So, Today I'm Thinking...

I know.

I know.

I just did this a couple of days ago, but I still have a lot of little things going on in my brain rather than one large issue going on in my brain. So, here we go.

So, Today I'm Thinking...

...that can't really explain how bad that commercial for Dr. Pepper is where the heavy-set lineman scores a touchdown and dances (eventually flipping off the goalpost and doing the Worm) was the first time and now it gets worse every time I watch it.
...that it'd be difficult to explain why anyone would purchase plain old Cheerios when the Honey-Nut version is vastly superior.
...I can't figure out who these kids are that aren't getting enough sun and exercise to the point that the soft-bone disease "ricketts" is making a comeback. Every kid under the age of 10 I know is constantly being shuttled to some sort of practice every single day of their lives.
...I'm in the lull time of reading where I the stack is low but my family loads me up with books for Christmas.
...that I asked our congregation for their "review" of our 5 O'Clock Worship services and I'm amazed at how many of them being with, "I don't attend that one because I heard that (insert something that isn't fact here)..." Really?
...that no one seems to have noticed our Dallas Stars are on a six-game winning steak and looking pretty good in the process.
...it must be hard to be a coach at any level these days. Sure, coaches in professional sports and big-time colleges are very well compensated and know that the pressure to win comes with the territory. But I'm concerned that high school coaches--at least in our area--have too much pressure to win rather than teaching the disciplines of sport to young teenagers. Sure, the product local fans get to watch is vastly superior to what high-school sports were 25 years ago, but the goals don't seem to be.
..it must be hard to be a teacher these days. What I see in parents is a failure to trust the teacher as a classroom authority. Even if the teacher is bad and unfair, the parents need to butt out and understand that respect for authority, following chain-of-command and letting kids learn to respectfully fight their own battles are infinitely more important than little Johnny's moving from a 79 to a 91 if the parent is the one "fixing" it.
...all of us as parents need that gentle reminder that our kids watch us like hawks to see if the message we teach lines up with the life we live. Especially in the little things.
...I really haven't found much Christmas music that I like, and most of what I do like, no one else seems to like. Of course, this isn't really any different than in my "normal" musical choices, either.
...I'm thinking more and more about teaching that "film and theology" class over the summer. The more I think about taking some movie and critically analyzing it against Scripture, and then drawing practical applications from the findings, the more excited I get about it. I'm thinking about "Stranger than Fiction," but if Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is on DVD by then, I might do a summer series on child-like faith. This should play right into my Peter Pan Syndrome. Any other suggestions?
...that it's been the year of maintaining the house. Our house is at that age. Fences replaced. Bathrooms remodeled out of necessity. New air conditioner-heating unit. New dishwasher. The list goes on, too. But we'd like to eventually get around to upgrading like with a deck/patio with an enclosed room as part of it, hardwood floors (or maybe stained concrete like in our kitchen), new landscaping, etc. But what I wouldn't do for loft-living in FloMo if it were remotely affordable. If it were to ever exist.
...Kid1 didn't have to have new tires after all. It was just a different leak around the valve stem. It's pretty cool to have the local tire places patch tires for free, I can tell you. Her airport run went smoothly, although she didn't check the website before leaving for a little flight delay, trusting her Google text-messaging to have the most recent updates. Lesson learned there.
...I often wonder how serious folks are when they say that they trust Scripture, but oddly, seem to let doctors and lawyers and professors have more sway and authority when it comes to "real life" decision-making.
...that it never gets old to me that my children rearrange the stocking-holders over the mantle that are supposed to say "NOEL" to read "LEON." It's even funnier when we forget to "fix" it and someone walks in and notices, but isn't sure if they should say anything or not.
...that watching Kid2 decorate the tree this year was funny because she started out quietly putting all the ornaments that represented Kid1 on the back of the tree until she couldn't contain herself and brought it up. There seems to be a line of thought now that the kids are older to go more thematic on the tree and get new ornaments that match and look good, but I can't be serious about that yet. The old ornaments that kids made from puzzle pieces and pictures in Sunday School or the one ornament we got each year that represented something about that particular year are more meaningful to me.
...that I'm actually itching to get back to work.