If today was the Judgment, I am sure that I'd be chaffed with most of humanity. When I see what it is that Our Lord calls for us to do, I am sure that I am not even close to being considered near the top 10% of humanity in regards to that summons. There are many, indeed, who do not even know Christ who are much better Christians than I will ever be. But as my year end assessment begins and I focus on the areas that are much in need of improvement for next year, I am certain of one thing - hope. I have received an abundance of it this year and I carry forth its remnants into a new year filled with its afterglow. Hope will be my banner for next year.
I am still way too selfish. Jesus's words convict me constantly. I am not anywhere near like the beggar woman with her two small coins. I retain far too much wealth for myself and spend it foolishly on things and needs that I do not require. It seems as if the more I try to disentangle myself from this consumerist society, the more I fall lock step with it. Though my not purchasing a PlayStation 3 or Wii should count for something ;) Yet, I have hope that I might break free of the cycle that has kept me from spending wisely and that has encouraged my overspending. I have hope that I shall learn not to need so much of this gift that has been given to me and that I might find a way to put more of it to His use.
My heart is still too dark with thoughts and feelings that are not worthy of inclusion in Heaven. I wish to embrace the love of Christ and to be its conduit to the world. But the vast amount of love I receive remains locked inside of me - there to heal my own wounded heart. I hope to be mended so that I might mend. I hope to love, so that I might be loved. I hope to cast away the fear and the pain that has kept me in dark places. I hope to forgive, truly, and not to carry dark thoughts with me. I hope to go forth and sin no more.
I have great hope. On my birthday, I prayed for a gift that was real and I was filled with God's love for me and for the world. It lightened my soul like a solar tower in a coal mine. I bounced for a week before I felt the lightness slip from me and I became burdened again with the world. And again, this Christmas, I prayed for a glimmer of hope and there she was with a smile meant just for me - a bright spot on a gloomy day. A glimmer and nothing more, but a promise of things to come, a sign for my soul of a path on which I am about to embark. A spark just bright enough to give me a flicker of the world to be and to light a fire within my soul. Hope is a wonderful thing.
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. And I have had my faith rekindled in hope. Sometimes we all need a glimpse of that for which we strive - a vision, a smell, a touch, a sound, a taste of the one truth. That hope is enough to brace us for the battles to come.
I am not there yet. I have a long way to go. But I have every hope that I will be there in the end.
May 2007 be better than 2006 for you and all your kin.
Will Robison
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Peace on Earth
Even in Hawaii, war is a bad place.
I spent Gulf War One in a barracks in Hawaii. On a daily basis, I'd get up from bed around 4pm, shower, get dressed, grab a bite to eat, and head to my intelligence building to work. We worked from roughly 6pm to 6am every day. My job was the analysis of satellite imagery from the Gulf region. It had been my job for nearly two years at that point, but until GW1, nobody had ever paid any attention to it. All of a sudden, with the start of hostilities, I was briefing Admirals and watching my analysis show up on CNN. Interesting stuff.
We were not directly a target. Fleet Headquarters shared the same complex as us. We were the eyes, ears, and brains of the entire Pacific Fleet. When hostilities started, our threat level assessment went to the highest you can get without patrolling dogs, machine gun posts, etc... While most of the country was unaware of the dangers we faced in the United States from terrorism, we were very aware of our surroundings and suspicious activities in our area. Fear, while not great, was a presence.
Our work load increased as the ground war got closer. We were now engaged in real hostilities in a part of the world. We stopped looking for the sake of looking and started looking for real danger. Missing something that was right there in front of us was not an option. Threats had to be found and eliminated. Failure meant death for our friends and fellow soldiers. Compared to that, what is real life? Stress levels soared. Fatigue soared. More than one sailor in our building lost it and found themselves hospitalized from nervous breakdowns.
Drinking was rampant. Destressing became a priority. I was not immune from this behavior. After nearly punching a Lieutenant out, I went home and smashed my fist into a wall several times. The pain calmed me down a great deal. I nearly broke my leg kicking a chair during a Nintendo session. I steered clear of any additional stress. Christmas came and went. It was not my happiest holiday that year. As the war dragged on, there was a real possibility that I would be forced to stay in the military longer than I had anticipated and possibly miss the fall semester of college the next year.
When the day of the greatest battle arrived and I sat listening to a blow by blow account of helicopters massacring tanks and trucks and troops with hellfire missiles, I cheered their destruction. Iraqi soldiers, teenagers not much younger or older than me, were being torn to shreds - their lives being snuffed out - as I cheered on their end. It was not my brightest moment, but it was a great reliever of stress.
War is hell. When you tell young people to kill each other for nebulous reasons, how can it not be? It is a situation that we should always avoid at all costs and should never be entered into lightly. But beyond the emotional, mental, and spiritual anguish it causes, war also takes other tolls.
I returned home from GW1 a changed person. Its hard not to be pushed to the brink and not be changed. Within six months, my fiancee and I had broken up. Part of it was just normal young love coming to an end, but part of it was what the Gulf War had done to me. And I hadn't even come close to the combat zones.
I am reminded of all this because a young man I know through an acquaintance returned home from a tour of Baghdad. For six months he was deployed inside Baghdad, learning to kill or be killed. It was a hard tour for him. He was required to machine gun a man who had done nothing more than hold a cell phone - because that is a tactic used by Al Qaeda. Killing this cell phone man saved him and his comrades. As punishment, Al Qaeda killed the man's family because of his failure to detonate the road side bomb. Five innocent people were killed in one afternoon. It is quite a burden to place on one person's soul - the death of five people, the stress of nearly being killed, the knowledge that you have taken someone else from this world. This young man returned home a couple of weeks ago and found out that his wife wanted a divorce.
People who have never fought in a war or been in the military during a war can never know that everyone in uniform makes sacrifices - that we all suffer, and that you, the citizens who authorize the war, suffer as well. We put ourselves in this situation again and again - and like crazy people we expect a different outcome each time. But war is never succesful. Never. It is always a failure. Every time, no matter the outcome. It is a failure of vision, of faith, and of love.
What I most want for Christmas this year is Peace on Earth. Or, at the very least, less war.
I spent Gulf War One in a barracks in Hawaii. On a daily basis, I'd get up from bed around 4pm, shower, get dressed, grab a bite to eat, and head to my intelligence building to work. We worked from roughly 6pm to 6am every day. My job was the analysis of satellite imagery from the Gulf region. It had been my job for nearly two years at that point, but until GW1, nobody had ever paid any attention to it. All of a sudden, with the start of hostilities, I was briefing Admirals and watching my analysis show up on CNN. Interesting stuff.
We were not directly a target. Fleet Headquarters shared the same complex as us. We were the eyes, ears, and brains of the entire Pacific Fleet. When hostilities started, our threat level assessment went to the highest you can get without patrolling dogs, machine gun posts, etc... While most of the country was unaware of the dangers we faced in the United States from terrorism, we were very aware of our surroundings and suspicious activities in our area. Fear, while not great, was a presence.
Our work load increased as the ground war got closer. We were now engaged in real hostilities in a part of the world. We stopped looking for the sake of looking and started looking for real danger. Missing something that was right there in front of us was not an option. Threats had to be found and eliminated. Failure meant death for our friends and fellow soldiers. Compared to that, what is real life? Stress levels soared. Fatigue soared. More than one sailor in our building lost it and found themselves hospitalized from nervous breakdowns.
Drinking was rampant. Destressing became a priority. I was not immune from this behavior. After nearly punching a Lieutenant out, I went home and smashed my fist into a wall several times. The pain calmed me down a great deal. I nearly broke my leg kicking a chair during a Nintendo session. I steered clear of any additional stress. Christmas came and went. It was not my happiest holiday that year. As the war dragged on, there was a real possibility that I would be forced to stay in the military longer than I had anticipated and possibly miss the fall semester of college the next year.
When the day of the greatest battle arrived and I sat listening to a blow by blow account of helicopters massacring tanks and trucks and troops with hellfire missiles, I cheered their destruction. Iraqi soldiers, teenagers not much younger or older than me, were being torn to shreds - their lives being snuffed out - as I cheered on their end. It was not my brightest moment, but it was a great reliever of stress.
War is hell. When you tell young people to kill each other for nebulous reasons, how can it not be? It is a situation that we should always avoid at all costs and should never be entered into lightly. But beyond the emotional, mental, and spiritual anguish it causes, war also takes other tolls.
I returned home from GW1 a changed person. Its hard not to be pushed to the brink and not be changed. Within six months, my fiancee and I had broken up. Part of it was just normal young love coming to an end, but part of it was what the Gulf War had done to me. And I hadn't even come close to the combat zones.
I am reminded of all this because a young man I know through an acquaintance returned home from a tour of Baghdad. For six months he was deployed inside Baghdad, learning to kill or be killed. It was a hard tour for him. He was required to machine gun a man who had done nothing more than hold a cell phone - because that is a tactic used by Al Qaeda. Killing this cell phone man saved him and his comrades. As punishment, Al Qaeda killed the man's family because of his failure to detonate the road side bomb. Five innocent people were killed in one afternoon. It is quite a burden to place on one person's soul - the death of five people, the stress of nearly being killed, the knowledge that you have taken someone else from this world. This young man returned home a couple of weeks ago and found out that his wife wanted a divorce.
People who have never fought in a war or been in the military during a war can never know that everyone in uniform makes sacrifices - that we all suffer, and that you, the citizens who authorize the war, suffer as well. We put ourselves in this situation again and again - and like crazy people we expect a different outcome each time. But war is never succesful. Never. It is always a failure. Every time, no matter the outcome. It is a failure of vision, of faith, and of love.
What I most want for Christmas this year is Peace on Earth. Or, at the very least, less war.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
I know...
"I'm now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more," she (J.K. Rowling) wrote. "I don't think anyone who has not been in a similar situation can possibly know how this feels: I am alternately elated and overwrought. I both want, and don't want, to finish this book (don't worry, I will.)"
J.K. Rowling announced the name of her 7th and final Harry Potter book today - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. In making the announcement on her website, she included the above quote and another about dreaming about her character. I can't say that I've ever dreamt about my characters before, so I know what she means when she says that until recently she had never done that.
The point I wanted to make is something that I discovered about 15 years ago that was a great encouragement to me. Writers all have pretty much the same mind. Our minds work relatively the same with respect to writing and to how we view the world. For non-writers, I would imagine there are some similarities, but since I am a writer, I'll just have to guess at how your brains work. When J.K. Rowling talks about writing, I'm right there - been there, done that.
I can't begin to understand how someone creates music. I look at notes on a page and to me, they are just dots. I know higher dots represent higher notes. I know about keys and accidentals and how to read music. But still, the dots don't translate into a tune in my head. Musicians, on the other hand, look at the dots and hear - HEAR - a tune in their heads. Imagine that! I can't even begin to wonder at such an amazing skill and I've been around music almost my entire life as both a singer and handbell player.
Linguists can not only translate words from another language instantaneously in their minds, but can respond and think in other languages. Again, this is a skill I do not possess. I imagine that Barry Bonds sees a baseball much better than you and I, that Michael Jordan can elevate and dunk like we only imagine doing, that Frank Gore sees holes in crowds of people the way my brother can find a perfect parking space with his eyes practically shut. These are skills that some people have and the rest of us can only imagine.
Writing, however, is a skill that everyone uses on an almost daily basis. Hi, how are you? I'm fine and you? Great. BRB. And all that stuff. We all write. We all communicate. So what sets a writer apart from Joe Schmoe on the street? What is the difference between you and, say, J.K. Rowling besides a bazillion dollars?
We are writers. We come from a long line of writers. We are mentally no different than Dante, or Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Homer. We get an idea in our head, and like the musician, a story plays out before us in a flash. There is no concentration involved. There is barely any effort. This is just the way we view ideas - as stories. We do not choose to be this way. There is no test, no class you can take, no training for this ability. You are or you are not. And I suspect that there are just as many writers who are published as there are writers who are not published. And just as many people who have written a book who are not writers as there are people who have not written a book who are writers. Being a writer is not the same thing as being an author.
So to J.K. Rowling I say, "I know." I know what its like to sit up until the late hours of the morning crafting a scene that has been sitting in your mind since the mid 1980's. I know its frustrations and its pleasures; its addictive qualities and its destructive ones. I both want to finish and don't want to finish my book. I both love it and hate it at the same time. One minute its the greatest thing since sliced bread, the next its the biggest pile of fecal matter ever excreted by one human being. I know all of these things.
Now all I need to do is finish and make as much money as J.K. and we'll be practically the same person. ;)
J.K. Rowling announced the name of her 7th and final Harry Potter book today - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. In making the announcement on her website, she included the above quote and another about dreaming about her character. I can't say that I've ever dreamt about my characters before, so I know what she means when she says that until recently she had never done that.
The point I wanted to make is something that I discovered about 15 years ago that was a great encouragement to me. Writers all have pretty much the same mind. Our minds work relatively the same with respect to writing and to how we view the world. For non-writers, I would imagine there are some similarities, but since I am a writer, I'll just have to guess at how your brains work. When J.K. Rowling talks about writing, I'm right there - been there, done that.
I can't begin to understand how someone creates music. I look at notes on a page and to me, they are just dots. I know higher dots represent higher notes. I know about keys and accidentals and how to read music. But still, the dots don't translate into a tune in my head. Musicians, on the other hand, look at the dots and hear - HEAR - a tune in their heads. Imagine that! I can't even begin to wonder at such an amazing skill and I've been around music almost my entire life as both a singer and handbell player.
Linguists can not only translate words from another language instantaneously in their minds, but can respond and think in other languages. Again, this is a skill I do not possess. I imagine that Barry Bonds sees a baseball much better than you and I, that Michael Jordan can elevate and dunk like we only imagine doing, that Frank Gore sees holes in crowds of people the way my brother can find a perfect parking space with his eyes practically shut. These are skills that some people have and the rest of us can only imagine.
Writing, however, is a skill that everyone uses on an almost daily basis. Hi, how are you? I'm fine and you? Great. BRB. And all that stuff. We all write. We all communicate. So what sets a writer apart from Joe Schmoe on the street? What is the difference between you and, say, J.K. Rowling besides a bazillion dollars?
We are writers. We come from a long line of writers. We are mentally no different than Dante, or Chaucer, or Shakespeare, or Homer. We get an idea in our head, and like the musician, a story plays out before us in a flash. There is no concentration involved. There is barely any effort. This is just the way we view ideas - as stories. We do not choose to be this way. There is no test, no class you can take, no training for this ability. You are or you are not. And I suspect that there are just as many writers who are published as there are writers who are not published. And just as many people who have written a book who are not writers as there are people who have not written a book who are writers. Being a writer is not the same thing as being an author.
So to J.K. Rowling I say, "I know." I know what its like to sit up until the late hours of the morning crafting a scene that has been sitting in your mind since the mid 1980's. I know its frustrations and its pleasures; its addictive qualities and its destructive ones. I both want to finish and don't want to finish my book. I both love it and hate it at the same time. One minute its the greatest thing since sliced bread, the next its the biggest pile of fecal matter ever excreted by one human being. I know all of these things.
Now all I need to do is finish and make as much money as J.K. and we'll be practically the same person. ;)
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Filters
Once again, my inbox is filling up with spam messages as my filters are out of alignment with the latest attacks from unseen forces. Spam filters work by looking for particular patterns of popular spam subject lines and then, when finding those subjects listed, they target and eliminate the message so that it never actually reaches me. Every once in a while, however, a new paradigm is discovered and spammers find their way around the filters to send me new messages again and again and again. I get tired of it - ignoring their frequent calls for my attention - and I delete them the second I see them. But I have to give them grudging credit for being smarter than my filter, even if it is annoying dealing with them.
The latest spam messages I've been getting, especially as we get closer to December 25th, are all these messages someone keeps sending me with the subject line, "Behold, Unto You Is Born This Day In The City of David." I've been deleting that one as soon as I see it. Who has time to read things like that when there's Christmas shopping to be done? And another annoying message, "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you," is just a troll, I'm sure, for my money. I don't even let that one into my inbox. I try to destroy it before I even have to deal with it. Nasty business. But the worst of all is the one that says, "For God so loved the world." Have they no shame? Do they not realize its the holidays? Can't they see that this kind of spam will only have a negative impact on the GNP of the United States and might keep this great country from its several trillions of dollars in profit made during this season of the year!?
I can't believe that there is some great mysterious entity out there sending me all this spam and that we haven't found this person and dealt with him. He ought to be crucified I tell you! Or, at the very least, a better filter must be invented so that I don't have to listen to him any more. His spam messages can be most annoying during this season when I'm trying to enjoy the holidays.
That's all I've got time to say, because I need to rush out to the store and pick up some last minute sale items from the 70% off sale. I think there's a light up Santa that I can add to my Christmas light display next year. Then I ought to show my neighbors what for during the contest for best Christmas decorations. I'll show them what the Christmas spirit is all about!
See you later. Have a happy holiday.
The latest spam messages I've been getting, especially as we get closer to December 25th, are all these messages someone keeps sending me with the subject line, "Behold, Unto You Is Born This Day In The City of David." I've been deleting that one as soon as I see it. Who has time to read things like that when there's Christmas shopping to be done? And another annoying message, "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you," is just a troll, I'm sure, for my money. I don't even let that one into my inbox. I try to destroy it before I even have to deal with it. Nasty business. But the worst of all is the one that says, "For God so loved the world." Have they no shame? Do they not realize its the holidays? Can't they see that this kind of spam will only have a negative impact on the GNP of the United States and might keep this great country from its several trillions of dollars in profit made during this season of the year!?
I can't believe that there is some great mysterious entity out there sending me all this spam and that we haven't found this person and dealt with him. He ought to be crucified I tell you! Or, at the very least, a better filter must be invented so that I don't have to listen to him any more. His spam messages can be most annoying during this season when I'm trying to enjoy the holidays.
That's all I've got time to say, because I need to rush out to the store and pick up some last minute sale items from the 70% off sale. I think there's a light up Santa that I can add to my Christmas light display next year. Then I ought to show my neighbors what for during the contest for best Christmas decorations. I'll show them what the Christmas spirit is all about!
See you later. Have a happy holiday.
Monday, December 18, 2006
My God is thick and scaly.
Sometimes, we are all blind people walking around a large elephant trying to describe it with our limited sensations. But, I think, most of the time we are just blind people bumping again and again into something that we can't see, feel, or even understand - but it keeps getting in our way, forcing us to change course, always challenging us to know it and to describe it. This is God.
I am getting close to another breakthrough. I can feel it. The ideas are starting to pour out thick and scaly in my brain. Another glimpse, another sighting - I keep running into this invisible thing and I've only just now connected that all these ideas are pointing to the same source. They seem so disconnected, so disjointed, but when I dig deeper, I realize that they are describing the same thing.
But I'm not there yet. I need to bump into this thing a few more times before a picture gels in my brain and I am able to paint it for you with words. So, until then, have a great day.
And look out for invisible things.
I am getting close to another breakthrough. I can feel it. The ideas are starting to pour out thick and scaly in my brain. Another glimpse, another sighting - I keep running into this invisible thing and I've only just now connected that all these ideas are pointing to the same source. They seem so disconnected, so disjointed, but when I dig deeper, I realize that they are describing the same thing.
But I'm not there yet. I need to bump into this thing a few more times before a picture gels in my brain and I am able to paint it for you with words. So, until then, have a great day.
And look out for invisible things.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Into each life...
To borrow from Bill Cosby...
"Mary, this is God."
"God?"
"Yes, Mary. Behold, you have been given a great gift."
"A gift, God? That's very kind of you."
"You are going to carry the Son of God and bring him into the world."
"Carry? Like a basket?"
"No, Mary... you are going to become pregnant."
(Pause)
"Right.... who is this, really?"
We can see the end of the story from hindsight only. Mary becomes Jesus's mother and everything turns out relatively alright for her. But, at the time, I'm sure she was just a tad freaked out, upset, and maybe a little bit distressed about the prospect of not only being a mother, but being a virgin mother, and a virgin mother of the Son of God. I'm guessing that this was not part of her plans. I'm guessing it was more than just a little inconvenient. I'm really guessing that the timing could have probably been better. And yet, she accepted it, lived with it, and moved on.
Have you ever noticed that when a particularly bad storm finishes with us, the world looks a lot clearer afterwards? To be sure, the wind and the rain scour the atmosphere and drench the trees. Pollen, dust, smog - all these things disappear and the air is clear afterwards. We can see things the way they're meant to be seen, if only for a little while before the air begins to get dirty again. But there is also a kind of seeing that only comes to us when things have been particularly nasty and our field of vision has narrowed so far that for a brief time the only thing that matters to us is the survival of those we love. The wind and the rain and all that the world can offer scours away the detritus of our lives until we are left with a clear vision and see things the way they're meant to be seen.
Some people see valleys as places where mountains go to die, others see valleys as the places where mountains begin to rise.
I've been sick the past couple of days. In fact, my whole family has been fighting the same illness. When I was much younger I coined the phrase that if neccesity was the mother of invention, sickness was surely its father. When we are sick we are usually left with one task to do - get better - which gives our mind time to empty of unimportant and unneccesary thoughts and feelings. We focus on the immediate. We focus on the imperative. We let the little details go. There is a sharpness that comes to us in being sick. There is a desire to survive the storm.
We accept it. We live with it. We move on.
I was searching for a single meaning in Jesus's birth as their is such a significant meaning in Jesus's death and resurrection. But I can't find a single meaning. As with all hopes, each person's meaning is a little different. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. And Jesus's birth heralds the arrival of hope and the blessings of faith. You ask for an answer to faith and I can point you to Jesus's birth - there is the answer to faith.
It doesn't come easy. But it comes. That is all we need to know or to believe.
"Mary, this is God."
"God?"
"Yes, Mary. Behold, you have been given a great gift."
"A gift, God? That's very kind of you."
"You are going to carry the Son of God and bring him into the world."
"Carry? Like a basket?"
"No, Mary... you are going to become pregnant."
(Pause)
"Right.... who is this, really?"
We can see the end of the story from hindsight only. Mary becomes Jesus's mother and everything turns out relatively alright for her. But, at the time, I'm sure she was just a tad freaked out, upset, and maybe a little bit distressed about the prospect of not only being a mother, but being a virgin mother, and a virgin mother of the Son of God. I'm guessing that this was not part of her plans. I'm guessing it was more than just a little inconvenient. I'm really guessing that the timing could have probably been better. And yet, she accepted it, lived with it, and moved on.
Have you ever noticed that when a particularly bad storm finishes with us, the world looks a lot clearer afterwards? To be sure, the wind and the rain scour the atmosphere and drench the trees. Pollen, dust, smog - all these things disappear and the air is clear afterwards. We can see things the way they're meant to be seen, if only for a little while before the air begins to get dirty again. But there is also a kind of seeing that only comes to us when things have been particularly nasty and our field of vision has narrowed so far that for a brief time the only thing that matters to us is the survival of those we love. The wind and the rain and all that the world can offer scours away the detritus of our lives until we are left with a clear vision and see things the way they're meant to be seen.
Some people see valleys as places where mountains go to die, others see valleys as the places where mountains begin to rise.
I've been sick the past couple of days. In fact, my whole family has been fighting the same illness. When I was much younger I coined the phrase that if neccesity was the mother of invention, sickness was surely its father. When we are sick we are usually left with one task to do - get better - which gives our mind time to empty of unimportant and unneccesary thoughts and feelings. We focus on the immediate. We focus on the imperative. We let the little details go. There is a sharpness that comes to us in being sick. There is a desire to survive the storm.
We accept it. We live with it. We move on.
I was searching for a single meaning in Jesus's birth as their is such a significant meaning in Jesus's death and resurrection. But I can't find a single meaning. As with all hopes, each person's meaning is a little different. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. And Jesus's birth heralds the arrival of hope and the blessings of faith. You ask for an answer to faith and I can point you to Jesus's birth - there is the answer to faith.
It doesn't come easy. But it comes. That is all we need to know or to believe.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Mysteries of Faith Part Two - Where Is God?
For what seems like thousands of years, God walked along with the Hebrew people, offering them covenants, wiping out their enemies, dwelling inside their temples, choosing their judges and kings, chastising them, sending prophets to them, punishing them, and then, finally, making Himself flesh amongst them. Since then - bumpkis.
It is a challenge of my faith to accept that God is active in my life in a way that is as meaningful as it was to, say, the average Jewish citizen during the Exodus, because I can not see God, can not hear God, can not feel God, and don't get to see God wipe out the entire Egyptian army. Perhaps its my love of big budget movies, but where are the Special Effects? Where are the plagues? Where is the speaking of tongues, the flames over peoples heads, the prophet who rises up and tells us to repent?
Or am I just not listening? Am I just not seeing? Is our media coverage that poor that they fail to mention that the Egyptian army was wiped out crossing the Red Sea today?
It seems as if God left Earth after ACTS and said, "You're all on your own now, until I return."
Or, you might say that God wasn't finished with us and sent the Prophet Mohammed.
Or, you might say that God wasn't finished with us and explained the truth to the Mormons.
I guess the question is, where is God? Where should we look for Him? And just what would it take for Him to make Himself known to us?
It is a challenge of my faith to accept that God is active in my life in a way that is as meaningful as it was to, say, the average Jewish citizen during the Exodus, because I can not see God, can not hear God, can not feel God, and don't get to see God wipe out the entire Egyptian army. Perhaps its my love of big budget movies, but where are the Special Effects? Where are the plagues? Where is the speaking of tongues, the flames over peoples heads, the prophet who rises up and tells us to repent?
Or am I just not listening? Am I just not seeing? Is our media coverage that poor that they fail to mention that the Egyptian army was wiped out crossing the Red Sea today?
It seems as if God left Earth after ACTS and said, "You're all on your own now, until I return."
Or, you might say that God wasn't finished with us and sent the Prophet Mohammed.
Or, you might say that God wasn't finished with us and explained the truth to the Mormons.
I guess the question is, where is God? Where should we look for Him? And just what would it take for Him to make Himself known to us?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Here's what I'd like to see...
I realize that when it comes to God we don't live in a democracy. We don't get to vote about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in God's eyes... except that we do. There are all sorts of things that we no longer think are acceptable that were acceptable at the time of Jesus, and vice versa. We are dependent then on the foremost religious thinkers of our times to talk amongst themselves in a civilized and passionate discourse in order to determine the will of God for the rest of us.
That being said...
I'd like a national debate on national TV (PBS or some such). I'd get Charlie Rose to moderate. On one side of the table I'd have several "progressive" Christians who believe that being gay is not something that we should be shunning. And on the other side, I'd have several "conservative" Christians who stick to their guns that Gays are sinners. I wouldn't allow politics or Gay rights advocates or anyone else into the debate. This would be a strictly religious debate amongst the top Christians on either side of the issue.
I'd ask them three questions. 1) In light of what the Bible says, is homosexuality a sin? 2) How should we behave towards homosexual people? 3) Given your answers to number one and two, what should people who are gay do if they are also Christians?
Considering the train wreck that is national gay rights policy, it behooves Christian Americans to answer these questions before we discover a) that we're living in Sodom and Gomorrah or b) we start building nice "summer" camps for Gay people with mandatory attendance. Since there are extreme advocates for both views, I can see us adopting a more middle of the road course.
The point is that so far I've only heard rhetoric on both sides of the argument. I'd like to hear a compelling argument either way that would help me make up my mind.
That's what I'd like to see.
That being said...
I'd like a national debate on national TV (PBS or some such). I'd get Charlie Rose to moderate. On one side of the table I'd have several "progressive" Christians who believe that being gay is not something that we should be shunning. And on the other side, I'd have several "conservative" Christians who stick to their guns that Gays are sinners. I wouldn't allow politics or Gay rights advocates or anyone else into the debate. This would be a strictly religious debate amongst the top Christians on either side of the issue.
I'd ask them three questions. 1) In light of what the Bible says, is homosexuality a sin? 2) How should we behave towards homosexual people? 3) Given your answers to number one and two, what should people who are gay do if they are also Christians?
Considering the train wreck that is national gay rights policy, it behooves Christian Americans to answer these questions before we discover a) that we're living in Sodom and Gomorrah or b) we start building nice "summer" camps for Gay people with mandatory attendance. Since there are extreme advocates for both views, I can see us adopting a more middle of the road course.
The point is that so far I've only heard rhetoric on both sides of the argument. I'd like to hear a compelling argument either way that would help me make up my mind.
That's what I'd like to see.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Magnificat
I'm getting old and soft in my old age (I'm nearly 40!) On Saturday night, as a perfect antidote for the holiday blues I was feeling on Friday (I wasn't nearly in my right mind when I wrote that, as I discovered this morning when I got to work and saw the pile of obvious stuff that I'd been left to do by my bored little self on Friday), I took my youth group to see The Nativity at the local theater. We had quite a turnout - or, well, more than I expected anyway - and we all made it into the theater and sat down in time for the movie.
The movie is just what it says it is - a holiday picture postcard retelling of the Nativity story just as you've seen it reenacted countless times in church on Christmas Eve - only more so. Relatively big budget, at least in comparison to the average Sunday School nativity story, the movie looks and feels like it was filmed on location 2000 years ago. The dialogue is not entirely from the Bible as there would be very little to say in a two hour movie, but seemed relatively believable, all things considered - sort of a The Message version of The Nativity.
I was glad to watch it with my youth group in the darkness of a quiet theater because I admit to weeping at several points during the film - mostly for joy. There are some incredibly touching moments in the nativity story and the movie does a wonderful job of portraying those moments with sincere emotion. When Elizabeth greets Mary for the first time with her line straight from the Bible, "Blessed is the mother, etc..." she did it so well my eyes teared up just from the joy on her face. Here was Mary, teenager, panicked, distraught, and confused, going to visit her cousin Elizabeth to discover if she'd dreamed the whole thing with the angel, and Elizabeth greets her not only with confirmation of the angel's words, but also with the joy of the impending birth of her Lord and Savior.
This is a quiet movie of unusual beauty and though it follows the Bible fairly carefully it doesn't go for the Handelian moments of Hallelujah like exuberance - no singing choirs of angels, no In Excelsis Deo, no Hallelujah chorus. Instead, you get a scene where Mary meets a shepherd who offers to keep her warm by the fire. His gift, he tells her, is the one of hope for deliverance by his savior. A knowing look passes between Mary and Joseph at that point. And that scene, of course, pays off in the manger scene at the end. The look on the shepherd's face is ten times better than a singing choir of angels.
So, I wept. Tears streamed down my face at the sheer beauty of it all. I was reminded of the importance of this moment but also of the hope it engenders. And yet, I couldn't help looking at the joy on Mary's face at the birth of her son, and contrast that with the sorrow on the face of Mary in the Pieta. The happiness was bittersweet. Christ was born for us. But Christ died for us. And then Christ rose again for us!
There are moments when I feel like a youth leader and moments when I wonder what the heck I'm doing (which is probably when I really do feel like a youth leader ;) This was one of those moments and one of those adventures that made me feel like a youth leader. The second I'd seen the preview, I just knew I wanted to take the youth group to see this movie. I was right. It was a good choice. And I can't wait for the discussion that this movie will generate at the next youth meeting.
Its Christmas time, y'all!
P.S. On SNL on Saturday night (not two hours after seeing the movie) they had a sketch in which the live nativity was being performed and the two clueless people who were playing Joseph and Mary looked down into the cradle and said, "This doesn't look like Baby Santa Claus!" It made me laugh.
The movie is just what it says it is - a holiday picture postcard retelling of the Nativity story just as you've seen it reenacted countless times in church on Christmas Eve - only more so. Relatively big budget, at least in comparison to the average Sunday School nativity story, the movie looks and feels like it was filmed on location 2000 years ago. The dialogue is not entirely from the Bible as there would be very little to say in a two hour movie, but seemed relatively believable, all things considered - sort of a The Message version of The Nativity.
I was glad to watch it with my youth group in the darkness of a quiet theater because I admit to weeping at several points during the film - mostly for joy. There are some incredibly touching moments in the nativity story and the movie does a wonderful job of portraying those moments with sincere emotion. When Elizabeth greets Mary for the first time with her line straight from the Bible, "Blessed is the mother, etc..." she did it so well my eyes teared up just from the joy on her face. Here was Mary, teenager, panicked, distraught, and confused, going to visit her cousin Elizabeth to discover if she'd dreamed the whole thing with the angel, and Elizabeth greets her not only with confirmation of the angel's words, but also with the joy of the impending birth of her Lord and Savior.
This is a quiet movie of unusual beauty and though it follows the Bible fairly carefully it doesn't go for the Handelian moments of Hallelujah like exuberance - no singing choirs of angels, no In Excelsis Deo, no Hallelujah chorus. Instead, you get a scene where Mary meets a shepherd who offers to keep her warm by the fire. His gift, he tells her, is the one of hope for deliverance by his savior. A knowing look passes between Mary and Joseph at that point. And that scene, of course, pays off in the manger scene at the end. The look on the shepherd's face is ten times better than a singing choir of angels.
So, I wept. Tears streamed down my face at the sheer beauty of it all. I was reminded of the importance of this moment but also of the hope it engenders. And yet, I couldn't help looking at the joy on Mary's face at the birth of her son, and contrast that with the sorrow on the face of Mary in the Pieta. The happiness was bittersweet. Christ was born for us. But Christ died for us. And then Christ rose again for us!
There are moments when I feel like a youth leader and moments when I wonder what the heck I'm doing (which is probably when I really do feel like a youth leader ;) This was one of those moments and one of those adventures that made me feel like a youth leader. The second I'd seen the preview, I just knew I wanted to take the youth group to see this movie. I was right. It was a good choice. And I can't wait for the discussion that this movie will generate at the next youth meeting.
Its Christmas time, y'all!
P.S. On SNL on Saturday night (not two hours after seeing the movie) they had a sketch in which the live nativity was being performed and the two clueless people who were playing Joseph and Mary looked down into the cradle and said, "This doesn't look like Baby Santa Claus!" It made me laugh.
Friday, December 08, 2006
And when your head explodes...
Too much information. My brain can not process it all. Its trying to keep up with my insatiable appetite for the stuff, but it doesn't know what to do with it. It can't digest fast enough.
Quick hits for the week:
I was deeply touched and saddened by the loss of James Kim. I didn't know him. Knew nothing more about him than what I saw on the news. But like many people, I followed the story with growing concern. I was thrilled when his family was found alive and hurt when he was found dead. A family driving home for the holidays should not be something that we need to worry about. And yet, there are so many other people who go out for a normal thing and never return. I can't imagine the grief that is being felt in that family, and for once I am glad to see that the media is being extremely protectful of this families privacy.
On a similar note, I heard about Jose Uribe this morning, killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. He was one of my all time favorite Giants. I remember when he left the Giants for the Astros in his final season. When he came back, the real fans began to chant his name after yet another spectacular double play - even when it was the Giants he was trying to beat. We all loved this guy.
The wheels continue to spin in Iraq and Washington, but they are not connected to anything real. Windmills that rotate but have nothing to grind - except the innocent lives of young people. I realize that the road is likely to get harder before it gets easier. But arguing about the direction we take is only delaying the inevitable. Let the politics go. Let the partisanship go. Accomplish the mission and come home already.
This is the busy season of the year and I'm just now settling into it. Basketball and holidays and church and presents and family and all that year end stuff at work... I don't need the rest of the world's problems as well. Nor do I need a reminder of how fragile it all is - how I might end up dead doing nothing more dangerous than driving down the street.
The Birth of Christ is supposed to represent hope. God's deliverance of his Messiah to Earth - the fulfillment of His promise. Yet, I can't keep my mind off of Calvary. I can't keep my mind away from the crucifixion. I see little hope, only death.
This is bumming me out. This is supposed to be my favorite time of year. I think its the movies... such a poor crop of holiday films this year. Maybe I'll go home and watch Love Actually again... or maybe sit in an airport and watch people meet their loved ones.
Quick hits for the week:
I was deeply touched and saddened by the loss of James Kim. I didn't know him. Knew nothing more about him than what I saw on the news. But like many people, I followed the story with growing concern. I was thrilled when his family was found alive and hurt when he was found dead. A family driving home for the holidays should not be something that we need to worry about. And yet, there are so many other people who go out for a normal thing and never return. I can't imagine the grief that is being felt in that family, and for once I am glad to see that the media is being extremely protectful of this families privacy.
On a similar note, I heard about Jose Uribe this morning, killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. He was one of my all time favorite Giants. I remember when he left the Giants for the Astros in his final season. When he came back, the real fans began to chant his name after yet another spectacular double play - even when it was the Giants he was trying to beat. We all loved this guy.
The wheels continue to spin in Iraq and Washington, but they are not connected to anything real. Windmills that rotate but have nothing to grind - except the innocent lives of young people. I realize that the road is likely to get harder before it gets easier. But arguing about the direction we take is only delaying the inevitable. Let the politics go. Let the partisanship go. Accomplish the mission and come home already.
This is the busy season of the year and I'm just now settling into it. Basketball and holidays and church and presents and family and all that year end stuff at work... I don't need the rest of the world's problems as well. Nor do I need a reminder of how fragile it all is - how I might end up dead doing nothing more dangerous than driving down the street.
The Birth of Christ is supposed to represent hope. God's deliverance of his Messiah to Earth - the fulfillment of His promise. Yet, I can't keep my mind off of Calvary. I can't keep my mind away from the crucifixion. I see little hope, only death.
This is bumming me out. This is supposed to be my favorite time of year. I think its the movies... such a poor crop of holiday films this year. Maybe I'll go home and watch Love Actually again... or maybe sit in an airport and watch people meet their loved ones.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Race
There is no scientific evidence of Race. None. The variance of difference between peoples of the same "race" and people of another "race" is exactly the same. What we think of as "race" is actually a continual spectrum of humanity from black to white and black again. Or to put it in other terms, the difference between two "White people" on the opposite ends of the "race" is greater than the difference between the average "white" person and the average "black" person.
So, if there is no scientific evidence for something we can all clearly see with our eyes, where do these divisive thoughts come from?
Human beings are organizers. I think we've always been. We like to take chaos and create order out of it. As such, we tend to label things or put them into categories. This, no doubt, is a hold over from our most primitive thinking - this item is safe, this one is dangerous. But we've evolved this list of categories and subcategories until we've reached the point where everything has its place and there is a place for everything.
God forbid you should fall outside those categories.
The categories that we choose then have to be mutually agreeable to one another. I call an egg food. But you might call an egg an ornament. We can talk and discuss and agree with one another. We will call an egg food from now on. We agree that eggs are food, not ornaments - even if they can sometimes be used as ornaments. BUUUUTTTTT, those people over there think that eggs are ornaments that can sometimes be used as food. We can't understand why they would think this. We must put those people into a category that includes all people that don't agree with us. People who don't agree with us make us nervous. Nervousness is a sign of danger. Therefore, people who don't agree with us are dangerous.
Our brains are wired this way. 90,000 years later and we still haven't advanced far enough to look not at differences, but similarities to determine categories.
We think eggs are food. You think eggs are ornaments. We both agree that eggs are oval shaped. People who agree with us make us happy. And happy means safety. Therefore, those who agree with us are our friends.
Science has determined that we are all the same. Black, white, red, yellow, green, blue, purple, aquamarine, fuscia, bubblegum pink, lavender, pearl green, copper - we are all part of the same spectrum. You are all humans, just like me. You all breathe air, like me. You all love and hate, like me. You all strive for a better life, like me. You all want to live in peace, like me. You are like me. You agree with this point, no? Therefore, we can be friends.
To truly evolve, all we need to do is make more friends. How hard can that be?
So, if there is no scientific evidence for something we can all clearly see with our eyes, where do these divisive thoughts come from?
Human beings are organizers. I think we've always been. We like to take chaos and create order out of it. As such, we tend to label things or put them into categories. This, no doubt, is a hold over from our most primitive thinking - this item is safe, this one is dangerous. But we've evolved this list of categories and subcategories until we've reached the point where everything has its place and there is a place for everything.
God forbid you should fall outside those categories.
The categories that we choose then have to be mutually agreeable to one another. I call an egg food. But you might call an egg an ornament. We can talk and discuss and agree with one another. We will call an egg food from now on. We agree that eggs are food, not ornaments - even if they can sometimes be used as ornaments. BUUUUTTTTT, those people over there think that eggs are ornaments that can sometimes be used as food. We can't understand why they would think this. We must put those people into a category that includes all people that don't agree with us. People who don't agree with us make us nervous. Nervousness is a sign of danger. Therefore, people who don't agree with us are dangerous.
Our brains are wired this way. 90,000 years later and we still haven't advanced far enough to look not at differences, but similarities to determine categories.
We think eggs are food. You think eggs are ornaments. We both agree that eggs are oval shaped. People who agree with us make us happy. And happy means safety. Therefore, those who agree with us are our friends.
Science has determined that we are all the same. Black, white, red, yellow, green, blue, purple, aquamarine, fuscia, bubblegum pink, lavender, pearl green, copper - we are all part of the same spectrum. You are all humans, just like me. You all breathe air, like me. You all love and hate, like me. You all strive for a better life, like me. You all want to live in peace, like me. You are like me. You agree with this point, no? Therefore, we can be friends.
To truly evolve, all we need to do is make more friends. How hard can that be?
Monday, December 04, 2006
There's No Christians Like Bell Christians.
I have been playing handbells since Jr. High School. I honestly know of no bell choir that isn't affiliated with a Christian church. I'm not saying they don't exist, but I know of none. Bell music is the quintessential Christian music - not because of its sound, nor because of its text, but simply because of its existence.
When one plays in a bell choir you quickly learn that there is no real opportunity for individual achievement. Bell music is unique in that you tend to only play a few bells at a time. The music is achieved, then, by an entire choir working in concert together to create a wonderful sound. There might be stretches where you solo and shine, but ultimately, without the rest of your choir - there is no music.
As a result of this togetherness, bell choirs tend to be very interdependent. It is not unusual for a choir to stop a rehearsal and have one member turn to another and say, "I can't play that note in measure 46, can you get it?" These are trained and hardened musicians saying this. Can you imagine Pavorati turning to the back up tenor and saying, "Do you think you can sing that E sharp for me?" But in a bell choir, nobody shines alone. There is no individual achievement. Everyone works together and the final product is a result of everyone's efforts together.
If all Christiantity worked this way, imagine the results. Imagine if you could look your Christian brother in the eye and say, "I can't do this, can you do it for me?" and there was no judgement, only agreement. "Sure, Bob, anything - let me just write that down."
But here's the thing... Christianity does work this way. There is no individual achievement. Your glory is my glory and vice versa. Your failure is my failure. Only together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, can we make beatiful music. Without that togetherness, we'll continue to sound like individual instruments playing our own tunes in concert with no one.
When one plays in a bell choir you quickly learn that there is no real opportunity for individual achievement. Bell music is unique in that you tend to only play a few bells at a time. The music is achieved, then, by an entire choir working in concert together to create a wonderful sound. There might be stretches where you solo and shine, but ultimately, without the rest of your choir - there is no music.
As a result of this togetherness, bell choirs tend to be very interdependent. It is not unusual for a choir to stop a rehearsal and have one member turn to another and say, "I can't play that note in measure 46, can you get it?" These are trained and hardened musicians saying this. Can you imagine Pavorati turning to the back up tenor and saying, "Do you think you can sing that E sharp for me?" But in a bell choir, nobody shines alone. There is no individual achievement. Everyone works together and the final product is a result of everyone's efforts together.
If all Christiantity worked this way, imagine the results. Imagine if you could look your Christian brother in the eye and say, "I can't do this, can you do it for me?" and there was no judgement, only agreement. "Sure, Bob, anything - let me just write that down."
But here's the thing... Christianity does work this way. There is no individual achievement. Your glory is my glory and vice versa. Your failure is my failure. Only together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, can we make beatiful music. Without that togetherness, we'll continue to sound like individual instruments playing our own tunes in concert with no one.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Bonus Friday Blog - Feeding My Addiction
I have in front of me the latest, and greatest, National Geographic Expeditions brochure for 2007. In this wonderful tome is every dream vacation an explorer born three hundred years too late could ever want. While I have contemplated the wonderful 15 Day Antartica Cruise before (at $10,000 - a real bargain!) as of yesterday, I have a new winning vacation goal.
You see, you start by boarding a private 757 Jet with about one hundred other passengers and a tour guide who is most famous for his discovery of the Incan Ice Princess Mummy (I'm sure he's slumming for research money). Your picture is taken on board by a for real National Geographic photographer who is probably suffering from Bengal Tiger and Flying Fish withdrawal but who can nonetheless say "Cheese!" with the best of them. After a short flight from Washington D.C., you arrive in Peru.
First stop: Machu Pichu - the 14,000 foot plus home of the ancient Incan culture.
After a few days acclimating and deacclimating to such a height, you board your plane again for the next leg of your journey.
Second stop: Easter Island - Yes, that Easter Island with the giant Tiki Statues.
Then, Samoa. Then, Australia - but not just anywhere in Australia, no. Get on your scuba gear and snorkeling IPOD's cause you're going swimming with the fishes at the Great Barrier Reef.
Tired, yet.
I hope not, because on your way from Australia to Chengdu in China, you have to stop in Cambodia to visit the Angor Wat shrine. And then, after only a brief one day layover in Chengdu, you make a quick roundtrip to the high holy mountain city of Lhasa in Tibet, before flying on to India.
But not just anywhere in India - of course, you're visiting the Taj Mahal. Get a postcard though, cause you have to board your plane again and you wouldn't want to be left lion around, as your next stop is Africa and particularly the Serengetti Animal Preserve.
At Serengetti you have the option of a photo safari with real National Geographic explorers, or a brief one day visit with the Leakey's at Olduvai Gorge. Then you board the plane yet again for a short flight to the Luxor - in Egypt, as opposed to Las Vegas. After another side trip to the Pyramids at Giza, you board your plane for a cross continent flight for your last stop on this trip - Marrakesh in Morocco - before a quick transworld flight back to Washington D.C..
Forget taking a world cruise that takes 10 months and visits exciting Calcutta and other "exotic" ports of call. For my money, I'll take the 24 Day, personal 757 tour that visits just about every place on the globe I've ever wanted to see and allows me to meet people that I've always wanted to know.
And even though you don't get a complete set of Ginzu knives, I'd bet you'd be willing to pay quite a bit for this once in a lifetime travel experience. Well, you needn't rob a bank. Because for the low low price of one day of Barry Bonds' contract, you could afford to make this trip. That's right, just a mere $49,950 (double occupancy) or $56,120 (single occupancy) will put you on this wonderful vacation experience. So, order now. Operators are standing by!
You see, you start by boarding a private 757 Jet with about one hundred other passengers and a tour guide who is most famous for his discovery of the Incan Ice Princess Mummy (I'm sure he's slumming for research money). Your picture is taken on board by a for real National Geographic photographer who is probably suffering from Bengal Tiger and Flying Fish withdrawal but who can nonetheless say "Cheese!" with the best of them. After a short flight from Washington D.C., you arrive in Peru.
First stop: Machu Pichu - the 14,000 foot plus home of the ancient Incan culture.
After a few days acclimating and deacclimating to such a height, you board your plane again for the next leg of your journey.
Second stop: Easter Island - Yes, that Easter Island with the giant Tiki Statues.
Then, Samoa. Then, Australia - but not just anywhere in Australia, no. Get on your scuba gear and snorkeling IPOD's cause you're going swimming with the fishes at the Great Barrier Reef.
Tired, yet.
I hope not, because on your way from Australia to Chengdu in China, you have to stop in Cambodia to visit the Angor Wat shrine. And then, after only a brief one day layover in Chengdu, you make a quick roundtrip to the high holy mountain city of Lhasa in Tibet, before flying on to India.
But not just anywhere in India - of course, you're visiting the Taj Mahal. Get a postcard though, cause you have to board your plane again and you wouldn't want to be left lion around, as your next stop is Africa and particularly the Serengetti Animal Preserve.
At Serengetti you have the option of a photo safari with real National Geographic explorers, or a brief one day visit with the Leakey's at Olduvai Gorge. Then you board the plane yet again for a short flight to the Luxor - in Egypt, as opposed to Las Vegas. After another side trip to the Pyramids at Giza, you board your plane for a cross continent flight for your last stop on this trip - Marrakesh in Morocco - before a quick transworld flight back to Washington D.C..
Forget taking a world cruise that takes 10 months and visits exciting Calcutta and other "exotic" ports of call. For my money, I'll take the 24 Day, personal 757 tour that visits just about every place on the globe I've ever wanted to see and allows me to meet people that I've always wanted to know.
And even though you don't get a complete set of Ginzu knives, I'd bet you'd be willing to pay quite a bit for this once in a lifetime travel experience. Well, you needn't rob a bank. Because for the low low price of one day of Barry Bonds' contract, you could afford to make this trip. That's right, just a mere $49,950 (double occupancy) or $56,120 (single occupancy) will put you on this wonderful vacation experience. So, order now. Operators are standing by!
An Endorsement!
I realize that Thanksgiving was last week, but I still wanted to give thanks about something that I almost never give thanks about - my job.
I work for Yasutomo & Company in South San Francisco, CA. This company was founded over 50 years ago by Mr. Yasutomo - a Japanese American - and has been dealing with the import of Japanese and other Asian art and office supplies during this entire time. They are also the leading exporter of American made candy and snack items to Japan (Lifesavers, Planters, Carmel Popcorn - that sort of thing). I only know enough about snack items to say that I've sampled everything we sell to Japan. And I know even less about Japanese art supplies. Nevertheless, here I am.
Part of the reason I love Yasutomo is that it is the complete opposite of my last job - purposefully. When I reached the end of my tether for Century Theatres, I was faced with two options - and since one of them involved arson and mass murder, I decided to take the other option. My job search, after a week spent kaschnoodling in Las Vegas, lasted two days. I faxed out my resume to two jobs and had interviews with both jobs scheduled in less than an hour. I went to the Yasutomo interview first - I was applying for a customer service position - and I fell in love with the company in about twenty minutes. I had a job offer from them before I had even taken the other interview. Though I went to the other interview, in my heart I had already signed with Yasutomo.
What's there not to like? For starters, it is a small company of only about 20 people. Everyone here gets a certain amount of individual attention and I know every single person in my company. We all generally get along - but in any family, there are bound to be disagreements. We all work hard and are rewarded for our hard work. There is a very real sense of being in the same boat together - not of being the first rats into the lifeboats the second things go bad. It doesn't pay much, but I am not suffering because of it. The commute is short. The area where I work is nice and business parky. And there are plenty of good places to eat within a short distance.
Yasutomo and Company offers some pretty cool products. We were the first company to import Japanese pens into the United States market. Japanese pens are to ball point pens what Swiss Watches are to a Spongebob Squarepants Burger King watch. If you only need a cheap piece of crap, go to Burger King. If you want a pen that will last you a lifetime, buy Japanese.
But beyond pens, Yasutomo also imports dozens of packages of Origami paper. These colorful square sheets of paper are not only good for folding origami, but can also be used to teach children Geometry, and as backgrounds for scrapbooking and other craft projects. If you've never seen an origami covered wooden Easter Egg, you don't know what you're missing. And some of the simple origami designs that even I can do are quite beautiful and elegant.
We also sell the best gel pens on the market. Recently that guy that Leonardo DiCaprio played in the movie, Catch Me If You Can - the one who was an expert at forging checks - said that if you want to make it difficult for check forgers to steal your checks and identity, you should always sign your checks with Gel ink. I've been signing my checks that way ever since (and nobody has stolen my paltry amount of savings yet, so it must be working ;) Not only that, but gel pens are pretty cheap and they write smoothly and consistently for a very long time.
We carry a wide variety of other products, from giant mechanized hole punches to cotton swabbed color blending sticks, as well. Our Stylist pens have been the industry leader amongst Architects for over 25 years. Name the last product that you sold that lasted 25 years, much less one that remained the best in class that entire time.
I say all this because I love my job. And I love Yasutomo. For as long as I could talk trash about the now defunct Century Theatres, I can sing the praises of Yasutomo.
Two years ago, I left the customer service department and took over as the Product Manager/Purchasing Agent/Part Time IT Person/Inventory Prognosticator/Sales Analyst/Web Consultant/Vice President of Special Projects That Nobody Else Wants To Do. As is typical in a small company, its sometimes hard to define my job description. But no matter what I do on a given day, I find that I'm always challenged and that I'm always in demand. Its good to feel wanted. Its good to contribute. And its good to work with people you love and respect.
Really, what more can you ask for?
P.S. Congratulations to my sister on her new job. Which she can't talk about. ;)
I work for Yasutomo & Company in South San Francisco, CA. This company was founded over 50 years ago by Mr. Yasutomo - a Japanese American - and has been dealing with the import of Japanese and other Asian art and office supplies during this entire time. They are also the leading exporter of American made candy and snack items to Japan (Lifesavers, Planters, Carmel Popcorn - that sort of thing). I only know enough about snack items to say that I've sampled everything we sell to Japan. And I know even less about Japanese art supplies. Nevertheless, here I am.
Part of the reason I love Yasutomo is that it is the complete opposite of my last job - purposefully. When I reached the end of my tether for Century Theatres, I was faced with two options - and since one of them involved arson and mass murder, I decided to take the other option. My job search, after a week spent kaschnoodling in Las Vegas, lasted two days. I faxed out my resume to two jobs and had interviews with both jobs scheduled in less than an hour. I went to the Yasutomo interview first - I was applying for a customer service position - and I fell in love with the company in about twenty minutes. I had a job offer from them before I had even taken the other interview. Though I went to the other interview, in my heart I had already signed with Yasutomo.
What's there not to like? For starters, it is a small company of only about 20 people. Everyone here gets a certain amount of individual attention and I know every single person in my company. We all generally get along - but in any family, there are bound to be disagreements. We all work hard and are rewarded for our hard work. There is a very real sense of being in the same boat together - not of being the first rats into the lifeboats the second things go bad. It doesn't pay much, but I am not suffering because of it. The commute is short. The area where I work is nice and business parky. And there are plenty of good places to eat within a short distance.
Yasutomo and Company offers some pretty cool products. We were the first company to import Japanese pens into the United States market. Japanese pens are to ball point pens what Swiss Watches are to a Spongebob Squarepants Burger King watch. If you only need a cheap piece of crap, go to Burger King. If you want a pen that will last you a lifetime, buy Japanese.
But beyond pens, Yasutomo also imports dozens of packages of Origami paper. These colorful square sheets of paper are not only good for folding origami, but can also be used to teach children Geometry, and as backgrounds for scrapbooking and other craft projects. If you've never seen an origami covered wooden Easter Egg, you don't know what you're missing. And some of the simple origami designs that even I can do are quite beautiful and elegant.
We also sell the best gel pens on the market. Recently that guy that Leonardo DiCaprio played in the movie, Catch Me If You Can - the one who was an expert at forging checks - said that if you want to make it difficult for check forgers to steal your checks and identity, you should always sign your checks with Gel ink. I've been signing my checks that way ever since (and nobody has stolen my paltry amount of savings yet, so it must be working ;) Not only that, but gel pens are pretty cheap and they write smoothly and consistently for a very long time.
We carry a wide variety of other products, from giant mechanized hole punches to cotton swabbed color blending sticks, as well. Our Stylist pens have been the industry leader amongst Architects for over 25 years. Name the last product that you sold that lasted 25 years, much less one that remained the best in class that entire time.
I say all this because I love my job. And I love Yasutomo. For as long as I could talk trash about the now defunct Century Theatres, I can sing the praises of Yasutomo.
Two years ago, I left the customer service department and took over as the Product Manager/Purchasing Agent/Part Time IT Person/Inventory Prognosticator/Sales Analyst/Web Consultant/Vice President of Special Projects That Nobody Else Wants To Do. As is typical in a small company, its sometimes hard to define my job description. But no matter what I do on a given day, I find that I'm always challenged and that I'm always in demand. Its good to feel wanted. Its good to contribute. And its good to work with people you love and respect.
Really, what more can you ask for?
P.S. Congratulations to my sister on her new job. Which she can't talk about. ;)
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