A Momentary Lapse of Reason

When I was young, I would oftentimes receive money and other gifts from grandparents, usually around brithdays or some achievement like a good report card. My parents would me make sit down and write a thank you note to the benefactor. Then when I got married, thank you notes started again. I think it's appropriate to properly thank people when they give gifts.

Now I am in a position of giving more than I receive. Unfortunately, my son is not the biggest beneficiary. That honor goes to the federal government. I sit in a high bracket for federal income. My payroll check is deducted for Social Security, Income, and Medicare taxes. I pay state income tax as well. Every time I purchase something, I pay sales tax to the state (and a small part to the county). Twice a year I pay real estate tax for the honor of living in this county. Because I live in VA, I pay personal property tax on my car. At the end of the year, taxes turn out to be my biggest expense. And never once have I received a thank you note from the local, state or federal government.

I think the reason is, that in the modern era, most politicians have the mindset that the government is entitled to whatever people have. They think they can take whatever they want from people. We should be grateful that they allow us to keep so much of our money. This all stems from the notion of Big Government. But government should be "bare bones". The government should be grateful everytime a taxpayer pays his or her taxes.

A few years ago, the Post Office ran a TV campaign (and has for the last few year run by mail campaigns) where they advertised their express mail services. To sell these wares, they borrowed "Fly Like an Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band.

I was completely appalled. The only rationale for advertising here is for the government to increase its market share in the express mail market, in effect competing with the private sector. Not only this, but they were using taxpayer money to advertise (not just production costs and air time, but royalties to Steve Miller). Why would they do this?

As a proponent of free markets, I was appalled (I know I already said that). By the simple fact they are advertising means they are competing. Can anyone say UPS? FedEx? DHL? The government should not be in competition with the private sector! The government exists to fill the gaps in a free market economy. There are consumer needs in our economy that either cannot be supplied by private companies or we would not private companies to supply (law making, criminal justice, defense, etc). But if there are willing suppliers adequately fulfilling consumer needs, the government should not be involved.

So in the case of express mail, with companies like UPS and FedEx providing these services, the government should get out of the business. Instead we have them competing with these companies! And not only that, we have using taxpayer money to take market share away from them. I won't even go into how more effective and efficient private companies are in meeting consumer needs than the government. The Post Office is subsidized from the General Fund, meaning the loss is pushed off to taxpayers as well. So if the Post Office increases its market share, it costs more to taxpayers, and we lose the tax revenue from these companies' profits. BRILLIANT!

We are left with a army of homogenous-looking letter carriers attempting to squash any competition. A more appropriate advertising tune would be the Imperial March from Star Wars.

1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
- Ephesians 2:1-10

I am a person who likes to be concise. I try to get to the point in the most direct manner. Although you may not guess it after reading how I amble through blog entries. I was asking myself "What is the shortest proclamation of the gospel in the entire Bible?" Then I came across Ephesians 2:4. Maybe it's not an exhaustive exegesis of the gospel or the total gospel (as the Westminister Divines would call "The Sum of Saving Knowledge"), but it articulates a lot.

My wife and I committed Ephesians 2:1-10 this past summer and I have oftentimes found myself meditating over it. One thing that strikes me about this fairly brief synopsis of the gospel is the abrupt shift in verse 4. The first three verses focus upon our estate as sinful creatures. The highlights of which include:

• We are dead
• All people are in this estate
• We blindly follow earthly pursuits
• We evoke rather in God's sight

But a dramatic change happens in verse 4 when God steps in the picture. God, who loves us dearly resurrects (note: he doesn't rescue us b/c we are already dead, he gives us new life) us from this death. Through the atoning work of His Son on the Cross, we move from death to life. We have been raised up to a place of stature with Christ.

Our salvation rests in God's grace and His grace alone. He gives us the gift of the faith. This is done out of God's deep love for us. We are also saved for a purpose: this is glorifying to God (v7) and God has a plan to use for works He has already has planned.

"But God" means that God has intervened in our human situation of sin. We are no longer dead, sinful people who are provoking God's wrath. We are people who have life to the fullest and are dearly loved by our Creator. And that is the essence of the gospel.

There has probably been a lot of ink spilled on the subject (or in the information age a lot of typing-related repetitive stress disorders contracted), but I have to bring up my disdain for Reality TV.

The first issue I have is with it being called Reality TV. It is not real, it is staged. Shows are set with some sort of premise, and they film the unscripted events that occur. If anything it should be called unscripted TV, not reality TV. I remember when Real World debuted. Somehow, I didn't find it realistic that a large group of young attractive men and women with minimum wage-paying jobs would find themselves living together in a humongous condo in Manhattan. Reality TV is where the "cameras are along for the ride" and the action would still happen without the cameras present. Nature documentaries and the show "Cops" are the only two that meet that.

The second issue is that they reflect a lack of creativity in the studios. In order for me to buy into something, I need to know there was some effort put into it. Reality TV no longer requires scripting and writers coming up with great plots. Instead, it explores the cliches of ambitions, relationships, and shock. I need a solid plot line that makes me think, not a show where they throw young men and women together and see how much trouble they get into.

The third issue is that it gives people without any talent a false hope of stardom. People end up sacrificing their humility, their pride, and their reputation just for the sake of being a star. It is quite sad to see folks who've deluded themselves into thinking they have talent (we've all seen the judges eschew the horrible singers on American Idol).

American Idol is probably my least favorite of the ones I've caught a glimpse of. I was pleased that record studios and radio stations made the decision as to which artists was promoted. That way I didn't need to sift through the many wanna-bes to find something decent. However, now we have a show where a record company does this less than appealing work in prime time. In fact, we are merely watching someone do their job. Somehow I don't see an hour of me typing at my desk becoming a prime time hit!

Don't give me contestants vying for a prize and willing to prostrate themselves to TV execs who are merely looking for the winning formula that will give them the best rating. Please give me a show where I can get lost in the plot; follow it's nuances. Give me a show where I care about the characters because they are respectable and noble. Please.

"When Dylan gets older, I'm going to have to tell him the story about this hike. About how you dragged me out here when it was 25 degrees and there was a sustained wind of 20 MPH with gusts up to 40..."

This what my friend Mike said shortly after we had begun our 5 mile hike around Sugarloaf Mountain. We knew it was going to be cold, but we figured it would be fine once we got going and our bodies started producing heat.

We drove up that morning through some snowshowers, but by the time we got to the mountain, it was sunny and was starting to look like it was going to be a beautiful day. Aside from the cold and the wind it was. Sugarloaf is a solitary mountain, prone to high winds. We drove a ways up the mountain to find the trailhead. The temperature and the wind became very apparent as soon as we got out of the car.

Fortunately, we were prepared and bundled ourselves up. Mike made a makeshift scarf out of a spare T-shirt he brought. We planned to do a circuit hike around the Northern Peaks. We started off and shortly thereafter came to an rock outcropping with a commanding western view. We climbed up the rocks only to be greeted by a strong gust of cold air that made our exposed skin (just being our skin) ache. It was probably the briefest time I've spent at an overlook.

The trail shortly came to the leeward side of the mountain. The trailblazers had the forethought to run the trail a short distance down from the ridge, so the wind stayed off, making the going more pleasant. We made short climbs and short descents till we had reached White Rocks, another overlook. After a brief break, we continued on until we found another set of rocks which thought must be White Rocks. This happened once more, and I became nervous as to the length the trip. White Rocks was to be about 1/3 of the way out on the hike, and it seemed that we had been out for along time. Then we finally saw a sign that indicated that we were at White Rocks. The trail spurred a short distance out to the rocks. It was another commanding view of Frederick and the valley.

We circled backed found the main trail. We followed the trail back and it began looking very familiar. Then I saw a particular tree which had aided my initial descent and I was certain we were going to the wrong way. We had a decision to make: go back the way we knew, or try to find where the trail had continued on from White Rocks. Fortunately, we made the right decision to go back to the rocks.

On the way, it dawned on me. We were going the opposite direction around the circuit! All this time, we had thought we were going clockwise around the loop, but we were actually going counter-clockwise. We pulled out the map and confirmed it. All of a sudden, the rest of the peaks and valleys that we climbed through made sense and matched the map (there has to be a spiritual lesson here). And we weren't 1/3 of the way done the hike, we were 2/3 of the way done.

We hiked the remainder of the way back to the car. We saw 2 whitetail does bounding through the woods. We crossed a couple of streams. It was very pleasant. It was a beautiful day to be outside. It was a lot more of a workout than the previous hikes I've chronicled. I look forward to the day when Dylan and I can come up here and enjoy hikes like this one.

I was recently with a friend who recounted how his grandfather had recently passed away. It was a good time of sharing and I was reminded of a story about one of the last times I saw my grandfather.

My grandfather was a strong Lutheran pastor, long retired, but still very active in his church. He had a great disdain for Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". It is probably about the only thing he would have agreed with Woody Guthrie about. His argument was that we should not limit our prayers to the United States, but that we should express our desire for God's blessing to be extended to all nations.

He was the only one in the family who believed this. My mother and I argued with them, but to no avail. Our point was that prayers are to be specific. One does not pray for everything, everytime one prays. Asking God to bless our nation is a valid request and should by no means be construed to ask God to bring damnation on the rest of the world (which is what my grandfather seemed to think).

I had traveled to Florida with my wife (she was my girlfriend at the time) to visit my parents and grandparents over the Fourth of July weekend. My brother had also flown in for the occasion. We were all making more frequent trips because my grandfather's health was failing and he was hospitalized for his congestive heart failure.

We worshipped at my parents church that Sunday. The service had a patriotic tone, and at one point all the men were called up to the front to sing "God Bless America". Afterwards, we went to visit my grandfather at the hospital. Expecting to get a kick out of recounting this story to him, we proceeded down our normal course of arguing about the song. Even as he lay there, barely able to keep his eyes open, he would not budge.

Shortly after we were on our way out. He stopped us and told us that he wanted to show that there were no hard feelings (we never thought there were), he wanted us all to sing the first verse to "God Bless America". We sang the verse and my grandfather sang with a gusto we hadn't seen in that whole visit. The patient in the next room banged on the wall while we sang, but we kept on singing.

I must confess, I'm a chucker. I chuck first, ask questions second. I have few possessions that serve little to no utility save the occasional walk-down-memory lane. Don't get me wrong, I keep some of things matter most to me, like the hymnal my grandfather used when he led worship and the letters where my wife has poured out her heart to me. But I have little love for things that have no immediate purpose, like empty boxes.

My wife is not a chucker. She is a keeper. The picture to the right is her empty box collection. She will admit, that she doesn't have a purpose for the boxes. We are currently planning for the arrival of the baby, and realizing that we will need room for the baby's stuff. So, we've going to our large inventory and finding out what we can really do with out.

This experience has taught me a couple of things about how my wife and I vary in our thought process. I have found she is planning out for our future years in advance. She has a vision that our current living room furniture becomes our "playroom" furniture when we get a bigger house that has a basement that can be fully designated for that purpose. We currently have two desks. My idea is to downsize to one desk as we only need one. But she has a plan that one desk will eventually becomes our son when he is old enough to sit and enjoy doing his homework.

This causes a little bit of tension when I want to get rid of something that she has a plan for in 12 years (like the desk). But this difference is not something that causes rifts. Conflict like this lead to resolution and to closeness.