D is for Discernment

It's kinda troubling how the "D" in my middle name kept changing meanings through the years.

I'm pretty sure D first stood for Dummy (and said so on my birth certificate), then switched to Dejection back in high school, quickly followed by Detachment in college and Dropping the ball (or Delirium?) when it came to relationships and emotional attachment.

OK so it's taken some time, but I've got a better grip on the frame these days, and recognize that standing upside down and tilting my head sideways to see things that ain't in The Big Picture still won't make 2+2 ever add up to 6.

I've become a big fan of Discernment instead ... and of relying less on Disagreement, Divisiveness, Digression and Delusion, too.


Proverbs 17:10
"A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool."

Proverbs 2:4-6
"And if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding."

Psalm 34:4
"I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

Thine sound bites

This is only a personal gripe, but it irketh me abundantly when I hear people trying to talk "real spiritual," embellishing their sentences with archaic words like Thee, Thou, Thine and Art.

Maybe some regional dialects in remote enclaves of England and Scotland still include Early Modern English left-overs from Shakespeare's day, but that's not really the point.

Do folks think they're adding a little "extry" holiness and importance to their thoughts by using archaic words like "Thee" and "Goest"?

Or could it be that "Thine" sounds more reverent and righteous than "Yall's"?

Christ spoke Aramaic after all, and never said "Thee" or "Thine" a single time ... because early modern English was still 1400 years in the future. And in the Old Testament, God didn't speak or reveal his holiness using words like "whicheth."

Anyway, for folks who still insist upon speaking like a scribe in King James's court, there's no point only going halfway with things, so here's a few Early Modern English grammar considerations to keep in mind.

And besides, what's more fun than keeping up with a few new rules?

* The letter S had two distinct lowercase forms: S as today, and f (long s). The former was used at the end of a word, and the latter everywhere else, except that by the turn of the seventeenth century, double-lowercase-s was written sf (instead of the older ff); hence earlier happineſſe and later happinesſe.
* U and V were not two distinct letters, but different forms of the same letter; V was used at the start of a word, and u in its interior; hence vnmoued (for modern unmoved), vſe (for use).
* Latin-derived words that today end in -al often ended in -all; hence maternall, actuall.
* The capital letter V was written double for capital W; hence VVeather, VVhen.
* One-syllable words often doubled the last consonant before adding this e; hence ſpeake, cowarde, manne (for man), runne (for run).
* Also due to French influence, words that today end in -ic and -ac were often spelled with -ique or -aque. Later, these words began to be spelled with -ick or -ack; hence prophetique, zodiaque.
* Words and adjectives denoting a person's origin that today end in -an but not -ian were often written with -ain or -aine; hence Romain, Germaine.
* The sound ʌ was often written ; hence ſommer, plombe (for modern summer, plumb).
* The pronouns me and ye were often written mee and yee, respectively (like thee).


Verily I bestowest thanks upon Wikipedia, whencst I dost speaketh of and attributeth mine own sources.

Not even a close call, you see

"If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away."

Psalm 124:2-5

It's just not that hard to remember

Back in September 2006 I uploaded a music video recorded live during one of Vernon's Sunday morning worship services at Bible Baptist of Olorien in Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa.

I titled the video "Best Swahili Church Song Ever?" because of all the songs I heard, this one was my favorite (it still is).



Only thing was, the words are kinda indistinct now and it wasn't long before I forgot what the meaning was in Swahili.

Then this morning a 14-year old YouTube user clued me back in.

Yesu ni Wangu
Yesu ni wangu wa uzima wa milele
Wauzima wa milele

"Jesus is mine for evermore, for eternity
He is forever more ... for eternity.

He loves us
He cares for us."

Hmm. Seems like no matter whether it's sung in Swahili or in English, with organ music or without, with electric guitars or with a piano ... the meaning's still there and the same for eternity.

------------


"Msishug hulikie sana chakula kiharibikacho bali shughulikieni chakula kidumucho; chakula cha uzima wa milele. Chakula hicho, nitawapeni mimi Mwana waAdamu, ambaye Baba Mungu mwenyewe amenithibit isha.''"
-Yohana 6:27

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
John 6:27 (NIV)

Sifu safari, ya'll!



Yesu ni Wangu

Yesu ni wangu wa uzima wa milele
wa uzima…wa milele

Yahweh Yahweh Yahweh Yahweh
eh Yahweh Yahweh eh (eh Yahweh)
eh Yahweh Yahweh eh (eh Yahweh)

Anatupenda wa uzima wa milele
Anatujali wa uzima wa milele
wa uzima…wa milele

God's Plan for My Life: Revealed!

It's on our minds all the time: we wonder whether God really has a plan for our lives, and then fret about trying to figure out what it might be.

So for convenience, I came up with some possibilities and ideas of my own.

There must be a schedule for every minute of my life:
4:08am- Wake up
4:40- Start coffee
5:00am- blog
8am thru 5pm- boat stuff
5pm thru 9:30pm- watch TV, check email, MySpace, Facebook
9:30pm bedtime

Don't I need a schedule or a timetable so I'll know exactly where to find time for God in my life? NO

I'm pretty sure this is God's Plan for my career & employment:
-God's Number One Priority is for me to be happy
-Dismiss any job or position that's clearly beneath my skills and abilities, to avoid compromising my witness
-God understands how the saying "Nothing personal, it's just business" applies at the office
-Powerful and financially successful people are adored & admired by others for their skills, and make great witnesses once they've reached the top. That's why it's OK to do whatever it takes to get there

Doesn't God's plan make room to pursue my personal goals, priorities and ambitions for achievement, prestige, fame and success? NO


God's Plan for My Finances
-God's goal is making me happy
-God loves me, and doesn't expect me to tithe when my finances get tight
-God will bail me out of any financial crisis that I create, if I just pray hard enough
-God's promised me I'll have all the money and financial security I'll ever need

Isn't God my private bank and heavenly ATM? NO

What About God's Plan for My Dating & Relationship Life?
-God wants me to be happy in every way
-Identify attractive girls; invite them to church and impress them
-Especially pursue non-believing women, witness and try to convert them
-Charming believing women away from dead-end relationships with non-believing men, then dropping and forgetting them to find another woman who needs saving, is effective witnessing and a rewarding and fruitful ministry ... so long as you're convinced you're only doing it for the woman's own good
-Invite women over for after-hours "quiet time" and reflection, especially when confident of your own ability to resist temptation
-Humbly (but quickly & firmly) terminate all involvement with a woman at the first sign of trouble, disappointment or premature commitment
-Sit by the phone; wait for Miss Perfect Christian's call: Heaven knows she can't wait to meet you and see her world get rocked upside down

When it comes to marriage, dating and relationships, God lets me be a free agent and negotiate my own terms because it's a sexual ball-game out there on an uneven playing field: NO WAY

Believing that God has a perfect plan for our lives doesn't mean his plan is obscure or secreted away at some far off destination in the future, and that soon as we've worked our way there, everything in life will suddenly CLICK! and start pouring divine meaning and purpose into our lives.

God's plan for our lives means loving him first and above all (including ourselves), honoring his word with our thoughts and our deeds, and surrendering our lives and our purpose completely, permanently and totally to him.

Total Surrender doesn't mean surrendering a little bit, or saying "Fine then, I'll surrender ... but I'm keeping this part tucked away for myself." Surrendering is not a give-and-take proposition nor is surrendering an offer of negotiation for better terms.

Surrender means admitting defeat in every way, and giving up on resisting and fighting God's purpose for our lives.

Too often when we feel confused and uncertain about whether God has a plan for our lives, our confusion is the result of trying to merge God's plans and purpose with our own. And who do ya think's gonna win that little battle every time?


Psalm 25:12
"Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him."

Psalm 25:14
The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

Job 28:28
"And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord- that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' "

John 9:31
"We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will."

Matthew 6:33
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

I'm at a standstill because I'm scared of screwing things up

Here ya go, pictured below are the dreaded 4/0 marine battery cables for my inverter (shown with a quarter, for comparison).


Tackling the inverter's installation all by myself will be the most difficult, complex and involved boat-related task I've ever attempted. Months and months of planning, figuring and measuring has brought me to the point where it's time to get started, and I'm well aware that Doing the job right is gonna use up every bit of knowledge & confidence I've got and exceed the work-experience I'm carrying under my belt.

Think of the job as heart transplant surgery combined with replacing your brain's cortex and entire central nervous system all at the same time, while keeping all your memories and emotions completely intact.

The cables are so thick because they gotta push 200+ amps (same amount going into your house) of constant DC current back and forth across the boat, from the battery bank all the way to the inverter, and connect with the engine's alternator, bonding circuit, main AC panel and (new) central DC and fuse panels.

Installation means drilling 8 (I counted eight?) 1" holes so the cables can be run through all the plywood bulkheads and fiberglass decks separating the individual components.

Even day-dreaming about drilling 8 inches of holes through water-tight decks and Screwing Things Up gives me hives because there's permanent consequences associated with unintentionally letting water in, and diluting my living environment.

Then there's also the possibility of drilling eight holes only to find out the cables are too short to reach, or that I've drilled all my holes into a dead-end compartment, or of finding out the holes are too close together for the cables to bend and go through the other side.

But the truly terrifying part is imagining how other people might react to me screwing things up. Do I really wanna be ridiculed for the rest of my marina-life for one insignificant little catastrophe (like sinking or burning up my own boat)? Do I really wanna take that risk ... or should I just give up now, and let somebody else do the job for me? Do I really wanna be doing this, especially when I'm not sure of the outcome?

Finally, this morning I realized my predicament comes down to this:

Installing the inverter is the task I was assigned, and no amount of fear, hesitation or uncertainty on my part is gonna somehow help or inspire those inch-thick cables to get moving and start worming their way in or find their own way through fiberglass walls. Just ain't gonna happen, no matter how much I worry and fret about screwing things up.

I can't run battery cables without drilling holes where no holes presently exist. Period. In the long term, the only thing worse than screwing things up would be to have stood around doing nothing, imagining how the cables ought to be run, waiting for the cables to install themselves ... and living with remembering I was too scared to even try tackling the big job and finding out whether I could actually do it.

Today's "Doing This Job Right Requires Drilling Holes in My Head" Playlist: *
Let's Get It Started - the band's Overdrive (live) version


- From The Thursday Mixed (laundry) Bag Department:

Joe Sangl's just about turned me into a cheap nickel-squeezing curmudgeon, and probably likes it that way. There, I said it: No more will I feed $20 worth of quarters into greedy commercial washers and dryers every week just to have clean clothes (for Sundays anyway).

I hooked myself up with the $42 dollar Wonder-Washer from Amazon, and now do my own laundry instead, without ever once setting foot on dry ground.


Does it work? You bet it works. The all-electric Wonder-Washer requires no external plumbing and cycles a pair of jeans and a shirt in just 15 easy minutes. And "So what?" if it looks like a church picnic-sized community blender ... the Wonder-Washer's probably my best new friend.


"Turns out my Personal Business is everybody's business after all"
These ARE My Clothes Clothes:



* On boats, the lavatory is correctly referred to as the "head."

Into the Wild ... when I find time

"What would possess a gifted young man recently graduated from college to literally walk away from his life?" *

Read this book, then shoot me an email and tell me what you think. I'd like to know what you're feeling at the end, and if there's anything you found interesting or troubling while learning about his decisions and how Planning impacted his life. Not a trick question; really I'd like to find out. How's that for a quick review.

Now can you find time to sit down and do it ... or just wait till next year, when the movie comes out on DVD?

Even before the arrival of online retailers like Amazon.com, Paris had more bookstores lining its streets than the US could count in all fifty states combined. But since I can't read or speak French, so what?

Back in 2004, Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America reported that literary reading had dropped in every age group, with the steepest rate of decline - 28 percent - occurring in the youngest age groups. Fewer than half of American adults are now reading literature. (1)

The survey also points to an overall decline of 10 percentage points in literary readers from 1982 to 2002 (that's 20 million potential readers). Unfortunately, the rate of decline is increasing and has nearly tripled in the last ten years ... from 5 to 14 percent since 1992. "This report documents a national crisis" and "reflects a general collapse in advanced literacy."

But while reading may have declined, "the number of people doing creative writing increased by 30 percent, from 11 million in 1982 to more than 14 million in 2002." However, "The number of people who reported having taken a creative writing class or lesson decreased by 2.2 million during the same time period."

OK, big deal. So what's all that mean, anyway?

Well, if DVD rentals, Ipod, home computer, plasma TV screens and video game sales have exploded during the same period, the survey might at least suggest that more American adults are interested in entertaining, distracting, expressing and tickling themselves than they are in learning HOW to express themselves ... or in discovering and exploring anything that's not already situated between their ears.

Most of us are convinced we aren't Morons and already know pretty much everything about life worth knowing; that our life experiences and our personal relationships are more valuable, intense and interesting than anyone else's [doesn't nearly everybody who knows what the word means have their own blog by now? 2].

So with little in life left for us to learn or appreciate (and without an audience of eager readers or listeners around to entertain), what's left for us to do with our time ... but sit back and be entertained ourselves?

One excuse is that reading is too slow and takes too much time! If we see a 90-minute DVD (or a challenging new video game) side-by-side on a shelf with a thick book, picking up the book and taking time to read it looks like too much work and requires too much dedication compared to sinking back in an armchair chair and punching PLAY.

Our time is more precious than ever, and all we're asking for is immediate gratification and an entertaining distraction from our hectic lifestyle. And make that the sooner the better. So we plunge our heads to the shoulders into the snack food bag and start chowing down ... when what our minds crave might be something unfamiliar and nutritious. Like a sit-down brain meal with a good book.

Whether we spend two hours watching an action thriller (for the sixth time), downloading playlists for our Ipods or reading a thick best-seller doesn't alter the fact that two hours is still two hours: what we do with the balance of our time doesn't change that the amount being withdrawn and subtracted from our account's still the same.

Learning is almost always hard (especially for me) and many of us try to avoid it whenever we can. Learning makes us uncomfortable when Learning means being confronted with the possibility that we actually didn't know nearly as much as we thought we did. Or even as much as the next guy, and just look at him ... but haven't we been told from the beginning that life's supposed to be All About Me, after all?

Learning something about ourselves that we didn't already know can also hint that up until now we've been merrily waltzing through life, smug and happy keeping up with the music, without once noticing we forgot to put pants on before leaving the house between our ears.

And is there anything in the world more embarrassing than being embarrassed?


Sources:
* Amazon.com editorial review
1. NEA Newsroom
2. estimated 60 million bloggers worldwide. Blog Herald

Sometimes I STILL feel like a teen!

Alden Ellis is one of the youth pastors at NewSpring Church. Here's an excerpt from his blog on August 14:

"Some of you maybe asking, “How do I keep Jesus first, as I live the changed live?” So in closing, here are a couple of things God placed on my heart to share with all of you. If you want to live out the changed life be sure to do these two things:

• ASK FOR HELP
  • Ask for Help from JESUS: We must PRAY and ask Jesus for continued strength and encouragement to live the changed life. Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
  • Ask for Help from OTHERS: We all need ACCOUNTABILITY in our lives. We need other people in our lives to encourage us and call us out when we are doing something stupid. Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”
• STAY CONNECTED
  • Stay Connected to JESUS: The best way to stay connected to Jesus is through HIS WORD, the Bible! We must read the Bible daily, allowing Him to speak to us through His love letter to us. There is so much wisdom, encouragement, strength, and instruction that we must seek out if we want to continue to keep Jesus first and live the changed life. Proverbs 7:2-3, “Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.”
  • Stay Connected to Others: We all need COMMUNITY/FELLOWSHIP. We need to join together on a regular basis to worship together, to pray together, to learn together, to just fellowship with each other. We need friendships with like minded people who are passionate about keeping Jesus first in their lives."

Worth keeping in mind, even for those of us whose teen years elapsed back in the Dark Ages.

Suits me - updated

This morning I read the four gospel accounts of events immediately following the discovery of Christ's resurrection:


"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb." -John 20:1-3

"When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others." -Luke 24:9

"But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.' " - Mark 16:7

"Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." - Matthew 28:9-10


Look, if the resurrection wasn't a literal event, but a hoax pulled off by cunning disciples eager to suffer agonizing deaths as martyrs for the lie they created, or a total fiction tacked on to gospel accounts centuries later by diabolical scribes in a basement, then Christianity itself must be an utter farce ... which would make believers the most spectacularly misguided and deceived population of people ever to live on the planet. There's just no room for ambiguity here.

But if his resurrection was real and Christ did rise from the dead, then there's no ambiguity either that the Messiah's resurrection stands alone as the single-most spectacular event since creation.

What struck me in re-reading the gospel accounts was that none of the people who first witnessed the most awesome and powerful event in human history were told, Go to the others and tell them what you have seen, but first dress yourselves appropriately in your best ... which shall mean hereinafter suits and ties for men, and calf-length skirts for ladies.

I just get the feeling there was too much joy and excitement filling the empty tomb that Sunday morning for any of the first-hand witnesses of God's awesome power to even start thinking about their appearance, or cause them to stay home that day because "I just don't have anything to wear!"

Much less notice what anyone else happened to be wearing, either.


Matthew 28:5-10
Luke 24:1-12
Mark 16:1-7
John 20:1-8

Don't Wake for Me!

I've already described the aggravation of putting up with inconsiderate folks who ignore the NO WAKE ZONE buoys and signs around the marina, but this weekend prompted (provoked?) me to memorialize just what I'm talking about.

On Sunday afternoon, the wake created by a cretin who ignored the buoys was violent enough to actually pitch books from their shelves and toss dishes across the cabin ... literally worse than anything the tornado threw at Calypso back in June.

So I decided to wait in the helm with a videocamera, and capture the next passing event.

Turns out I didn't have to wait long to spot another pontooner (and a day-boat right behind him) ignoring the buoys and blasting through the NO WAKE zone ... and uploaded the footage on YouTube.

Praying for self-control is useless

"The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast."
-Proverbs 5:22 (NIV)

Oh boy, let's start Monday off with a bang. I've given up on trying to stop sinning.

That's right, I've finally accepted that trying to stop sinning is hopeless. I know because I've tried and tried and prayed as hard as I could, but then there I go right on sinning, just like Paul admitted to the Romans.

"I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate."
-Romans 7:15 (NLT)

It's especially tough to stop sinning here at the marina on weekends.

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
-Matthew 5:28 (NIV)

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl."
-Job 31:1 (NIV)

Oh man, that's a lot more weight than I can handle ... and Jesus said those words 2000 years ago, when women weren't even seen in public unless they were covered in dresses flowing from head down to toe. Long before halter tops, string bikinis, low-riding jeans and tan lines showed up on the scene.

I mean did Christ really expect me to read and live those words to the letter, without ever stumbling a single time? Is that realistic to expect from me? Hmm ... I thought that if I kept looking hard & long enough, maybe I could find a little wiggle room somewhere in scripture to let me off the hook.

"And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell."
-Mark 9:47 (NIV)

Surely he didn't mean that literally, did he? Did he?

"Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."
-Proverbs 30:5 (NIV)

So that's what I've been up against.

"I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me."
-Romans 7:22-23 (NLT)

My chances of stopping myself from sinning started looking awfully bleak because the law showed me my sins, but trying to follow the law wasn't saving me from them.

"For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death."
- Romans 7:11 (NIV)

I tried reading the Bible more and more often and prayed God would take temptations and all my bad habits away from me. That didn't work out as easily as I wanted, so I tried self-control till my eyes crossed ... and started feeling out of control and hopeless instead.

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" -Romans 7:24

There wasn't any choice about giving up when it came to trying to stop myself from sinning, because I don't have the self-control or will power to do it. No matter how much or how hard I prayed for a shortcut.

Self-control was useless ... what I needed was God-Control.

So I gave up trying to stop sinning when I realized believing in Christ meant I'd already been rescued, and what I had to do was start living a life that was dead to sin. Totally, in every way. As the perfect new creation God intended.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
-2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

Giving up on self-control meant realizing I was powerless to stop sinning, and grasping that my old sinful nature had died once Christ began living within me.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God."
-Romans 6:8-10 (NIV)

I gave up on the vanity of self-control and the bankruptcy of valiant efforts because I finally understood that being raised with Christ meant that I was made completely new in him. I was dead to sin ... and free from the grip of its temptations.

"So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

"For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code."
-Romans 7:4-6 (NIV)

Does that mean I'll never sin again? No, but it does mean by surrendering to Christ, and being re-born with him, that I'm dead to sin ... and no longer held captive in its snares.

Drive 8 hours for a WHAT!?

A friend of mine lives in a marina in a nearby northern state.

She called me and after a few minutes, told me she'd recently met a man in his late 40's who'd started his own business right out college, sold it last year, and had just arrived home after he and his wife piloted their $3.5 million yacht from California, through the Panama Canal, on a 9-month cruise all the way back to their home marina on the northeast coast.

They aren't live-aboards either, because their primary residence is a house located outside D.C. So maybe their yacht's only a kind of second home.

The trouble is, my friend told me, that this man had told her he didn't understand what had happened to his life because, "Nothing's fun any more." He said he was bored, woke up without having a real reason to get out of bed and didn't understand why.

He said he had all the money he needed to travel any where in the world, to buy whatever he wanted, or try any new experience that caught his attention. He just couldn't think of anything worth doing.

My friend was puzzled and asked me, "How would you answer a question like that?"

I closed my eyes for a minute and then told her, "Ask him if he's ever tried a milk shake from Chik-Fil-A."

What a great idea

So I'm walking down the dock the other day, and see a good friend of mine filling up his boat's fuel tanks. Trouble was, he was filling his tanks from the marina's water hose.

As it turns out, woulda been easier to just shrug and keep walking, but I felt obligated to ask him if he realized what he was doing. "Sure," he said, already impatient with his tone. "I'm gassing up my tanks."

I shook my head and shrugged. "With water?"

His head began bobbing up and down. "That's right. Gas at the fuel dock is $3 a gallon, and it's easier and costs less to get what I need right here, right now. So when I'm getting empty, so long as my tanks get full, what difference does it make what goes inside?"

I had a hard time believing what I was hearing, especially from someone who occasionally boasted about being something of a yachtsman.

"Well, I mused, "number one, you just polluted all the good gasoline in your tanks with water and number two, when water gets into your engines they'll both need re-building. And that's if there's anything left worth rebuilding."

My friend's face suddenly turned into a self-righteous scowl. "Sure, that's what you say ... but that's just your interpretation of the instructions, and you've got your own agenda because you work for the guy who just happens to re-build broken engines!" He was thoroughly provoked and quite hostile at this point, and I could tell he resented my uninvited intrusion.

But I wasn't ready to walk away yet. "I guess I just don't understand why you're intentionally trying to ruin your boat, when you already know putting water in your gas tanks is dead-plain wrong. You just can't do it."

"If I ruin my boat what difference is that to you? What I do with my boat is my business mister, and right now I'm kinda wishing you'd butt out and start minding your own."

Then he climbed back on board, fired up both engines, confirmed over his shoulder that he thought I was "Number One" and left two rooster tails blowing from his exhaust pipes as he thundered across the No Wake zone and disappeared across the lake ... presumably showing me his engines did run on tap water, after all.

But the engines were only running on the ounce or two of pure gasoline still left in the fuel lines ... before the carburetors started sucking fresh (but cheap!) cold water into all sixteen red hot cylinders. I didn't stick around to hear the inevitable symphony of exploding cylinder heads, flying pistons and cracking iron engine blocks.

I figured I'd hear from him again soon anyway, when he called to complain about the high cost of marine engine overhauls ... and getting all the pieces put back together again.

---

It's confoundedly easy to feel that we're so smart--- smart enough to justify our actions and argue that thing we're doing is perfectly OK, or rationalize "That's not my situation and anyway that doesn't apply to me," when we know perfectly well we're told not to do that thing we're doing.

Especially when we become distracted, lonely or impatient ... and our attention drifts away from pleasing and honoring God, to satisfying ourselves and honoring what we want to believe instead.


"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."

-Matthew 5:12-14 (NIV)

Is that a storm up ahead?

The Lord rescues the godly;
he is their fortress in times of trouble.

The Lord helps them,
rescuing them from the wicked.
He saves them,
and they find shelter in him.

-Psalms 37:39-40 (NLT)

Let's make a deal - updated

Imagine UPS delivers a Time Machine to your front door on Monday morning.

You rip open the instructions, only to read the fine print and learn that the contraption will only allow one jaunt back into time. You give careful consideration before choosing what ancient event you'd most want to visit, and being a believer, you take a deep breath and set the clock back to the day of Christ's crucifixion.

You press the START button and before you can blink, there you are at Calvary standing shoulder to shoulder with the crowd assembled on the hill outside Jerusalem. The spectacle laid out before your eyes is incredible, and you feel the air rush from your lungs as your eyes fall upon Christ for the very first time.

You feel your eyes welling up with tears, you wish more people could have taken the journey with you to witness first-hand what your faith assures you is true. The emotions are overwhelming beyond anything you could've imagined, then suddenly you feel yourself stepping forward, away from the crowd toward the cross where our Savior is hanging.

The Roman guards seem not to notice: at least no one tries stopping you as you inch toward the foot of the cross. Seen from such a close distance, the wounds from his flogging are far worse than you realized. Christ seems so still and quiet, you can't be certain whether he's even still alive.

It's hard, harder than anything you've ever done, but you force your eyes to glance up ... past the nails driven through his feet, past his utter nakedness, past the scourge wounds where the whips ripped open his flesh and then finally into the very eyes of Jesus. His suffering is so close, so real, it seems beyond what any human being could endure.

But then as if he's known all along that you'd be there, his eyes flutter open and gaze back into yours. He tries lifting his head to speak, but every exertion seems almost enough to kill him. There's something you want to say, something you've waited your entire life to tell him.

Your mouth falls open as you glimpse into eternity and suddenly words start pouring out. You hear yourself whispering to Jesus ....

"Man, I wish you'd drop by my church one Sunday morning and bring our pastor up to date on a few things. All he ever preaches about is you and God's word, and it gets boring after a while. Especially if you're like me, and already saved.

"He's either out of his mind or else he's living in another world, because he doesn't notice folks get real uncomfortable hearing him preach straight from the Bible or talk about hell, when sometimes the only thing we're interested in is sitting back, talking about our accomplishments and feeling good about ourselves.

"Shoot he's a real fanatic, and even says little stuff like gossiping and telling white lies are sins, can you believe it? But if the gossip just happens to true, isn't it better if everybody knows it? I think you see my point.

"And what about lying to stay out trouble ... so long as nobody actually gets hurt? See, I know this guy whose boss wouldn't pay him what he's worth because the boss thought he's lazy. So if this friend stole from the boss to get back what's really his, then lied about what he took and ended up getting fired anyway, are either one of those things actually a sin?

"Look, it's not like I don't appreciate what you're doing and everything, but my life is kinda complex these days so I was kinda hoping you and I could make a deal on a few things.

"In the first place, you need to be more flexible and open-minded about how you expect people to behave. Especially people who're already saved and going to church. Times are gonna change beyond anything you can imagine over the next 2000 years, and people would pay a lot more attention to you if you let them bend the rules a little bit. I mean, it's only human nature to wanna break the rules.

"I mean come on, for crying out loud. Look, I've been dating the same girl at church for almost a month now, you know the one I'm talking about. Yeah, I really respect and admire her a lot and dude, she's hot as hell ... especially in a tank-top and jeans. So when we're fooling around I can tell she really wants to, and being a guy I'm all about wanting to, so isn't it OK for two adults to give each other some release, or even have sex, if it feels like they're in love and say they care about each other? Even single church people have those needs, you know.

"It's not like neither one of us has never had sex before, right? And didn't you already forgive us for all that?

"You're willing to forgive folks who've done a lot more sexual sinning than me ... so it only seems fair. If your grace is as infinite as you say it is, then surely you've got enough left over to cover a little bit of my sexual sinning on the side, at least till I get married, don't ya think? Heck, you already know in advance when we're gonna be weak and get tempted and besides, I always end up asking for forgiveness afterwards, so what's the point of resisting in the first place?

"Is it too much asking you to look the other way every once in a while, especially on weekend nights after 11?

"Oh never mind, I can already see that you just don't get it. I mean, you were single your whole life, so what in the world do you know about sex, love and commitment anyway? Times have changed, and it just seems like you could keep up if you wanted to.

"You called me your friend, so all I'm trying to do is return the favor and let you in on the big picture so you'll know exactly where I'm coming from. Sure, all ten commandments sound good on paper, but couldn't we try doing best five out of seven instead? It'd sure help if you gave us a few more choices in our lives, that's the thing.

"Ooops, I hate to bring up a touchy subject at a time like this, but tithing? Tithing sounds so Old Testament and legalistic! I've got a hard enough time as it is making ends meet, and I'm already pinching pennies to put a down payment on that new boat I need.

"Oh, and not to gripe or anything ... but I prayed a lot last month about my personal finances because I'm in so much debt for taking that vacation to relax after I got fired. I guess we had a bad connection that night, because my credit cards are still maxed to the limit. And frankly, I deserve my share of the abundant life, don't ya think? See, when prayers don't get answered, it makes people think you really don't exist after all.

"Well, it's getting late so I better run. Hollywood Wives comes on at 7 and I'd hate missing my show. Unless you feel like hooking a brother up with some TiVo?

"Oh I almost forgot. I wish you'd answer this so I can repeat it to all my saved buds back at church when they're out in the world trying to witness. In general, wouldn't you say that any sinning you do in the privacy of your own home is really nobody's business but their own?

"Like porn ... how can you say porn is bad when you've never even seen a satellite TV or a DVD? See, that's what I'm getting at. Too much of the Bible is too old-fashioned to do anybody any good.

"And even when I find time, trying to read scripture every once in a while is as dull as watching paint dry in the church bathrooms. And there's hardly anything there that applies to my life.

"Well Jesus my man, it's getting late so I'm heading back to real life. Thanks for taking time and letting me vent a little bit. Guess I'll be seeing you in Heaven one day, so take care and thanks for everything.

"And remember to leave the lights on at the pearly gates, old buddy."

---

Naaah that's just a made-up story, because nobody would go back in time and talk to Christ that way. It's inconceivable we'd ever stand at the foot of the cross and mock Jesus' suffering, or go back 2000 years to treat his sacrifice with such total selfishness, disrespect and ingratitude.

Today it's easier do it from the comfort of our church pews and living rooms instead.

---

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."
-Galatians 6:7 (NIV)

Friday Firm Up

"You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ."
-Hebrews 3:13-15 (NLT)

"So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?""
- Acts 11:17 (NIV)

"So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word."
- 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17 (NIV)

"Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."
- John 14:24 (NIV)

Gotta do this more often

When's the last time we took Calypso out for a sunrise cruise?

I couldn't remember either ... so this morning I grabbed the video camera, just in case. Now, let's Trance.

what're the odds?

I'm not a big fan of seeking answers to difficult questions by flipping open the Bible, stabbing a finger on a random verse and hoping for inspired wisdom or revelations from God. Just doesn't work that way. Though sometimes the book seems to open at just the right place, at just the right time ...

"We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love."
-Romans 5:3-5 (NLT)

A good and thorough ice-kicking

Doesn't matter that today's temperatures topped 100 degrees F; this afternoon I got a solid & complete ice-kicking ... promptly delivered On-Time courteous (though not coincidentally, I'm sure) of this morning's Dos post.

A few minutes before 5 PM I got an unexpected phone call from an unfamiliar number that meant facing up to and living with my own words ... and having the choice of simply hanging up ... or following Christ through frighteningly unfamiliar and scary territory. Yes it was hard, Yes I was way in over my head, No there's no point detailing the particulars because it's not Christ in me that hurts; it's the Me and the I that wants to crawl up under the lake and hide till the rapture.

What's That Guy Doing?! wasn't about driving boats at all: the subject had to do with representing Christ at all times ... even when we don't want to & especially in the most unbearably difficult situations (and today would go down near the very, very top if Bleak Me Moments counted or was worth remembering).

Folks, he is there and he's real. Always ... and we are never forgotten. Even when the broken pieces of us feel kicked around and scattered on the floor.

Reflecting Badly - Part Dos

What's That Guy Doing?!

Knowing and working with Mike "The Asphalt Mariner" certainly eased my transition into Marina-Life. When your boat's broke and won't go then Mike is the man to know: he's been around the marina long enough to become a fixture, and folks trust his advice (or ignore it at their own risk) .

Because he fixes and works on boats, Mike's livelihood either thrives or dies by his reputation: a marine technician who ruins engines, mis-wires circuit panels and burns up boats, steals, overcharges or crashes customers' yachts into pilings can't expect much in the way of repeat business. So there's not much point in Mike cutting corners, looking for shortcuts, making excuses or doing things half-way.

Being known as "the guy who works for Mike" is lots better than being called "that guy who kills time wandering around the marina." Being known as "the guy who works for Mike" almost automatically tells folks I must be OK, and surely saves me lots n' lots of grief all the way 'round.

---
But while working for Mike might let me enjoy short rides on the coattails of his reputation, being associated also comes with the responsibility of measuring-up on my end of the skill stick.

If Mike can do impossible things like dock a 100-ft houseboat in a 15 knot crosswind all by himself, then by association folks at least expect me to be capable of maneuvering Calypso back and forth across the marina without blitzing through the No Wake Zone, running aground, crashing into piers or gouging holes in the hull trying to dock my own boat.

Week-enders and pleasure-boaters lacking full-time commitment may have book-fulls of excuses for their mistakes and poor judgement, but Mike knows there's no excuse that'll cover pride, laziness, getting distracted, losing focus & control, compromising or simply not caring and giving up.

Doesn't matter if a beer-guzzling pontoon pilot suddenly cuts me off, or if an unexpected wind gust tries blowing Calypso sideways into another boat ... or even if I'm trying to dock moving backwards at night on just one engine: It's always got to be done to the best of my ability ... because I'm associated with Mike and represent him in my actions.

Otherwise my ineptitude (or carelessness) makes Mike look bad ... and might cause folks to start wondering "Why did Mike hire that guy?" ... and whether Mike's really the best after all.

---

I'm not perfect, not ever. Mike doesn't expect me to be and knows I have my share of bad days like everybody else.

But I don't start thinking "At least I'm better than so-and-so" or become complacent with "Heck, that's good enough" or ever forget for a moment who's the boss and why he's charge ... much less start criticizing or debating Mike for wanting to teach me and correct my mistakes.

And Woe be upon me if I ever tried the silliness of slipping an excuse past the boss.

Because my actions, my behavior and my commitment reflect and represent someone who's better, knows infinitely more and whose been around a whole lot longer than I have ... someone who by reputation is known all around as being The Best.

Reflecting Badly - Part Uno

No kidding, what's the worst part of living on a boat?

-A few quick jabs around Calypso's "salon" with a tape measure reveals my total interior living space (including the "bathroom") is less than 70 square feet. A bit more spacious than say, living in the back of a cargo van ... but then I can run the air-conditioner 24x7 at Warp Factor 4 and still keep the electric bill under $80 bucks a month. I like staying cool, so small is good.

Plus there's practically no space left over for clutter, which means there's even less mess to hide or clean up.

-Laundry's still a headache, but I'm gonna invest $43 in a Mini-Wonder Washing Machine ... and let the sun, some clothespins and a nylon line do all the rest.

-The Groceries & Cooking situation is a non-issue since I heeded ORP's advices and replaced Calypso's tired 1984-issue microwave with a Sharp Carousel Grill 2 Convection/Microwave oven. Now I can do popcorn, toast bagels and cook full-sized frozen pizzas ... about all that really counts.

-Repairs, Maintenance & Upkeep? The old adage "Something's always breaking on a boat" simply is a myth. The truth is that Everything's always breaking on a boat, just like something's always breaking with a house or a car. Or with a computer ... or anything else that's manufactured by human beings and sees regular use by fallible people.

Besides doing 95% of the work myself, the key to living with repair issues is understanding that Maintenance and Repair isn't actually a goal ... it's an on-going & perpetual spiritual process intended to develop patience, perseverance and boundless optimism in the face of overwhelming odds.

So those things merely amount to minor aggravations and annoyances.

What keeps pushing my buttons and testing my witness are the inconsiderate boaters who blow past the NO WAKE buoys; the week-enders and Gotta-Get-There! amateurs who ignore the NO WAKE ZONE signs and roar through the marina at speeds fast enough to haul tandems of water-skiers.

Speeding through a NO WAKE ZONE creates surprisingly powerful waves that spread across the water behind the offending vessel ... waves which then plow into nearby boats tied to the dock, which results in any occupants on-board (meaning, me) getting literally & violently tossed around inside like a cat inside a clothes dryer [sorry] as they're trying to cook in the proximity of hot surfaces, or exit the shower on a slippery floor.

And every weekend it's getting to be the same thing.

---

Ignoring NO WAKE signs and buoys is more than being inconsiderate or stupid, it's also against the law:

• In South Carolina, "Idle Speed" or "No Wake Speed" is defined as a speed not greater than that which is necessary to maintain steerage.
• If operating your boat or PWC in a No-Wake Zone and you cause damage to another person's boat or property, you are responsible.
  
• Boats and PWCs may not be operated in excess of idle speed within 50 feet of a moored or anchored boat, a wharf, pier or dock, or a person in the water.

Part Dos - Look What That Guy's Doing?!

Coup de grâce

In 1956 Floyd Patterson became the youngest man in boxing history (to that point) to win the World Heavyweight Championship title.

Patterson was on the smallish side for a heavyweight, and as if his size and punching power weren't already limiting enough ("How can this guy be World Champion?"), Patterson had an even worse flaw ... at least so far as fighting for the World Championship is concerned.

Patterson lacked the Killer's Instinct- the willingness to charge forward with urgency and finish off a stunned, back-peddling opponent.

In other words, once Patterson had thrown his hardest punches and had the opponent reeling on the ropes, he couldn't administer the final, fight-finishing coup de grace.

To be sure, Patterson was a good person and the quintessential Nice Guy in real life outside the ring. Trouble was, he was Mr. Nice Guy inside the ring as well, and sometimes it seems like he was reluctant to roll up his sleeves and finish the fight.

Which gave his enemy time to rest, recuperate, regroup and recover ... and come back swinging. And because of his size, Patterson was already fighting at a disadvantage.

Fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship is serious business indeed. Because there can only be one winner in the end.

---

Not to pick nits, but Coup de grace is pronounced ku də gras. Not ku de'gra ... which means "to blow fat."

the weak, the uninformed and the vulnerable

This morning I added "Maxed Out" (2006) to my NetFlix queue:

"Investigating both the personal and the national debt owed by Americans, this thought-provoking documentary explores the staggering financial burden we live with every day and exposes how the contemporary financial industry is set up in ways that can harm unwitting customers. With both sobering facts and black humor, Maxed Out unveils the consequences of our debt addiction, including its contribution to the vanishing of the American middle class."

Also, "The Secret History of the Credit Card" is available for online viewing over at PBS.

Taking the scissors to your charge cards gets ***** stars and two big Thumbs-Up.

Heck yeah, I know all about Jesus!

So did Judas.

Give Sunday's message a listen, soon as it's posted. Especially if you're sure you've been saved your whole life, think being religious counts for anything, brag about your deeds & righteousness, or look down on sinners.

Knowing Jesus ain't enough ... and Judas Iscariot would be among the first to tell ya.

‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.'" Mark 7:7

Glad that's over!

The Weather Channel's forecasting today's high will top out at 96 degrees by 5 PM, with a Heat Index of only 99.

Whew! Glad we're finally done with hundred-degree days.

The Black and Blue Book - with followup

I try not to sugar coat or polish-over my adventures here at The Blue Book. This morning's episode is already feeling like it's gonna come back to haunt me, but we're too far in already to even think about backing down now ....

After weeks of planning, this morning seemed like the right time to finally add a municipal water inlet and re-plumb Calypso's cold water pressure system. And with months and months of practical experience under my belt, I felt confident that the entire operation would go smoothly ... at least, as smoothly as anything can go when it comes to boats. Indeed.

Yep, except. Except ... there's always that one big EXCEPT.

Except that when I screwed in the new faucet and turned on the water, I was horrified to discover I'd totally forgotten to attach the new fitting to the aft sink ... and water was flooding into my sleeping quarters at exactly the rate you'd expect from your garden hose. Because my hose was attached to the marina's water faucet. You see.

A good friend recently (and humorously?) referred to my present circumstances as Living the Life. Only trouble is, sometimes I get to live it by the bucketfuls.

Literally.

And It Only Gets Worse ...
-from the "I Sure Miss My Noodles" Department:

After posting the previous entry, I picked up some Quick & Easy Chow Mein dinners and a family-pack of Ramen noodles at The Dollar Store ... and didn't realize the cashier had put my noodles in a second bag till after I got back to the marina.

What's the right age to get married?

I usually hate silly quizzes, but a friend over in Westminster posted this one last night at MySpace ... it seemed fun enough to pass along and naturally I couldn't resist tacking on a few Bonus Questions at the end :-)

How Old Are You Gonna Be When You Get Married?

Put an X in every box that applies to you. Add up all the x's and type in the sum after "My marriage age is..”

[x] You know how to make a pot of coffee
[x ] You keep track of dates using a calendar
[ ]You own more than one credit card
[x] You know how to change the oil in a car
[x] You've done your own laundry
[ ] You vote in every election
[x] You can cook for yourself
[x] You think politics are exciting

TOTAL: 6


[ x] You show up for school/college/work every day early
[x ] you carry a pen in ur bag/purse
[x ]You've never gotten a detention
[] You have forgotten your own birthday at least once
[x] You like to take walks by yourself
[x] you've watched talk shows
[x] You know what 'credibility' means without looking it up
[x] You drink coffee at least once a week


TOTAL :13

[x] You know how to do the dishes
[x] You can count to 10 in another language
[x] When you say you're going to do something you do it
[x] Your parents trust you
[x] You can mow the lawn
[x] You can make adults laugh without being stupid
[ ] You remember to water the plants
[x] You study when you have to
[x[You pay attention at school/college/work
[x] You remember to feed your pets

TOTAL: 22

[X] You can spell 'experience' without looking it up
[] You work out on a regular basis
[X] you clean up your own mess
[ ] the people at Starbucks know you by name
[ ] your favorite kind of food is take out
[X] You have gained weight since elementary school
[ x] The first thing you do when you wake up is get caffeine
[x] You can go to the store without getting something you don't need
[x] You understand political jokes the first time they are said
[x] You can type quickly


TOTAL: 29

[x] You have realized that the weather forecast changes every hour
[ ] Your only friends are from your place of employment/school
[ ] You have been to a tupperware party
[x] You have realized that no one will take you seriously unless
you are over the age of 25 and have a job
[ ] You have more bills than you can pay
[ ] Most or all of your friends are older than you are
[x] You can say no to staying out all night
[x] you use the internet every day
[x] Your wardrobe hasn't changed in a while
[x] You can read a book and actually finish it

Total = 35

Papa's Bonus Round- Two Points Each

[x] Friends know to call & remind you of upcoming appointments

[x] You've driven past your old high school without recognizing the building

[x] You own at least one car that's more than 10 years old

[x] You don't own an Ipod

[x] You had to google "Blackberry" to find out what it means

[x] You've completely forgotten the names of more than two Ex's

[x] You have trouble remembering your own email address

[x] You look forward to blogging more than you do going out on a date

[x] You've owned a computer that became obsolete before you learned how to use it

[x] You enjoy getting up early more than you do staying up late

[x] You made at least one mistake trying to add up your score on this quiz

My marriage age is 57.

Man.

Just A Guess

-from the "Songs You'll Never Hear Sung in Heaven" Department:

My Way - Frank Sinatra

Time for Skype? - update

I digress ...

I don't want to endorse products or services here (except Windows' dominating superiority over Mac*), so this is just info you might find useful and worth checking out for yourself.

My friend Vernon in Tanzania first introduced me to Skype two years ago during my visit to his home in Arusha. Skype is a web-based telephone system that allows you to make dirt-cheap phone calls (to another computer, a land line, cell phone or whatever) from your computer to any place in the world (so long as your computer is connected to the internet).

All you gotta do is install the software & plug in a set of headphones (with microphone).

Skype sells 7 hours of talk-time "credits" for ten bucks ... that's $1.40 per hour (or 2.3 cents per minute). That's much, much less expensive than what I'm paying for cell service ... and maybe best of all, there's No Charge for calls placed to other Skype users.

I just made my first Skype call to Ken, who reported the quality was "slightly garbled" and "definitely not a cell phone" (but then rumors persist that AVCLUB.US maintains a highly-secret labyrinth of subterranean particle-pair splitters for streaming data back and forth across space-time ... 23rd century technology you and I can only dream about).

Not bad, especially if you see lots of international phone calls on your horizon. The only caveat is that Skype is CANNOT be used to place calls to 911 emergency service.

ps. Since programming everybody into my cell I realize I don't remember phone numbers any more, and have nightmares about dropping my little Nokia into the lake and losing all my contact 411 forever.

Skype includes a Contact List, so all I've gotta do now is move all my contacts' names and numbers onto Skype (where they'll be safe from losing my phone to the lake).

* "The computers from hell."

How hot was it today?

By sundown the temperature had reached a scorching 247 degrees, and boiled most of the water right outta the lake.




Now that's hot, I'm tellin' ya. (that's me on the right)

But it's not such a BAD web ...

Maybe it's something to do with water or humidity, but boats (or just marinas?) seem to attract more than their share of spiders. Sometimes it seems like they're everywhere.

The other morning I found a spider dangling from its silk thread in Calypso's salon, in the first stages of construction on a new web. I don't mind spiders too much, but this spider's latest efforts would've blocked my view of the TV: an unacceptable distraction.

He was only about the size of a lima bean, so I grabbed Mr. Ambitious and chucked him outside before he could make himself feel welcomed.

--

Another time I noticed a yellow jacket hovering over over a thin, but old and intricate, web among the fenders on Calypso's rear deck. Maybe Mr. Bee dropped by from curiosity, or maybe he was just bored ... because he was skipping and darting over the web, as though intrigued and fascinated to find out for himself what created so much danger and excitement.

Meanwhile the spider, not even the size of a BB, scampered back and forth over its web in an eight-legged frenzy. Not to chase the bee away or to protect its web: No, the spider was throttling around in high gear because it was hungry and meant serious spider business.

The bee paid him no attention, and I'm sure the bee was thinking "You gotta be kidding me" because the bee seemed like an elephant compared to the size of the spider. Certainly it chose to ignore the fate and condition of the spider's previous companions.

And after the bee's struggles to free itself had only wound it deeper and more permanently into the spider's trap; as the bee realized the wings it had always depended on for flight were useless and watched the teeny-tiny spider move in for The Big Body Bite, I wonder if the bee was thinking, "Why didn't anybody tell me this was gonna happen?"

You seen that ninja, didn't ya?

-from The Anderson Independent Mail
by Pearce Adams
August 2, 2007

A 26-year-old Anderson motorcyclist said he rode away from an enraged motorist who confronted him with a sword, according to officials.

Joshua Alan Webber told an Anderson County sheriff’s deputy that it was about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on S.C. 28 Bypass when a Ford Explorer almost hit the rear of the motorcycle Mr. Webber was driving.

The Ford’s driver then pulled alongside Mr. Webber and began to verbally abuse him, according to the police report.

No one was injured, and no arrests have been made as of Thursday afternoon, according to official reports.

According to other details in the police report, both drivers pulled into the parking lot of a Wachovia Bank.

Mr. Webber told deputies that he walked to the Ford, asked the driver “what his problem was,” and found himself confronted with a sword.

The Ford’s driver told Mr. Webber that he had “been on acid for a week and that he would kill him,” according to the report.

No one was injured, and no arrests have been made.

The math part is easy

1. "The sun hurls 1 million tons of matter out into space
every second."
From http://www.windows.ucar.edu/spaceweather/sun_earth6.html,
University of Michigan; ©2002.

2. "The Sun converts 600 million tons of hydrogen into
helium every second."
From http://www.firstscience.com/SITE/factfile/factfile101_120.asp,
Firstsciene.com ©2002.

3. "Two people die every second."
From http://www.youdraw.com/morepop/pop.html, Youdraw ©
Louis Paschoud. [The consensus is closer to 1.8 people]


-That means 1000 people die every 9 minutes and 20 seconds.

Always Good

Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.
-Proverbs 29:25

She is TOTALLY out of control and throwing her life away

So get her here this Sunday.

Thank You

I was about a half-mile from the marina just a few minutes ago, and started smelling fuel inside the truck. I figured I musta stepped in something at the gas station, so I didn't pay too much attention.

But once I stopped and parked I noticed gray wisps of smoke drifting up from the truck's bed, and when I climbed out, significant plumage was billowing out from the front fenders as well.

That's when I began to astutely suspect a fuel hose leak ... especially after I spied prodigious amounts of raw fuel dumping onto the pavement under the truck. You know, where the engine and all its hot parts live together as one happy flammable family.

Can't help but start thinking What If ... what if instead of being so close to home, I'd been on the interstate, kept on going, and got spontaneously combusted into a diesel french fry?

That would ... well, I'd rather not think about it.

Wishful thinking

Taking a quick break while adding a new ground fault interrupter circuit to Calypso's factory wiring ...


A friend of mine used to work in a computer store. He told me about the time he'd sold a Do-It-Yourself Income Tax program to a customer, who angrily stormed back into the store the next day claiming Fraud! and demanding a full refund on the spot.

My friend asked the man what was wrong.

"To begin with," the man shouted, "yesterday you told me this program was all I needed to do my own taxes. But when I got home and read the instructions, it said I also needed a computer! How on earth do you people keep getting away with pulling stuff like this?"

True story.

I've got another friend who works at a marine parts store who was also forced to deal with an irate customer.

This fellow had just purchased a DC inverter/battery charger (it creates ordinary 110-volt electricity from 12-volt boat batteries; it'll also re-charge the battery when the boat's plugged back into shore power) and demanded not only a refund, but also an explanation of why the inverter didn't work like it was supposed to.

In a nutshell, this guy thought he could plug the inverter's output back into its own input ... thereby creating his own source of perpetual electric energy.

Like OK then, Issac Newton.

Both these guys were obviously adults, well past voting age and fully capable of making and accepting responsibility for their choices (just like the rest of us), and would certainly be insulted by even the most patient attempts to explain that their thinking wasn't due to ignorance ... but resulted from blindly pursuing and engaging Wishful Thinking ("I believe it because that's what I want to be true!") and avoiding what should be obvious by now: Reality doesn't adjust or adapt itself to satisfy our personal wishes and expectations.

These guys were expecting they could wish themselves a shortcut to the solution they desired ... but in each case, Wishful Thinking only pointed them to a Dead End.

Helpless?

Fran, who lives about a mile down the road, called a little while ago and told me there was a man, a woman and a wagon in her front yard.

I was already headed in that direction on my way to the post office, so I stayed on the phone as I drove to her house and yes, there was a man and a woman with their wagon resting in the shade of Fran's front yard.

Fran's mom had already spoken to the man, who said he and his mother were headed toward Pendleton on their way to Highway 29. They'd left from New Orleans with their wagon, and were on their way to Washington, D.C.

Since he's pulling their possessions by himself in an open wagon (it looked about 4x6 feet long), someone had towed their wagon behind a vehicle across Georgia (since human-drawn wagons are apparently prohibited on public highways in The Peach State) and they'd stopped to rest on the side of the road in front of Fran's mom's house.

Fran's mom asked if they needed anything and the man said No there was nothing, and they had plenty of food ... but would she mind if they spent the night in her yard? She agreed, and Fran's [Marine] boyfriend is going over to spend the night, for security ... and just in case.

Even though the man and his mother insisted they were fine and didn't need anything, you gotta wonder what it's like walking, or pulling a heavy trailer, and sleeping beside two-lane country roads all the way from New Orleans to Washington. There's a heaviness, something sad that says This isn't The Third World and things shouldn't be this way. Even though the man said they were fine and had all that they needed, I'm having a hard time believing it.

I'm not being facetious, but maybe a guy who can pull a wagon with his mother on board over country roads all the way from New Orleans to the nation's capital knows a whole lot more about himself than I care to ever find out about myself. He's sure got more heart, more persistence and more vision than me, for sure.

Kinda leaves you wondering who, or if anybody, will be waiting when they finally arrive up in D.C.

The Source of All Leaks

Been trying to keep posts short; gonna try harder ...

At least three serious problems face all liveaboards, and require constant vigilance:

1. Exterior Leaks- keeping water out of the boat
2. Interior Leaks- keeping water inside, and flowing correctly
3. Fire

Here's what I've learned (and keep reminding myself):

A. 99.99% of all leaks result from a faulty connection

B. Most folks pay more attention to exterior leaks than to interior leaks (because so long as things look good out on the outside, peering around dark recesses seems like too much trouble)

C. Small leaks are often the hardest to eliminate, but are often first noticed and identified by other people, because small interior leaks are accompanied by bad smells

D. Fire is a real danger with permanent consequences. Replace all faulty parts immediately