WEDNESDAY BAH-HUMBUG HODGEPODGE!

     The past weekend has brought out the most crass aspects of human nature. Shoppers trampled over barricades and people to enter stores and purchase "stuff" and anyone in their way be damned. That's one reason why I echo the words of Ebenezer Scrooge "Bah-humbug!" So pause from your Christmas shopping and other preparations and enjoy the Hodgepodge!

1. According to Oxford Dictionaries, the 2013 word of the year is 'selfie'. Your thoughts? When did you last take a selfie? Do you post them online somewhere?  Do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind the lens?

      People have been photographing themselves for years. However, I don't care for the more salacious selfies that some people feel compelled to post on the various social media. I don't recall ever taking a selfie. I don't generally post such things on social media. I prefer to be behind the camera.
   

2. Will you send out Christmas cards this year? If so, are they ready to go? If not, are you glad or sad about leaving that tradition behind?

     SWMBO and I will be sending out Christmas cards this year. They are not ready to go but I'm confident that we will get them out on time.

3. Do you trust easily?

     I do not trust easily. Cynicism and distrust is an unfortunate side effect of my law enforcement career. When you live for many years in an environment where trusting the wrong person could result in your being seriously injured or killed, you become intensely circumspect in your dealings with people. It becomes difficult to act otherwise.

4. Pine-cinnamon-peppermint-vanilla (as in sugar cookie)...of those listed, which one is your favorite December scent?

     Peppermint-vanilla is my favorite around the Christmas holiday.

5. Did you do more talking or more listening yesterday? Was that by choice or necessity?

     I did more listening...I was with SWMBO! Just kidding! I did do more listening. I had some ministry tasks to perform Monday (which is yesterday as I write this) which required my listening carefully before speaking. I think I'm a pretty good listener. I think that as a general rule I listen more than I talk.  It's the "we have two ears and one mouth thing" which means that we ought to listen twice as much as we speak.

6. What's the last song that got stuck in your head? Sorry if it's back there now :  )

     Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger." It is a most persistent "earworm."

7. Which world explorer (in the whole history of the world) would you most like to have traveled with, and why? 

     Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the crew of Apollo 11 which was the first mission to land on the lunar surface and return safely. It must have been spectacular!

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

     Christmas is the Holiday where Christians celebrate an infinite almighty God becoming human through His birth on that cold night in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago. It is the celebration that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Jesus lived on this earth for about 33 years being totally human and at the same time totally God. Because of what Jesus accomplished while He was on earth all mankind has an opportunity to spend eternity with a loving, merciful and extraordianry Holy God. It's up to all of us to choose where we get to spend eternity. Think of the immensity and the ramifictions of that choice for a moment.
     When I look around and see the avarice, materialism, and vulgar displays of the more crass aspects of human nature supposedly in celebration of the holiday, I am stunned and saddened.
      I don't mean to imply that it is all bad, however. I am encouraged and uplifted when I read or see stories that report people expending a large amount of effort and resources where the less fortunate are being clothed, given warmth, being housed and being fed in the TRUE spirit of the Holiday. I want to believe that these people of good will are the rule rather than the exception. 
     I pray God's blessing on all of you!