Drilling Holes [Updated]

Stopped at an Arby’s in Tulsa, OK where everyone is getting serious about the energy crisis…well at least the gas price crisis. The workers were passing out more copies of an e-mail than roast beef sandwiches. The e-mail, smudged with fastfood grease, proposed a plan to pressure the gas companies into lowering the gas prices by urging drivers to avoid the pumps for three days, three times longer than a Canadian boycott that supposedly dropped prices fifteen cents.

“Hmmm…” I wondered, taking a sip of my Dr. Pepper, “wouldn’t the gas companies make up for the lack of sales on those three days with the mad profits on the day prior and the day following the “gas out”. I thought about sharing my insights, but thought that maybe my lack of sleep from driving all night caused me to miss the great idea.

Now that I’ve slept on it, I still think it’s a dumb idea…and the approach is misguided. There are a lot of solutions being offered for the rising pump prices, including boycotts, more U.S. drilling, an end to a war, petitions, an impeachment, pump-n-runs, bike riding, hybrids, corn, and more.

But we must address the real issue here. It’s not about high gas prices. Sure you’re pissed off about paying forty bucks to fill up your car. So am I. But by giving into the government’s quick fix ideas (reopening offshore and Alaskan oil drilling) we are only perpetuating the real problem…the effect our abuse of natural resources is having on the environment. And if the rumors are true…that we have the technology to make more efficient and safer (for the trees and us) vehicles, but the oil dudes have such a monopoly over our economy, government, and dare I say, President, that the solutions to our energy and environmental crisis are kept from becoming a reality, than we have a sick problem on our hands that requires more than just drilling holes...well unless the "holes" are in reference to the oil dudes and they are the object of the drilling.

It’s about more than saving money…being a good steward goes beyond cash. It includes our environment (see my blog…“The Wisdom is in the Trees not the Glass Windows”). So don’t perpetuate the problem, seek solutions for the earth not just for your wallet. Write a letter, sign petition, and even boycott if it floats your boat, but don’t support more drilling. Start saving up for a hybrid, ride your bike, carpool, support gas/oil companies that are serious about the real issue (BP) and talk trash about the gas/oil companies that refuse to care about anyone (or Anyone’s creation) but themselves (Exxon).

To be honest with ya’ll, I know little about this issue. I’m learning. I feel like it’s my responsibility as a created being and especially as a Christian. So do your research. Don’t take my word for it…and certainly not Fox News'. I like sierraclub.com and if I knew how to leave a link on this blog I would leave this one:

http://www.sierraclubplus.org/video/flash_offshoredrilling

Update: Here's a great quote...

"Drilling the Arctic Refuge would be as shortsighted as damming the Grand Canyon for hydroelectric power or tapping Old Faithful for geothermal energy. It would be as foolhardy as burning the Mona Lisa to keep you warm" (Frank Crowder).

To read the whole article click below (I think):

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/OPINION/509010309/1008

I Didn't Know What I Had Until I Realized It Wasn't Mine

I took a rock from the Grand Canyon. It’s a nice rock. It’s a jagged chunk of brown, red, and white sandstone a little bigger than my fist. I would have taken a bigger piece if I could have fit it in my backpack. I would have taken the entire thing if no one was looking. Seriously, it’d make a great backyard.

But that’s not possible, and not just because it’s really big, but because it’s a National Park guarded by people in green uniforms that love it more than me, so much so that they will protect it so others can love it too.

No one really owns the Grand Canyon. It belongs to no one, but everyone at the same time. It wasn’t meant to be owned. It was created to be shared. I can’t have it.

Canyons can’t be moved, sunsets are moments that cannot be caught…they come ago without my permission, and flowers die when I pick them.

They are bigger than me. The Grand Canyon is much too large for my shelf or my backyard. Others need to see what I would hide for myself. Canyons, sunsets, and flowers have something to teach us about God and ourselves. They have a beauty to share with us. I can’t keep them. To do so would be to deny others this.

The very thing that keeps me alive—air—is shared and not owned. I can try to keep it, to hold it in, but I would die. Oxygen is to be breathed in, and out, not held or trapped. The truth about air, is true about those given it.

I have begun to realize that people are more like canyons, sunsets, and flowers than they are cars, houses, or cloths.

People are shared with me, they are not objects to be owned.

Being in a relationship is more like hiking a trail than it is taking up residence. And people are not decorations, but views to be taken in. They are a part of God’s creation not my wardrobe.

It’s not really about me choosing them either. Some are like cornfields, rain clouds, and shruberries. All beautiful in their own light, important, and deserving of my time and love, even if they aren’t picked out, don’t fit me well, or feel like family.

Not too long ago I came across the most beautiful flower I’d ever seen... But she was not mine to own...to pick, to put in vase, and place on a shelf...for she would have died there. Her beauty and light were too big for me, too important. The world needs this flower.

This past weekend I was reunited with some friends…the “for life” kind. A few are in Michigan now, some still in Ohio, some in Indiana, a couple in North Carolina, and one in Utah. I wish we could all be neighbors again. I wish I could have them here in Texas. But the truth is, I can’t. I don’t own them. I don’t decide where they are to be placed. For them to be anywhere but there (where He puts them) would be for them like dying. They are too big me, too important. They must share their beauty and love with others…those who do not know it yet. I can’t stop that because that’s what it’s all about.

The strange thing is; the things that I own do not last. Like cars, cloths, and guitars (sorry to get away from my original illustration but I don't have a house) . Eternal things can only be shared. And the more I realize this, the more life is sweet.

I never knew what I had, until I realized it wasn’t mine.

Along this journey of life there have been some amazing views and some most beautiful flowers. “And every time I’m place within a perfect row…people come and go” (Stephen Delopoulos). And at times I have fought this, longing to stay, to stay forever. And at times I’ve wanted to take beauty with me to keep my soul lit. But a Voice keeps calling me forward and a Wisdom keeps telling me that others need to see and hear these things too. To share them is far better than to keep them. It makes me feel like I’m a part of something big…something bigger than myself.

The Cake Wasn't Bad

Just got back from home…ur, Ohio that is (not sure where “home” is right now), and started my new job at UPS. As the packages come out of the truck onto a conveyer belt I scan them and slap on stickers. It’s kinda like those arcade shooting games, except I have unlimited quarters.

My trip began Thursday night and ended Monday evening. I put almost 3,000 miles on my truck. That’s about fifty hours in my little S10. That’s a lot of driving. That’s a lot of time to think…so I apologize if I go a little crazy in the next few days on my blog.

The trip was quick and I saw a lot of friends and family in short period of time…but every conversation was full of life.

Jared and Becky’s wedding was not like any other I’ve been a part of. It seemed…strange to say, but…holy. I was taken a back not simply by the bride’s beauty, by the groom’s reaction, or by the songs, but by the Holy Spirit as the story of Adam and Eve was read, as the parents prayed together, as the vows were exchanged, and Dr. Smith’s homily was given. It felt more like a sacrament, “a means of grace”, than a simple traditional ceremony.

There was another “strange” element to the wedding. On a day that was supposed to be all about them, the bride and groom went out of their way for their guests. Little details…like the not so typical wedding slide show/video played during the picture time so there was not waiting on the wedding party. Like the little books with pictures and stories about each person in wedding, so everyone could get to know them…which was later given to the groomsmen, bridesmaids, and ushers. Like the “head table”, just big enough for Jared and Becky…allowing those in the wedding party to be seated with their family or friends. Like how each quest was greeted by the newly weds. And the list could go on. I felt not like an observer, or a witness, but like a participant. And I had this odd feeling that my feet were being washed. I think for the first time I felt like the disciples did when Jesus took his water basin and towel and knelt before them. A pleasant disturbance…the feeling that what is happening, shouldn’t, and usually doesn’t, but at the same time, seems like a better way.

I felt like Jared and Becky washed my feet on their wedding day.

I was humbled. And in reflection have this thought: Does God bring two people to become one so that each one has his and her “needs met” (as I hear all the time) or does He create two people that are designed to be as one person, together greater than they are apart (like two lights that glow brighter together), for the work of making His Kingdom a reality here on earth.

Not two pieces of a puzzle connecting simply for the sake of the pieces themselves, but two pieces joined together for the sake of the picture…God’s plan for all of creation.

It’s not about an exchanging of loves, but a sharing of Love…a love that that is far greater than two people and what they can or can’t do for each other. Marriage, and the “bedroom”, is about more than the celebration of each other and private intimacy. Matrimony is about holy inspiration and a unity that perpetuates action. Like a sacrament, a means of grace...that when experienced brings two as one closer to the Creator in a union that involves them in not just their own love story but in His love story…joining them not only in the pursuit of each other but in His pursuit of all people.

So in a sense Jared and Becky’s day was not just their own, but His, and ours. A day in which the Church was strengthened and the potential for God’s love to be made Know in the world was increased.

Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Jared Bell. You are a powerful example of God’s true design for marriage…and my feet feel clean. Oh yah, the cake wasn’t bad either.

"Ya'll Ain't From Around Here, Are Ya?"

It doesn't rain much in West Texas so when it does water just sits everywhere. The city officials here don't believe in sewers and water doesn't absorb well into clay and rock. So it doesn't take much to flood the corner of Erkskin and Franford just down the road from my house. Just an inch or two of rain or about block of sprinkler systems is enough. Everytime the "public pool" is open I am tempted to give it the gas as I take the corner in my little S10. And everytime I am tempted I usually give in...although I've learned to roll up my window. Its the same thrill I used to get when I'd stomp in a mud puddle while walking next to my mom or sister...except the people sitting at the corner in thier cars are strangers and they don't punch me or ground me, although I've gotten a few honks. I love it when they have to use their windshield wipers.

I think people here are afraid of rain. They all sit around the weather channel and don't leave their houses. They are too used to the sun. So we got a lot of questions from the nieghbors the other night when we laid sod in my unlce's backyard during a rain shower ("Ya'lll ain't from around here, are ya?"). You get used to rain in Ohio and once in awhile out here you miss it. So we took advantage of it, planted some grass, and made mud angels (brought back memories of "Indiana surfing" [riding a piece of wood in the mud] after the H20 Hodson water fight last August...). We added to our reputation as the "crazy folks from Ohio" when we hosed off in the driveway and when I stripped down to my boxers and ran in the house.

Its been awhile since my last blog so here's a little update: Still out here in Lubbock, "held captive by the big blue sky above" (as Shawn Mullins says...speaking of sky, did anyone catch the meteor showers the other night? they were amazing out here. i laid on my back on top of a van out in the middle of nowhere...it was a show). Still working at the Furniture Connection (peed my pants the other day while on the job...well kinda, actually my belt just got in the way. kinda like putting your hand in front of a hose, [I'm fighting back the urge to write "a really big hose in my case" but kids. old people, or Baptists might be reading this so I won't]...everything gets wet. So I did a little clean up, bent over the sink and laughed my head off, waited till there where no customers, snuck out the back to my truck, and drove home to change) and just started UPS. I'm interviewing at First United Methodist Church in Canyon, Texas for a worship leader position...beautiful people with an understanding of community and a philosophy of ministry focused on relationships. I think I change my mind about the future every few days or so. Couple weeks ago I was sure I wanted to pursue an education degree. Today...seminary sounds good and I just saw a Texas Tech adverstisement at Mountain Hideaway (a store where I go to dream about hiking) for "majoring in nature" a new natural history and humanities degree they are offering combining the natural sciences, the arts, and philosophy. Some indecisive person like me came up with that. So we'll see what happens. Right now I'm just learning to be content, seeking grace to love the people around me, and looking for some new friends (my little cousins just went back to school).

I've been reading a lot of Brian McLaren's stuff lately (hope to blog on some of his ideas soon) and still have In Between Dreams (Jack Johnson) in my CD player. In two days I'm headed for Joliet, Ill. for Jared and Becky's "allstar" wedding. There's gonna be a ton of IWU folks there. I can't wait. I don't think I'll be able to sleep the night before (actually I won't...I'll be driving all night). After the party I'm going to Ohio for a day to see my parents, then back to West Texas ,where the cotten will be blooming soon. I've heard it looks like fields of snow.