Greg and I went to see David today. It was really good to see him again -- well worth the four hour drive. We had a great visit, which was an answer to prayer in itself. There's not guarantee that you will get in to see him when you get out there because they have a really sensitive drug check that beeps if you've even used a hand-cream with a trace of drugs. Simply handling money that has been in other hands can be enough to set it off and ruin the visit. Greg and I prayed that we would be able to get in, and Sarah, David's sister, promised that she would get her class to pray for us. Greg got through just fine but apparently it didn't like something about me. However, it was just a trace and the officer said it didn't count enough for a “hit” as he called it. I breathed a prayer of thanks and we went down the hall to see David.
David is doing surprisingly well. We had some really great conversations and a lot of fun. David was always fun to pick on and I'm glad to say that hasn't changed. He's as much fun to pick on as ever and Greg and I took advantage of it. After all, we haven't seen him in over a year so we had a lot stored up and we gave it all to him. Don't feel to bad for him though . . . he still knows how to give it back! I think he had more fun with it than we did. At some point he made some sarcastic comment about my maturity and I threatened to hit him with the bag of quarters.
“You mean your purse?” he said with a grin. (I almost did hit him then. He and Greg thought it was hilarious though and he kept complimenting me on it, saying it went really well with my eyes – which was a lie. It was lime green and made out of cheap clear plastic)
He also had a hoot when I couldn't figure out the microwave. He told me that someday I would learn how to handle modern technology and encouraged me to keep trying and stretching myself – the smart aleck! For some reason Greg escaped the worst of the criticism, although he definitely wasn't unscathed. It was great.
We didn't spend the whole time poking fun at each other, occasionally we did settle down to some more serious issues, but it was good to see that he hasn't lost his sense of humor. Believe me, in there that's a gift and I know he couldn't do it without God's help. It was also good to see that he's still strong and open about his faith which is definitely unusual for where he is. Almost everyone seems to know him in there (most of them ribbed him in good fun when they walked past us today) and he's finding ways to reach out to others. Right now he is working in some peer mentoring groups and he really seems to enjoy it.
It can be very depressing walking into a place that looks like Fort Knox and going through all the security (it makes you realize what human nature is and how hard it is to stop it not only from walking out of there but also into there) but Greg and I came out of there more encouraged than when we went in. It is amazing to see what God can do with a life even after Satan has done his best to wreak havoc on it and turn it into despair. David hasn't despaired, although from a human standpoint it seems like the only option and I'm sure it's a temptation, but he has been given a sense of peace and joy. Only God can do that. Seeing what He has done in David's life and the lives of his family, I can only praise a God who is not stopped by prison walls or mistakes. I am glad to have a friend like David. He reminds me that God's love has no limits and that His mercy and grace are not given to us because we deserve it.
P.S. If you think about it, pray for David. He didn't mention it much, but he's had some physical problems and is having more tests done this week and it's not exactly the nicest place to be sick.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Five cousins in the woods
What began as a simple walk in the woods turned into much more. Two days earlier my two brothers and myself had made the five hour trek from Lancaster to Potter county to meet our cousins at our annual “Uncle Dave's cabin” reunion. There were other relatives there too, most of them older. They provided a comfortable backdrop for us and since they were quite a bit older we always felt young and adventurious around them, or a least mischevious! They also provided much better meals than we could have for ourselves! However, even though it was nice they were there, what made the cabin really special was seeing our cousins Bryan and Ben who happened to live about two hours away . . . just far enough that we saw each other a couple times a year but not nearly as much as we would have liked.
Anyway, the five of us had spent the weekend hunting squirrels, playing pit, dangling things through upstairs vents on our elder's heads, making up stories, and pretty much whatever else we could think of. Now we needed something to do before it was time to head home. We decided to go hiking. It was Sunday so we couldn't take our guns, but it was a beautiful day and we wanted to get some fresh air. It was also a good way to extend the visit!
We started off through the woods for a quiet walk. I'm not quite sure how it started, I think it started with us trying to teach Ben and Bryan how to top trees (climbing up a sapling until it bends under your weight and lets you down to the ground. If you pick the right size, you can have a great ride. If you don't it either bends before you get your feet off the ground or you find out at the top that it has no intention of bending and you have to slide back down, usually at some damage to you knees or other body parts). Anyway, I think it started out as that, but in the absence of ideal saplings it turned into pushing down a small dead tree. Pretty soon we saw another dead tree (maybe stick is a better description) and we pushed that down too. Before long we were getting creative and finding new ways to push down the trees. I distinctly remember Bryan who was probable twelve or thirteen – two years older than me – attempting a karate move on the tree.
At the time Bryan had some fascination with karate. Unfortunately, in the absence of any training, he was no better at it than any of the rest of us. His karate kick, which was aimed at the small tree, was very successful, in fact it was a little too successful and the tree toppled almost before he hit it and totally threw off his calculation. His momentum carried him too far and he turned a neat little trick in the air before landing on his back. He got up a little winded but still laughing. We all agreed his karate needed a little help, but his sound effects for the move were a big hit. It sounded something like an extended “Hiiii--- Yah” and went in time to appropriate chopping motions. The rest of us thought it was funny and began doing the same thing.
So now there were five of us romping through the woods pushing down trees and random and making Tarzan-like noises and moves. Gradually, as we got more and more enthusiastic and farther from the cabin – and our egos got bigger=) -- we began picking bigger and bigger trees. As the size of the trees increased, so did the danger. Some of the trees were pretty tall and the only way to get them over was to get it swinging back and forth until the momentum of the rhythm toppled it. To get enough leverage we would put as many of us on one side as we could and begin pushing together. The only problem with this was that some trees – especially the tall skinny ones – have a weak top and strong base so by the time we got the tree swinging the top was creaking and cracking. Usually some bark and small branches would start breaking off halfway through and we would have to run for cover as they rained down around us. One time the whole top half broke and almost clocked Greg on the head. However, that didn't deter us. We were young (no comments about IQ right now), we were conquering the woods, and we were confident that nothing could stand in our way.
Occasionally we did come up against a tree that was too big for us, but we tended to figure this out pretty quickly. If we came to a tree we couldn't beat, we quickly ignored it and acted like we didn't care. However, despite a few defeats, for the most part our mission was a smashing success. We declared that we were actually making the woods safer for innocent people who would come walking up here after us (I don't know who we really though would come wandering up the mountain in the middle of nowhere and get hit by a tree) but I think mostly we just liked to see the trees fall and hear the crash.
We roamed pretty far that day, but eventually we decided we'd better head back before out parents sent out a search party for us. However, we decided we would do it again the next time we went up.
That was years ago, but we still go out tree romping when we go to Dave's cabin. There aren't as many old dead trees as there used to be, but I'm sure that time will take care of that. However, we manage to find a couple and we still have fun pushing them over. To be sure we're much more mature about it now and don't make all the noises and antics we used to (okay, some of us still do sometimes but it's much more manly now – yeah right!), but mostly it's still boys pushing down trees. However, we have added some new twists over the years. For instance, there is an abundant crop of acorns on that mountain which we discovered make ideal ammunition for a fight.
I imagine there will come a day when we won't all be able or fit to go to Dave's cabin, I don't imagine when we're sixty that we'll still be going around pushing down trees, but I hope that day doesn't come for a long time. If there's one thing I've learned from all the stupid childhood games I've played (and some of them are pretty hair-brained) its that you don't need fancy equipment or technical rules to have fun. All you need is a little bit of imagination and a couple of friends who are willing to have fun and even something as ordinary as a walk in the woods can turn into something exciting and dangerous. BTW, it helps if you don't mind acting like a kid again. With my shoulder temporarily out of action I've gained a new appreciation for “kid's games.” They can be a lot of fun and they're not always as safe or as tame as they look! Okay, most of them aren't that dangerous, and I will be glad when I can play sports competitively again, but there's lot's of other ways to have fun if you're willing to try it and don't mind looking stupid. After all, why should kids have all the fun?
Anyway, the five of us had spent the weekend hunting squirrels, playing pit, dangling things through upstairs vents on our elder's heads, making up stories, and pretty much whatever else we could think of. Now we needed something to do before it was time to head home. We decided to go hiking. It was Sunday so we couldn't take our guns, but it was a beautiful day and we wanted to get some fresh air. It was also a good way to extend the visit!
We started off through the woods for a quiet walk. I'm not quite sure how it started, I think it started with us trying to teach Ben and Bryan how to top trees (climbing up a sapling until it bends under your weight and lets you down to the ground. If you pick the right size, you can have a great ride. If you don't it either bends before you get your feet off the ground or you find out at the top that it has no intention of bending and you have to slide back down, usually at some damage to you knees or other body parts). Anyway, I think it started out as that, but in the absence of ideal saplings it turned into pushing down a small dead tree. Pretty soon we saw another dead tree (maybe stick is a better description) and we pushed that down too. Before long we were getting creative and finding new ways to push down the trees. I distinctly remember Bryan who was probable twelve or thirteen – two years older than me – attempting a karate move on the tree.
At the time Bryan had some fascination with karate. Unfortunately, in the absence of any training, he was no better at it than any of the rest of us. His karate kick, which was aimed at the small tree, was very successful, in fact it was a little too successful and the tree toppled almost before he hit it and totally threw off his calculation. His momentum carried him too far and he turned a neat little trick in the air before landing on his back. He got up a little winded but still laughing. We all agreed his karate needed a little help, but his sound effects for the move were a big hit. It sounded something like an extended “Hiiii--- Yah” and went in time to appropriate chopping motions. The rest of us thought it was funny and began doing the same thing.
So now there were five of us romping through the woods pushing down trees and random and making Tarzan-like noises and moves. Gradually, as we got more and more enthusiastic and farther from the cabin – and our egos got bigger=) -- we began picking bigger and bigger trees. As the size of the trees increased, so did the danger. Some of the trees were pretty tall and the only way to get them over was to get it swinging back and forth until the momentum of the rhythm toppled it. To get enough leverage we would put as many of us on one side as we could and begin pushing together. The only problem with this was that some trees – especially the tall skinny ones – have a weak top and strong base so by the time we got the tree swinging the top was creaking and cracking. Usually some bark and small branches would start breaking off halfway through and we would have to run for cover as they rained down around us. One time the whole top half broke and almost clocked Greg on the head. However, that didn't deter us. We were young (no comments about IQ right now), we were conquering the woods, and we were confident that nothing could stand in our way.
Occasionally we did come up against a tree that was too big for us, but we tended to figure this out pretty quickly. If we came to a tree we couldn't beat, we quickly ignored it and acted like we didn't care. However, despite a few defeats, for the most part our mission was a smashing success. We declared that we were actually making the woods safer for innocent people who would come walking up here after us (I don't know who we really though would come wandering up the mountain in the middle of nowhere and get hit by a tree) but I think mostly we just liked to see the trees fall and hear the crash.
We roamed pretty far that day, but eventually we decided we'd better head back before out parents sent out a search party for us. However, we decided we would do it again the next time we went up.
That was years ago, but we still go out tree romping when we go to Dave's cabin. There aren't as many old dead trees as there used to be, but I'm sure that time will take care of that. However, we manage to find a couple and we still have fun pushing them over. To be sure we're much more mature about it now and don't make all the noises and antics we used to (okay, some of us still do sometimes but it's much more manly now – yeah right!), but mostly it's still boys pushing down trees. However, we have added some new twists over the years. For instance, there is an abundant crop of acorns on that mountain which we discovered make ideal ammunition for a fight.
I imagine there will come a day when we won't all be able or fit to go to Dave's cabin, I don't imagine when we're sixty that we'll still be going around pushing down trees, but I hope that day doesn't come for a long time. If there's one thing I've learned from all the stupid childhood games I've played (and some of them are pretty hair-brained) its that you don't need fancy equipment or technical rules to have fun. All you need is a little bit of imagination and a couple of friends who are willing to have fun and even something as ordinary as a walk in the woods can turn into something exciting and dangerous. BTW, it helps if you don't mind acting like a kid again. With my shoulder temporarily out of action I've gained a new appreciation for “kid's games.” They can be a lot of fun and they're not always as safe or as tame as they look! Okay, most of them aren't that dangerous, and I will be glad when I can play sports competitively again, but there's lot's of other ways to have fun if you're willing to try it and don't mind looking stupid. After all, why should kids have all the fun?
Monday, March 23, 2009
Driving etc.
I saw a flying mattress today. It's not every day you get to see that sort of thing. For those who have a firm grasp of Mother Goose – and a loose grasp of reality – this flight of the mattress might seem to be a magical experience. This one most definitely wasn't. The flight began out of the bed of a very small pickup truck (a truck way to small to be hauling two very large mattresses) and ended a very few feet away. It wasn't pretty. I could hear from inside the delivery van I was driving. The only thing magical about the flight was the look on the man's face when he realized his new mattress had decided to take up flying. That was the most interesting thing that happened while I was driving.
I've decided I don't want to drive for a living.
Maybe if I saw more things like flying mattresses I would change my mind. I wouldn't mind driving for hours if it was exciting, it's just the boring part I mind. After the third or fourth trip to the same place, all the cars and roads start to look the same. If there was more happening on the road it wouldn't be that bad. Maybe that's the answer. Maybe I should make things happen on the road. . . Hmmmm . . . On second thought maybe I'd better just scratch driving of my list. After all “exciting” in driving lingo usually means “almost a crash.” How many good/safe drivers do you know who drive around looking for unusual things to happen on the road?
I already knew I don't want to drive for a living. Unless I'm going somewhere new where there's new scenery and the possibility of getting lost, or unless I'm going with interesting people, driving for me is almost always synonymous with boring. However, on occasion, driving can be a nice change of pace and I'm not about to complain about having some work even if it is very part-timeish. When a place I used to work asked if I wanted to do some driving for them, it wasn't a hard decision. It's kind of nice to go back and see the same guys you used to work with years ago even if they still do pick on me. I thought maybe since I was older they would respect me more and not mention the time I went the wrong way on the turnpike. Wrong! I guess having a dad and uncle who work there doesn't help. Somehow I get the feeling that whenever I do something worth mentioning, whether it be stupid or just “interesting,” they hear about it. Oh well, it's fun and it's definitely an answer to prayer to have something besides school to do. Sometimes it's nice when God answers a prayer in a way you don't expect. Not always, but sometimes.
I hate it when I get surprised that God answered a prayer. Many times His answers come in such a way that it is easy for me to overlook it -- only when I look back do I realize that He did indeed answer it -- but other times it is very obvious and I'm left wondering why I didn't ask sooner. The other week He answered one very obviously.
I asked Him specifically for a chance to talk to a classmate at school. I had no idea who or how but I figured with over three thousand students there had to be someone He wanted to to talk to and definitely wasn't doing it on my own, so I asked Him to make it obvious to me. He did and I felt really stupid when it was done. The next day, at the very end of the day, He turned a very random comment about a history test into twenty minute conversation about God. He accomplished in two minutes what I had been trying to do the whole semester! I have no idea how much it meant to the other guy, not that he wasn't interested, it's just that I don't think I did a whole lot to shake his belief in being an agnostic, but it meant a lot to me. It was one of those gentle slaps in the face that God gives me every now and then when pray for something I don't expect Him to answer. I As I was driving away I could almost hear him saying in response to my surprise “Well you asked me, didn't you?” (Don't ask me why I'm only writing about it now; it happened almost three weeks ago. I guess it may have something to do with a comment that was made in Sunday school yesterday about letting other people know when God does something special. If He makes it obvious it's probably because He wants to get the glory for it. BTW, pray for John Lagerman. He's the guy I talked too and he's been missing from class ever since. Maybe he's just taking an extended spring break but I'd like to see him again and pick up where we left off.)
I usually assume that any good request doesn't need to be a specific request, that He know's it's always on my unspoken prayer list. However, as I was driving away the verse from James came to mind, the verse where God says, “You have not because you ask not.” I always assumed that if I wanted something I knew God approved of (like an opportunity to witness) the only way God would not give it was if I ask amiss or for the wrong reasons. However, later on in the verse James mentions that in a separate category saying that “You ask and receive not because you ask amiss.” It's not the same thing. Apparently asking amiss and simply not asking are two equally good ways to get the same result. I may ask amiss a good deal, but I think just as many times it's a matter of me not bothering to ask.
How did I get from mattresses to prayer? I think it's time for me to end this post and get back the school I was neglecting while I was out driving the boring roads. Unfortunately, unless Greg or Josh decide to start a fight and begin throwing things like mattresses, school is likely to be just as boring as the roads were. Oh well, I guess boring things need to be done, too.
I've decided I don't want to drive for a living.
Maybe if I saw more things like flying mattresses I would change my mind. I wouldn't mind driving for hours if it was exciting, it's just the boring part I mind. After the third or fourth trip to the same place, all the cars and roads start to look the same. If there was more happening on the road it wouldn't be that bad. Maybe that's the answer. Maybe I should make things happen on the road. . . Hmmmm . . . On second thought maybe I'd better just scratch driving of my list. After all “exciting” in driving lingo usually means “almost a crash.” How many good/safe drivers do you know who drive around looking for unusual things to happen on the road?
I already knew I don't want to drive for a living. Unless I'm going somewhere new where there's new scenery and the possibility of getting lost, or unless I'm going with interesting people, driving for me is almost always synonymous with boring. However, on occasion, driving can be a nice change of pace and I'm not about to complain about having some work even if it is very part-timeish. When a place I used to work asked if I wanted to do some driving for them, it wasn't a hard decision. It's kind of nice to go back and see the same guys you used to work with years ago even if they still do pick on me. I thought maybe since I was older they would respect me more and not mention the time I went the wrong way on the turnpike. Wrong! I guess having a dad and uncle who work there doesn't help. Somehow I get the feeling that whenever I do something worth mentioning, whether it be stupid or just “interesting,” they hear about it. Oh well, it's fun and it's definitely an answer to prayer to have something besides school to do. Sometimes it's nice when God answers a prayer in a way you don't expect. Not always, but sometimes.
I hate it when I get surprised that God answered a prayer. Many times His answers come in such a way that it is easy for me to overlook it -- only when I look back do I realize that He did indeed answer it -- but other times it is very obvious and I'm left wondering why I didn't ask sooner. The other week He answered one very obviously.
I asked Him specifically for a chance to talk to a classmate at school. I had no idea who or how but I figured with over three thousand students there had to be someone He wanted to to talk to and definitely wasn't doing it on my own, so I asked Him to make it obvious to me. He did and I felt really stupid when it was done. The next day, at the very end of the day, He turned a very random comment about a history test into twenty minute conversation about God. He accomplished in two minutes what I had been trying to do the whole semester! I have no idea how much it meant to the other guy, not that he wasn't interested, it's just that I don't think I did a whole lot to shake his belief in being an agnostic, but it meant a lot to me. It was one of those gentle slaps in the face that God gives me every now and then when pray for something I don't expect Him to answer. I As I was driving away I could almost hear him saying in response to my surprise “Well you asked me, didn't you?” (Don't ask me why I'm only writing about it now; it happened almost three weeks ago. I guess it may have something to do with a comment that was made in Sunday school yesterday about letting other people know when God does something special. If He makes it obvious it's probably because He wants to get the glory for it. BTW, pray for John Lagerman. He's the guy I talked too and he's been missing from class ever since. Maybe he's just taking an extended spring break but I'd like to see him again and pick up where we left off.)
I usually assume that any good request doesn't need to be a specific request, that He know's it's always on my unspoken prayer list. However, as I was driving away the verse from James came to mind, the verse where God says, “You have not because you ask not.” I always assumed that if I wanted something I knew God approved of (like an opportunity to witness) the only way God would not give it was if I ask amiss or for the wrong reasons. However, later on in the verse James mentions that in a separate category saying that “You ask and receive not because you ask amiss.” It's not the same thing. Apparently asking amiss and simply not asking are two equally good ways to get the same result. I may ask amiss a good deal, but I think just as many times it's a matter of me not bothering to ask.
How did I get from mattresses to prayer? I think it's time for me to end this post and get back the school I was neglecting while I was out driving the boring roads. Unfortunately, unless Greg or Josh decide to start a fight and begin throwing things like mattresses, school is likely to be just as boring as the roads were. Oh well, I guess boring things need to be done, too.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Planting peas
Planting peas. It used to be an impossibly long job. My grandpa doesn't have a huge garden, but he plants almost all of it in peas. My hands were always too small to hold enough peas to last more than a few feet and my fingers were too clumsy to get the peas to work together and come out one at a time like they were supposed to. Consequently, my rows tended to be erratic and getting them somewhat straight and spaced was not easy. Every year my grandpa would have to show all us boys how far apart to space the peas. It wasn't quite an inch, but it wasn't much less. I remember thinking that they had to be perfect or somehow they wouldn't grow right. I remember making a little measuring stick to check myself. It didn't help much. Sooner or later the little shriveled seeds either grouped together or spaced themselves too far and I'd have to go back and push them around and add a few here or take out a few there. It seems silly now that such a simple job as dropping peas could be so hard, but it was. It used to take Greg, Josh, Grandpa, and myself almost two hours to get the job done. It seemed like forever. Today it took Josh, grandpa, and I almost one hour (Greg was “sick” and had to stay home and sleep – the lazy thing!:)
Two hours is a long time when you're little and bending over a boring row trying to get peas to obey. However, we weren't exactly the most diligent workers back then. We'd work for a little while and then one of us would have to “go get a drink.” Interpreted that meant that we were going inside to get some juice and hope that grandma would detain us for a while. These frequent “water” breaks were supplemented by all the times grandma saved us the trouble of going inside and would bring the juice or popsickles out to us. It is amazing how many water breaks it takes to get a job done on a nice spring day. Of course, all these water breaks pretty soon led to bathroom breaks which were also good excuse for an escape. Pretty soon Greg and I figured out that all the breaks only made the job take longer and we buckled down and stuck to it. It took Josh a little bit longer to wean himself. Of course he always was the baby of the family and grandma tended to spoil him a little bit more than us! (Sorry Josh!). I remember, not so many years ago, when he would still get up from his row and try to sneak off. If' we caught him he would say sheepishly “I need to get a drink.” We didn't believe it then and always hooted and gave him a hard time about it about going in to get a snack and skipping out of work. We still do. (I reminded him about it again today even though he hasn't done it for the past two or three years. He threw sticks at me. Note to self: “I'm going to have to stop that before he gets bigger than me!). It's one of those things that made planting fun. You see, it wasn't that we totally hated planting – in fact it could be downright fun, especially when grandpa started telling corny jokes or singing “rubber ducky” in a country slightly out-of-tune twangy voice – it was just that we got a little bored with it sometimes.
The funny thing about peas is that you it never feels like it's time to plant them. They're always the first thing to go and it doesn't depend so much on the temperature as the dampness of the ground. If the ground is dry enough in march, you plant no matter what the temperature is. I can remember planting them in short short sleeves and bare feet with sweaty hands that got covered in whatever the seeds are coated with and other times would be sweatshirts, shoes, and cold hands that made the job even harder. However, not matter what the weather, there was always the meal at the end of the job. If we were fast enough, we could be done by lunch time and we'd go in for soup and sandwiches, joking and laughing (sometimes about Josh!) and enjoying that good feeling of being done. I remember one time when Grandma bought a frozen cherry pie and a sale and decided this was the special occasion to break it out. It was awful! The cherries had been frozen way to long and the whole thing was soggy and tasteless. Grandpa, who to this day will eat almost anything to avoid wasting it, said we it would be best if we flushed it! We still tease grandma about that awful pie. She just shakes her head and says ruefully that she'll never buy another frozen cherry pie.
This year there was no cherry pie or even a meal. Instead of her giving us dinner like she used to, now we usually have to take one up for her. It's strange to see things getting so much harder for her while at the same time they get so much easier for me. Planting peas used to be a hard job for us and it felt like a real accomplishment when we got it done. Now it seems so easy. Making lunch used to be so easy for her. Now simply catching her breath is an accomplishment. I really think it was easier for us to plant that entire garden than it was for her to sit in her chair and breathe. What used to be a hard job for us is suddenly easy. What used to be an easy job for her is suddenly hard. I don't know why it has to happen this way, but I guess it's part of life. It made me realize that it won't go on forever.
I'll miss planting that garden when we don't have to do it anymore. Isn't it strange how what starts out as a chore soon turns into a traditional you'll eventually miss? I can think of several things we used to do that I hated at the time which I would love to do again. I guess that means I'm getting old (perish the thought!).
Two hours is a long time when you're little and bending over a boring row trying to get peas to obey. However, we weren't exactly the most diligent workers back then. We'd work for a little while and then one of us would have to “go get a drink.” Interpreted that meant that we were going inside to get some juice and hope that grandma would detain us for a while. These frequent “water” breaks were supplemented by all the times grandma saved us the trouble of going inside and would bring the juice or popsickles out to us. It is amazing how many water breaks it takes to get a job done on a nice spring day. Of course, all these water breaks pretty soon led to bathroom breaks which were also good excuse for an escape. Pretty soon Greg and I figured out that all the breaks only made the job take longer and we buckled down and stuck to it. It took Josh a little bit longer to wean himself. Of course he always was the baby of the family and grandma tended to spoil him a little bit more than us! (Sorry Josh!). I remember, not so many years ago, when he would still get up from his row and try to sneak off. If' we caught him he would say sheepishly “I need to get a drink.” We didn't believe it then and always hooted and gave him a hard time about it about going in to get a snack and skipping out of work. We still do. (I reminded him about it again today even though he hasn't done it for the past two or three years. He threw sticks at me. Note to self: “I'm going to have to stop that before he gets bigger than me!). It's one of those things that made planting fun. You see, it wasn't that we totally hated planting – in fact it could be downright fun, especially when grandpa started telling corny jokes or singing “rubber ducky” in a country slightly out-of-tune twangy voice – it was just that we got a little bored with it sometimes.
The funny thing about peas is that you it never feels like it's time to plant them. They're always the first thing to go and it doesn't depend so much on the temperature as the dampness of the ground. If the ground is dry enough in march, you plant no matter what the temperature is. I can remember planting them in short short sleeves and bare feet with sweaty hands that got covered in whatever the seeds are coated with and other times would be sweatshirts, shoes, and cold hands that made the job even harder. However, not matter what the weather, there was always the meal at the end of the job. If we were fast enough, we could be done by lunch time and we'd go in for soup and sandwiches, joking and laughing (sometimes about Josh!) and enjoying that good feeling of being done. I remember one time when Grandma bought a frozen cherry pie and a sale and decided this was the special occasion to break it out. It was awful! The cherries had been frozen way to long and the whole thing was soggy and tasteless. Grandpa, who to this day will eat almost anything to avoid wasting it, said we it would be best if we flushed it! We still tease grandma about that awful pie. She just shakes her head and says ruefully that she'll never buy another frozen cherry pie.
This year there was no cherry pie or even a meal. Instead of her giving us dinner like she used to, now we usually have to take one up for her. It's strange to see things getting so much harder for her while at the same time they get so much easier for me. Planting peas used to be a hard job for us and it felt like a real accomplishment when we got it done. Now it seems so easy. Making lunch used to be so easy for her. Now simply catching her breath is an accomplishment. I really think it was easier for us to plant that entire garden than it was for her to sit in her chair and breathe. What used to be a hard job for us is suddenly easy. What used to be an easy job for her is suddenly hard. I don't know why it has to happen this way, but I guess it's part of life. It made me realize that it won't go on forever.
I'll miss planting that garden when we don't have to do it anymore. Isn't it strange how what starts out as a chore soon turns into a traditional you'll eventually miss? I can think of several things we used to do that I hated at the time which I would love to do again. I guess that means I'm getting old (perish the thought!).
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Without God . . .
Reading world literature recently for my one of my classes I have come across some of the most famous works of the past centuries. I was surprised. For being wrong, they are extremely well-written and insightful. It was a wonder to me that something so persuasive could be so wrong. I guess I assumed that anything untrue will naturally not be persuasive. Not true. Believe it or not, Marx, Darwin, and many others didn't become famous by writing pieces that are unbelievable. However as I'm reading their works, one things stands out in all their writing, a single flaw, but it is fatal: They let out God.
Any man who proposes a theory that excludes or overlooks God is about as helpful as a bad doctor: He may analyze the problem correctly, but his diagnoses is sure to be wrong and his cure even worse. Why? For the simple reason that he has left out the core issue, the key to which all locked doors are connected: God. Marx and Darwin almost make sense, if you factor out God. If you read their work, it is hard not to agree with them because their premise makes so much sense. They accurately, even brilliantly, describe the problem. It is this ability to understand the problem that leads us to believe them when they they say they know the cure. This is perhaps the cruelest of all falsehoods. History bears the scars of men who have believed these theories that exlude God. Marx was right in his classification of class struggle, it did exist -- certainly at least in England during the Industrial Revolution -- but his idea for a cure was disastrous. It was even worse than the problem. Darwin was accurate in his theory of MICRO-evolution, but he mixed this little truth with a huge lie that excluded God and made his theory worse than useless.
Just because a man understands a problem does not at all mean that he knows a cure. We understand the effects of aging and that it leads to death, but have we found a cure for this predicament? Obviously not. Without God, we are of all men most miserable because we are able to know our problem but are helpless to find a cure.
Without God. . .
1.Science is all . . . it will eventually answer all questions.
2.Evangelism is devious . . . a dark agenda hiding behind a clean face.
3.Pragmatism is all . . . good and evil are nonexistent and decisions are mere cost-benefit analysis.
4.Selfishness is a necessity . . . there's no god looking out for you except yourself.
5.Life is dangerous . . . again, there's no one looking out for you.
6.Life is meaningless . . . there is no grand scheme of things so what you do doesn't matter.
7.Life makes no sense . . . history can not be explained without God. All of men's fine ideas that make so much sense can't explain why they didn't work in real life. When you factor out God, you factor in error.
Any man who proposes a theory that excludes or overlooks God is about as helpful as a bad doctor: He may analyze the problem correctly, but his diagnoses is sure to be wrong and his cure even worse. Why? For the simple reason that he has left out the core issue, the key to which all locked doors are connected: God. Marx and Darwin almost make sense, if you factor out God. If you read their work, it is hard not to agree with them because their premise makes so much sense. They accurately, even brilliantly, describe the problem. It is this ability to understand the problem that leads us to believe them when they they say they know the cure. This is perhaps the cruelest of all falsehoods. History bears the scars of men who have believed these theories that exlude God. Marx was right in his classification of class struggle, it did exist -- certainly at least in England during the Industrial Revolution -- but his idea for a cure was disastrous. It was even worse than the problem. Darwin was accurate in his theory of MICRO-evolution, but he mixed this little truth with a huge lie that excluded God and made his theory worse than useless.
Just because a man understands a problem does not at all mean that he knows a cure. We understand the effects of aging and that it leads to death, but have we found a cure for this predicament? Obviously not. Without God, we are of all men most miserable because we are able to know our problem but are helpless to find a cure.
Without God. . .
1.Science is all . . . it will eventually answer all questions.
2.Evangelism is devious . . . a dark agenda hiding behind a clean face.
3.Pragmatism is all . . . good and evil are nonexistent and decisions are mere cost-benefit analysis.
4.Selfishness is a necessity . . . there's no god looking out for you except yourself.
5.Life is dangerous . . . again, there's no one looking out for you.
6.Life is meaningless . . . there is no grand scheme of things so what you do doesn't matter.
7.Life makes no sense . . . history can not be explained without God. All of men's fine ideas that make so much sense can't explain why they didn't work in real life. When you factor out God, you factor in error.
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