Saturday, December 27, 2008
The Husband Tree
Little do they know, they're widow fodder. In fact, they're low hanging fruit.
John was the best of them. A former lifetime member of the Republican party, he had a brain waiting to be molded. The author of a house bill to restore tax breaks to home-based business, he had earned his modicum of fame. A good looking guy with just a bit too much fat, he could be slimmed down.
Three years of married life, he's a slimmer Democrat and tons of fun. He entertains me daily with his avocation, magic, and earns some coin with his vocation, accounting. He always has a project: The History of Russian Opera is current and with him I watch A Life For the Tsar in it's four hours of glory, found at Amazon for $10. Since he creates on a typewriter, my Internet facility, such as it is, is indispensable to him.
We're learning Russian from Rosetta Stone and planning a Volga River Cruise. He's been amazed at all the places I've taken him. I've been amazed that he's been willing to go.
What a good guy; and there he was, lonely and wifeless. Ripe for the picking.
A real treasure. Widow fodder.
Is it ok to be intelligent?
Dears:
I hid my Phi Beta Kappa key when I became a Christian because I was pretty sure Orville Roberts would come and take it and send it back. "We don't want none of them scholar-types in this deal" seemed to be the prevailing cant.
Then, steadier believers steered me to the likes of Pascal and C.S. Lewis and Phillip Yancy, all of whom were first rate thinkers. Pascal's Dilemma: If I live as if there is no God, and get to my end only to find I was wrong, what an awful consequence! If I live as if there is a God and get to the end of my life and find I was wrong, I still will have lived a fine life. The right decision comes down to living a Godly life and hoping for the best.
Lewis wrote: Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or a Lord, and proved the first two were impossible based on his life; thus leaving the third to be true.
And Phillip Yancy? I became his disciple when I read his column in Christianity Today, a slight little magazine much frequented by ministers. Then I read his books, most notably What's So Amazing About Grace?
You may, dear children, wonder why I have left Lee Strobel off the list? I'll tell you. He's a good reporter, but he ain't no deep thinker. Hey, wait a second. Is that true of me? "No, no, Orville. You can't have my Phi Beta Kappa key."
Monday, December 15, 2008
Why Does my Bose Need a Plug?
And, of course, today's delusion of grandeur is "It's up to me to fix that."
So, the question: When I made a crystal set in 4th grade, and got a working radio, it didn't need a plug. Why does my Bose need one? And what does that mean about electricity and the electric grids in the world.?
I'm sure the answer is obvious, but when I consulted the smartest people in my little orbit, they couldn't answer. If a plug was optional in 4th grade in Pittsburg Kansas, why isn't a plug optional in Sub-Saharan Africa?
It may be a silly question, but it's my silly question.
A remeniscence
Here's the deal: I never associated my mental state with alcohol. That seems unlikely, today, because the media are full of articles and dramas which highlight the problem. Not so in the 1960's. Then, an alcoholic lived under a bridge with a bottle in a brown paper bag, or so the popular culture believed.
I had a fancy house with a housekeeper and a scientist-husband and I was only in my 30's and (if I do say so myself) a looker so I was too rich and too young and (believe it or not) too pretty to be a drunk. Hence, I must be chronic, paranoid schizophrenic, a diagnosis which terrified me. Meant, to me, that I'd never recover.
In 1975 something amazing happened. My dear friend Anna with whom I imbibed in the woods, making us drinking buddies, was caught drinking grain alcohol in the hospital's research lab and was sent to AA. A new deal, then. She soon had rides, cards, plants and I decided that while I wasn't an alcoholic like Anna, I wanted all that attention.
The two old timers in AA who picked me up for my first meeting later told the woman who was to be my sponsor (or mentor in the program) that "she's so sick she'll never make it." It's 30 years later, and I made it. Not without a lot of prayer and effort, but I made it.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Merry Christmas to All
The Christmas letters went out today along with a card with this address on it. I doubt if anyone takes the trouble to find my blog, but it would be heartening if they did. I expect I should be advertising my books but I think the only ones I have stocked are In the End It's Faith and Clues for the Clueless. Either would be yours for $10, and I'll ship and handle free. John and I are appearing at an evangelism festival in Orange County in March and we should unload some there. His much more useful book is Church-led Evangelism Ministry. I'd send that along for the same sum.
I see by the news that Wyndham is downsizing its Timeshare operations. I wonder how many of the old crowd will fall to the axe. I did it early when I wanted a few weeks off for Maine in high season, but I wouldn't have been there long anyway, I suspect. Especially now.
Tough times. Write if you wish to comment, and I am thinking of each and every one of you with fondness and interest.