O How I hate to fly!

I'm sitting in the airport getting ready to enter a hollow metal tube and travel at outrageous speeds thousands of feet above the terra firma. I just keep telling myself that, even though this does appear to be impossible and quite dangerous; people do this everyday. I also repeat other mantras like: "the pilot doesn't want to crash any more that you do" or "the airlines don't want a lawsuit any more than you want to crash."

I repeat the mantras. I internally chant the mantras. I make them into little songs and sing them over and over again in my head. But just as the tension starts to leave my neck and I feel like I can remove my finger nails from the seatback that is in front of me, a little voice in my head starts to whisper,

"Even though people do this safely every day, sometime people crash".

So I switch to my second mantra, "the pilot doesn't want to crash any more that you do".

The voice whispers:
"What if the pilot is having a bad day? What if he arrived home after his last flight to find his wife in bed with another man? What if he had too much to drink before take off?"

My third, and last mantra: "the airlines don't want a lawsuit any more than you want to crash."

The voice returns:
"If the airline can cut enough corners, save enough money on expensive airline plane maintenance, things like cheaper bolts on the wings, running the jet engines into the ground, the profits would be worth the risk of a lawsuit. What if the airlines maintain their planes like you maintain your car?"
By now my neck is tense. My fingernails have found the vinyl seat back in front of me. The passenger next to me is asking if I'm all right. My skin is whiter than white. The flight attendant is rolling her eyes in my direction. She has seen this before. She signals her partner and they start to prepare the wet sheet they will wrap my in to keep me constrained. The last thing they need is a portly balding Presbyterian minister running up and down the aisles screaming.

Thankfully before they take the sheet from its compartment another voice says, "This is your captain. We will be landing in about 15 minutes."

I can hold on for another 15 minutes.

My Aunt Ruth

My aunt Ruth is dying. I'll be going to see her tomorrow. I think I'll spend some time writing about her on the plane trip.

Back packing blues

I didn't go back packing this year. I saw the group off at 6:30 AM. They loaded their packs in the trailer. We made a circle, prayed and sang the doxology. The hopped in the vehicals and left. I took off for Starbucks and waved as the turned on to Julian Street. All through the day I prayed for them and as i did I pictured what they would be doing. Driving, talking, laughing, pit stops, getting the permit and eventually strapping on their packs and taking the long hike up the hill. Sweating, eating dust, straining, groaning, pushing on and the end getting there! The lake, the trout, the camp fires, the long talks, pooping in the woods and drinking filtered water from the lake. I wish I was there. God bless the back packers!

Hmmmmm

To blog or not to blog that is the question. I thought that I would get into this - but I'm not sure.

Safari glitch rant

As much as I love Macs - the Safari browser drives me crazy. It doesn't seem to want to load pages from bloger.com. If you keep pounding your return button it finally submits and will load the page. I've had this happen on other pages also - Think different - build things that work.

LA DAZE

Teri, Steve, Melia, Micah and Micah in a car for 6 hours. Singing along with St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Drinking cucumber and lemon flavored water. Crawling over the grapevine. Jumping in the pool. Seeing old friends and the wedding. Cruising down Ventura Blvd. Pickles and onion bagels at Jerry's World Famous Deli. Melia, Micah and Micah meeting up with old friends at Universal City Walk. Teri and Steve crashing early in the hotel room. Donut shops on every corner in the valley. German sausage, 4th of July parade, fudge and ice cream in Solvang. Racing to get back to San Jose before 6:30 so everyone can catch the fire works. Traffic jam. We make it in time. Everyone goes to the fireworks except Steve and Teri, who crashed on the couch and missed the fireworks. But we have seen fireworks before...

Collecting Stories about God

I'm collecting stories of how people have experienced God in their lives. I believe that God desires to reveal himself to each of us. But not one of us can know God in God's completeness in this life. As the Scripture says, "we see through a glass darkly". It is by sharing our spirtual experiences with others that we gain insight and understanding into who God is and how He involves His children in the life of His kingdom. In many ways, the Bible is a collection of stories of how everyday people experienced the Living God.

I once asked Steve, my brother-in-law, what his favorite TV show was and he surprised me when he replied that he didn't watch TV.
"But you have a TV in your house. I've seen it."

"Yeah, but I don't watch TV. I play TV."

What he meant was that he played video games. He had no interest in a vicarious life of news, sitcoms and game shows. He wanted involvement, participation, and more control than a mere remote control. Seated in his easy chair, Nintendo control in hand, Steve was playing TV.

I've never really gotten into video games past Pong, but I understand what Steve was saying. You can only sit on the sidelines so long. At some point you want to get off the bench and get into the game. Sad to say, many of the things we do at church seem to say that faith is a passive vicarious thing, rather than an active living involvement. We sit in pews, listen to sermons, and read scriptures. All passive. All playing off someone else's experience. When do we get into the action and experience it for ourselves?

From now until Christmas, I am collecting stories of how people in our church experience God for themselves. They could be stories of answered prayer, unanswered prayer, how you met God, a time you knew God was close, a time you heard God, or a time you stepped out in faith. I will use some of these stories as the basis of the 2005 Lent Adventure devotion journal. All stories will be printed anonymously. Please email your stories to me at steve@revnorman.com

Dental Surgery

All went better than expected! I am feeling fine and there was very little pain. The titanium socket has been planted in my jaw and it has to heal for six months before they can put on the tooth. It really is a long process, but I think it will be worth it.

I'm not looking forward to Monday Morning

I would appreciate any and all prayers on Monday morning. I'm going to be getting a dental implant for a tooth I broke and it had to be removed. It is going to be quite a process. I don't like going to the dentist, but I dislike being put under anesthesia even more.
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Office Nightmare

I am committed to getting my office organized! It has been a tiring, overwhelming process. My desk, couch, coffee table and chairs are now clear. People come in to my office and almost fall over from shock! I'm not sure if this is good or bad. I think the clearing the bookcase is the next step to serenity. Below is an artist's rendition of my office's usual appearance
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Granddad

Wow - here is a picture of my grandaughter in utero! Amazing! I've been watching all sorts of baby TV shows to get used to the idea of having a little one around the house again. It has been a long time since there has been a baby around.

Trip to Wisconsin

Teri and I spent a wonderful 10 days in Wisconsin for Alex and Karissa's wedding. We also took a quick trip to the UP and visited some friends in Munising.

I'm just getting started

Hmmm .... I don't think I should have started this just before I was to leave for work. I guess I'll work on this later