Twas the night before Thanksgiving
And all through my pad,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even this lad
Then from the freezer
came a blood-curdling screech
The door flew open
A frozen bird landed within reach
From the cavity inside
Emanated a ghostly concern
That it didn’t want to die
Or in my oven burn
A frozen wing pointed my way
I assured the chilled fowl
That dead he was now,
And in the morrow
inside me he'd be
The spirit of the turkey,
then went to the light
My appetite whetted,
I called it a night
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The last two years have been a rollercoaster in my life. First I quit AEP for a job with Scientech in Florida. After surviving Hurricane Andrew in 1992 I really had no desire to return to Florida. However I was lured with a manager position and the slick recruiting talk of my future boss. I quit AEP in Dec 2008 and moved to Palm Harbor. My family moved down a month later and the fun began.
The first week I was with Scientech I could tell the entire recruiting pitch had been based on a beautiful facade with nothing to back it up. I was a manager managing a mirage. My blood pressure shot up to 185/140 and would not come down despite doubling my blood pressure medicine. When my family moved down, and my favorite lazy boy chair, my blood pressure returned to normal.
To make a long story extremely short I did the best I could, but it was like trying to make cold molasses flow uphill in this economy. I knew I was doomed from the beginning. Back home our house did not sell and then we had the water damage incident. A realtor flushed a toilet which overflowed for two weeks. Over ninety percent of our house was damaged and the insurance company, despite being paid $3000 for the policy, had a loophole and did not pay a red cent. Never buy Farmers Insurance.
Eventually I was let go and moved back to our house in Michigan. My brother and his friends came to our rescue and fixed our main floor and they actually made it better than the original. We ended up putting $40,000 on our credit cards to fix the house. Florida unemployment was about the lowest in the nation and I only received $1200 a month. I had a few job interviews, but nothing substantial. The severance from Scientech was only two weeks pay and I had to promise never to say anything bad about them, so I won’t. Neither will I say anything good about them.
Now I am in Washington, with my family back home in Michigan. The contract position I have is a temporary one, although it could last years. I am working as a Radiological Control Technician and helping clean up the huge environmental nightmare the government created from years of making atomic weapons. Seems there idea of controls was to bury material and then hope for the best. The best didn’t happen and the stuff started getting into the groundwater, so now we spend billions to clean up the mess. I like the guys I am working with and I like the area I am in. Although the area I work is desert, the beautiful snow capped mountains are only a ninety minute drive away.
Though all the trials and tribulations I have kept my faith. My faith sustains me, on most days faith is all that keeps me going. When I came here I inquired about an old friend and was told he committed suicide in 2004. That has affected my emotional state as well as being away from home. But I know, I really do know, that God is with me wherever I am. When I had open heart surgery in 1998 I actually died after the operation and had to go under the knife and be opened up again. Thankfully it happened in intensive care and not later. But I survived and what I saw sustains me to this day. I may not want to die, and I’m trying not to hurry it along, but I do not fear death.
Occasionally I think that being terminated from Scientech was a good thing. I started writing again, and had the chance to preach again, and my faith and my passion kept the demon of depression at bay. I have experienced the love that passes all understanding; I knocked and the door was opened. Remember you are what you believe, and if you believe in nothing, then nothing you will be.
The first week I was with Scientech I could tell the entire recruiting pitch had been based on a beautiful facade with nothing to back it up. I was a manager managing a mirage. My blood pressure shot up to 185/140 and would not come down despite doubling my blood pressure medicine. When my family moved down, and my favorite lazy boy chair, my blood pressure returned to normal.
To make a long story extremely short I did the best I could, but it was like trying to make cold molasses flow uphill in this economy. I knew I was doomed from the beginning. Back home our house did not sell and then we had the water damage incident. A realtor flushed a toilet which overflowed for two weeks. Over ninety percent of our house was damaged and the insurance company, despite being paid $3000 for the policy, had a loophole and did not pay a red cent. Never buy Farmers Insurance.
Eventually I was let go and moved back to our house in Michigan. My brother and his friends came to our rescue and fixed our main floor and they actually made it better than the original. We ended up putting $40,000 on our credit cards to fix the house. Florida unemployment was about the lowest in the nation and I only received $1200 a month. I had a few job interviews, but nothing substantial. The severance from Scientech was only two weeks pay and I had to promise never to say anything bad about them, so I won’t. Neither will I say anything good about them.
Now I am in Washington, with my family back home in Michigan. The contract position I have is a temporary one, although it could last years. I am working as a Radiological Control Technician and helping clean up the huge environmental nightmare the government created from years of making atomic weapons. Seems there idea of controls was to bury material and then hope for the best. The best didn’t happen and the stuff started getting into the groundwater, so now we spend billions to clean up the mess. I like the guys I am working with and I like the area I am in. Although the area I work is desert, the beautiful snow capped mountains are only a ninety minute drive away.
Though all the trials and tribulations I have kept my faith. My faith sustains me, on most days faith is all that keeps me going. When I came here I inquired about an old friend and was told he committed suicide in 2004. That has affected my emotional state as well as being away from home. But I know, I really do know, that God is with me wherever I am. When I had open heart surgery in 1998 I actually died after the operation and had to go under the knife and be opened up again. Thankfully it happened in intensive care and not later. But I survived and what I saw sustains me to this day. I may not want to die, and I’m trying not to hurry it along, but I do not fear death.
Occasionally I think that being terminated from Scientech was a good thing. I started writing again, and had the chance to preach again, and my faith and my passion kept the demon of depression at bay. I have experienced the love that passes all understanding; I knocked and the door was opened. Remember you are what you believe, and if you believe in nothing, then nothing you will be.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
This is a sermon I gave at Triniity Episcopal Church in Niles, Michigan, on July 18, 2010. The sermon was on the topic of Martha and Mary. This is only the third sermon I have given and the first with our Priest present.
Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Today we heard the story of Martha and Mary. Martha is busy cooking and preparing for dinner. Martha’s sister Mary, is not helping and instead sits at the feet of Jesus. The sisters and their brother Lazarus must have been quite close to Jesus. In John, Chapter 11, we are told the story of Martha and Mary sending for Jesus because Lazarus was sick. Jesus comes to Bethany after Lazarus is dead and raises him from the grave.
Later Jesus returns and in John, Chapter 12, he is invited to dinner at the household of Martha. As in Luke, Martha is serving the meal, however this time Mary is anointing the feet of Jesus with oil. So there are two different viewpoints of the meal at Martha’s house. Each version has Martha serving and Mary listening to, or anointing, Jesus.
Seems like Martha is the only one doing any work and Mary is being very attentive to Jesus. In Luke, Martha complains about Mary and in John, Judas complains about Mary. Jesus rebukes both Judas and Martha for their complaints about Mary. Now it is apparent that Jesus loved the whole family, but perhaps Mary was his favorite because she was interested in his teaching. After all, Jesus was at the house with his disciples and Martha must have really worked herself into a frenzy trying to prepare a meal for so many. There is no mention of Lazarus helping out; indeed in Jewish society he would have been expected to be the host while the women prepared the meal.
So why does Jesus rebuke Martha? Wasn’t Martha working for the Lord? Was Mary lazy? From the passages it is hard to tell. But we do know that Jesus loved to teach. Indeed food had never been an issue with Jesus; remember the loaves of breads and the fish. His disciples were very important to him and it is obvious that Jesus was changing society as he preached to women and had disciples that were women. The rebuke of Martha can seem quite harsh, especially since Martha was working very hard to please the Lord. Why did Jesus favor Mary over Martha?
From the brief glimpses we are given in John and Luke we can picture that Martha was the oldest of the siblings, and we are told it is Martha’s house. So Martha would have been used to ordering Mary to help with the chores, food preparation, and such. We do not know if Mary was resentful or lazy. All we can gleam from the stories is that Mary was fond of Jesus and she wanted to learn the message that he was teaching.
We do not know if Martha was disrespectful when she tattled on Mary for not helping her. It must have been very hurtful to Martha when Jesus basically said that only one thing was really required and that Mary was doing it, so leave her alone. How did Martha feel? Did she sulk, burn the food, cry, we do not know. What we do know is that Jesus was more concerned with saving the soul of one person, Mary, than he was with having a meal. His priority was spiritual, not physical.
So how does that relate to us? On Father’s day this year I was tasked with cooking for our daughter’s graduation party. I was busy running around, doing my best imitation of Martha. Guests were arriving and everyone was having fun, but me. Now Jesus didn’t march in and rebuke me for wallowing in self-pity. I realized that even though it was Father’s day the day was not about me, it was about our graduate. The story of Martha and Mary popped into my head and I thought about how I was feeling and I sympathized with Martha. How many of us have been like Martha in our lives? I venture to say almost everyone, be it at work or home, has been resentful of some person we did not think was pulling their share. I also realize that our feelings may have been justified, if someone is watching a football game instead of helping; that can hardly be compared to that person skipping out of work to go to Church or to sit at the feet of Jesus while he teaches.
Clearly Jesus emphasizes that his message is the good thing, the good news that is more important than food, or sleep, or any of our earthly needs. For the word is forever and the flesh is for naught. When I am very tired and wake up on a Sunday morning, sometimes the urge is to go back to sleep, I tell myself that listening to the word of God is much more important than satisfying my own personal desires. Countless Martyrs have given their lives just for their belief in Jesus? Why shouldn’t I be able to sacrifice my sleep, my food, my money, for the cause of Christ?
But we know that Jesus loved Martha and if the rebuke seems harsh it was in all probability a gentle reminder to Martha that what he was doing was important, that his message was more than just a story meant to entertain the guests and disciples. Indeed after Lazarus died Jesus asked Martha if she believed in him and she responded that she believed he was the Son of God and the Messiah. So Martha obviously had heard his message and she believed in him.
Before we leave church today I would like everyone to look at the stained glass window depicting the sisters, Martha and Mary. Take a minute and reflect upon your own life. Has there been a time when we have ignored Jesus because we thought something else was more important? The famous running back for the Chicago Bears, Gale Sayers, once wrote a book entitled I Am Third. Gale writes that The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third. How many of us put ourselves third?
Remember what Jesus said was the greatest commandant, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And I believe that if we place God first in our lives, and remember what is truly important, then goodness and love will flow out of us and touch the lives of our neighbors and friends.
When the world seems hectic and you are suffering from anxiety or panic, remember the verse from Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.” For in our stillness, in the calming of our mind, and body, and soul, that is when we can truly feel the presence of God. Be still! Amen
Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Today we heard the story of Martha and Mary. Martha is busy cooking and preparing for dinner. Martha’s sister Mary, is not helping and instead sits at the feet of Jesus. The sisters and their brother Lazarus must have been quite close to Jesus. In John, Chapter 11, we are told the story of Martha and Mary sending for Jesus because Lazarus was sick. Jesus comes to Bethany after Lazarus is dead and raises him from the grave.
Later Jesus returns and in John, Chapter 12, he is invited to dinner at the household of Martha. As in Luke, Martha is serving the meal, however this time Mary is anointing the feet of Jesus with oil. So there are two different viewpoints of the meal at Martha’s house. Each version has Martha serving and Mary listening to, or anointing, Jesus.
Seems like Martha is the only one doing any work and Mary is being very attentive to Jesus. In Luke, Martha complains about Mary and in John, Judas complains about Mary. Jesus rebukes both Judas and Martha for their complaints about Mary. Now it is apparent that Jesus loved the whole family, but perhaps Mary was his favorite because she was interested in his teaching. After all, Jesus was at the house with his disciples and Martha must have really worked herself into a frenzy trying to prepare a meal for so many. There is no mention of Lazarus helping out; indeed in Jewish society he would have been expected to be the host while the women prepared the meal.
So why does Jesus rebuke Martha? Wasn’t Martha working for the Lord? Was Mary lazy? From the passages it is hard to tell. But we do know that Jesus loved to teach. Indeed food had never been an issue with Jesus; remember the loaves of breads and the fish. His disciples were very important to him and it is obvious that Jesus was changing society as he preached to women and had disciples that were women. The rebuke of Martha can seem quite harsh, especially since Martha was working very hard to please the Lord. Why did Jesus favor Mary over Martha?
From the brief glimpses we are given in John and Luke we can picture that Martha was the oldest of the siblings, and we are told it is Martha’s house. So Martha would have been used to ordering Mary to help with the chores, food preparation, and such. We do not know if Mary was resentful or lazy. All we can gleam from the stories is that Mary was fond of Jesus and she wanted to learn the message that he was teaching.
We do not know if Martha was disrespectful when she tattled on Mary for not helping her. It must have been very hurtful to Martha when Jesus basically said that only one thing was really required and that Mary was doing it, so leave her alone. How did Martha feel? Did she sulk, burn the food, cry, we do not know. What we do know is that Jesus was more concerned with saving the soul of one person, Mary, than he was with having a meal. His priority was spiritual, not physical.
So how does that relate to us? On Father’s day this year I was tasked with cooking for our daughter’s graduation party. I was busy running around, doing my best imitation of Martha. Guests were arriving and everyone was having fun, but me. Now Jesus didn’t march in and rebuke me for wallowing in self-pity. I realized that even though it was Father’s day the day was not about me, it was about our graduate. The story of Martha and Mary popped into my head and I thought about how I was feeling and I sympathized with Martha. How many of us have been like Martha in our lives? I venture to say almost everyone, be it at work or home, has been resentful of some person we did not think was pulling their share. I also realize that our feelings may have been justified, if someone is watching a football game instead of helping; that can hardly be compared to that person skipping out of work to go to Church or to sit at the feet of Jesus while he teaches.
Clearly Jesus emphasizes that his message is the good thing, the good news that is more important than food, or sleep, or any of our earthly needs. For the word is forever and the flesh is for naught. When I am very tired and wake up on a Sunday morning, sometimes the urge is to go back to sleep, I tell myself that listening to the word of God is much more important than satisfying my own personal desires. Countless Martyrs have given their lives just for their belief in Jesus? Why shouldn’t I be able to sacrifice my sleep, my food, my money, for the cause of Christ?
But we know that Jesus loved Martha and if the rebuke seems harsh it was in all probability a gentle reminder to Martha that what he was doing was important, that his message was more than just a story meant to entertain the guests and disciples. Indeed after Lazarus died Jesus asked Martha if she believed in him and she responded that she believed he was the Son of God and the Messiah. So Martha obviously had heard his message and she believed in him.
Before we leave church today I would like everyone to look at the stained glass window depicting the sisters, Martha and Mary. Take a minute and reflect upon your own life. Has there been a time when we have ignored Jesus because we thought something else was more important? The famous running back for the Chicago Bears, Gale Sayers, once wrote a book entitled I Am Third. Gale writes that The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third. How many of us put ourselves third?
Remember what Jesus said was the greatest commandant, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And I believe that if we place God first in our lives, and remember what is truly important, then goodness and love will flow out of us and touch the lives of our neighbors and friends.
When the world seems hectic and you are suffering from anxiety or panic, remember the verse from Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.” For in our stillness, in the calming of our mind, and body, and soul, that is when we can truly feel the presence of God. Be still! Amen
Monday, August 02, 2010
The age of computers. Now if you have a problem you can e-mail support instead of calling them. E-mails are very easy to ignore. Unlike a ringing phone, the e-mail can sit gathering cyber dust in a virtual mailbox, inevitably meeting the scythe of the deleter. At least if a human support person hung up the phone our anger would be immediate. Now we are left to wonder if the e-mail was ever read.
The DO NOT CALL list was a thing of beauty, twenty years late but by and large, worth the wait. Now they tried a do not spam list ...ha! Spam filters are at best a nuisance because they filter the occasional "good" e-mail and people such as myself don't bother going through hundreds of spam mails every day to see if a "good" e-mail was thrown to the side. So perhaps the customer support people at Google, besides being very busy, overlooked my e-mail because it was considered spam. Indeed the amount of customer service inquires probably amounts to what I would consider SPAM (hundreds if not thousands of e-mails). So instead of becoming angry I merely remain frustrated, not knowing if my e-mail request for help was spammed away into the equivalent of a dead letter file, or merely ignored because I am annoying the customer support person. The assumption of course is that Google is populated by people. I best not look behind the curtain.
The DO NOT CALL list was a thing of beauty, twenty years late but by and large, worth the wait. Now they tried a do not spam list ...ha! Spam filters are at best a nuisance because they filter the occasional "good" e-mail and people such as myself don't bother going through hundreds of spam mails every day to see if a "good" e-mail was thrown to the side. So perhaps the customer support people at Google, besides being very busy, overlooked my e-mail because it was considered spam. Indeed the amount of customer service inquires probably amounts to what I would consider SPAM (hundreds if not thousands of e-mails). So instead of becoming angry I merely remain frustrated, not knowing if my e-mail request for help was spammed away into the equivalent of a dead letter file, or merely ignored because I am annoying the customer support person. The assumption of course is that Google is populated by people. I best not look behind the curtain.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
I watched the State of the Union speech last night and by the end my blood was boiling. Our democracy is not working. Even calling our government a democracy is a misnomer since we do not directly elect our president, instead relegating our votes to an electoral college. However, I digress and shall endeavor to keep on topic.
What made my simmering hemoglobin begin to boil was the obvious divide between the Republicans and Democrats. When one group stands in mass or another sits in mass it tells me we do not have free thinkers in our system. As long as our politicians are beholding to special interests and party bosses we have no true democracy.
Money rules, and I suspect with their latest ruling even the Supreme Court has been bought. It is precisely because of this greed on the part of our ruling classes that the United States is becoming a second tier power. Did anyone notice the Republicans sat on their hands when Obama said he wants to take away tax breaks from companies that export our jobs? Of course they do not want the companies they all hold stock in to lose any breaks. And if the companies have less money to spend who will fill the coffers of the politicians?
Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, The Huffington Post, they are all a joke. Take away their money and see if they still would be as “passionate” about this country as they claim to be. Where are all of our intelligent people? Do we have any wise people in the United States that actually care about our country more than their pocket books? I dare say you would be hard pressed to find a congressman or senator that lives a Spartan lifestyle. And if they did they would quickly become an outcast in the political world.
Capitalism works only when it is kept in check by a strong government. Why don’t the politicians get that?
Why can’t we have a strong independent party? Where are the free thinkers and the people that make this country great? Every nation that has ever been on this earth has failed for one reason or another. They usually fail from within due to corruption and greed. From all the signs we are heading towards a big fall in this country.
In 1977 I took an oath to defend my country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. How can I defend our country from ourselves?
What made my simmering hemoglobin begin to boil was the obvious divide between the Republicans and Democrats. When one group stands in mass or another sits in mass it tells me we do not have free thinkers in our system. As long as our politicians are beholding to special interests and party bosses we have no true democracy.
Money rules, and I suspect with their latest ruling even the Supreme Court has been bought. It is precisely because of this greed on the part of our ruling classes that the United States is becoming a second tier power. Did anyone notice the Republicans sat on their hands when Obama said he wants to take away tax breaks from companies that export our jobs? Of course they do not want the companies they all hold stock in to lose any breaks. And if the companies have less money to spend who will fill the coffers of the politicians?
Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, The Huffington Post, they are all a joke. Take away their money and see if they still would be as “passionate” about this country as they claim to be. Where are all of our intelligent people? Do we have any wise people in the United States that actually care about our country more than their pocket books? I dare say you would be hard pressed to find a congressman or senator that lives a Spartan lifestyle. And if they did they would quickly become an outcast in the political world.
Capitalism works only when it is kept in check by a strong government. Why don’t the politicians get that?
Why can’t we have a strong independent party? Where are the free thinkers and the people that make this country great? Every nation that has ever been on this earth has failed for one reason or another. They usually fail from within due to corruption and greed. From all the signs we are heading towards a big fall in this country.
In 1977 I took an oath to defend my country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. How can I defend our country from ourselves?
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