Saturday, December 14, 2013

Christmas nonsense

Christmas is nonsense. It's for fools and charlatans. It's outlandish to think that God exists, much less that he sent his son to the earth as a baby to live among us and teach us things like love and kindness and sacrifice and then to die to wipe our slates clean. All these songs and and stories and quotations of how Jesus is real and still with us? The celebration of Christmas is wrought with improbable, unprovable nonsense. It's enough to turn one's stomach. My head is getting light just in the writing of it. It's ridiculous! Unless...you realize it is love.

Love is nonsense. It's for fools and charlatans. It's outlandish to think that it exists, much less that it teaches us to love and to be kind and to sacrifice. It even washes our slate clean. All these songs and stories and quotations of how love is real and still with us? The celebration of love is wrought with improbable, unprovable nonsense. It's enough to turn one's stomach. My head is getting light just in the writing of it. It's ridiculous!! Unless...you KNOW it for yourself.

Happy Christmas all you fellow fools and charlatans.

I LOVE God for giving us Jesus AND love.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Giving Thanks.

Well, it's that time of year again. The time which we call Thanksgiving. I'm kind of a word guy so I like to think of Thanksgiving as a time for giving thanks, not just listing them. If you're on Facebook--and what planet do you live on if you're not--at all, you will notice people listing off things that they are thankful for. I see no harm in that. In fact, I think it's rather cool. However, being the somewhat cynical man that I am, I sometimes wonder if it isn't just another arena in which we can blather on to each other about the exterior life. Like I said, I am not against it, but I wonder if the whole intent of Thanksgiving was to spout off to each other or is there someone to whom the thanks should be given. I mean, don't you want to thank someONE?? I do.

So, with that in mind I shall, in writing, thank my Father for the uncountable and practically imperceptible blessing He has poured on me. Not the least of which, in fact quite the opposite, is overwhelming me with a love so deep and pure that it makes me wonder why. Why, oh why God have you let me thank you? You loved me before I was me and some days you still have to talk me into loving you. I am glad that at times you are unbelievable, for that is what I need to keep my faith strong. You are unbelievably believable! Thank you for EVERYTHING!

Rejoice and be glad this Thanksgiving, people.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Grand Father

A happy Father's Day can be achieved just by knowing that my kids are all well and well aware of how much they are loved. That being the case, I am a happy father this Father's Day.

Being a dad has been--and remains--the greatest joy in my life. It is how I have learned how much my Father in heaven loves me. It matters not to Him whether I am feeling great and glorious or down and desperate, His love for me isn't dependent on ME. It's who He is. His love for me doesn't hinge on me at all. He loves me because He is my dad. There's nothing I can do to make Him love me more and there's nothing I can do to make Him love me less.

For the record, that makes me feel grand and glorious!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

While I haven't done an ounce of research on the subject, I doubt that there is anyone who doesn't believe in conscience. Or at least some form of inner compass. Even so-called savage peoples have a degree of ethical behavior. There are some things they just won't do for fear of losing their lives. I would dare say that there are espousing Atheists who believe whole-heartedly in such a notion. They will tell you that it is their conscience which guides them in their choices, not God. Which I find to be ironic since it holds up to none of the empirical evidence they seem to need in order to believe in God. You can't touch it, see it, talk to it, dismantle it or point to its molecular structure or a mountain of data to prove it. Has anyone ever held a conscience in their hands? No. You just 'know' it exists inside you. I guess you could say it takes faith. And if there is a God then the world would not be so evil. To them I would ask this question then: "If conscience exists then why is the world so evil?"

The answer is quite simple, actually. You can't impose your conscience upon (or inside) another. People will either ignore their conscience or override it through rationalization. I think that makes perfect sense. People with God in their heart do the same thing all the time. You cannot impose God on another soul, you can, however, love them and point them in God's direction. I don't do that often enough. And that, my friends, is why the world is so evil.

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

I know that ignorance is not bliss, but I also know that knowledge is not power. It seems the more I know about how broken the world is, the more ignorant I wish I was. When I was young I think I thought the world in the future was going to be much better than it was then. I say 'I think I thought'  because I really don't remember. Maybe it was just a deep, deep wish. You know, the kind of thing you carry almost naturally with you as a child. You don't know you're wishing it or thinking it, but you are, most likely.

Friday, January 25, 2013

On Average

There is no such thing as an average person any more than there is such a thing as an average cloud. Every person is as constantly in flux as a cloud. There is no way every one of us can be studied and measured at every moment of every day. An average is a number that corresponds to a statistical reality, not a person...or a cloud. The average is affixed to the highest number of people that fall into a certain percentile. For example: no one has 2.6 children yet that is what the average American family is said to have. Some have 4, some have 3, some have 2, but when you do the math the average comes in at 2.6.

So? What point am I trying to make? I guess I am, at times, struck with how the world seems to want to make me average. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not one of those Rah Rah " I'm spectacular" self esteem guys. I don't get my esteem from me. My esteem was given to me when the Son of God said I was good enough to die for and then proved it by dying. Any 'self-esteem' is almost laughable given that fact. No, the point I am (with much effort) trying to make is this: we are, none of us, average. We are not even faintly the same as each other. Oh sure, we have similarities, but sameness and similarity are nowhere near synonymous. I am not close to average and neither are you and that is what makes life marvelously, interestingly difficult, challenging and captivating.


Thursday, January 17, 2013

The case for more creative speech

Whatever happened to decency? Lately I have just become more and more tired of vulgar language. Where I work it's always sort of been a given. It's kind of a 'man's world' workplace so it's to be expected. But why? How did it become expected? Where's our restraint?

I grew up in a 'G' rated world and, quite frankly, I miss it. I heard my dad swear once (in his native Frisian, but I knew he was swearing just by the context of his demeanor). It was such a big deal that I can remember to this day, the whole circumstance clearly. Once. That was the only time I ever heard my dad curse and I am glad of that fact.

I'm sure it makes me sound old, but I don't care. I think it takes more of a man to find creative ways to communicate his thoughts and feelings than to merely spout off obscenities. (Note: they are still called obscenities. Why then, are they so easily spewed?) Don't get me wrong. I am not offended by most swearing, nor am I a prude, I'm just sick of it. I don't want my mom walking around, hearing 'R' rated language at every turn. I think she deserves a better world than that. I realize that most people are just too lazy to think of a new, different way to say something so they use the old, tired standby by default. I think it's indicative of the larger societal problem called: lack of consideration for others.

So, rather than just spout off my distaste without offering a solution, I'm going to offer some of the alternate 'swear words' that I use from time to time. If for no other reason than to let you know (once again) how strange I am, here are few choice morsels:

Stink puppet!
Dinglecheese! (insulting, no?)
Finkbeiner!
Skunk Pirate Jones!
Dorkberry!