A Man and His Dog...

Is it just me or are a man and his dog something of a phenomenon? Maybe it’s just the ones that live in the house with the man that have the weird personalities, but my husband’s dog is as routine in his habits as his master. It’s uncanny.

After we lost our blonde lab/collie mix about five years ago (one great dog), we were pretty sure there were no other great dogs out there for us. One day I was in Portsmouth at a friend’s beauty shop, and a gal brought in a puppy with my friend’s clean towels. It looked like the perfect puppy, because it was following her as she was speaking to it. It seemed very obedient, quite adorable. It was blonde, apparently a mix of something (or two or three), and endearing because some masochist had obviously tried to ruin part of its tail by putting a tight rubber band on it to stub it. So sad. This gal already had three cats in her apartment, so her husband was not in favor of keeping this puppy—which she had rescued from roaming the busy streets of Port Norfolk—and I had a feeling that my husband would fall in love with the little fellow. He was exactly the right color!

I talked him into driving down in the evening and better than $150 later we had ourselves a little puppy just happy as a lark to please us. He was fairly easy to train—we did the crate training, and as near as I can remember we never had to clean up any messes from the crate. There was the occasional accident, but on the whole Duncan was a pretty easy puppy in the training department. Potty that is. Because from the moment we brought him home there was just one word for him—hyper. My husband just egged him on.

His favorite thing to do is R-U-N-N-O-F-T. Now that he’s a little older, he tires out quicker and gets thirsty faster, so he will come home quicker. My brother even bought us one of those expensive underground fences—you all know the problem with those if they bolt—and he bolts! Then, someone drove over the wire and broke it and that was the end of that!

Now five years later we have a dog of routine. He knows Saturdays best and loves them dearly. That’s the day he gets to ride with his man in the truck to the dump. The words “go for a ride” “ride in the truck” or “go to the dump” will cause him to jump as high as my husband’s head—a full six foot three.  Until then he has to make do with dancing circles during our three cups of coffee, impatiently waiting his turn for his master’s attention.

He also likes to sit out on the deck with us looking at the birds, killing bugs, and hopefully waiting for the cat, guarding his territory with his very life because the cat shouldn’t really get any of our precious attention while we’re sitting on the deck.

Bedtime is the most precious though, when the 35-pound mutt plops down on our side of the bed (whoever is not there first) waiting for his bit of attention before he grudgingly relinquishes it to us for the night. Then he cuddles up in his favorite spot next to Mom to get some strokes (it must be constant attention, or he has to hop up and reposition, thinking he must not have given me the message…) until he falls asleep. In about twenty minutes, his internal alarm sounds and it’s time to hit the floor for the night (thank you, Jesus!) and we get the bed to ourselves!

What a great dog we have!

More Regarding Social Justice…

Dan B. suggested after we traded a few comments that a discussion regarding the definition of social justice might be in order. My original post indicated that I was leery of Glenn Beck’s warnings and admonitions to those of us who use the term, and to those churches that use it. That’s mostly because I don’t like blanket statements. It’s also why I don’t care for other seemingly unjust things such as highly populated areas like New York, California, and Florida having so many more electoral votes than the majority landmass of the country. But that’s a blog for another day.

I thought I would help the discussion along by giving a few definitions, because just like anything else, social justice and how one defines it will depend quite a bit upon perspective and interpretation. Here goes:

BusinessDictionary.com: Fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the natural law that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice. 

Center for Economic and Social Justice: Social justice encompasses economic justice. Social justice is the virtue which guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In turn, social institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to what is good for the person, both individually and in our associations with others. Social justice also imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development.

Mavericks Teacher Resources: The fair distribution of advantages, assets, and benefits among all members of a society.

Dan B.’s definition: Each person receives what they are due.

(Dan B.’s is the exact definition of justice as defined by the Center for Economic and Social Justice.)

Mary Sue’s definition (as it applies to me): To give each person, regardless of their station in life, what they are due as I am commanded by Christ: love and access to Him, serving where I am needed to walk with them in a broken world and to encourage them to depend on the One who can provide all they need.

I feel very strongly that because sin entered the world and it is broken, justice does not work perfectly either in the courts or in society. Justice must partner with the gifts God gave us when he created us in His image, the ability to love and care for each other. We are social creatures, and as such relationships are the foundation between Him and us and between each other. This side of eternity we will not have perfection, but we can certainly live toward esteeming others better than ourselves.

It is not an easy or simple definition. I would love your thoughts!

Who's the Smarty Pants?

Ever wish you were funnier or smarter? Every time I’m with my family I wish it. They are so much fun. The talk goes 90 miles an hour and at times I feel quite slow. My family is the type you don’t want to get embroiled watching Jeopardy with or even playing a game of Trivial Pursuit unless you’ve got a team. One of my newest favorites is Smarty Pants for Wii, because the animation is so funny it keeps me entertained even when I perform poorly!

The brains in my family fascinate me, especially those of my husband and my son. I love to call them the “Kings of Useless Facts” but it’s only because I’m jealous. They could have given the late Howard Cosell a run for his money with sports facts, and either of them could have been a sports commentator on just about any sport. It’s uncanny when they watch a game or a NASCAR race to listen to them talk about the action, only to hear the commentator repeat their words seconds later.

My daughters are pretty good, too, at giving their dad a run for his money on the “name that tune” game. The problem (if you want to call it a problem) is that he wants to take the game further into name the band, the year, the lead singer, lead guitarist, drummer, you name it, he probably can! If it’s classic rock, one daughter is the expert, if it’s 80’s, 90’s, hiphop or pop, my youngest will probably beat out her dad and he will quickly tire of the game since he just can’t win.

I guess that’s the secret—it’s the competition. I don’t think I’ve ever been all that competitive. I hear about the “eye of the tiger” you need to win and although I can see it, marvel at it, and even stand in dreadful awe of it if we’re in a crowd of people we don’t know very well, I have rarely felt it. Don’t get me wrong, it feels good to win, but it doesn’t drive me to finish a game when it’s past my bedtime and two cups of coffee isn’t even keeping me going anymore!

So I guess I’ll give up wishing and hoping for being funny and brainy at this late stage of life and settle for wowing people with the occasional chocolate cake, or banana pudding with the “wrong kind of cookies.” In some ways, that makes me the “Smarty Pants.”

Does Glenn Beck listen to us? Did he listen to me? You decide!

I don’t listen to Glenn Beck every day. I couldn’t do it. I probably wouldn’t sleep at night I would be so worked up about the end of America coming any day. However, I do like to tune in for a little while a couple of afternoons a week to see what he’s talking about. Just to see if he’s on a different kick for the week. I must admit, he does his homework.

I’ve been a little miffed about the social justice issue…and the warning that if your church is talking about it or if it is in their mission statements or on their church websites, “look out because they are code words,” and other such admonitions. I know “social justice” per se is not in the Bible, and I know we tend to invent terms that fit the times we live in, but I don’t think our intent is either to be politically correct or culturally savvy, nor do we intend to innocently take terms from twisted oppressive history and make them our new religious policy or our political religion. Sometimes all we are trying to do [as Christians] is to say we have tons of social problems and the way to show justice and mercy is to pay attention, steward our resources wisely, and investigate ways to help fix broken systems. Maybe some of us don’t see the implications of using such terms, and even to get a warning from Beck doesn’t make me want to stop using it.

As a matter of fact, one of the speakers at a conference I attended in February, Dr. Anthony Bradley, was referenced in a DVD series my husband and I purchased and enjoyed from the Heritage Foundation, Seek Social Justice. On May 6, I sent an email to Glenn Beck at Fox News recommending Dr. Anthony Bradley as a contributor (he contributes regularly to CNN) and referenced a recent article on social justice in World magazine (http://online.worldmag.com/2010/04/28/the-elements-of-social-justice/).

Imagine my surprise when Dr. Bradley announced that he was on Beck’s show yesterday (July 13)! I watched the clip, and do you know, Beck explained the gospel of grace perfectly! I’m not taking credit…but it does make me wonder…

(Check out Anthony Bradley’s blog, The Institute. You can find the link over on the right.)

Continuing Discussion...

Yesterday Emily posted a question under "comments." To get the full story, go back and read all the comments on the first page. We will continue the discussion on that topic here for organizational purposes.

New topics will be posted on new pages.

Here are my most recent comments (not answers!) on the discussion:

Emily’s question IS interesting, and I don’t feel qualified to answer in a comment, if at all. I did not design or start this blog to research such theological questions, because I have a Bible study blog already. And as I am working on the post for THAT for this week…and a current post for THIS blog, now I’m sidetracked because this question is so interesting that it does bring up some questions in my mind. So…I did do a little research that brought up some more questions, all of which are valid.

In my study of the Book of Ruth over a year ago, I delved a little into Moabites, and into why Jews should not intermarry into cultures around them. I found a recurring theme from Scripture…idolatry. Race was not mentioned at all…it was the warning not to pick up their religions and their practices of worship. Child sacrifice was mentioned quite often. I don’t recall, and correct me (anyone) if I’m wrong, any passages that warn or forbid adult sacrifices, because I don’t believe that was the practice. So I believe the OT laws and warnings continue the theme of idolatry and practices common in the worship of other gods that YHWH abhorred and forbade rather than calling it human sacrifice. Again, correct me if I’m wrong.

Now, regarding human sacrifices. What would “No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life for his friends” mean? Is this literal or figurative? Is this not human sacrifice? Did not Moses offer for his name to be blotted out of God’s book instead of Israel’s after they made the calf? What type of offer was this? Is the OT prophecy in Isaiah 53 about a human? I think we can never be too dogmatic about God and what we think we are reading into His Word. I like to go back over it a few times or more if I think I’m placing an interpretation on it that isn’t there. That being said, sometimes it is fun to imagine how much more David actually might have said to the “uncircumcised Philistine!”

And do all these questions just beget more questions that have been asked for over two millennia…?

Introducing...Our Blog

Today I am excited to introduce our new blog, Is That What You Think? As someone who thinks entirely too much myself, which can be counterproductive at times (meaning one can tend to isolate oneself, frown a lot, scowl, appear antisocial…) and observing that the Internet is now a forum for thinkers to discuss a multitude of topics ad nauseam, I was encouraged to start a blog. The difficulty in starting the project has been questions (which I have thought about ad nauseam) like: “What would make this blog different from a million other blogs?” or “Who would care anyway?”

The final decision, I decided, is that since everyone is leaving it up to me, the answer is that it doesn’t really matter as long as we have fun and don’t take ourselves too seriously—which I must have been doing up until this point. I need to take a lesson from Bob Newhart and just “Stop It!” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLMTvxOaeE).

What will make our blog different, is that those of us who write the fascinating articles for it (and trust me, they will be fascinating!) will have no fancy credentials, no college letters behind our names. We are in pleasant company! As one who has struggled with my lack of credentials, I started to investigate some well-known people that I was aware did not finish college, and stumbled upon a wealth of information about people too numerous to mention here. I will list a few of the most shocking. Let me say first, however, that I highly value education, and learning of any kind. A variety of life decisions and directions and values about money and debt plus risk versus reward can affect choices about further education. I make no judgments about anyone’s decisions, as long as they stewarded what they were given to the best of their ability with the information they had at the time. That’s about all any of us can do.

Nine of our Presidents did not receive college degrees. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Harry S. Truman all have this commonality. Harrison attended college and Truman attended law school, but neither received a degree.

Some of the wealthiest people in our country’s history never received a college degree. John D. Rockefeller, Sr. dropped out of high school but went on to take some business school classes, and J. Paul Getty dropped out of three universities including Oxford. Bill Gates and Michael Dell both dropped out of college in favor of the entrepreneurial dream. Thanks, guys...I think…

Benjamin Franklin, who is credited with discovering electricity, was also a writer and a political activist. Thomas Edison could not have invented the light bulb without the innovation of Franklin, and I daresay we could not enjoy our music as much as we do today without his creativity and perseverance with the phonograph.

In the entertainment field, neither James Cameron nor Steven Spielberg, both multi-
billion dollar directors, ever finished college and neither, in fact, did Walt Disney. Love them or hate them, neither Michael Moore nor Rush Limbaugh finished college, yet each is multi-talented and highly influential in his own political entertainment spectrum. Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings brought us the news for years, yet neither of them carried a degree from an institution of higher learning. One of my favorite entertainers, and a man of all-around talents, Steve Martin, does not possess a college degree. Not only does he act, but he is also a stand-up comic, a musician (one of the few to win a Grammy for both comedy and music), and an author, both of adult and children’s books. George Carlin, another of my favorite comedians, did not finish college, yet is widely quoted as a cultural expert. One of the most shocking to me was Kitty Carlisle, the highly polished matron always wearing a ball gown on the panel of the game show To Tell the Truth. I pictured her as one of the most cultured and educated women on television at the time because of the quality of her questions and the persona she carried, which most likely stemmed from her upbringing in private schools in Europe.

So we informal learners, rabid readers, combers of the Internet, magazines, and newspapers, news watchers, Bible students, world observers, stewards of our earth, seekers of justice, lovers of mercy, fun lovers, humble worshippers of our God in heaven who will be writing here understand that we are but specks in this great universe, and we invite you to joins us as we think through some of the random thoughts that flow through our paltry brains, such as:

• Do you think people buy vehicles of a certain color to match their Hokie stickers?
• How can I use less plastic?
• Will there ever be term limits?
• Whatever happened to Bobby Sherman?

and other life altering questions for the ponderer.

‘Til next time…