Snow Emergency

The county that I live in has declared a "snow emergency." The local newspaper had the announcement on its web site, which allows comments on the stories. Here are two such comments:

Mrs.WTuesday, January 27, 2009:
10:02 pm
After reading what WBIW.COM has written about
the weather, I think I should of bought more milk and
bread!

jlgaddisTuesday, January 27,
2009: 10:05 pm
Mrs.W said:After reading what WBIW.COM has
written about the weather, I think I should of bought more milk and
bread!
I should've bought more beer.

Gotta love the spirit of the people of Lawrence County!

Starbucks Pledge 5

Check out the new Starbucks movement: http://pledge5.starbucks.com/

Cracked Front View

I gotta be honest. I’d like a new vehicle. If not new, at least new to me. All of our vehicles have 100K miles, complete with rattles and knocks. I battle feeling second class when I take my kids and their friends somewhere. No DVD in the van. No new car smell. Only spilt coffee stains and dirty, sweaty sports gear. Sweet.

While I’d like a different vehicle, the reality is, like many folks caught in our economic funk, it just ain’t happenin’. So I’ve been kind of pouting about not having any money. Yada yada yada. Know what I mean?

And then on New Year’s Eve, someone politely threw a bottle at the windshield of my van, shattering the glass. It’s funny how my desires shifted. In the time it took for the spider web of cracks to run across my windshield, I found myself only wishing that I could get my old 146K mile “Adventure Wagon” put back together so it would be safe. Wishing for a cool ride was replaced by being thankful that I at least had a van that my family could fit into.

With the toss of a bottle, God taught me about contentment. May it be a lesson that stays with me as my old van carries the Collins’ to further adventures!

Meriwether Lewis and 2009

My friend, Todd Sellers, suggested that I read Undaunted Courage, which is the story of Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. Anywho - I ran across a quote made by Lewis (including his miss-spellings) that I found challenging, especially as 2009 lies just a few days before us.

"This day I completed my thirty first year . . . I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little indeed, to further the hapiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation. I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now soarly feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended." He resolved: "In future, to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself."

It Was Not a Silent Night

May this song touch your soul this Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas!

Starbucks Church

What if . . . Starbucks took their marketing cues from the Church? Hmmm.



HT to Mark Waltz for posting/sharing the video.

Second Coming

I've been thinking about Advent a bit the past few weeks.

I guarantee that I am not the only person who feels a little (lot?) overwhelmed with the celebration of materialism that Christmas has become. And it's not just this year with the gloomy economy that is shaping these thoughts for me, though I can't deny that the bleak nature of things right now has impacted a lot of us. The pace of our days has just hammered me as well. It seems that we hardly have time to breathe any more. Know what I mean? It's rush to buy this, and rush to go here, all while seeming to be on auto-pilot. Do we even think about what we're doing? Why we're doing it? Do we even stop to consider what the source of the stress is that is weighing on us?

Of course, I'm indicting myself in all of that. We didn't even start shopping until December 14. I got on the Web and broke the ice. We finished up on December 20. It amazes me to consider that some folks will start shopping for NEXT Christmas at this year's "Day After Christmas" sales. Are we crazy? What really concerns me is that Christmas is now just 3 days away, and I have not shared ONE single Advent devotional or thought with my family. The wreath and candles are on my dining room table. But that's been the extent of our "remembrance." Nice.

So I woke up yesterday thinking about Easter. That's not a typo. My thought, which I try and reflect on each Good Friday, is that the death of Jesus is meaningless unless there is a Resurrection. Good Friday could never be "good" if it wasn't followed by Easter. Advent, then, is much like that for me. Advent is about the waiting, the anticipating, of Christ's coming. But I wonder if I short-change Advent by not considering it in light of Jesus' second coming. Christmas proves deeply moving to me in that I learn not only that Jesus came – Immanuel, God with us – but it reminds me that He is coming again. So I can add my voice to those over the ages who simply pray, "Come, Lord Jesus."

May I – and may you – rest in the truth that Jesus came once, and He will come again.

May there be Peace in that for you this Christmas season.

AMEN.

MHS Lady Jackets Defeat the BNL Lady Stars

For all of the MHS Lady Jacket basketball players who have been pounded by Bedford NL over the years, the 2008-09 MHS Lady Jackets are proud to give you this early Christmas gift:

Unfortunately, It's True

Sooner or later, even the most conservative folks who want to call those who warn of global warming "tree hugging liberals" will have to come to grips with this idea: Global warming is real. In this USA Today article, NASA scientists talk about how our severe weather patterns will be affected.

So, unless you also refuse to believe that NASA put a man on the moon, here is the inconvenient truth: http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-12-19-global-warming-severe-storms_N.htm?csp=34

Advent