Tonight's the Night!!!

Boy-o-boy!!! I've been waiting for this night ever since January 1st came around. Nothing's more exciting. You guys and gals can have all your TV, sports, reading, writing, hanging around with your spouses or kids, movies, games, Bunko, poker, or whatever else you're doing tonight, but I've got you all beat. And it's not even close. That's right.

I'm doing my taxes.

Is there any single event to look forward to in a year than this one? The Super Bowl? The Oscars? Your birthday? Christmas Day? Easter? HA!!! All those pale in comparison to the one or two nights we get to do our taxes. What a privilege that the Government gives this special time. In fact, we ought to make April 15th the most special of holidays. We could all dress up like Uncle Sam (or Aunt Samantha, I guess) and parade around Independence Avenue in DC. In fact, we could get on floats and throw money to heads of Government agencies. It'd be magnificent.

But I digress. Now, as I was saying, yes... right after work I'm heading over to Staples or Best Buy, and I'm making the funnest purchase of the year for me. That's right. TURBO TAX!!! How awesome can it get??? Try saying "Turbo Tax" and not smiling. You can't do it can you. I can't either. As an added bonus, I've tacked on a pic of Turbo Tax Deluxe for everyone's viewing glee. I think I could stare at that little picture all day long. Night, too -- except then I'd miss the absolute pleasure of actually doing my taxes -- and I can't do that. And Turbo Tax doesn't come alone -- no-no. Along with it, you also get Quicken so that you can enjoy the splendid excitement of doing your finances ALL YEAR LONG!!! What can beat that, I ask you?

Life is good.

Life is sweet. Like nectar on the vine or the taste of honeysuckle.

I love today.

And tonight's my night.

Hopeless Is As Hopeless Does - SQOTW

yeah i fell asleep when you needed a friend
you were sweating blood and talking about violent ends
ah we're pulling swords talking real loud
pledging allegiance yes us a bunch of cowards

-- Hopeless Is As Hopeless Does, VOL from the CD V.O.L.

This verse, sang from the POV of one of Jesus' Inner Circle of disciples, relates the story of what happened with the Lord's chosen crew just before and at Jesus' arrest. Jesus had taken John, James, and Peter with Him into the Garden at Gethsamane. After many days of travel through Israel and, finally, a week of unrest, the Lord's death is near. He knows that and has taken His three closest friends into the garden to keep watch as He prays. In His hour of need, the worn out disciples fall asleep. A couple times Jesus comes back and rebukes them -- and they see Him, albeit weary-eyed, in His sweat and in His bad condition -- but the flesh is weak, and they continue to fall asleep.
Well, before that at the Last Supper, Jesus had foretold of His coming death, and Peter started the bravado with his statements that he would never leave Christ's side, not even for the sake of his own life. Following suit, the rest of the disciples claimed the same. They bragged how they'd never leave Him.

Now, as His prayer time ends and those who seek Jesus' life have come for Him with Judas, His betrayer, He awakens the three and they get the others of the twelve, now eleven. The mixture of soldiers, priests, servants, and Judas confront Jesus and the disciples. The betrayer steps forward and has an exchange with Jesus. Then, he ends the encounter with a kiss. The soldiers and servants step forward to bind the Lord. In the heat of it, Peter (and maybe one or two others) whip out swords. Peter, the most brash of the disciples, starts the fight, slinging a blow that rips off the ear of the high priest's servant. Almost instantly, Jesus turns to Peter and tells him to holster his weapon.

Then, the soldiers step forward, this time perhaps not just to take Jesus but to get the disciples as well. And what do they do? Peter. James. John. Andrew. Philip. Thomas. Nathanael. James (the lesser). Matthew. Jude. Simon. Every last one of them that offered Christ their allegiance takes off for the hills. They run like cowards. Later, as we know, Peter denies Christ the three times.

In His love, Christ forgives them, and after the Resurrection, He restores every one of them. Deep in the depths of me, that is sooooooooo hard to believe. I know it's Christ and have the knowledge of His love (and the story in retrospect) -- but who can hurt a person the worst? Those closest to that person. And in His time of need, his "friends" abandoned Him, seeking life for themselves. Still, Christ forgave them, and that should be a lesson to me forever.

After the crucifxion, knowing what generally happened to the followers of false Messiahs, the disciples huddled together in secret for protection. I wonder about the conversations they had together during that day and a half. And all their self-esteems had to have been shot. I bet it was one depressed place.

The last thing I'll mention is that I've often wondered if I would have run. Or would I run now faced with death or renouncing my beliefs. Prophetically, I think the Psalms tell that everyone was going to abandon the Lord at that point. But more appropriate is what I would do now. There's a lot of Christians in the world right now having to make that exact decision. Same thing historically. And I don't think any Christian should ever think themselves too insulated to believe that decision might not happen to them (sorry for the double negative) someday.

Let's try and make our hearts ready and then keep them ready.

Red Checks

Legitimate Biblical Question # 2

In my men's Bible study, we're reviewing the life of David (actually 1st and 2nd Samuel) in an attempt to better understand the character and nature of God. We got to 1st Samuel Chapter 28 last night, which is Saul's encounter with the witch, or medium, of Endor. Here's verses 3-19:

3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. 4 The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”
8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.” 9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.” 13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” 14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.
15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.” 16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”

The question herein is: Was the "apparition" that appeared to be Samuel actually Samuel or was it something else, namely demonic? Our study leader put out the question -- Would God himself do and/or use something that He despises and has told us as His followers to not associate themselves with (to keep themselves holy like He is holy). Leviticus 19:31 states:

31 “Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

and Leviticus 20:6 states:

6 “If a person turns to mediums and wizards, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

There's more where that came from, btw. In the end, and I don't know why I always seem like the devil's advocate with these types of questions, but I was probably the only guy in our study who thought that the apparition was actually Samuel. Well, I'm not totally sure, but I didn't necessarily agree that the Lord God's holiness would be in question by involving himself in something he forbids. To me, the medium, herself, was in the wrong, and Saul was certainly in the wrong -- but I didn't think it affected God's holiness to let Samuel arise and prophesy against Saul. Everyone else thought God would have been endorsing a practice he had forbidden, and God's character won't go against His holy nature, which He has expressed in the Scriptures (and in this case against consorting with mediums). Ergo, they thought it must have been a fallen angel from the spiritual realm who had basically heard God's proclamation against Saul. Because just from the reading, whatever spirit arose did a pretty good job of representing God's point of view against Saul.

So, if you care, what think ye? And please show me the way. I promise I won't be near as stubborn or abrasive as I was in the last Legitimate Biblical Question I posed.

A Clean Slate

Today is Opening Day.

And whether you are a baseball fan or not, I think this is important because of what it symbolizes—a New Beginning.

On Opening Day, you’ve got as good a chance as the next guy.
On Opening Day, hope springs eternal.
On Opening Day, anything is possible.
On Opening Day, last year doesn’t mean a thing.
On Opening Day, the drama has yet to unfold.
On Opening Day, everyone has a clean slate.

And who doesn’t need a clean slate??

A clean slate means your past doesn’t determine your future.
A clean slate means no grudges or unforgiveness.
A clean slate means no looking over your shoulder.
A clean slate means no one is inferior.
A clean slate means that the ending has not yet been written.
A clean slate means starting over.

Don’t you wish that everyday was Opening Day??

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! –2 Corinthians 5:17

P&S Call It Quits

Dear Readers,

Due to irreconcilable differences, Rich and I have decided that it would be best if we went our separate ways.

We have tried to work through or hide our venom-laden feelings, but based on recent posts and some of your comments, it is clear that we have been unable to successfully disguise the underriding tone of our interaction with each other.

The Realm of Possibility and our writing collaboration efforts are the real victims here, and we also apologize to our many readers. From this point forward, Rich has custody of the Realm from Sunday through Friday, and I receive visitation rights on Saturday. For those of you who are interested, I will retain all rights to any of our writing collaborations that include characters who are amputees, and Rich will keep control of "You can never say goodbye, Brian Renehan".

I know that many of you may be hurt or confused right now. And that's OK. But don't feel like you have to suffer alone. On Saturdays, the Realm will be a safe place to express any questions or just to vent some of the pain. Please don't hesitate to do so.

Yours,

&Story

Around the Horn

Trying to cover all the bases, here's what's going on at some other blog friends' houses:

Doug hasn't written a post in about a month -- how very Ken-like -- but his last one was good.

b's got a post on persecution that reminds me how easy we have it here and how we should think about how perilous is the plight of Christians living or working in other countries

codepoke's put out two posts, this one and this one, since we highlighted his awesome post on Jesus's statement "I thirst"

Thinklings had an interesting post on teenagers not sleeping enough

I loved imonk's Jesus = Salvation post and comments

And Todd R. at Beauty Out of Ugly Things has yet another great post, this one on Lent

I might add a couple more if and as I come across them, but all these are good ones if you're interested, so be interested!!!

Wrecked Up

Yesterday afternoon as I went to pick my kids up from school, I was stopped waiting on a two lane road to turn left into the school's drve-thru. In my rearview mirror, I saw a white car slowing down behind me, and then I looked back at the two cars passing from the opposite direction.

Behind me, I heard THUD!

Looked into my rearview and saw the guy behind me sort of flop and his vehicle being plowed by a green car foward toward mine. I didn't have time to accelerate to avoid the accident before another BUMP -- a crash right into me. I have a pretty darned sturdy SUV, so the damage wasn't too bad on my vehicle. Both other cars had to be towed away. Everyone was alright, I should add.

The long and short of it was that a little sixteen year old kid who had just gotten his license two days ago -- at least from his words -- had his music playing too loud and wasn't paying attention. Later on, he mentioned something about his brakes not working too well, but mainly, the poor kid had his thoughts elsewhere, and we're all lucky no one was hurt too badly. In fact, with his airbags popping on, his bloody nose seemed to be the worst of it. The guy in the white car behind me said he blacked out for a second when first hit, but he was okay after that.

I called my wife, and after all the "Are you okays", "How did it happens?", and "Was it your faults?", she gave me the standard lines of not saying anything... all the stuff you're supposed to do at an accident for insurance purposes. And for the most part, I followed the advice.

But it occurs to me that all of that is hardly Christlike. I actually thought about that at the accident. And I was sort of torn. I told both guys that I was sure glad nobody was hurt, and then I let the kid borrow my cell phone to make a call or two. But anyone there would have hardly mixed me up with being Christ to the other guys. I was too wrapped up in what I should do for insurance purposes, the hassle that this wreck was going to cause, to make sure I pleased my wife with my actions, thinking about getting my kids before their school closed, and with my own introversion. I think I failed in this instance (as I do in most, maybe almost all, I guess), because I was pretty far from being like my Lord to the others involved.

Of course, I'm not altogether sure what exactly I should have done, but I know I could have shown more care than the aloofness I exhibited.

And all this comes on the heels of another member of The Realm -- I won't mention any names -- being involved in his own el accidente. But it's not my place to say anything about that. However, if bad things really do come in threes, then we've got one more on the way.

I wonder what it could be?

Dear, Dear You

Although a post like the one two below merits no more than a passing glance, after a cursory review, I've decided to draft a relatively brief response for the benefit of our dozen or so audience members.

Ultimately, and I think you'll agree, what makes a successful mutli-person blog are continuous, high-quality posts. By "continuous," I mean daily -- or every other day at the very least -- and hopefully more often than that. Perhaps it helps if they are published at regular intervals during the day, but the jury is still out on that. Then, by "high quality," I mean posts with substantive value. Sure, a few "social" or "activity-driven" posts can be tossed into the mix to engage the audience, but in the end, the majority of posts need to have explicit or implicit value (of some type or another) to the readership or else the blog is a virtual windbag.

On the count of "Successful Blogging," then, for whatever reasons, we are failing. Dissimilar to our novel and short story writing where we truly collaborate, our posts are written individually. Therefore, our audience receives my more prolific drivel on a continuous basis to attempt to keep a pulse beating in The Realm, while they experience your quality only when inspiration and free time align, which remains about as often as the planets aligning. So despite my attempts to resuscitate The Realm with literary hot air, the blog flatlines due to your frequent hiatuses. Because, let's face it, despite my Ken is not a nose-picker post attempting to draw attention to your absence, I'm fairly certain no one else actually noticed anything out of the ordinary for this blog. Obviously, no one mentioned it. You can peruse every comment for yourself. You'll find no, "Hey, where's Ken been?" or "I sure do miss Ken and so does this blog" comments anywhere under any post. And I'd have to reason that the cause of this disattention is that no one thought you were actually gone at all. They just figured you'd post your infrequent yet genius posts when you regularly do, which is to say, irregularly.

I'm not sure what's to be done about any of this, but I will say it's good to have you back. I guess I'll see you in a couple of weeks or a month from now when you post again.

Opening Day Is Coming

September 7, 2006



VERSUS






May the cuter logo win!!!

Oh, did you think I was talking about baseball from the title?

Hey, waittaminnit, was that a Ken post below? Couldn't have been.