Worlds Apart

I'm reading a book right now called "Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson."

The other night I watched an episode of the new reality show "Who Wants to be a Hilton."

What a difference between these two!

The Hilton show is all about how to fit in in high society - how to act, what to wear, what to say. In a word - superficial. And the book is about what becomes important to a man when he is preparing for death. While there are so many ideas in the book to stop and make you think, I'll offer this latest one that I read today because it is such a contradiction to the Hilton tv show.

"We've got a form of brainwashing going on in our country...do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it - and have it repeated to us - over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore."

As aptly shown on tv. And in magazines. And every form of media really. So what do we do with this then?

"You have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. Create your own."

I love that line.

And with that unfinished thought, I'll head off to bed, and hopefully write more tomorrow.

My Heart Will Choose to Say

We sang this song in church this past Sunday, and it's still echoing in my head. It's a simple song, but the more I think about what it means, the more meaning it takes on.

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in , Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's "all as it should be"
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

Just be a Tourist

I did a little walking downtown today. I needed to pick up an attachment for my vacuum and thought it would be easier to walk than to find parking. (As it turns out it was quite a bit further than I thought, and I could have found parking, but then I would have missed this moment.) Eventually I arrived at the vacuum store and found and paid for the part. Then I was offered a cookie. That's right - a homemade cookie. That would be a first I think; being offered homebaked goodies in a vacuum store. Or any store for that matter. Now I have to admit that upon hearing the offer of a cookie, my first thought was, "don't take candy from strangers" and close on the heels of that was "but she's probably not going to poison her customers." So I took the cookie. And it was good. And then I had my moment.

I was walking back to work, the sun was shining brilliantly, and I felt for a brief moment like a tourist walking through the downtown of an unknown city. This is a wonderful feeling. You have no pre-conceived notions about anything, and everything is interesting. I had the desire to peek in little shops I'd never been in, and perhaps try the little Chinese food restaurant on the corner. I admired the old buildings, window shopped a little, and hoped that I would make the time to come back downtown one day this summer and just be a tourist.