When life gets busy…

In the past century, over fifty ships and twenty aircraft have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. Today, most experts attribute the disappearances to something known as spatial disorientation. Without instruments, even the best pilots will quickly become disoriented when there are no outside visual references. The result is a maneuver known as the graveyard spiral.

This is the story of the human experience, especially in our culture.  Most of us live life at dangerously high speeds, with often no clue as to whether we’re flying right-side-up or upside-down.  Spatial disorientation is a daily condition for many.  We don’t know which side is up and our instrument panel appears to be out of order.

We’ve become adept at living quickly, skimming life, and hoping we’re able to stay airborne for another day.  But when we become disoriented, when we lose our bearings, we true north alludes us, we have a tendency to crash in a big way.

Mark’s Gospel offers a glimpse of a whirlwind-disguised-as-a-day for Jesus. It began before sunup and continued well after sundown. On this particular Sabbath, Jesus taught the masses, developed leaders, healed the sick, confronted the religious, and if this wasn’t enough, he also cast out a demon along the way.

But how did Jesus keep his wits about him? How did he not implode or self-destruct or lose his spatial orientation? Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place to pray.”

When things got busy, Jesus prayed. When life got hectic, Jesus prayed. When the alligators surrounded the boat, Jesus prayed.

Ours is a world of schedules, appointments, meetings, conflict, deadlines, projects, and demands.

Why not spend some time right now asking our heavenly Father for perspective, for a sense of direction, for his mind, and for a lot of strength.

Bravery

“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.”

Mary Tyler Moore

Honolulu Hard Rock

A friend snapped these shots in the Honolulu Hard Rock Cafe late last year. I think they’re closing it down and relocating to Waikiki. Cool place!

Now Hiring

Clothes Buying Advice for the Fashion-Challenged

So I had to go clothes shopping the other day. On the scale of enjoyable things to do on a Saturday afternoon, for me going clothes shopping falls somewhere between being audited by the IRS and being interrogated by Jack Bauer. There’s not much worse.

Actually going clothes shopping with my wife or daughter is worse but that’s another story.

Upon entering the store, I told the sales lady I needed a pair of 32 waist 32 length jeans. What happened next can only be described as disturbing.

She took a deep breath and in a single sentence blurted, “Do you want regular fit, relaxed fit, stretch fit, trim fit, rigid fit, baggy fit, slim fit, classic fit, hip-huggers, cowboy cut, sailor cut, boot cut, carpenter cut, straight cut, bell bottoms, flare leg, stonewashed, pepperwashed, corduroy, distressed look, blue, black, brown, five-pocket, button-fly, zipper-fly, rivets, no rivets, Levis, Wranglers, Lees, Polo, Izod, Hilfiger, or Carhartt?”

I just starred at her. I looked down at the floor. I looked back up at her. I replayed her sentence in my mind. Then I turned and walked out. I am not equipped to deal with, well, with THAT.

When I was growing up one had a choice of straight leg blue jeans or straight leg blue jeans or straight leg blue jeans. When did buying a pair of jeans become more complicated than landing a man on the moon?

My wife reminded me the other day that I needed some new pants for Sunday morning. I’m not very fashion savvy. Most of my pants are the color, texture, and fit of cardboard. I concluded long ago that if you have five pairs of pants the same color and fabric and brand it makes getting dressed in the morning a whole lot easier.

Again, not one to frequent the clothes department, my wife brought home a new pair of pants for me to try.

“Try these on and see if they fit,” she said. The only thing worse than going clothes shopping is trying on clothes to see if they fit.

“What size are they?” I asked.

“32 waist 32 length,” she said.

“Do they look like cardboard?”  “Yes,” she replied.

“Do they feel like cardboard?”  “Yes,” she replied.

“Do they fit like cardboard?”  “We won’t know until you try them on, will we?” she sarcastically replied.

Half the time a 32 waist 32 length fit more like a 38 waist 28 length or a 30 waist 36 length but rarely do they fit like a 32 waist 32 length.  I’m convinced the size tags are randomly sewn in pants without any regard to the actual size.

This would explain why some guys wear jeans so large they can conceal an elephant inside while some girls wear pants so tight they have to be painted on.

I had to go clothes shopping the other day. There’s not much worse.

decisions

“When setting out on a journey,

do not seek advice from those who have never left home.”

Patty Griffin – Moon River

God has spoken – are you obeying?

While God does prompt through his Spirit, and does guide through the counsel of godly people, and does use our life’s circumstances to nudge us, he always talks to us and guides us in accordance with his written word, never in contradiction of it. The primary way God talks to his people today is through his already spoken word in the Bible.

• 97% of the world’s population has at least portions of the Bible in their native language.
• On average, Christian bookstores sell 35,000 Bibles every day.
• 168,000 Bibles are distributed in the United States every day.
• 92% of Americans own a Bible while 27% own at least five Bibles.
• 80% of Americans believe the Bible is the most influential book in world history.

Fortune 500 companies would kill for market penetration anywhere near the level of the Bible.

This collection of sixty-six books written over a period of 1,500 years by more than forty people from all walks of life contains history, law, poetry, prophecy, biography, narrative, and doctrine. It covers the entire span of history, from the creation of the heavens and the earth to their re-creation into the new heavens and earth.

Simultaneously written by God and real people about God and real people, containing actual events and reliable truth, the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to mankind. As such, it is God’s spoken and recorded word.  It’s what he has said to us.

Let me go out on a limb and suggest that if we’re not living in obedience to what God has already spoken in his Word, what makes us think he’s going to give us current guidance and direction? What makes us think he will guide us in his will by revealing what our next step should be if we’re not obeying what he’s already said to us?

John writes, “If someone claims, ‘I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God has to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.”

Lost Things

Travel Directions

by Joan I. Siegel

There ought to be a word
for the way you know how to get some place
but don’t remember the names of streets
the number of turns and blinking yellow lights
so that if someone asked
you really couldn’t say
except you know the road starts out straight
and when it’s sunny the branches blink across
the windshield making you want to rub your eyes
then the road turns sharply uphill past a red barn
where a black dog jumps out to race you for a quarter mile
and finally recedes in the mirror like a disappointment
and you remember the road dips downhill
into the shadows of the morning
where you hear Bach’s unaccompanied ‘cello
and understand what a good fit the ‘cello makes
in the hollow of the body
where grief begins and for an indeterminate time
the road winds vaguely past
houses    people    road signs
while time hums in your ear and you remember
the dream you left behind that morning
which had nothing
to do with where
you are going

“Travel Directions” by Joan I. Siegel, from Hyacinth for the Soul. © Deerbrook Editions, 2009.