On influential people

"Distribute the dignified people and the capable people and the highly businesslike people among all the situations which their ambition or their innate corruption may demand, but keep close to your heart, keep deep in you inner councils the absurd people; let the clever people pretend to advise you, but let the fools alone influence you; let the laughable people whose faults you see and understand be the only people who are really inside your life, who really come near you or accompany you on your lonely march towards the last impossibility." - Introduction to 'David Copperfield' G.K. Chesterton

I read this and it causes me to think.....man that's a long sentence.

Adoption is battling hopeless causes

"Youth is pre-eminently the period in which a man can be lyric, fanatical, poetic; but youth is the period in which a man can be hopeless.  The end of every episode is the end of the world.  But the power of hoping through everything, the knowledge that the soul survives its adventures, that great inspiration come to the middle-aged.  God has kept that good wine until now."  - 'Charles Dickens' -Chesterton

"In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn." GK Chesterton

Kids are hopeless.  They have no perspective of their lives existing beyond the current crisis.  They lack the view of their soul being tried, broken, and coming out stronger on the other side.  This is why the world ends when they get the blue plate instead of the green for dinner.  Whether in the "wrong chair", stuck eating terrible food, going to bed early, losing video games, getting a bad grade, a bad comment, bullied, broken up with.  The world is on the verge of ending, until it doesn't.

Almost world famous - Phredd

Yesterday was a very busy day for my family.  One of those that at the end you relax and wonder how all of that was squeezed into one day.  I'll even pass on commenting on a terrible Steelers game and my hatred for the N.E. Patriots.

In some of my very formative years (13-18) I was part of a volunteer crew that setup Christian concerts that rolled through Lancaster.  I'm guessing in that six year range it was close to 100 shows.  Get there, unload the truck, setup the stage, watch the show (or play security), strike the stage and load it all up.  Rinse, lather, repeat in 3 weeks.  The mastermind, organizer and major driver (he'll deny all of these) was Fred.

Fred is now doing kids' shows and it was a great pleasure to have my church host a show yesterday.  Fred helped with the Sunday morning service that included an incredibly touching song (He Will Listen to You):

The Kingdom belongs to such as these [pffftshhhwew]

My 5 y/o after bedtime prayers gave me quite a chuckle.
C: no one knows how old God is.

me: that is true, He has just always been there.
C: and no one knows what he looks like.
me: true.
C: I know what he looks like.
me: how do you know what God looks like.
C: I saw a picture of him in the Bible.  God has white hair, Jesus has brown hair.  God has a white beard and Jesus has a brown beard.  And God has [pffftshhhwew]* robes.


I was very impressed by the description of God's robes as [pffftshhhwew].   I can't think of any better words.


pffftshhhwew- adj - /pffftshhhwew/ (similar to the sound of a wet whoopee cushion stepped on and leaking out of two or more openings.
Origin: ancient kid word from various regions and cultures.
1) flowing glory that is beyond words. 
2) pretty cool and big.

Librivox rox

Today I finished "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.  I thought about writing a quick review & then thought why not cover all that librivox has given to me thus far.  I have a long list so I will try to limit the reviews to one line.  In looking over my list two things jump out to me:
A) I'm a nerd.
B) I'm a GK Chesterton nerd.
Neither of these are new or shocking to me. 

Kids are tough

Kids are tough.  True 'dat.

I had a discussion last night with another father about newborns and the whole pregnancy/birth process.  Like we did anything other than stand there with our hands in our pockets thru the whole thing.  But there is in the US a tendency to handle newborns with such soft gloves.  Very tender and gentle.  Other countries are much more cavalier to pass the babies around to other children in the family.  6&8 year olds being the caretaker and watching over newborns while mom tends to the rest of life.  A large part of that divide must be our reduced need to immediately start back tending to life (few US mom's are out tending crops lest they have sufficient food after the harvest).  Another factor is we forget - kids are tough.  I'm embarrassed by the accidents that have happened in our family (drops, couch rolls, stepped on, sat on, etc).  Everyone is doing fine despite our clumsiness. Thank God, kids are tough.

It's that time of year again.

I sometimes dread this time of year.  The opinion polls, the constant checking of the state of the world, the uncertainty of the future, and the feeling that this is truly the most important event of the year; if not the most significant of the past 10 years.  Pressure of making the exact right choice or paying the consequences for years to come.

It is my wife's birthday.