Crying About Shoelaces...Hearing Voices in Situation Comedy

What's one difference between between little boys and men?

Here's one: A man's ability to choose what to cry about; it contrasts what he would have been crying about as a boy. So, for example, if you find a mature Western male blubbering through tears because he's having difficulty tying his shoe, you're likely to suspect there's a lot more going on for him than just tangled shoelaces!

I just suggested, and you probably caught it, that this difference (between men and boys) can also be influenced by cultural background. Even our dog Gandalf seems to know "instinctual culture" (if you please) teaches cats to "Hiss!" at him. Cultural differences have the power to influence us about what's appropriate and deserving of a good emotional manifestation--a "Hiss" (?) or an outburst with tears--or not. (Although I'm not sure I'd want to find a man crying--or God forbid "Hissing"--about his shoe-tying difficulties.)

Between philosophical and world view-contrasted people, we should expect to find some cultural differences. They're a manifestation of their different moral and ethical priorities and the related societal/interpersonal expectations and emotional dynamics.

Who has not seen recent dramatic manifestations of grief, pain and suffering associated with the death of leaders, friends, and loved ones in Japan, the Middle East or North Korea? Certainly the human heart understands and empathizes with these losses. The differences in public manifestation of this pain, take for example the emotional tone and intensity of American's loss and grief after 9/11, may appear behaviorally muted to some cultures--controlled(?). One or another cultural style is not better than anothers'--there's no "right or wrong" here--they're just different. Each is observably and respectfully nuanced by culture.

If you want little boys--or kittens--to act differently...well, good luck with that. But if you want men to act differently...hmmm. You've got to change the culture, inside, where the little boys are growing up. And how do ya do that? Well, you've got to influence the philosophical foundations of the culture itself--change (or at least gradually massage) its moral and ethical commitments in the direction you want them to go. And how do you do that? Well, subtly...and very, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

In English cultures, situation comedy--television's "sit-coms"--are a completely marvelous example of this process. Oh Ratz...That's gonna need to be it for know....but if you're interested and having fun, keep your eye on this blog for a couple weeks as I chase this --crying about shoelaces stuff--a little further.

"For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding..." Proverbs 2: 6-15, RSV.

Dick

Merry Christmas! (And don't shush me...)

I was a kid... at Harding Elementary School in Corvallis, Oregon. When I was in the second, the third, and then the fourth grades. I vividly remember participating in several amazing school Christmas pageants that marked each of those tender years.

I certainly can't sing like that little songbird anymore, but as a young lad I had solo vocal parts in those events. Yup, that was some heady stuff for a nine year-old. "Myrrh is mine its bitter perfume..." were the intro words for one of those contributions. The story of Mary and Joseph, of the Nativity--the birth of the Christ Child, celebrating the visitation by the angels and the wise men--was all central to that annual presentation, and it was put on by and at the public school, supported by the system behind it, and of course attended by the community. Wow, wow, wow!

That event, and many other similar occasions and cultural "institutions" throughout the year showcased an exemplary American mindset and behaviors--a societal Character, if you please. Take for example, Thanksgiving, Lent and Easter, Sunday's Blue Laws, etc. These modeled what had become (though 200 years of American history to that point on the international landscape) a world-renown Christian Nation-type respect for God. It showcased an aggressive pride in country and a commitment to an almost unqualified world-wide neighborliness (albeit equivocally salted with some cross-culturally manipulative expressions not always well executed).

Every bit as amazing was America's--our culture's--resounding commitment to family values--truth telling, personal honesty and lawfulness, interpersonal morality, and personal integrity, and to time time-tested appropriate manifestations of their effectiveness. Citizens generally displayed these--whether they were "churched" people or not. They ascribed to these values, they taught them to their children, they generally tried to showcase them in their own lives and conduct, and they typically required them of one another. We expected to see them as matters of fact and course in business and politics. Admittedly, some people did this hypocritically when, in fact, they weren't personal subscribers to the normative values in the way they wanted to operate). They were the "Mr Potters" and "Ebenezer Scrooges" of that day.

I attended my wonderful (and only) grand daughter's Christmas play this past weekend. Watching the event take place in a local church forced me to realize the contrast between the school setting where I sang, "Oh Holy Night", way back then, and the "politically correct" setting for "this kind" of singing and the related events now. Wow, we've certainly "...come a long way baby," but I sense it's a long way d-o-w-n from those comparatively lofty heights, indeed.

Some people will immediately respond with something like, "Oh, how can you say that? People still dream of getting to the USA to live, love, and play out their lives, and they 'risk life and limb' to get here...yada, yada, yada...This is still the land of great opportunity, where dreams are realized and where freedoms reigns! Political and life-freedoms have never been more celebrated and vigorously protected for all peoples--races, religions, sexual persuasions...yada, yada, yada." Yup, and that's exactly what the now proverbial fat frog would say to his fellow frog as they both sit quite relaxed in the warming fount of the French Chef's pot.

Societal indicators depicting our potential demise LOUDLY contradict the optimistic "Yada, yada, yadas." Consider some of these interesting facts: ( You can click on the links to see the data behind the disturbing statements.)

• Divorce rates remain statistically higher than at any another time in our nation's history (click).
• The fastest rising portion of our population facing poverty is young, single-parent-head-of-household mothers (click, click).
  
• The nation faces a "quiet epidemic" of sexually transmitted diseases--fastest rising statistically among teens and young adults (click, click).
• The educational and academic influences in our culture are less effective at successfully teaching and training our masses than at any time in our nation's history (click), yet they have perhaps a louder voice for influence now than they have ever enjoyed at any point in the nations' history (click).
• The number of men successfully graduating from high school has dropped, nationally (click), to an all-time low, so comparatively (i.e., percentage wise to women) fewer men are going on to college.
• Women graduating from college for graduate degrees outnumber male graduates 1.5 to 1 (click).
• Societal voices argue vigorously and noisily for the jettisoning of the nation's historical commitments to values that, at their roots, support family and family integrity, motherhood, sexual propriety, and marriage (click).
• Socially, Christianity is increasingly "dissed" and Christian men and women face growing dismissal--societal impatience and rejection--for their perceived intolerance of newly fashionable ideas, situations, and people groups (click).

All of that is kind of sobering. It's sad...albeit prophetic--if you are a Bible student. But despite what's happening--maybe because of it--it's all the more important to remember and celebrate that amazing Nativity event so many years ago. Indeed it's influence is at the ROOTS of all the absolutely Christian life and lifestyle stuff to distinguishing HIS followers for over 2000 years....Emmanuel!

Is that all completely miraculous and amazing or what!!

Merry Christmas! (And don't shush me, but if you do and then you ask me to repeat what I said, yes I will... it's worthy of a megaphone!)

Gazing Far Beyond the Horizon

Beautiful scene...and we ran across these two--a man and a sea gull-- during our summer vacation. I thought, "Who's mimicking who?" We were visiting the haunts and hollers in and around historic Nye Beach in lower downtown Newport, Oregon. It appears they're eyes are fixed on something far away, something maybe beyond the immediate horizon, perhaps a "fix" whose focal length extends beyond the limitations of thoughts to places deep within the heart? Maybe it's "bringing in close" a heart-felt longing...for man...and bird?

Do you ever feel that way? Do you find yourself emotionally reaching, reaching, reaching for someone or something you want or "need" in your daily life--but "Oh Ratz" that person, thing, or situation remains elusively beyond your best stretch?! Then, as time ticks bye your uncomfortable suspicion grows into a realization that your life, and the availability of "it," is going to stay the way it is--distant to your sweet wish!?

SO, well beyond the reach of those longing gazes, how is a person supposed to live with that growing suspicion...or that potentially consuming reality?

For the courageous--the Life Warrior--I enthusiastically recommend a two-part remedy. No, it's not a cure for the uncomfortable longings, but it offers an effective antidote for the distraction of....your "hope deferred" (Prov. 13:12 ).

First: Distinguish your life from "it" (Matt. 6: 19, 25-34). Challenge yourself to distinguish "it" from "you"--your life, your experiences, and your influence. Clearly God's purposes for you at this time do not include "IT"...even though your longings may have done a good job of persuading you otherwise. So, vigorously argue (dispute!) with your longings; remind them that no matter how you may feel about "it," your life is NOT saved by "it"---you'll never be saved by "it" (Acts 4: 12; Prov. 3: 5-6; 16: 3, 9).

Second: Fear God and focus your creative energies on today--its focus, it's demands, its challenges (Matt. 6:19-21; 7: 24-27). It's just a fact; your real purpose and effectiveness is discovered in the here and now--your "now"gradually becomes your future. We have "control" of our future in so far as we respond appropriately to what's going on right now. It's just the way life works; a practical and spiritual reality. So you wanna change your future, it's right here staring you in the face now (Prov. 16: 3,9)!

Finally, I challenge you...in the same way I daily challenge myself: "Be a Warrior..." and don't ever stop (I Cor. 16: 13, KJV)!

Dick

We are counting
Our many blessings today... and
Praising our God
For HE has blessed us
With incalculable riches
In and through the person of Jesus Christ!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes from us to you and yours.

My weekday routine gets me up around 5:30 AM for an early bike ride. A quick glance at the thermometer outside the kitchen window this morning affirmed it was only 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Hmmmm, a bit colder than I expected! (That pic is a bike-ride sunrise I saw earlier this fall. Cool huh.)

I'm generally hesitant to get on the bike below 20 degrees--it's a matter of keeping my fingers warm!! But just yesterday I'd purchased a new pair of winter (actually ski) gloves planning to use them for riding. A ride in this weather would tell the tale. So, in part for the sake of discovery and in part just because "it's what I do," I rode east along Clear Creek into central Arvada (CO, from Golden) to meet a good friend for coffee--a super idea. As it turned out my fingers were pretty cozy inside those glove's Thinsulate(d) finger tubes; not a disappointment.

Coming down a tall hill separating the Clear Creek and Ralston Creek Valleys, I avoid a busy intersection to meander through feeder streets of a large apartment complex. Today they were curiously clogged with tenants' cars set in crazy configurations--many double and triple parked right on the street. "What's this about; were the drivers all drunk last night?"

Woops! There's yellow caution tape stretched across the street! Beyond that point there wasn't a car on in sight--anywhere! I guessed the street had been treated with a new topcoat, now dry, so I stopped, dismounted, and carefully ducked myself and pulled my bike under the tape, remounted, and coasted the final two blocks before ducking, again, and crossing Kipling to Starbucks.

The experience was an interesting reminder. Stopping to duck under the tape was uncomfortably inconvenient--especially given the speed I generate coming down the hill! Yes, I was talking to myself. But life is like that. Interruptions, discomfort, departures from our " plan," curious surprises that make no sense,...all part of a day's mosaic. So today's reminder is probably something I've said to my boys a time or two: "Don't get your underwear in a wad!" God is in charge--whether it's construction tape across the street or precious Princesses (click here) laying in a coma in the hospital. Life has meaning because GOD IS. Because of what He's done historically through Jesus Christ we know he loves us. John 3:16. Trust him; praise him! "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart...(Ps. 19:14)" do exactly that today and every day.

Here's a compelling little love story:

Once upon a time there was this handsome young Prince. His name is Nathan. OK, like I said, he's a young Prince trying to find and make his way in life and (just like the rest of us) figuring much of it out as he goes. Not unlike his brothers, he aspired to leave his own personal signature on both the people and the things he touched inside his family's kingdom--BUT also beyond the boundaries of his parent's influence. He chose to measure himself and to, in-turn, be measured by the every-day challenges that many "commoners" face. So, he modestly albeit understandably discounted the privileges reserved just for "royalty."

Nathan soon took a job. He juggled it with college--for a while--and in the course of his own ongoing self-discovery displayed good people skills, strong management abilities, good self-discipline, and an inquisitive mind with natural business savvy. He was promoted to leadership (management) and soon decided it was an appropriate time to leave the family's castle.

Oh, yes, I said this was a love story....
In the meantime an insightful first cousin introduced him to a "friend"--a young woman named, Laura. Laura is a beautiful young Princess from yet another royal family and a distant land (but not too distant). As his cousin suspected, Nathan was soon and predictably smitten by Laura's graciousness, intrigued with her charm, and captivated by her beauty and brilliance.

So, as this story goes, passing months have warmly embraced them. Their relationship has matured and deepened. "She is radiant sunshine when it's dark," he explains, and those relatives and friends who know her well--but even people who have merely just met her!--are quick to agree.

Despite the predictable surprises that accompany romance's heart-knitting efforts (...and who really knows...maybe it's because of them?!...), these two have become closest friends..."soul mates" they say. To their friends and family members alike I understand they have rehearsed a shared love with a deepening respect for one another. They have voiced the possibility of a united life in a shared and dream-fulfilling future. I, for one, only know that a loving and faithful God is the One who can design and decide where this fun relationship may in fact take these two. Ahaa...we'll wait and see.

Last Friday (November 4th) Nathan and Laura arranged to spend a fun early afternoon together in what turned out to be a warm, sun-kissed downtown Denver. He later described those moments with words like, "Some of the most fun we've ever shared"...or something to that effect. Then, around 3:45 PM they embraced and parted so each could get to different work sites--Laura turned and walked across the downtown after she helped Nathan board a bus for his ride back to Arvada.

Nathan got a call while he was at his workplace. Laura had been struck by a Light Rail Train as she crossed the street near Spear Blvd at Stout Avenue in downtown Denver. She was alive(!!) and had been rushed to the hospital in critical but stable condition. The news rocked him to his knees.

Please follow this developing story (click here) ....(then also click here)...then please pray with us for Laura, her family, her friends, and for God's gracious healing hand on Laura...our Princess...and all these lives. "Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God...Romans 11: 33-36.

Dick

PS: Yes, Nathan is my (our) youngest son.

Ode to Grapes and a Happy Harvest

When it's time, it's time!

I remember how well that was really true of pregnancy. Our six sons are a dramatic testimonial to the statement's accuracy. As it was--six times--Judi would be in her ninth month, and as the days counted by our schedules were increasingly punctuated by thoughts like, "Is today the day?" There was "that window" in which the blessed event was most likely to happen. Generally each of our sons--with one notable exception--was born in his anxiously anticipated "frame of time."

Having become a dedicated vintner over the past 13 years, I've learned how grapes can similarly introduce some of those anxious moments about, "When it's time, it's time." I've been out there harvesting the grapes from our vines in snowstorms, in bright warm sunshine, when it's raining, and sometimes in the dark! I've been crushing them inside a cold 35-gallon plastic garbage can when the temperature on our back porch was only in the 20's Fahrenheit--it gives the term "dumpster diving" a whole new range of meaning. (No, I have no video's of that event...so far.)

This year the harvest has been comparatively pleasant. The weather has offered me generally warm temperatures and sunny skies. Through September I'd been watching the grapes quite closely both in an effort to monitor their maturing readiness, but also to prevent any of the other grape-loving creatures from becoming too interested in them. (I've lost whole crops of our grapes in years past simply because I wasn't paying close enough attention! A Mule Deer herd, for example, can pick the vines clean overnight, but there's squirrels, birds, skunks, and, and...) The critters know exactly when the grapes are ready to be harvested, and they come calling to sample what's available--unless I intervene.

However, this year's harvest has not come without it's own special challenges. This year the grapes are not ripening in unison or uniformly. Practically, that means some clusters are ripe here and there, but the rest are not ready. Some are even still green! When Judi and I visited Willamette Valley Vineyards in Oregon (in September) they were experiencing the same thing. Apparently it's a national phenom. Interesting.

So, I'm driven by the ripeness of these clusters, and those, and those; the ones that are ripe. I've been forced to pick them staggered by one and two week intervals. Ugh. It means the process of picking, crushing and gathering up the must, and all the other necessary post-picking processes must be done right after each harvest. It's a demanding 12-hour proposition. Then I wait a week or two and do it all again. Ugh, ugh. The promise of the final product--a beautiful, crystal clear white or amber wine--makes it all worth while. But it's the grapes that drive the activities going 0n around them since, "When it's time, it's time."