It’s Thursday again, & I’m titling my posts after the days of the week again…

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The longer I live, the more I think that the whole “coloring inside the lines” thing is over-rated. Some of the best pictures I ever did didn’t even have clear lines to color inside. Seems like life is a lot like that. Either the lines are in all the wrong places for where I think I’m supposed to color, or there’s not any lines to give a reference point.

Oh well… pass the Violet & let’s have at it.

I’ve got a spasm in my back, 1/2 way up on the left, which is turning out to be a big knot most of the time… The good Dr. G worked me over as if there were no ramifications for doing so, & then recommended a massage; esp. in light of the fact that next week is convention… er… Connection & the odds are decent that I’ll be sitting in meetings & sessions & other things quite a bit. Any recommendations on a masseuse? I’ve gone one place & decided not to go back there…

Been listening to Green Day’s newest. Interesting. Never been much of a fan, but based upon a recommendation, I thought I’d give it a spin (figuratively…) I’ve been going back & forth between it & NO LINE, & finding the combo to be very, very thought provoking…

Tuesday afternoon…

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Life has settled into a familiar rhythm… familiar for Spring that is. Spring football practice for Pasty. Baseball 3 nights a week for I-Doey. Soccer just around the corner for theWeez. Soffa-baru 2 nights for me. Sometimes the events are all at the same place. Hmmm.

It doesn’t FEEL hectic… it just means that our ‘free-time’ is spoken for, & we get to hang with each other in a different environment than home. And on a beautiful Nevada evening, there’s nothing better.

I’m a people watcher. Last night at I-Doey’s game, I observed a mom with 4 kids in tow, probably between the ages of 3 & 10, 2 boys & 2 girls. She attempted, vainly, to get them to sit & watch the game. The 2 youngest (the boys) were all over the place, & were pretty active, even according to The scoey d Standard of Active-ness.

Finally, the seemingly frustrated mom got up & said in her best “momma ain’t happy, so there ain’t no one gonna be happy” voice:

All of you. Stop now! Come with me!

With all 4 kids in tow, mom obviously fired up, the youngest got a big smile on his face & asked her:

Mommy! Is this a privilege? Is this a privilege?

She was not amused.

But I sure was.

Today is my mom’s birthday… & I’m musing on the fact that I am currently 10 years older than she is. Or will be. And the gap will grow.

I’m trying to gear myself up for a week away from theBean next week. While she is holding down the proverbial fort, I will be going to Anaheim for the yearly Foursquare Convention er… ‘Connection’. It’s the gathering for the denomination that our church family belongs to. Convention is called Connection because…

TheWeez is coming with… Lucky me. She just came out & declared her undying love & devotion for the Boston Red Sox of all teams. Fortunately, I know that she is just saying this due to her undying love & devotion that she has for a certain Red Sox fan who shall remain nameless.

The monastery that theMoses, Brother, & I went to in March 2008 supports itself with the proceeds they make off of the vineyard on their property. While we were there, we visited their wine shop for a tasting. Great vino…

So I joined their Wine Club. Next week, the ‘spring shipment’ comes out. Sweet. Should be here when I get back from Connection…

silly vandals…

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Last night, Pasty & I-Doey made their way to Coconut Bowl for some bowl-age…

They came out 2 1/2 short hours later to find that some miscreant had taken the liberty of bashing the back window of the Infamous Ex…

Post-church, I contacted the Coconut Bowl & reported the destruction (as the PastyOne had been too incensed to do it.) Then, I filed a PO-leece report with Sparks’ finest…

Called & left a message with my car insurance dealer (no, I don’t have Geico. Or Progressive. My insurance agent takes the weekends…)

Now, all we have to do is… wait.

It’s interesting – the emotions that have been stirred up in my kids. Anger –> Rage. Disbelief. Disappointment. Disgust. Frustration. Sadness. And back again.

They want A Plan of Action. A Way for us to Stick It to the person (persons? perps?) that Perpetrated the vandalismo. Like somehow, Dad will know what to do, & how to locate the Violator(s). More interesting to me is the boiling over desire for Revenge. And you thought the Empire Struck Back! Just wait til lil Pasty gets going.

Talked about letting God be our defender & avenger. Not giving away peace. Being thankful it was Just a Window. Believing it.

Hmm…

Friday musings…

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I love pancakes, but I rarely eat pancakes. A few years ago, I discovered that the “I feel like I’m going into a coma” feeling that I’d get after slamming down a few was not something that everybody experienced… there is a name for it, but the jist of it is that my body doesn’t do well at processing the mass quantities of sugar that syrup has in it…

Diet syrup isn’t an option, so my method of ‘dealing’ with the reaction to pancakes (& a few other foods) has been to modify how I eat – drop the refined flours & sugars, high protein & complex carbs are the norm…

But I still like pancakes & will plot a couple of times per year to indulge… & make sure that I incorporate some high-protein food (usually sharp cheddar cheese) to eat before, during, & after the pancakes… it doesn’t fully stop the coma-reaction, but it does curb it a bit…

So I plot, (the anticipation & waiting is almost as good as the actual eating,) & save up for Christmas/New Years Dutch Apple. The (formerly) 1x/semester Tri-Delta Pancake extravaganza. An occasional home-based celebration. I believe that it’s time for a bacon stack… Let the preparations begin.

And …here comes the sun…. Looks like the weekend is finally bringing temperatures in the 80s & 90s. Ahhhh.

Currently reading:

  • The Hobbit.
  • Alien Encounters.
  • The Mishnah.
  • The Writings of Irenaeus.
  • ESPN: The Magazine.

    • The wind blows gently, & I love the peaceful coolness, bringing relief from the heat of the day. The evening wind comes like a gentle caress, lingering sweetness. The wind blows hard, picking up sand & rocks, pelting & stinging all they come in contact with. The biting cold, a violent & unseen rage. What’s changed?

    And the waves.

    I don’t think that the waves are intentionally buffeting my little ship, tossing it to & fro, bringing it perilously close to the rocks & the reef… the waves are just… the waves.

    They’re driven by unseen but very real forces, & the waves do what waves do. When the seas are calm & gentle, I love them. When they’re wild & fearsome, I’m wondering why they’ve turned their intensity to me.

    Sigh. I’m glad that the One who calms the wind & the waves knows me.

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    memory & smell

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    For the last semester, one of our Sunday p.m. small groups has been studying the Book of Enoch in conjunction with Genesis & Revelation- we’ve gotten through Enoch’s 1st vision (Chapters 1-36.)

    One of the things that has stood out the most to me is the mention of how things smell – specifically of incense & other rich, deep, good smells, esp. associated with the presence & throne-room of God. We had quite the discussion about how smell is very closely tied to memory… & Michael O passed on the tidbit that the sense of smell is the only sense that bypasses the normal ‘central processing relay-stuff’ & goes straight to the brain. Which, in turn, makes for some very vivid & clear memory making… & at the next ‘smell’ of that scent, a person can be ‘taken back’ in memory to when they’ve smelled it before.

    This drove me to the Scriptures & their mention of incense & fragrance in the context of the Tabernacle, the presence of God, & of royalty (more on that later.) What I found really blew me away – in the instructions that the LORD Adonai gave to Moses for worship were included an altar from which incense was to be burned all the time – (Exodus 30). And the incense burned on the holy altar was to be made of a special blend that was not for private use – only for the presence of God.

    Another sweet smelling perfume was mixed in with the anointing oil applied to kings…

    If you’re interested in finding out more, click HERE to be taken to Bible Gateway…

    At the same time as I’ve been studying incense & fragrance in the Scriptures, I’ve been reading a book called Sitting At the Feet of Rabbi Jesus. Its a book that brings understanding to what living as a disciple (talmid) of Jesus would have been like within the culture of 1st century Judaism – with the nuances of Hebrew culture, language, belief, & practice. Good book.

    One of the chapters talks about fragrance as well – referring to the John 12 account of Mary from Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet with “an expensive perfume” made of “pure nard” (which I’d recommend you reading about HERE )

    The authors mentioned that this anointing event, using this potent & sweet smelling perfume, would have caused the sweet smell to linger around Jesus for a long time – & would have been very apparent even during His betrayal, trial, scourging & crucifixion.

    This has made me even more curious – & I am in the process of doing some ‘experiments’ with smell, fragrance, & incense… theBean is not nearly as excited about this as I am…

    In my attempts to experiment with incense & the like, I have found through my searching locally that that the only places that I’ve been able to find incense (cone or sticks) or oil for burning have been in the ‘head’ shops, &/or shops that are catering to a pagan, wiccan, or new age clientele… Hmmm. Interesting.

    So, resourceful me went to eBay & purchased some incense cones & a little tiny censer to burn the incense in. My package arrived & I wasted no time lighting my first cone of incense… in the kitchen. Ooops.

    My experiment was quickly relegated to the garage… turns out that a reason that theBean wasn’t as excited as me about the incense is that she had a negative experience with it – where as a youngster, she & her family went to dinner at someone’s house – & the house was filled with an ‘incense’ smell (you know the smell – no matter what flavor or scent of incense you get, its a smell common to burning the cones…) I asked her about it & she described in minute detail what the house looked like inside, the people, & even what they ate for dinner. How’s that for a 30 year old memory?

    I got excited about that… & told theBean that she just proved what I was trying to discover & describe about smells, incense, & fragrance. I must say, though, that theBean remains not amused.

    But I am. :)

    Tuesday afternoon musings…

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    My fantasy baseball season is being derailed almost before it begins. Injuries to Hanley Ramirez, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Doumit, & Carlos Delgado have left me scrambling for potential replacements… wonder if I can petition for more spots for the Disabled List…

    A late afternoon Guinness in an icy glass is hard to beat.

    When somebody thinks they know everything, it sure is hard to tell them otherwise. Man, I’ve tried. :)

    TheBean is off on a cruise next week with TheWeez & a couple of other friends, meaning me, Pasty, & theJoey are bachelor-ing it. I’m totally confident that we’ll make it just fine, but I must confess I’m now doing what I can to scope out the fast-food options available in case my cooking ideas (read: microwaved pizzas & canned soups,) get too boring.

    We’ll be hitting the movie THEE-ate-er at least once as well. X-Men Origins. Definitely.

    Being without theBean for the week raises the question: why does it make me feel all hollow inside to think of being here without her? Is it just the missing of my One True love, or is it a Neediness that gets exposed when she’s not around for me to lean on? Hmmmm. I wonders…

    I wish my kids had the opportunity to watch Joe Montana play football. The closest I think I’ll get is Tom Brady. Sigh.

    No Line On The Horizon is my favorite U2 album since Joshua Tree. Time will tell where it ranks all time. I start everyday of work listening through it. Love it.

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    pride

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    This is a continuation of some thoughts I started processing through HERE.

    Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires (cravings, lusts, & longings) of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1John 2:15-17 ESV

    Pride. What I have. What I accomplish. Who I am, (or present myself to be?) based upon my job, title, education, place I work… Specifically measured against what Others have. Who they are. What they have done. Are doing.

    Pride is insidious. It worms its way into the most unfortunate places. Disguises itself with the best of disguises. Undermines the most unsuspecting of persons.

    And is common to all humanity. To me.

    I read in Numbers 12…now Moses was more humble than any other person on earth… I remember that he was the adopted son of the Pharaoh’s daughter, meaning he most likely grew up with privilege. Education. Wealth. Position. And he left it to lead his people out of slavery to a land occupied by the Nephilim.

    I remember that Moses is called the friend of God, a person whom confers with God face to face. That Moses has seen incredible signs, wonders, & miracles worked in & through him by the power of God.

    And still he is humble.

    I ponder… I think that there’s a special susceptibility to pride that christians have – without even giving 2 thoughts to it… it hides out in our using of our relationship & standing before God to measure ourselves, ranking ourselves against others. Glorying in our humility, our faithfulness. Measuring ourselves by the Great Things that we will do for God. By aspiring to do Great Things, even Greater Things than others do, all the while forgetting what God really wants from us is that we would ‘do justly, love mercy, walk humbly…’ Not that we admit to doing it, but it happens just the same…

    CS Lewis writes:

    Pride always means enmity – it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God. In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that – and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison – you do not know God at all.

    As long as you are proud, you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you…Mere Christianity p.124

    The more I think about the 1John passage, the more I see a root of discontent lurking, waiting to be planted in me. A discontent with what I am. What I have. What I’m doing. What God has provided. And this discontent rashly & repeatedly looks for its fulfillment in the world we live in… And then God becomes a tool that I use to further my reach – to indulge the cravings of my eyes, my flesh, & my pride.

    Sigh.

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    I spent 10 years of my life as a volunteer & vocational youth worker… & know firsthand the very real pressure that exists in wanting, needing to be ‘cool’ in the eyes of the students that one is working with.

    And yes, the video is over-the-top. But I bet while you watch it, you just MIGHT think that Ignatius starts to remind you of a someone you’ve known before… & comments on a bit of the mockery we’ve made of a relationship with God…

    Monday afternoon musings…

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    Brother & I hit a new spot for lunch today – Beto’s – Guadalajara style Mexican food, on Ralston & 5th, right next to JJ’s Pie Co. Met with some other brothers & ate Wet Burritos… the Wet referring to the salsa that is slathered all over the insides of the burrito. Good stuff. Made me crave JJ’s wings though.

    Ellie learns all kinds of new stuff at the office – today, it was how to recognize U2: Bono. Edge. Larry. Adam. Yes.

    You can thank me later Ellie B.

    The snow of last Tuesday, & the abomination of the Broken Irrigation Valve threw a wrench into my Well-Laid Plans. So this week will be IKEA week- to get the bookshelves that are necessary for the reorganization process of the office & LY-berry. Oh yes. It will be done.

    TheBean celebrates her birthday on 24 April. As I type this, I’m looking at 2 of the pics that she gave me her Senior year of High School… back in the day when she was 17. I still have to pinch myself sometimes – thinking, “This girl really likes me. Still.” Wow. Who’d a thunk it?

    Brother got as giddy as a school boy today – if you’ve read of his frustrations with our lot-lurkers HERE, you’ll be glad to know that we had some ‘visitors’ today.(NOTE: the lot-lurker visitors are easy to spot – they park in the furthest parking spot in the lot, under the trees. All windows up. Usually tinted.)

    Brother decided he wasn’t going to take it anymore… so he called RPD… and they showed up! First one car. Then shortly after, another (BACKUP! They called for BACKUP!) Got the people out of the car – multiple guys. 1 woman. Cuffed the guys. Loaded the back of the two cars.

    Then, out of the blue, a big RPD paddy-wagon showed up – & all the cuffed humans were put into it. Excitement up on the Hill. Don’t come here & break the law, man.

    Something that I’ve been mulling over… Reading through Exodus, what is jumping out at me are the smells, specifically those that God instructs Moses to make & to prepare a place for – using the finest smelling oils & incense… so that every time people would come into God’s presence, they would be met with a fragrant & memorable smell… Hmmm.

    Think I’m sneaking out at 1 on Wednesday for my first Aces game. Esp. with the weather we’re supposed to be having… goodness.