Two Good Questions

Jessie and I have been looking for a used stackable washer dryer combo lately, as we are getting very tired of bumming off our friends (thanks to everyone who has offered or let us use their machines). I talked to a guy who runs a shop who said to be very careful when buying used stackables, because if they break they're a pain to fix and much more expensive than regular side-by-sides. Yikes! We found one the other night for a really good price, took a look at it, and it looked ok. We decided not to make any decisions until the next day, and we went home. I prayed for wisdom in the decision, something that I don't do nearly as much as I should, and went to bed.

That night, I dreamt a dream. In the dream, Andy (my former roommate) and I were planning to buy a car. We really wanted one that wouldn't break down any time soon. We went to the best guy in the area for reliable cars, and he told us we could get one that would never break down, but it would cost $90,000. And if we went to anyone else the same car would cost $120,000. Agast, I told him that we didn't need a perfect car if the price was going to be as much as a small house.

The next morning I got up, and after some reflection realized the dream was about the stackable. It might not be perfect, but getting perfection would just be far too costly. As soon as we can borrow a truck to move it, we are going to pick up the stackable we looked at.

Does God give us wisdom through dreams?

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In other news, on Tuesday night Jessie and I went to the dollar theater to see Accepted. It may not be the most original movie ever, but I laughed throughout most of it. I recommend it (unless you are highly offended by the word 'shit.' They probably say it 150 times.). I love the fact that the assumption "you'll never get a good job/be happy if you don't go to college" is ridiculed, because of course this is an absurd statement. In the movie, the students start their own college and the students decide what to study. They ask great question: "What do you want to learn?" And people come up with long lists of things they want to understand or be able to do that aren't part of the standard "gen ed" coursework. Jessie wrote this question on my chalkboard when we got back, and we've got lists going.

Jessie wants to learn-
Welding/soldering, tea making, stained glass making, figure skating, carpentry, spreenprinting, vegetable gardening, canning/pickling, tailoring (as in making and mending clothes, not her maiden name), acoustic guitar, pottery, reading Russian (but not speaking), and more ballet.

I'm still working on mine, but I want to learn-
pyrotechnics (as in making fireworks, not "how to blow shit up with my mind" as mentioned in the movie), Judo, voice acting, comic book writing, and the classic strategy games of chess, checkers, othello, and go.

What do you want to learn?

COMMODE!!!!!

For the past few weekends, my wife and I have gone out on Friday evening and Saturday mornings to search through the piles of old and unwanted items along the streets of Norman. You would be amazed at what you can find out there; case in point, this is a picture of the sixth commode we saw last weekend. Every time we saw another one I would shout of "Commode!" Trust me, it gets funnier if you keep doing it.


You know you live in a wealthy society when you can look through other people's trash and find things you would still want and use; even more so when you realize that many of these people are not much more wealthy than those searching through the trash.

I would encourage all of you to take advantage of the prosperity around us. Who knows, you might save time, money, the environment, and the cost of a date all at once. They say one man's trash is another man's treasure, and during the next couple of weekends you'll be able to find pretty much anything but the proverbial kitchen sink. As to the actual kitchen sink,...

I Cannot Believe we'd ever Die for these Sins,...

...we were merely Freshmen." -- The Verve Pipe

I wonder if anyone remembers this song. I was not old enough to understand it when it came out, and there are tons of interpretations of every line. Maybe it's about Romeo and Juliet, or getting your girlfriend pregnant, her having an abortion and then commiting suicide. "I can't be held responsible... I won't be held responsible...", and yet we are. I think this song is about brokenness, and fearing that our passive failures and our active evils can never be escaped. "I cannot believe we'd ever die for these sins,..." but we know in the end we will, perhaps we think we already have. Sin has taken our lives.

The Freshman is a good title for this song, because I think freshmen come face to face with this more than a lot of people. The Freshman was a good kid, mostly followed the rules in highschool, and now has been rewarded with the warm breath of freedom. But what he does with that freedom. "Now I'm guilt stricken, sobbing, with my head on the floor..." He didn't mean for everything to go so wrong; but he is broken, and none can put him back together again. Perhaps for the first time, freshmen come to college and feel the crushing grip of sin, and guilt will not go away.

Or maybe The Freshman was a good kid, and still is. Maybe The Freshman is following the rules as if her life depended on it, because in her heart she is sure that it does. One slip will send her off the precipice, and who can tell how far she will fall? And after all that care, could it ever be enough? "For the life of me, I cannot remember what made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise...." Perhaps for the first time, freshmen come to college and feel the crushing weight of law, the necessity of perfect wisdom to avoid a dark oblivion.

Freshmen are in a hard place. They need to hear the Gospel. Rev. Ricky Jones spoke at the RUF regional conference about a week ago, discussing the power of glorification. He spoke of a girl who, after many tortured nights, chose to have an abortion. In speaking to him the girl said, weeping, "No Christian boy is ever going to want me now." But, as Ricky taught to RUF's many freshmen, that Jesus Christ makes us complete, that He fixes our unfixable brokenness. 'Jesus Christ is risen' means those who are in Him partake of His risen life, and the most horrible sin or fear of this earth cannot overcome His command of our lives at this very instant. No abortion, drug use, homosexuality, arrogance, hatred, or theft can destroy our lives because Jesus has them. If we remember that, if we believe that, then Sin has not taken our lives, Christ has. And Christ is good.

I wonder if those of us who are not freshmen will remember this when we meet someone who is so broken. Will our men shun this girl who has had an abortion, as she feared? Could you bow down and call your king a boy who surrendered you to death at the hands of a tyrant, just for sweeties? Would I still love my friend when I am falsely placed on trial and he denies he ever knew me? There is a song like this for those of us who are a bit older, too. "What have I become, my sweetest friend? Everyone I know goes away in the end. And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down; I will make you hurt." -- Johnny Cash

The freshmen need us. And maybe I need them too.