Crystal Cove Pictures

This is a poem to my wife, Faith

This is a poem to my wife, Faith.

You are everything I am not,

everything I can never be.

Mother, Daughter, Wife,

My lover.

There are times I don't love myself,

and I don't see how anyone could.

Yet, you do,

and you convince me that I am lovable.

You complete me.

You make me who I am,

You drive me to be more than I am.

We all need someone like you:

a goad, a thorn, a rose,

a sweet perfume that clings to me

and tells me that I am beautiful.

You are my wife,

and I am ... yours.

Doh

Well, the poem that I just posted, which probably appears below this one, is screwed up.

The words are there, and the line breaks, but the spacing is ALL wrong. If I ever figure out how to fix it, I'll repost it.

I'll probably post some of my other writing exercises here, too.

I'm currently reading a book about writing, and its filled with exercises.  This is the result of one of them.

                                         March 20


Images of the sky
                                         reflected in melting icicles
        (unseen by unseeing eyes)
moving by rote
                     rocking a newborn boy

Black hat
                Black veil
                                Black dress
     twisting in a frigid wind

A sea of mourning
    seated on blue cushions
One blue suit amidst the black
                                          (a young man openly weeping)

Silent tears tracing silent paths
               cascading down a numb face
                           pale blue eyes focused on a memory of

Nurses running
                screaming "Code Blue"
                                                                Blue lips, cyanotic
Fixed, unseeing eyes, staring at the ceiling

Looking down,
                seeing Grandpa's eyes
                                 watching from a newborn's face.




Let me know what you think of it.  If you have questions about it, the symbolism, the scenery, let me know.

Afraid

I picked up a book about writing. This is the product of an exercise from the first chapter. Write about the word "Afraid."

As people, we fear many things. We fear pain and loss. But, we only fear for those things we care about. We fear for our lives. We fear the loss of our loved ones and our prized possessions. We fear failure.

We only fear for those things we care for. But, if we care for nothing, then we will have no fear. Our God commands us with these words though: Fear Not. He also commands us to love. Deeply and passionately. What we love, we should fear to lose.

How, then, can we love and still have no fear? "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." What can we lose? Everything. What is eternal? God.

If you live your life with God, you have nothing to fear. If you live without God, you live in perpetual fear.

‘Mystery worshipper’ scheme could go nationwide

Well now, all I can say is "Its about time."

At first I was offended at the idea of a "mystery worshiper." Of course, I assumed it was some humanist/atheist/government group sending in the "mystery worshiper" in order to discredit that church, or the Church, as a whole.

Instead, it was a church organization who wanted to check on its friendliness and accessibility to the unchurched. They hired an unchurched person and sent them in to grade the church. They looked at warmth of welcome, length of sermon and style of music, among other aspects of the church service. They also looked at eye-contact and help with directions.

I was in a leadership training conference, and the speaker said, as a pastor, he hired local business men to come to his church and evaluate it, as a business man. $20 bought him professional advice. They mentioned things like light bulbs not matching, tears in the carpet which could be a tripping hazard, and bathroom cleanliness. When people go shopping, they have certain expectations. When people come to church, their expectations are often higher, since the Church represents God, and business are only looking out for themselves.

Just thinking about my church raises several questions in my mind. In my particular Sunday School class, their is a box of 'junk' sitting on a dresser in the corner. The dresser is used for storage, and the box of 'junk' is just ... a box of junk, as far as I can tell. As the Sunday School director, I need to look at all the rooms and see what we have, and what they need. The teachers can't be relied on in this area. Not because they are incompetent, but because they are inured to what is around them. I often don't see the mess at home because I'm used to it being there. The teachers, and everyone else in every church around the country, doesn't see what isn't there, because we're used to working around what we don't have.

Hopefully this "mystery worshiper" concept will catch on and we'll be able to improve our churches.

By the way, the churches had an average rating of 85%, with five scoring a perfect 100%. We're doing something right.‘Mystery worshipper’ scheme could go nationwide

To Vote or not To Vote? (What ridiculous choices we face)

Honestly, I haven't really looked at the candidates yet. Why bother? Its either in the hands of God, or the media. I trust one, but not the other.

There are roughly 300 million people in America. I'm not sure how many can vote, or how many will. Lets say .... one in ten? I'm probably over-estimating. That's 30 million voters.

Unfortunately, the way I understand things, I'm not voting for the president. I'm voting for someone who may or may not vote for the president: an electoral candidate. So, in California, lets say 100 people vote. (I know it will be more, but the math is easier this way.) 51 vote for a flaming liberal, and 49 vote for a conservative. The liberal wins, so the electoral candidate casts his vote for the liberal. What just happened to my vote? It became void. Useless. Of no account.

Do all the electoral candidates of a state vote as a block, for the candidate with the most votes in that state? (I think so in most cases.) So, the WHOLE state, in effect, votes for one candidate.

I live in California, a real big liberal state. My children will be taught about health, but not morals. Homosexuality, but not abstinence. Evolution, but not ethics. As a state, we will probably vote Democrat.

I honestly believe my vote will have absolutely no effect on the outcome of this election at all.

So, what can I do?

What do I do?

I play a game online. I go to work. I play around on Myspace, and a little bit on Facebook. I blog and I write. Oh, and I read. I attend church with my family.

Is my life making a difference?

I was reading the M88 blog on Myspace, and they were talking about the new Knight Rider movie on NBC. (I used to love that show.) Michael Knight's tag-line was something about one man making a difference. M88 was asking, in today's world, can one man make a difference?

Jesus' did. His life has changed mine, as well as those of my family, and many of my friends. I suppose my vote my not (probably won't) change things one way or the other. But my life, lived daily in front of friends and family, will affect those around me.