Potpourri

This may read as if I have ADD, and maybe I do, but that is not the cause for the disconnected topics. I just have a little bit to say about several things.

The increased frequency with which I am seeing doctors and other medical personnel bugs me. The reason was confirmed by a lower back specialist/surgeon last week. He was about half way through his review of the MRI when I stated, "So, what you are telling me is that I am getting older." His succinct and honest reply lacked any possibility for misinterpretation: "Yes". So, I shall try to maintain an attitude of grace and venerable dignity at the four different medical appointments I have this week.

"We are weak, but He is strong." So goes the line from Jesus Loves Me. "We" includes me and I need to remember that I am weak, too. Incidences are increasing in which people need help, especially financial/material help. A common refrain is, "I know God is going to provide." However, the expressed trust in God to provide is not matched by lifestyles devoted to actively pursuing His likeness in them. In other words, the reality appears to be more along the lines of "I do not need to do anything because I expect God to do everything for me." I never hear, "I have made a mess out of my life. I don't even know how to get out of this predicament. Can you help me get started?" Pastors really do experience a lot of people like this and it can easily lead to cynicism. That's when I need to be reminded that I am part of the "we" in "we are weak."

We established a garden last year, bringing in ten cubic yards of garden soil from the landscape supply business. Even with Miracle Grow it only produced a mediocre harvest of undersized vegetables. Even as we worked the garden, we began composting all of our organic material from the kitchen. This past Spring we distributed the compost over the ten raised beds. The difference that decayed waste has made is nothing short of amazing. For the first time ever, we successfully grew artichokes. [http://gallery.me.com/gantenbein#100045&bgcolor=black&view=grid] So many of the vegetables are huge! Needless to say, we will be dumping more waste on next year's garden. Maybe that is why God allows so much "waste" to be dumped on our lives: It provides a great opportunity for us to grow and produce great spiritual fruit.

What makes baseball managers wait so long? The pitcher as gone six or seven good innings and has a two or three run lead. Then the lead off batter hits a home run, he walks the next two batters and it is obvious that he is really struggling. But the manager does nothing. It's as if he's thinking, "I can't take him out until it's too late to salvage the game." Sure enough, the pitcher hits a batter and gives up a grand slam to the next. Now, the team is down by the same number of runs that it had previously been ahead. In comes the reliever who shuts down the opposition for the final innings of the game and you can't help thinking, "If the manager had put him in after the first or second walk, we would have won!" I can understand the manager wanting to give the guy a chance to work himself out of the jamb but aren't these professionals who are supposed to know when I guy has lost his edge? How do the other players really feel (not in front of the cameras and mics) about standing by helplessly as the manager allows one player to throw away what the whole team has worked so hard to gain?

Why does clear ocean water, such as in the Caribbean, cause such a longing to be in/on/by it? What makes it seem so peaceful? How fast can the next thirteen weeks go by?