To all my loyal readers: I wish you a very Merry Christmas. And for those of you who occasionally wander by who or came here by mistake, or Googled your way here, or clicked a link without knowing what it would get you, or who just got here through random blog-surfing: I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, too!
The family will be assembling soon. Both my children will be spending Christmas Day with their in-laws, then coming here afterward. Cheryl's parents and her sister are already here. Her brother and his family arrive Tuesday; Caren and Maizie [without Jason :-( ] will arrive Wednesday; Alan and Sheila will come in Thursday. Saturday will be the family Christmas. In all, we expect 14 houseguests. With this being Maizie's first Christmas and with Maizie being the first grandchild, I anticipate some heated arguments about who is going to hold her during the ten minutes or so that I don't want to.
Whenever your family celebrates, I hope you have a wonderful time and make many happy memories.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
All Googley-Eyed
Google search terms that have brought people to this blog recently:
1. Looney Brownstown Michigan
2. Letter to Daughter in Law
3. Corn crazed ducks
4. Mark Frost (go figure!)
5. Wedding vowel renewal
1. Looney Brownstown Michigan
2. Letter to Daughter in Law
3. Corn crazed ducks
4. Mark Frost (go figure!)
5. Wedding vowel renewal
Denver
I have several readers who live in the Denver area. According to my Site Meter, they've been visiting this blog (and presumably others as well) a bit more frequently in the last couple of days. So what do you do when you're snowed in? Put an extra log in the fireplace, grab a cup of hot chocolate, curl up and visit your favorite blogs.
And how much did it snow in Denver? More inches than my granddaughter is tall!
And how much did it snow in Denver? More inches than my granddaughter is tall!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
In My Lifetime...
...I have witnessed a huge shift in the relationship between the church's morality and public morality. I can identify three distinct stages:
1. The church as moral compass to society. Most people, even those who were unbelievers and irreligious, believed that the morality taught by the church was right. They believed that when and if they got their act together, they would adopt something close to the church's moral vision.
2. The church as irrelevant to society. In this stage, people looked at the church's morality as a harmless anachronism. The church's morals were certainly OK for those who chose to abide by them, but they laid no realistic claim on the lives of secular, "enlightened" people.
3. The church as the sponsor and perpetuator of immorality. Increasingly, I hear secular people who see the church as a danger to good moral values. The accusation is that the church promotes narrow-mindedness and bigotry, oppression of minorities, and infringement of important rights like free speech. There is also widespread suspicion that in addition to being bigots, most church people are also hypocrites who secretly practice the very things they condemn.
If my observation is even partly right, how should this shift in thinking change the way churches exist and function in the world?
1. The church as moral compass to society. Most people, even those who were unbelievers and irreligious, believed that the morality taught by the church was right. They believed that when and if they got their act together, they would adopt something close to the church's moral vision.
2. The church as irrelevant to society. In this stage, people looked at the church's morality as a harmless anachronism. The church's morals were certainly OK for those who chose to abide by them, but they laid no realistic claim on the lives of secular, "enlightened" people.
3. The church as the sponsor and perpetuator of immorality. Increasingly, I hear secular people who see the church as a danger to good moral values. The accusation is that the church promotes narrow-mindedness and bigotry, oppression of minorities, and infringement of important rights like free speech. There is also widespread suspicion that in addition to being bigots, most church people are also hypocrites who secretly practice the very things they condemn.
If my observation is even partly right, how should this shift in thinking change the way churches exist and function in the world?
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Corn-Crazed Ducks
The gas station next to our church sells the Woods-N-Water News, which calls itself "Michigan's Premier Outdoor Publication." Like most magazines, its cover is filled with teaser headlines intended to persuade browsers fork over $3 for the whole issue. I resisted the temptation, even with teasers like (and I am not making these up) "The Estrous Doe," and "The Timing of the Rut." But the December issue got me with "Corn Crazed Ducks." Yep, I'm $3 poorer now.
I opened the News in eager anticipation of learning that corn is some kind of duck aphrodisiac, or at least duck cocaine. I had visions of ducks hopped up on corn knocking over their local 7-11s at 3 a.m., or pulling loony antics that would make that AFLAC character look lame. At the very least, I envisioned a circle of ducks sitting around late at night in a dorm room, eating popcorn, telling stupid jokes, and just quacking up.
No such luck. Turns out, the headline writers for the News are significantly more creative than their article writers. I read the whole corn and duck article, waking up periodically to check the date. The simple truth is that ducks are attracted to flooded corn fields (although "stubble corn ranks very high too"). Corn doesn't make ducks crazy, except in the sense of inviting them to hang out in a place where the readers of Michigan's Premier Outdoor Publication can end their sad little duck lives.
This is not to say that I'm disappointed in my $3 investment. There were plenty of other fascinating articles, such as "Pre-Ice Holiday Crappie." I'd really never thought of it before, but y'know, nothing says, "Happy Holidays" quite like pre-ice crappie. And there were convicting, consciousness-raising peices like, "Must we bait to achieve an adequate deer harvest?" There was a well-reasoned article that showed how getting separated from your boat without a life jacket can lead to death. Right now, I'm guffawing my way through "More Hilarious U.P. Stories." Just an excerpt: "One local old-timer quipped, 'I think those bucks unscrewed their horns after the first day and hid them under a stump. All I see is does!'" (I think the humor here is that the word "does," in addition to being the plural form of the term for female deer, is also the present active particulate gerrymander of the verb, "to do." Example: "I does see does.")
So, will I continue to purchase the Woods-N-Water News? Probably not, but if anyone wants to give me a gift subscription for Christmas, that would just be ducky.
I opened the News in eager anticipation of learning that corn is some kind of duck aphrodisiac, or at least duck cocaine. I had visions of ducks hopped up on corn knocking over their local 7-11s at 3 a.m., or pulling loony antics that would make that AFLAC character look lame. At the very least, I envisioned a circle of ducks sitting around late at night in a dorm room, eating popcorn, telling stupid jokes, and just quacking up.
No such luck. Turns out, the headline writers for the News are significantly more creative than their article writers. I read the whole corn and duck article, waking up periodically to check the date. The simple truth is that ducks are attracted to flooded corn fields (although "stubble corn ranks very high too"). Corn doesn't make ducks crazy, except in the sense of inviting them to hang out in a place where the readers of Michigan's Premier Outdoor Publication can end their sad little duck lives.
This is not to say that I'm disappointed in my $3 investment. There were plenty of other fascinating articles, such as "Pre-Ice Holiday Crappie." I'd really never thought of it before, but y'know, nothing says, "Happy Holidays" quite like pre-ice crappie. And there were convicting, consciousness-raising peices like, "Must we bait to achieve an adequate deer harvest?" There was a well-reasoned article that showed how getting separated from your boat without a life jacket can lead to death. Right now, I'm guffawing my way through "More Hilarious U.P. Stories." Just an excerpt: "One local old-timer quipped, 'I think those bucks unscrewed their horns after the first day and hid them under a stump. All I see is does!'" (I think the humor here is that the word "does," in addition to being the plural form of the term for female deer, is also the present active particulate gerrymander of the verb, "to do." Example: "I does see does.")
So, will I continue to purchase the Woods-N-Water News? Probably not, but if anyone wants to give me a gift subscription for Christmas, that would just be ducky.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Tired of Preachers
A snippet of a real conversation with two married couples, of which all four individuals are PKs (preacher's kids):
"I'm so tired of listening to preachers. It seems that they're just talking because they're supposed to and because they're good at it. It would be different if I really felt that they had spent a lot of time praying about their message and seeking a word from God. Of course, I can't judge whether they do or not, but most of the time, it just doesn't sound like they do."
You too?
"I'm so tired of listening to preachers. It seems that they're just talking because they're supposed to and because they're good at it. It would be different if I really felt that they had spent a lot of time praying about their message and seeking a word from God. Of course, I can't judge whether they do or not, but most of the time, it just doesn't sound like they do."
You too?
Monday, December 11, 2006
Forgive me!
Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It has been three weeks since my last post. I have no excuses except:
1. Moving into a new house.
2. Getting old condo ready to rent (painting, repairing, cleaning).
3. Trying to sell an airplane.
4. Figuring out how to get furniture from Texas and Arkansas to the new house.
5. A couple of crises involving people I love dearly.
6. Brother-in-law with cancer.
7. Sister-in-law with cancer.
8. Mother-in-law with leukemia, requiring wife to be in Lansing more than she's at home.
9. Mother-in-law and father-in-law moving in with us soon.
10. All above-mentioned relatives coming for Christmas, along with assorted other relatives.
Really, I don't mean to whine. If any of you are left reading this blog, I do have some posts forming in my brain. Stay tuned; as soon as I can, I'll get around to important topics like:
1. Corn crazed ducks.
2. Loss, grief and healing.
3. The church and public morality.
4. How when you're too busy to blog, you're also too busy to exercise and your weight balloons up to unheard-of levels and it's almost Christmas and people will be shoving sweets in front of you and you'll try to be social and your weight will continue to balloon and then your clothes won't fit, not that I'm whining.
5. Depression.
6. Did I mention corn crazed ducks?
1. Moving into a new house.
2. Getting old condo ready to rent (painting, repairing, cleaning).
3. Trying to sell an airplane.
4. Figuring out how to get furniture from Texas and Arkansas to the new house.
5. A couple of crises involving people I love dearly.
6. Brother-in-law with cancer.
7. Sister-in-law with cancer.
8. Mother-in-law with leukemia, requiring wife to be in Lansing more than she's at home.
9. Mother-in-law and father-in-law moving in with us soon.
10. All above-mentioned relatives coming for Christmas, along with assorted other relatives.
Really, I don't mean to whine. If any of you are left reading this blog, I do have some posts forming in my brain. Stay tuned; as soon as I can, I'll get around to important topics like:
1. Corn crazed ducks.
2. Loss, grief and healing.
3. The church and public morality.
4. How when you're too busy to blog, you're also too busy to exercise and your weight balloons up to unheard-of levels and it's almost Christmas and people will be shoving sweets in front of you and you'll try to be social and your weight will continue to balloon and then your clothes won't fit, not that I'm whining.
5. Depression.
6. Did I mention corn crazed ducks?
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