Finally Finished Watching Chuck

My wife, second son and myself finally finished watching all 91 episodes of Chuck last night. It was one of 3 or 4 shows that we alternated back and forth with.  The Walking Dead, Amazing Race and other shows have been in the rotation over the past few months.  We attempted to screen new shows for life “after-Chuck”, but as of yet, we haven’t found one.  (We have tried The Following [too graphic] and a couple of shows with aliens or dystopian themes, but nothing else has risen to the top.)

When Chuck started, it was goofy and entertaining.  I enjoyed how they handled Chuck evolving into a “spy”.  Or, more appropriately stated, Chuck’s version of a spy with different versions of the Intersect and the inability to pull a “real” trigger.  The tension between Chuck and Sarah was part of the fun.  He was crazy about her, and she couldn’t (wouldn’t) admit she liked him.  The emotional sparring was what made the show really “fun”.  But, as their relationship evolved and became more permanent (i.e. marriage) the lack of tension became more passion.  And, the story lines became more “gal” friendly than previous “guy” friendly.  I still was able to enjoy the show, but as we watched the last episode last night, I felt no regret.  It was relief and satisfaction of a task completed.  I am looking forward to the next show we can enjoy as a family.

If I Were God….but, I Am Not!

My son who is still at home works at Chik-Fil-A.  Since he has refused (he says he is too busy and is saving me a car insurance payment, but I really think he likes being taxied.)  While taking him to and from work, I will sometimes throw out questions of a spiritual nature.  The other day, I asked, “What do you think about freewill? If I was God, I would have pulled it after they messed up.”  (The atheist book I was reading recently had been my inspiration for these type of thoughts.  Atheist [many anyways] seem to think that religion restricts their life and their ability to really live.  Many look down on Christians and their commitment to a God who, in their minds, has provided no evidence of His presence.)

His response was a little more serious than I hoped for, “We have to have freewill so we can choose for ourselves.”

Because he has been working lots and is preparing to graduate from high school in a few weeks, I will forgive him not realizing the irony in my question.  If we did NOT have freewill, we could not even entertain the idea of truly having it.  And, this highlights the difference between how God responds to these type of issues and how we as humans react.  As humans, we often lose a privilege if we do something wrong.  God has chosen to allow us to keep our freewill.  And, as an added bonus we get to die and live our lives trying to reestablish the relationship that was so easily available before sin came into the world.

It is for this reason I know God is not human and exist on a completely different plane than we react.  God is patience and kind and loving.  As a parent, my patience will wear out and I will grow to resent my kids.  God continues to give us mulligans and do-overs.  And, we still maintain our freewills throughout the process.  Earthly parents want (i.e. demand) honor.  God is willing to work with us to bring us to Him despite the battle waged by our freewill to do so.

If I were God, the world would have been recreated and destroyed many times over.  (That is, if I could forgive myself for creating it and messing it up the first time) God knew what He was doing, and He continues to navigate our world to its eventual end.  I may not love every day of the ride, but I am glad I am able to get their without blind obedience.  I can be angry at God while still being obedient.  When the anger disperses, God is still there.  He knows when we look to Him we do it because we want to give our freewill back to Him.  And, if we are just considering giving our freewills to the cheapest bidder, eternal life is a pretty good exchange.

My Reading of An Atheist Book

Do to a family member having some spiritual questions, I wanted to try and read a book about atheism to try and get an understanding of what this extreme view looked like.

The book i am reading is Generation Athiest.  This book is a grouping of stories of how a variety of people “came out” as atheist.  Many of the people seem to have problems with the biblical take out homosexuality. Some grew up in a charismatic church.  And, many grew up where one or both parents put no real priority on a Christian world view.  Many of the participants in the book made it seem like the Christian world view was so oppressive.  Those who came out may not all have grown up in Christian homes, but it seems like giving up the faith of their youth was a way to remove guilt.  It gave them a freedom they did not feel they had while practicing a faith.  When you don’t have to think about hell, praying or becoming closer to God, they did not have to deal with ALL of the responsibilities of having a faith.  They can still be great people, but it is not because of a God they don’t believe in.

Many felt the need to be “activist atheist”.  They created groups on their college campuses or organized protests of prayers at their high school graduations.  Almost all of the participants used the word “religiousity”.  I think the word means anything religious.  But, as I read the word, I can almost picture each of the participants in the book sneering as they used it.  Richard Dawkins was also mentioned by most of those who participated in the book.  They may not have a God, but Richard seemed to certainly be a prophet of their practice. Many mentioned they hadn’t told their grandparents and/or very reluctantly told their parents.  Also, how they were so happy they were atheist even if they were rejected by their family members and ostracized from their friends who “really” weren’t their friends.  And, if this is the case it is sad.  However, maybe it is just convenient to always blame the Christians even if the atheist-proselytizing just annoyed the Christians.

The book opened my eyes a bit.  It did not change my beliefs.  One of the participants asked the question, “What if the Christian faith is not real?”  He felt comfortable answering this questions by being an atheist.  I think the bigger question is, “What if it IS real?”  What if at the end of your life you find out their is an afterlife?    What if you are an atheist and you find out your selfish, close-minded, pro-evolutionary view were your undoing?  What if eternity (whatever it looks like in the place where nonbelievers go) is a constant reminder of the self-focused life that made you so happy while on earth?

Atheist are still in need of a Savior.  They convince themselves science can solve it all.  But, at least they are not hiding behind a “fake” faith.  They are letting you know they are not “saved”.  Pray for wisdom and patience!  God can break down any barrier, but He has to be the one to break it down using His people on earth.

The Accident Squared

What started as a second insurance claim within a few weeks ALMOST got very ugly, but fortunately, it was resolved without the “worst” happening.

As I returned the rental car to the collision repair company our insurance company told us to use (Service King), I thought everything was fine.  I gave the clerk the car keys, and I went over the “fixed” car with the my service rep.  All seemed fine. (I did eventually have to take the car back due get the A/C recharged; it was fixed without incident.)

Unfortunately, 3 hours later my wife (it was her car) was contacted by Enterprise Rental cars.  On the rear driver panel of the car, there was a small dent.  I knew I was not responsible, and after some texting/talking to my service rep, he also confirmed he had no memory of the damage to the car.  (Because the car was turned in at Service King and Enterprise did not have a rep located [they do rent space from Service King, but if it is not staffed, it doesn’t count] in the lobby of Service King when we turned in the car, the “check-in” was not official.)  So, by Enterprises standards and according to their contract, we were responsible for all of the damage to the vehicle.  (When I contacted Service King, they were told the vehicle had already been taken to another different collision repair company.  The car could not be looked at.  We were just told we were responsible for the damage. Also, we also had damage to the car caused by a neighbor backing into our car the previous summer.  We were leaving on vacation the next day and we noticed it at 10:00 at night.  When we returned, the suspected neighbor whose house was for sale, was gone and we were stuck with a dented rear driver panel.)  Service King said they would have fixed it for free, but since Enterprise had already moved the car, the option was no longer available.

Once we found out we were supposed to make another claim with our insurance company to get the damage fixed, we took quite a few actions:

  1. Since this was the second claim this year on our policy and since we had the same rep, I tried to get him on my side by having him vouch for my character.  And, he did same something like, “He is a stand up guy.”  Not sure if this helped at all, but our continued insisting in our innocence couldn’t hurt.  I know it was stated more than once, “If we caused the accident, we would not be going through any of this.”
  2. We checked the Service King website.  The site claimed all Service Kings had the Enterprise people on site.
  3. On the folder given to us with our Service King bill, it has Enterprises logo and mentions them a couple times.  My lawyer wife seemed to think (I agree) this implied Service King was an agent for Enterprise.
  4. We received a letter from Enterprise claims settlement.  We filed a dispute with them.  They said they would let us know in a couple of weeks.
  5. I tried to go directly to Enterprise to talk to the responsible manager.  (I ended up helping a very disoriented man find the Wells Fargo bank behind the Enterprise location.)  He was not there.  And, the Service King manager brought this up with the Enterprise management over lunch.  Enterprise seemed very content to maintain there stance of us being fully responsible for the accident.
  6. After additional conversations with Service King, I found out SKs new policy is they will no longer take the keys on behalf of Enterprise.  (i.e. they have changed their policy because Enterprise is not responsive to customers)
  7. During the same conversation, I mentioned how on the Service King website states “Satisfaction Guaranteed”.  And, how at this point, I was not satisfied.  In regards to the survey, he told me I should do what I needed to do.  When I did complete it, I tried to be complimentary to the service rep, but for the “recommending” part, I graded low.
  8. I had a conversation with the Enterprise manager.  He wanted to make sure we understood what was in the contract.  And, he restated, “You are responsible until it is checked in by an Enterprise rep.”  I commented to him, “So, if the Enterprise logo is not on their shirt, I shouldn’t give them the keys.”  I also stated how a very false impression is created when the keys are taken.  A “normal” customer would quickly believe their responsibility is completed at that point.
  9. My wife called Service King customer service complaint department.  She felt it went well.  Her comment of, “No one seems to be denying this accident happened on SK property after we dropped it off.” At the very least, they said all of the right things.  It gave us hope that something might still happen to save us having to pay the full $1000 bill.

A couple of days later, a miracle did happen. Service King called back.  I was told the bill would be covered by both Enterprise and Service King.  If I received any more bills or correspondences, I should pass them to Service King.  Of course, we were quite pleased with this outcome.  Now, we hope to give the $1,000 to a charity of some type rather than waste it on an accident we weren’t responsible for.

Just A Walk In The Neighborhood….

It was just a normal walk in the neighborhood.  I had already walked 3 or 4 miles earlier in the day, but I always save a post-dinner walk for my wife.  A few of the highlights…

  • Due to my previous walk, my tachometer was set a little faster than my wife’s speed.  It is a normal occurrence.  I eventually back off or she speeds up, but it all works out.
  • A mother was sitting on the front porch with a baby on her lap.  Her phone was extended and likely in “selfie” mode.
  • I got bit my one of the neighbors dogs.  As we walked up on the neighbor, she was being pulled 3 different directions by all 3 of the dogs.  I commented, “You better watch it, or your arms are going to get longer.” (A reference to her getting stretched.)  As my wife and I continued to walk, I either smelled like chicken or the largest dog in the group was defended his owners honor.  I ended up with a little bite that barely broke the skin. Did I mention it was a bite?  I give the owner credit for asking the question where she really only wanted one answer.  “Are you okay?”  I did not give her full satisfaction.  I responded, “Yes, but it did break the skin.”  We quickly walked on.  My wife had to listen to my rantings for the rest of our walk–she is a saint.
  • We saw another neighbor walking her dog.  She chose to cross the street and walk on the sidewalk on the other side of the street rather than allow her well-behaved dog to even consider tasting me for my resemblance to chicken.
  • We danced through a couple of sprinklers as they seemed to be bored with merely wetting the grass.  They needed the challenge of seeing if they might encourage grass to grow on the concrete.  You think they would have learned last year.  Certainly, sprinklers have to have a very low IQ.
  • When I wasn’t ranting about the dog, we discussed our VERY interesting days.  We discussed how we are so much skinnier than we were in high school. 😉  And, how we only love to eat foods that are good for us.  And, oh yeah, how we want to do the same jobs we are doing now until we keel over.  And, when we got through all of the chit-chat, we ended the walk realizing we are pretty lucky to have ALL we have.

Mild Case of Rejection

Just to be clear, I am an adult.  I know the world does NOT revolve around me.  However, a couple things this past week did not go the way I would have planned them….

First, I was looking at a business on eBay.  (I have existing internet businesses, but I was hoping to find something to get excited about–the other business has slowed)  I saw the business listed previously, but now I decided to try and contact the person who listed it.  (I am being vague on purpose–it should become clearer as the story unfolds.) After a couple of days, he provided his phone number.  And, the following morning, we were given the chance to talk for about 45 minutes.  The person I was speaking to had been involved in organized crime.  He had served a couple of years in federal prison.  (Searching the internet on his name provided a few other colorful stories of his business exploits.)  After getting out of prison, he had consulted with various individuals to provide information to the government on how to protect themselves from people with his expertise.  And, now that his criminal pursuits are denied him, he has started a business on the “straight and narrow”.  Due to age and health issues, he wants to sell this business.

At the end of our phone call, he promised to send a couple of emails–which he did.  I think we were fine up to that point.  It was my response to his emails that may have sent us the wrong direction.  I let him know, “I know how important it is to talk to my spouse (my wife is an attorney) about the possible decision I might make.  I did tell her a little bit about your background.  She is a little concerned, but she does trust my judgement.”  I think the “attorney” information dried up the lines of communication.  So, granted this is a rejection, but sometimes I view a rejection as God giving you a “you don’t want to do this” wake up call.  So the first minor rejection….

Secondly, I was planning on going on a mission trip with the church.  I attended an informational session.  I found out most of the trips are done as a twosome (i.e. husband/wife, parent/child or a whole family).  Because my family was all tied up this summer, this was not an option for me.  The coordinator said we could work something out where I could be included with another group.  After a few emails and an additional meeting with a couple I was to be paired with, I was having doubt that spending two weeks in  a foreign country with near strangers would be a fulfilling experience.  The wife of the potential team seemed to embrace the idea of me being part of their team; unfortunately, her husband did not give a similar vibe.

This past week I sent an email to the coordinator and the husband/wife team.  I was making them aware I would not be participating.  I was not expecting a “dripping” email response, but I thought they would reply with something.  BUT, they didn’t.  So, I chose not to go on the mission trip and made it look like it was my inability to commit to the trip.  I didn’t say, “I am not going because I really don’t think he wants me there.”  Oh, well.  The rest of the week was pretty good!

Being Choosy with Mission Trips

I have gone on mission trips in the past.  Pulling away from the distractions of the world is truly a way to grow closer to God!

I was planning on going on a mission trip with our church.  After attending an informational session.  I found out most of the trips are done as a twosome (i.e. husband/wife, parent/child or a whole family).  This organization was looking to send a mission group to China.  Having been to China last fall, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to go back to China not as a tourist but as a believer wanting to serve.  The only issue was sorting out the dates and seeing what group I might be partnered with.  I tried to convince my son to go with me, but due to his need to earn money for college in the fall, he shutdown the negotiating pretty quickly.

After a few emails and an additional meeting with a couple I was to be paired with, I was having doubt that spending two weeks in  a foreign country with near strangers would be a fulfilling experience.  The wife of the potential team seemed to embrace the idea of me being part of their team; unfortunately, her husband did not give a similar vibe.  I realize it may just be his personality, but I was not excited to embark on an experiment where I was separated from my family for two weeks in a foreign country to prove my theory was correct.

This past week I sent an email to the coordinator and the husband/wife team.  I was making them aware I would not be participating.  I was not expecting a “dripping” email response, but I thought they would reply with something.  BUT, they didn’t.  So, I chose not to go on the mission trip and made it look like it was my inability to commit to the trip.  I didn’t say, “I am not going because I really don’t think he wants me there.”

On a parallel project, we were working with a company that coordinates student exchange programs.  When asked what country we were interested in, I said, “China.”  After she told me many Chinese kids are somewhat spoiled due to the one-child policy, I replied, “Whatever country you think would be a good fit.”  This past week, the exchange coordinator informed us they had a nearly perfect student for us—-from China.  She has a sibling, and based on her letter, she seems to be a very well-balanced young lady.  Things should be finalized within a couple of weeks.

So, sometimes you need to go to the mission trip, and maybe sometimes it comes to you!