Is God Funny?

I have always been a comedian. Actually, I have never been paid to make people laugh, so that makes me an amateur comic. I like to laugh and enjoy situations when people around me are laughing as well. I have a strong since of humor. It may be a little different, but it is strong.
I have always said that God has a since of humor, and I am betting my life on it. God could not make someone like me and not chuckle. The problem is-where in the Bible does it say say has a since of humor? The closest thing is Balaam's talking donkey. Sure, the commentaries say this is a comedy, but when you read the story the only thing light hearted is the donkey talking. Different-sure, but it is not a side splitter.
What I turn to is the passage in Genesis that tells us God made man is His image. Therefore; I know that God is Chris Rock. Why have we as people of faith dumped humor in our religious text. This may sound a little stereotypical, but aren't the Jews (God's people,) what we think of when we think of comics? Their famous humor did not make it into the Old Testament.
So, I have a thought. Surely there must have been a book of teaching that showed a strong form of humor, (made in God's image-remember?) I have a thought that this (these) books were left out, probably by priests with no since of humor. I now have a new project to write on- uncovering the ancient text of Moses's joke book.

Writers Block

I like to consider myself to be a writer. I have not had international praise for my writing, but my mother likes it and I enjoy writing. I have a very active imagination. I rarely am at a loss for things to write about or imagine. Since I claim to be a writer-an artist, this is a good thing.

Now my son Ben wants to write as well. Believe me, he has an imagination. He is very creative, (I would like to take credit for that, but his imagination is different than mine.) Now, as I listen to his thoughts and stories, I have become a critic. I am not harsh (usually) in my criticism. I try to steer him in the right directions and keep him on track.

Here is the problem. Am I the one off track? By trying to focus Ben on things I think are important or entertaining, am I giving him wrong directions. As I stated earlier, the world has not exactly rallied behind my style and proclaimed me the new great American writer.

Am I blocking my child from greatness?

Back to Normal

Now I am confused. Somehow, my posting panel changed . I could not spell check, download videos, or do many things I sometimes do. Now I can. Coincidence- or conspiracy?

I couldn't say it better Debbie.

What Happened?

What has happened to my blog? I had written out this long explanation what I did over the weekend, I went to spellcheck, and It's gone.  I blame Bender.

This is very confusing, and I don't like it! 

Good Morning?

What a morning I have already had.  I awoke very early this morning because I was hot. I kicked off my little quilt that I use at night, and eventually realized my fan wasn't working. This meant either it had broken during the night- or the power was out. I also noticed the ceiling fan wasn't blowing and our alarm clock wasn't lighting up. Either everything decided to break at once or we had no electricity.
  I tried to sleep through the situation, and hope Joy didn't wake up. Neither happened. After Joy was awake, I got up to do the nature deal, and noticed the lights were out over the whole neighborhood. Joy insisited that I call the power company and make a report.
  This meant I had to find a light, (where did I put those flashlights after Ike?) and look up the phone number. Cell phones are wonderfull, and I used mine as a flashlight and then dialed out on it.
  Trixie, (my bird dog,) became frightened by this ordeal and was crying in her house. If I was to let her out, I had to take her for a walk so she could do the "nature" thing as well. Trixie is a very nice dog and did her thing. She would not go back in her house afterwards, so I let her in our bed.
  Finally the power did come back. The A/C started again and my fan started moving air. I went back to sleep. All this happened before 2:00AM.

Why Ask Why

It's a bad morning when you start with a full e-mail box. I check my e-mail a couple of times a day, and I never have more than a dozen e-mails, and most of those are junk. This morning I go to hotmail and I had 166 messages.
  To some that sounds normal, to me that meant spam. Sure enough, someone was spaming a google group of mine. Luckily, I had put that group on moderation, so the entire group did not get the spam. I deleted the 150 junk messages and did the proper paperwork with google to try to get the spammers banned. (Is it okay to call that paperwork?)
  After spending precious time on my Wednesday morning cleaning up after this selfish and thoughtless spammer, I asked myself why would people act this way? Do the spammers really make enough money to justify this? I fgure that everyone is like me, when they see this herd of junk emails, they would NEVER even consider buying what is being advertised.
  Maybe they are being paid by the e-mail sent. Then their customers have to know why sales are down even when advetiseing is up.
  I will go about my business today. I will check on my Dad and visit customers. Hopefully I have learned something from this experience. Why ask why?
 

Sunday

I'm home. I'm happy. I'm rested.

I had a great week in Dallas, but it feels good to be home. The game was great. I got to hang out and visit with some of my best friends, and I tried a new beer. Shiner Black is Muy Bien!

Of course it was nice that the 'Horns came through for me as well

Saturday Morning

So, this is becoming an addiction. I am in Dallas and I am at the hotel computer updateing my blog. I was afraid it might come to this.
Had a great time last night. Had supper with some of my best friends. We talked about old times. Joy is always amazed that I did so many stupid things and survived. God's grace is powerful.
Getting ready to go to the Fair Grounds for the Texas/OU football game. Of course, the game is on TV. Look for me, I will be the one in the crowd wearing orange.

Palin for President

My Vote for Leader

Big Time This Weekend

There are times that you just want to step out. I have been so busy for the last few weeks, I have not really spent time with Joy. If all goes well, we are going to step out this weekend. We are going to Dallas for the Texas/OU game. We are actually skipping the panther game on Friday to spend a night away from Lufkin. After the game and cruising the fair we will drive back so we can do the Sunday School gig.
Watch out Big D.! Big Steve is stepping out!

Monday Morning

It's Monday Morning. I don't know why people hate Mondays so much. I guess it is because the restful and relaxing weekend is over and they have to get back to the grinding job. I have to admit, sometimes I look forward to Monday. Yes, I am crazy. I don't think I can be proved in court.
Here is my reason. My weekends can get too full. From games on Fridays and Saturdays, Church Sunday morning and evening, visiting with friends, going out to my parents and working on the farm, etc. Do not get me wrong-I love doing these things. They all make me happy and keep me going. Here is the simple fact. I work harder on my days off than I do on my days on. I enjoy my job, and am good at it. I look forward to seeing customers and listening to their lives, but it is not hard work.
So.. It's Monday Morning!!! (Thank God.)

Disappoinments II

Funny how life works. In today's first post I explained why Friday was a bummer day. Things can happen that bring reality to life. As I was leaving Abe, (the Lufkin stadium is Abe Martin Stadium,) I had to walk past the panther team as they made there way from the stadium back to their Field house. They were in tears and had their heads lowered. In looked at these young men and shouted "lift up your heads- you just played a hell of a game!" I saw this was a motivating moment and used it.
Then it occurred to me. If I was real, and I wanted these teen age men to pick up their heads and be proud, I had to do the same. Why should I be disappointed? My day was not that bad. I had done the best I could at living. I gave it my all. I need to lift my head and be proud. After all, I live life in Lufkin.

Disappointments

Yesterday was a day of disappointments. It started bad enough, Mother called to say that Dad was stuck half on and half off his bed, (notice how I present the positive side first?) By the time I got to there house a neighbor had helped him get into bed, but he was not doing well at all. Despite the wonderful recovery I thought he had Thursday, he was in great pain. We decided to call an ambulance and take him to the hospital.
He did not have a good day and was admitted. I spent my day in the "trauma" room at Memorial Hospital of East Texas, basically waiting on a room. Even though I did nothing, by the afternoon I was worn out.
Last night to get my mind on upbeat things I went to the Panther game. The Lufkin Panthers have been one of the best football teams in Texas this decade, (therefore one of the best in the nation.) They were playing the North Shore Mustangs in Lufkin. Lufkin had not lost at home since 2001 and North Shore was going for a state record for consecutive regular season wins, ie..this was a big game.
The Panthers gave up touchdowns on three different fumbles, and ended up with eight turnovers and lost a nail biter 28-21. That is the way my day went.

Perspective

Life in Lufkin has gotten pretty hectic. The late summer /fall season means football and hunting. When you throw in a hurricane, things can get crazy. I am not immune. I love to watch the Panthers and the 'Horns play, and usually both rip and snort,(Panthers are coughing and wheezing this year.) I do not hunt much, but I lease out tracks of my families property to hunters, so I am try to keep watch at what is going on so the property won't be destroyed. Ike did come, it blew down limbs and trees, disrupted power and cancelled football games. I also had a stump grinder so I used that to try to make extra cash. You do these things when you have children in college.
My life has been busy! Funny thing happened yesterday. (Not ha-ha funny, more of an ironic funny.) My father is getting very feeble. He has lived a good and long life, but the years are really catching up with him. On Wednesday he slipped and fell in his bathroom, so my mom called me to help get him up. This is not the first time this has happened. Usually I go over, help him get his feet back under him and lift him up. No big deal. I understand he is getting weaker, but he bounces back. Wednesday I did the drill, lifted him back on his feet and helped him to bed to recover. No big deal.
I called to check on him yesterday and my mom told me he had not gotten out of bed all day and she was not sure on what to do. Wednesdays are big days for my parents. They have two Kiwanis meetings and they go out for dinner with a group of friends they have known forever,( they are known as the "wags" for Wednesday Afternoon Group.") For Dad not to have gotten out of bed meant he was not doing well.
Most people would go to the doctor. I knew that was not an option for my father. He does not see the reason to go for medical help unless you can give specific symptoms, (my finger is chopped off, my leg is broken and protruding through the skin, I have a bad stomach ache and have been running a fever of over 102, etc.) I feared the worst.
The strange part was that finally I was going to have a day to catch up on the details of life. I did not have a lot of sales calls nor did I have a stump grinding job. Finally, I could pick up laundry, call on friends, go shopping for food, maybe even take a nap! I drove to my parents to check out the situation personally. When I arrived my mother was leaving to get her hair done. Husband may be sick, but it's Thursday morning a the beauty shop won't wait. I talked to her in the driveway and told her I would go in and check on the old man.
I was going to check on him and leave, I had things to do and people to see. Sure enough, he has laid up in bed, and not moving much. I couldn't really peek and run, so I asked him how he was doing. His answer was short and sweet. I started to head out then, he was alive. I realized I should do more. I started to talk to him about his cows, (a hot button for him.) He began to talk more. We moved into politics, (he is a yellow dog democrat like me,) and the talked about football. Bingo! Before I knew it my mother was calling to see if I was still there and if I wanted lunch. Sure, I had already wasted half my morning, I might as well dine.
I asked Dad if he wanted to come and join us for lunch, and much to my surprise he did. He trudged on a walker to the table and ate, at least he was up. Mom had to go back into town to do volunteer work at church. I stayed with Dad. It wasn't hard. After lunch he got up, (with my help,) and trudged back to bed with his walker. Then he napped.
While he napped I phoned several people to follow up with business and re-set my parents computer. They had been powerless for a week after Ike and did not properly shut down, so they had to do a full re-start, complete with six discs of data. It took a while, but was easy to do. When I finished I had to pick up the twins from school. I took them to my parents and found Dad had awaken. I knew he was addicted to free cell, and because their computer was down he could not play. I asked if wanted to get up and play on the computer, he said yes. He spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with his grandsons and playing puzzles.
I had wasted a full day- or had I ? I did not do many of the things I had planned, but the major tasks were completed, (I even went shopping on our way back home.) My father is slipping fast. I know he will not be around much longer. This is probably his last year to worry about having enough hay. This is his last football season and election. It has been uncomfortable for me to face this. Yesterday I spent quality time with my father, and those opportunities are slipping by. He started to recover from his fall. I arrived at his house to find a body barley breathing. I left him playing games and drinking diet coke. That was a great day! It is all a matter of perspective.

Frustrations

I used to think I was a very smart person. Things that I can not figure out frustrate me, especially when I see everyone else doing them. I tried all morning to attach a video to this blog and failed. I will get my friend David Runnels to school me, I know it can't be difficult to do if he can post them on his blog. As for now....I'm very frustrated.

Welcome Back

I'm Back!!
After only a few years to collect my thoughts it may be time to return to blogging. Many things have changed since the last entry. First, I have a real job now. I can only use that excuse for maybe 18 months tops. I am lazy. That should take care of the rest.
Joy and I have had life changing experiences. Both of the older boys are out of the house, and Zack is in the army now. We started a ministry for college age adults called Transitions. We nurtured that for a while and finally let it go. I am not saying it is dead, but it is in hibernation.
Recently we started a class for young couples and families, and the class named it "Foundations." I like the name and am supper excited about the possibilities. This is an area that really needs help in our church. Sometimes, it takes God a while to get it into our brains what He wants us to do.
For Foundations I set up another blog. After working on that one I realized I needed to re-open my personal blog. Sure, I tried Myspace and Facebook, but the blogger blogs, (I like the way simile,) work best for me.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from of of us at Spike's World!

Peace and Relaxation

I have friends from bigger cities that are always commenting on how they would not mind moving to a smaller town for some peace and relaxation. I usually agree with them that it is the life, but all the while I wonder is small town living really that peaceful or relaxing?
First, let me state that I love living in a small town. I don’t have to live in one, I choose to. I do like the advantages of knowing school board members and other community leaders personally. I also like the advantage of other people and friends knowing my family and children, and tell me when they see my kids out and about. I tell the kids that there is nothing they can do that someone who knows their mother or me won’t see, and these people will tell on them. This is a truth. I hated it while I was growing up, but now I really like it. I love the pride and spirit of small towns, and I like going to highschool football games an hour early and sitting with a few thousand others, all wearing purple and showing their hometown pride.
That being said, I am about as busy and stressed living in a small town as I could ever be living in a city. It is all a matter of perspective. If my life got any busier or more hectic, I would be going to the nut house, and I don’t mean a store that sells almonds. There are twenty four hours in each day, and most of my days are very full. I wake up at 5:30 A.M. most mornings to start my day and don’t go to bed until 10:30 or 11:00 P.M. and I blow and go during the day. My wife is up before me, getting ready for work, and goes to sleep after I do, and she doesn’t slow down during the day. I am not yoked to the same drive, but I am still very busy.
Between our activities with Church, school, and civic projects, we are always on the go. The older boys can drive themselves now, and that does take away some of the stresses of life, but it creates others. My friends who live in larger cities that tell me that they don’t know how I can live in a smaller town. They say they need things to do and they would get bored living in a small town. I know that living in a small town is not boring. It is a matter of perspective.
Other big city dwellers tell me that they need to be around lots of people, so they could never live in a small town. I agree with them, but I know that I have more friends that I do things with in my small town than most cosmopolitan people do, but that’s Ok. It is a matter of perspective.
The same city people do tell me, almost condescendingly, that they envy me living in a place where things are more peaceful and relaxed. I accept there back handed compliment, and move on. I even cause some of these misconceptions. When I go to a bigger city, I will sometimes act the part of country come to town. My speech gets slower, I comment on such things as traffic,(which I legitimately dislike,) noise, and how many people are out. I marvel at the size of shopping centers and the height of skyscrapers. I don’t do this intentionally, but I do it. I guess, I my own way, I am skewing these peoples perspective, I am reinforcing the belief that life in small towns is relaxed and that big cities are exciting.
Nothing illustrates perspective better than a story of mine about flying. I am basically a "fraidy-cat." I don’t like heights, roller-coasters or a myriad of other thrilling things. I do however enjoy a few things that scare others, I like white water rafting, and have floated rapids in every nation in North America, and I like to fly. I enjoy flying in almost anything, front jet airliners to very small personal planes.
My friend John lives in Taylor ,Texas, and loves to fly as well. He is an amateur pilot and usually has a small plane or two. I used to visit friends in Austin quite frequently, before I had a family, and I would visit John in Taylor on my way. One Saturday I went by his house, but his wife told me that he had bought a new plane and was at the airport working on it. So I drove to the Taylor airport, asked people where John was, and since it was a small town airport, they told me. John was in a hanger finishing up a tune up on his new plane, and when I arrived he asked if I wanted to go up with him and see how it ran. I immediately agreed, and I helped him move this small plane to the runway.
This plane was small, I mean real small. It was a tail dragger, meaning it had two wheels under the cock pit and one below the tail. We picked up the back end and pushed the plane to the runway. I was amazed at how easy it was to push the plane, it obviously didn’t weigh much. John went into the office to get take off clearance, and then we stuffed ourselves in the cock pit. The doors on this plane made the doors on a soft top Jeep look sturdy, and I had to really draw up to fit inside the plane. As we started to taxi down the runway, we were going so slow that I wanted to stick my leg outside and try to help push us along, like the Flintstones would. We eventually made it off the ground, just before we ran out of runway.
We climbed to an altitude of several thousand feet and looked at the landscape below. Taylor is an area really into farming, and the land below us was covered in a checkerboard of different cotton, corn and grain fields. It was really beautiful, and the fences and creeks made dramatic boundaries. John tried to point out some things to me, but the plane’s motor was between us and it didn’t have a good muffler, so it was very loud inside the cock pit. I yelled to him that I couldn’t hear what he was saying, so he flipped a switch and pulled a button, and the motor quit.
"I love to come up here and look around," he told me. "I think it is so peaceful." I was trying to remain calm and listen, but all I could hear was the wind rushing through the plane as we plunged towards the earth below. The only thing louder than the sound of the wind was the sound of my heart trying to beat it’s way out of my chest. I couldn’t take this anymore, so I firmly but calmly told John to "turn that motor back on-NOW!" He did, and after the engine backfired a few times it started again. It was a matter of perspective, gliding through the skies looking at farmland was relaxing for John, but it was very stressful for me.
To some, life in a small town would seem very relaxing, and it is. However, life in a small town is life, and sometimes life can be stressful. Peace comes from with-in, and just because there is not a large population around, it doesn’t mean life is relaxing. It is a matter of perspective.

Spring has sprung

Spring is about to turn to summer here. I should be ready, it is after all mid-April. My Azaleas have stopped blooming, the green flush that hits during spring is beginning to fade, and most of all the temperature are climbing. I spent most of yesterday working in the yard, and that is a job I really do not like. In a few months I will look back on these days where it only got to the mid eighties and dream.
***********************************
I do most of the cooking at our home. There are several reasons for this; I have more time, I have more experience, and I enjoy doing it. I like to keep things very simple, however, and I do not follow many elaborate recipes. The main problem I am running into is that sometimes my family will not eat what I cook, so I have stopped cooking some of my favorite dishes. I used to make a sandwich filling with hamburger meat, chopped onions, and cream of mushroom soup. Neither J, A or P like mushrooms, so I stopped making the dish. Last weekend I was struggling to make a meal. J, B and G had some left overs from a restaurant, but I had cleaned my plate there. As I looked through what I had, I realized I had the ingredients for the "mushroom sloppy-Joe’s". Well, I made that and was happy. G did not have enough leftovers to fill him up, so he tried my concoction, and loved it. He ate so much that I did not have enough for a separate meal later. (What do I have to do to have left-overs?") Now I feel loved, and I can add this recipe back to my file. Life is good.

Life is Good

Life in Lufkin is good. This weekend was the Lufkin High School prom. P. Went for his last prom and had a great time. We had negotiated a latter curfew,(3:00 AM) with the understanding that was the absolute latest he could be out. Part of the deal was that he would wake his mother when he got home,(as if she would be asleep,) and tell her how it was. P woke us up at 2:45. I am very proud of him and thankful that he understood the terms and was mature enough to know that he really needed to be home a little earlier. Since I had been the deal broker, this really helped me out.
********
Immigration has made big news in Lufkin, like it has in many places. With the bills in congress now dealing with this subject, the Hispanic community has started to use protest as a tool to get peoples attention. There has already been several demonstrations and marches in Lufkin, and it appears there will be more. The schools are cracking down on students that leave class to protest. They are threatening to issue truancy tickets and fines for people who leave the campus without permission. Many believe that the students don’t even know what or why they are protesting, and this is just an excuse to "skip" school.
This may be correct. The schools have a great opportunity to educate here, and we are missing the boat. Obviously, there is some interest in the issues, so lets use this interest to teach. Not just the Hispanic Americans, but all of our kids could learn here. We could teach what the issues are, look for solutions and get real public feedback. We could also teach about the civil rights marches of the 50's and 60's. We could teach how civil dis-obedience in America works, and how it doesn’t. We do not get this opportunity every day, so let’s make the best of it when it comes.