Not Another One!?!

I got an invitation to a new networking website a couple days ago. "OH NO!" you say, "Not another social networking website“. Yes, but this one’s different.

Seriously.

The first thing is that someone in my extended family sent me the invite.. That’s ok, but the reason is that she added me to her family tree. Got your interest yet?

Unless you’re related to me (Thank your lucky stars if you’re not), you’ll have to join on your own. Go to www.Geni.com and sign up. Geni is a genealogical social network website, and you have got to check it out.

I’ve tried several times to get my family tree down. Once, years ago in a notebook. Once with a program on an old Mac. Thing is, I just didn’t have the time (nor the inclination) to do it right and accurate. While my aunts and uncles were still living, I gathered some data, but that is scattered, as well. Software for this kinda thing isn’t cheap, by the way, at least not for the good ones, but even with the best software, the performance is based on you and your efforts.

What’s great about Geni, and what will ensure its success is the wiki-like sharing of information. I spent about an hour entering names and info on my kids and then names and some info on my cousins, and then names of my aunts and uncles, the data growing scarcer as the generations progressed. Each time I added a person, it gave me an option of inviting them by sending an email to them.

Then, when they join the tree, they can update and add information that they have about the family, and the tree becomes more and more intelligent, adding dates of birth, death, marriage, etc.

You can even add a picture to each person on the tree.

Make sure to check it out. Its a great way to start keeping track of your family and an excellent way to get your extended family to talk to each other.

Fall Back.

There’s a crispness in the Michigan air. I took 6 bags of leaves off my front yard last week, and they’re already back. There’ll be 20 more bags before this is through. I’ve got pumkins on my front porch.. one of them is rotting.. yuck. Its dark when I leave for work.. and the sun is setting when I drive in my driveway. Fall is here.

Time changes this weekend. That means a little more sunlight in the morning, but also means driving home in the dark. Every year I promise myself that I’ll take advantage of DST and utilize the newfound morning hour. Get up early, exercise, write.. Every year, I find I remember the empty promise from last year. Hold me accountable. I’ll let you know how I do this year.

Pray For Words

Every once in awhile I hear a lyric that stops me in my tracks and makes me wonder who I think I am trying to write good lyrics. This one did that to me.. and made me pray for words.

Looking East

Standing in the ocean with the sun burning low in the west
Like a fire in the cavernous darkness at the heart of the beast
With my beliefs and possessions, stopped at the frontier in my chest
At the edge of my country, my back to the sea, looking east

Where the search for the truth is conducted with a wink and a nod
And where power and position are equated with the grace of God
These times are famine for the soul while for the senses it's a feast
From the edge of my country, as far as you see, looking east

Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon
Hunger in the mansion, hunger in the rented room
Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page
And there's a God-sized hunger underneath the laughing and the rage

In the absence of light
And the deepening night
Where I wait for the sun
Looking east

How long have I left my mind to the powers that be?
How long will it take to find the higher power moving in me?

Power in the insect
Power in the sea
Power in the snow falling silently
Power in the blossom
Power in the stone
Power in the song being sung alone
Power in the wheatfield
Power in the rain
Power in the sunlight and the hurricane
Power in the silence
Power in the flame
Power in the sound of the lover's name

The power of the sunrise and the power of a prayer released
On the edge of my country, I pray for the ones with the least

Hunger in the midnight, hunger at the stroke of noon
Hunger in the mansion, hunger in the rented room
Hunger on the TV, hunger on the printed page
And there's a God-sized hunger underneath the questions of the age

And an absence of light
In the deepening night
Where I wait for the sun
Looking east

©1996 Jackson Browne

Stirring Up Apathy

That’s what political advertisements have been doing in my brain over the last couple months.

My candidate has failed to excite me. At first I thought it was his lack of ability to communicate clearly. Now I’ve concluded that his message has been so watered down, that there’s nothing exciting to communicate.

Its much like a song that attempts to take a stand. If you work a song or idea to a point where there’s no chance of offending someone, you end up with milquetoast.

This election has turned into a who-not-to-vote-for campaign. One side’s running on change. The other one is running on fear.

One side make claims that are incredible.. literally. The other doesn’t make any claims.. they just point out how incredible the other side’s claims are.

I’m tired.

Would anyone like to join me for a serving of Sodium-free saltines and water?

A New Favorite Movie

Cyndi and I have this blockbuster subscription.. you know, the one where you can order movies online, 3 at a time and as you mail each one back, the next one on your selection list gets mailed out?

Well, it wasn’t long before every movie we've wanted to see in the top 300 movies was in our rear-view mirror.  To combat the recurring "empty queue", I’ve gotten into the habit of grabbing my laptop during the DVD previews of the movies we rent and adding interesting looking ones to my online queue.

I’ve picked some real losers.

Last night, my wife announced we should watch a movie. She went to the basket of incoming movies and pulled out “After The Wedding”.  She said, “what’s this about?”.    I really couldn’t remember. She rolled her eyes, but put it in the player, expecting yet another "Tim-blockbuster".

Well, we sat down and the movie began, with Sigor Ros as a sound-track. If you haven’t experienced Sigor Ros, then you won’t know what I’m talking about, but their stuff is wonderful. (I immediately googled to confirm it was them) Cyndi “loves it” when I google during a movie (not), and I could feel the wave of disapproval wafting from the far side of the couch. So I sat the laptop down and scooted over to enjoy the movie.   She actually said, "wow".  Ouch!

What a movie it was! Easily my favorite in the last 3 years. An emotional epic.  Surprizing character reveals and emotion twists, and amazing new cinematography.  Really fresh!

When it was done, Cyndi said, “Isn’t that, like, the best movie?!?”

I replied. “Well, I know how to pick ‘em!"

I almost fell over when the couch-pillow hit me in the head.

False modesty.

Funny how you read a verse again for the umpteenth time and see something new. 

I was reading in John 8 and Jesus talks about false modesty and calls it what it is. Lying.

Ever dismiss a compliment?  Ever try to deny praise for a gift you've been given?

This is a pretty cool translation, as well. Read the whole chapter for context. For that matter, the whole book is recommended. 

See it at YouVersion.com:

http://youversion.com/reader.php?startverse=John.8.55&version=msg

Tim Wheeler

(Sent from my iPhone)

Say Something, Dude!

Tomorrow I’m driving my youngest to East Lansing and moving him into his dorm. I know he’s thinking he’ll be back next summer. I’m thinking that too. I can’t help but remember, though, my mother, as she was loading me into the car with my cousin on my way to John Brown University. She looked at me with a tear in her eye and told me, “you know they say that when a boy goes off to college, he never really comes home again.” I remember laughing and saying that I would be home, but I realize, looking back, that she was right. I never looked at home the same, and the significance of that moment and that step largely eluded me at the time.

Emotions, for me, are running at the brim. Stress is high, (along with tuition) but mostly I’m numb. This has been a big year for my family. Big birthday, big anniversary, big wedding, college graduation, high school graduation and now this.

I’ve been mostly quiet on the writing front. When there was something springing forward, the energy has been lacking. If there’s energy, the inspiration is drown out by the business around me. While I discipline myself to write everyday, I sense that this period is a time to absorb life. To store every memory. Ponder every exchange between my son and I as well as his siblings. Banish regrets. Celebrate special times. Enjoy the moments we’re given, and give thanks for the moments gone by. Store them up until they are ready to come out.

There will be songs of joy and of sorrow. There will be songs of regret. There will be nostalgic songs, and songs of happiness. Sad songs, poignant songs, songs to celebrate the milestones, and songs that attempt to fill the emptiness of yet another room in our house. There will be many songs, but they wait, patiently, in the wings.

Right now at this moment, however, the only songs that come to mind are the songs of praise. Songs of thanksgiving. Songs of joy. The kind that streams down your face, wracks through your chest and then beams up and out through your cheeks. Songs of astounding humility for the being granted stewardship over a little boy who has always sensed the greater significance of his existence and the reason he was put here. The bigger picture of our lives. A little boy who often pictured himself in his older years, amazing his father who always thinks in the short term. A kid who at 6 years of age wondered why God made thunder, and then moments later pondered the fact that his children would have technology far beyond Nintendo.

I’ve marveled at his gift of seeing himself down the road, and now, that little boy has indeed arrived at a milestone down the path he has imagined so many times before.

I read a friend’s blog today who just lost his father. I lost mine a few months before that day I loaded up my Chevy Nova and my mother said goodbye in such a significant way. I’ve often thought about what he would have told me that day, had he lived a few months longer. I wonder because tomorrow its my turn to say something. Something significant. Something inspiring. Something that might give my son the presence of mind to grasp the importance of that moment.

What will I say to that little boy. The little boy who is so quickly bursting into manhood. The little boy who will leave tomorrow and will never really come home again.