A SHAME

Today, as I drove across town on an errand, I heard a song on the radio. Its sound was bigger than its lyrics. It was like a gold box of the finest quality, whose crafters had imagined it filled with beautiful, meaningful things, but whose owners had inexplicably chosen to use it as a repository for a few broken crayons, some candy wrappers and a large brown hair scrunchy.

The tune was the container and the lyrics its contents. It had a driving beat and complex layers of sound that danced and flirted before harmonizing into a beautifully simple symphony that struck the ear as pleasantly as a lover's touch. As I gazed in at the lyrical contents I was sad to find that they were not beautiful or meaningful or worthy. They were not even sufficiently cryptic that I could see in them whatever I wanted to see. They were an utter waste of such a container. I was disappointed.

I don't want to hear that song again.

ANOTHER SPEAKING OPPORTUNITY!!!

Just a few days ago I posted that I had been invited to speak on December, 23rd at Idyllwild Bible Church, and today IBC also asked me if I could speak on 10/21 (service times at 9am and 10:45am). I said "I'll take it!"

Can't wait!

EAGLES FANS WANT TO BE HATED TOO!!!

Special thanks to my buddy, Hutch, for sending me a link to this article about a Dallas area eatery that has hiked the price of its product 24,671% for Redskins and Giants fans who they hate. Is that even legal? The funniest thing about this whole situation for me persoanlly is imagining those poor Eagles fans, who are also part of the NFC East, wondering why they are not also hated. Why must they pay the normal rate?

AN EARLY CHRISTMAS PRESENT!!!

 

I'll be bringing a seasonally appropriate message on 12/23 at Idyllwild Bible Church (Service Times 9am and 10:45am).

 

My only complaint is that I wish they would give me more time to prepare.

 

Any suggested texts?

IS THIS STATEMENT TRUE?

There is something that resides to some degree in the hearts of all men, and which is most evident in little boys who have not yet learned to hid it and disguise it- the desire to be dangerous.

A REFRAIN TO A SONG AS YET UNWRITTEN

There will be good days and there will be bad
There will be happy, there will be sad
Take all the good days as long as they'll last
And know that the bad days soon will be past.

HOW TO SPOT A DRUG ADDICT

"Do you know how to spot a drug addict? " he asked.

"No, how?"

"They always wear clothes that are inappropriate for the weather."

"Really?"

He pointed at a young man wearing a winter jacket, something akin to a parka, who was passing through a parking lot toward the Food City Grocery Store. It was a balmy evening in late may. Maybe in the upper 60's.

"See? You watch, this winter he'll be out walking in the snow in a wife-beater."

"Why is that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but watch, it's true. You'll see."

BFZ FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT TONIGHT!!!

NOTEPAD FUNCTION

Occasionally, while I am going about the day to day business of being Josh Tate ideas will just come to me. Imagine me walking the aisles of a Walmart or pumping gas, my mind wandering to and fro, when suddenly the germ of a thought that I find satisfying or helpful comes to me. Most often I do not have pen and paper handy so I just stop in my tracks wherever I am and type these random thought fragments into the notepad function on my phone. Usually they are written in kind of a shorthand fashion, and when I eventually revisit them, sometimes months later, I can't reconstruct the fullness of the moment and context that compelled me to document them in the first place.

I was going back through the notepad function on my phone today and I thought I would type these little doo-dads out before deleting them. At one time I thought they had enough worth that I took the time to record them.

1. Drive thru snow at night like when enterprise used warp drive star trek and stars stream past. "Engage!"

2. Boy's Room- "BUCKS." Girl's Room- "DOES."

3. Being rich almost as bad as being beautiful. Luckily neither. Poor rich and beautiful people!

4. Ruby Falls and Ruby Pools. Emerald fields.

5. Kids will get married someday. Future spouses probably alive right now. Wish could see future spouses and be part of shaping them. Can shape the spouses of my kids' future spouses.

6. Eyes to see and wedding feast.

7. Christians should only go to one gas station, supermarket, hardware store, etc... so to concentrate and maximize personal influence.

8. Ugly for sake of beauty.

9. Ordering your private world.

10. Psalm 104 Taste Life and dependance/ faith psalm 111 also useful.

11. Eight miles past the place where asphalt gave way to dirt. Way, way out.

12. I have potatos but no money. Better learn to bake potatos.

13. Airport is beautiful word. A port for an aircraft. Evocative perfect. Glad that was name that caught on to describe that. It's artful not utilarian.

14. Need love interest for T. Ping like Pam and Jim. First need chronicle Ping's love misadventures. Online dating profile? Dates. Stalker?

15. Giraffes are like Dr. Seuss animal. Spots? Super Long neck? Two little fuzzy horns on top?

16. Need self-cooling beverage container. Just pull cord, shake, unscrew cap and cools automatically. Chemical reaction? Has to be.

17. Don't trust with administrative details. Just vision, ideas and selling pitch.

OUTSIDE IN THE DARK

As she drove past she glimpsed the light in the windows of the house,
As well as the people within, and the cars outside parked merrily
Wherever they could find a place to nose in out of the traveled way-
Between trees, halfway up a berm, and tires off on the grass.
It would have been food and drink to her to turn in and be welcomed,
But she drove on. Why did she do that? She didn't understand it herself.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

MONTANA MAN KILLED WHILE TRYING TO PERPETRATE BIGFOOT HOAX. Read the article HERE.

BLACK, RED AND WHITE

Two nights ago I dreamed of crows circling high above a snow-covered field. Each one had a red berry in its beak, and as I watched, they let the berries drop haphazardly, littering the field below like drops of blood on a white sheet.

MY 2012 SUPER BOWL PREDICTION!!!

This year I will be watching the big game alone and in silence. That's because my very own Washington, Redskins, Led by Robert Griffin III,  will be representing the NFC against the AFC's New York, Jets. That's my prediction. Which teams do you think will make it to the big dance?

LIVING LIFE ON THE RECORD

Check out my other blog, (see sidebar) or click HERE, to get updates on the daily minutae of Joshua Bowden Tate's life. If you have been stalking me this is your lucky day!

THINGS I THOUGHT TODAY BUT DIDN'T SHARE WITH ANYONE

1. There's something about eating apples that makes me feel postively simian. When I tear off chunks of apple and mash them between my molars it makes me feel like an ape. Strangely I don't feel this way when I eat bananas or any other fruit. Just apples.