Essential for road trip planning...or venting gas price envy.
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
A Very Important Study
Obviously this guy took his college education seriously. I am proud to note that Arkansas falls decidedly into the "Coke" category. According to the map, South Florida is definately more of a "Soda" kind of place. Since I have lived here for about 7 years I have noticed that I sometimes call Coke, Soda. I'm ok with that. Ohio is overwhelmingly a "Pop" state. I always thought "Pop" was a weird thing to call your Coke.
SODA COKE POP STUDY
If you click on a state you'll see the stats by county. I clicked on Arkansas and they actually had 4 people participate in the study from Dallas County. Since I lived there most of my life and I know first hand that Dallas County has more deer than people, I wonder if I know them...
SODA COKE POP STUDY
If you click on a state you'll see the stats by county. I clicked on Arkansas and they actually had 4 people participate in the study from Dallas County. Since I lived there most of my life and I know first hand that Dallas County has more deer than people, I wonder if I know them...
Just For Fun
Countries I've been to:
States I've been to:
Countries I want to go to:
States CALEB has been to (by the time he was 3 months old!):
create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide
States I've been to:
Countries I want to go to:
States CALEB has been to (by the time he was 3 months old!):
create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Christian Coffee
All over the world, Christians are using secular things to reach people with the gospel. In situations where missionaries are serving in countries hostile to the gospel, this is called “having a platform” – a real legitimate reason to be there. Generally in countries not hostile to the gospel, missionaries don’t need a platform; they just go in and start doing ministry work. Obviously in the United States we are perfectly free to preach the gospel. Many Christian radio stations take advantage of that and air teaching, preaching, and overtly Christian music. Some Christian radio stations take this freedom a step further and create a Christian sub-culture with language no pagan could comprehend. The Call takes a totally different approach and uses the platform of music – good music, usually by musicians who call themselves Christians – to have a legitimate reason for your average worldly teenager or college student to tune in.
Recently, my husband has fielded criticism regarding the “Christian-ness” of the songs and/or bands played on The Call. I’ll be the first to admit that not every single song played on The Call is identifiably about Jesus Christ and in a very few cases even obviously not about Him. One listener wrote to say that the station should not play a particular band because they are not a “Christian Band”. All this led me to wonder, how important is it that a band be a “Christian Band”? What if they are just a band that plays some songs about Jesus? If all this labeling is so important, will we need Christian car insurance and should we drink Christian coffee? I don’t think having a particular label is the same thing as finding our identity in Christ1.
Ron Hutchcraft produces a very interesting program called Real Time, which is aired on The Call and other stations around the country2. He mixes music played by Christian bands with music played by secular bands. He uses the messages of the songs to point teens to Jesus. You would have to be completely ignoring his program to notice only one secular song and condemn the entire half-hour as being non-Christian. It unapologetically proclaims the gospel.
But not all of The Call’s less than spiritual songs are played specifically to make a point. Sometimes the music played is used to develop the image of the station. This image sometimes is offensive to some Christians. What they don’t realize is that traditional Christian radio stations manipulate their programming to create an image too. And while that image may seem Christian enough, it usually does not embrace the evangelistic aspect of the gospel and only seeks to edify the church.
While The Call may not be “all things to all men”3, it is a real thing making a real impact in the lives of many teenagers who often are not only not Christians, but hope they wouldn’t be caught dead listening to a traditional Christian radio station.
1 I recently heard the testimony of some missionaries to a Muslim nation who had to identify themselves as “Followers of Jesus” because the word “Christian” had such a distorted meaning in that part of the world.
2Ron Hutchcraft’s Real Time airs on The Call twice on Sunday nights at 8:30 and 9:30 Eastern Time. The Call streams music and programming on the internet and has listeners around the world.
31 Corinthians 9:22
Recently, my husband has fielded criticism regarding the “Christian-ness” of the songs and/or bands played on The Call. I’ll be the first to admit that not every single song played on The Call is identifiably about Jesus Christ and in a very few cases even obviously not about Him. One listener wrote to say that the station should not play a particular band because they are not a “Christian Band”. All this led me to wonder, how important is it that a band be a “Christian Band”? What if they are just a band that plays some songs about Jesus? If all this labeling is so important, will we need Christian car insurance and should we drink Christian coffee? I don’t think having a particular label is the same thing as finding our identity in Christ1.
Ron Hutchcraft produces a very interesting program called Real Time, which is aired on The Call and other stations around the country2. He mixes music played by Christian bands with music played by secular bands. He uses the messages of the songs to point teens to Jesus. You would have to be completely ignoring his program to notice only one secular song and condemn the entire half-hour as being non-Christian. It unapologetically proclaims the gospel.
But not all of The Call’s less than spiritual songs are played specifically to make a point. Sometimes the music played is used to develop the image of the station. This image sometimes is offensive to some Christians. What they don’t realize is that traditional Christian radio stations manipulate their programming to create an image too. And while that image may seem Christian enough, it usually does not embrace the evangelistic aspect of the gospel and only seeks to edify the church.
While The Call may not be “all things to all men”3, it is a real thing making a real impact in the lives of many teenagers who often are not only not Christians, but hope they wouldn’t be caught dead listening to a traditional Christian radio station.
1 I recently heard the testimony of some missionaries to a Muslim nation who had to identify themselves as “Followers of Jesus” because the word “Christian” had such a distorted meaning in that part of the world.
2Ron Hutchcraft’s Real Time airs on The Call twice on Sunday nights at 8:30 and 9:30 Eastern Time. The Call streams music and programming on the internet and has listeners around the world.
31 Corinthians 9:22
The Good Old Days
Most people, the older they get, eventually say something about the “good old days” or how they miss the way things use to be. Or maybe they’ll make some scholarly comment about how society has deteriorated. But I wonder: would you really like to have things be the way they were? I doubt it.
Consider this: Would you rather live in a world with no polio vaccine? No washing machines? No Amber Alert? No digital cameras? No weather radar? No ball point pens? Would you rather live in a time when most people were illiterate? Women couldn’t vote? Slavery was accepted in America? You could likely die from a broken leg? An indoor toilet had to be emptied by hand?
I’ll admit I wish more food was homemade, more things were fixed instead of replaced, news wasn’t so instant, and no one was emailing me asking me to buy Viagra. But the advances made in health, sanitation, education, and safety are hard to let go. Still, there must be something deeper that makes people yearn for simpler times. We all are sensitive to the depravity of society. But the truth is that there have always been rapists and murderers. There will always be thieves and con artists. Eliminating television, the Internet, and fast food won’t make child molesters and prostitutes disappear. Modern life did not create human depravity.
And as for those that say modern life makes our own depravity worse, I disagree. It does magnify it so that we are aware of so much of the evil in the world. But even the little I know about history shows me that evil is nothing new. It's even true that some evil has been stopped in modern times. But evil is like water, it will find any little crack to come dripping out.
Since evil is not something that we as men will completely eradicate, we can only fight it - lest we be overcome - and move on. To move on to the future, we must let go of some of the piquancy of the past. However, we should embrace new advances with hesitancy. Not every new thing is better than what it replaces.
Consider this: Would you rather live in a world with no polio vaccine? No washing machines? No Amber Alert? No digital cameras? No weather radar? No ball point pens? Would you rather live in a time when most people were illiterate? Women couldn’t vote? Slavery was accepted in America? You could likely die from a broken leg? An indoor toilet had to be emptied by hand?
I’ll admit I wish more food was homemade, more things were fixed instead of replaced, news wasn’t so instant, and no one was emailing me asking me to buy Viagra. But the advances made in health, sanitation, education, and safety are hard to let go. Still, there must be something deeper that makes people yearn for simpler times. We all are sensitive to the depravity of society. But the truth is that there have always been rapists and murderers. There will always be thieves and con artists. Eliminating television, the Internet, and fast food won’t make child molesters and prostitutes disappear. Modern life did not create human depravity.
And as for those that say modern life makes our own depravity worse, I disagree. It does magnify it so that we are aware of so much of the evil in the world. But even the little I know about history shows me that evil is nothing new. It's even true that some evil has been stopped in modern times. But evil is like water, it will find any little crack to come dripping out.
Since evil is not something that we as men will completely eradicate, we can only fight it - lest we be overcome - and move on. To move on to the future, we must let go of some of the piquancy of the past. However, we should embrace new advances with hesitancy. Not every new thing is better than what it replaces.
Educational Preference
My son is 7 months old and already several people have asked me what we intend to do about his education. Will we sent him to public school, private school, or will he be home schooled. Some people have posed the question with obvious expectation that I intend to home school my son. Maybe it’s because I taugh school for a while. I don’t know, maybe I just look like someone who would home school their child.
In all honestly, I’d like to keep 5 years old as far away as possible. I don’t really want to think about school right now. But that doesn’t mean I’ve never thought about the benefits and drawbacks of each of those three options. The end result can be similar in each situation.
From my experience with children, I believe them to be very open to learning until they reach about age 12. My experience with teenagers shows me that many teenagers are not interested in learning any more than they must in order to get by. I don’t know as a fact that this has to be the case, so I’d like to find a way to give my son the best start in learning and to help cultivate it so that he wants to learn more, not avoid it.
It is strange to see that providing education to all children (something that was meant to be a great opportunity) is burdensome to those very children. Most children don’t realize that except for public education, they might never learn anything. It is handed to them and is disregarded and distained in the same way a spoiled child is not thankful for his toys. That is a problem en masse that might possibly be corrected on an individual basis regardless of the means of education.
Teaching showed me that a very significant amount of time is wasted in the course of the day at school. I wish there was some opportunity to have children in school for only half of the day and train them in other ways at home the rest of the day. Being in school a whole day is exhausting and leaves little energy and motivation to learn valuable lessons at home.
Additionally, I think there would be some value to having high school be optional. In typical high schools there are two kinds of students – those who want to learn and those who do not want to learn. Those who do not want to learn probably do not learn much. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for them to spend that time developing a skill they can use in a job? But alas, this is unfair in a PC world. Those who chose the academic route would make more money than their friends who chose not to study books. It’s already this way with college, and college is no place for someone who does not want to be there. It just seems to be a waste of 4 good years where those who do not want to learn prevent those who do want to learn from learning anything.
This sad thought is what makes home schooling compelling to me, not the potential for Biblical education. Even if my son goes to a Christian school, I never want to expect that someone else will tell him about Jesus if I have not done so at home. School is for academic learning, not theological, political, or philosophical molding. So I go back to paragraph 5 – I wish there were someway to have children in school only half the day – I’m afraid this unreality is my preference.
In all honestly, I’d like to keep 5 years old as far away as possible. I don’t really want to think about school right now. But that doesn’t mean I’ve never thought about the benefits and drawbacks of each of those three options. The end result can be similar in each situation.
From my experience with children, I believe them to be very open to learning until they reach about age 12. My experience with teenagers shows me that many teenagers are not interested in learning any more than they must in order to get by. I don’t know as a fact that this has to be the case, so I’d like to find a way to give my son the best start in learning and to help cultivate it so that he wants to learn more, not avoid it.
It is strange to see that providing education to all children (something that was meant to be a great opportunity) is burdensome to those very children. Most children don’t realize that except for public education, they might never learn anything. It is handed to them and is disregarded and distained in the same way a spoiled child is not thankful for his toys. That is a problem en masse that might possibly be corrected on an individual basis regardless of the means of education.
Teaching showed me that a very significant amount of time is wasted in the course of the day at school. I wish there was some opportunity to have children in school for only half of the day and train them in other ways at home the rest of the day. Being in school a whole day is exhausting and leaves little energy and motivation to learn valuable lessons at home.
Additionally, I think there would be some value to having high school be optional. In typical high schools there are two kinds of students – those who want to learn and those who do not want to learn. Those who do not want to learn probably do not learn much. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for them to spend that time developing a skill they can use in a job? But alas, this is unfair in a PC world. Those who chose the academic route would make more money than their friends who chose not to study books. It’s already this way with college, and college is no place for someone who does not want to be there. It just seems to be a waste of 4 good years where those who do not want to learn prevent those who do want to learn from learning anything.
This sad thought is what makes home schooling compelling to me, not the potential for Biblical education. Even if my son goes to a Christian school, I never want to expect that someone else will tell him about Jesus if I have not done so at home. School is for academic learning, not theological, political, or philosophical molding. So I go back to paragraph 5 – I wish there were someway to have children in school only half the day – I’m afraid this unreality is my preference.
Pinch and Scrimp
Life is full of paradox. As much as I have resented our tight budget and penny pinching, I feel thankful too. Thankful in two ways – first, I feel thankful because having less money is always contrasting with how much we have, not just material things, but family, friends, faith, and in truth not just those things, but the material as well. We lack for nothing necessary. And even some of the things we have are luxurious. How can I feel in need when some have so much less of everything I have so much of?
Second I feel thankful for the lessons I am learning as we pinch and scrimp. When problems come and you have money, you tend to throw money at them. When problems come and you have no excess funds, you must get creative. Sometimes you learn how to fix something (like a radiator hose in your car). Sometimes you learn how to make something (like a stuffed animal as a gift for a child). Sometimes you learn a new use for something (like using a cereal bag and staples in place of zip-top bags or using the mall as a gym). Sometimes you learn that something smaller will do (like a booster seat instead of a high chair).
I know (or at least I hope) that our days of pinching and scrimping out of necessity will be limited. Eventually we will probably make more money than we absolutely need. I hope that being forced to limit our budget will teach us how to make the most of our money and waste less of it. I look forward to being debt free. I look forward to saving up for major purchases. I look forward to being prepared for life’s “inevitables” (no car lasts forever).
The best things about being poor? The knowledge that being poor does not mean being lazy. It does not mean being dirty. It does not mean being hungry (although it does mean you can’t eat out as often!). It does not mean being sad. It means you must prioritize. You must be creative. And most importantly, you must be thankful.
Second I feel thankful for the lessons I am learning as we pinch and scrimp. When problems come and you have money, you tend to throw money at them. When problems come and you have no excess funds, you must get creative. Sometimes you learn how to fix something (like a radiator hose in your car). Sometimes you learn how to make something (like a stuffed animal as a gift for a child). Sometimes you learn a new use for something (like using a cereal bag and staples in place of zip-top bags or using the mall as a gym). Sometimes you learn that something smaller will do (like a booster seat instead of a high chair).
I know (or at least I hope) that our days of pinching and scrimping out of necessity will be limited. Eventually we will probably make more money than we absolutely need. I hope that being forced to limit our budget will teach us how to make the most of our money and waste less of it. I look forward to being debt free. I look forward to saving up for major purchases. I look forward to being prepared for life’s “inevitables” (no car lasts forever).
The best things about being poor? The knowledge that being poor does not mean being lazy. It does not mean being dirty. It does not mean being hungry (although it does mean you can’t eat out as often!). It does not mean being sad. It means you must prioritize. You must be creative. And most importantly, you must be thankful.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Contractions
When I was learning to write, I was taught not to use contractions in formal papers. I think it is ironic, however, at the excessive use of contractions in pregnancy magazines.
Forty Days and Forty Nights
Yesterday at Publix my favorite bagger took my groceries out to my car. He is a nice old man with a thick accent and a clef palate. He also works for the county at my polling site, so he's kind of an old friend even though we've never exchanged names. He said, "You know, only 40 days til..." then he swirled his finger in the air to indicate a hurricane. I groaned.
Here it is again! It isn't likely that we'll have a hurricane on June 1, but it's the beginning of watching the tropics, of following orange, rotating patches westward on the weather map, of holding your breath and hoping they will turn out to sea. Hurricanes are terrible things that are even hard to pray about - you know they will hit someone, even if they miss you.
It once was safe to talk about the weather - no chance of offending anyone, but Katrina changed that. Not only did politicians rush to blame each other, I even heard one public official blame Max Mayfield - the director of the national hurricane center. Mayfield, who probably loses more sleep than anyone that time of the year, appears extremely compassionate, begging people to prepare and take the storm seriously.
So here comes hurricane season with its watches and warnings, with it's recommended evacuations and window shutters, with it's insurance rate hikes and long gasoline lines, with it's squally bands and low barometric pressure. Here it comes and we had better be prepared.
Here it is again! It isn't likely that we'll have a hurricane on June 1, but it's the beginning of watching the tropics, of following orange, rotating patches westward on the weather map, of holding your breath and hoping they will turn out to sea. Hurricanes are terrible things that are even hard to pray about - you know they will hit someone, even if they miss you.
It once was safe to talk about the weather - no chance of offending anyone, but Katrina changed that. Not only did politicians rush to blame each other, I even heard one public official blame Max Mayfield - the director of the national hurricane center. Mayfield, who probably loses more sleep than anyone that time of the year, appears extremely compassionate, begging people to prepare and take the storm seriously.
So here comes hurricane season with its watches and warnings, with it's recommended evacuations and window shutters, with it's insurance rate hikes and long gasoline lines, with it's squally bands and low barometric pressure. Here it comes and we had better be prepared.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Be Your Own Boss
Yesterday as I was leaving Publix, I did something that I once silently judged others for doing - I left my cart in the parking lot. Of course I had the baby with me and milk heating in the trunk, but the real reason I justified doing this is that Publix hires people to scan the parking lot and rescue abandoned carts, which is exactly what happened. Before I could back out of my space, a young man hurried to my cart and pushed it back to the store.
I can only imagine that he really would rather just sit and watch the parking lot than run out in the hot Florida sun and push carts around. I've worked in a variety of jobs and the one thing that is universal is that employees typically don't like doing what they are told to do. I've always admired a good work ethic and try to act like I want to do the work, even if I am really seething underneath. However, I know that not everyone tries to put on a good face. Many people openly complain about the work they must do.
Work - even the word is unpleasant, but it does not need to be. Compare a worker with a dreamer. A dreamer will work twice as hard (sometimes ten times as hard) just to accomplish their vision. There is a way to harness at least some of the dreamer in all of us and apply it to whatever work we must do. The key is in instilling a sense of ownership of the work which we do.
I believe ownership of work is similar to a relationship with a person. Anytime I meet someone and we become "instant" friends I am leery of where that friendship is going. Usually I have to spend time with someone over several occassions and a friendship develops. Unless you have a dream (and I suspect any dream needs time to develop as well), you will be working for someone and given time, I believe you can begin to make that work your own. It requires - being your own boss. You may not sign your own paycheck and hire 'n' fire, but you can have ownership over your part of your work. When you own it, you have more pride in it
Believe it or not, I've even seen this work in my own personal purgatory - cleaning the house. I like to cook, I like to sew, I like to read, but I do not like to mop, scrub, or wash. Still, as time has gone by, I have grown to have some sort of pride about my house and that gives me motivation to clean it.
As I write this I think of my tiny son who will some day leave his bed unmade and drop his socks on the floor mere inches from the hamper. I know this will happen and I wonder, "How do you cultivate a good work ethic in your children?" - not a sense of dogged obligation, but a genuine desire to do your best. I know part of it is modeling that characteristic, but I suspect that what we expect from them will impact it too. Will my son learn a good work ethic from being forced to pick up his clothes (or else!) or is there some way to grow in him a love for what is good and right?
Back to the young cart pusher, it's a menial job, but maybe - just maybe - he can look past the slight possibility that he won't push carts all his life and for a brief moment in time be the boss of the parking lot and take pride in seeing it cart free. A young man like that will at the very least run the store someday.
I can only imagine that he really would rather just sit and watch the parking lot than run out in the hot Florida sun and push carts around. I've worked in a variety of jobs and the one thing that is universal is that employees typically don't like doing what they are told to do. I've always admired a good work ethic and try to act like I want to do the work, even if I am really seething underneath. However, I know that not everyone tries to put on a good face. Many people openly complain about the work they must do.
Work - even the word is unpleasant, but it does not need to be. Compare a worker with a dreamer. A dreamer will work twice as hard (sometimes ten times as hard) just to accomplish their vision. There is a way to harness at least some of the dreamer in all of us and apply it to whatever work we must do. The key is in instilling a sense of ownership of the work which we do.
I believe ownership of work is similar to a relationship with a person. Anytime I meet someone and we become "instant" friends I am leery of where that friendship is going. Usually I have to spend time with someone over several occassions and a friendship develops. Unless you have a dream (and I suspect any dream needs time to develop as well), you will be working for someone and given time, I believe you can begin to make that work your own. It requires - being your own boss. You may not sign your own paycheck and hire 'n' fire, but you can have ownership over your part of your work. When you own it, you have more pride in it
Believe it or not, I've even seen this work in my own personal purgatory - cleaning the house. I like to cook, I like to sew, I like to read, but I do not like to mop, scrub, or wash. Still, as time has gone by, I have grown to have some sort of pride about my house and that gives me motivation to clean it.
As I write this I think of my tiny son who will some day leave his bed unmade and drop his socks on the floor mere inches from the hamper. I know this will happen and I wonder, "How do you cultivate a good work ethic in your children?" - not a sense of dogged obligation, but a genuine desire to do your best. I know part of it is modeling that characteristic, but I suspect that what we expect from them will impact it too. Will my son learn a good work ethic from being forced to pick up his clothes (or else!) or is there some way to grow in him a love for what is good and right?
Back to the young cart pusher, it's a menial job, but maybe - just maybe - he can look past the slight possibility that he won't push carts all his life and for a brief moment in time be the boss of the parking lot and take pride in seeing it cart free. A young man like that will at the very least run the store someday.
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