Phase 3

Phase 3 was for the DVD shelves. It was exactly the same dimensions as the other shelves with one exception. On the first shelves the middle point of the T adapter was pushed about 6 inches, to allow the large books a good seating. On the DVD shelves I connecte the T directly to the top of the X Male adapter that fit into the plate. This brought the shelf about 3 inches out. I did leave the top left corner of the shelf open, just in case I wanted to add more stuff later, but for now it is complete. Here are the pictures of Phase 3. My last post will have finished pictures and a parts list and rough diagram.

Steampunk Shelves, Phase 2

Phase 2 is different because this is where I introduced the stereo audio and HDMI cables into the pipes. This was done by creating a hole in the wall next to the PC and fishing the wires up to the hole in the center of the plate I used to anchor the shelves. My first real problem popped up at this point. I had been using 3/4 inch copper pipe and fittings, but, the HDMI cable would not make the turn through a 3/4 inch elbow, so, I took part of my copper back to the Depot and bought 1 inch pipe (10' piece $30). This took my project cost from $150 to $220. Once I had the new pipe I began building the next portion across the rest of one wall, and then, left, down the next wall to an anchor point and another plate. BTW, the plates I am using are actually floor plates of cast aluminum or iron and painted copper color. They have a hole in the center that allows me to go into the wall without showing the hole. In any case once I had my pipe to the proper spot on the second wall the cables were fished back into the wall and down. Then I pulled them out and hooked them back up to my TV and sound system.

Steampunk Shelves Project

I have remodeled my office. I am changing from the "Swords and Stuff" theme I have had for time immemorial to a mixture of classic scifi and steampunk. Recently I was at an art show put on by the Art, Love, Magic group. There I was inspired by the use of copper pipe to create interesting shapes and possibilities. I went home and withing a few days had put up my first attempt at these shelves. It was ok, but not very stable and would not hold up books without extra support.

I let it sit for a few weeks and then finished the design I would end with. It would server as a Hardback shelf, DVD shelf and audio/video cable run from my PC to the TV. The new Phase 1 looks like this.

Brussels

Friday found us in Brussels, Belgium at about 6:30am. We had to grab our bags and go through customs. Our flight did not leave until 10am the next morning so we went siteseeing. After checking in at the hotel we jumped on a double-decker tour bus and took a look at the city and it was very, very nice. The architecture is so different from any that we have in the US and certainly different than the look in Uganda. We had a great time, visiting shops and getting souveniors and eating food that is a little closer to our normal (but VERY expensive). We even had a chance to tour a beer museum and watch a video on Trapist monks making beer. All in all we had fun and it made all the difference on the return trip, we made it back home win about 16 hours none the worse for wear.

African Grackles

All of us in the Dallas area know about the grackles. Small black birds that just swarm all over the place and make a lot of noise and bird crap. I imagine every city has its version of these pest birds and I am going to tell you about Kampala's version. They are called Charles Birds, not sure why, if it is an implication that they look like an English Prince or whatever but that is what they have here. The biggest difference in these birds is that they are about 5 feet tall and bald. I do not think they make a lot of noise and since there are not hundreds of thousands of them the street are not covered in thier poop. They are just a big, ungainly, funny looking critter and I just wanted to share some pictures of them.

THis was supposed to go up several days ago, but my internet in Uganda was not up to the task

Paying fees for sponsored children

Today we got up bright and early (7:30am) and ate some breakfast, whined about not having Internet and then joined the rest of the team on the last section of our tasks here in Uganda. Now we begin paying the fees associated with all the children (287 or so) that the project directly supports. Evidently some of the schools allow the fees to be paid to the banks they use and others make you pay at the school. Our job was to pay all the bank fees.

Today and yesterday we hit about 10 banks and were paying for anywhere from one to 30 students at a time. We each had to fill out the forms for the students we were going to pay for, in quadruplicate, and not make mistakes or maybe have to go to the schools to get the forms again. The next thing is the WAD of cash we had to take with us to each bank. The lowest fee was about 40,000 shillings and the highest at 250000 shillings. Most of them where in the 130000 range. This meant that at any given time we could be walking around with 3 Million or more shillings as we went into the bank. Now the issue is probably not what you think, we were not all that worried about being mugged. We got out very near each bank and moved in at least pairs. No the problem is just logistically getting your head to count and comprehend 3 million in any currency. We had to check and recheck our counts because the biggest bills here are the 50,000's. This means we had a minimum of 20 bills per million dollars in our stacks. Add to this that the poor teller had to individually enter each students name into the computer one at a time and then stamp and initial each of the four copies and then log them into another system and you can begin to imagine this process. Thankfully, PD and the two Ugandans in our team have been doing this awhile and we had the forms filled out in advance, the money withdrawn from our bank before we needed it to pay AND we had a driver that knew his way around the crazy traffic. In any case it was kind of fun and definitely something I have not done before and for the most part the people at the banks were very nice and the lines were short.

In any case, we are back at the guest house, the Internet is back up and we are enjoying some downtime before we pick back up again tomorrow. Unfortunately I cannot upload photos still so I will have to put some up later, if possible.

An exhaustive survey

I have now traveled so extensively in this country I can give the government a fairly accurate count on the number of denizens. You might be inclined to think that I could not have been here long enough to do this. You might even think I have not seen enough of the countryside to justify my numbers. You might even think that I have nothing better to do than make something up. You would be entirely wrong...at least two out of three times. In any case, here are my numbers:

Chickens - 65 million
goats - 55 Million
Pigs - 45 million
Cattle - 10 million
Dogs - 9
Cats - 5
Ducks - 2

I don't know what the government of Uganda will do with these numbers but I wish them better luck than the dogs, cats and ducks have had

BTW, I was going to have pictures added but they wont upload today, not sure why, will try again. Now I need to stand at my window and listen to the latest propaganda for the elections coming up.

Lessons learned, eventually

Today we went to the 'Home' church for our organization here in Uganda. We saw most all of the sponsored children and gave out the shoes. Each sponsored child will get a pair of shoes, either today or later after we get some more of the correct sizes. It was a very joyous occasion and we were treated with a performance of a traditional African dance. We truly enjoyed the time there, speaking and giving shoes. Unfortunately this was not the biggest thing going on today.

During the festivites we received word that the folks running the hotel we stayed at needed us to move to another one of thier properties, today. We had left this morning,talking to all of the staff, making sure they knew we would be back for dinner tonight and that we had some laundry things to be taken care of. They offered no hint of the coming crisis. They needed us out by two o'clock because there was a group of 21 coming in today and they needed our rooms in order to keep them in one place. On the surface this does not seem to bad except that we could have packed our things this morning instead of rushing back and quickly throwing things into bags and leaving. Also, it was not clear whether or not the new facility had the same amenities as the old one (internet, individual bathrooms, fans, mosquito nets...) All of this, the horrible traffic, leaving comfortable and safe environs all meshed to make me rather angry. I knew that this was not a way you should treat guests in a hotel, suddenly springing something like this on them. I am sure the scowl on my face gave evidence to my great annoyance, even though a little voice was saying, "wait and see", I struggled with my anger and arrived at the new residence ready to dislike everything about it.

We drove in, the grounds were much smaller and the driveway was very small as well. After coming into the compound we went in to check out the rooms before we unloaded our bags. Walking in to what would be a huge three level house in the states. The floor was stone, the furnishings were very pretty and we could tell by the smartphones we had that they did have a wireless network. As we toured the place I began to feel better and better. The rooms were different, but nice, we had everything we needed and it is even better in many ways than the other place. Eventually I began to feel bad again, but this time because I had not let God handle it. I felt bad because I assumed it would be worse, site-unseen, and was totally wrong. I hope I can take this lesson forward and be more aware of why I am here and who really is in charge. In any case we do like it here and I will add some pictures to this post later on today.

Time can be subjective

Today was our longest trip; we visited the EPC church in Kassanda. This day started out like any other but soon, that would change. We headed into central Kampala from our hotel and turned left. I don’t know any other way to describe it. There are no street signs, very few traffic signs and three traffic signals in the whole city. This was definitely not modeled after the Romans grid system. After driving for about 15 minutes away from the Kampala the paved road ended and the worst road ever created in human history started. For the next two hours it was as if someone had mounted four jackhammers in place of our wheels and pointed us into a dust storm. The red dirt (especially on the return) was so prevalent we made mud pies in the showers. Anyway we drove for nearly two hours on the worst road in the world and then; we turned off the major highway onto a side road.

Eventually we found our way to the little village we were searching for and arrived at the church. Once there we were quickly dragged inside by the pastor. The whole building was packed with children. She quickly told us they had some musical numbers for us in store. We let her know that we were looking forward to the music but we were limited on our time. The choir quickly got on stage and began rejoicing as only Africans can, singing and dancing and smiling and truly worshiping, the songs were simple and on the same beat but they were a lot of fun. After twenty minutes of praise the pastor got up and said that we could not stay very long and that they would like us to hear one song from the Sunday school kids. These kids took the next six minutes singing their way onto the stage and then setup for their song. Once again the song was great, we clapped along with the rest of the crowd and after about 10 minutes they finished and we all clapped and cheered as they left the stage. The pastor again came on stage as we prepared to go up and begin handing out shoes. She said that the choir would now “present for our visitors two numbers.” As we settled back into our chairs the choir began singing their way up to the stage, after 10 minutes they were ready for their two numbers. The choir was great, we all clapped and at least swayed a little bit for the next twenty-five…. two songs. Eventually the second song ended and the choir left the stage, singing….and dancing….two steps forward one back and as the last member made it to the floor the pastor once again took the mic and introduced PD. He quickly jumped up on stage, introduced the rest of us and the shoe giving began.

This time was more confused that the others but the results were the same; we gave many shoes to many wonderful children, and still had more children that needed them. On the way out we waved and shook hands with many children. Then the road beckoned and the finish to our red coating of dust was begun. Our ride, while very dirty was uneventful, (we did get pulled over by he police on the way out, did I forget that part?) and we made our appointment back in town due to some very creative navigating by our driver Robert. Pictures from our day are included above.

Fun times??

I fell behind a day, it seems driving around the countryside is very tiring. I didn’t feel like doing it last night and this morning was too rushed so here I am. It is 8:30pm local time and we just returned from our second day of giving shoes. On day one we visited a school in Jinja and gave away about 150 pairs of shoes. The students were queued up outside and then funneled into a room where we helped each kid into a pair of shoes. The fun part is the looks of happiness and gratitude on the faces of the kids, the bad part; we don’t ever have enough shoes for everyone and that is always going to be the biggest takeaway from these visits. I saw, that day, a microcosm of how the world views Americans. It seems that the ones who got the shoes were very grateful and happy that we came. Others were happy we came because we were there, they were disappointed to not get shoes but they no worse off than when we arrived and they had had a lot of fun and excitement on top of it all. Then there was the last group, not a small group but they were very obvious in their feelings .These kids were either demanding we give them something (even to a plastic bag sitting empty on the table) or they were so contemptuous of us that they felt personally slighted by not getting shoes and would not even look at us with a sneer or look of disdain. We smiled and talked to all of them, promising to return when we could and hoping to give more shoes next time. Most laughed and ran along beside our van as we rumbled down the dirt road yelling, “Mzungu, Mzungu” (this is a Ugandan word for white man) as we drove away handing out small candy treats as we were able. It was very fulfilling and saddening at the same time.

Today we went to a church in Mpigi, there we handed out another 130 or so pairs of shoes, this time we were rewarded with a spontaneous worship session when a couple of the older boys and girls got up to sing and lead the rest of the children and adults in some African worship songs. It was a lot of fun and much dancing and clapping was done. Soon we began giving the shoes and getting the smiles and thanks that were so heart fully given. In fact it was a little disconcerting to see them suddenly kneel in front of you and say thank-you before they turned and hurried away. It was also very beautiful to see this genuine gesture of gratitude from the boys and girls there. Once again we did not have enough but the attitude was joyful and we left being very glad we had a chance to meet these kids.


The top picture is at Jinja and the bottom Mpigi
An hour back into town and we were at the local church we are based at, waiting for the rest of the shoes we had purchased to be delivered. All-in-all we will give out over 800 pairs of shoes over the 5 day period, travel much of the countryside within a couple hours of Kampala and meet some very amazing and sweet people in the bargain. So far it has been a great time here in Uganda

I think big business is the same everywhere. If they can make you wait a little bit or make you do a bit of their work for them they will do it in a heartbeat. Take, for instance, the bank we use here in Uganda. They have money transferred to them for our account. They will sit on this money for a while, drawing interest themselves and then if no one is in the mood to push the enter key and move the money, it stays there in limbo. The populace, thoroughly indoctrinated in the 'stand in line to do anything' policy, just waits and knows that eventually the money will be moved and life goes on. Unfortunately, we do not have that kind of time since this is a 2 week trip, not a two month trip. After driving through the whirling maelstrom that is Kampala traffic you finally arrive at the bank where our leader has to go in and politely remind them that they have our money AND that there is another bank across the circle that we could use just as easily. The person politely deigns to look into the issue and within a few hours we have access to our funds. All we had to do was ride for nearly 1.5 hours round trip risking life and limb just to get access to money we put in their bank to pay for shoes we will buy here in their country to give to kids. We don’t understand why this should be made more difficult but it is not personal, it is just the way things are done here. To be fair I also have to point out that we purchase our shoes from a Bata retailer and were quickly and effectively taken care of. Our 300 shoes were boxed and waiting to be picked up within a few hours of purchase, and the store helped us load the boxes in the van as well, very good service, we were very grateful to them.

The whole day was not spent on business; we did get an opportunity to visit the child that my wife and I sponsor here in Uganda. We have had the opportunity to give support so that his fees, uniforms, books and lunches are taken care of. It was great to get to meet this young man, his name is Isaac (pictured above). He is about 15 years old, nearly as tall as I am, very well spoken. His demeanor was very mature and very happy as well. I had picked up a soccer ball in the states for him and he was very pleased to receive it. We met the rest of his family and spent a while there sharing information and finding out more about each other. Very soon I believe that Uganda will have a new Engineer ready to work and they will be very lucky to have him.

and now the work begins

I think big business is the same everywhere. If they can make you wait a little bit or make you do a bit of their work for them they will do it in a heartbeat. Take, for instance, the bank we use here in Uganda. They have money transferred to them for our account. They will sit on this money for a while, drawing interest themselves and then if no one is in the mood to push the enter key and move the money, it stays there in limbo. The populace, thoroughly indoctrinated in the 'stand in line to do anything' policy, just waits and knows that eventually the money will be moved and life goes on. Unfortunately, we do not have that kind of time since this is a 2 week trip, not a two month trip. After driving through the whirling maelstrom that is Kampala traffic you finally arrive at the bank where our leader has to go in and politely remind them that they have our money AND that there is another bank across the circle that we could use just as easily. The person politely deigns to look into the issue and within a few hours we have access to our funds. All we had to do was ride for nearly 1.5 hours round trip risking life and limb just to get access to money we put in their bank to pay for shoes we will buy here in their country to give to kids. We don’t understand why this should be made more difficult but it is not personal, it is just the way things are done here. To be fair I also have to point out that we purchase our shoes from a Bata retailer and were quickly and effectively taken care of. Our 300 shoes were boxed and waiting to be picked up within a few hours of purchase, and the store helped us load the boxes in the van as well, very good service, we were very grateful to them.

The whole day was not spent on business; we did get an opportunity to visit the child that my wife and I sponsor here in Uganda. We have had the opportunity to give support so that his fees, uniforms, books and lunches are taken care of. It was great to get to meet this young man, his name is Isaac. He is about 15 years old, nearly as tall as I am, very well spoken. His demeanor was very mature and very happy as well. I had picked up a soccer ball in the states for him and he was very pleased to receive it. We met the rest of his family and spent a while there sharing information and finding out more about each other. Very soon I believe that Uganda will have a new Engineer ready to work and they will be very lucky to have him.

Cathedrals and Jungles

Yesterday was Monday for us. We spent the day running around the city and a little siteseeing. Our first stop was to convert our American dollars to Ugandan Schillings, a bit of a disconcerting transaction. The weirdness is because of the exchange rate. We decided that my daughter and I would combine and exchange 100 dollars, so when we arrive at the bank, PD bargains with the guy a bit and we get a rate of 1 to 2300. This means my 100 bucks is now 230000 schillings, quite a wad of cash, in fact the smallest denomination is a 1000 dollar bill, this gives new meaning to a 'pocket full of cash'(at least for me it does).

We then head out in the van again, heading about 40 kilometers out of the city to a patch of rainforest and some hikeing. The trees are amazingly huge, 200 feet up in the air. In fact they are so tall it is uncomfortable to look upwards as much as you want. We wandered the path for an hour or so, looking at butterflys and lizards and spiders. The air was very humid and we became sweaty within minutes of walking under the canopy. After a while the sky seemed to darken and the guides suggested we go back because a sudden rain storm would be bad for the cameras we had(yes I have a camera but the cable to transfer the pictures has disappeared). We had a lunch of granola bars, beef jerky and water then back in the van.

When we eventually made our way back into Kampala our guides took us first to the big Catholic church and we met a man who showed us around and explained about the history of the place and we took many pictures. This place had been there since the late 1700's and sits on top of a hill with an amazing view of the surrounding city and hills. I can imagine the original view was amazing, rainforest for as far as the eye could see and lush vegetation right up to the grounds. Now the city is sprawling all about but the view is still wonderful. We left there and went to the Anglican church built around the same time. It is also on top of a hill and has an amazing view but we could not go in and look around. It sounded like someone was inside torturing an organ, but we dont know that for sure. It did occur to me that the people who worshipped there, the early days, would have had to walk up this large hill each time they would come to worship. It would not have been a walk that I would have wanted to do.

In any case we eventually made our way back to the hotel (after an ice cream stop) and a nice beef stew meal. Bedtime was about 6:30 and that has finally put me on Ugandan time so now the days should be easier.

Day 2

We begin day 2 with breakfast at Adonai House, last night a large group came in late and they helped fill the dining area. Speaking with one of the women in the group helped me to understand just how much more people are willing to do. This lady and her husband have been coming here for 4 years now. He is an enginneer and they bring recently graduated engineering students with them for a specific task. They go to many villages and begin a project that will keep them occupied for the next 6 months. The villagers many times have to walk many miles to a site to get water and then carry it back in cans that are most likely not very sanitary, in fact the water they are getting is, many times, swampy water. The situation is obviously not ideal but that is what it is. Now enter these folks, they will go to multiple villages, find springs in the jungle and then enginner a way for this water to be piped to the villages. By the end of thier 6 month visit the village will have a spigot at each building and no one will be carrying water further than 500 feet. An amazing project and very humbling for someone like me who is here for 14 days or so. I am amazed by the love and generosity of people who will give like this. I do not know that I could leave everything for 6 months and live in a tent eating rice and beans for each meal.

Our day will be out exploring, I do think there is a Jungle hike involved and our first run through Kampala in daylight, pray for us :).

Day One,,,or is it two?

Leaving the country is an interesting thing, traveling this far is surreal. 9 time zones, and moving from Winter to Summer all in the course of 30 hours or so seems wrong somehow, but we did it. The flights were very nice, the original one from Chicago to Brussells was empty enough to spreadout a bit and the one from Brussells to Entebbe was light enough to lay down across 3 middle seats. In any case we are here, a little rested (6-8 hours in last 40)and the people here are very nice. David was delayed and will not fly in until 7pm tonight so I will have more to say, tomorrow.

GOD TOLD ME TO GO WHERE???????

Uganda. Yep, He told me to go to Uganda. Raid on Entebbe, Idi Amin, middle of Africa, Uganda. Now He did not one day pull back the clouds and look down and say, "John, you must now go to Uganda." That would have been too easy for me. No, God pushed me through several very hard life experiences in the past 3 or 4 years and finally got me to a point in my spiritual life where I am willing to listen. Time goes by, I become more involved with things and people outside of my own world, start to help folks and lend a hand. I start to see when I should step up and take care of something and THEN, right in the middle of a round of disc golf, my pastor asks me to go with him to Uganda.

BOOM, I had to go. Why? Because I had been talking to my children, my wife, my friends about being ready when God puts something like this in your life. You HAVE to step up and say "OK God, Im in ", or else you are not living up to the plans that God has for you. So I calmly looked at him, threw my drive shot and said, "Okay, I'll go". Then I went home and did some serious soul searching.

As a kid, in the 70's, Africa was one of those places (along with China and Russia) where God was not to be found. According to my Sunday school teachers and most any evangelist there was a LOT of 'God's Work' to be done there and I was SCARED TO DEATH. I just knew God was going to make me go, OR make me a pastor(sorry David). This prompted my quick move to Dallas, Texas and a very long absence from most church activity. I believed in God, I trusted Jesus to save my soul but I was NOT going to get involved enough to find myself a missionary in some third world country. Now, I do not believe God had any plans along those lines for me and I was probably running from my own imagination but I did run and God did wait and nudge. In fact, he nudged be into a Baptist University where I met my wonderful very active Christian wife and between the two of them I have not been allowed to stray to far away, but that fear or aversion to mission work has always remained, until now.

After praying, talking to my wife and kids I decided that I would go if we could get the support for my expenses and then let David know. Within a week or two he told me someone else had 'Stepped Up' and agreed to pay ALL the expenses, over two thousand dollars worth. I was blown away, I was humbled and I was still a little scared but the revelation was not over yet, he also informed me that the benefactor was my own daughter. She decided that God was talking to her too and so she said, "Okay, I will do that", to God as well.

So here I am, the day before my flight leaves, nervous, excited and ready to start. I have no doubt God has great plans for us when we get going and I will be ready to 'step up' each time. In any case I wont be alone, my wife and I decided to hold off replacing the furnace for a while so we could also send my daughter with me. This generation will not need to run away like I did.

LeBron and racisim

I felt the need to give my two cents on LeBron James' recent commments on his new found villany. He stated that he believes that racisim has played a part in people's reaction to his move to Miami. I would like to pose a different answer. People dont ALWAYS dislike you based on your skin color, somtimes (gasp), they dislike you because of your VERY OWN ACTIONS. The style in which he departed Cleveland was, at best, immature. He could and should have let the ownership know beforehand and not play the prima-donna on TV for an hour, and dont get me started on the dancing and chest thumping that they were doing in Miami when the trio were introduced. These actions and several more have eroded the HUGE amount of love that was given to Lebron, but even that is not the MAIN reason.

The MAIN reason folks are mad, especially in Cleveland is that they feel LIED TO. Not lied to in the direct sense that he said anything but indirectly in that he led them to believe something that was not true. "What was that something?" you might ask. Let me explain. Lebron came on to the scene looking like a golden child, he was and amazing player, he looked MUCH older than he was so he projected a maturity that was well beyond what we normally would expect from an 18 year old kid. He ALSO, was a staunch supporter of his childhood friends, keeping them around and taking care of them, being generous. He got to stay in his home state, only a small distance from his home town and he did a lot of good work in those areas. Will his crimes ever end you might ask?

I show all of this to lead to the point that he became Ohios BIG BROTHER and folks felt like the little kid with the awesome big brother. A big brother that took him/her places, bought them candy and toys and generally showed he cared. He was promising to take all his kid brothers and sisters to that special place called NBA relevance and that even more special place, Championville. He promised and now he has gone back on that promise, moved away, never to be seen again. He was not the Big Brother, he was a ballplayer, making a hard decision and he decided that going to championville was not possible lugging the little kids around with him. He moved on, to a place that had a better support system but those other folks, they didnt lose a ball player, they lost a big brother and THAT makes them angry.

The Squirrel Whisperer

Recently I made my first trip to D.C. The monuments and musuems where very cool and well worth seeing. The Mall, where most of the monuments and the Smithsonian museums reside, is a HUGE place. I get tired just thinking of walking around it again. The Mall has Capital Hill at one end, the Lincoln Memorial at the other and the Washington monument about 2/3 the way toward Lincoln. The straight line distance is at about 2 miles and most of it seems like a giant park. Trees, flowers, ponds all through the Mall as well as various animals. The canadian geese seem to enjoy the Mall grounds and the 'scuba diving' ducks were fun to watch as well, but the most fun were the squirrels.

I have always enjoyed them and marveled at their nearly fearless attitude towards us. In fact I snuck up on one here at home and touched his tail and then watched him run up and down the tree trunk and finally settle in just above my head to give me a good scolding. He sat there for several minutes just letting me know how much he DID NOT appreciate this behavior. Now the Mall squirrels were even more fearless than he was, they would come within a couple feet of you at nearly any moment in their search for food and only move as far as necessary to stay 'just outside' of arms reach.

Since my wife had brought some nuts to snack on we decided to share wiht a few of them. I soon came up with a system that had them literrally eating out of my hand. I would take one of the almonds and toss it near a squirrel and when he finished I would hold another in my hand and extend it toward him. After a few seconds of thought they would wander over and situp and gently reach up and take the nut. They then would usually sit there and finish that nut or stuff it in a cheek and look for more.

My wife and I did this several times (much to the boredom of our guide, sorry Gary). Somewhere in the day I noticed a different squirrel, this one was black,his tail was shorter and he seemed a little smaller than the others but he was wandering around looking for food too so I tried my trick one more time and sure enough,he came and ate from my hand as well. This time however,I had an audience, a group of people were walking by as I was making friends with this little guy. One of the ladies looked and smiled and said, "you are the squirrel whisperer". I smiled back and told them how I was doing it and we all carried on with our day but it now occurs to me that we all miss out on some things. At times it does not occur to us that we can have a fun little moment like that and I bet we all miss out on some very cool stuff because we do not try it. I think we all can be squirrel whisperers.

Runs like a Rhino??????

A few months ago my buddy David brought his kids to one of our softball games. During this night one of his teenage daughters said that I ran like an Ninja. I think it was mostly the baggy black sweats I was wearing but, I did enjoy the compliment and it kinda made me feel cool on some level.

Flash forward to this past weekend, I am once again playing softball, but this time it is summer and no sweats. I play ball with a group of men who visit Texas prisons and play softball against some of the inmates. This We have fun playing ball and sharing our faith with these men. Even more often they share theirs with us and affect our lives deeply.

During the games I was playing fairly well and ran down several balls that would normally have fallen short or gapped our outfield, saving runs and trying to make left field a no-hit zone. I was enjoying myself, my teammates were appreciative of and the inmates were as complimentary as well. In fact, walking back out to my position between innings one of the opposing fielders starting yelling "RHINO' with a big smile on his face. My confusion must have shown because he stopped and said, "You are running balls down in the outfield like some big rhino." I laughed and trotted on out to my position and any time I ran a ball down I would hear "Rhino" being yelled out from the specatators. This quickly became quite funny and my own imagination began supplying images of myself running out of the African plains and stomping our fires ala "The Gods Must Be Crazy". All in all the day was awesome, we met some wonderful men and had a great time sharing our faith and sharing out friendship with them.

Talking to God

In my previous post about the IGC (Invisble God Cloud) I explained my personal image of an all present and all knowing God. This works real well for me when I am pondering the Infinte power and knowledge of my Creator but it does not allow me to get to know Him very well. How do you "get to know" a being that is everywhere, knows everything and could snuff out the Universe between breaths? I dont think we can, and I think this is a main reason he sent his Son to our Earth.

God's Son, Jesus was born into this world, just like I was. He grew up, just like I did and he died just like I will, as well as all the life he lived in-between these events. I do believe that he came and died so that we can all have the opportunity of an eternal heaven, but, I also believe he came so that we can have a PERSON to connect with. A personal Jesus, to steal a phrase from Depeche Mode. A MAN who died so that George, Brett, Elizabeth, Carol, Juan, Latisha, Farouk INDIVIDUALLY could EACH have this opportunity. Because he is God, he knew that his death gave ME personally an avenue to heaven, he saved me (and each and everyone else) personally and knows me by name. This allows me to connect, directly to Him.

Recently I heard yet another sermon on constantly being in connection with God In fact, I was part of a men's group that also pondered this thought and what it means. In the midst of this meeting an image occured. The IGC was sitting there and I just could not imagine how to stay in communion or contact with it. In fact I have tried many times in my past. I would wake up and pray, walk into the bathroom and pray, drive to work and pray, do my work and pray, eat my lunch and pray, do more work and pray.... You get the idea, after a day or two of this, I am exhausted from focusing so hard or feeling guilty for not doing it and eventaully give up.

But then the image of a Man popped in my head he was sitting next to me. He would smile at me and nod and then we move on. I drive to work and he is sitting in the car with me, I dont have to focus on him, but I do realize he is there with me. When the traffic gets bad he is still there, a reminder of who he wants ME to be. As I realize he is there with me, I can talk and explain my frustrations of the moment without going off the deep end. He understands what I am feeling and that helps me relax and let the world flow as it will. So when that guy cuts me off, just before I start yelling at him, or maybe just after, I realize, He is right there. I now can nod to him internally and think, thanks or even, "Im sorry, do you think you could help me not overreact next time," and he will look at me, smile and nod. Perhaps I am at the gym and playing basketball, he is there as well, watching, happy that I am doing somthing healthy, that I am enjoying myself. Since he is my friend he is not there to Judge me, he is there to keep me company and help me anytime he needs to. We are in constant contact and eventually, I hope he will be my best-friend. A best friend that wont let me fool myself when I am taking shortcuts, but also one that is there to lean on when my life is punching me in the mouth. This is a guy I can live everyday with, a guy, not the CEO of the entire universe.

Now for part 3, the Holy Spirit. This may take a while to wrap my arms around...