Sunday, December 31, 2006

The Pursuit of Power

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)

My wife and I were channel-surfing this afternoon, moving, somehow, to a replay of Richard Nixon's funeral on C-SPAN. Why in the world is this on today? I have no idea, except that it's the day after former President Gerald Ford was brought to the US capital for several days of laying-in-state. (And the day after President Saddam Hussein was executed in Iraq.)

Looking at things from a Christian perspective, in terms of the Bible verse from Luke, I have to think that President Nixon could have done more while in office. He was given the opportunity to lead one of the greatest countries in the world, at a particular time in the history of that country. While he didn't particularly fail, and had some phenomenal successes (like his opening to China), he didn't do what he might have.

Nixon's case is, I believe, a perfect example of power corrupting a person. The focus of his presidency became not those he served - the people of the United States - but his own position as president. He took his eye off the ball, so to speak - his job leading the country - and focused on himself. He failed in the very thing that Bible verse describes.

While I am tempted to describe what Nixon could have done while in office, I am thinking, rather, of what I can do different in my own life. It's time for "taking stock". I need to try to understand what God has in mind for me. Perhaps, if Nixon had done that, or had had a close advisor who had counseled that, things would have turned out differently for him, and his troubles would never have materialized.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

My Favourite Things

Big German pretzels and beer in tall glasses,
Served by voluptuous, under-dressed lasses;
Big ol’ cheeseburgers, a side of hot wings;
These are a few of my favourite things.

Rocky and Bullwinkle, Barney and Andy;
Playing piano and Fannie May candy;
Any song cute Kristin Chenoweth sings;
These are a few of my favourite things.

Fawn pugs and black pugs, lower the boom, Clancy!
Charlie Brown’s Christmas and my little Nancy;
Chicago Bear football and Super Bowl rings;
These are a few of my favourite things.

When the Cubs lose,
When my car breaks,
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don’t feel so bad!

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Great Lyrics - Part I

Lyrics to a great song from a long time ago . . . .

The way you talk
The things you've done
Make me wish I
Was the only one
Who
Could ever have made you laugh now
Could have made you
Made you want want to cry
To have been there the day
You first whispered "I love you"
Yes I love you

When you discover
All those new things
And when you first
First met the world
When you felt beautiful
And you said hello
To everything you saw
If I could have been all
So I could have known you all those times
I love you
Yes, I love you
Yes I do

Robert Lamm, Chicago/Chicago Transit Authority

This Is Love and Devotion

The love of a father and the devotion of his daughter.

From George Will in Newsweek magazine:

Lillian Gertrude Asplund was 5 when her father smiled and said, "Go ahead, we will get into one of the other boats." He did not. Lillian never married, and retired early to take care of her mother, who never recovered from losing her husband. Lillian, the last American survivor of the Titanic, was 99.

God's Been Good to Me!

Heard this song while driving in to work today. My daughter's a country music fan, and, since we're driving together, I get to hear her music.

Think I'll suggest this one for the next "Country Music Service" at our church. Our contemporary workship band, "Sing A New Song", put one on last year that was pretty well received.


Well I can't believe I'm sittin' here today
Picking on my banjo with a big smile on my face
Writin' new words to an old school melody
Hey there ain't no doubt that God's been good to me

Oh the sun is shinin' on down in Tennessee
And right now where I'm right where I wanna be
I've never felt so loved, so peaceful and so free
Hey there ain't no doubt that God's been good to me

(Chorus:)
'Cause he put me smack dab in the middle of Paradise
In the heart of the city where my dreams have come alive
And everything I have, and everything I see
Is just another reminder that God's been good to me

This golden road's been long
And sometimes I've lost my way
I've been down some darkened detours
Leanin' heavy on my faith
But where the devil had me chained
Lord your love done set me free
Hallelujah! God's been good to me

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

What a difference a week makes!

Today's high - fifty-some degrees. Last week . . . blanketed in snow and cold.

When I was a kid, it seemed like Winter always brought snow that stayed. We got a few inches, and it built up and evaporated away, but there was almost always a layer on the ground. The roads were never cleared, either; not completely. These days, even the side streets are free from ice and snow. I seem to remember our street being snowed-over quite a bit. We even used to play hockey (albeit in gym shoes, not skates) out on the street.

Back in '71 ot '72 I got a job at the A&P grocery store. I used to ride my bike about a mile to get to work each day - all of the trip on side streets. Most of them were straight, but one had a nice curve to it. During the Winter I'd ride as fast as i could, then try to get the back tire to skid sideways as I made the turn - kinda like motorcycles do when they're racing on ice. I did learn a real important lesson one summer day, too: never try to act like a racing motorcycle on gravel. The bike tends to slip out from under you, spills you to the ground, rips a hole in your jeans and rips up the skin underneath.

The Winters in the late 70's were horrible in Chicago. One year it was cold as could be - below freezing temps day after day. It got so cold that my radiator froze; then I did, too, driving several miles trying to thaw it out. Had to put a trouble light on the engine block in the garage overnight to get it working again.

Another year we got 92 inches of snow (officially, at O'Hare airport). Talk about so much snow we didn't have anywhere to put it! The end of our driveway was piled at least six feet high. You couldn't see to back out . . . just move out slowly and hope the other guy was kind enough to either let you know he was there or stop for you.

Fifteen years ago or so we had a Winter where the temperature dropped below freezing and stayed there for three months. Colder'n'hell. When it broke the freezing mark that first day it was like a party had started. We'd been so cold for so long that Spring temperatures felt like summer.

'Course, we've had really, really hot summers, too. I saw a thermometer on the near north side reading 111 degrees during our hottest summer. I think, officially, it got to 104, but having been out in it, I think that 111 was right on. My wife, kids and I went to Navy Pier, thinking we were going to get to cool off with a little lake breeze, but there was none to be had. Even the air-conditioned parts of the building didn't seem cool to us, that day.

In any case, recent Winters have proven to be on the milder side - global warming, I guess - but that's not all bad. Sure makes the living easier, and the gas bills smaller. For old times' sake, though, why can't we string Fall out to just past Thanksgiving weekend, get a little snow, stay around the freezing mark until the beginning of March, having received just enough snow to keep the ground blanketed, then go back on to Spring?

Anybody in good enough with the Lord to get that done?

Monday, December 11, 2006

So Here We Are . . .

Does the first blog entry have to be something notable? This one ain't gonna be.

It's the beginning of December here in northern Illinois and we've already had one substantial snow storm. But it was in the 60-degree range as late as Thanksgiving, and we're having a string of forty-degree days right now. Somehow, I don't seem to be able to remember what it's like from year-to-year, specifically. So maybe I can look back at this next December. Off-line storage for my mind . . . .

I've titled this page, "I'm Just a Guy". But "guy" doesn't have anything to do with being male. A "guy" can be either male or female, rich or poor, young or old. A "guy" can be technically savvy, or not; musically or dramatically talented, or not; gainfully employed, or not. A "guy" is just a person trying to get along in life, doing what they think they need to do to "live, thrive and survive".

The comments you'll read in this blog are going to come from that perspective: I'm just a guy who's making his way in life.

So keep watch, dear reader (though there probably aren't any as yet); the best is yet to come. (Note to self . . . better write something good!)