My mother always told me I was afraid I would miss something if I went to sleep

Mom!  Did you curse me with a self fulfilling prophecy?!  Why is it so hard to put things away and go to sleep?  I think that productive members of society don't have this particular ailment.  It is a disease!

Leaving a Legacy

I want my children to have something that gives them what wisdom I can sum up from my experience in my life.  I find that I tend to talk too much when I am trying to give them my best so they can be their best. I have become more sensitive to the glazed look in their eyes when they have reached maximum capacity.  Maybe if I leave them tomes of material on here they will benefit from it one day when they are able to handle the "10 lbs of potatoes in a 5 lb bag" syndrome I commonly fall prey to?  How will you infuse your children with the knowledge they need to be a good citizen, a good neighbor and a beneficial member of society?  Will you teach them how to skin a deer or will you regale them with the benefits of splitting the atom?  Have you read what Robert A. Heinlein wrote about what we should know to be prepared for life?

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly.”

Robert Heinlein quotes (American science-fiction writer,1907-1988)

Sometimes I think that one would need several lifetimes to become even mildly proficient at that list...but maybe we spend too much time on things that don't matter versus those things that do?  How do you spend your time?  Are you happy with how your past looks in the rear view mirror or do you put blinders on so that you don't have to look back and let it overshadow the present?  You can change and you can let that change become the guiding light for the next generation.  I believe that the way to change the world for the better is to let God change you with your active obedience and guide your children in the same path.

The other day I spent some time with some younger female friends of mine.  They were lamenting the dearth of marriageable material in the opposite sex.  Their complaints focused on the lack of anyone their age (mid 20's) that could "do anything."  Evidently most of the males of our species in the US can wield a Wii remote with the precision of a Jedi Master but are completely incapable of changing the oil in their own car.  Their solution was to look to older men who still knew how to do some of things that their fathers had taken the time to show or give up.  It made me wonder...how do I make my son into a paragon of male virtue and virility?

Improve yourself.  Improve others.  Ciao.

Are you alive....if not, when will you choose to be?

On another note, if we were meant to stay safe wouldn't we have stayed in our mother's womb?  I don't mean pursuing death is a healthy lifestyle, but after I survived a motorcycle wreck last year the most common question that I received is "why are you still riding your bike?"  Very few people stop driving their cages (cars) after they have an accident...why should I stop driving my two wheel conveyance?  Especially when it's the most economical method of driving long distances and gives me such joy?  Does death/dismemberment still lurk in the quiet places in my mind...you betcha, but who wants to live a life of fear?  You will die one day.  So will I.  I suppose that my hope lies in my realization that life with Christ after death will only continue the adventure.  Do you suppose Jesus likes Harleys or BMWs better? 

Random Thoughts

Today I wondered about people that fail to enjoy today.  When will they enjoy their life?  My life has been chaotic at times but never horrible.  Sometimes I couldn't see that fact in the midst of the crisis, but as I have survived each time my tolerance for what life throws our way has become more elastic.  I wish that I could impart that wisdom to those around me so they would have fewer regrets at the end of their life.

Our Supreme Court...only 118 years ago.

The Supreme Court, in its former incarnation as the land’s high court of justice, described a Christian nation this way:

If we pass beyond these matters to a view of American life, as expressed by its laws, its business, its customs, and its society, we find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth.  Among other matters note the following: The form of oath universally prevailing, concluding with an appeal to the Almighty; the custom of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer; the prefatory words of all wills, "In the name of God, amen;" the laws respecting the observance of the Sabbath, with the general cessation of all secular business, and the closing of courts, legislatures, and other similar public assemblies on that day; the churches and church organisations which abound in every city, town, and hamlet; the multitude of charitable organisations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe. These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.  (Holy Trinity Church v. U.S. 143 US 457, 12 S.Ct. 511, 36 L.Ed. 226, 2/29/1892)..

What say you?  

Once upon a time, in this very country, the highest court in the land acknowledged that our nation attempted to follow morals based on the Bible.  Not on whether your choices were convenient for you, "hidden" in the privacy of your own home, or supposedly caused no harm to those around you.

Laws were fewer then because the citizenry monitored itself.  Naysayers say that life has changed and technology has caused the Constitution to follow the horse and buggy into the dusty annals of our collective history, but has it really changed?  The outer trappings of our society may look more modern, but the internal malaise of man is still embedded in our estrangement from God.  We have invented styles of government that try to address these problems, but don't be fooled...to be solved our problems require God.