itinerary

we're packing up our home tomorrow, and leaving on Wednesday for the Great Trek across America ^TM that will culminate in our relocation to Cumming, GA. My blogging will be spartan at best, but I look forward to being able to regale you with the saga of travelling 1935 miles and the untold adventures that await.

male and female He made them...

The BBC reports a scientific study that there are only 78 genes differentiating men from women.

78.

seems inordinately small, if you ask me.

here's just a few (deliberately trying to be non-offensive, by the way). And these are anecdotal, and therefore perhaps not inclusive in the list of 78.

1. I was emotional when John Elway retired, but logical when a beloved dog died. My wife was logical when John retired, emotional at the dog's passing.
2. I still cannot color coordinate outfits. My wife was born with the ability to accomplish this.
3. Under extreme circumstances, I can wear the same underwear for more than one day. My wife is aghast at this.
4. A five minute computer game "break" can turn into a 3-hour battle to complete a level that will result in me growling to the children, "not now, Daddy's working!" Kelli is able to log on, check her email, send replies, and log off. This baffles me.
5. My beloved is extremely organized in all facets of her life. I share that organization with my music collection, which is categorized by genre, sub-categorized by decade, and further categorized alphabetically. Unfortunately my tax records are compiled in a cardboard box kept together with duct tape and labeled "Taxes 1992---Eternity."
6. I don't get Steel Magnolias. She doesn't get Gladiator. Neither of us will make a discernable effort to bridge this bilateral gap of misunderstanding.
7. When several of the original Blake Street Bombers of the Colorado Rockies re-signed with other teams, I understood this as the economics of baseball. She understood this as a breakup where the guy was suddenly dating the ex's best friend.
8. I call my son "dude," "bud," and "big guy." She calls him "baby," "sweetheart," and "darlin'."
9. My wife is concerned about having smooth heels and soft hands, and will buy products to help acheive these aims. I am concerned only with having a non-retreating hairline and not having body odor. I've only had to buy products for one of these concerns, but will, if necessary, purchase anything and everything necessary to maintain the other.
10. Morning prep time. Her: 1 hour on a good day. Me: 20 minutes on a bad day.

It was the great theologian Jerry McGuire who said, "you....complete....me." and it was his counterpart (don't remember her name) who said, "you had me at 'I'm a sports agent who makes a 6 percent commission on multimillion dollar athlete contracts and endorsement deals.'" I don't know what that has to do with anything, other than we live in a world where we have a lot of Mickey Gilley relationships takin' place. You know: Lookin' for love in all the wrong places.

You don't know how thankful and blessed I feel to have one wife...for life. When God brought Kelli into my life, I wasn't looking for love, much less looking for a wife. All I was looking for was a friend who was willing to drive me home. Over the next several months, we learned just how different we were from each other. But with each difference, God's Spirit whispered to each of us in His inimitable way, This is the one I've chosen for you. And before I knew it, even without looking for something so wonderful, I discovered that I would never be albe to live my life 'in completion,' if she wasn't a part of it.

I'm glad God made me and my wife so different. We are so alike on important matters of faith, of sense of humor (though I tend to laugh longer and harder at jokes related to body functions than does she), the passions that compel us, and other practical ideologies. But she is so very feminine. She is such a godly woman. I've said before that I never again need to hear another sermon on the Proverbs 31 woman, because I experience a living sermon each and every day with one. She honors God, she lives for Christ, and She follows His Holy Spirit. She defers to me, but always encourages me, offers me wise counsel, and most important, prays for me. Apart from my salvation, she is undoubtedly God's greatest gift in my life.

For eight years, I've had the privilege to be her husband. God could have given her to anybody, and they would have been blessed to get her. But He saw fit to bless me. Too often, I fail to prove that I deserve such a blessing. And oh, how I feel the weight of responsibility to be the steward that God has ordained me to be as her husband, and the father of her children. But time and again, He uses her to impart grace upon grace in my life, demonstrating in tangible, memorable, and eternally important ways that I am a better man, a better husband, a better father, and a better Christ-follower because she and I are made one flesh, by our faith in Him.

The psalm of my heart praises God for the blessing of my wife. I thank Him for her, on this special day. And on every day.

another shining example of good customer service



perhaps I was being paranoid, but as I worked through the myriad of button-pushing related to the automated voice menus necessary to turn off the gas to my home, I was placed on hold to speak with a customer service representative.

The song playing to fill the void of empty silence

na na na na hey hey hey goodbye...

and then

I kid you not

I was disconnected.

a loss in the family

A relative of mine, Stacy Young, was recently killed in a "Toughman" Contest held in Florida.

Here are a series of articles related to her death.

In the email updates I have received from family on this matter (she is the daughter of one of my dad's cousins), the negligence occurred on the following levels:

1. She was invited to participate because the contest needed women (and I think her entry fee was waived to accomodate that).
2. She was matched against someone with much more advanced skills
3. The ring doctor doubled as the ring photographer, and was apparently so busy taking photos of her death blow that he wasn't available to administer aid.

I don't know how this will all play out. Lawsuits will likely be involved.

Please pray for Stacy's family -- especially her two daughters who witnessed the tragedy.

on garage sales, babies, friendships & controversy

we completed our garage sale on Saturday. We made about $100 total. We didn't expect to make much, because we didn't have anything over $10 listed for sale. And most of the stuff that was priced at $10, we sold for $5.

That is, except, for all the baby stuff. We hadn't moved much of Kelsi's merchandise. So near the end of the sales day on Sat., we saw that a neighbor girl who was also moving was *very* pregnant. So we decided to give her all our things. This included a stroller, a bath, two car seats, a bouncy seat, and two boxes of clothes. We decided there was no real good reason to take money for it, since she was obviously young, and would need all the money she had (actually I think she made us take $4 for it).

Well, we were feeling pretty good about helping her out. Then, yesterday, Kelli came across some things (like a baby monitor) that we thought she could use. So, she packed it all up and took it across the street to give to the (sonn-to-be grand)mom to give to her (mother-to-be) daughter. Turns out the girl's mom wasn't so thrilled with out benevolence. She had comethisclose to convincing her daughter to give the baby up for adoption. But then, after receiving all our stuff, she determined that she could do it on her own.

Turns out the mom to be is 14 years old.

oh yeah, so is the dad-to-be.

we were apologetic about it, and the girl's mom said she wasn't angry with us. But the more we thought about it, we didn't really feel bad.

I mean, how often do you go to a pregnant woman and ask, "is it okay with your mom if we give you this stuff?"

we determined she (obviously) wasn't too concerned about getting mom's permission on important matters.

The area we were convicted of the most is that we never took enough advantage of getting to know them to know what the situation was before we're all moving away from each other.

the moral of the story: a well-intentioned gift is always nice, but a well-intentioned friend is always the better gift.

sung to the tune of Janey's (on the personnel committee) Got a Gun


I've never been fired. From anything.

but I found this to be interesting from founders.org

How to fire your Pastor.

(note: please make sure the chamber, as well as the cartridge of your revolver is empty before you attempt to clean it. Accidental discharge may result in serious injury, or even death.)

how to win links and influence bloggers

the list of most influential blogs, and the people who love them (or maybe not).