Chris Cree

Whatever I find interesting

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25 Peeps – Exercise in Silly Vanity or Marketing Genius?

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Well my little experience with 25 Peeps has come to an inglorious end. At the end of the day I lasted a little over 24 hours up there. Not bad really when you consider most of the folks are trading skin exposure for clickage.

And then when you add in the inconvenient fact that my host server went off line for about three hours right at the start of Monday morning, one of my peak traffic times… Ah, well.

From my perspective was it worth it?

Well there was definitely some entertainment value for me as I checked throughout the period to see if I was still hanging in there.

But what about traffic?

The main way the site entices us to sign up is by holding out the carrot of a potential river of traffic as folks click on your photo to check out your site. In my case it was a wash. I referred to their site almost exactly as many people as clicked on my photo to come to my site. Which seems to me to mean that I had a lame photo which didn’t stir up much interest.

Key holeBut it also means that I gave them some traffic (not much mind you) that they may not have otherwise had. The net traffic flow definitely went in their direction.

Now I don’t begrudge them getting some traffic from me. It’s not like they stole it or anything.

I figure it is pretty smart marketing on their part to play to our own personal vanity. I say good on them. They seem to have a pretty good little business going there. But I probably won’t re-submit even though they sent me the email encouraging me to try again with a more enticing photo. Right.

It was fun. But no thanks.

Unless maybe…

Of course if I were smart, I’d listen to these words of wisdom

Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

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Built-in Safety Valve Keeps Wife From Self-Destructing

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I don’t get enough sleep and neither does Gorgeous.

And if I’m going to be willing to face my O-R then we gotta admit it is a problem entirely of our own making.

We all know there are significant health advantages that go along with getting enough sleep. Google the phrase health advantages of sufficient sleep and you’ll get over 5.4 million sites chock full of those very benefits.

Here are Some Examples

  • Clearer thinking
  • Improve Tolerance to Hot Weather
  • Improved Learning Ability
  • Better Memory
  • Reduce Blood Pressure
  • Lower Risk of Heart Disease
  • Helps prevent Diabetes
  • Fights Depression

Exhaustion Sets InYet in spite of these known benefits most of us still don’t get enough sleep. There’s just too much to do and not enough hours in the day, right?

That’s what most of us think. And most of us would keep going without any break if we could. I know I struggle with feeling like sleep is a waste of time. Why is the system set up so that we need to sleep in the first place?

I really don’t know. But I suspect that if the system wasn’t set up to force us to sleep sometime most of us would simply self destruct.

Did you know that God set up the whole system so that we’d get enough rest in the first place? The Bible says

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

But what if you don’t buy into the whole God thing?

It turns out it doesn’t matter where sleep is concerned. You are going to sleep eventually.

And you might even find that God slows you down before you self destruct. He has a track record of doing that.

Back in Ancient times God devastated the nation of Israel and had most of them carried off into captivity in part to give the land itself a rest. He had told them to give their fields an off year once every seven years and not to plant crops for a whole year. They never actually followed the by-year instruction. So this is what the Bible says about the time they were in captivity

The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.

Sweet DreamsGod goes through some gyrations to give the land a rest and he does the same thing for us. Gorgeous is struggling with a cold right now. She spent yesterday resting on the couch. And I think it drove her a little bit nuts.

But the alternative of self-destructing would be far worse.

I don’t want what she’s got. But if I don’t start sleeping a little more God may just decide to slow me down and force me to get a little rest anyway.
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When You Feel Lousy

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Sick WomanGorgeous is not feeling well. There’s been this nasty cold/flu thing going around and she’s got it.

Yesterday she had the whole Demi Moore voice thing going on. It sounded like her throat must have been pretty stinking sore. I thought I’d steer clear and painted our master bathroom. I tried to get her to take it easy.

She tried to help me paint.

We got it all done, but I don’t think she’s going to make it to church today. She shouldn’t be spreading those germs around anyway.

Check out this poem David wrote. I guess there were times he felt lousy too.

Take a deep breath, God; calm down””
don’t be so hasty with your punishing rod.
Your sharp-pointed arrows of rebuke draw blood;
my backside smarts from your caning.

I’ve lost twenty pounds in two months
because of your accusation.
My bones are brittle as dry sticks
because of my sin.
I’m swamped by my bad behavior,
collapsed under gunnysacks of guilt.

The cuts in my flesh stink and grow maggots
because I’ve lived so badly.
And now I’m flat on my face
feeling sorry for myself morning to night.
All my insides are on fire,
my body is a wreck.
I’m on my last legs; I’ve had it””
my life is a vomit of groans.

Lord, my longings are sitting in plain sight,
my groans an old story to you.
My heart’s about to break;
I’m a burned-out case.
Cataracts blind me to God and good;
old friends avoid me like the plague.
My cousins never visit,
my neighbors stab me in the back.
My competitors blacken my name,
devoutly they pray for my ruin.
But I’m deaf and mute to it all,
ears shut, mouth shut.
I don’t hear a word they say,
don’t speak a word in response.
What I do, God, is wait for you,
wait for my Lord, my God””you will answer!
I wait and pray so they won’t laugh me off,
won’t smugly strut off when I stumble.

I’m on the edge of losing it””
the pain in my gut keeps burning.
I’m ready to tell my story of failure,
I’m no longer smug in my sin.
My enemies are alive and in action,
a lynch mob after my neck.
I give out good and get back evil
from God-haters who can’t stand a God-lover.

Don’t dump me, God;
my God, don’t stand me up.
Hurry and help me;
I want some wide-open space in my life!

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Travel Stories – Australian Style

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Gorgeous and I went to a birthday party last night for a friend of hers she met through our local Small Business Chamber. Eventually we all got talking about travel.

Map of Australia

It turns out Gorgeous and a couple of the other guests had all lived in Australia for a while. The evening went by quickly as they each took turns telling stories of their time there.

I was fascinated because the three of them all spent time in different parts of the country and seemed to have very different experiences.

One of the guys had lived in Perth for a couple years and said he felt very isolated there because the city is so far from anywhere else.

Of course he decided isolation was a bit relative when he heard that Gorgeous had spent a year living in Broome, which they both agreed was the “back of beyond.” Gorgeous said the locals used to talk about slipping into “Broome Time.” Apparently nothing moved quickly there.

Of course that may be changing a little since she was there, what with the increase of tourism and all. Check out this web cam on the beach in Broome and decide for yourself. (Remember they are about 12 hours out of sink with us here in the states so it will be dark there during our day time.)

Sydney Opera House at nightThe third gentleman at our party was a little older and spent some time in Sydney during the 60’s. He said that when he was there then the memory of World War II was still pretty fresh and the Australians absolutely loved Americans then.

If you are in to travel then go ahead and check out Where is Basil? The blog is about the ongoing travel adventures of a fictitious donkey. The idea is there is a set of DVD’s of the old British TV show Fawlty Towers which is being mailed around to people who sign up at the blog and for the week that they have the DVD’s they describe what the Basil the donkey does while he’s there. Then they send the DVD’s off to the next person on the list an Basil heads to the next place. It is truly a global travel adventure.

I bring it up because Basil is here in Savannah and I’ll be posting some tourist type things over there for the next week or so.

I tried to explain the whole thing a while back in Adventures in Traveling. But don’t take my word for it. Check out Basil’s blog.

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Believing and Actors From the Military

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Gorgeous and I watched Second Hand Lions last night.

If you haven’t seen it, it is a fun movie, rather silly through out. Kind of a boy meets grumpy old men story. The pair of crusty old guys are played by Michael Caine and Robert Duval. The Duval character cracked me up with his over-the-top grouchiness. There were several points that I had to pause the movie because I was laughing too loud for Gorgeous to hear what was going on.

But there was also a fair amount of wisdom given out. For example at one point the Duval character tells the boy

Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.

Second Hand LionsI’m still noodling over that one.

Should you choose to believe something simply because it is worth believing in, and not sweat whether it’s true or not?

Many folks would say that those of us who follow Jesus are doing exactly that. Of course those of us who do follow Jesus believe that we have actually found the truth and believe in it.

I have this powerful desire to be “right.” And when I encounter someone who thinks differently than I do, my natural instinct is to “prove” that I am “right” and they are “wrong.”

But is that really the important thing? To be right?

I’m not so sure that it is anymore.

When I was poking around this morning I noticed that both Robert Duval and Michael Cain had spent some time in military service. I didn’t realize that they had both been in uniform.

I did some more poking around and found that all of the following actors had spent some time in uniform:

Jimmy Stewart actually takes the cake when it comes to military service.

He was drafted in WWII but was initially refused due to a weight restriction. He finally convinced the Draft Board to accept him and enlisted in March of 1941. The Army didn’t really want to send famous stars to the front and Stewart had been making movies since 1935. So the Army kept him in the states even after he successfully finished flight school. They posted Stewart to New Mexico as a flight instructor for B-17’s.

Jimmy Stewart - ColonelBut Stewart was not content to be an instructor. He managed to get a transfer to an operational unit and entered combat operations flying bomber missions over Europe in December 1943. He was awarded several medals for actions in combat and by the end of the war Stewart was promoted to Colonel. He was one of the few Americans to rise from Private to Colonel in four years, a rather impressive accomplishment.

Jimmy Stewart was the highest ranking Hollywood actor in the military of all time (after Ronald Regan, of course).

It's a Wonderful LifeHis first movie after the war is my personal favorite of his: It’s a Wonderful Life. Talk about a film that addresses personal beliefs! It’s a great reminder that each of our lives affects far more people than we ever realize.

Who doesn’t remember the moment when George Baily discovers Zuzu’s petals? Or how the town’s folk rallied around him to help him out of his jam? Good stuff for sure.

We could all stand to see more movies like that.

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Get Rid of Alcoholism Once and For All

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I rarely remember my dreams.

Gorgeous on the other hand is constantly telling me about all the crazy stuff that she remembers dreaming. Now we’re not the type of folks who put too much stock in our dreams. But since I hardly ever remember mine, when I do, I notice.

And I had a dream last night.

Now I won’t go into all the silly details, but in my dream I was working in a cell phone store and Mel Gibson came in looking to replace his phone that had been damaged. For me, very weird.

Then this morning I woke up and found that a lady had sent me a message. She had read my post the other day on Mel Gibson’s indiscretion and asked how she could help a friend of hers who struggles with alcoholism. I’m not sure I have any answers for her.

But I do have a story.

My story is fairly personal and I probably wouldn’t consider sharing it this publicly. But I don’t believe much in coincidences so here it is.

I mentioned in the Gibson post that I’ve always been able to do whatever I put my mind to. And it’s true. If I decided to do something, it was as good as done (the fact that I rarely actually exercised that determined decision making notwithstanding.) The first time I actually decidedly put my mind to something that didn’t “just happen” for me was getting a grip on my drinking.

As a Naval Flight Officer I was living the Top Gun life. I would tell people that I was like Goose. But I lived.

And alcohol was a big part of that life. But eventually I realized that somehow it had taken control of my life.

I tried doing everything I knew to get a grip on my problem. Since I’d always been able to do what I put my mind to, my approach basically boiled down to buckling down and trying harder. And nothing worked.

Now I’d grown up going to church. For me it was pretty much a social thing. But over the years I’d run across some pretty hypocritical religious people who’d turned me completely off to the whole church scene.

You know the type. They are quick to tell you “what you need to do” and maybe whip out a verse from the Bible to prove their point. All the while their own lives are really messed up. I so hate that phrase, “What you need to do.” I wasn’t interested in religious answers to my problem.

But I did have a friend who was different. Kent was a follower of Jesus. He sure wasn’t perfect, but he was honest about his own struggles. He was never pushy about his beliefs. He didn’t tell the rest of us what we needed to do.

At the same time he never backed away from a discussion about what he believed if someone else brought it up. He wouldn’t get defensive. But he always seemed to stand firm while being willing to let others express their beliefs. He had the ability to respectfully disagree with folks. In the testosterone driven type-A environment we were in that was an unusual trait.

I watched Kent for two years. I figured that hypocrisy had to be in there somewhere.

It wasn’t. He was the real deal.

One day he invited me to a retreat his church was having. Now I’d turned down several invitations to go to church with him. I wasn’t interested in religion. But this time I figured it might do me good to hang out with these folks. All I was thinking was that they didn’t drink so at least I would be dry for a weekend for once.

When I got there it was freaky. It was like my buddy had told the various speakers everything about me. The things they were saying were so totally addressing me directly that it blew me away.

Now I knew Kent well enough that I knew there was no way he’d pass along the stuff I’d shared with him. Besides, some of the stuff I hadn’t even shared with him so I knew there was no way the speakers could know it. But there they were addressing those very things just the same.

Long story short that weekend I accepted the sacrifice Jesus made for my own screw ups and asked him to help me with my problems rather than try to overcome them on my own.

The craving for alcohol seemed to go away.

Two weeks later I moved out of state for a job change. My new friends told me that I should find a good church to get involved with because we weren’t meant to follow Jesus on our own.

Well I figured I’d be OK. I had my new Bible, several books on Christian Living, and tons of new music to listen to. I’d be fine on my own. Right.

Did I mention I moved into an apartment right across the street from a liquor store? Dumb.

It wasn’t long before I started drinking again.

Eventually one night I got myself into some trouble. That night I prayed. I knew I’d screwed up (again). I told Jesus that I had gotten myself into that mess, not him. And I was willing to stay there as long as I needed to learn what ever he wanted me to learn. When he was ready he could come and get me.

And he did. The thing I learned was that just accepting Jesus’ payment for my screw ups wasn’t enough. I needed to follow him and his teachings as well.

I knew the first thing I needed to do was find a church to get involved with. My stubborn refusal to do what I knew I was being told to do had gotten me into my mess. Without knowing where to look I found a good church within a week.

I got to know a group of guys who were totally whacked. They truly were a lot of fun. Not at all your stereotypical stuffy church goers.

Since that night I have not once had even the slightest craving for alcohol. And that was over 10 years ago now. My life isn’t perfect by any means. I still screw up (on a pretty regular basis even.) But I promise I enjoy life far more than I ever did before. Not ever drinking again now seems like such a small thing when compared to all the good things I have instead. I can’t imagine ever wanting to go back to what I had before.

You want to get rid of alcoholism once and for all? Then my advice to you is find Jesus.

Be honest. Start where you are. The Bible says

But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

And if you need to, send me a message from my contact page. I’ll do my best to point you to some resources that can help.

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Did You Know There’s a Storm Brewing?

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Y’all should know that there’s a storm brewing. My namesake, Chris, is gaining strength down in the Caribbean. The storm’ll probably be a hurricane by the weekend or early next week.

Hurricane Chris TrackDo you think that might be part of the reason things have been so chaotic around our house lately? … Nah. But it is an interesting coincidence, eh?

August tends to be the worst month for Atlantic hurricanes. Katrina was an August storm.

But it is unusual for them to only be getting around to the C name this late in the season. Last year this time they were watching Harvey. Usually the C storm peters out early on and isn’t much worth paying attention to.

I’m going to keep my eye on Chris this year. I suspect she’ll make landfall somewhere near the Texas/Louisiana border sometime late next week or into that weekend.

Here’s to hoping that she ends up being a small storm and doesn’t harm anyone.

US Navy Hurricane Tracking SiteIf you want to have a good source for up to date info on her, click on the button to the right for the US Navy’s hurricane tracking center. I keep that button over in my right side bar all the time because it is a useful resource. You can come here anytime and get to quality Hurricane info.

I don’t use the Navy’s site because I’m former Navy, but because they seem to be the best at predicting where the things will go. Being in the maritime industry, hurricanes are a special interest to me. They can significantly affect my job so I pay close attention.

Over the years I have watched hurricanes through several sites. (I have a whole folder in my favorites for weather. How geeky is that?) I’ve seen that the Navy’s site consistently has the most accurate track prediction out there. So I keep going back to there for my info.

You’re welcome to click through anytime. And if you are on the Gulf Coast, I’d be keeping an eye on Chris myself. At least until we get an idea of where she really is going.

One of my favorite weather passages is in the book of Job where God is giving Job a talking to, kinda reminding Job who he is. When I read the sarcasm that God uses, I can’t help but believe that God does have a really good sense of humor. Check it out.

“Do you know where Light comes from and where Darkness lives So you can take them by the hand and lead them home when they get lost? Why, of course you know that. You’ve known them all your life, grown up in the same neighborhood with them!

“Have you ever traveled to where snow is made, seen the vault where hail is stockpiled, The arsenals of hail and snow that I keep in readiness for times of trouble and battle and war? Can you find your way to where lightning is launched, or to the place from which the wind blows?

“Who do you suppose carves canyons for the downpours of rain, and charts the route of thunderstorms that bring water to unvisited fields, deserts no one ever lays eyes on, drenching the useless wastelands so they’re carpeted with wildflowers and grass? And who do you think is the father of rain and dew, the mother of ice and frost?

“You don’t for a minute imagine these marvels of weather just happen, do you?”

Yeah. I can hear the sarcasm pouring from that speech. Sometimes we just have to be reminded of our place.

We can watch the hurricanes until the cows come home (or get blown away). But at the end of the day there is nothing we can do to change where its wind blows or how hard it hits.

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Problems with McAfee New Version 11

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Yesterday was a bit of a computer challenge day here at our house. It was a day of change and that can be frustrating.

I had to be in a meeting up in Charleston (which is about 2 hours away) at 9 AM. So as is my usual habit, I got up early to write up a blog post and then head on my way.

As I was shaking the sleep out of my eyes and getting my thoughts together, McAfee, our anti-virus/firewall software decided it wanted to upgrade. Since I am the computer person in our house not Gorgeous, I decided I better let it so the program didn’t keep asking her all day long while I was away.

That decision turned into a bit of a hassle. The set up said it couldn’t install a portion of the programming because I had AdAware installed to root out spyware and apparently they are incompatible. Would I like to skip it? Sure.

That was a mistake.

Computer FrustrationWhen the stuff finished its 20 minute download / install / reboot process there was no anti-virus protection at all. I knew I didn’t want to leave the computer for a day with no virus protection with Gorgeous having to use it all day. That could have unrecoverable consequences.

So I uninstalled AdAware. And rebooted the computer. 10 minutes.

Then I had to hunt around to find where I could put the anti-virus portion of McAfee back on. They sure didn’t make it easy. I finally had to go into my account on the web site. And that involved yet another search on my part. What was that account’s password again?

25 minutes later I was ready to install the missing component.

Fortunately the second install should go quicker because it would only install the missing portion, right?

Wrong.

It appeared to go through the exact same process and took just as long the second time complete with reboot.

Something like an hour and a half into it our computer was protected again. And I had really hustle to make my meeting on time.

When I got back home Gorgeous mentioned something about email being slow. Another 30 minutes of poking around and I narrowed down the culprit to the new anti-virus portion of McAfee. Specifically the scan outgoing email function was totally gunking up Outlook, keeping outgoing emails from going out while they were scanned indefinitely.

The only way I could get it to work was to disable the scan outgoing email portion completely. And that puts a nice little notice in the system tray that keeps telling me how unprotected I am.

In my meeting in Charleston we got on the subject of Port Security and I mentioned that there will all ways be a bit of a tension between commerce and security. The only way to be sure of security is to completely shut off commerce. Balancing the two is the trick.

Computer FrustrationBut apparently that is McAfee’s new approach to virus protection. If they completely stop email traffic they are sure to get a good handle on virus propagation. Oh, and after a quick check of McAfee’s Forums, I am not alone in my frustration with this new version.

Unfortunately that cure may be worse than the risk of disease for most folks. I know it is for us.

Then Gorgeous got up this morning and found out she missed a sales target with her business because the company she represents made some major changes to their web site too. She put in an order yesterday which would have taken her over her target with a bunch of hassle because of not being familiar with the new set up. And apparently the new pre-order form looks very similar to the old finalized order form so she thought she was done but she should have clicked one more button to finish it.

As a result she missed out on a sizable commission bonus.

Days like that are times when I appreciate the emotion that David poured out in the Psalms.

O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever?
How long will you look the other way?

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,
with sorrow in my heart every day?
How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

Turn and answer me, O LORD my God!
Restore the light to my eyes, or I will die.

Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”
Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

But I trust in your unfailing love.
I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

I will sing to the LORD
because he has been so good to me.

Sometimes it can be encouraging to know that even great men had their own struggles.

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Mel Gibson Screws Up Big Time

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Mel Gibson had a bad day Friday. He was arrested for DUI after getting pulled over for speeding in California. That’s enough to mess up pretty much anyone’s day.

Unfortunately for Mel things got even worse.

Apparently he went on a bit of a tirade yelling and screaming some rather nasty stuff. And as a result people are already beginning to say some pretty nasty things about Mel in response.

Now I am not going to defend any of the things he said in his outbursts because I completely disagree with them. But at the same time I am not going to join the lynching party that is forming up to run him out of town on a rail and string him up either.

I’ve had my own battles with alcohol and I appreciate some of what he’s going through.

Mel GibsonMost folks screw up like Mel did and they end up hurting their families (Mel’s been married for over 25 years to the same woman and has 7 kids, something unusual in Hollywood, eh?) and the other people around them. It is embarrassing at the very least and hard to face people afterwards. And even while it is going on a part of your brain is telling you that what is happening is “very bad” because it knows there are going to be lawyers, and courts and all sorts of complications coming down the pike as a result. But in the case of a celebrity of Mel’s visibility the effect is magnified unimaginably because the whole world is now completely aware of his complete lapse in judgment.

People are asking how could he be so outrageous toward others?

Well when you struggle with something like alcohol addiction it truly is a war. There are battles going on and you feel totally horrible when you loose a fight. For someone who is as driven to excel as Mel must be to be as successful in his career as he’s been it must be infuriating to lose a battle.

I imagine he was incredibly angry at himself knowing that he’d lost a battle, mostly by doing something that he knew he shouldn’t but did anyway. And since his judgment was impaired by the alcohol that anger came out aimed at what ever target presented itself in his mind. It is ironic that someone who is as skilled at manipulating his emotions as an actor of Mel’s stature stumbles at the very point of controlling his emotions.

Again, I am not offering excuses for his behavior. I am only giving you some perspective from someone who’s had a similar struggle.

I was one of those people that could do whatever I decided to put my mind to. Drinking was the first thing I ever encountered that I couldn’t overcome or control simply by willpower and intention. Actually it completely defeated me. I really was a drunk at one point in my life.

And believe me I tried to beat it. I went to AA and I took some other drastic steps that folks said would help.

HomelessBut they didn’t. I was effectively enslaved to the overpowering pull of drinking. AA does a lot of good for a lot of folks. I’m not knocking it. But it didn’t work for me. One of the things they teach is that you can’t overcome your addiction without the help of a “higher power.”

That part made sense because I knew I couldn’t beat it on my own. The thing that didn’t make sense to me was that they said anything could be your higher power, a chair, a white board, or a potted plant. Well that just seemed silly. I couldn’t see how some petunia was going to help me with my drinking problem.

Eventually I met a guy who introduced me to Jesus. As I learned more about Jesus I began to realize that He was a higher power that really could overcome my problem. I read statements Jesus made like this

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim
that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

I knew I was a total captive to alcohol and I needed to be released. And Jesus did free me from my enslavement to alcohol. For me the craving has been completely removed. There is no longer any struggle there. And I promise it was through no effort of my own.

And there is one other area I disagree with AA. They say “once a drunk, always a drunk.” I understand where they are coming from and it makes sense. But there is one exception that I can find. And that is folks who have become followers of Jesus. They truly can become former drunks like me. The Bible says

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

The passage talks about our sins, including my drunkenness, in the past tense. “And that is what some of you were.” I was a drunk. Now I am free of alcohol.

Does that mean I could never go back to that place I was before? I suspect I could. I recognize that I still have that potential inside me. Just because I’ve won that battle doesn’t mean that the enemy of my soul has given up and isn’t still trying to destroy me. We all have the ability to screw up big time if ever let our guard down.

And that’s why I’m going to cut Mel Gibson some slack.

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The Lesson of the Dog Poop

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I mowed the lawn yesterday. After being out of town for a while it needed it. As you know yard work is not one of my favorite things. Neither is the heat and yesterday’s high was 99°F. With sky high humidity.

I know it is my tradition to do yard work in the hottest part of the day to compound my misery, usually just because the timing works out that way. But I’d been working down in Jacksonville, FL out in the heat for a few hours already in the afternoon so I decided to wait for it to cool off a touch.

Part of me was hoping I’d get rained out by one of the thunderstorms that seemed to be brewing off in the distance. No such luck.

So I went out into the heat of the evening about 7PM and got busy. I guess it must be too hot for the gnats because I didn’t notice them much.

Now for all my griping about doing yard work, our lawn is really pretty small. Our lot is measured in square feet, not in acres. We’ve got a side walk that runs along the street. And it is only about 21 steps to walk from the curb to the front door.

There are a lot of families with small kids in our neighborhood, which is one of the things that Gorgeous and I like about it. And most people are mindful of their pets. There are very few wandering about loose. The only regular is Mojo, but don’t blame her owners. She truly is an escape artist. And she’s so friendly and hyper that she’ll come running up to you when you call her and either piddle right at your feet or roll over on her back with her tail going a mile a minute. Sometimes she does both. But I digress.

Dog Poop Warning SignAnyway as I got into cutting the grass (really just leveling the weeds) I noticed not one or two, but several piles of dog poop along the front edge of our lawn. Now for me it was not that big a deal. We don’t have kids that will be playing in it. I have a pair of old sneakers that I wear only for yard work, so it didn’t even bother me when I stepped in it. Those shoes never get past the garage anyway.

But I found it interesting that all of the piles were easily within a leash length of the side walk. And that means there was probably a person involved at the other end of the leash.

What do you suppose goes through the mind of that person when their dog is doing his business on someone’s lawn?

“Oh, I’m sure this home owner will be so happy that I am providing free fertilizer for this part of their lawn.”

Or maybe they are thinking, “Whew! Good job Fluffy. At least you didn’t go in our yard where I’d have to clean this up.”

Remember how close our house is to the street? How bold of the owner to let the dog go right in front of a bunch of windows that are so close.

Here are a couple of Proverbs about bold people:

1. The wicked put up a bold front, but the upright proceed with care.

2. The wicked run away when no one is chasing them, but the godly are as bold as lions.

At first that might seem like a contradiction. But I think the difference is in the timing.Sanitary Dog Poop Collection

The first one is talking about before the deed is done, or while it is actually in process. That is often the time when people who are doing things they know to be wrong tend to put up a strong front and try to bluster their way through should they be confronted.

The second Proverb is talking about after the fact when the conscious kicks in. Guilt is a tremendously powerful force. People who know they’ve done wrong are often in fear of being found out. They can even start to get jumpy at shadows. But folks with a clear conscious aren’t worried because there is nothing untoward to find out.

How does that relate to dog poop? Well I wonder how the conscious is treating those folks at the end of the leash.

Some times going ahead and dealing with something unpleasant straight away (like picking up your dog’s poop) is better and less unpleasant in the long run than dealing with the guilt of taking the shortcut of leaving it lie. The trouble is we often don’t see the end results of our decisions. We only see the unpleasantness that is right in our face.

And no I didn’t pick it up either. I figure a little free fertilizer just might be good for the lawn.

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