roll call

Shhh... I'm thinking.

.

I'm trying to determine which is worse, people who load the toilet paper the wrong way, or people who don't care.

.

.

.

.

.

Image by: Kipin

acting like animals

In the movie Ghostbusters, Dr. Peter Venkman gave warning on the coming apocalypse. He described it as: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria. ...

.

Is it so bad that dogs and cats should get along? What is it that makes their expected hostility acceptable? Is there an irreconcilable incompatibility based on tradition, breeding, or behavioral conditioning? Peer pressure, perhaps? Does their position in life determine a combative role? Is this something bigger than the individual cat or dog that cannot be circumvented? I refuse to accept that.

.

The Craver house has a dog AND a cat, and they don't have a problem dealing kindly with one another. In fact, they're more brotherly than some human brothers and sisters. Maybe more exemplary even than a lot of people.

.

[An aside: I just came across a coworker who is wearing a shirt that says, "I'm rad. You're rad. Let's hug." I immediately took evasive maneuvers, but it made me smile.]

.

Isn't community more noble than competition? Teamwork better than tearing apart? Sure, we have significant differences between us. Let's go ahead and work through those details, but as we have ideas worth sharing, can we process this through a filter of kindness, care, peacefulness, and dare I use the "L-word?" Yes, even Love.

.

Related links: Jesus Community: Finding God's Peace , Gojira's Stomping Ground: When to Speak Truth , Seedlings in Stone: Filtered

Image from The Chess House.

gettin' aLAWNg

Comparing your site to a room in your house, which room would it be? LL Barkat lets us hang out in her living room, and Charity sees us in her kitchen. For me, it's probably my front yard.

.

I enjoy standing in the grass with my neighbors, friends and relatives, talking about whatever. I prefer to have a conversation out there, than even inside the house or in the backyard.

.

At home, I have experienced a certain unspoken etiquette about front-yard conversations. We can discuss all kinds of things, but I have never had a heavy front-yard debate. Most of the discussion is light, but that does not necessarily exclude profound exchanges. In fact, right there, in my driveway, one of my neighbors prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

.

Yeah, this blog reminds me of my front lawn. Simple, neat, not argumentative, but casual and occasionally (albeit rarely) profound.

.

Only two people have ever provoked me to use the delete comment option in the blog. Er... it doesn't work quite like that out front, though. But yes, in case you're wondering, I have had conversations in both places where someone and I disagreed and we were still able to keep things civil and polite.

.

Image by... me! (That's my real house.)