Now I know where I am! Now where is the Alhambra?
Monday, January 31, 2005
Maps and Meaning
HarleyDad loves a good map. I have maps from all over the world. Generally when I travel overseas I carry both a map of the country and of the main cities that I visit.
I supposed that the reason I love and use maps is that they convey an illusion that I am in control of my destiny. Indeed I am not. The Bible says: "Say not that you will go to a city to trade there for a year and return with a profit, for no man knows what tomorrow holds." So as I read it, I do not have control but only the illusion of control. Nonetheless, I carry my maps. However, I depend on God to set my goals and to help me reach my destination.
Maps help me orient myself in the world. I know where I am and hopefully where I am going. It was Seneca who said that if a ship does not have a port, it will never get to its destination.
Businesses obviously believe the same thing. The maps they use are Mission Statements. They also use business plans and budgets to help show the way. Long term maps are things like strategic planning.
In our regular lives, we set goals and directions. Some of us use Vision Statements which are in essence mission statements for individuals. The Bible also says that "Without a vision, the people perish."
Many of us who have fought life long and hard find our goals not reached, our dreams dashed. Sometimes we have built our visions and dreams on sand instead of rock. Or the fire comes, we are tested and find after the test, that there is not much left. We left with shattered dreams and expectations not fulfilled. The fruits that we sought were not as sweet as we had dreamed or they have left a bitter taste. Our defeats are in the truest sense, personal.
When the dreams are shattered, discouragement and depression set in. We enter into the "dark night of the soul." We know that God is there but things did not work out the way that we expected. Sometimes, these defeats are because of our wrong choices; but often they come despite our good intentions and prayed over choices.
But it is even here in the dark night of the soul that God meets us. He knows His children. Even if they are at the bottom of the sea of depression or in the hells of despondency, they are His and belong to Him.
He is their Hope.
Victor Frankl in "Man's Search for Meaning" said that the people that survived the brutal Nazi concentration camps were those who had a reason to survive. Perhaps it was for revenge or to take care of a family member. But they had a purpose. So without a purpose, we perish. If we have a purpose, we often survive.
Hope is our food. We are better off without the basics than we are without hope.
Hope is what the world needs. We are taught "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Have we lost our faith and hope that this can be accomplished.
Part of this blog is about returning to simplicity. It is about getting back to basics. It is a plea to others that might read it-that there are things much more important than how we look or what we have.
In fact, in the kingdom of God looks are deceiving. Power comes from the humble and simple things of life.
Finding God's purpose or direction is important. Some good books have been written on this topic including "The Purpose Driven Life."
What is God's purpose and direction for life. They may be simpler than we think. Perhaps it is Right relationship with Him and with one another.
But while we wait, we are surrounded with those who are injured of body and worse of soul. We give the simple help we can to salve the hurts and more importantly to give hope to the hearts that are wounded. And as we do this to those about us, we do it to Him.
HarleyDad
I supposed that the reason I love and use maps is that they convey an illusion that I am in control of my destiny. Indeed I am not. The Bible says: "Say not that you will go to a city to trade there for a year and return with a profit, for no man knows what tomorrow holds." So as I read it, I do not have control but only the illusion of control. Nonetheless, I carry my maps. However, I depend on God to set my goals and to help me reach my destination.
Maps help me orient myself in the world. I know where I am and hopefully where I am going. It was Seneca who said that if a ship does not have a port, it will never get to its destination.
Businesses obviously believe the same thing. The maps they use are Mission Statements. They also use business plans and budgets to help show the way. Long term maps are things like strategic planning.
In our regular lives, we set goals and directions. Some of us use Vision Statements which are in essence mission statements for individuals. The Bible also says that "Without a vision, the people perish."
Many of us who have fought life long and hard find our goals not reached, our dreams dashed. Sometimes we have built our visions and dreams on sand instead of rock. Or the fire comes, we are tested and find after the test, that there is not much left. We left with shattered dreams and expectations not fulfilled. The fruits that we sought were not as sweet as we had dreamed or they have left a bitter taste. Our defeats are in the truest sense, personal.
When the dreams are shattered, discouragement and depression set in. We enter into the "dark night of the soul." We know that God is there but things did not work out the way that we expected. Sometimes, these defeats are because of our wrong choices; but often they come despite our good intentions and prayed over choices.
But it is even here in the dark night of the soul that God meets us. He knows His children. Even if they are at the bottom of the sea of depression or in the hells of despondency, they are His and belong to Him.
He is their Hope.
Victor Frankl in "Man's Search for Meaning" said that the people that survived the brutal Nazi concentration camps were those who had a reason to survive. Perhaps it was for revenge or to take care of a family member. But they had a purpose. So without a purpose, we perish. If we have a purpose, we often survive.
Hope is our food. We are better off without the basics than we are without hope.
Hope is what the world needs. We are taught "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Have we lost our faith and hope that this can be accomplished.
Part of this blog is about returning to simplicity. It is about getting back to basics. It is a plea to others that might read it-that there are things much more important than how we look or what we have.
In fact, in the kingdom of God looks are deceiving. Power comes from the humble and simple things of life.
Finding God's purpose or direction is important. Some good books have been written on this topic including "The Purpose Driven Life."
What is God's purpose and direction for life. They may be simpler than we think. Perhaps it is Right relationship with Him and with one another.
But while we wait, we are surrounded with those who are injured of body and worse of soul. We give the simple help we can to salve the hurts and more importantly to give hope to the hearts that are wounded. And as we do this to those about us, we do it to Him.
HarleyDad
Sunday, January 30, 2005
Why Barns are Painted Red
One of the best places for family talk is while you are driving. For many of us, the automobile trip has provided a convenient forum for long and sometimes intelligent discussions.
Unfortunately, modern electronics is encroaching on this last frontier where intelligent communication between family members still occurs.
Sure kids were removed from the ability to participate when they took their comic books on trips . But at night, the comic books were put away and intelligent discussion between the generations began again. When the kids were reading, mom and dad talked, and the little "antenna ears" might pick up on the choicest morsels of conversation. (The kids do hear you know even if they pretend that they do not.)
Then, of course, there was the radio-but it got boring after awhile. FM was added to AM making it more useful. Later there were tape players, CD's, small TV's and now even Satellite Radio. Now we even have GPS systems, which I will blog about another time.
Slowly modern technology has dumbed us down and conversation is slowly being crowded out of the vehicle.
However some of still talk while we are driving. It is a good time to talk. Most of the time we are not interrupted unless it is by the cell phone. (Whoops we lost the conversation between the family members again thanks to the ubiquitous cell phone). If HarleyDad tries to end a conversation by walking out of the room, he falls out of the car.
But what does all this have to do with red barns?
Well the topic of conversation yesterday in the car was "Why are barns painted red? " We must have seen a red barn and that sight caused the conversation to be initiated.
Brokerbelle thinks that barns have been painted red for years because of snow storms. Farmers had to take care of their livestock even in snow storms. In fact some would go out in blizzards and become lost and even die by getting lost in heavy snows. Shucks, Pa missed the barn again, I wonder if we will ever find him. So some people began to paint their barns red so that they could find them even in snow storms. These were in the days before electric lights, flashlights and automobiles.
Brokerbelle further claims that sometimes farmers ran a rope from the barn to the house in order to help guide them to the barn when it was dark or when the weather was bad so that they could take care of the animals.
So that is why barns are red.
Now if I had kept the CD player going I could have heard Alabama for the forty fifth time-but luckily it was not running and intelligent conversation invaded our mobile domain. The family talked and had a real live discussion. We had a front room on wheels kind of conversation. And it was good.
Perhaps we deal with our values like red barns. There is some likelihood that in the storms of life that we will wander away and get lost. So we overstate our values. We paint them red. We run ropes to them - ropes in our churches, schools, politics and home. We overstate the case. And why? Because we do not want to loose the way and be destroyed.
Harleys are great. But not for living room conversation between family members. If that is what you are looking for (and it is a good thing!), then take the car.
HarleyDad
Unfortunately, modern electronics is encroaching on this last frontier where intelligent communication between family members still occurs.
Sure kids were removed from the ability to participate when they took their comic books on trips . But at night, the comic books were put away and intelligent discussion between the generations began again. When the kids were reading, mom and dad talked, and the little "antenna ears" might pick up on the choicest morsels of conversation. (The kids do hear you know even if they pretend that they do not.)
Then, of course, there was the radio-but it got boring after awhile. FM was added to AM making it more useful. Later there were tape players, CD's, small TV's and now even Satellite Radio. Now we even have GPS systems, which I will blog about another time.
Slowly modern technology has dumbed us down and conversation is slowly being crowded out of the vehicle.
However some of still talk while we are driving. It is a good time to talk. Most of the time we are not interrupted unless it is by the cell phone. (Whoops we lost the conversation between the family members again thanks to the ubiquitous cell phone). If HarleyDad tries to end a conversation by walking out of the room, he falls out of the car.
But what does all this have to do with red barns?
Well the topic of conversation yesterday in the car was "Why are barns painted red? " We must have seen a red barn and that sight caused the conversation to be initiated.
Brokerbelle thinks that barns have been painted red for years because of snow storms. Farmers had to take care of their livestock even in snow storms. In fact some would go out in blizzards and become lost and even die by getting lost in heavy snows. Shucks, Pa missed the barn again, I wonder if we will ever find him. So some people began to paint their barns red so that they could find them even in snow storms. These were in the days before electric lights, flashlights and automobiles.
Brokerbelle further claims that sometimes farmers ran a rope from the barn to the house in order to help guide them to the barn when it was dark or when the weather was bad so that they could take care of the animals.
So that is why barns are red.
Now if I had kept the CD player going I could have heard Alabama for the forty fifth time-but luckily it was not running and intelligent conversation invaded our mobile domain. The family talked and had a real live discussion. We had a front room on wheels kind of conversation. And it was good.
Perhaps we deal with our values like red barns. There is some likelihood that in the storms of life that we will wander away and get lost. So we overstate our values. We paint them red. We run ropes to them - ropes in our churches, schools, politics and home. We overstate the case. And why? Because we do not want to loose the way and be destroyed.
Harleys are great. But not for living room conversation between family members. If that is what you are looking for (and it is a good thing!), then take the car.
HarleyDad
Friday, January 28, 2005
Ice, Fish-tailing and Car Spins
It is winter here in Ozarklandia. The forecast is for an icy mix.
Driving on ice is always dangerous. It is even more dangerous when you live in a southern climate and ice is unusual. When Brokerbelle and HarleyDad lived in Big D in the Great State of Tejas and there was an ice storm-then watch out.
One thing about cars is that they can be very dangerous when ice is on the roads or when it is raining or when you hit an oil slick.
It is suggested that motorbike riders not ride within the first thirty minutes after it rains. This is due to the fact that the rain mixes with the oil and makes the surfaces slick. Later hard rains will wash off the oils.
Once HarleyDad was driving his Spitfire down the expressway going from Red Stick to the City that Care Forgot. I hit an oil patch and went into a spin. I was driving at night and remember the lack of control and seeing the headlights that had been behind me in the distance now facing me. I also remember thinking to myself this thought: "You are a dead man."
The car then rotated again so that I was facing the right direction and I continued safely on my way.
When you hit the ice, you are out of control. Nothing you can do seems to work and your fate is not in your hands.
Perhaps God was not through with my life yet. In my eyes, I seem to add small value to life and despite having some success in the world do not seem to have achieved the success that is really important in so many areas.
HarleyDad believes in a Higher Power that we call God. He also believe in angels. Perhaps the day of the spin the angels were working overtime. The question is why? My life is not worth more than the lives of many others that have not survived other highway accidents. I do not have the answer to that question, just as I do not have the answers to many other questions.
What I do know is that I could have been dead-but I live. I think many military men and women that have seen the deaths of their comrades have the same feeling. They know that they are alive-but it is not that they are more worthy than their comrades. In fact, often, just the opposite is true.
The Apostle Paul wrote: If I die, I die unto the Lord; and if I live I live unto the Lord, and therefore whether I live or die, it is unto the Lord.
So I presume that the issue is not one of living or dying, it is whether it is "unto the Lord." How do we live well, then? Also sometimes, the heavier rains come in life-but instead of doing damage they wash away the oil slicks of our life-making the road of life much more safe.
Life is a gift; but perhaps sometimes death may be a gift too. Certainly eternal life is a gift.
This is HarleyDad signing off---Ride Well.
Driving on ice is always dangerous. It is even more dangerous when you live in a southern climate and ice is unusual. When Brokerbelle and HarleyDad lived in Big D in the Great State of Tejas and there was an ice storm-then watch out.
One thing about cars is that they can be very dangerous when ice is on the roads or when it is raining or when you hit an oil slick.
It is suggested that motorbike riders not ride within the first thirty minutes after it rains. This is due to the fact that the rain mixes with the oil and makes the surfaces slick. Later hard rains will wash off the oils.
Once HarleyDad was driving his Spitfire down the expressway going from Red Stick to the City that Care Forgot. I hit an oil patch and went into a spin. I was driving at night and remember the lack of control and seeing the headlights that had been behind me in the distance now facing me. I also remember thinking to myself this thought: "You are a dead man."
The car then rotated again so that I was facing the right direction and I continued safely on my way.
When you hit the ice, you are out of control. Nothing you can do seems to work and your fate is not in your hands.
Perhaps God was not through with my life yet. In my eyes, I seem to add small value to life and despite having some success in the world do not seem to have achieved the success that is really important in so many areas.
HarleyDad believes in a Higher Power that we call God. He also believe in angels. Perhaps the day of the spin the angels were working overtime. The question is why? My life is not worth more than the lives of many others that have not survived other highway accidents. I do not have the answer to that question, just as I do not have the answers to many other questions.
What I do know is that I could have been dead-but I live. I think many military men and women that have seen the deaths of their comrades have the same feeling. They know that they are alive-but it is not that they are more worthy than their comrades. In fact, often, just the opposite is true.
The Apostle Paul wrote: If I die, I die unto the Lord; and if I live I live unto the Lord, and therefore whether I live or die, it is unto the Lord.
So I presume that the issue is not one of living or dying, it is whether it is "unto the Lord." How do we live well, then? Also sometimes, the heavier rains come in life-but instead of doing damage they wash away the oil slicks of our life-making the road of life much more safe.
Life is a gift; but perhaps sometimes death may be a gift too. Certainly eternal life is a gift.
This is HarleyDad signing off---Ride Well.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
HarleyDad Back in Town
HarleyDad is back on the Blog after a whirlwind trip to Europe. I went to Switzerland and visited Basel, Zurich, and St. Gallen. Then it was off to Luxembourg and then back to Zurich and then home. If you love Mountains, Lakes and Chocolates then Switzerland is your kind of place.
Above are a few pictures.
HarleyDad
Above are a few pictures.
HarleyDad
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Happy Birthday, Princessbelle
Happy Birthday, Princessbelle.
Yesterday, was the birthday of Princessbelle. HRH the ImpQueen declared a national holiday and all debts were forgiven. So don't worry about your Mastercard bill.
Princessbelle, as is her custom, went to the Red House of Lobster and had her customary lobster. Then there was the ice cream and HarleyDad and Brokerbelle had to watch her eat it without having any.
Her presents were many and grand. It was a good day for Princessbelle.
A few pictures are posted above.
Princessbelle's color of the day was green for her new X-Box.
HarleyDad
Yesterday, was the birthday of Princessbelle. HRH the ImpQueen declared a national holiday and all debts were forgiven. So don't worry about your Mastercard bill.
Princessbelle, as is her custom, went to the Red House of Lobster and had her customary lobster. Then there was the ice cream and HarleyDad and Brokerbelle had to watch her eat it without having any.
Her presents were many and grand. It was a good day for Princessbelle.
A few pictures are posted above.
Princessbelle's color of the day was green for her new X-Box.
HarleyDad
Friday, January 21, 2005
Embraceable You
HarleyDad is back from Brazil. They spell it Brasil. I was in Sao Paulo. It is a very large city with about 21 million people.
A few words about Brazil. Brazil is about the size of the continental United States.
Sao Paulo is one of the highest crime spots in the world. A person can expect to be held up about one time per year. The advice that is given is make sure that you carry "Hold Up" money -suggested amount about $50 so that the person gets cash and can run away.
But there is much, much more than that to Brazil. The people are by nature a warm and loving people. They are very family oriented. The people are a passionate, touching people. They hug when they say hello and hug when they say good bye. They embrace one another. They may even say goodbye 4 or 5 times. When you leave a store you might even hug the sales person.
HarleyDad finds that he does not have much to teach about life but instead is a student constantly being surprised by life and hopefully continuing to learn. The Brazilians are warm and wonderful.
Their paperwork and rules and regulations are outrageous. It is said that there are on average 17 new tax laws per day. The traffic in Sao Paulo is horrible.
There are a multitude of races in Brazil. Brazil is known for its beautiful women and handsome men; although Argentina proclaims loudly that there men are more handsome and their women more beautiful.
Brazil has many tropical fruits and so breakfast is always a delight. There is wonderful mango and delicious pineapple.
Also Brazil has great steak. If you are ever in Sao Paulo go to the Barbicoa restaurant for some of the best steak of your life.
Well enough of Brazil, it is time to go to Switzerland. I wonder how I can get my Harley on the boat.
I will be back to blog more when I return from Europe.
HarleyDad
A few words about Brazil. Brazil is about the size of the continental United States.
Sao Paulo is one of the highest crime spots in the world. A person can expect to be held up about one time per year. The advice that is given is make sure that you carry "Hold Up" money -suggested amount about $50 so that the person gets cash and can run away.
But there is much, much more than that to Brazil. The people are by nature a warm and loving people. They are very family oriented. The people are a passionate, touching people. They hug when they say hello and hug when they say good bye. They embrace one another. They may even say goodbye 4 or 5 times. When you leave a store you might even hug the sales person.
HarleyDad finds that he does not have much to teach about life but instead is a student constantly being surprised by life and hopefully continuing to learn. The Brazilians are warm and wonderful.
Their paperwork and rules and regulations are outrageous. It is said that there are on average 17 new tax laws per day. The traffic in Sao Paulo is horrible.
There are a multitude of races in Brazil. Brazil is known for its beautiful women and handsome men; although Argentina proclaims loudly that there men are more handsome and their women more beautiful.
Brazil has many tropical fruits and so breakfast is always a delight. There is wonderful mango and delicious pineapple.
Also Brazil has great steak. If you are ever in Sao Paulo go to the Barbicoa restaurant for some of the best steak of your life.
Well enough of Brazil, it is time to go to Switzerland. I wonder how I can get my Harley on the boat.
I will be back to blog more when I return from Europe.
HarleyDad
Monday, January 17, 2005
GONE TO BRAZIL
HarleyDad has had it! It is too cold here in Ozarklandia. I am headin' South. Gonna go to Brazil. See you when I get Back!
HarleyDad
HarleyDad
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