Lazy Days and...

I barely got out of the house today. Watched some football, worked on my computer, did a little cooking... didn't even work out. I guess it was partly the dreary, chilly weather; part was just being lazy; I think most of it was being a bit sad about my friend John. He's been in ICU for about 2 weeks now; he's had some ups and downs; but the latest news is that he still is not improving. Please pray for healing. Thank you!

Quotes of the Day

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'" - Theodore Roosevelt

"When someone tells you something defies description, you can be pretty sure he's going to have a go at it anyway." - Clyde B. Aster

"Anything not worth doing is worth not doing well. Think about it." - Elias Schwartz

That Time of the Year

The end of each year is always adorned with pine needles, ornaments, mangers, colored lights, gift cards, a chubby guy in a red suit, and (at least every 4th year) presidential candidates making claims they can't prove, promises they won't keep, and assertions they often try to take back later. (insert sigh here)

I ran across this quote by Eugene McCarthy. Now, no matter what you think of his politics and/or rep, I think he hits pretty close on this one:

Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game, and dumb enough to think it's important.

We really enjoyed Mom's stay with us, but she flew home to Arkansas this morning. When I talked with her this evening, we found out her trip was a bit harried, complete with substitute plane and unscheduled plane change. They got in about an hour and a half late, but she said the Southwest people were nice every step of the way. Also, after Louise picked her up they went to New China to eat... one of Mom's favorites.

Maybe she'll decide to move out here, and then she won't have to negotiate those flights to see us. One can only hope, right!?! :-)

Oh... one more thing that I'm sure will make reading this post totally worth it (insert drum roll here)... Jen called to tell us that Claire is rolling over from tummy to back by herself!!!

Christmas Eve

One of the true blessing of this time of the year is all the greetings and pictures we receive.

Merry Christmas!!

Tick...tick...tick...

Christmas is drawing ever closer. Today as we worshiped, Brice's message was woven into the tapestry of our singing, our readings, and our prayers. As our children sang to us and as we closed by singing Welcome to Our World, each of us had been drawn more intimately close to the God who loves us enough to become one of us... to die for us. Each of us renewed our thankful hearts.

A friend of ours from Houston is both an English teacher and a writer. She is also a woman of faith and blogs at this site. In a recent post she wrote of faith as a trust fund. Check it out and see what you think.

Merry Christmas!!

Quotes

I ran across this quote from Eric Hoffer:

The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.

I was intrigued, so I looked up some other quotes by Mr Hoffer, American author and philosopher:

Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is
compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.

Craving, not having, is the mother of a reckless giving of oneself.

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.

Every intense desire is perhaps a desire to be different from what we are.

In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future.

The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.

It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate.

Many of the insights of the saint stem from their experience as sinners.

The fear of becoming a 'has-been' keeps some people from
becoming anything.

And finally...

The real Antichrist is he who turns the wine of an original idea into the water of mediocrity.

Enjoy!

Christmas Fun

Christmas should always be fun. I know that sometimes things liking lines at the mall, server crashes, sharing cold bugs, and other common Christmas traditions sort of diminish the fun, but I still believe that Christmas should be fun never-the-less. Here are a few things that have been fun this year.

Amaryllis - the whites gave us this beautiful flower. We'll probably eventually kill it, but it's sure been fun watching the blooms open and reach toward the light. They're beautiful, aren't they.



This link is fun... 10 guys doing a really neat acappella version of 12 Days. Check it out; it will make you smile.

Here's another fun link. You may have seen it via email, but this singing Santa gives Sinatra a run.

Jen has posted some new pics of Claire and Kaleb... now that's what I call fun! Click here if you want to enjoy them too.

Hey, Christmas will be here in just a few days. Relax... enjoy... have some fun!!

Christmas: the Ultimate Missional Holiday

For many years our church has participated in what we call the Giving Tree each December. It works like this (at least in its present form):

1. Our church secretary, Ruth, collects names of families who need help with Christmas
2. She sets up the Giving Tree, complete with numbered tags that say something like "boy, age 10, remote control car"... you get the idea.
3. Church members sign for and take the tags, bringing back wrapped gifts; others donate cash to help the families with Christmas dinner
4. Ruth, with help from Kyle and the youth group, organize the gifts by family groupings
5. The families come by and pick up their gifts or we deliver them... happening this week.

Our church family always comes through. This year we have been able to help 14 families, including 50 children. We even had a few coupons for Christmas trees donated through the Antioch PD. As families have come by to pick up gifts, we've seen lots of smiles. My guess is that Jesus is smiling too.

Christmas Is on the Way

The merchants of America have been telling us about the coming of Christmas 07 since about the time we handed out the last Halloween candy. Most folks started at least thinking about decorating around Thanksgiving. At the Johnson house, we've finally gotten the message, broken out the boxes of decorations, and put some up. Virginia's good at it; it takes me a few boxes to get in the spirit.

We decided not to put the tree up this year, so we substituted this little fiber optic tree... sits on the piano and is only about a foot high. Here are some of the other decoration choices we made this year from our eclectic collection.

This is a new addition to our minimal outside lights. Believe it or not, it says Merry Christmas.

The center poinsettia is one of those with the mottled blooms.

Santa's boots light the way.

The piano top transformed.

Santa topper without the tree.

One of my favorite decorations that we've had for probably 30 years. The candle has changed, but that little cub still seems to enjoy the climb.

We are blessed to have my mom with us this year over Christmas. She flew in Friday, and it was a long day for her, but she handled it well. She'll be with us about two weeks. It's already been a "successful" trip... we enjoyed her signature whole wheat muffins this morning for breakfast.

I want to close with a prayer request. John Dedeaux, our benevolence deacon at church and an older gentleman with a wonderful heart, had knee replacement surgery Thursday. The surgery went well, but he now has pneumonia and is in ICU. Please pray for John... thank you!

Saramento Trip Part 2

One thing our guide mentioned that really struck me is that the Capital is a temple. The architecture includes symbols that are a combination of traditionally religious (the dome and cathedral-ish design) and Greco-Roman (from whom we got democracy and representative democracy. The Capital is a temple to the democratic ideals of of a state and a nation. Here are some more pics from the tour.

Senate Chamber from above. Note that red is one of the main colors, patterned after the British House of Lords with red as a symbol of money and status.

The desks were made by a California furniture maker who decided he could make more money using his wood working skills than panning for gold. The original cost was about $15 each back in the 1860s. My guess they'll cost a bit more if they ever need to replace one.

Here's the House Chamber, very similar in design to the Senate Chamber, only bigger because there are more 80 Representatives and 40 Senators. Also, notice that the main color is green, patterned after the British House of Commons, which was originally made up of guys with an agricultural background. It's also interesting that in the Senate Chamber there is a large portrait of George Washington, a wealthy plantation owner, while in the House Chamber there is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, who grew up as a poor farm boy.

Hand-carved staircases... really marvelous craftsmanship. At one point the building was remodeled and the staircases were removed. When the building was later restored to the earlier design, they had to hand carve the staircases again.

Notice the Grizzly bear on the close up. As the state animal, you see them all over the Capital. If you get the chance to go and see... by all means, go and see!!

Visit to the Capital

Virginia is a California native and I did most of my growing up SoCal, but neither of us had ever visited the Capital Building until today.

Her Crime Analyst association scheduled the tour and a lunch, and we chose to pay the extra so I could go along.

It's been rainy all day, and we had to park and walk several blocks from the Capital because all the closer parking garages were full, but it turned out to be well worth the effort. Our guide was both funny and informative; the history was fascinating; the food at lunch was delicious; and we got to do it together. Near perfect trip.

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure.

Looking up into the dome in the rotunda from the first floor. When it was built back in the late 1800s, it was the tallest building in Sacramento... but not for a long time at this point.

Larkin Goldsmith Mead’s Columbus' Last Appeal to Queen Isabella was purchased from Mr. and Mrs. Legrand Lockwood by pioneer banker Darius Ogden Mills for $30,000, who then presented it the state in 1883. Slightly over life size, the sculpture weighs approximately nine tons including the base and is located in the California State Capitol Museum. There's not a direct connection between Columbus and California, but the story goes that Mills gave the statue either because his wife didn't want it in her parlor and/or he thought the adventurous spirit of Columbus lived on in the state of California.

Rotunda on the 2nd floor. The tile is representative of the basket designs of California native Americans.

A stained glass version of the Great Seal of California: The seal design includes an image of the Roman goddess Minerva (Greek goddess Athena), a Grizzly Bear, and clusters of grapes representing wildlife and agricultural wealth. A gold miner and sailing ships in the background represent industry and commerce.
According to ancient Roman myth, the goddess Minerva was born fully-grown. Just as Minerva was born fully-grown, so California became a state without first having been a territory. Minerva's image on the Great Seal symbolizes California's direct rise to statehood. Pretty cool!

More to come...

Wednesday Variety

Today was a good day for checking things off the to-do list. Don't you just love days like that!?!

Will Rogers once said, "Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." Sounds like a good approach.

Tomorrow, November 29, is the birthday of C.S. Lewis. I wonder, when he was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898, if his folks had any expectation that he would become one of the most significant thinkers and writers of his time? Probably not.

Did you know that animals can supposedly predict seismic events? A science called Ethogeology. Check it out here.

Enjoy God's blessings on your Thursday!

Thanksgiving Final

Our trip home Saturday was about as smooth as you could ask for, especially on the busiest travel time of the year. The airport in Spokane isn't real big, but they seem to do a good job handling the passenger traffic they have. Jeremy and Amber rode with us to the airport as their flight left only about 10 minutes after ours did, although on a different airline. They made it home safely as well.

We all had such a good time at Jen's and Fok's for Thanksgiving. We don't all get to be together often, so we really try to relish and savor the time together. From the "team effort" Thanksgiving meal to the fires Jeremy built in the fireplace to take the edge off the cold to going to the gym with Jen and Fok and everything else in between, it was a great few days, and we thank God for them.

Virginia with Claire, who was struggling with a cold while we were there. However, I still contend she's about the sweetest baby around.

Part of Kaleb's early Christmas present from us was the first five books in a science fiction series he wanted. He loves to read, and on the floor next to his sister's play gym is as good as any place else.

I love this picture that Virginia snapped on Saturday morning of Jen and Claire. And the huge picture window almost makes you feel like you're right out in the snow.

As we fold up this Thanksgiving Holiday and put it away for another year, here's a quote to chew on:

Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves. -- Henry Ward Beecher

Thanksmas

Years ago I thought it was pretty neat that the Millers celebrated their family Christmas every year on Thanksgiving. They called it Thanksmas. Well, in recent years, we've done that as some as well, only it's been every other year. This is one of those years.

Today there was shopping and cooking and wrapping and a few chores done around the house. While the others were all out, Kaleb and I stayed home and did a little work outside in the cold. The pic below was during a warm up break. Kaleb still has his hat on while he's sipping his hot cider and engaging in his favorite past time... reading. Not sure how he could actually see, but he was managing.



After dinner we wrapped up the presents we had for our gift exchange and decorated the new little tree. It almost looked like it really was Christmas. As you can see below, Claire was a big help picking out ornaments.



However, she was not as big a help when it came to actually placing them on the tree. Kaleb, however, was, and he helped keep Claire out of trouble.


As you can see from the shots below, we had a really fun evening.

Claire admires her mom's new bracelets.

Jeremy does his best to console Claire.

Kaleb checks out his gifts, including he cool walkie-talkies from Jeremy and Amber.

OK, someone said something funny!

Fok and I were taking pics.

I thought this was a really cool quote to end the posting with. Jen placed it and the miniature manger scene under the tree. Hope you can read it.

Thanksgiving 2007

What a day we've had today. Some of us hit the gym fairly. All of us enjoyed a breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls and something hot to drink. And we also all really enjoyed just being with one another throughout the day.

We spent much of the day planning and implementing our cooking strategies, and what a team we turned out to be... sort of like a well-oiled machine (or maybe greased and floured machine is a better image). Anyway, we had a blast. Part of that strategy was to eat at 4:00. Even with a little time out for a brief family photo shoot before sundown, at 3:59 we pulled the rolls out of the oven, joined hands around the kitchen, and thanked God for our many blessings. We were joined by Bethany, a college grad taking a year off to live and work here in Moscow. She works at the gym for Jen and Fok go and wasn't going home for Thanksgiving, so they invited her to join us. She "sang for her supper" by shooting some family group pics. She also very graciously pitched in to do dishes as we were cleaning up. All in all, we had way too much food, ate way too much of what we had, and put the rest away to attack again tomorrow.

Jeremy got a roaring fire going in the downstairs fireplace, which we managed to keep going throughout the day. Don't you feel warmer just looking at this pic.

And then, of course, I have some shots of Claire to share. She has a bit of a cold or something, so today was a bit tough for her, but she can't help smiling at least a few times... even when she doesn't feel like it.


We pray each of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving as well, including a little reflective time to just be thankful. Blessings!!

Snow in Moscow

Last year Virginia and I experienced a snowy Thanksgiving at Lake Tahoe... just enough snow to enjoy but not enough to hamper driving. It was fun.

This year we are in Moscow and Jen and Fok's place, and we were again greeted with snow upon our arrival yesterday. I don't think it's supposed to snow again over the rest of our stay, but Jeremy and Amber fly in tonight, so I hope there is at least a little left to enjoy.

Here are a few shots in the back yard. Enjoy!

White Thanksgiving?

Well, tomorrow morning we're catching a 6:15 flight out of Oakland... what were we thinking?!? Neither of us remembers the conversation, but, knowing me, the choice of such an early time was related to cost. Oh well. I'll try to write a post of two while we're gone.

Jen said it snowed this weekend there, so we may be in for a white Thanksgiving. Click here for some new fun pics.

What Are We Chasing

Tonight in our small group we talked about and prayed for believers in Muslim countries who must follow their faith in secret or risk being disowned by their family, kidnapping, torture, and even death in some places. Most of them don't even have bibles available to them in their language. Our conversation turned toward how often we don't appreciate and take advantage of how comparatively easy it is to live and share our faith in our culture. It got me thinking about how often our pursuit of the American Dream has supplanted our pursuit of God. Here is part of an email I received recently... one of those many forwards we all get.

A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee.

When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering. "You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems."

He continued. "Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups. Then you began eyeing each other's cups."

The email goes on to explain the professor's parable that life is the coffee and our jobs, money and the things we spend so much time pursuing are the cups. It ends by drawing some conclusions and telling us what to do. I think it's much better if we each do our own wrestling with our cups of coffee, so I'll close by simply asking what cups keep you from really appreciating the coffee of life God gives us?

Cross Country

For those of us into running, the other fall sport is nearing the end of the season. Of course, that sport is cross country. California has always been a hot bed for high school cross country. I think part of that is the great running weather in most of the state... not too hot, not too cold... not too humid... attracts good athletes to running. Another reason is probably just the numbers of high school runners... lots of them are bound to be good. Anyway, lots of colleges recruit runners from California just as they do football and basketball players. There are some good high school runners in our area, and they're fun to watch... especially since I'm not able to see my nephew's races.

Ryan is a senior at David Lipscomb High School and is a top runner in Tennessee... one of the very best in the small school division. In fact, he won the mile at the state meet last spring. Here's a shot of him in this year's state cross country meet last weekend.

He had been pretty sick during the week but had recovered well enough to run well. My brother told me he was in 4th or 5th with about 400 meters to go and has a good enough kick he probably would have gotten third. He collapsed just before the finish line and had to crawl across to finish. Here's the amazing thing... even crawling, he finished 13th which was good enough to make the all-state team (top 14 finishers). Apparently it was something left over from being sick. He's fine now and will finish his season at the Footlocker South meet in Charlotte, NC the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I think another nephew, Tim Johnston, may fly out and run it with him. I hope they both do well... there'll be plenty of competition.

Schooling and Oily Birds

Virginia is nearing the end of her first of two weeks of a school in SoCal. They're learning about geographic profiling and being trained on a software package that helps with the process. If, like me, you have absolutely no idea what geographic profiling is, you can click here to see what Wikipedia says about it... actually quite helpful. I think she has a test tomorrow, and, assuming she passes, she'll continue the 2nd week of training beginning Monday. She's attending the training with an officer from the PD. I think he will take her to Jeremy and Amber's place after class tomorrow so she can spend the weekend with them. I'm a bit jealous, but I'll get over it. :-)

You may have heard on the news about the fuel oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Apparently a transport hit the Bay Bridge during an early morning period of heave fog. The Bay Bridge is the one that connects SF to Oakland. Anyway, it has made quite a mess of numerous beaches and seems to be impacting birds and other wildlife. Thankfully they were quick to get the clean-up started, and hopefully the impact won't be too devastating or permanent.

It made me think about a news report I saw about how Evangelicals are officially becoming more green... finally seeing taking care of the planet as a Christian issue... a responsibility. (sigh) I remember back in the 60's how many churches were among the most resistant to changes associated with the Civil Rights movement, and it seems that, once again, the culture has been ahead of many conservative Christians in understanding that stewardship of the planet is important. I guess for some their lack of interest has theological roots... Christ is coming back and the whole thing will burn up anyway, so why bother. On the other hand, other voices have increasingly reminded us that God is the one who called creation "good" and gave man the responsibility to protect and care for it. Slow or not, I'm glad we finally seem to be getting it. Now, if we can just work on that unity thing Jesus prayed about...

Heroes

On this day in 1912 Roy Rogers was born. Of course he was to become one of those good guy heroes who, with his wife Dale Evans and his horse Trigger, won the hearts of millions. And he was a singing cowboy as well.

There are lots of heroes in pop culture media theses days. Many of the Marvel and DC comics super heroes have made their ways to the silver screen. NBC has the hit series, Heroes, about young people with unusual powers who save the world. Of course there are also the requisite anti-heroes out there... the ones who are tragically flawed (some of them really flawed), yet somehow overcome their shortcomings to save somebody's day.

After 9/11/2001 we seem to have a more genuine appreciation for real heroes like firemen, police officers, and military personnel. And occasionally we hear about the individual who breaks the mold and does the incredible thing nobody expects... the guy who jumps on the subway tracks to save someone, the teacher who donates a kidney to a student, the college student who pulls someone from a burning building, the friend who adopts and raises 7 boys. You know, the stories that thrill your heart and bring a lump to your throat.

It makes me wonder... just what does it take to be a hero? How do you identify heroic deeds? Who are your heroes?

Good Sunday

Today is drawing to a close, and God has blessed us with an extra good day. Our worship assembly this morning was lively, and people seemed to connect with the songs as well as Brice's message in our series, Answering the Call.

Bruce and Sandy invited me and several others to lunch. The food was wonderful, and the visiting was even better. One couple (Bob and Susan Russell) are full-time RVers who've been on the road pretty much since September 2001. They travel to an area they want to visit and stay for 6 months, plugging into a local church and seeing the sights. This will be a good area for them... lots to see within a few hours drive. The really interesting thing about the Russells is that they are from the Nashville area and were members at the Antioch congregation for years. Need to see if Kent remembers them.

Virginia made it safely home from Sacramento, and her final certification class was apparently a good one. She made it home and started getting packed for her two weeks in Orange County. I hope she enjoys this training as well... two weeks is a long time to commit to something that's not useful or enjoyable.

Our small group came about 6:00. I had made a pig pot of sort of a minestrone soup, and the others brought bread, salad and dessert. We ate and visited and laughed and then spent some time talking about Christians in areas of the world where they're persecuted. We looked at a video and talked about it. This week I'll email some bios and country information; we'll pray about them during the week, and next Sunday we'll talk about our experiences in prayer and pray for these Christians in other countries. Click here if you want to know more about Open Doors.

Well, VJ has a 6:00 flight in the morning, so that means getting up really early in order to get her there by 5:00 or so. Better start heading toward the bed.

Various

On this day in 1954 Godzilla first appeared on the screen in the first of 40 movies. I remember as a kid loving those movies... at least the ones I saw. Those were definitely simpler days in terms of special effects, and I always wondered what the real voices of the Japanese actors sounded like.

Virginia is at Sac State this weekend for the final sessions of her last Crime Analyst certification course. It's taken about a year and a half, but she's enjoyed the courses and has learned a lot. It'll be interesting to see how her role at the PD changes over the coming months. Monday morning I'll have her at the airport early to catch a 6:00 flight to Orange County for a two-week school on a software package the PD is considering. There'll be an officer as well (driving down Sunday), so they'll come back via I-5. On the middle weekend she plans to spend some time with Jeremy and Amber.

I was reading in Readers Digest that one of the latest things is for alums of some colleges and universities to have their ashes placed in urns in specially built memorials on campus, probably with a hefty donation as well. I guess when some people say they're forever a (insert mascot), they really can be now. The article said Notre Dame has been doing this for a while, and one of the other schools mentioned is Hendrix College. When I was running at Harding we competed against Hendrix, and they had a rep for being a top academic school. Years later as a school counselor, I remember sitting in on sessions with college reps who were "selling" the merits of their schools to these men and women who would be keeping their students informed. All the other schools, including Harding and the U of A, pretty much highlighted all the reasons why students should choose their school. The Hendrix rep didn't talk as long as the others, and simply said something like, "Our application deadline is (insert date). If you want your students to have a shot, tell them not to miss the deadline." Wow!! I was impressed. He could say that because 1) Hendrix is a small school and accepts only a limited number of students, and 2) it had (maybe still does) the rep as the best academic school in the state, drawing top students from other states as well. I guess this latest move allows them to keep their alums close and helps the alums to urn graduate credit. :-)

Treat-in-a-Trunk

Each of the last several years we've chosen to use Halloween as as an opportunity to serve our neighborhood. Here are some pics from this year's edition of Treat-in-a-Trunk. Everybody had fun, and our neighborhood guests all expressed their thans for the event. I want to personally thank everyone who so graciously gave their time!

And, last but not least... Kyle and friends!!