Time Toilets

I know, I know. I haven’t been posting all that often. I realize it and I’ve been thinking about it. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s not on purpose, these lapses in proclivity. It’s simply because I have been much involved in other things.

I’ve been taking the time to figure out how to be a good dad to three beautiful daughters who aren’t so little anymore. I’ve been teaching Bible teachers about teaching the Bible. I’ve been doing little things (sometimes very little) to try and be a better friend and brother. I’ve been exercising (go figure). I’ve been driving a campaign to raise funds to help my church get into a building. I’ve been helping out at my kid’s school. I’ve been doing some technical reading for work. All of this besides the normal, everyday doings.

I like to be productive. I have a kind of farmer mentality when it comes to that. So I’ve been shifting my priorities a bit to try and be more productive while, at the same time, trying to reduce the insanity in my life. This is very hard to do. You think?

It’s odd what becomes important to us so quickly. Things that didn’t even exist a few decades ago, and yet we think we can’t live without them. Time toilets.

The newest thing is “apps.” Everyone is talking about “apps.” To me, “apps” are this abstract thing that, in general, exist to steal your life away. Why do I think that? Because I see it happening to people all around me. Time is burned, very fast, very hot. Facebook has already done this. Computers have certainly done this for a long time now. All of these “time saving” devices are killing our time. And once it’s dead, it’s gone. Long gone. Shwoooosh.

Have you been pulled too far into the big empty of Angry Birds or Words with Friends or Youtube or Facebook? Not to mention video games and, of course, blogging? You've gotta watch out for that blogging.

The word “addicted” is being used more and more commonly to describe our use of this stuff. Do you remember when the idea of an addiction was always considered a negative thing? Now people say it and laugh. “I’m so addicted to World of Warcraft! Ha ha hardy har har. That’s, like, funny, right?” But the laugh has a nervous twitter in it that says: “Out of control here,” and the eyes suggest that there is doubt about something.

My kids doctor told me about how he’d just seen his first case of carpal tunnel syndrome in a pre teen. 11 years old, I think it was. All from texting and such. She will probably need surgery.

11.



Peace to you.


© LW Publishing 2011

Juggling

One of my kids, last Christmas, received a kit for learning how to juggle. It has a book and different items for juggling. Scarfs, small cloth balls, that kind of thing. I started reading the book and trying to show the kids how to juggle. And here’s what we’ve learned so far:

Juggling is hard.

Juggling is a set of learned motions that have to be repeated over and over again. It’s the routine that makes it work. The routine of the motions and the routine of the things you’re trying to juggle with. You get used to that thing, the shape, the feel, which is what makes it work. This is why it’s so amazing to see someone juggling different items with different shapes and weights. Sometimes you see a pro juggler juggling a bowling pin with a cup and some other odd weight thing, and it’s pretty impressive because we all seem to know that the imbalance is what makes it tough.

I’ve found that I’m not very good at juggling. I work hard at it, but it doesn't come naturally to me. Which is no surprise. I’m simply not good at it. Literally and figuratively. At least, not with the amount of things I’m constantly trying to juggle. Too many things, too many shapes, too many weights. People toss things up in the air with the full expectation that I will somehow just take it into my loop. And when I start dropping things I can feel pretty guilty. It’s difficult to juggle all of the things life throws at us. But juggling is necessary if we're going to live life.

When I see people who are good at juggling, it’s often true that they’re good at it because they juggle the right things. They’re selective. Balanced. They know the feel of what they’re keeping up in the air. They have the motions down pat. And it impresses me. But I can’t seem to narrow things down like that. It’s a weakness. There’s so much that needs to be done and it’s hard to be at peace when things are incomplete.

Sometimes you’ll see two people juggling together. It’s really amazing. One time I saw three or four jugglers all together. They can keep so much up in the air. It’s such a clear image of teamwork. There’s so much skill in passing things off from one person to another. But most people never think of stepping in like that. They look at you, juggling your heart out, with an empty expression and basically say, “Sorry. I don’t juggle. I just don’t. But I like watching you do it!”

Juggling really is hard. And it can be a lonely business.



Peace to you.




© LW Publishing 2011

Attention

Have you ever been in one of those situations where people are all looking at something, and you find yourself wanting to see what has gotten their attention?

I was at some fireworks once, and everyone started looking up into the sky, so I looked up into the sky, to see an advertisement for some politician on a banner, floating behind a little airplane. Yawn.

One time I was walking down a sidewalk in a little town that had shops and coffee houses, and people were all standing at this one place, looking in the window. So I waited for it to clear out a little and went to see what they were looking at. It ended up being my first exposure to one of those pictures that you have to stare at with your eyes painfully crossed for at least five minutes until you finally “see” a kind of 3D image of something like a bird or a car or whatever.

One time I was at a friends house, and a bunch of people were watching TV in his living room. I went to see what they were all looking at, and it turned out there was this new cable station called MTV, where they were going to show “music videos.” It seemed a little boring to me, but what do I know.

Years ago, someone told me there was this new thing called MySpace that everyone was using to kind of “promote” themselves. And then, there was this thing called “Facebook.” College students were using it to keep in touch with each other. Sounded like an interesting idea. And one day I heard some people talking about a video they saw on something called “Youtube.” They thought it was funny and they said millions of people had watched it.

If this were a sci-fi movie, it would all be a plot put together by aliens to take over our minds and control us so they could have us for lunch. And I mean, HAVE us for lunch.

I could go on and on, but I’m sure you’ve seen it too. It’s not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with any of these things that command our attention. But still, it’s kind of creepy when you think about it: Something grabs the attention of someone, then someone else, then before you know it, without really thinking about it at all, hundreds, thousands, even millions of people all have their attention on the same thing.

Without thinking.


Hebrews 12:2-3
Peace to you.

© LW Publishing 2011

The Middle

“You’re tearing me apart....”
James Dean, Rebel Without A Cause


So, this morning, I’m sitting at my desk near the window. In my right ear is the sound of one of my kids, in the bathroom, vomiting for the third time since she got out of bed. In my left ear is the sound of birds singing in the trees outside. They seem very happy about something.

Have you ever heard the word “incongruous?”

So much of my life seems to go like this. I live in the middle. I have one foot in joy and the other in sorrow. I feel good but I feel bad. I have hope but I’m out of answers. I live between what I am able to do or have time to do and what people expect me to do.

When I was a kid I was hanging out with two friends. We were out playing and the two of them wanted to do two different things, go in two different directions. One grabbed one of my hands to pull me in his direction and at the exact same time the other friend grabbed my other hand to pull me in the other direction. Very quickly I became a “thing” instead of a person. A rope for their tug of war. For a moment I became a “thing” they used to accomplish what they wanted, one way or another. And they pulled so hard, so fast, that they hurt me – but they weren’t very concerned about it because they were so focused on what they wanted.


And still, too often, this happens.





Galatians 1:10
Peace to you.


© LW Publishing 2010

Frequency

Hey!

So. This morning I take the time to go to Facebook. Things have piled up because I rarely go to the site. I get a dose of what’s going on with people and I’m not sure what to do with it all. It’s fun to see what people are up to but, man, it’s a lot of information.

Sometimes I feel a little bad (very little) about not keeping up with Facebook. Sort of like the neighbor who doesn’t show up for the neighborhood cookouts. Do people think you’re a snob? Do they think you don’t care? But it’s none of that.

Like an old radio where you tuned in a station with a dial to get it clear, working it to get the static out of the signal, I’m trying to get focused and stay there. I can’t forget that I’ve got people who need me. People I love are in the hospital fighting cancer and other illness. I’ve got friends trying to keep relationships together and find healing in hard times. I’ve got a wife who needs more of me than she’s getting and kids who circle me like satellites with constant questions and wonderments. I’ve got a Bible to read and music to make.

That’s the frequency, Kenneth.

Peace to you.


© LW Publishing 2010

Everything Stops

01.13.2010

Hey!

So, right around 10 pm, one of my kids is sick and everything stops. From 10pm to 5 am it’s all about the kid. Nothing exists but the kid. My wife and I are up all night with sounds of sickness. Some sounds just don’t have a musical ring to them. Now I have to deal with my don'twanttogetsickaphobia. I'll be washing my hands so much they'll bleed.

When stuff like this happens, it doesn’t matter that you’re tired, it doesn’t matter how you feel, the kid is sick so you do what you have to do. This morning, everything is all right, but we’re exhausted and the day still has to happen. Forge ahead.

There are things in life that cause everything to stop. A birth. A death. An illness. A good story. A flat tire. The routine is brushed away and the illusion of control is lost. What I’m finding is you never learn to like it, but you do get a little more used to it. Stopping becomes part of the routine.

Peace to you.

© LW Publishing 2010