6.9.2003: On Anon
A brief summary of recent events in my life and how they affect you, the anonymous visitor:
- Started the paperwork/procedures for foster care/adoption in Illinois. After nature & medical science failed to deliver for us, we're shopping for baby (actually, for a 1-2 year old)
How it affects you: Well, when the tyke arrives I'll likely have less time to develop software. Also, expect more software geared toward preschoolers/young kids in coming years... - Bought a used Palm IIIc on ebay. Well, I feel more organized. I like having a to-do list with dates on it but not specific times. Just suits my personality better. Also got some cool Bible software from Laridian. Got a one-year bible reader proggie with it so it's easier to do my quiet times. Having an alarm go off to remind me (or 'nag me', some days) is a good thing
How it affects you: Being who I am, the first 'accessory' I bought for my Palm was a book on Palm OS programming. My C/C++ is a little rusty but I'll get there. Don't look for anything too soon though, it looks like a long learning curve... - Painted almost the whole lower level of our old house. We knew it needed work when we put it on the market. It still hasn't sold, so we decided to do some of the work ourselves. We're putting in carpet, too. I thought the new buyer would be happier picking the colors & quality they wanted, whereas we picked white paint and very 'basic' carpeting. But first impressions, yada yada yada...
How it affects you: Not at all unless you're shopping for a two-story in Rock Island
On An Unrelated Note(s): Sometimes I do listen to Christian radio, but I must confess I have my car radio on the local 'Classic Hits' station most of the time. I find it interesting sometimes to look at songs I know by heart from before I became a Christian from my new perspective. I found two good examples currently in the rotation right now.
The first is Jethro Tull's 'Bungle in the Jungle'. I really like Tull, even if I do only understand half of the lyrics most of the time. I was singing along last week and suddenly noticed a fairly profound comment on God: "And He who made kittens put snakes in the grass."
Brilliant! Perhaps 'Jethro' intended it as a criticism on the image of the 'perfect, loving God', but I think it goes deeper--and it's undeniably true. I think it's really a criticism of our (read: mankind's) idea of what's "fair." We think fair means that nothing bad should happen to us if we didn't do something to deserve it, and yet 'bad things' happen to 'good people' all the time.
But ask a few people to fill in this blank: "Fair and ____________." I'll bet at least a few people resond with 'impartial', which means basically not playing favorites. 'Bad things' happen, and they happen regardless of whether the person they happen to is 'good' or 'bad'.
God made good things (the kittens) and bad things (the snakes). You could run into either walking through a field. But whether the encounter is good or bad to you is not always black-and-white (although kittens and snakes sometime are): things that seem bad may actually be beneficial, even if you can't see the 'big picture'. If you were walking your pet mongoose and he was hungry, finding a snake may be a good thing (Ok, weird example, I know -- I can only stretch this particular metaphor so far. On the other hand, my brother is allergic to cats, so...)
The other example I heard recently was Van Halen's 'Running with the Devil'. To tell you the truth, I never thought much of this song in the past. Before I was a Christian, I thought it was just silly. I always suspected they just threw 'devil' in to be 'cool' (sort of like Spinal Tap's 'Christmas with the Devil')
Immediately after becoming a Christian, I rejected it out of hand. Didn't want anything to do with anything that had that word in it.
I like to think I'm a little more open-minded these days. Now, I can listen to the song and still appreciate the great guitar work. And recently I really listened to the lyrics for maybe the first time ever, and you know what? It's not 'anti-Christian' at all--almost the opposite!
If you've got the album, take a good listen. The song talks about living the wild life, doing what you please, and basically indulging in a hedonistic lifestyle: what Davey-boy calls 'Running with the Devil'. But here's the kicker: the real message of the song is that this kind of like is not all it's cracked up to be. He complains that the "simple life ain't so simple", and that he "Ain't got no love, no love you'd call real; ain't got nobody waitin' at home." In fact the whole song seems to be a gripe to whoever told him that this life would be a lot of fun, 'cause it sure didn't turn out that way.
I think that's true: when we're tempted to 'run with the devil', it always looks so appealing, so much fun. But when we give in and it's all said and done, it never seems so great in hindsight; and the price is never worth what we got out of it.
When the road looks rough ahead, remember the Man Upstairs and the word Hope. Hang onto both and tough it out. --John Wayne (to Barbara Walters)
