Clouds

(I know. It's been a lot of posts today.)

After the hideous heat of yesterday (moreso, because the AC is out at our apartment), it's WONDERFUL to see clouds outside today. In tribute:

Servant Evangelism

That's what we call it. I rambled about it earlier, but here's the condensed version.

Do we serve others to get a foot in the door to tell them about Jesus?

or

Do we serve others to demonstrate who Jesus is?

Both are "servant evangelism" but through different means. In the former, the type of service ought to be personal - raking leaves, handing things out (you need to be able to interact). The latter, it can also be impersonal (bagging food, random acts of anonymous kindness).

Where on the spectrum do you fall?

Service

I was trying to remember what Coram Deo has done over the past 9 months to serve the community. I'm gratified that I might not be remembering everything. Here's what I've come up with thus far:

Volunteered with Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (Park cleanup, Fall 2006; Christmas Tree Recycling, Winter 2007; Alexander Lake, Spring 2007)

Helped bag food for Evelyn Mount (December 2006)

Donated Blood as a group (June 2007, April 2007)

Helped Abby with Alex's Lemonade Stand (June 2007)

Handed out smoke-detector batteries & Spring home maintenance guides (March 2007)

Gave away candles at Christmas (December 2006)

Gave away hot drinks @ sled hill (January 2007)

Babysat for Mother's Day Date Night (May 2007)

Raked Leaves (October 2006)

Anything I'm missing?

Flying Fish

BRANFORD, Fla. — “Lots of artillery out there,” an old man hollered from the safety of the Suwannee River’s edge, and he was right. The sturgeon were jumping high and fast, twisting their armored girth in midair and returning to the depths with a stunning splash.

On the water, there was reason to be anxious. Florida’s season of “sturgeon strikes” — law enforcement’s term for collisions between the state’s largest freshwater fish and hapless boaters — was already well under way.

Hot Dogs

Some observations:

1) It's a hot dog eating contest.

2) It's on ESPN.

3) The announcers actually sound serious when they call Joey Chestnut an "American Hero."

4) Crazy, crazy, crazy.

5) Stunned disbelief is all I have left.

A famous aphorism

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

The saying proves true, yet again. A number I have seen tossed about for weeks now in the hoopla about a documentary by a guy with an obvious agenda is that the US ranks 37th in "Quality of Health Care." What I assumed was that this was a measure of the quality of healthcare services provided. What I didn't know is that significant weight is placed on whether the payment system is "fair."

This is important, because it carries the implication that the best health-care provision MUST be done by the government. It specifically decries those that would charge those more at risk a higher rate for "insurance" (which removed from a risk context ceases to become insurance at all), and insists that the rich pay more than the poor.

I do not deny that these are worthwhile considerations - but I resent the WHO declaring what is fair and proper, and skewing their numbers to that effect.

Because the US is #1 in a category besides per-capita spending. It's also the most responsive health care system in the world - by the same report that names it the 37th best overall. It gets heavily dinged in the financial categories.

The actual report: (1.6 MB PDF). Check page 155. Compare the USA with the UAE. Compare where the US has better numbers, where the UAE has better numbers, and how they compare in the "overall" score.

It can be easy to forget how much hate there is in the world.

From the local paper

From a snippet about a Chicken Wing Cook-Off

"The People’s Choice Award was given the booth called “Havin’ An Affair,” determined by the number of wings purchased. The owner named his booth after his wife..."

Reflecting

At 9:00 on Saturday morning, we put our dog to sleep. The vet was kind enough to make a house call to do it, and I headed over to my parents' house at about 7:30 to spend a last few moments with Holly. As with every time I have seen her over the last year, it was hard. Just seeing how hard it was for her to move gave me sympathetic shudders.

There were plenty of tears all around. The hardest part was that she was on her feet at the end, examining what other people (the vet and nurse) were doing at the house. It was a two-step process, the first being a full-body anesthetic, the second was the shot to stop her heart. She was standing when she got the anesthetic, and she slowly sank to lie down as it took over - occasionally almost-vomiting.

When she couldn't feel anything, she got the second shot. We did our best to stay close and comforting to the end, and then she died about as peacefully as such a thing can be imagined.

It provided a good opportunity for reflection. I think a pet provides the best approximation for the love a parent has for a child (note: I'm NOT saying it's the same, just a reflection). But where a parent is likely to die before their child, pets live much shorter lives, so you get to watch them go from infant, to child, to adult, to senior, to dead.

Everything we did for our dog, we did for the best. Any shots, pills, training - we all did it because we cared for her. But how could we explain our plan to her? How could we explain that the foul-tasting pills we were shoving down her throat were to keep her liver from failing?

And I thought of this:

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

It is easy to think that if life sucks, it means God is not good. If we remember that our understanding is limited, we can accept that our Father loves us, and does in fact give us good gifts - even if some times those good gifts hurt. Because if what I know from the weekend holds true, He knows the pain it causes, and feels it too.

Artsy Photo Stuff

I was looking at my pictures on Flickr, and I ran across this old picture of mine (I took it, like, a whole YEAR ago!). I liked it, so I'm re-posting it. That is all.