Do we get charged less now that we live in a triple?

Problemo Numero Uno: We named him.
Issue The Second: He insists on free passage between our room and the outside.
Thirdly: We are allergic to him.
The Fourth (aha!): He sleeps in a basket that once held our crocheting, therefore displacing a heap of yarny goods.
The Fifth Element: His right hind leg is curled protectively against his belly at all times, resulting in a pathetic hobble and an inability to jump.
Six: He needs a bath.
Seventh Dilemma: He probably has fleas.
Number Eight: He sounds like he has a respiratory issue-- at the very least, he has a very silly purr.
Problem Nine: He is not litter-box trained.
Ten: We are going to keep him.

Fred Baby is curled up in a basket behind me as I write this, snoring away between a blanket and a pair of sweatpants. He is the poorest old slob with a name that I ever did see-- and he decided last night that he wanted to live with Sharon and me. And since he literally hasn't left my sight in ten hours, I think the ten reasons can be overlooked for now.

An interesting thought experiment.

It's basically an online test to see whether or not your conception of God logically consistent. It's just an online game, so take it with a grain of salt, but it makes some interesting philosophical points:

http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/god.htm

Innocence Lost

Slowly...slowly...back...forth...breeze in wisps from the North. Whispers, lies, if only, if only, lullabies cry as she rocks slowly.

In an heirloom southern rocker she pushes off of creaking, splintered wood panels. A splinter grovels its way through her soft, fleshy small toe, but she pushes through. Gritting her teeth, salt springs ooze salt tears over salty cheeks. How can I remove the splinter in my toe when thousands puncture my soul. That's what it feels like, ya know. Suddenly I can't breath, I panic, how did she go?

The breeze becomes a torrent tossing her thin, matted hair around her face. It frames a portrait of weeping shame. Thoughts of "if only" are tossed in her ear. Her mind drinks in and becomes intoxicated with the condemnation. If only I had spent more time. If only I had slowed down. If only I hadn't worried. If only I had said no to things that didn't matter. If only I had lived what I knew was best, not what other people told me. If only, if only.

The hurricane of emotion slowly whisks away. The corn fields rising over hills in the distance show promising heads ripe and full. I want to destroy them. I want others to know the pain of losing the fruit of their labor. Who knows what I feel if not when they experience it themselves? No one can tell me move on, no one can tell me let go until they know.

She pushes back slowly and stares through a hole in the roof. It was going to be fixed before...But now it will stay broken. For some reason it was right, though. She could see clouds pass quietly. It was her own small world to enjoy. Everything else overwhelmed. But not that small piece of heaven. Staring up she felt her world slowly re-arrange. She even sighed in wonder and prayed.

God, Father, I did what You wanted, I did what You said. I wanted to do it right, so I asked others and followed examples. I wanted everything perfect so I worked and fought laziness. I tried everything, but in doing so I stopped hearing Your voice. I tried to listen, but I was so busy with trying to follow You I did not allow time for hearing. I did a lot, I tried to follow, but in the end it really was for naught. You've taken something from me that I thought was mine to hold, to cherish, to love like You loved me. For some reason You did not think that was good and right. In the beginning, I thought you were wrong. I wept and yelled. I thought, because I had not heard Your voice, that You wanted to punish me. You scared me. Your punishment scared me. I am still silently fearful, but I know and read that You bless those who wrestle with You. Right now, I don't fell like a winning Jacob, I feel more like an exiled Esau. Bring me back and help me be content with what you have for me. Prepare me to walk in joy again. I let your peace rule in my heart this moment, continue plying me in the furnace of hardship. And when my faith fails catch me up before I burn.

She had to start small. That piece of sky made all the difference. She could handle small pieces of sky. She could stare at her feet, then her hands, then the steps, the walk, the fence. But she could not see them all at once, that was too much. She lifted herself off of the rocker. Shuffled in to the kitchen, past the greasy pans, the uneaten spaghetti. She looked at the laminate, square upon square, looked at the corner of the wall, okay, good, just make it to the bedroom and try to make the bed. In looking at small things, her eyes lit upon the one thing she had tried to avoid. The small, wooden, high chair sat empty. She cried out slowly, moaning, bending to push away the throbbing stomach.

God, this hurts too much. Memory is pain. What do I do, take it out and forget? Or keep it and torture myself every time I want a glass of water. "There is a time for everything"

I heard, I heard!

Slowly, she set the high chair outside on the step, closed the door and made again the trek. She still weeps for baby Innocence once in a while, but she listens to her Father and follows through the fire.

As times of suffering come and go in your life may you ever cling to God, even when He doesn't make sense, when He puts you through test upon test. He loves you. He wants you to have the victory. Remember that he put Jacob's hip out of joint to remind Him that the battle truly is the LORD's. He causes the waves to rise and fall. May You allow Him to mold You this semester.

A Perspective On What May Come

As you of the world know, today has brought us our forty-fourth President. He has offered hope to millions of Americans, has appeared willing to work across party lines, and possibly has one of the most difficult challenges in history facing him.

He follows a man who, though successful in many areas, let America down in many ways. Former President Bush has guided us through the wars in Iraq and Afganistan in a capable manner, but has dissapointed the people in his approach to other issues like immigration and the economy. Much of what he had promised to do he never did, or simply did poorly. This is not to say that I'm surprised! As I have heard said, "Politicians rarely believe what they say, and are surprised when anyone else does." I think Bush has actually been one of our more honorable leaders, and do not believe that we made a mistake by electing him; however, what he promised and what he delivered left too much of a gap.

Enter Mr. Obama, the man of change. To be honest, he frightened me more than Senator Clinton during the election process. I have no doubt that much of what he said during his campaign was carefully worded to soften his agenda. He is not a moderate, and the fact that he presents himself as one does not encourage me. But as I watched his inauguration this morning, I found myself hoping that I will be proved wrong about him.

He addressed the threat of terrorism, telling our nation's enemies that he knows they're out there, and will not be cowed by them. [Me: huzzah!] He called upon God for his administration, both by choosing Warren and Lowery for the invocation and benediction, and by crediting Him as the source of our life and rights in his speech. He commented on our economic problems, our educational problems, and our environmental problems - his solutions may not be exactly what we of the conservative side want, but he has promised to do something about it.

He made a lot of promises. That really gets down to my main point: will he keep his promises? As a politician, he likely said some of those words simply to get votes. But another part of me thinks that he may actually keep his word. That, in itself, creates two reactions in me.

First, I am concerned that he will do all he has promised. Those changes will make the government larger and more powerful in many ways, limit freeom in the economy, and increase our tax bills. He will nationalize things that are privatized, such as health care. The environment will likely get more attention than the plight of unborn children. In short, America could be well on its way to becoming an actual socialist state.

My second reaction is this: I hope he will do all he has promised. America is in desperate need of a leader of integrity - a man who, to quote a great poet, "meant what he said, and said what he meant, [a man who is] faithful one hundred percent." We the people are sick and tired of men and women who tell us what we want to hear and have no intention of following through. If he keeps his word to the public, and proves himself just and honorable, then God will have a clearer way to work His will through our President.

Now, that's not to say that I do not hope for a shift in his ideals while he is in office... He is the man of change, isn't he?

Poll Results!!

The results are in and 11 out of 16 of us have responded [which is pretty good, actually!!]

So it's official, Faerie Queen is the most anticipated book of the semester with 4 votes, followed closely by Shakespeare with 3, the Bible takes third spot with 2 votes, and Hobbes and "other" tie with one vote each. Sadly, nobody was excited to read Locke. Poor guy. Better luck with next years sophomores.

So a new poll will be up shortly, so be looking for it!!!

Swimming with Sea Turtles

Sunrise, Monday morning. I've just flown into Kauai the night before and am sprawled out in bed, trying to adjust my internal clock to a new time zone. I'm not a morning person as it is without having to deal with the hours of my day shifting back. Suddenly my mom rushes into my room. "Tim! Quick! There are sea turtles in the water outside our condo!" Intrigued by the thrill of seeing wild turtles, but still half-asleep, I shuffle out of my room and onto our deck overlooking the ocean. Sure enough, thick shells and scaly heads are poking in and out of the waves crashing on the rocks outside our accommodations. My sleepiness overcome, I remain on the deck for quite a while, newly fascinated by these majesties of the sea.

This early-morning experience created a newfound fascination for sea turtles within me, and I fell in love with the grace and beauty of these gentle green giants. I instantly eyed any marine book in every gift shop we visited and quickly flipped through it, searching for colorful sea turtle photographs. And whenever we encountered a piece of art centered on sea turtles, my attention was immediately commandeered.

Finally, on Saturday morning, my fascination reached ultimate fulfillment. Donning a swim mask, I headed out for the cove next to our condo. I caught sight of a few fish here and there, but I had seen those before. I had a different goal in mind for today. I wanted to swim with the sea turtles! Though they they tend to feed some distance from shore, it was not difficult for me to swim out to their feeding grounds. Soon I found myself sharing the waves with some of the most beautiful creatures in the entire ocean. I watched in awe as these turtles drifted back and forth, paddling into crevices for a nibble of seaweed, then darting out again into slightly deeper waters. The turtles weren't intimidated by my presence, either because of their size or perhaps past experience with humans. They took no notice to me, and thought nothing of lazily floating up beside me in search of food. The time I spent under the water with these majestic creatures was truly remarkable, and I will honestly never forget it!

As I returned to our condo, I reflected on my awesome experience and came to lament my lack of an underwater camera. "It's too bad I couldn't get some pictures," I thought. "I bet some of those would have sold nicely online." All during our vacation I've been capturing artistic shots with my camera in hopes that I'll finally be able to break into the micro-stock photography business. Some underwater sea turtle shots may have been just the thing!

At this point, I noticed that there were two things wrong with my thinking. For one, even if my camera were waterproof, I would likely need much more equipment than I own in order to capture any worthwhile shots. But secondly and more important, I realized that I had completely overshadowed the experience I just had. No matter how much a picture of a sea turtle might sell for, it would never ever be more valuable than the actual time I spent in the presence of those underwater beauties. I had just enjoyed a rarest opportunity with God's creation, and was disappointed that I couldn't turn that opportunity into a money-making venture.

The Mastercard ads have gotten it right all these years. There really are some things that money can't buy, such as a swim with the sea turtles of Kauai.

As for your snorkeling equipment, Mastercard will cover that.
T.H. Excellence

Fly Me to Kauai

As many of you know, I'm spending this entire week on the beautiful tropical island of Kauai. This is the first time I've ever visited any place tropical, and my time here has been quite amazing! While my family and I have seen a great variety of wonderful things, the highlight of our trip has easily been a helicopter flight around the entire island! The views were magnificent and breathtaking, and it was wonderful getting such a different perspective of Kauai. Coupled with the sensation of flying, the experience was one of my best ever! Below are several shots taken from the air:

























Now if only I had a bit of pixie dust, I could do this anytime I wanted!
Tim "Peter Pan" Higley