Going Green

We drove out to Oxford, Michigan to cut down some Christmas trees on Saturday. I’d love to say its been a family tradition, but we started using artificial trees back in the early 90’s.

We had fun, but as a result our 18, 22, and 24 year olds lamented about all the fun memories they didn’t have embedded in their brains as a result of our going “green” with plastic and steel trees 10 years ago.

Of course, we hadn’t gone green at all. WHO KNEW?!? It turns out, as our Christmas Tree farmer explained, that the way to go green is to cut down your own tree every year. He was a great guy, and took the time to explain how much carbon monoxide our potential tree, waiting in his field, had scrubbed from the atmosphere over the past 5-7 years while it happily matured in his garden of trees. He explained how each tree was drip irrigated, rendering each specimen a near-perfect shape and well distributed growth along the entire perimeter of the tree. He also pointed out that each tree was examined by him and priced personally by him, and that the purchase price was a fair price given the time and resources and genuine love for the craft that he had put forth in his own labor. He certainly was passionate about pine.

I have to admit, though, the tree we selected and hacked off is beautiful in its designated corner in our home. Its fragrance wafts supreme as we enter the house every day. Wonderful. Its needles, firmly in place, no doubt because of its spoon-fed, drip-irrigated upbringing, will offer our family joy over the coming weeks. While I used to have to pick which side sits forward on the Frank’s-nursery-live-trees-of-Christmas-past, I had no such decisions to make this time; its perimeter flawless, making the position in which I dropped the tree just as good as any other I may have selected. (Besides, Frank’s went out of business years ago.)

And the price? I bet you’re wondering how much it cost to be so ecologically correct, and intimately connected with the environment for our Christmas season.

Well, lets just say there’s more than one reason they call it “Green”.

Change The World

A great Sunday, this week. I played and sang at church this weekend. We did an instrumental version of Eric Clapton’s “Change The World” (Gordon Kennedy of WhiteHeart cowrote that song) as a prelude, Stefan Van Voorst’s “Change the World” as an opener, and closed with Chris Tomlin’s “God of This City” (an anointed song.)

The message this week was the final week in the series, “I’m Sorry. Apologizing for a sinful Church.” This weeks topic was the most controversial, apologizing to people of the Muslim faith.

Even as you read this, you probably have a mixed reaction to that title. Maybe indignant. I don’t blame you. As a nation we’ve had quite a tumultuous century, so far. 911 threw our economy into a tailspin, already racked with the tech bubble bursting, only to build artificially on another housing bubble that has now burst. The war, and the middle east conflict is ever-raging and foreign video of Arabs burning the American flag tends to have a strong influence on our predisposition towards the faith of Islam.

I was curious how the subject would unfold.

The service started with a video of Arab-Americans who have had their Americanism questioned in the past 8 years. We had a guest speaker in from Atlanta, Buddy Hoffman. who related his experiences during the 911 week. He was with a retired General when the events went down, and many commentators were using the phrase “cowardly act” to describe the terrorists attack. The general responded by saying, this wasn’t cowardly. These people believe what they believe, perhaps even more than what we believe. I’ve often thought about that, as well.

His assertion was that this war will not be won with guns and cannons, and I think he’s right. He asked this question: If we woke up an discovered that Washington had been obliterated, and every church in the nation had been burned down.. would it be over? Not for us, right? It would just be beginning. How can we begin to imagine we can stop a movement with the same methods.. albeit our focus being on the most radical aspects of that faith. Just as if we are approached in an anti-Christian manner, we’re most likely not going to listen, our methods to approach Muslims, as a church, have been largely ineffective, and therefore, most-likely careless; more about affirming our faith, than reaching out to Muslims.

For those of you who don’t know, I live in the suburbs of Detroit, where outside of the middle east, there lives the largest population of Arab-descent in the world. I interact and work with people of the Muslim faith on a daily basis, as do many of my neighbors.

I was challenged in the fact that I know only what I’ve been told (mostly by Christians) about the Muslim faith. What I didn’t know, is that Muslims, in large part would be interested in talking about Jesus Christ. You see, the Koran says that there is only one God and that we should make a straight path towards him. It also states that Jesus was born of a virgin and is the messiah. Did you know that? There is much common ground in which to start a conversation with a person of muslim faith. I’ve got some reading to do.

I’ve know for a long time that the Arab nation are the descendants of Esau, son of Isaac, twin brother of Jacob, who was cheated out of his birthright by Jacob and mother Rebecca. Its not surprising that his descendants are a bit miffed.

While I don’t think we will see an end to the middle eastern conflict in our lifetimes, I think we can do a better job of creating dialog with those we know, who practice the faith of Islam. While it may only be in our own little worlds, we have power to make positive change happen within them.



Look to You

What do you believe in? Do you believe it’s true,
or do you hold it over others who don’t believe like you?
Call it righteous indignation, or a justified alarm,
but muster His compassion for those who wish you harm

Our world, your world, will look to you.

The world is full of anger, and broken empty dreams
And the canopy that shields her is tearing at the seams
And hatred, rage and vengeance seem a natural response
But you know your call is greater, as a child of renaissance

Our world, your world, will look to you.

We’ll look to you to see how you respond in tragic circumstance.
We’ll look to you to see what happens when your enemies advance.
We’ll look to you to see just where you turn when you haven’t got a chance.
We’ll look to you

I know it must be tempting just to follow happenstance
It’s hard to lead the music, when you really wanna dance
But the servant that’s within you is calling you to stand;
The reason for your being may be close at hand.

And our world, your world, will look to you.

Tim Wheeler (ASCAP) ©2005Weaver of Melodies Music (A Bug Music Co.)

Listen to “Look To You”

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.