First Day of School

The first day of school...I feared this night would come to a close and nothing would occur that I consider worthy of publication. Thankfully, I was able to dig up something.

In search of a little liquid refreshment, which in this case was a 20 oz Diet Dr Pepper (it tastes like real Dr. Pepper, you know) I went on a walk. My walk took me to the truck, where I discovered 4 missed calls from 3 different people. You have to understand that, generally, if I have 4 missed calls, they're from one person. I was a little excited. I made a couple of quick calls, then I was off to the area from whence I would obtain a beverage.

I arrive and am amazed at the flood of people trying to get to the 73 vending machines in the "Student Lounge" - an overstatement. Most of these people are even adequately capable of operating the machines. Except for 2 of them.

I was waiting to get up to the machine with the logo on it that would lead me to my embalming fluid of choice. A woman, probably in her late thirties, was attempting to outsmart the machine with little success. She had already managed to get 75 cents into the machine, but it would not accept anymore. Assuming that the cost of the drink was $1, she became a little flustered. I, too, became involved in this little situation and offered her a regular $1 bill to hopefully expedite this purchase. The dumb part comes now. Why wouldn't the machine accept anymore change? The drinks were only 75 cents. It was a shame there were only about 17 people standing around witnessing this. By now, they've all forgotten about it, but I will never forget the "First Day of School: The Vending Machine"

Abandon

I've been sitting at this computer for about 2 hours now and have made at least 23 great beginnings to blogs about giving my all to the Lord.

They all stunk.

God is trying to teach me how little I can do without Him. I'm learning the delicate balance between "I can't do it" as a restriction and "I can't do it" as a chain-breaking device. The following is a wonderful song that happened to come on as I was failing as a writer.

____________________________

The Stand - Hillsong Music

You stood before creation

Eternity in Your hand

You spoke all life into motion

My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure

Carried the cross for my shame

My sin weighed upon Your shoulders

My soul now to stand

So what can I say

What can I do

But offer this heart O God

Completely to You

So I'll walk upon salvation

Your Spirit alive in me

This life to declare Your promise

My soul now to stand

So I’ll stand

With arms high and heart abandoned

In awe of the One who gave it all

So I’ll stand

My soul Lord to You surrendered

All I am is Yours

"Are you ready for Christmas?"

How many times have you heard this already? Working with the public daily, I have been asked this same question no fewer than 5,276 times. What does this mean? Am I supposed to say "Yes!" Or do I reply with "It's coming whether I'm ready or not!"? Or do I take a different route altogether? Maybe say something like, "Do birds have wings? Heck yeah I'm ready! Woo Hoo!!"

I deal with this dilemma all the time. Of course, I've never been one for useless conversations with open-ended empty greetings such as "How are you today?", after which the asker has no intention of actually finding out the status of my emotional and physical well-being.

I wish I could say that these people, deep down inside, are really asking me if I am spiritually prepared for the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the questioning probably goes no deeper than "Have you got all your shopping done?" I still am left wondering why this question has become so popular and why I have to come up with more and more meaningless responses to this ever-present inquiry.

Am I ready for Christmas? I have a few more gifts to buy and a couple of cards to send out. I've already practiced for and participated in our Christmas musical at First Christian Church. We have a beautiful Frasier Fir tree in our living room nicely decorated with ornaments, including some that pre-date my birth. We have a little train in our front yard that has colorful lights on it and a spot-light shining on our wreathed front door.

For Christmas, in the world's eyes, I am almost ready.

However, I haven't spent any special time in prayer about what new things the Lord could reveal to me during this "Holiday Season." I have thought very little of the amazing implications our Savior's birth has on the world as we know it. I haven't shared this good news with anyone (outside of First Christian Church or First Love Ministries.) I haven't done much at all.

For Christmas, in the world's eyes, I am almost ready.

The older I get, the more and more I realize the importance of those things I have taken for granted for years. It doesn't matter how many gifts I've purchased or how many decorations or how many parties I go to or how many good holiday foods I eat - if I don't have Jesus in the middle of it all.

Jesus is the reason for the season. (Oh, come on...you knew it was coming.)

It is my hope and prayer that each of us will spend a lot more time this season thinking about Jesus than we ever have. There is nothing anywhere that can bring more joy than being close to your Heavenly Father - especially during the remembrance of His Son's birth.

It's Amazing To Me

It's brought to our attention on a daily basis at school that the quarter is almost over and that we really need to get serious about bringing together loose ends and so forth. I am fairly confident that all my ends are tied and flailing in the wind no longer.

I have determined that the majority of my co-learners have the same level of preparedness as that squirrel I ran over a few days ago. (By the way, it was my first!)

Most of the curriculum for my program of study is self-paced...which pretty much means that it is up to me, the student, to make sure that I get everything done. I, being the model student that I am, have been making the most of every minute at Central Georgia University of Higher Learning and Cosmetology. I have learned from my experiences that I can easily fall into a trap of not having everything done on time.

Again, I am basically alone in this determination. After sufficiently complaining about the lack of time we have left in the term to complete their work, most of my classmates left a good hour early tonight.

I hate this. My fellow students get ticked off because time is running out and they ain't gonna finish everything...and, yet, they leave early. Probably to go to the library to check e-mail or to the parking lot to buy/sell some fine pawn-shop quality items.

And please make no inference that this is in any way directed at a specific race, creed, or religion. Well, maybe creed. But, anyway, this is everybody and their mamas, literally. The general attitude is that "somebody else is paying for this (the state, the federal gov't, etc.) so I can screw around and not take this even as seriously as I take my job at Krystal, which, by the way, I show up for less than half the time."

(Parenthetically, I think I'm on to something. That sounds a lot like the attitude of those who abuse Welfare and Medicaid and every other form of handout that we, as a country, supply to those who don't have jobs because they've never looked for jobs. Ask me about the Medicaid Escalade. Coming down off soap box...)

So, in conclusion, I'm in one of my "The Whole World Is Stupid Except For Me And A Select Few...Forget It - Just Me" attitudes. The real conclusion is that unless you're doing everything in your power to make something happen, don't complain that it has not yet happened.

*Note to self: Read your own blog, Danny!

A Different Rabbi

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30
NKJV Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

**The following was assembled by yours truly with assistance from Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell.**

After learning a little bit more about the use of the term "yoke," this verse stood out to me even more. (Some of you probably know far more about this than I, but I'm just starting to learn, so be nice to me.)

At an elementary school age, a young Jewish boy of the time would begin learning the Hebrew scriptures. As he progressed in his learning, a rabbi would determine if the boy had would it took to continue studying and learning to become a rabbi himself.

If a rabbi saw that you had, er, "potential," he would call you to take his yoke and follow him and learn from him. In fact, having the dust from the rabbi's feet on you was a sign of how closely you followed him.

That is tremendously encouraging to me. Imagine how Simon Peter and Andrew, the fishermen, felt. They had probably grown up knowing they weren't "rabbinic material." They caught fish for living. Then comes Jesus, a rabbi, calling them out of their boats to follow him.

Imagine all your life wanting to be an...astronaut. You had the astronaut wallpaper and toy space shuttles and the whole nine yards, but when you came of age to become an astronaut, you were told to go follow the trade of your father and catch fish. But then, a real-live professional "I have an astronaut's license" astronaut came to you and asked you to come be an astronaut with him.

I imagine that's how Jesus' disciples felt. Jesus was asking them to follow Him. Follow a real-live rabbi.

Jesus wants to take your burden and make it his own. He is gentle - not sissy gentle - but concerned and compassionate and caring. He will give you rest. Just follow Him.

Visiting My Childhood (at least that's a good excuse)

I hope this doesn't discredit me too much...

Being a Weird Al fan for many years now, the video at the link below brings quite a smile to my face...




Music Video:WHITE & NERDY (by Weird Al Yankovic)

Demoralized

So many things are acceptable in our world today that should be looked upon as awful, horrible, disgusting things. I'll give you a fine example.

Last night at school, (where else?), I was talking about my job with one of my classmates. We'll call her "Lucy." I was sharing with Lucy how much I like my co-workers and that, overall, it's a good place to work. I mentioned that I have a pretty good relationship with my boss and that I've helped her with things outside of work (putting up Christmas lights, moving, etc.)

Our conversation was something like this:

LUCY: "You got a little secret something' goin' on?"

ME: "No, it's nothing like that. I could never do that anyway."

LUCY: "Whatchoo mean? Why not?"

ME: "I just couldn't. She's married, she's my boss. I don't do that kinda stuff. It wouldn't exactly work out."

LUCY: "That don't stop most people."

ME: "It stops me."

Lucy didn't understand. She told me I must be one of those good guys. I'll take that. Good guy. Different. Redeemed. Whatever.

Why am I in some almost-looked-down-upon group? Good Guys. The world is trying to get rid of us. Why didn't Lucy support me in my desire to do the right thing? Some where along the line, she's fallen into the idea that it's okay to be unfaithful to your spouse. Fornication is okay. Marriage means nothing.

This is what a world without Christ is bound to be. Unfaithful. He is the only hope I see. Sorry to be so downcast, but I'm just sad for Lucy and all the others who believe like her.