The Cycle

Anytime I have a project or a speech or a paper or a sermon to prepare I go through a certain cycle. It starts with optimism and good intentions. I will have the assignment, see what needs to be done and see myself doing well at it. I decide that I am not going to procrastinate or stress out this time. I give myself some deadlines and get to work. I make it through the research and brainstorming part just fine. I will still have plenty of time and motivation to carry me through. Then things start to go badly. I start to think that my thesis or main idea is bad. I start to see that it is going to turn out poorly. Then I get anxious. Then I procrastinate. Time goes by. As the due date looms near I start to get anxious about my procrastination which only leads to more of both. Eventually I end up finishing at the last minute, maybe even the night before. I don't feel good about it because I think that it should be better, but I hand it in or deliver it anyway. When it is all over I feel incredibly free and high spirited. I can see how things went wrong and how to fix them next time. Next time I will get it done early. Next time I do it well. And the cycle goes on...

High School Retreat

I went with the Sr. High youth on their retreat this weekend. There were four boys, three girls, and three adult leaders. We left the church at 5:30 to avoid the Friday traffic and headed up to Big Bear. Big Bear is a resort town up in the San Gabriel mountains. A parishioner has a "cabin" up there. (It is more like a house. The house next door has permanent residents.) There wasn't a lot of snow left but we still had a good time talking about faith, being a teenager with faith, temptation, why anyone comes to church, and other such things. They also seemed to like playing Cranium and shouting out random things, like "Travis" (he's the youth guy), or "dishwasher," or "there's a chicken in left field." We also sang and worshiped and walked around Big Bear a little. We finished off the weekend with a visit to the Big Bear Candy Store. They had amazing gelato.
The weekend tuckered me out a little, but I generally had a good time with the youth. They are all interesting in their own way and I pray that God will keep them in the faith.

Topless Women

Several weeks ago I started to notice these topless women in my apartment. Actually they aren't completely topless, they are wearing stylish brassieres and they are all very attractive. They don't say anything to me and they don't do anything. They just stand there in their brassiers. And they all look at me very seductively. Sometimes they twirl their hair or look at me coyly out of the corner of their eye. I actually think it is a little mean of them to come in here without their shirts on and look at me like that. I know that they are just trying to get my attention so that I go to Macy's and buy one of those stylish bras. But I don't need one. These women started coming around about the same time I started a subscription to the newspaper.
Several weeks ago I started receiving the Orange County Register. Carl Barth says that a theologian needs to keep a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. I have a lot of Bibles but I had no newspaper so I decided it might be a good idea to have one delivered to my door every morning. But anyway...

CRISES

I saw this video on the Life at Luther blog and I am posting it here again because I think this guy (whoever he is) is right on.

I was reading another blog today and he talks about what life was like the last time the Dow Jones Industrial average was this low. I don't remember there being a crises in 1997

Here is my two cents worth:
We are living luxurious lives, including me. I have my own apartment with my own indoor plumbing. I have my own car that I can drive anywhere. I have this computer that lets me communicate with people that are far away. I have so much food that I could buy and eat that I actually have to keep myself from eating too much. And if that isn't enough, on top of that I have a nice bicycle, a guitar, several pairs of shoes, a cell phone, etc. And many people have much more than I do!
But somehow things are in a "crises," and for some people it is. Some people are losing their jobs and have no money and will have to live on the streets and beg for food. Those people are in a crises. Most other people are simply loosing some of the extravagant luxury that they had before.
To put it another way: We were insanely stinkin' rich before, now we are just rich. We had insanely luxurious lifestyles, now they are less so. That is not a crises, it is just unfortunate.