Welcome, Mr. Bear!!

I once knew a little girl who would walk to church every Sunday with her Mom. One day, the little girl decided to bring her favorite stuffed animal, Edward Bear, to church. As Mom was filling out the registration card for mother and daughter, the little girl was filling out a guest registration card for Edward Bear. The church was a small and welcoming Baptist church, so all guests got a welcome letter in the mail. In a few days, a very perplexed mother asked her little daughter why The First Baptist Church of Sunland had sent a letter addressed to Mr. Edward Bear. The church hoped he had enjoyed his visit (he did), and invited him to come again (he didn't).

Novels and a novel idea

Many of my favorite novels are set in English countyside manors. However, this post has nothing to do with countryside manors (other than to say that many of my favorite novels are set in them), but has everything to do with manners. As I am sick and it is raining again (I think L.A. is having an identity crisis), I was watching a very informative and highly sophisticated show, Rolie Olie Polie, wherein the main characters took a video camera to the streets to capture good manners in action. Many of us who are reading this unassissted haven't heard much about good manners since our mothers tried to teach us some. However, as the idea of good manners in general was bouncing around in my brain, I realized that they are just as important for us to act on now as they were when we were younger. Sharing my toys is just as important. (I do have a lot of toys, and have been known to carry a case of dominoes or a miniature deck of cards in my purse expressly to share with the children in my life.) I also must share my time, my home, my dinners, clothes, books, etc., etc,. And say "please" and " thank you" and DO'NT SAY ANYTHING AT ALL IF YOU CAN'T SAY SOMETHING NICE! I still say my prayers daily, if not more. Who needs TV for "reality"? Real reality is right outside your door-are you kind to your neighbor? Are you careful where you park? Do you make a lot of noise late at night. Reality is inside your door. Do you say "please" and "thank you" to your husband and children? Do you let friends come over for a cup of tea or a nap? Reality is even closer than that. It's in your heart. Do you think kind thoughts? True, pure, honorable thoughts?
As the title of the show said, "Your'e a Polie delight when your'e Polie polite." It is important for people (and cartoons) of all ages to keep our good manner monitors in high gear.

A CD release party leading to a shameless plug

Another Saturday night, another music biz party. It's almost enought to make you think I'm cool or hip or trendy or happenin', or something like that. Actually a couple of our dear friends were celebrating the release of Darby Hughes' new CD, "What Language Shall I Borrow?" Accompanying him was our great friend and brother and the coolest cat around, reknown upright bass player Roberto Miranda, who also has a CD. Our friend John played guitar and mandolin, and Tim did percussion, which included playing the cajon he had hand made for himself and for Roberto. The two did an amazing cajon duet. The crowd was in shock and awe. Darby sang a lot of old, ancient hymns that he arranged, and he gave a really great and interesting history of each. He also sang some beautiful songs he's written for his lovely wife. Darby's music is just too good to pass up, and I couldn't let an opportunity to introduce others to him and his music pass me by. His website is www.darbyhughes.com.

Giving Thanks in the Raining Chaos

I knew perfectly well what I was going to write. I was planning to pose some important questions, such as, "Are you thankful for the eyesight God has given you that allows you to read this blog?", and "Are you thankful for the chair your'e probably sitting on as you work on your computer?" "What about the friends youv'e made by reading their posts and commenting on their blogs? Are you thankful?" And then something happened that made it very hard for me to be a thankful person. I awoke to hear my very sedate little dog barking like crazy, because there were strange and completely unexpected men tearing the roof off my house. I called my husband and he came home immediately, and like any sensible person whose roof is being torn off (which sounds like elephants playing jump rope on the roof, accompanied by shovelfuls of old wood with rusty nails being thrown from the roof at irregular intervals), my guests-yes, we had overnight guests with us-and I packed up our dogs and went to the beach. Before it started raining at the beach, we walked along the boardwalk, then met some relatives for a nice lunch, and then we learned how to play dominoes as we sipped on some calming and refreshing chamomile tea. My little planned post on thankfulness became a lot harder to practice than to preach that day, but God does command us to be "thankful in all things" and consider the trials of life to be joyful--even when you only have half a roof and it's raining cats and dogs and you have guests and you don't understand all the rules for dominoes. "Consider it all joy . . . "
I do have my eyesight, and a chair at my computer, and I've been really encouraged meeting people through my blog.

Interconnecteness, living like a book, and ridiculously varying opportunities

Well, this will be a long one because a lot of thoughts and ideas have been perculating in my head since I last wrote, many spurred on by intellectual chit-chat with friends. My first theme is the interconnectedness we all share. In breif, the domino effect. To elaborate on this here idea, what I'm talking about is how our actions-good and bad-affect people we won't even meet. We'll start with the good action of greeting a stranger in a coffee shop with a friendly "Howdy." That person will smile at a stranger in turn, and they may even be a nicer person to work with at the office that day, all because of your "Howdy." You just might affect the whole day of a bunch of office workers who you don't know. "One good turn deserves another." Unfortunately, not all turn are good. Some actions are bad-even downright sinful. That's where it gets ugly. I think we all know just too well how the impatience and grumpiness of one person can rub off on us, and before you know it, there we are, being impatient and grumpy. As I can personally attest to in an incident that happened this very day, this can occur instantaneously-"in the twinkling of an eye." As individuals, we have no idea how much power we weild, and how much influence we have-consciously or not-over others. My second big thought also has to do with other people, socially, and what we do for eachother. There is much difference of opinion on the Biblical definition of fellowship. I am no teacher or scholar, and make no such pretense. I do, however, view any time shared with fellow Christians as fellowship, because every minute spent with other believers is another minute that will cause me to consider those who will be affected by my actions and choices. And considering those people, I'll realize how much I would hate to hurt or disappoint them, which will affect my actions and choices for the good of all and the glory of God. The last thing I will write about tonight is the extreme oddity that I just came from the home of a good friend, who was throwing a shindig to celebrate the success of his band, Godspeed (which may be re-named Third Heaven soon). It was just so . . . different from my life. I stay home a lot, read a lot, walk my dog, generally lead a pretty quiet life, but my husband has been helping our good friend edit and master the promotional DVD for their band. And so I found myself at a party celebrating the success of this band, with all the band members and their wives and kids, and great Mexican food. And fellowship. A really, really good time of fellowship, wherein I found the Biblical basis for the name "Third Heaven."

A Rude Awakening, Looking Forward, and Perambulating

As I was laying in bed, there came an annoying number of rings at the doorbell. My husband had just gone into the shower, my dog was going crazy, and whoever was at my door would not tell me who they were despite my yelling at the top of my lungs. Neither would they just go away, so I eventually got out of my bed and peeped out the door. The roofing company we hired TWO YEARS AGO decided to deliver all the roofing materials to our house this morning WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE. So, half awake and talking through the screen door to the delivery guy, I said, "OK, whatever, just leave the stuff in front of our house, I guess."
Onto happier thoughts, David says in Psalm 27, "I would have lost heart unless I believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living." The ultimate goodness of God Christians will see in the land of the living is in Heaven, in the land God has prepared for His people. On earth, we see God's goodness every day, in nature, in loving relationships, His goodness is everywhere. We look forward to those special times when we will see His goodness so clearly, like during an upcoming trip, or a dinner with friends, and that keeps us going even through the tough times.
Now I will perambulate, survey, and walk through the neighborhood on this beautiful day, just because I can. To quote Amos Lee, "I go out walkin', in any season; It might be rainin', it might be freezin'. 'Aint got no reason, it's just so pleasin', I can't stop."

Spiritual Mambo, or Sorry, O

Remember that oh-so-popular swingin' mambo song from a few years back, "A little bit of Erika in my life, a little bit of Lulu by my side . . ."? It seems like major media players are trying to sell religion like that. A little bit of Muslim theology over here, some Buddhism over there, and some radical feminist theory just to keep things interesting. Old MacDonald may have had a farm with a quack, quack, here, and a moo, moo, there, but religion doesn't work like that. Popular opinion seems to think religion, or "spirituality", is about SELF-self worth, self respect, self love, self everything, and that you can pick and choose your beliefs according to whatever suits your fancy from all the options out there. True religion is about God. God. Not "the higher power", not "the guy upstairs", not "whatever-you-want-to-call-him/her/it", and certainly not about "your inner goddess." True religion is about the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the Almighty, the Creator of all, the only one who can save you.
Sorry,O, but someone had to clear things up.

Seeing People as Buildings

Some very fond memories I have are sitting outside of a local coffeeshop, watching a building being built across the street. It hit me then that buildings are built-they don't just suddenly appear out of nowhere. That profound epiphany led me to the realization that people are built, too-they don't just walk into your life at 20 or 30 years of age with no past or history behind them. I'm not talking just about "baggage", the emotional scars people carry with them throughout their lives, but also "luggage"-their histories, their pasts, victories, failures, friends, the reason they are afraid of cows, what it is that motivates them to do what they do, all the the things a good friend will ask about-and really listen to. People are buildings, too. We have all been shaped by different forces and weathered many storms. A good friend will look beyond the facade, beyond the new coat of paint, and see what's really there-all the inner workings, the flaws, the beauties, everything.

Vords, vords, vords

I've just registered for the Word of the Day e-mail. So now, instead of having parties, I will have shindigs, wingdings, hoedowns, hoo-has, and even hullaballoos (which is the name of a friend's blog.) I will not allow myself to be referred to as a party animal, as that conjures up visions of drunken foolishness and filthy living, yet I have no objection to "shindig animal". In fact, the originality of it rather makes me want to throw my hoe down and invite my friends over for a small fete here at our house. I'll make the iced mochas.