thoughts on the news of the day: jim's blog

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Check out my friend, Jim Freeman's blog for March 17th (tomorrow)!  I enjoyed being his "guest blogger"....
you can find him at:
       http://dailylectionaryreadings.blogspot.com/

PS Happy St. Patrick's Day!
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thoughts on the news of the day: THE

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            We have a church in our community who has named itself “THE CHURCH”.  I am not sure whether to laugh, cry, be insulted or be angry! 

            Our little community is filled with churches.  Someone told me that there are 128 churches in our town of 12,000.  I am not sure if that is an accurate count; but if it is, that’s a lot of churches!  To me that means that there are many different ways that people want and need to worship, to fellowship and to serve.  In our church we try to be open to the idea that even if we are in different locations on Sunday mornings, all of us who practice the Christian faith are striving as best we can to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, our Servant Savior. 

            Maybe at times we don’t do so well.  Maybe at times we compare ourselves to the “bigger” church down the street.  Maybe sometimes we even try to compete.  Yes, we do those things.  But our churches also serve together at the Christian Clinic, the Food Basket and the Center of Hope.  We don’t claim to be the one and only, we just claim to try and love our community and Jesus Christ.

            There is too much divisiveness in our country right now to carry it over to irresponsible claims to be THE one and only of just about anything.  Well… maybe Coca Cola can claim that, but it is just full of fizz and not much else anyway!  Hopefully, THE CHURCH will fizzle, at least in name, and we can all get back to serving God’s church together.

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thoughts on the news of the day: here we go ....

March 10, 2012

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            So, Ladies, is “Fifty Shades of Grey” on your nightstand?  You will probably not be surprised to know that it is not on mine.  The book is an up and coming best seller that has been called “mommy porn.”  Apparently it is filled with all sorts of deviant behavior and violence.  In addition to that, it is said to contain extremely disrespectful behavior toward women.  Yuck!  A major bookseller recently acquired rights to the book, whose popularity apparently had spread by reader reviews on the internet. 

            While I happen to disdain these kinds of books, I, on the other hand, think that GCB – the new network series on ABC is hilarious!  Yes, it does have a few suggestive (and funny) moments and the actresses do sometimes wear rather bawdy outfits.  But, if you have ever lived in a place like Highland Park, a Dallas, TX township, you would understand that the show nails that big-hair, gossipy kind of semi-uniqueness in a parody that never implies that all female Dallasites behave that way …. well … not all of them, all the time.  Some of my guy friends think the show is demeaning to women but I disagree … it’s supposed to be funny—and it is.

            Rush Limbaugh has made some really crude remarks about women lately.  Most people, including a few advertisers of the show seem to think that the statements were way over the top.  Interestingly, there are a few (mostly men) supporters who think that Rush is right.

            I am not sure where it all ends.  But I am sure of one thing.  Who knows how or why it happened, but women do have a power today that never before in history have we had.  We can wield it respectfully and thoughtfully and therefore improve and change the world. Or not … it’s our choice …

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thoughts on the news of the day: dog days

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            Age seems to be the topic of articles on the web today.  I noticed one on the ages of dogs and cats.  We usually think that you can determine a dog’s age by multiplying the animal’s chronological age by seven.  So, if your doggie is three by human years, then it is twenty-one by dog years.  There is a new theory that suggests that using the traditional formula is not really accurate.  For example, a puppy quickly matures the first two years of life – after one year, it’s usually twelve dog years and by age two, the age increases to twenty-four years old.  The new premise is that dogs are likely to have babies even at one year old and on up to as old as age ten.  So, the math doesn’t really add up.  If the traditional formula is used that would mean that dogs could have babies from seven years old to as old as seventy.  Not a likely scenario with humans.

            On to cats …. A really cool “cat” is Dick Van Dyke.   You might remember him as the dancing chimney sweep in “Mary Poppins”.  Well, he just got married at eighty-six; that’s in human years, not dog years.  His bride is a blushing forty years old.    It gets better.  They got married on February 29.  Does that mean that in four years they will only be celebrating their one year anniversary?

            I like Satchel Pages comments on age: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”  And even better: “Age is a case of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”  Most dogs and most aging chimney sweeps would probably agree with that.

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thoughts on the news of the day: march forth

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            Several good friends have birthdays today, so I thought it might be fun to see if there were any significant holidays on March 5.  Significant?  I am not sure about this one … but just so you know, today is “Multiple Personality Day”.  I think the web site announcing this might be pulling our leg …. Ya think?

            Some clever holidays are celebrated this month.  Days like: Dentist Day, (tomorrow); National Popcorn Lovers Day (March 8) and March 13, National Ear Muff Day.  There are actually some real holidays in March.  St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) comes to mind; then there is the Jewish holiday of Purim which will be celebrated on March 8 this year.  The Ides of March is on the 15^th and a favorite of my childhood days was Girl Scout Day which occurs on March 12.

            One of my best buddies of my childhood has her birthday today.  It always began what would usually prove to be a great month.  We were selling Girl Scout cookies and then celebrated our accomplishments at a party held close to our Girl Scout’s birthday.  Right around the corner was the day of green.  We always wore it on March 17 … lest we get pinched to death!  The best part of the month would be when Easter came early and crowned the end of March.  I’m talking Easter dresses and Easter hats and Easter baskets --  a virtual second Christmas for my best friend and both our families. 

            And by the way, don’t forget to celebrate March 30 –Take A Walk in the Park Day – you can MARCH onward and into April Fools Day … ha!

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thoughts on the news of the day: dr seuss

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                I am a pretty big fan of Theodor Seuss  Geisel.  You probably know him as Dr. Seuss.  Today, March 2, is his birthday, or was his birthday.  He was born in 1904 but died in 1991.  Over his life, he wrote 60 different books, many of which you are no doubt familiar.  Books like, “A Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” 

                When I was pastoring a church in south Texas, we had a mission project which involved providing school clothes for kids whose parents didn’t have money to buy them.  In conjunction with this project, a young Girl Scout decided to try and provide a book for each child that visited our church for clothing.  She brought boxes and boxes of books she had collected for her project.  When we had completed the distribution of clothing and books, several boxes of books remained.  We debated what to do with them.  Should we put them in our church library?  Or give them to the local library?  We seriously doubted that anyone would want them; they were tattered and torn and didn’t look particularly appealing to most kids.  But I opened up one of the remaining boxes and delighted in a carefully stacked assortment of Dr. Seuss books in near perfect condition.  We were stunned that anyone would so carelessly toss such a fine collection.             

                After making a reasonable donation to the kids clothing project for the books, I carefully carted the Dr. Seuss classics back to my pastor’s study.  I loved sharing them with kids who visited my office.   Most of the popular ones are gone now, given to young readers.  But I don’t regret that they are not in my bookcase anymore.  After all, it was Dr. Seuss who wrote, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

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thoughts on the news of the day: sign up

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            Yes, it’s a picky detail, but you have to sign up.  Scott Downward found that out the hard way.  He won the Cowtown Marathon this past weekend.  Or, maybe not.  Scott ran the fastest finish of the 9,000 competitors in the race; but he had failed to register for the event .  He ran on a friend’s bib who had signed up for the race but was unable to run in it.  Unfortunately the judges caught the error and took away Scott’s victory. 

            Yes, for many things in life, you have to sign up.  Our parents had to sign us up for kindergarten.  We had to sign up to play on the baseball or softball team.  The Department of Public Safety  requires us to sign up for our driver’s license.  And then there is that detail with a marriage license.  To vote requires a sign up.  Our own children need a sign-up for their social  security numbers shortly after they are born.

            Some people say that all you have to do is “suit up and show up” for life.  You just arrive and life happens.  That might be true.  But there is lots to be said for mentally signing in each morning.  That would be something like waking up and saying, “Good Morning God! What do you have for me to do today?”  Signing up with God when you arise has its merits.  It says that you are willing to let God be in control of your words and deeds.  It says that for today, whatever happens, God will be there to protect, guide and guard you.  And when you sign up for God’s daily marathon, you win, no matter what.

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