My dog has fleas. They are a real nuisance. I got a book today that has some pretty good ideas. I'll keep you posted...
(excerpted from the book "Flea Control For Dummies" by E. Olmert)
There's a candle on my desk today. My
daughter gave it to me for Christmas. I love candles. I guess you could
say I mostly love "playing with them." I am not a pyro. It is mostly
therapeutic, I think. Sometimes I like to just sit and watch the candle
burn in its left-alone-to-the-laws-of-
It's fun to think of myself in some weird "God of the Candles" role - dictating and controlling the life of this candle with virtually no regard for its feelings or its kin. In this role, the candle does only one thing - burn - and only in a predictable, containable way. Beyond that, all power is mine. I lit it. I control the wax. It doesn't need me to do its job, but I can make it miserable. It warms me, and its beauty makes something in me happy. If I didn't have any other light, it would keep me from tripping over stuff. But then I wonder, is that really how I think of God? Is it a healthy or true picture? I would like to think not, but I am not so sure. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (and the fingers type).
I think about how a candle works - ok so maybe not this particular one. The wax is the fuel. It's a hydrocarbon, but it will only burn as a gas. Did you know that? Try to light wax on fire. You can't do it with a normal flame. Something has to be added to make the wax evaporate. The wax vapors are what burns. The wick draws liquid wax up, and the heat from the flame vaporizes and then burns the wax. The wick is transformed to carbon, but is not consumed very quickly because of the ready supply of the more volatile wax fuel. But at the end of the candle's life, when the wax runs out, the wick will burn away too. A wooden match stuck into the wax and lit will also acts as a wick, albeit not an efficient one. But it will work. I've done it. You can also blow out a candle, and then for the next few seconds, light the smoke coming off the wick. Done that too.
Flames that burn the hottest, burn out the fastest. The candle will only burn as long as it exists. It consumes itself, and once it's gone, it's gone. I have upset the balance of this candle. Much of the wax that would have been used as fuel has drained out onto my desk. It's beautifully useless. A monument to what might have been. Had it been in a glass or ceramic container, much if not all of its fuel would have burned over time, but as it is now, I have a candle that will fade and be snuffed within a few short hours I am guessing.
The wax pool has risen, and the flame has shortened. This is good for the prolonged life of the candle, but I want a bigger, prettier flame. I guess I think big equals pretty when it comes to flames. Why is that? I mustn't let this candle think it's in control. It's trying to self-regulate! Who does it think it is? Time to melt another hole. There. That's better. Big flame and more waxed poured out. Now to fold the sides in over the flame a bit. Nice. We are cooking.
You know, I have just come to realize that I have enjoyed the hell out of thoroughly destroying this candle, and now it is gone, and I don't have it anymore. I am sad and cold and sitting in a darker room. I miss my candle.
Thanks, Lauren. Your gift was simple and true, and I think it taught me something about you and your brothers. I need to let you burn at your own rate, even if that doesn't warm my hands or tickle my eyes quite the way I want it to. Your life is your candle. I can light you and enjoy you. Maybe trim your wick from time to time, and those things are good for you, but I can also make your life miserable and melt away the very things that will sustain you. I don't want to do that. You belong WITH me, but you don't belong TO me. I just take care of you. You belong to God. You belong to your fellow Man. You belong. Don't forget that.
The funny thing about the picture here of the surfer dude, is that bike riding couple that rode into the way the first time.
Seriously, no one in SoCal has a day job. They are all riding bikes and surfing.
Some shots from Carlsbad, CA.
Our first view of the Pacific. Mom's favorite thing to do is to stare at the sea. Evidently, Dad's favorite thing is to hang back and fiddle with his iPhone, so he can come up and surprise us with some surfing music. I'm not sure "Wouldn't It Be Nice" counts.
This weekend, I am travelling to Oceanside, CA, for my friend Paul Vanderwey's wedding. This is a picture of the in-flight entertainment system on the long flight from Atlanta to San Diego. This system was a great way to pass the time, as long as you weren't in seats 35 D E or F, where they weren't working.
I was in 35D.
This is funny and true...
Dateline: Fort Mill, South Carolina
11/11/08
A South Carolina man just found out the limit of human ability-to-keep-one's-shit-together, when he introduced his wife to the online micro-blogging service Twitter.
"Everything was fine, and then -pop- a little gasket must have let go in my skull," the man said in a phone interview from the mental hospital he just checked into. "There I was, I had just updated my status in Facebook, when my gmail got a note that my wife had sent me a private message in Facebook. While I was replying to that message, my gmail notified me that she had commented on my Facebook status. As I surfed over to read that comment, gmail chat beeped at me and told me that she needed the lyrics to a song or a recipe for tripe or something, and then she tweeted on Twitter how much she loved me. And then my bowels let go."
The man is resting comfortably in his suite at Lazy Rainbows Mental Hospital. He can be reached via Twitter, Facebook private message, Facebook Wall, Facebook comment, Gmail chat, Gmail, SMS, cell phone, his office phone which forwards to his cell phone, US Mail, carrier pigeon, certified courier, semaphore, and Cherokee smoke signals. Until the lithium kicks in.
Background link: Dutch Sheets pretty much says we're in deep trouble now...
My Friends,
I too, once and for all, consider myself post-charismatic. I am absolutely sick to my stomach to think that we have devolved as a movement - yea a church - into seeing the world through first testament language. I know some wings of the church have always had this view, but I thought we were different. We are not. We still think God gets us to do things through fear and threat of punishment. When we feel that God treats us this way, we start to treat others the same way. Will there ever be a time when loves rules? Seriously, is there any hope?
For this reason, I refuse to include myself in this "we" anymore. I know a lot of people - people who I think are good people - who call themselves Charismatic and who listen to the counsel of others based upon whether or not they are also using this label. If it was ever unclear, I officially quit this game.
I am not walking away from the Lord . If anything, I am walking towards Him even more, because I believe that He is moved by love, not judgment. I believe we live in a world of fallen people whom God loves anyway. When I find something to do to show love to people, I do it. When I find reason to judge them for their sin or stupidity, I choose to love them instead. If it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict, I think he'll do a better job without my help.
And if I am wrong and our nation 'goes to hell' or gets judged based on this election, it will only be one in a long line of charges that can be leveled against it. Genocide. Theft. Forced Labor. Ignorance of the poor (the true sin of Sodom). Destruction of the Earth. Wasteful consumption. Greed. Racial hatred. Idolatry. I don't think a case can be made that this "great nation" is not also guilty of everything on that list, and more besides. The audacity it takes to arbitrarily proclaim God's judgment of this nation because of an election is truly beyond the pale.
With love for all,
Eli Renner
founder of Ex-Charismatics For Jesus.
