Not To Be Outdone By Her Brother...

...I took my daughter for her first plane ride with me, just me! We left Redding and flew to Montague about 30 minutes flying time north. Here's a few pics...







She had a good time. When we got to Montague, we sat on the bench outside the FBO and ate Fiery Hot Cheetos and drank bottled water. It was just us, Father and Daughter. It was a good time. We didn't talk much, just enjoyed each others company. She is a daddy's girl at times and will just walk up and give me a hug and say, "I love you, Daddy!" Man...that just melts the old heart!

Eric

Pearls Before Swine...

...is probably one of the funniest comics out there today.

Here's todays...seemed appropriate!

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/pearls/archive/pearls-20060616.html

Eric

Sled Driver

Brian Shul, Pilot, and Walt Watson, RSO, were in Redding tonight to give a 2 hour talk on flying and "living the dream" with the SR-71. What a great night! Shul is a great speaker as well as a great author. He wrote Sled Driver with his RSO Walt. I'm sure most of you have read it (you haven't??? And you call yourself a pilot!! )

You could really tell both guys loved flying the SR-71 and Brian has taken some wonderful pictures over the years which he's put to music in a couple of videos and a great slide presentation. This was no "death by PowerPoint" presentation.

He told stories out of school on Walt, the plane and some of the missions (without going into detail), like doing figure 8's over North Korea, letting off sonic booms every 12 minutes at the request of Ronald Reagan. Apparently the US wasn't invited to a little tete-a-tete between N. Korea, China and Russia. Shul says serving under Reagan as his Commander in Chief was one of the highlights of his career. Walt told of sonic booming Fidel Castro one night.

Brian did tell the whole, true story of the L.A. Center "Ground speed check" by the Cessna, the light twin, the F18 and then "Aspen 3-0....ground speed check please..."

Great evening. If you ever get the chance to hear these guys speak, do so. They call their presentation, "Spy Pilot Chronicles - The Blackbird Remembered". Check it out at http://www.SledDriver.com

I got two pictures, two of three he's printed outside of the book, signed by both Brian and Walt. One's going to my dad, framed, as he put in 30 years at Lockheed.

Eric

Just When I Thougt It Was Safe to Buy Beer

The SBC (Southern Baptists...not the phone company) goes and set's Free Will back about 100 years...

The Southern Baptist Resolution on Alcohol:

The messengers easily passed a resolution today that urges complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

WHEREAS, Years of research confirm biblical warnings that alcohol use leads to physical, mental, and emotional damage (e.g. Proverbs 23:29-35); and

WHEREAS, Alcohol use has led to countless injuries and deaths on our nation’s highways; and

WHEREAS, The breakup of families and homes can be directly and indirectly attributed to alcohol use by one or more members of a family;

And
WHEREAS, The use of alcohol as a recreational beverage has been shown to lead individuals down a path of addiction to alcohol and toward the use of other kinds of drugs, both legal and illegal; and

WHEREAS, There are some religious leaders who are now advocating the consumption of alcoholic beverages based on a misinterpretation of the doctrine of “our freedom in Christ”; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, June 13-14, 2006, express our total opposition to the manufacturing, advertising, distributing, and consuming of alcoholic beverages; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Southern Baptists to take an active role in supporting legislation that is intended to curb alcohol use in our communities and nation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge Southern Baptist to be actively involved in educating students and adults concerning the destructive nature of alcoholic beverages; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we commend organizations and ministries that treat alcohol-related problems from a biblical perspective and promote abstinence and encourage local churches to begin and/or support such biblically-based ministries.

Now I'm not a SBC'er (used to be a Conservative Baptist and once signed a piece of paper saying I wouldn't smoke, drink or chew or go with girls who do!), but, I do think they are a little off base. I can understand their logic but moderation is the key here.

Several years back, The Wittenburg Door did an "Alcohol Issue". Go to their website (linked on the sidebar) and find a back issue. It's one of the most comprehensive treatise on alcohol and the Christian I have ever seen. It's called, "10 Reasons to Teach Abstinence from Alcohol" and "10 Reasons Not to Teach Abstinence from Alcohol".

Fair and balanced.

Eric

Why I Don't Ever Want To Be Single Again!

Life as a Guy

Eric

"Animals are people too, ya know!" - Radar O'Reilly

Riiiight.

As one bumper sticker says: "I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables!"

Saw a sticker on a car in the Costco parking lot today that is probably the most inane one I've seen regarding animal rights. It said, "Animals are just little people in fur coats."

Huh?

Whut?

What a freakin' idiot. Come on. I mean...come on! I truly don't think they truly think that but...they were from Oregon and they had other "animal friendly" stickers on their car. I could be wrong.

Look...I was told my God (It's in the Bible...look it up!) to have dominion over all the animals. To go out and rule over them. To eat them. To cut them up into bit-sized pieces and offer them as sacrifices to God as an atonement for my sins (OT stuff here). And then who got to eat of this burnt meat stuff? Why...the priests, that's who. That's right boys and girls, barbeque (or BBQ for those of you in the South who have never seen it spelled out) originate with the Hebrew Priesthood at the order of God hisself!

I thank Rush Limbaugh for voicing it so well. "It's a sign of a loving God that animals are stupid." "Show me the hospitals and freeways built by the dolphins?" I'll throw in my cousin Ricky who, in response to my former brother-in-law's lame question, "Does the horse mind if I ride it?", said this...

"It's a horse."

(This is the same former brother-in-law who was a die-hard Limbaugh fan!)

There was a gal who worked the customer service counter at KaiserAir at the Oakland Int'l Airport. I used to fly in there 5 nights a week for about 3 years and got to chatting with her and the others behind the counter. One night we were talking about BBQ and she said she was a vegetarian. I asked why? She said because she likes animals. I said I like animals too, to which she smiled in appreciation. Until I added, "I like them baked, broiled, barbequed and fried!" To which she responded with a sneer, a huff and a walk-off to the back office until I left.

Now, I have no problem with people liking animals more than people. The older I get, the more I like my dogs than some people. And I don't mind people standing up for animals that are abused, hurt and mistreated by other humans. After all, God also told me to be a steward of this earth He gave me to live in. (That's also in the Bible...you can look it up as well.) But I will draw the line when it comes to lame-brained statements like the one from Ms. Newkirk of PETA who said, "When it comes to feelings of pain; a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."

What Ms. Newkirk meant (as she later explained) was that it was the "feelings" part, not the feeling part. In other words, yes, dogs, rats, pigs and boys "feel" pain. It is part and parcel of having nerve endings. But she goes onto explain that animals "feel" as humans "feel"...with "feelings...whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings!" I don't think dogs, rats, and pigs have "feelings" the way humans do. I know my dogs are happy when I come home but that's because they associate me with belly-rubs and morsels from the dinner table. I don't think it's because of a "feeling" or emotional attachement the way my wife and kids do when I come home.

Animals are not people. Once these lame-brained PETA freaks understand that then there will be less contention between people who eat BBQ on the weekend and those who break into pet stores and free the bunnies on their weekends.

(Besides...the bunnies that get freed just provide easy prey for coyotes and foxes...yeah...it's part of the food chain but we don't want them coyotes and foxes to become dependant on man now do we??? Hmmm???)

Eric

On The Music Front...

From T-Bone Burnett...Comedy: Redefined.

“Comedy is all that’s left for us now in the West because tragedy demands conscience, regret, repentance and things like that. We don’t have that any more. We have ‘Kill ’em and let God sort ’em out.’ That’s nothing but raw comedy. One of the things I’ve learned from working in the theater is that events would take place that some people would laugh at and some people would gasp at. Some people would be horrified at the same thing that other people found amusing. It made me realize that there really isn’t a line between comedy and tragedy. Both things are happening at once in life at the same moment. Tragedy depends on whether or not you feel like there’s some redemption to be had from the moment. If you feel that, it’s tragedy. If you don’t, you perceive it as comedy.”

From this article... This Little Life of Crime

And the latest from Phil Keaggy on just what the hell is CCM??

The world we live in today has a bizarre genre called CCM.
Phil Keaggy

What frustrates you most about that label?

Keaggy: I'm not sure it's contemporary and I'm not sure it's really Christian. I mean, what I was doing with Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill and 2nd Chapter of Acts [in the 1970s], that was pre-CCM. They had to put some sort of label on it, and I think that ultimately hurt us. It pigeonholed everybody.

Phil Keaggy Interview

Eric

Don't Let The Wife Know...

...or I'll be wearing some of these!!

Gaseaters!

Eric

Regrets

(From Michael Spencer, The I-Monk)

If this gets too obnoxious, let me apologize in advance. A little.

I’m not trying to sound like a jerk here- I mean, how hard do I need to work at that?- but is there anything more typically mid-life than for all of us to be talking about our career regrets?

When I lost my mind in my mid-life crisis of 2000-2001, I was lethally obsessed with regrets over my life. My career. My marriage. Ministry. Every decision I’d ever made rose up and pointed at me, saying “WRONG!” Of course, the life that seemed the best was writer. Thinker. Speaker. I spent vast amounts of time HATING my seminary classmates who are in big churches. I hated OBI, even though OBI saved my life and let me actually spend it on something significant. I declared Denise the enemy for making me think about money and security rather than doing what I wanted. I wrote so many poems on regret that I could have published an anthology. Happiness, career, relationships— they all infected and tortured me for parts of two years.

One of the many things that helped me through this was to realize that as an American, I have an exaggerated view of the possibilities of my own happiness. I had bought deeply into the idea- promoted by all kinds of “success in life” types- that I should be maxed out on happiness, and if I wasn’t, then I could be immensely tortured with a really good excuse note.

It’s interesting how God showed this to me: the teenagers I work with have the raw material for immense amounts of happiness, but most of them are miserable, angry, bitter, depressed…all because they can’t have what they want. I preach to these kids about real happiness. I talk about reasonable happiness. I talk about connecting the dots between self-knowledge, choices and a workable definition of happiness.

I just didn’t want to apply any of this to myself. I wanted to be angry at God, Denise, fate, life, a thousands things in the past I could no longer get to….and I wanted to be self-consumed in the present. And, of course, to reward myself with the things that made me feel good.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe mid-life career changes are good and wonderful things when they are possible. But I also am growing to understand that I need to revise my definition of happiness into something Jesus would recognize. I really would like to see the sermon series on “Jesus and the mid-life American male.” I need to hear that word. Maybe I need to write that word.

Anyway…you twenty-somethings just shut up. Us old guys are crying in our beer and we don’t want to hear all this cheerful chat. (jn)

I'm here. 40 years old and pissed at myself because I'm going through some sort of mid-life crisis. I've been depressed. I've wallowed in the "what might have beens". I've grown angry at my wife. I've grown angry at God. I've cried at night because my anger is unfounded and brings me shame. I rail at the world and it laughs in my face.

Do I have regrets? Hell yes. If you don't, congrats. You're a better person than I. Can I do anything about those regrets? Probably not unless Doc Brown shows up with his DeLorean. And even then, as I think about it, I don't think I'd change anything.

Why? Because of the stuff I don't regret. My wife. My kids. My jobs. My experiences. My faith. My journey. It wouldn't be the same if I had to go back and "fix" what went wrong. I wouldn't be me anymore. I'd be an idealized version that would, in my mind, be a flat, two-dimensional, Stepford Me.

I bought into what was sold me as the "Victorious Life". Hah. I'm a big, fat sinner who struggles through life like the rest of you. Every morning I drag my weary carcass out of bed and sit down with God and my Bible. Sometimes out of a sense of duty. Sometimes out of excitement. Sometimes I learned nothing and felt that God was far away. Sometimes I was struck by my own sin and cried at the fact that regardless, God loved. Loves me. Will always love me.

For some of you reading this (both of you?), you're probably thinking, "Gee Eric, get a grip! This is life! I know...but it's my life and I'll cry if I want to!

And I wouldn't trade if for anything. This is me. This is my life. The ride ain't over and I don't know where the hell it's gonna take me but I do know the destination and it's worth the ride just to get there.

Eric

X3 (Contains Spoilers!)

Kicks Ass!

Piss on critics and uber-geek fanboys who want literal interpretation of their beloved comics...

Singer hits one out of the park!

Fastball Special? Got not one...but two!

Wolverine's lines are classic.

Beast kicks some major heiny.

All your favorite X-Men characters make cameos.

And R. Lee Armey's voice is unmistakeable.

This is a must-have on DVD!

I'll have to see it again.

Wait until the credits are over...they are long but it's worth the wait!

Eric...your humble Reviewer.