A good start

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on His law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
And whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

(Psalm 1)

I shot this the other day along the creek near my house, and I thought it illustrated this Psalm pretty well. This tree is planted next to a stream of water, and it's leaf doesn't wither (at least not until autumn, when it sheds all of them). But unlike this tree, the psalm talks about us having something to do with our own spiritual health. We have to choose what we will listen to.

Have you ever encountered a true mocker -- I mean someone who is a real mocker, who derides someone else in a way that offends your sense of decency. Someone who is a scoffer, who can find the bad in anything? Or someone scornful, someone throwing shame on everyone and everything around them? Who would want to be like that?

But the choice indicated in this psalm is pretty clear -- either you are one or the other. Either you delight in being mocking, scornful, and sinful, or you delight in the law of the LORD. And it seems like we have to choose. One or the other.

But there is another scripture, which says "apart from me you can do nothing," (Jn 15:5). So that leads me to think that even the desire to do what is right is because God wants me to want that. Just as a branch can't produce it's own fruit, and a tree can't produce it's own flowers without being attached to the root system, so we have to be attached to God through Christ.

But what does that look like? How do we stay attached to the Life of Christ in us? Is it something we do, something that He does or is it a combination of both? This tree doesn't have to think about being attached next to the creek. It just is. But we are not trees, we are humans created in God's image, and we can choose. So what do you think? Where does the Life come from and how do we get it daily?

It was the best of times ....

Okay so I'm not going to steal from Charles Dickens.

I just went to get lunch and was reminded of something. Taking albuterol can make you irritable.

The guard at the Ford House Office building asked me to replace the tray that you put your keys, watch, cell phone, heart pacemaker, ear plugs, Glock 9 and other metal objects in before you go in the building.

I felt like Neo in the Matrix, wanting to have a little confrontation there by the magnetometer. There's only one problem -- Neo is fantasy, first of all, and he was armed, second of all. There was absolutely no reason for me to be irritated at this guy's request. Not to mention he had two friends who had Glocks as well.

I knew that. But on this love potion, it's the small things that irritate you. Not piss you off; not enrage you, just irritate you. Like someone making a small request but you take it WAY too seriously. But the Faustian bargain on this stuff is that I have to take it to breathe! Otherwise I can't get any air sometimes. Cornelia says I get scary sometimes when I take this crap.

Ironically, some of the side effects are:

• nervousness
• shakiness
• dizziness
• excitement
• Being a prick to people
• desire to beat the life out of a person ....

Oh no. Those last two are just the effects if you happen to listen to the bad voices in your head. So if you have the misfortune -- like me -- to need this stuff when the Ragweed is in full bloom, remember, that sudden surge of adrenalin will fade if you give it time. Enjoy the fall.

You have GOT to be kidding

The Hummer H3 (c) GM

So I just saw an ad for the new "smaller" Hummer, the H3 where there are four people in the desert and as they do a sort of modern dance in chairs, they lean to the left, to the right, then they float off the ground as they meditate and then -- magically - an H3 assembles itself around them and the ad reads "Let the Dance Begin" or some other lame slogan.

In my best Daffy Duck voice let me say "Now Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit a minute!"

This thing is GM's -- that's right General Motors which owns Hummer -- latest attempt to prove the old adage about a fool and his money. The Hummer Website lets you see the whole thing. The call it "Chairs" because the four people are dancing using chairs in the middle of the desert.

Hmmmmmmm. I wonder how they float off the ground like that? Could it be because they have no money because gas for this beast is taking their life by the gallon? Or could it be because they are so light from not eating because they are using all their grocery money for gasoline and to pay for this $37,500 gas drinking, wallet shrinker?

I get so tired of ads trying to sell us stuff we don't need for money we don't have so they can charge exorbitant interest and become Rangers in the next campaign.

If Hummer really wanted some business, why don't they roll out the properly armored HUM-VEES for the guys in Iraq? Then maybe their dance in the desert will be over soon.

There is a Willow ...

but it won't be aslant the brook for very much longer.

Ophelia is pounding the old North State as I write this, and it makes me wonder how things are in Topsail Beach, where Cornelia and I went on vacation last year. We even joked that if a really serious hurricane every hit that area, it would be a sand island, and nothing else. And houses there are not cheap.

CNN has its weather guys and gals out in the winds, (80+ MPH) and the center of the storm is right now 40 miles East of Wilmington.

This is "only" a category 1 storm so far, but Katrina was "only" a category 1 when it went through Miami last month. Imagine standing on top of your car as someone drives down the road at 80 MPH and you get some idea of what "only" category 1 is like.

So pray for those along the coast. Hurricane season doesn't end for another couple of months.