1/11/2008

Bits and Pieces

Goodness! I haven’t posted in a while. Here’s a series of small bits and pieces from my life lately. For the more TV-oriented among us, this might be a welcome relief from my usual verbosity!

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My wife saved Christmas. Usually I hate the holiday. “Bah humbug,” becomes my favorite phrase, and I spend 50% of the time complaining about everything I can think of. Also, I’m not big on gifts, because nobody ever gets me the books I truly want. They think they can do better by surprising me with something I didn’t ask for. But they can’t.

So, my terrific wife saved Christmas by e-mailing my family and directing them to get gifts from my Amazon gift list for me! I got a huge stack of books from her and others that were exactly the ones I’ve been wanting but haven’t been willing to spend the money on. What a doll!

More than that, we had a great time with my family. I was so thankful for the way God organized everything to work out just right.

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I just got over the flu. I haven’t had a real flu since I was in high school! In one night, I threw up 5 times. In the course of three days, my eyes were so sensitive to light that I couldn’t read, watch movies, play video games, or type on the computer. All the stuff I usually like to do to feel better when I’m sick! It was miserable. Also, my stomach hurt so bad I couldn’t sleep. So, I mostly just lay around in pitch darkness doing nothing.

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I really enjoy teaching high school. Each week, my kids crack me up with their funny comments. Yesterday, someone handed Alex a sheet of paper, and his eyes got big. “I was elected to LEAD, not to READ,” he declared in a dead-on imitation of the Gubernator (well, the Simpsons version). They sure have a lot of personality!

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I love Amazon.com, but it can be a bit fickle. I decided I wanted to do a bunch of book reviews, so that my, "reviewer rating," would get a lot higher. So, I went out and wrote 20 reviews of some of my favorite books. Later, I checked my profile... and I had dropped about 20,000 places! Later on it came back down, but it was a humbling experience.

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Our baby is growing! I like to use my wife’s belly button to mark time. It’s still an innie, but we’ll be getting to the outie stage soon!

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I had a friend about to graduate with his degree in theology tell me that you are not allowed to make use of hypothetical scenarios, rhetorical questions, or thought experiments in an argument. Apparently, these ignore the, “normative Christian experience.” And yet in the past few weeks, I’ve come across those very types of arguments by A.W. Tozer, St. Augustine, and the apostle Paul!

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My wife and I are tentatively in the market for a new apartment. For a long time I have been pulling to move downtown, closer to our church. So, we found a place that was inexpensive, close, and situated in a beautiful old home in Louisville's historic Old Town. I was convinced this would be the place. So, we went to look at it. It was awful! It was basically an unfinished... no, a LESS than finished basement. It was just cracked cement floors and wall, peeling paint on the cabinets, and a dank smell. Utilities not included.

As we walked around, trying not to laugh, it really felt like a place you wouldn't store your books (well, I wouldn't) for fear that they'd rot. Samantha made a valiant effort to be nice to the guy showing it, but she lost out in the end.

"It's like a castle," she said. Pause. "Like a dungeon or something." Ha! That's my wife, telling it like it is. Our search goes on!

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Go MSU Spartans!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

UPA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

blbartlett said...

:-) I know, Riley, and I appreciate it. I think, because of the baby, we're looking for a place with a dishwasher, washing maschine, and dryer.

Anonymous said...

I applied for jobs in Louisville this winter break. I need get to references in so I guess i will see about that. Sounds like you had a good Christmas.

grace said...

books. nerd. you need a cool pair of basketball shoes and a lebron jersey!

Anonymous said...

Interesting that in this particular message you mention your Amazon reviews. This is how I came to find your blog - I read one of your reviews, and became curious about what sort of person would write such things.

Your really great mind and articulate style are gutted by your anger and foolishness. Believe me - I'm an older version of you. Let me tell your future: you will become increasingly frustrated as you see that fewer and fewer people will listen to you. In fact, you'll find some people will think you're mean and rotten, and tell others to actually avoid you! As a result, you'll feel misunderstood and begin to think how stupid everyone is. The spiral will continue. Your great ability and passion will be wasted, and your life will be frustrating.

Now - before it's too late - use your (clearly strong) will to change your path. Instead of seeking knowledge, seek wisdom. And instead of constatly "teaching" people, start loving them so much that you become fascinated and want to hear everything they have to say - even when it's lame and way beneath you. Don't correct them (at least not for a while), but just listen.

Pursue love and wisdom like gold. Spend so much time in the Proverbs you practically have them memorized. Not books ABOUT the Proverbs, just the Proverbs themselves. Then pursue ways to apply them.

Spend equal amounts of time in the gospels, not to determine which parts are Q, but to see how Jesus spoke to different people, and how they reacted, and what they thought of Him. Do this until people react to you - the way they reacted to Jesus.

Write this down: It's better to be effective than to be right.

Seek love and wisdom - it'll bear decidedly better fruit.

Honest