Boy. Was. I. Ever. Wrong!

When did toothbrush technology become so advanced? All I wanted was a simple toothbrush…but, no! There are now so many choices it took my the better part of the evening just to recognize the options…vibrating, tooth whitening (in the brush?), left-handed, multi-lingual (okay, I made those last two up, but I bet their coming).

I just wanted a standard, plain-ol’ toothbrush and that was nearly impossible to find.

But I persevered…sort of. Way down at the bottom of the shelves were the “standard” toothbrushes. And yet, the one I got still has more technology than I think is necessary (flex bending head, squishy thumb hold, etc).

When did life get so complicated? I think it started with THIS (click the link to read my last rant).

Okay, I feel better now…back to our regularly scheduled programming…

There, I admitted it. I can’t help myself. And no, I’m not making light of the situation (okay, maybe just a little…but only to make myself feel better…it’s another thing I do).

Ever since I started losing weight the first time (several years ago) I became a scale watcher. I weigh myself several times in the morning and at least once at night. It’s not a bad discipline for those of us whoa re trying to lose weight. After all, you need to know where you stand…so to speak.

The problem for me is that it becomes an obsession. A focus that is just a bit off center. I did…and still do…need to lose weight. The scale did…and still does…help keep me on track. I know when I need to become more disciplined…now would be good…and when things are moving in the right direction…down.

But do I need to weigh myself before AND after a shower? Do I need to weigh myself in the morning AND at night? Do I need to consider getting a new scale because the one I have now is a big-fat stupid head (and don’t even get me started on that Wii Fit thing!)?

No.

What I need to do is get a little more discipline in my life, use the scale once in awhile to make sure I’m on track…and enjoy life in the process. The scale is a tool (in more than one way). =0)

I’m sure there’s a spiritual application here somewhere, but I’ll let you hash that one out on your own (leave a comment if something really good comes to you)…I’m off to see if I’ve lost any weight from the calories I burned typing this…

I couldn’t help to think about how removed I am from that sort of oppression and injustice. It’s hard for me to put it into context. I don’t understand how people can be so driven to abuse and injure those around them…certainly not to the degree that is happening in so many countries around the world. But it is happening. But it’s never happened to me so it’s hard to contextualize it (maybe that’s one of the reason we’re commanded to GO…partly to understand?).

Then I had another sobering thought. God is making Himself known in these countries. Many people in these countries (and many other just like them) are turning to Him in the midst of their suffering and pain. Their anguish is being turned into hope as they turn their hearts toward God. The process may be slow, but it’s happening.

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been praying every day for a different country around the world as part of the Operation World Prayer Movement (I highly recommend you join…it’s simple, give them your email and you get a country in your Inbox every day with a short bio, prayer requests, and even a little video of someone else praying for the country).

Here’s the thing: I’m not just praying for countries where oppression and injustice are rampant (although they are included). They also have me praying for countries with religious and political freedoms. Here’s what I’ve noticed recently as I’ve been praying for countries like Spain, Switzerland, and South Africa…it seems that the more freedom we have and the more economic prosperity we have the more we turn from God.

Freedom seems to endanger, if not outright kill, our faith.

This is only an observation. I’m not making a clear, definitive statement…yet. And it makes me wonder about my own proclivity (big word huh?) to take the easy road when it’s presented to me. It almost makes me wish for more hardship so that America (okay, so that I) and other countries that have the freedom we want for others with step up, take our faith seriously, and reach a hand out to those who need it.

It just feels like those who are turning to God because of their hardship are onto something. And it feels like those of us who have everything we need turn away from God instead of turning to Him with thankful and grateful hearts. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have freedom…no way, God gave that to us. I just don’t want to be counted among those who squander what’s been given.

More to ponder…what do you think?

I heard the first “beep” and thought nothing of it…pushed it aside. A minute later…another. And another. And another. Finally I had to get up to see what that infernal interruption was! Arrrrgggg! It was one of our smoke detectors notifying us that it needed a new battery! This is a great feature and will likely end up saving our lives at some point (we have two boys…fire is coming at some point, right?). But I have a few questions born out of this frustrating night (and I wish it was my first, and last):

1. How do smoke detectors know that it’s night-time?
2. Why do they only start beeping when it’s dark out? I’ve never had one beep during daylight!
3. Why does the beep happen so infrequently that it takes 20 minutes just to figure out which detector is the culprit?
4. Why do you never seem to have a 9-volt battery when you really need one (thankfully that wasn’t the case this time)?

This is one of those eternal set of questions that we may never have the answer(s) to. And, no…I won’t be asking Jesus any of them when I see Him face-to-face.  ;o)

This is no original idea/concept. Confucius said it best…

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

I can honestly say that I haven’t worked a day since January 1st of this year. I’ve been plenty busy…but it hasn’t been work. Why? Because I love it and it’s what God has called me to do. I’m not even sure which part is most responsible…the doing what I love or following God’s leading (they are very interrelated!). I just know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and I have the blessing of loving every second of it.

Has it all been rosy? No. Has it all been fun and games? Of course not.

But it hasn’t been “work” either.

So, I stand behind Confucius’ advice and I take a little poetic license and tag on a little something extra: “Chose a job you love and that God has called you to, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” I am blessed. I know it. And I thank and praise Him for it every day!!

First, here’s my list of the top three (in order) events I would can…

1. Ice Dancing…no explanation needed.
2. Men’s Figure Skating…not even gonna go there.
3. Curling…looks like fun to play, but in the Olympics??

And here’s what I would replace them with…

1. Snowball Fighting…both individual and team.
2. Snow Angel Making…would give some creative outlets.
3. Downhill Tubing…would be some awesome wipe-outs here!

How about you? What would you get rid of and what you you replace it with??

(BTW, if you’re reading this as a note on Facebook, come check out the real thing here).

Painful.

It’s was hard to watch the Broncos dominate field position, time of possession, yardage, etc, etc (at least in the first half)…and come away with only three offensive points for the entire game. I don’t care how good or how bad your defense plays (and ours is playing very well), if you only score three points in this league you will lose.

I am no offensive genius…heck, I’m no genius in anything…but here are my two major issues with our offense right now:

1. Our Running Game. As in…we have none! How did we go from having one of the most dominant running teams in the league to have no running production what-so-ever? By dropping the zone blocking scheme in favor of a power running scheme. One worked. One hasn’t. We should bring the zone scheme back pronto! We have the coaches (Dennison) and the personnel to run it…so why don’t we? Good question. Don’t have an answer, but I know that a short passing game does not substitute for a solid running game…we need ours back.
2. The Long Ball. I could count on one hand the number of times we have thrown the ball down field…and so can the defenses we continue to face. They know we aren’t going to go long so they don’t have to defend it. We should at least try it once in awhile. You never know…Brandon might even catch a few, or at least get a penalty. Defenses simply don’t have to plan or watch for this part of the game. Orton is no long-ball thrower, but he can give it a try…he just hasn’t been asked to do it (he does everything else he’s asked to do).

Come to think of it…these two go together. The running game sets up the passing game and the long ball helps with the run by keeping the safeties and linebackers honest. They get to cheat right now…and they are calling the bluff (nice poker reference huh?).

Is this team over and done? Not by a long shot. Am I giving up on them? Never!

Out of the next eight games we have four that we should win easily and should be able to at least split the remaining four…which would leave us at 12-4. And even if we split all eight games we’d be 10-6 (both FAR above anyone’s expectations heading into the year).

Up next? The Washington Redskins…that should cure what ails us!

Go Broncos!!!

Why don’t people park in driveways? Why is it socially “taboo”?

Anita and I got in a little “discussion” about this as she parked on the street while there was a perfectly good parking spot on the driveway. And we have people over all the time…with a huge driveway…and they park on the street about 90% of the time.

Now, I can understand it if your car leaks oil like a sieve, but not many of the people I know anymore have cars that do that (we aren’t driving clunkers like we used to). I know our car doesn’t leak, but there we were parked on the street.

What gives? I don’t get it. Please…shed the light on my perplexity…and for goodness sakes, park on my driveway…

Here’s the subject line of the email: “You may qualify for an electric wheelchair at little or no cost.”

Here’s the body of the email:

There are two things wrong with this ad:

1. I am not the right target market (at least I hope I’m not…maybe they know something I don’t know?). I have no idea how they got my email address…first time something like this has come to my inbox.
2. Ed McMahon passed away over a month ago (June 23rd to be exact). Is he really the spokesperson you want for the actual intended target market? you’d think you wouldn’t want that kind of reminder going out in your marketing campaign. I’m just sayin’.

This did serve as a reminder for me that we need to ensure that our message is reaching the intended market in a way that they will understand and relate to. Otherwise we simply miss the mark and go unheard..right into the recycle bin like this email is headed towards.

I mean…come on…just how lazy have we become that we need pre-foamed soap? Isn’t the act of rubbing our hands together to create lather part of the cleansing process? Has it become too much work for us to perform this simple task? We just had to come up with a more efficient way to create soap lather?

It makes me wonder what’s next…but I can’t come up with anything more lazy than this (except perhaps a way to make sleep more efficient?). I know it’s petty and you probably think I’m a little weird (which is true by the way)…but every time I have to use one of these stupid devices it just irritates me.

So, now I am opening up the floor…what irritates you…what device, or action, etc. do you think is going to be the cause of our eventual downfall? Perhaps it’s the burr-grinder or the Pez dispenser? Let’s here it…I can’t be the only one (and I feel better now)…