She's Mine

On our way back from Oklahoma on Sunday, we stopped at a McDonald's for dinner. I ran inside to use the restroom while Monica walked Cali around outside. When I got back in the car, Monica told me a guy hit on her while I was in the restroom. Basically, he just said, "Hey,"? in an inquisitive way that men do to check out women are interested (yes, men still think "hollering"? at women works). Monica said, "Hi,"? and just kept walking, although she could tell he was still looking at her and Cali as they walked away.

I get a little frustrated with stuff like this, because I already know my wife is beautiful, and I don't need random guys to remind me. Usually I just let it go, but this time I wanted to do something a little different. I saw this guy and his buddy pulling around us while we sat in the drive-thru and I knew he had to try to check out Monica one last time. So, as soon as he pulled around I simply waved to him . . . and he waved back! It was pretty funny, and I hope he knows he was busted. Yep, I pretty much told him to find some other McDonald's to hit on married women. I'm sure he didn't care, but I did. Maybe someday he’ll develop enough confidence to approach women as people, and not objects!

Ahhh...Another Picture of the Thompsons

We Should Be Ashamed!

Anna Nicole Smith—one name, three words, constantly on the news. More famous in death than in life, we celebrate her contributions to the shameless world of our entertainment industry. We watch the saga of her death, burial, and her media resurrection. We are somehow delighted that such a famous person had such an estranged relationship with her family. We eat up the “who’s the baby’s daddy” world-wide search, acting like paternity tests don't work anymore. How many guys did she sleep with that could hold this claim? Maury does paternity tests revelations regularly on his show, so how hard could it be to do process of elimination.

I don’t understand this fascination with a seemingly immoral person. Maybe it is because she embodied the problems of the sex-focused culture we live in, like Marilyn Monroe, her idol. While good people die that work in the world for positive change, we are focused on a person who was portrayed as a sexual drug-ingesting goddess (sorry to pass judgment). Oh yeah, there is still a war going on! But even more important, Britney Spears is losing control and shaving her head.

By the way, we are still trying to figure out Monroe's death—makes you wonder how long we will have to live with this.

Wii Addiction

This weekend we went to Nashville, Tennessee, for a counseling conference. We stayed with our good friends, Justin and Brandy, and let our dogs wrestle all day (they have a 100 lb. Labradoodle, and we have a 70 lb. golden retriever). Justin and Brandy recently acquired a Nintendo Wii, and I fell in love.

I’m not sure I can explain it to you, but this is the future of gaming It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a gaming system. I bowled, boxed, played golf and tennis, and raced trucks. I even created a Mii (a Wii character) that looked so eerily like me that I almost became him. You basically have a sensor remote that you control everything with—you pretty much have to stand up and move around to play.

Now, I have a problem…I want one like you wouldn’t believe The guilt this is producing is ridiculous. They are around $300, which is not bad for a gaming system these days, but when did $300 become “not bad” for anything like this. I can’t get one, but I want it so bad. Perhaps I should adopt a child so I can get one for him or her—this obsession is getting ridiculous. I’m taking it one day at a time. I don’t need one…Monica would leave me…I don’t make any money to buy one…I would have to get a bigger TV if I did buy one…the list goes on. I can live through this addiction, although I wouldn’t be opposed to anybody here in Memphis that would like to get one and let me play!

Lent—Not the Stuff in Your Pockets

No, we don't go to an Orthodox-type church, and we don't use a lectionary, but Lent is a spiritual celebration that I believe can be useful. Unfortunately, I can't give you book, chapter, verse, neither can I do command, example, necessary inference for Lent or any holy-day. I just see a lot of potential in my life for this time. Monica and I looked up some info about Lent last night and we've decided to do it our own way.

Pop culture Lent consists of not having something you really like for forty days. During these 40 days you praise yourself for this abstinence and tell your friends about it. Especially in the Land of Excess, there are 7,352 things we can give up and it won't really matter. We want to do it different. We want to abstain from some things, but also add some spiritual disciplines to our lives. This is a time to look for God's purpose in Christ's death, and subsequently, a time to look at your purpose as a human in light of this death. Lent is a season of confession and repentance—getting back to God.

Monica is brilliant. She came up with the idea of changing several parts of our lives and working on others. As silly as it may sound, we are both going to read The Purpose Driven Life (some of you might be rolling your eyes right now), study certain scriptures together, and dedicate ourselves to praying together everyday. This is a small step for many, but a huge step for us. We are giving up several things in order to help others (Isaiah 58 is our basis for this) during this time.

Orthodox or not, I think this can be an extremely valuable time for Christians to refocus on our spiritual lives. It is not hard to say, "One day we'll start being more spiritual,"? but it is really hard to decide on that day. This is the day for us!

One of today's readings in the Lectionary is Isaiah 58:1-12. Read it only if you want to be challenged.