Thursday, December 17, 2009

O.k., so my laptop is busted so I can't update at night like I like to. Anyway, I'll have to carve out waking hours to update the blog if I'm going to do it. This post will cover several things seen across several days. Also, I think this may be the last day that I use the date as the title for the post, that way it's not as obvious how much time goes in between posts.

Last week I drove with a co-worker through Madison and out into the county. I always like making drives like this because of the diversity of houses that I pass. There's always the obligatory trailers - single-wides, double-wides, well maintained and shoddy. I always look at these and ask myself this question: "Are these people happy?" With everyone's pursuit of their own American dream, is this theirs'? Did they want to live in the country and are they happy living where they're living and working where they're working? I have to think that for some they truly are. I knew people growing up who lived in trailers and they were usually happy. It makes me look at my life and I wonder if I'd be o.k. if that's where I ended up. I'd like to think that I'm deep enough that I don't need material possessions to be happy but I don't know that I am. It just makes me think...

Something else that I've taken notice of lately is the resurgence of the station wagon. Pay attention while you're driving and look at the number of new station wagons you see. Granted they call them other things today but they are all essentially station wagons. I guess there's nothing new under the sun. One thing that really excited me a couple of days ago though was a Ford Flex with faux wood grain paneling on the sides! THE WOODY IS BACK! I gotta tell you, if loving wood-grained accent on the outsides of station wagons is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Two other items of note:

I saw a doctors office with a sign out front that said "Urgent Care: No Appointment Necessary". I would hope that you wouldn't need to make an appointment for an urgent medical condition. "Yeah, I'm planning on being in a pretty serious car accident tomorrow afternoon, could I get an appointment at say 3:30?"

I also saw what is possible the greatest promotion offered by a bank ever: open a checking account and receive a free Snuggie! I am so getting one!!!

Have a great day!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Today was funny. I'm driving to lunch and I pulled up behind a fairly old car with the following bumper sticker: " Drive Closer: I brake fast for tailgaters". The I saw that license plate. It was a disabled veteran plate with a frame around it. The frame had a scroll LED display that had this message scrolling across: "Get off my ass or you'll have to buy me". I'm not sure who was talking in the message- the car or the driver. Two things struck me:

First, this guy really does not want to be followed closely. It made me want to tail him a little closer than I normally would just to mess with him. I don't know what it is but there is something inherent in me that really wants to screw with people. I suppose that's not good...

Secondly I thought that it is interesting that he has a scrolling display on the bottom of his car which he obviously expects people to read and he's concerned that they are going to hit him. Luckily I ran into him at a light but I'm pretty sure if I was behind him while driving I would definitely scoot up enough to read his scrolling display.And while I'm reading the scrolling display it would be much harder for me to notice if traffic were stopped up ahead or even if he hit his brakes. The whole ordeal just seemed to run counter to what he was trying to accomplish.

So, if you've been reading this blog at all you know I'm going to stretch to try to make this apply to something deep so I can feel justified about spending time writing this blog. How often do we take actions that are supposed to lead us in a different direction only to find out that the very actions we took will cause more people to come and stare? It makes me think about some of the fashions and the people wearing them. Everyone starts fashion trends to be original and unique but in the end, the very thing that was meant to isolate and make them stand out is what draws people in closer; the very people for whom the fashion trend was started to get away from.

On another note entirely the Parkway is back open down where I live. The affect of this today on my commute home was a 1/3 reduction in the overall time it takes to get home... that's pretty significant. Granted it normally takes only thirty minutes to get home after work but if I can get home in twenty... SCORE!

Alright, have a great night!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

I noticed an interesting phenomenon today on my way to work. I drive through a neighborhood with homes that were built in the 1960's that all have an interesting and obsolete feature - a one-car garage. There have been several houses in the neighborhood that have since closed in the garages to make additional rooms but you can still tell that all the houses built in this time frame had single-car garages.

Contrast this to today's homes. Every new house has at least a two car garage if not a three or four car setup. It just shows how life has changed in the last 40-50 years. I think it also shows us how spoiled we are, especially during this downturn in the economy. The fact is, as time goes on and the overall level of wealth increases, what we expect increases with it. Whereas a one-car garage used to be sufficient as evidenced by the number of houses sold with a single bay, nowadays a two-car is the bare minimum. This is because we cannot conceive of a world (at least in Huntsville) where a family would only own one car.

Think about the other items that you own that are ubiquitous but astounding: computers, cell phones, credit/debit cards, iPods... the list could go on. All of these we see as rights, not privileges and we get angry when something or someone limits our access to these "rights".

Speaking of common technology - I saw a woman dial and/or texting on her phone today in her car. This normally would not have been worth noticing except that she had her blinker on and was trying to merge and a car was stopped to let her in but could get her to look up to see the opening. It was actually kind of funny to see someone trying to be nice while the other driver could stop was she was doing long enough to see that.

I also noticed that they have put the stripes down on the overpass on the Parkway which may mean that they are nearing completion on the construction which means that my commute time will be reduced by 10 minutes or so which will be really nice although I'm sure I'll see less stuff to blog about.

Let me know what you saw today...

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Again, I'm being sporadic with my posts. The holiday last week threw me off a little and to be honest, since the time change it's been more difficult to spot stuff because it's dark on the way home. Tomorrow I'll start looking again in earnest while I'm driving and try to update every day but at least several times a week.

This post is about last Tuesday. I met a couple of guys for breakfast at Chik-Fil-A. We were walking in about 6:30 and were stopped by a guy standing outside the restaurant with a simple request: "Spare a quarter for the homeless". I gave my normal response which was "I don't have any cash on me" which is normally true but that morning was false. I didn't really think anything of it at the time as I walked inside and placed my order.

The next person through the door was a lady in her mid thirties. She brought the homeless guy in and took him to the counter to place his order on her tab. He ordered a chicken biscuit and she asked him if he wanted coffee too. If that wasn't humbling enough, the homeless guy then asked her if he could get some cinnamon clusters too to which she replied "sure". He ate his meal with a smile on his face and went on his way.

I screwed up - even if I didn't have cash my agenda was more important that the person standing outside looking for something to eat. It would have been so simple to give him a hot meal but I gave my short pat answer and walked on. Why did I do that? One of the cashiers asked the woman if she knew the guy and she said she didn't, she's just seen him around town a lot and figured he could use a meal. Would I have even noticed him around town?

It really reminded me of the lyrics to the song "This World" by Caedmon's Call:
And the least of these look like criminals to me
So I leave Christ on the streets

The whole asking for cinnamon clusters really got to me too because the woman didn't even bat an eye or huff or sigh. She was willing to give to this guy unconditionally even when he asked for something he wanted not just something he needed. This reminds me of us with Christ - the guy asked for 25 cents and got a full meal plus cinnamon clusters! We come to Christ with nothing looking for only forgiveness and get salvation plus so much more which is given to us willingly and without hesitation.

After that experience I hope that I never look at someone as worth less than a quarter like I did that morning. I need to remember the generosity that has been given me through Jesus and pour that out into others. It's messy and time consuming but well worth it!

Thanks for reading... see you tomorrow...

Who is the Mary you know?

O.k., so I didn't actually see this while driving although driving past some of the more run down areas of town has made me think further on this. A lot of this actually came to me while driving thanks in part to Mark Driscoll's sermon on Mary. You can listen to it here.

Mary the mother of Jesus is definitely one of the more iconic images throughout history. Her image has probably been represented nearly as much as Jesus himself through art and imagery. It is because of this I think we lose touch with who Mary really was. Most everyone has seen a picture of Mary that looks something like this:

She looks so peaceful and serene, with gold and beautiful clothing; no worries in life whatsoever… But is this true? Let’s take a quick look at some facts about Mary:

1. She was probably a teenager – in that time girls could be betrothed as early as 12 and married by the time they were 13. We don’t know how old she was when she was visited by Gabriel but one could assume that she was in her early to mid teens. 
2. She was poor – The best evidence of this comes from Luke’s gospel where we are told that she and Joseph offer two pigeons for a sacrifice which was an accommodation made in the Mosaic Law for those who could not afford a lamb for a sacrifice. Not to mention that Joseph was a carpenter. In that time there were doctors, lawyers, bankers, soldiers, architects, essentially a whole range of “professional” occupations. Joseph was a tradesman which most likely meant that he was uneducated. Mary was most likely uneducated as well. Living in a rural community and being a girl would have meant that she did not have access to education and would have been likely illiterate. 
3. She was from nowhere - Mary lived in Nazareth. Nazareth was a rural farming community that was very very small. It was not well thought of, in fact upon hearing about Jesus for the first time Nathanael (one of the twelve apostles) said “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” 
4. She was likely regarded as a whore – Think about it: if you lived in a small rural community and a young, uneducated girl became pregnant and then went and told you that it was a miraculous conception that was foretold to you by an angel what would you think? In fact in John 8 we see the Pharisees level this very accusation at Jesus by asking “Where is your Father?” They regarded him as a illegitimate child without a father.

In light of all of this, does this change your view of Mary? I tried to think about it in the context of today – what would Mary look like today? Where would she live? This is what I came up with:

She would likely be a young girl, living in a trailer park or a rural community with little education, little future other than hoping to find and marry a guy who can make enough money to squeak by in a trailer near their parents. She then ends up pregnant and scared because all of society calls her names like “white trash” or “trailer trash”. Her parents and her fiancé’s parents likely would not believe her and her fiancé himself is about to leave her too until God intervenes through another visit from Gabriel.

This was the family that God chose to enter the world through. This was the world that Jesus grew up in – small town, working class family, rumors about his parents constantly swirling around. So let me ask you… do you know a Mary? Do you know someone in dire straights that the world has cast aside as trash? If you don’t, why? Are you too scared that you might get dirty? That your reputation might be tarnished? This Christmas think about the people through whom God chose to enter the world and reach out to them. Bless them this Christmas if at all possible, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

Monday, November 16, 2009

So, after a week away due to sickness and laziness I'm back updating.

Today I really took notice of the billboards as I was driving. Here's my thoughts on billboards in general: they are the modern day false prophets pointing followers to false idols which will fulfill all of our hopes and dreams. You can tell what is important in a culture by what gets advertised and how. There were some trends that I noticed in what was advertised:

1. Subdivision and new homes - This taps into one of our most primal needs - shelter. Each billboard touted a different amenity whether it was prestige or price point. I was heading towards an area of town that has seen explosive growth over the past 5-10 years and the sheer number of billboards heralding different subdivisions by different builders was overwhelming. Turn right, turn left, turn around, great schools, pool, clubhouse, more house for your money, lake lots, custom homes... The list goes on and on. All of them were ultimately promising to be fulfillment.
2. The other trend I noticed was in medical care - specifically dental care as well as some information regarding preventive medical care. We are obsessed with remaining healthy and having access to immediate high-quality healthcare that is covered by our insurance plans. This is one of the reasons why the healthcare debate in this country is so heated. Again though, the false prophets were proclaiming the health and a bright smile are the path to happiness!
3. Government Contractors - I don't ever really understand these billboards. They will be from a government contractor like Boeing or Lockheed-Martin or someone smaller and all they are there for is to proclaim the completion of some project or show what the company does. In some cases there are websites that look like they link to career sites so it may be advertising for job posting but it's pretty unclear.

One of the striking things that I thought while seeing these is how incredibly blessed I am to live here. While I am driving down the road with companies competing to provide me housing and healthcare there are many in the world who have access to neither. We are truly blessed beyond our own recognition even to the poorest among us. 

Have a great day!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Ahh... the start to another week. Mondays are interesting days for me because I travel further Monday mornings because I drive out to Madison for a meeting... this tacks on about 15-20 extra minutes onto my drive depending on traffic and how much I speed. This also usually gives me a good opportunity to see stuff. Today however was a little different. There were only two things worth noting that I saw and neither one really took place on my longer drive.

The first was a beat up old car that had been pulled over by the police, I presume for speeding. Looking at the car you would not know that it was capable of starting, much less speeding. It makes me wonder why it got pulled over and not any of the other 500 cars that probably sped past the police officer. Did it get pulled because of its looks?

I also saw something while trying to find a parking spot at lunch today. There was a goth standing in the parking lot and the guy looked like he was rubbing something on the girl. As I passed I saw that he had a lint roller and was rolling all of the lint off of her black clothing. As I circled for a second time looking for a space I could see that she had turned around and he was de-linting her back. It was a little ironic that this couple that is so "unique" and counter-cultural was spending so much time with the lint brush. But, when it comes down to it, they just want acceptance, same as the rest of us. She had the same insecurities everyone else has that her clothes were not going to be just right and because of that, she was going to be judged. He was willing to stand in the parking lot and make himself look slightly ridiculous to ensure that she felt comfortable. It was actually kind of sweet. It was nice moment for me to look at both of them as people and not He-Goth and She-Goth.

Have a great day!