Sun rise.

I have decided that stressing over things is the most intellectually void thing that we as humans do. The sun will come up in the morning, no matter what. The funny thing is no matter how much you stress over it, not only will the sun come up, but you most likely will sleep right through it! The point is things happen and they come and go, and we move on. The stress was virtually waisted.

Preparation on the other hand is diametrically opposed to stress in my opinion. Knowing that the sun will come up tomorrow, I would like to actually watch it come up. So in preparation I will go to bed early(this is for my own sake not the suns) and check an almanac for sunrise time, and then set my alarm appropriately. If my clock is aging, I may check it works properly. And here is the most amazing part about the whole thing, if for some reason I don’t get up in time, the sun will go ahead and rise without me. It’s feelings won’t be hurt and it won’t wait, but it will simply promise me “there is always tomorrow”. Or I may get up in plenty of time, but find it too cloudy to see it rise. I can go back to sleep trusting that it wasn’t any thing I did, simply, it wasn’t my time to watch the sun rise.

I challenge you to prepare yourself for a sun rise. Get up and watch it. And then understand that you can prepare yourself to participate in this thing we call life, know that tomorrow will come and some of us will be there and some won’t, and grasp how wasteful stress is to our mind, body and time.

Trudging through tragedy……

I had a pastor that used to say “Every one is either just coming out of a crisis, in a crisis, or about to enter into a crisis.”  I used to think to myself that was bold and blanketing statement. First, to think that we all must have some kind of crisis or tragedy in our life is a very grim take on life. What gives someone the authority to say I will must go through crisis? Can I not roll the dice and skip the crisis by way of choice and planning?  Secondly, you superimpose your reaction to perceived crisis on to me. In other words, I must call an event in my life a crisis because of how the world perceives it, ie. a broken arm, a broken car, a lost cat, a lost loved one. I know you rarely find someone willing to say “Boy it was a good thing I broke my arm when luckily the car broke down when I was looking for my dead grandma’s cat. I sure am glad grandma’s cat waited till after she died to run away.”  But even still, is it fair for another to tell me how I must react to something they can’t deal with? Not to mention, my wife and I made a keen observation: It seemed that the more “crisis” (drama) a family had, the higher up the food chain they climbed, in our church. It was like a popularity contest of devastations! And we were happy to be in the “out” crowd!! Even when “tragedy # 1″ happened in our life, we maintained that we did not want the pseudo-sympathy, the attention, or the “drama”. That was December 2003……….enjoy the ride.

p.s. I still love that pastor to this day, but he forgot to mention; sometimes those crisis run back-to-back, non-stop.

The Law is the Law……………

I read this article from Denver. It appears that helping the little old lady across the street is both hazerdous to your health and your record! Some one warn the Boy Scouts!

DENVER – A good Samaritan who helped push three people out of the path of a pickup truck before being struck and injured has gotten a strange reward for his good deed: A jaywalking ticket.
Family members said 58-year-old bus driver Jim Moffett and another man were helping two elderly women cross a busy Denver street in a snowstorm when he was hit Friday night.
Moffett suffered bleeding in the brain, broken bones, a dislocated shoulder and a possible ruptured spleen. He was in serious but stable condition Wednesday.
The Colorado State Patrol issued the citation. Trooper Ryan Sullivan said that despite Moffett’s intentions, jaywalking contributed to the accident.
Moffett had been driving his bus when the two women got off. In the interest of safety, he got out and, together with another passenger, helped the ladies cross.
Moffett’s stepson, Ken McDonald, said the driver of the pickup plowed into his stepfather, but not before Moffett pushed the two women out of the way.
When he awoke in intensive care, he learned of the ticket. “His reaction was dazed and confused. I was a little angry,” said McDonald.
The other man also was cited for jaywalking, while the pickup driver was cited with careless driving that led to injury. Sullivan said the two elderly women haven’t been cited but the investigation is ongoing.

Intreresting how the CHP cites that it was Jaywalking that contributed to the accident. How about it was “we are in such a hurry even in the snow we are too stupid to see a bus stopped and 4 people in the middle of the road and we are going to fast for the conditions to slow down!” I can almost guarantee that the pickup was not just going to fast for the conditions, but too fast period. Sorry, just my rant.

Sorry…..

Sorry, I have not been feeling like writing lately. I will soon be posting some stuff about my trip and the likes. But I think I need a break for a bit. Thank you all for keeping up with me, sorry for the lack of posts.

Tag, your it!

I am not really sure what being “tagged” means. Nothing on my blog or my dashboard indicated I had been tagged. However using my powers of deductive reasoning, I guess it has something to do with adding a link in this post to some of your blogroll friends, and also making sure they are reading your posts. So anyway I guess I have been tagged, thanks Nick. Here it goes!

1. Grab the nearest book to you that has 123 pages or more. (No Cheating)
2. Find Page 123
3. Find the first five sentences
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag Five people

And here is what I came up with:

“During the night, their sleep was interrupted by many blood-curdling cries and howls; they were glad to be up an hour before dawn, to have prayer and then breakfast.

“But presently, all of the sudden, they heard a great and strange cry, which they knew to be the same voices they [had] heard in the night, though they varied their notes, and one of their company, being aboard, came running in and cried, “Indians, Indians!” and withal, arrows came flying in amongst them . . .two muskets were discharged at them, and two more [men] stood ready in the entrance of their rendezvous, but were commanded not to shoot till they could take full aim at them . . . The cry of Indians was dreadful . . .”

The skirmish continued, with neither side gaining any advantage, until several of the Pilgrims, wearing coats of mail, rushed forth from the barricade and discharged their muskets together.”

-”The Light and the Glory” by Peter Marshall and David Manuel

Sorry that was so long, but it was a quote within the quote. This spiritual history of the founding of America has become an ongoing bestseller, now introducing a new generation to America’s Christian heritage. It is curriculum for my 3 home schooled children. It offers great insight to the truth about our history and some obscure figures that were more integral to our foundation that some of the more popular lore.

Carol Ann Kelly, Rob Kelly, Greg Stier, Debb Bresina, you’ve been tagged! (Sorry, I only have 4. And not sure they all read this.)

To B(log) or not to B(log)…….

That is the question! Do you ever find yourself obsessively checking your blog hit counter? Clicking through your blog roll, and their blog roll, to find a new post? Waiting days on end at the edge of your computer chair, for SOMEONE in your blog roll write something new? Hoping SOMEONE would leave a comment (because that was a really good post)? Wondering if your visitors even read your post, because how could they not leave a comment (because that was a really good post)? Because I mean think about it. Are we writing to “express” some inner journalist in us, or are we really trying to communicate our lives to those we know? Do any of us really care to read about the daily life of someones cat, or their opinion on politics?

Well I hope that at least some of you answered yes to some of the questions posed. I check my hit counter daily, click through my blog roll daily, love it when someone comments, and hope to communicate a small part of my life with those I know. I did answer no to one: I dont like blogs that ramble about cute kitties or pseudo-intellectual rhetoric.

So I wonder why no comments. I came up with a few reasons.

Blog not, least you be blogged yourself.

Blog unto others, as you would want blogged to you.

Blog your neighbor as you blog yourself.

These are the guide lines of good blogging. (Yes I know I borrowed them from somewhere) If you want to read fresh posts on your blogroll, you too must commit to fresh posting. If you want more hits, click on others. If you want more comments, leave comments for others. And if you are going for the rhetoric bent to your blog, at least write something that inspires, heals, brings joy, and uplifts others. Refrain from big words (I have a thesaurus too) unless it is to make a profound point and you can do it with taste and excitement. And never forget, this is only cyberspace, you must bring the reality in with you.
By the way, why is blogging so fun and addictive? (Excuse me, I need to go check my hit counter……)

You Decide 2008

Sorry, I couldn’t resist….this is pretty clever!

Name that …….. skate shop!

I need help! I am working diligently on opening an xtreme gear shop here in my town. It will carry everything skate, paintball, snowboarding, and climbing. (and anything else xtreme people want) I am diligently working on my business plan and need a name to fill in the blanks. It needs to scream xtreme! Something catchy that will be easy for one to say “Hey, lets go down to “______’s” and check out his new “__________”. So I have some ideas but I just can’t seem to settle on one.

Here are some perimeters for the theme:

Skate Shop, Extreme gear, paintball, climbing, cool place to be, uplifting, mentor (I still want to “reach out” to the youth) Delta, Highway 50, Colorado, Rocky Mountains, Grand Mesa, Black Canyon, skater lifestyle, hard core, bones. Just to name a few.

So here are some names:

Big Daddy’s Xtreme Gear Shop (or a variation like Big D’s) Rocky Road Xtreme Gear, or Rockies Xtreme Gear

Black Canyon Xtreme Gear. Benthic Zone Skate Shop (play on words, you will have to look it up, but it could be a cool logo!)

Street Disciple or Stone Disciple, anything like that ( I know there is already a skate shop called concrete disciple and a rapper that calls himself the street disciple)

Holy Roller Skate shop (ok cheesy I know, but hey, we are brainstorming here! There is a skate park in LA named this)

Big Daddy’s Boards ‘n Stuff. Delta Skate Shop. Delta Xtreme. Hyw 50 Skate Shop (BTW Hyw 50 is the only coast to coast Hyw and it goes through my town) Go Big Xtreme Gear.

The Concrete Wave, The Stone Wave, Street Wave.

Ok you get the picture. So I expect any one who visits this site (not just my regulars) to vote or add. And any logo ideas (from, say, a certain graphic designer) to fit the theme of the name would be cool too!

Ready, enter your vote………………………………………………..now!

“Free HBO” or “Headline Hypocrisy”

I just love TV!!! I mean where else can you be subjected to in-your-face consumerism with a dash of sexual content while you wait to stick your nose in the business of Brittany, OJ, and some guy that makes his career marrying and murdering. Love em’ and leave em’ (in a query pond!). Then there is the “real” news. How about the new game show for bachelor immigrants, “Who wants to marry a US Citizen”, or the back to back stories, “Ban spanking” (which makes good parents criminals) and “Pregnant woman tasered for not “cooperating””. Keep in mind she was at a police station, unarmed and “get down on the ground” poses a little of a problem. So I can’t spank my child , but electrocuting a pregnant woman because your ego was hurt is ok? Now I know that someone will comment “there’s more to the story”. DUH!!! But does it matter? No, because here is my point; I unplugged my TV for the past 5 years and guess what? The world went round without my cable connected, and 5 years later its still the same worthless junk on TV (and people are still just as stupid)! So I am going to un-plug it again and check back in another 5 years or so. It’s just such a waist of time. Oh and this is the part where I tell you the only reason we plugged it in was because the cable company never un-hooked it after the last folks moved out!! Haha!! So technically I am not breaking the law. Kind of like I bought a hotel room, only bigger! My house came with a fridge, a coffee maker and free HBO!

“I’m Shakin’ it here boss…”

     The other day I was visiting with a friend of mine after a good day of work. He was very generous with his compliment of my writing ability. (side note: this is either true, or him making me feel good, OR he doesn’t read well..lol). He encouraged me to write more and to be bold with scriptural topics in attempt to battle some of the (goofy) ideas rolling around the blogospere concerning scriptures and Christianity in general. WOW! Thats a pretty heavy task. I mean think for a second of all the new (and old) dogma that tags the tail of Christianity. Then ask how these ideas line up with scripture.

Now some people will say that only a far-right, ultra-conservative, ultra-naive nut job would take scripture literal and believe that Jesus is still the only way to Heaven and that all other religions are wrong and so on…

Well here is the deal. I know what I believe. I say only what I know, and I believe what I say. I fear only the Lord my God and I am scared of nothing. I offend many, I befriend all. I hate stupidity, circular reasoning, arrogant atheist, regurgitated (stolen) logic, and pastel colors. What does that mean? Nothing really I just felt like it would be fun to say.

With all that being said, I think my first subject will focus on the idea that we have to come up with all these new terms to attach to our identity when being a “Christian” is just not enough anymore. ie. When we have to identify as an evangelical, or charismatic, or emergent, be a Christian anarchist, or go to an evangelical-free church and so on. So once we tackle that idea, I think we will move on to the emergent movement and explore its hypocrisies.  Now before we start and before you get all bent, grab some decaf and a chill-pill. I am not an authority on …well….anything, I am not self righteous, and I am not trying to sic my own dogma on you. I am just going to open dialog about certain things so that in the end you will see that I am right! (side note: if you did not get that joke then you should probably not participate in these discussions)

So if any of that made sense to you, then hang on, because sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. And any of you that know me, know I can shake things up.