BravesVision

Human behavior fascinates me. Have you ever watched the actions people take and notice patterns? At a recent trip to Atlanta, I was entertained with a buffet of characters to observe. Of course it's Atlanta! While attending the Braves game, the people there seemed to follow a simple behavior. I observed activities that seemed to secure a way to get on the BravesVision Screen. First you must be standing because most of the folks whose mugs made it on the screen were not seated. Second as soon as you notice yourself on the screen you must raise your beer like a trophy. This generated many questions for me. Is this a way that people rub it into the under 21 crowd who could not have a beer? Is this a status symbol like a sports car or a larger-than-necessary-house? How come other beverages were not revered like the beer? After paying 3 times the normal price for my Coke I felt like it should be raised or even bronzed. By the end of the game, seeing hundreds of beer buying patrons raising their brews, and then leaving them on the floor; I came to my opinionated conculsion. BravesVision can capture several seconds of proud beer holding for a 2 story sized video of stupidity. Ahhh Atlanta!

Unique Terms

Unique to the South is the ability to say what you really mean and have it sound like a compliment. Only those inclined to the dialect of the southern tongue can pick up on the subtle but damaging words. For those who need help in understanding the insults here are some tips:

1. Anything with “Bless Your Heart,” attached to it is not sympathetic terminology. It usually refers that the individual being discussed is not as bright as they could be or that they are a magnet for bad situations.
2. Other terms similar to #1 are “Isn’t he/she sweet.” This usually refers to a child that is the spawn of Satan. It also carries a hint of calling the person stupid. Either definition can apply.
3. “Ya’ll come by anytime,” is nothing more than a term used to say, “Please call before you arrive.” or in extreme cases, “Don’t come over ever!”
4. A similar phrase to #3 is used when company is leaving. “Don’t rush off,” really means you have stayed too long. If they say this before you offer to leave, they really means business… leave immediately.
5. Terms like “Honey,” “Sweetie,” “Darlin’,” and “Sweetheart” does not mean they like you. Honestly if they really liked you they would take the time to learn your name.

These few will get you started on your way to understanding the Southern insults. Keep your guard up and you will be fine.

Never-ending Story

Today I am a bit puzzled. I encounter people everyday, even though I try not to. Have you noticed that we are very repetitive? Same things over and over. Same drink, same style of dress, same adjective used too frequently like "awesome." We like to use the same toilet paper, toothpaste, and coffee. We make a routine so involuntary that it takes no brain power at all to perform them. Repetitive. Even our conversations are repetitive. Even our humor is repetitive. We may claim to be creative, but we tell the same jokes over and over. Soon they lose their effect. We can find ourselves getting into repetitive bashing of things we, well face it, just love to bash. Bashing others, their work, their education, their style of worship, and their disciplines is just a way of making us feel better. Is this right? Does it make us look better in others eyes? Maybe if they agree, but what if they have another opinion? Does it have to be a reason to repeatedly bash something? I am not a saint. I too have had my day in belittling those who find themselves on the opposite viewpoint. It is a rush! It is fun. But is it right? What happened to the idea of not having to defend something because it is right? Or is this the way we want our children to act too. "Sweety, if someone is not like you in education, or gender, or worship style, or how you do the things you do; it is ok to state your point. You can write a blog. Mention these things over and over to justify yourself to yourself." Can't we all just get along? "But we are not fighting," aleast that what we tell ourselves as we write our repetitive arguments. Hmmm...seems to me we are playing a bit role of what it is like to be God. Do we have the right to do that? For those I have offended with my post, I am sorry. It was not right to write to offend. For those of you adamantly defending you views by taking others down, do what is right.

For Angela

Ok...I really never do these things, but it is late and I can't sleep!

Four jobs I've had:
1. Youth Minister, Plentitude BC
2. Lifeway (twice)
3. Landscaping SWBTS
4. NewSpring

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Muppets Christmas Carol
2. National Treasure
3. Harry Potter Movies
4. Most Disney Animated movies

Four places I've lived:
1. Macon, GA
2. Ft. Worth, TX
3. Gray, GA
4. Anderson, SC

Four TV shows I love:
1. House
2. CSI (original)
3. Did I say House
4. Oh I almost for got House!

Four places I have vacationed:
1. Wolf Lake
2. Gray, GA
3. That is all the places I have vacationed as an adult.
4. Agree with #3.

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. Mom's chicken pot pie
2. EasyMac caserole
3. Ranch Chicken
4. Boiled Crab legs and shrimp

Four sites I visit daily:
1. Monster.com (Need a Job)
2. Various church and ministry web sites (Need a Job)
3. Email (Seeing if anyone contacted me about a job)
4. Cnn.com (to see if someone died that I could possibly take their job)

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Asleep it is late!
2. Wolf Lake
3. At Barnes and Noble (is that place heaven?)
4. At work...whereever that may be.

Four bloggers I am tagging so that they will hate me:
1. I have no friends............And if I did the last thing I would do is make them hate me!


This was.....fun.

Hunting

In recent time I have entered into the world of job hunting. I don't look good in camoflauge nor do I like the prep that goes into hunting. Some more successful hunters go as far as rubbing aromatic substances on them to attract prey. We call these resumes. Some folks have great resumes and some do not. But job hunting offers a twist that is unlike the sport of hunting. We go into the forest of the market, with our camo (business attire), our aromatic substance (resusme), and our gun (job experience). But when the prey is in our sights and the opportunity arises; we do not adjust our scope and squeeze the trigger. No, we run up to the prey and stand there. We have presented ourselves in sight, smell, and written word. And we wait for the approval of the prey. If this prey doesn't accept us, we run after another prey. And we wait. Again and again we through ourselves out there only to have to start over with a new target. I prefer sitting in a tree stand and popping the prey of my choice. After all isn't the hunter the one with the gun? So we hit the forest day after day, presenting, waiting, and moving on the other prey. Soon our stamma runs low, so we adjust our targeted prey. We go from bear hunting to something more attainable like turtles. They seem easier to track. They are more likely to take a look. They are not likely to run away. Afterall, Grizzly Adams was the only man I know of that was accepted by the bear. So we leave the forest discouraged. We go home and ready our camo. We rethink our aroma. We clean up our gun. All for the next day in the forest.

Valleys

Disclaimer: This is symbolism.

The composition of a valley is unique. They can be very deep or shallow. The can have smooth sides or be labeled as treacherous. They can have paths within them that are flat or rocky and painful. Our first inclination is to get out of the valley. We may try to climb out, but this proves dangerous because we don't have the correct saftey equipment. Maybe we think someone will hear us so we cry out for help, but the valley just echos our voices. So we refine ourselves to wait to be rescued. We set up camp and start digging holes to use for our extended stay. This is not useful because by digging we make the valley deeper. So the valley is real, it has no map "pointing this way out." Being on the mountain is our desire. What do you do? The valley is a learning tool. You cannot climb a mountain without entering its valley. We have a misconception that happiness only exsists on the mountain, but what about the rest of the land. Valleys are places to get ready for your ascent up the mountain. Here you can practice your climbing in small doses. Here you can build your endurance. Here you can learn to appreciate the light that shines through. Valleys fine tune our abilites and builds our strength. Here you prepare for the mountain. As dark and cold as it can be they still have the same amount of time as the mountain. They still exsist on the same earth. (James 1:2-4; for fun read "trials" as "valleys") So how is your valley? What are you doing while in there? Waitin to be rescued? Don't you know you already have been or you would not even see the mountain (John 9:25c).

Conversationally Impaired

I love conversations that are full and satisfying. Often times people loose their ability to create those types of conversations. These people are easy to spot, let me help clear your vision. These poor souls are suffering from a mental breakdown that doesn't allow them to realize that others don't give a crap about what they are saying. They start awkward converstions at times when you could be doing something more fun like, visiting the DMV. Always their topic surrounds themselves doing something they like, but normal people don't care for at all. Topics may include how they feel about something, quoting some movie and expecting you to know which one, or talking about their latest workout experience. Sometimes we feel like we are "out of the loop" and think we must conform to their idea of "fun" converstions. DON"T! This is a trap, do not fall prey to this demented thinking. These people think they are fun people and to others like them they are, but reality will show their true uncreative nature. We have been given so many topics for conversation that sticking with the same few seems like a betrayal. So protect yourself from low quality conversations. Be animated, creative, and fun to be around.

Moral of this story: Small Talkers use meaningless topics for meaningless conversations.