Lots to Catch Up On

Wow, it has been forever since we have written anything. Let me first start by answering Alisha’s question, “Are you ready for school to start?”

Well, to be quite honest, I’m not really looking forward to the start of school this year. I have been given a rather difficult teaching assignment, which promises to add some challenges to my life. Of course, I have always been apt at turning lemons into lemonade, and I don’t see a reason why this should be any different. But other than that, I do look forward to the routine. Thanks for asking the question Alisha, and thanks for reading the blog. For anyone else who reads on a regular basis, I’m sorry that I have not been updating. There has just been so much going on.

Which brings me to what all has been going on. Well, to begin with, I’m sure everyone out there is still recovering from the biggest storm most of us have ever seen. Wow, was that weird or what? Fortunately, we did not have much damage. The picture above is of Cassidy standing in front of a tree in our yard that was hit. Quite honestly, while the entire event was taking place, I really thought I was in a tornado. Amy and the children were on their way home from town, and I was pretty sure they had made it home, but I was stuck. Thankfully, I had the jeep and was thus able to navigate the treacherous terrain of downed trees and power lines on the highway. To the best of my knowledge, I was the only one who made around those 4 or 5 big trees blocking the several mile strip from town. All you jeep lovers will appreciate that!

Then we had to deal with the power being out for quite a while. That really makes one appreciate modern technology!

What else? Well, this summer has brought several possibilities for us. Unfortunately, some of them have not really worked out. First off, I had a real shot at an administrative position at another school. In the end, I decided that working more and making less was a poor choice. Then, Amy and I had the chance to move away and work in a ministry for abused/neglected children. That position held a lot of promise, but it just didn’t seem right. Perhaps in the future. Finally, we have put our house up for sale. I will write more about this later.

So, back to school in a few weeks! Wow, “It Was a Short Summer Charlie Brown!”

Finally Fixed the Storm Shelter

Well, we finally got our storm shelter fixed, or should I say done away with. The person who had built the house had the idea to put a storm shelter under the porch, with an access from inside the house. Not a total bad idea, but it leaked. Long, long story short, we had the shelter filled in with gravel. Now, all that is left is to take up the carpet in that area and put down something better. The place that we bought our kitchen floor still had some hard wood left, so I think we will just go with that.

Above is a picture of all of us and one of Callie. We took the first picture by setting the camera to take one by itself, and then all jumping on the couch. Not too bad for that.

There has not been a lot we have been able to write about here lately. I guess you could call this the dog days of Summer. We did show our house to the realtors the other day, and they were all very impressed. Unfortunately, we have not had much interest as of yet. We are going to give it a little longer, and then lower the price a bit. I realize ranch style houses are not what a lot of people want. After living in several houses, ranch style is by far the best for us at this point in our lives.

Turn Signals

Not long ago I wrote a post concerning a possible change in my job. At the moment, it looks as if I will be back at MVTHS. After several weeks of uncertainty, I went for another interview at the same place. In the end, I simply did not feel a peace about the job. When it comes down to it, I have a major problem with taking a job in which I will work more and make less. I know experience is worth a lot, but at this point it would be too much of a sacrifice.

What else is going on? I spent the bulk of today fixing the car. On Sunday I noticed the turn signals and hazard lights did not work. After looking on the net, I found where someone had posted a similar problem and the solution. It involved taking out the “multi-function switch.” Now, let me tell you, that is no easy task! But after solving the cube, I figured I could do anything! I had hoped I could save some money by taking the thing apart and cleaning it. But of course, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put the multi-function switch back together again. I did save the jillion pieces if any of my fellow cube solvers want to try it. Anyway, I finally found a salvage yard in Selmaville that had one, and so for $35.00 I fixed what the dealership would have charged over $200.00 for. Not too bad.

4th of July

Another Independence Day has come and gone. This year, I had an interesting conversation concerning patriotism. Someone asked me if I thought that a Christian should be patriotic. Although one might think this question would yield a simple “yes” or “no” response, my answer is a little complicated.

First off, to my knowledge the Bible does not directly speak to having national pride. Jesus once stated, “Render to Cesar what is Cesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” But I not sure a connection could be made here either way. In the old testament, there seemed to be a lot of national pride for the children of Israel, and in the new testament, Paul is able to claim he is a Roman citizen. This was a big deal as we can see from the soldiers response. The Bible also teaches that we are to respect those who are in charge. With this in mind, it is certainly not against scripture to be patriotic (in my opinion).

But in order to understand this better, I went back to the dictionary. The word “patriotism” means devotion, or love for one’s country. It comes from “patriot,” which is one who “loves his country and is devoted to liberty.” The origin is Greek for “fatherland.” The same root word is used for the “Patriarchs” or “fathers” of the Bible, church, etc. So, what then does “liberty” mean?

“Freedom from oppression, tyranny,…state of being free…free from slavery.

Most Christians would make the Biblical connections here (I.e., Jesus came to set us free from the oppression and tyranny and slavery of sin). So is liberty a Godly precept? In my opinion, most definitely! What about love for country? Countries are made up of people, and if we are truly Christians, we will love people. I think this is where we get confused sometimes. I love my country. I would die for my country. However, I don’t necessarily agree with everything my government does. Notice the difference between “government” and “country.” The “country” is the people. The government (in most countries) is the system. What has made the U.S. more successful, is the stronger connection between this system and the people.

Perhaps you are starting to see the difficulty here. C.S. Lewis warned us to look out for “Christianity and _________.” There is a ton of wisdom in that statement. Must one be patriotic to be a Christian? Of course not. But the question is “should” one? Ultimately that is up to the individual to decide. I would argue that it would be much easier to be patriotic in some countries than in others. However, when trying to decide, consider that the United States was born as a Christian nation. Most of our founding fathers were great men of God. Consider the price that was paid for each of us to enjoy the freedom we have today. Consider the evil of Adolf Hitler, and his concentration camps. Where would we be today if it had not have been for the United States. And when we do mess up, make stupid laws, do stupid things, just remember, here it is “We The People.” We have a voice in what goes on. We decide what happens.

In the end, God has given us a handful of years to play our part. I happened to be put on Team USA. It’s a GREAT team to be on. I’m going to root for my team, clap for my team, and swing my hardest when I get to bat. Is it the best team? In my opinion it is, but I understand that there are others out there who think their team is the best. Maybe they should. But then again, there seem to be a lot of people wanting to play for this team. May God (continue to) Bless the U.S.A.!