muster. She hugged me and said we should get ready for bed....

(to be continued)
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Here is an interesting video about calling in "gay" to work. I guess it is their way of protesting the passing of proposition 8 in California. My question is, if you call in "gay" to work are you admitting that it is a sickness....Just a thought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynd30mghrVM&eurl=http://news.google.com/nwshp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&feature=player_embedded
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Reflections on the Past

Recently I have been blogging about my experiences at the Christian bookstore. I think I will take a break from that subject and concentrate on some of my memories from when I was a child...



I was the product of a marriage that lasted less than two years. I was born in Bozeman, MT in 1974 and less than a year later, my mom and dad seperated and consequently divorced. Due to some physical ailments my mom suffered from, my grandparents, who were living in Idaho Falls, ID, took the trip up to Bozeman and moved my mom and I down to Idaho.



We were able to find a little studio apartment in what some call "the hood" in I.F. Now, of course, this neighborhood was nothing like living in South Central L.A., but it was bad enough. Auto theft, murder, and drug pushing were the norm in my apartment alone!



A few years later we were able to move into the little house that was located behind our current apartment. It was a tiny one bedroom converted garage. It was constructed completely of cinder blocks and was deathly cold in the winter. The only heating apparatus was an old style gas furnace that was stationed right in the center of the house. Consequently, only about a 10 foot radius ever was sufficiently heated. The place was small, cold, and located in a run down part of town. But we considered it home and stayed there for six years.
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Sick Kids

My daughter is very sick today. It breaks my heart to see something so delicate, so ill. She woke up with a very high temperature, sore throat, and a slight cough. She has no voice (i wish Keenan suffered from this problem). She can barely squeak out what she needs.
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Friday, December 5, 2008

Christian Bookstores Part 3

On a particular occasion, the soda fountain was "hoppin". We had every table full and a family just walking in the door. This family was rather upstanding in the community as they ran a chiropractic clinic. The family sat at the bar and began to order sandwiches for the whole group. Now, you need to understand that this family was not your typical 2.5 kids. Because of my location, the average size of a family is much larger. This group consisted of six kids and of course both parents were there as well.

I took the orders and began to systematically tackle the awesome task of making all the sandwiches at the same time. The goal, obviously, was serve all the sandwiches without much delay between them.

Before starting the other sandwiches I decided to make the grilled cheese sandwich for the mom and get it cooking. The other sandwiches did not need to be cooked and would not take as long. I plugged in the electric fry pan and began spreading mayonnaise on the others. After a few minutes I went back to the pan to check the temperature, and realized that I had failed to turn it on after plugging it in. I grunted just a little bit realizing my mistake, turned it on and proceeded to build my other michaelangelos.

A few minutes later the pan was ready to warmly caress the bottom of the first slice of bread. I carefully and lovingly laid the slice down and and layered it with a tasty piece of Cheddar cheese. I turned away to finish up the other sandwiches that were waiting to become masterpieces in their own right.

Fifteen minutes after starting all of the meals for this fine family, I finished seven of the eight sandwiches. I suddenly realized that the grilled cheese sandwich was still simmering away in the electric fry pan. I rushed over to see what kind of disaster awaited. I picked up the sandwich to discover that the bread was as black as night. After contemplating for a fraction of a second to just scrape the burnt crust off and serve it, I thought that perhaps this was not the best customer service and changed my mind quite quickly. I hastily tossed another piece of bread with a slice of cheese on the the grill and went to apologize to the mother for the length of time she was having to wait for a measly grilled cheese sandwich.

Five minutes later, it was time to serve the sandwich and be done with this family and this sandwich that was proving to difficult to get from pan to person. I grabbed a spatula to transport the sandwich from pan to plate....I didn't quite make it to the plate. The sandwich slipped off the spat and when "splat" on the floor. I was in shock. It had taken twenty minutes to get to this point and now, once again, I had to start from scratch.

I once again apologized to the mother (who was only sitting three feet from this fiasco) and began to try to make her another one. I put the sandwich on the grill, made sure the pan was on, carefully watched it so it wouldn't burn, and then delicately put the sandwich on the plate and daintily handed the mother her sandwich. almost thirty minutes after starting her tiny little grilled cheese sandwich, I finished. She was very considerate and did not have a bad word to say. I gave the sandwich to her for free.

There were many other fun experiences at the soda fountain like counting out $5 worth of penny candy, cutting my finger on an egg shell, spilling milkshakes on people, giving a person a banana split and forgetting the banana, and cutting my hand wide open while making a sandwich in front of the sandwich owner.

next time; part 4 of Xian bookstores.
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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Christian Bookstores Part 2


The little bookstore opened its doors in June of 1995. It opened to some fanfare. It was located in an historic building in the center of Idaho Falls that had been the home to a drugstore and soda fountain for over 30 years. We tried to keep some of the charm of the place, the most obvious one being the soda fountain. The front of the store would sell the books, the center consisted of the music and gift sections. While the back would host the soda fountain with local ice cream, sandwiches made fresh and of course our huge shakes for a buck fifty. We even had to know the old soda fountain terminology like "mud", "chocolate cow" etc. It really was a nifty place with a lot of nostalgia for those of the baby-boomer generation especially.

tomorrow...stories from the soda fountain....
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Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Christian Bookstores Part 1

In the mid 90's I had the privilege of working in a Christian bookstore here in Idaho Falls. It was a local "mom and pop" bookstore run by some fantastic people that became near and dear to my heart.

When I first heard that the bookstore was about to open, I was truly excited. The only other Christian bookstore we had in town was run by a crotchety old man that cussed all the time and complained about all the "damned" kids that would come in and run around in his store. I really wanted to work at this new bookstore but did not know how to get a hold of the owners. So, I went up to the store and slipped a note under the door telling them about my qualifications. Those consisted of having incredibly useless knowledge of about every kind of Christian music one could imagine.

After a couple of weeks went by, I became convinced that I would never hear from and thus ending my thought of landing my dream job. Not a day later, I received a call from the owner who wanted to give me an interview! I was ecstatic, thrilled, and determined to land this job.

After another agonizing couple of weeks, the owner called me up and extended an offer for a job. They were looking for someone who about music and someone they could train up to be an assistant manager. He thought I fit the bill well enough and he wanted to give my a chance. I could barely contain my excitement. I couldn't wait to start. I promised him that he had made the right decision and I would be a person he could count on.
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Monday, December 1, 2008

Update

This weekend was very trying. The co-worker that I talked about in the last post killed himself on Friday evening. I am full of emotions that are proving hard to sort out. They range from sadness to anger to confusion as to how this could happen. I am going to the funeral tomorrow which will not be fun. Funerals are never fun, but when they are conducted by a certain religion, they are truly aweful.

Please pray for his family and especially for his four beautiful children that he left behind.
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