Frozen grapes with Marvin

(afomft, cont'd.)

20. Frozen grapes with Marvin

I spent a couple of good hours at Marvin Phillips' house today over lunch, helping him with some computer stuff.

At 74 years old, he's still one of the most energetic, encouraging, loving people I know. Still traveling all over the world, helping people and sharing the Good News wherever and whenever he can; always laughing, joking, smiling, and planning trips. God still has a lot of mileage left in him.

Anyway, for lunch he always fixes me frozen grapes and one of his special wraps. Good stuff. I'm very grateful I can spend a couple of hours with him now and then.

A Brazilian?

From William...

Dick Cheney: "Mr. President, due to recent conflicts in South America, 5 Brazilian men have been killed."

George W: "How many is a Brazilian?"

Frog gigging

(afomft, cont'd.)

19. Frog gigging

We have a sort of toastmasters presentation every Monday at work. We each take a turn presenting on some random subject. The group I work with is ethnically diverse, to say the least.

So, I brought the topic back home and spoke about my life as a frog gigger growing up in the Ozarks.



I'm not sure if the look on the audience faces was from disgust or amazement that I was willing to admit I'm a hillbilly from Missouri who loves to gig frogs and eat their legs.

"And their voices unite in the pale moonlight..."

(afomft, cont'd.)

18. Gitarzan

I love this old song from Ray Stevens...

Gitarzan
Ray Stevens



He's free as the breeze, He's always at ease
He lives in the jungle and hangs by his knees
As he swings through the trees without a trapeze
In his B.V.D.'s

He's got a union card and he's practicing hard
To play the guitar
Gonna be a big star, yeah, he's gonna go far
And carry moon beams home in a jar

He ordered Chet's Guitar course C.O.D.
Makes "A" and "E" and he's working on "B"
Digs "C" and "W" and "R" and "B"
And me and the chimpanzee agree that one day soon he will be a celebrity

Chorus

Git it, git it, git it, git it...OW!
Gitarzan, he's a guitar man
He's all you can stand
Give him a hand, Gitarzan
Ahhh (Jungle Yell), Ahhh, Ahhh

He's got a girl named Jane with no last name
Kinda homely and plain but he loves her just the same
Cuz she kindles a flame and it drives him insane
When he hears her sing, she really does her thing
It's her claim to fame, come on, sing one Jane

Baby, baby
Ow, baby, baby (scat)
Baby, baby

Well, they got a pet monkey
He likes to get drunky
And sing boogie woogie and it sounds real funky
Come on, your time boy, sing one monkey

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Let's hear it for the monkey
On saturday night they need some excitement
Jane gets right and the monkey gets tight
And their voices unite in the pale moonlight
And it sounds all right, yeah, it's dynamite, it's out of sight
Let's hear it right.....now

Baby, ahhh, baby, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Baby, ahhh, baby, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Chorus

Git it, git it, git it, git it...ow!
Gitarzan and his jungle band
They're all you can stand
Give 'em a hand Gitarzan

Home

When I visit my hometown on holidays, etc., I usually run into one or more old friends and/or acquaintances. But, over the years I've encountered fewer and fewer on each visit.

As we were leaving my home town over this past thanksgiving, I realized I hadn't seen any old friends out and about, except those I met at the church service on Wednesday night. We were also listening to a Fernando Ortego CD as the car rolled out of town. He was singing...

"Don't Let Me Come Home A Stranger"
Fernando Ortega
As I walked out one evening
To breathe the air and soothe my mind,
I thought of friends and the home I had,
And all those things I left behind.

A silent star shone on me,
My eyes saw a far horizon,
As if to pierce this veil of time,
And escape this earthly prison.

Will there come a time when the memories fade.
and pass on with the long, long years,
When the ties no longer bind?
Lord save me from this darkest fear.
Don't let me come home a stranger,
I couldn't stand to be a stranger.

It was a bummer of a moment.

On the upside, I'm encouraged when I think that we'll never have to leave home once we reach our final home. No more sad departures.

"...he likes to be asked."

"Well, I do think someone might have arranged about our meals," said Digory.
"I'm sure Aslan would have, if you'd asked him," said Fledge.
"Wouldn't he know without being asked?" said Polly.
"I've no doubt he would," said the Horse (still with his mouth full). "But I've a sort of idea he likes to be asked."

- The Magician's Nephew

Narnia, etc.

Of The Chronicles of Narnia, I've only read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, so I decided to read all of the Chronicles of Narnia before the movie comes out. I don't think I'll have time, but I did just finish the The Magician's Nephew last night. (I now know where the wardrobe came from -- maybe it's mentioned in the second book, but I don't remember it).

Here's a great read that's a few years old about the relationship between Tolkien, Lewis, and also J. K. Rowling. I've always been a bit irritated at self-described Bible scholars constantly promoting the Christian imagery of The Chronicles and Lord of the Rings. I simply wanted to enjoy the stories for what they were... good, exciting, suspenseful stories of adventure, filled with colorful characters and twisting sub-plots that came together very well at the end.

I'm also weary of conservative sheep (not in the Biblical sense) so vehomently attacking the Harry Potter series. Most I had spoken with had not bothered to actually read the books, which by the way, gives great credibility to ones arguments (cough, cough). In the message I heard Sunday morning, the minister encouraged people to go see The Lion/Witch/Wardrobe and to not be turned off because "Witch" was in the title. I had never considered that, so it took me by surprise that people might be offended by the mere mention of 'witch'. Sigh.

Anyway, this article is a great response to those Harry Potter opponents. And, OK, I give with the Christian imagery in other books... it's there, it's wonderful that it is, but please don't shove it down my throat, just let me also enjoy the literal story as so many others do.

Some excerpts...
Fantasia: The Gospel According to C.S. Lewis

Lewis's influence is strongly evident in our present cultural moment. J.K. Rowling, for instance, based her famous "platform nine and three-quarters" -- the place at London's King's Cross Station where young wizards enter the world of the Hogwarts School in her Harry Potter series -- on the wardrobe through which English schoolchildren pass into the land of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. (Rowling has also apparently based the scope of the Harry Potter series -- a projected seven volumes -- on Lewis's books as well.)

...Rowling, like HarperCollins, has been pilloried recently by angry conservative Christians for writing playfully in the Harry Potter books about witchcraft and wizardry. Rowling doesn't understand the objections. Like the Chronicles, the Harry Potter books are infused with a Christian worldview: Both Lewis and Rowling celebrate courage, loyalty, friendship, compassion, forgiveness, persistence, and self-sacrifice with a compellingness that puts William Bennett's Book of Virtues to shame. She's a member of the Church of Scotland and, whenever she's asked, says, "I believe in God, not magic." In fact, Rowling initially was afraid that if people were aware of her Christian faith, she would give away too much of what's coming in the series. "If I talk too freely about that," she told a Canadian reporter, "I think the intelligent reader -- whether ten [years old] or sixty -- will be able to guess what is coming in the books." In truth, it's not much harder to find Gospel parallels in the Harry Potter stories than in the Chronicles. "Rejoice . . . ," says a wizard on the occasion of Harry's birth. "Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating this happy, happy day!" Shooting stars streak across the heavens to mark the baby Harry's coming. "I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future," says one of the teachers at Hogwarts when she hears the news. Substitute "Gentiles" for Muggles, "star in the east" for "shooting stars," and "Christmas" for "Harry Potter Day" and you get the idea.

Listening to William

(afomft, cont'd.)

17. Listening to William sing and play

After the younger three hit the sack, William pulled out his guitar. For an hour, we heard a bunch of licks and bridges just waiting to be fused into a composition. Then at my request, he pulled some old Jars of Clay worship tunes out of the corners of his brain and played them for us.

I'm very sad and anxious thinking that he will be away from home next year.

...

Beth and I attended the funeral of my friend Walt's sister-in-law last week. I didn't know Sara Erwin, but listening to her friends and family speak of her, I wish I had. She was 53, the same age as Lowell when he died. She went to the doctor with what she thought was a sinus infection and passed away a few weeks later.

Marvin did a wonderful job of honoring her life in the service.

Aspects of heaven that Marvin points out as more appealing than golden streets and pearly gates:

- No pain
- Reunion
- Seeing God's face

Not our abilities

"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are... it is our choices."

Dumbledore from The Chamber of Secrets.

Glenn..., Glenn,Glenn,Glenn...

Another reason I don't like Starbucks...

As if my name wasn't nerdy enough already (my kids love this commercial).

Glenn's the man,
Going to work.
Got his tie,
Got ambition.

Middle managment
Is right in his grasp,
It's a dream he will never let die.

Glenn's the man of the hour,
He's the king of his cube.
Status call reports have finally met their rival.
Burning the candle at both ends
On his way to the top.

He knows one day he just could become...
Supervisor.

Rules

The class Sam attended Sunday had an interesting title that Beth and I asked him about -- "God's Rule Book". The graphic in the bulletin showed a bespecled teacher looking over her glasses, shaking a finger.

Beth and I asked Sam about the lesson afterwards. He said, "We talked about how you can obey God without loving Him, but you can't love Him without obeying Him."

Having grown up with a fairly heavy rule-centered theology, there wasn't much emphasis on obedience resulting from love, even though I know we would acknowledge Sam's statement above as being true, I'm not sure we really accepted it deep down. Rule-keeping and external righteousness was definitely the primary focus, and heart condition was seemed to be secondary.

It's refreshing to discuss the difference with my kids, and see them 'get' it.

My gift to Vince

My gift to Vince, an apron saying:

I guaranteed a win and
All I got was a lousy year of KP.

(all in fun, all in fun, Vince ol' buddy.)

A year's worth of KP

48 of us take turns cleaning the kitchen here in my office, morning and evening, which works out to about once twice a month per individual. Cleaning it isn't a huge deal, but I hate it, mostly because I don't use the kitchen much, while others practically live in the kitchen, cooking all sorts of nasty concoctions.

I'm very close to having solved my KP woes for a long while.

We have a friendly, casual fantasy football league here at work -- no money involved, just bragging rights. Early in the week, Vince, my opponent this week guaranteed a victory over my team. I told him to ante up, and suggested we wager one year's worth of KP to the winner. Reluctantly, he agreed.

It's looking good for the home team. I have 117 points to Vince's 47. But, Vince has Meshawn and Bledsoe tonight. He needs about 350 yards and 4 TDs from Drew to Key. So, er, cough, cough, anything is possible.

Go Philly.

Priest Done

Sad news in for the red and gold. Priest is gone for '05, and his career may be over. Classy guy, and I hate to see him go out like that.

Boomer's Diary: “Please take your arms and tackle them to the ground. Give them hugs and say that you love them.”

No, not Boomer Sooner.

Boomer Grigsby, 5th round pick, rookie LB for the Chiefs.

I've been keeping up with Boomer's diary on the Chiefs web site. It's an entertaining read. I love this kid, he's all heart.

An excerpt:

I had a chance to go to my college homecoming game. So I’m standing on the sideline, outside of the bench area screaming for my team. In Kansas City, Coach Cunningham lives by the phrase, “Hit them in the mouth.” He means it in every way. He means to physically punish a team and whip them. To take the screws of your helmet and run them in through the screws of theirs. We use that phrase every day here. We have it on signs, t-shirts, everything.
So I’m on the sidelines yelling at my old defensive teammates “Hit ‘em in the mouth. Go get ‘em. Hit them in the mouth.” All of a sudden this referee comes walking over. I’m thinking he just wants to say hello like two other refs had already done that game. This guys walks over and says, “Hey, if you’re going to cheer root for your team only.” I’m like “Huh?” I kind of look around and say, “What are talking about.”
The ref says, “You know what I’m talking about, you’re just trying to stir it up and cause a fight. You have no sportsmanship.” I told him that I just said, “Hit them in them in the mouth.”
I’m trying to replay everything I said hoping I didn’t cuss or anything. But I don’t think I did. But he said, “That’s exactly what you said.” He took it that I was saying to punch the other team or something.
I told him that football is an intense, emotional sport and if he can’t handle a phrase like “Hit ‘em in the mouth” then maybe he should officiate a different sport – like figure skating or synchronized swimming or something.
He turned and looked at me and started reaching for his flag, so I just bit my tongue and stared at him. After that though I kind of teased him from the sidelines. I was being a smart guy, but that’s my character. So I was yelling sarcastic things like, “Please take your arms and tackle them to the ground.” and “Give them hugs and say that you love them.”

Coffee

(afomft, cont'd.)

16. A hot mug o' Joe on a blustery morning

I don't care for Starbucks -- overrated, over-hyped, and (of course) overpriced (over $5 BILLION in revenue last year). Send your money to the Red Cross.

I just want a mug of dark, freshly brewed coffee, preferably ground right before it is brewed. Folgers is also fine.

Good Friends

(afomft, cont'd.)

15. Spending time with old friends

While in LR, we were able to spend a few hours on a beautiful Saturday evening with our dear friends, Kevin and Karen. The food was good at the Flying Fish, but the company was better. There aren't many friends in life that you can be away from for months, then connect with and immediately finding yourself laughing and sharing, and sharing and laughing, until you just hate to call it a night.

Love you guys.

Arkansas State Champs

Sam's soccer team has (unofficially) been declared state champs of Arkansas.

"Wooooo Pig Sooey!"

We returned from a great weekend of soccer in Little Rock. Sam's '93 TSC team went undefeated and didn't give up a single goal during the CASA invitational tourney's regular bracket games. Sam scored the final goal in the 2nd game, which they won 2-0.

They then faced the '93 AR state champs in the semi-finals. After a hard-fought 1-0 lead going into the final 2 minutes of the game, they made a desperation shot from the 18. Our sweeper made an incredible leaping save to head the ball away from the goal, but the ball glanced off the top of his head, just clearing the keeper's hands to tie the game. Needless to say, the Arkansas sideline went berzerk. In the 2nd overtime period, one of our smallest players snuck a goal in, and we held on for the win. That does make us the Arkansas State Champs, right? ;)

The bad news is that we faced the other TSC team in the finals. They ended up taking the win, but we were extremely proud of our boys.

Ghostly Drive

This is a car ad from Great Britain. When they finished filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist. If you listen carefully (you'll have to turn up your volume), you'll hear the camera man whispering in the background about it near the end of the commercial.

They found out that a person had been killed a year earlier in that exact same spot. The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon. Watch the front end of the car as it clears the trees in the middle of the screen and you'll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road.

Pretty weird.

http://www.authorsden.com/adstorage/15001/GhostlyCarAd.wmv

"Bill Gates Goes To College"

From the PDC this year.

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2679657

Arise, My Soul, Arise

Twila Paris' rendition of this old hymn is a lift. I had never sung nor heard this hymn until a couple of years ago. It reminds me how timeless (good) words can be from generation to generation. Guilt is a big-time debilitator (word?) for me. In spite of the unconditional love and forgiveness I know I've received, time and again I can't seem to help but shake how ridiculously unworthy I am. This old hymn from Charles Wesley helps.

Arise, My Soul, Arise
Charles Wesley

Arise, my soul, arise!
Shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding Sacrifice
In my behalf appears.
Before the throne my Surety stands;
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above
For me to intercede,
His all-redeeming love,
His precious blood to plead.
His blood was shed for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers;
They strongly speak for me.
Forgive him, O forgive, they cry,
Nor let that ransomed sinner die!

The Father hears Him pray,
His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away
The presence of His Son.
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

To God I’m reconciled,
His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child,
I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And Father, Abba, Father, cry.

Halloween Trek

The boys and I must have covered 20 miles last night pounding the streets in search of candy. Anthony kept insisting that we were *very* close to one of his good friends house... it was just around the next corner, ... and then the next, ... and then the next. We never did find the friend's house, but we sure got some exercise. By the time we had finished our 20 mile trek (OK, I'm exaggerating), Sam and Anthony were toting half their body weight in candy.

I'm not sure who enjoys Halloween more, the ghosts and goblins begging for candy... or the neighbors dishing it out. I'm convinced Halloween is better for adults than children. (If you're an adult and you don't enjoy Halloween, lighten up.)

Children in costumes simply make adults smile, and we adults need to smile more. Neighbors who don't make the time to speak to each other, or who have never spoken to each other, get the opportunity to do just that.

Hooray for Halloween.