I am wearing socks today. And yes, that IS a big deal.

I am wearing socks today.  The northwest chill has set in upon us.  The sun’s effervescent warmth has betrayed me.  The majority of Me is pretty good with this change, all except one part, my feet.  Unlike the fall, spring’s thaw comes the joy of new footwear .  Gone is the restriction of shoes and socks!  In comes the revolution of foot freedom… flip flops!

Ahh yes, once summer hits, nary a sock needs to be cleaned in my wardrobe.  The clickity-clack of my flip-flop sound can be heard as the drum beat of my summer soul.

But now fall is here.  The socks on my feet bring a needed warmth, but also a stark reminder of what was lost. The cold must be combated. Yes, I could live in mental rebellion to the frozen feetsies.  I could be as some are, flip-flop warriors, wearing them in the middle of the arctic tundra just because they can.  Guess I am getting too old for that kind of demonstration wear.

And so I will change with the season.

Now this does not mean I round up my flip flops and burn them in a giant heap of protest, chanting and dancing around the toxic billowing smoke shouting, “The Day of Flip Flops are over, today is the day of the sock and shoe!!!”  I probably would have done that at some point in the past.

But today, I have learned that seasons change.  Times change. And so the spiritual act of storing the flip-flops away in my closet is no longer a resignation that summer has been lost, but that summer will come again.

I wonder if that is the role of the Prophet in the church today.  One who is able to see the changing in the season a little sooner than most and speaks out that the leaves are changing color and that the first frost is near.

BTW, today did warm up a little, maybe I could even sneak the flip-flops out for one more hurrah!

 

A Tale of Two Cities…

A modern tale of two cities…

New York and Seattle.

First let’s start with the New York Yankees.  Likely one of the prestigious sport franchises in the world.  You either love the Yankees or you hate the Yankees.  But one thing the Yankees do is evoke emotion.  Yankee stadium has come to be known by various nicknames.

The House That Ruth Built,

The Stadium,

The Big Ballpark in the Bronx,

The Cathedral of Baseball.

Now, I have never been to Yankee stadium, but if the ghost of Babe Ruth is to be believed, it is a place where magic happens.  That is why everyone is trying to get a piece of the magic.  Who wouldn’t want an actual piece of Yankee stadium.  Whether it be a bleacher, home plate, or even a plain piece of Yankee stadium concrete, it would represent something, something of history, something that can never be recreated.

Yet in the midst of all of the magic and the memories, there are plans to tear it down.  Because secular society gets something.

In spite of the memories, to create new memories, the old place must be torn down.

A new space must be recreated for new memories, for new magic.

Now we have Seattle, to be specific the Seattle Super Sonics.  Now by no means do the SuperSonics have the history, the memories or the magic of the Yankees, but if you know anything of the current events of the only basketball franchise the greater Seattle area, is that the franchise is moving Oklahoma City.  The Seattle SuperSonics will be no more, no more chances for memories or any potential magic, cause they are gone.

All because they did not want to build a new stadium.  Let’s call it the Seattle Syndrome.  But the franchise cannot succeed in the city without a new stadium, without a new structure.

The franchise will collapse if a new stadium is not created.

Call it whatever you want, formal Christianity, organized religion or just they way humans are wired.  We tend to want to hold onto the structures where our memories were formed.  If Christianity were the Yankee Stadium we do every possible renovation and recreation to the original stadium to make things work.  But we would never tear it down.

Some would argue, “If we torn down the structures and systems of our past what would hold up the life of future?”

But we forget one very important thing.  Structures and systems only exist to hold life. Life is what matters! The stadium only is the container for baseball.  No one goes to an empty stadium.  We go to a stadium to watch baseball!

And that is what corporate America gets that we as Christians tend to forget.

Structures only exist as they increase life.  There are times when those structure impede life and actually bring death.

Next season the Yankees will be playing and the Seattle Super Sonics won’t be.  Both places had things torn down; one had the shell torn down to continue life, one had the life torn down because they did not want a new shell.

Go Yankees!

 

Will using biodiesel cause more people to go hungry?

My wife, Toree and I have decided to sell our van. Although finances play a part in us making this decision, it has largely been part of my wife’s seeing the Kingdom of God invading her life. Since we’ve surgically impaired one of us(yes it was me 😦 ) to stop having more children, a large van just doesn’t make much sense, especially at 16.7 mpg.

So the attractive choice in front of us is to go biodiesel. 45-50 mpg, environmentally sound, what more could one ask for. Yup, that is it! Decision has been made, I am ready to pull the trigger… until I read this article this morning with the following quote.

“Ethanol was initially promoted as a vehicle for America to cut back on foreign oil. In recent years, biofuels have also been touted as a way to fight climate change, but the food crisis does not augur well for ethanol’s prospects.

“It takes around 400 pounds of corn to make 25 gallons of ethanol,” Mr. Senauer, also an applied economics professor at Minnesota, said. “It’s not going to be a very good diet but that’s roughly enough to keep an adult person alive for a year.”

Now, I’ve heard in the past how the future of our great earth will greatly be benefited by us using Ethanol. The only thing is that it takes 400 lbs of it to make enough gas for me to drive to my favorite mall and back.

Someone needs to get fired. Who was the mathmetician who figured this out (more likely politician with some great kick backs). Yes, let’s take 400 lbs of edible, usable corn to make fuel. Do we not know people are actually dying of starvation. A person dies every 3.6 seconds. Every 3.6 seconds! That means in my 45 minute trip to my favorite mall in my ethanol juiced car 750 people will die of starvation. Again someone needs to get fired. Really. Seriously.

So back to my dilemna. Biodiesel. What evil is lurking behind that. How many vegetables am I killing in order to get to my Starbucks in the morning?

Guess this is another reason to ride by bike to get my coffee in the morning.

If you want to make a difference, I have just recently been introduced to a group that is getting their hands and feet into real life situations.

LifeWind International – The Village Changers

http://www.lifewind.org/

Village Changers is an exciting new way to join the circle of people who are transforming villages by giving food without foodlines, help without handouts and aid with dignity.

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