male pregnancy

ImageWomen are amazing creatures! They run households (40 hrs. a week), DO lift heavy things, manage finances, prepare meals ‘round the clock, work at meaningful jobs (40 hrs. a week), carry children in their bellies for an eternity (or 9 months), and then raise them after they are born (24/7, 365 days a year, 18-35 years).

Then there are men. We work at meaningful jobs (50-60 hrs. a week), providing safety for our families; we lift heavy things (producing hernias), spend money serendipitously (We have a budget?), rarely prepare meals (unless you are our son Josh, who is a chef), we would NEVER carry a child in our gut, and need to spend more time raising them once they’re born (ask any mother). Did I mention diapers… ?

But what if…?

Consider the adversities a man would face if any of us (God forbid) were pregnant.

  1. We could not play golf because we wouldn’t be able to see the ball.
  2. We would have to give up coffee due to morning sickness.
  3. Our voices would change pitch because of hormonal changes.
  4. We would have to cut down on beer to make room for the baby.
  5. Sliding in and out of cars would become a chore. O, never mind; it already is.
  6. Getting comfortable in bed would become a distant memory.
  7. So would sleep.
  8. Back pain would quadruple.
  9. No aspirin; no Alka-Seltzer; no laxatives—even though you feel like you are the model caricature for constipation.
  10. Then, there are the joys of giving birth. Not going there, guys!

Every life-form on this planet has a place in the grand scheme of things; humans especially. (With mosquitoes, I take issue). To be sure, there are exceptions and deformations (The Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick 1862-1890, is an extreme example).  This realm is a vast, complex eco-system and that the God of the universe has arranged to work in a symbiotic relationship for the common good. Thanks to modern technologies we are daily discovering more of our life’s intricacies as we journey on.

Please, don’t try to mess up what God has designed. Especially if there is a danger of me getting pregnant!

So, Kudos to God our Creator; and to every woman everywhere, thank you,

Gary

Nobody


When I walk into a room no one notices. Standing among a group of people maybe one of them asks me a courteous, inconsequential question. If I sit down I melt into oblivion. No one notices. When I get up to leave no one stops me. I am gone. And no one notices my absence.

            I own a cell phone—but no one ever calls; sometimes, not even to return my call. I post a message on Facebook, or Twitter. No comments.

            Where I work I have reconstructed some of our procedures to be more efficient. Someone else took the credit and was never questioned. Of course, I never spoke up about it to anyone.

When it comes to deep relationships with men, or women…, well—same story. No one wants to know me. So I withdraw deeper into my isolation and tell myself this is normal for some people. I know I am lying.

            I am nobody.

Too many of us suffer from a form of isolationism that deepens with the years. Sometimes that self-seclusion is learned through the berating and rejection of others:  sometimes it is self-imposed. Throughout my own youth I was constantly told I wouldn’t amount to anything. For a time, I simply accepted it. When I grew up it was an astonishing revelation that I could actually accomplish some things of significance. People who knew me were surprised; so was I.

It is true, “Ships are safe within the harbor; but that’s not what ships are built for.” You have been created by God to make a difference during your time on this earth. Have you discovered what it is? I encourage you to try something new, anything; although, if you have bad luck, sky-diving should not be the first venture. Eat new foods, get lost on a country road (er, with a GPS device nearby), read outside your normal purview; try sports (maybe not Rugby). You have not been designed to hide your life under a soggy cloud.

Now get up, get out of bed, and try to make someone else’s day! You are not nobody. Live with it.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

Energy

One of the greatest challenges to Evolutionary Theory is the teenager’s room. Left on its own, it will degenerate into chaos so fast it will utterly baffle you! The same is true of the human body; left alone it will not naturally evolve into Jessica Alba; it will decay into something that more resembles me (no pictures, please).

Like a farmer’s field, a great metropolis, or finely tuned Bugatti, the human body needs the proper infrastructure, nourishment, and discipline to prevent it from devolving into total couch-potatodom. Sure, a lot of our body type has to do with our genes; but it is probably more a matter of no longer even caring enough to fit into our jeans. We get lazy, eat convenience-foods, comfort-foods, and just plain junk. We lack the discipline to push our bodies to maintain the physical stamina they need to keep in balance.

A Question- Where do you get your energy? If it is from the food you eat, it is more than likely that it is time for some serious modification. To get your body functioning at a healthy level you need to eat right. Then…, there is exercise. Turn off that TV. Shut down that Laptop. Get up off your a## and move! If you never move, you will never need energy [no movement = no energy = fat build-up.] Duh.

As months and years pass you will need to become more intentional about grabbing all the energy you can; mostly because your propensity to not move will be on the increase. [less energy = less life.]

This same principle runs throughout every aspect of our lives-emotional, spiritual, relational, or professional. Unless we are consistently endeavoring to feed our soul, as it were, we will falter and stumble in every arena. Feed the body-right foods. Feed the emotions-balance receiving and giving. Feed the spiritual part of your life-feed your soul through prayer, meditation, and Scripture readings, study. Feed your relationships-nurture closer friendships; put something into them; even make new friends (at any age). They do not just happen. Feed your professional life-think creatively about your work and how you can make it more pleasurable and more productive.

If you find yourself energy-less you need to UpGrade your way of life:  put a bit more kick into your step, push yourself just a little further. Never rust on your laurels. No matter where you find yourself along in your life’s journey, there is nothing like punching that turbo button and launching yourself into overdrive.  Unless you are on your death-bed you have no one to blame but yourself.

For what it’s worth,

  Gary

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address

   It is likely that a majority of Americans recognize Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. It is just as likely that less than 10% of those know of it have even read it. Even less probable is, of those who have read it, few understand it. For it requires a knowledge of the Bible, European history, American history, and the political arena of the era.

But it also demands a firsthand knowledge of courage, sacrifice, and commitment. So, please, read what follows with an appreciation of the tasks to which Lincoln summoned us.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

November 19, 1863

            In these days of self- asserting significance and the pursuit of happiness (read $$$) above all else, we have become a people who, by in large, neglect our God given responsibility to the principles of democracy, diversity within plurality, and the protection of those with whom we differ. We each have a voice; let us speak out. We each have hands; let us work for the betterment of others. We each have a mind; never cease to use it.

For what it’s worth,

  Gary

Pocket Watch

 It was almost 35 years ago that my father died. If you’ve lost a parent, no matter how recent or in distant memory, you know how you never quite lose those special moments you had with them. Recently, I came across my father’s pocket watch, a Waltham. It had been given to him by his father. Now I have it. And it still works.

Pocket watches were used to time everything in their day; but mostly for determining train departures and arrivals in the rail industry. Their accuracy was extremely important. If a train left the station or yard too early if could find itself on a collision course with another train coming in on the same track.

Timing is just as critical in our technological era. From picking up the kids from daycare, to traffic signals, to being on time for a flight, to space craft launches, TIMING is critical.

Timing is critical in relationships as well. Simple Punctuality is a sign of respect. Knowing when to speak, and when not to, is a sign of wisdom & intuition. Words spoken are difficult to retract; some people remember things said to them all their lives. Some forgive; some do not.

Being truthful is a necessity in conversations. You never want to be caught in a lie, or a half-truth. End of credibility. But timing is critical when considering the difference between HONESTY and OPENNESS. Honesty should be required to direct questions. Openness is more a matter of perception, timing, and sensibility. For example, frank, honest discussion within a relationship is always good for the soul and for all those involved. Openness, laying out all your concerns on another in one single exchange, may be too much for them to bear.

Think.

Consider the import and ramifications of your words. What effect might your openness have on the other person? Are they at a good place to accept them, to ponder your perspective?

This is a kind of timing that is unavailable on the face of a pocket watch, or any other timepiece, for that matter. But it is an art we would all do well to learn.

Someone has said, “There is enough time in each day to do all God has assigned you.” So use your time wisely. Use your words wisely too. Timing is everything.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

They have Pulled Down Deep Heaven on their Heads

“They have Pulled Deep Heaven on their Heads.” So titled is chapter 13 in C S Lewis’ third book in his prophetic science fiction series. In this book, That Hideous Strength, Lewis recounts the efforts of a seemingly civil society of philanthropists to simultaneously enhance the buildings and grounds of a Private British College while they furtively seek to unearth the remains of Merlyn, the Medieval Wizard said to possess mysterious powers. It was those powers that they would harness and wield to their own purposes.

What they unearthed was not exactly what they had intended: quite the opposite in fact. In resurrecting Merlyn and his powers they inadvertently pulled down deep heaven on their heads.

How often do our plans and motivations pull down deep heaven on our heads? A desire for revenge certainly takes its toll on the begrudged, consuming both resources and creativity. Rage and a bitter spirit do likewise gnaw away at our souls, leaving us less than who we might have been.

But the one that does the most damage is that seething inner hatred of some other group or individual that is never assuaged; rather, it intentionally feeds exclusively on the meat that reinforces its ire, ignoring anything contrary. It’s not just that some of us need to be more right than anyone else. We also have to be able to rub it into those whom we’ve just proven wrong. This is an evil hatred that disdains the other and wishes their utter annihilation. This is the kind of arrogance that will pull down deep heaven, the wrath of God, if you will, on their own heads.

They must believe that their actions will have no consequences; that there is no God in the heavens with whom a reckoning must come. Can their resentment and fury be so unquenchable?!? What realities will bring them contentment, resolution, mercy, or grace? Will they ever be able to forgive those who have done so much wrong to them? Is retribution the only way?

Or is there another? Let me assure you that there is. But it will cost you your soul. You will come out the better man, the better woman for it. But the price is not cheap. Then again, anything of great worth never comes without disproportionate sacrifice.

Maybe it is simply better for things to go on as is, with your spirit seething within, seeking gross retaliation on others. What a glorious existence!

Personally, I would rather sacrifice my soul to be rid of such seething, crazed lunacy.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

sexy

  A quarter of this world’s population is situated in North America, Europe, and Japan. If you live in any of these regions you are subjected to a constant barrage of extreme sexuality from print media, to the internet, to the local high school, or merely walking outside your home. If Middle Eastern cultures have any apprehensions that we have sold out to evil, they need merely watch our TV or peruse our magazines.

Of course, at the turn of the Twentieth Century, the sight of a woman’s ankle, even cloaked in a stocking, was enough to send a suitor into a delirious tizzy. But by the turn of the Twenty-first Century…, good grief! Do teenage girls want to be assaulted?!? Do teenage boys think that wearing their pants below their butt is attractive, let alone appropriate?!? Really!

Fashion today, at least among teenagers, is a degradation of the female and male bodies. Among Twentysomethings, it’s a little better…unless their goal is to get picked up, laid, or merely to look sluty. Casual sex is in vogue. “Hooking up” it’s called:  no other context, just sex. O joy. Granted, this is not true of every teen, or every Twentysomething; but it is all around us, all the time.

Everything sexy in our society, in our culture, has lost any context connecting it to marriage and commitment. It is sex for sex’s sake, and nothing more. Tina Turner’s song, “What’s Love Got to Do With It (1984).” was prophetic. Why would anyone have to pay for sex again?

Physical/sexual attraction among the young, and the old, is a normal part of life; a quite enjoyable one, I might add. But must sexuality dominate our media to the extent that it does? I recall a 1950s auto parts magazine cover, picturing a girl in a bikini holding a 3’ long wrench. My mind was baffled. The connection between the wrench & the bikini was supposed to be…, what? Even though I was not yet 20 this made no sense. But this was merely a portent of things to come.

Western culture, and any culture seeking to be like us, will fall to this sexualization of their young. It is the inevitable result of any society that dismisses a moral code based outside its own plurality. The questions raised by this process are serious and numerous and must be addressed. Otherwise, Caligula’s Rome awaits us.

So how do we instill a moral conscience in the next generation when the definition is left up to the individual who is assailed 24/7 with the images & messages of sex? Ideas please!

Sweet dreams,

Gary

hamlet

 

Immanuel Giel

hamlet– def.

1. a small village in Medieval Europe; 2. the Crown Prince of Denmark in William Shakespeare’s play; 3. future bacon.

So…, what’s in a name?!? Words are funny things. In latter medieval days the Oxford English Dictionary recorded more than 21,800 Old English words in use, many of them amalgamations of Norse, Old English, and Latin. Between 1576 & 1650 an additional 44,500 were included, bringing the total close to 70,000. By the late Renaissance, the number of words had risen above 100,000. By the turn of the 2nd Millennium (1900) the total was closer to half a million. A Millennium later, by January 1, 2012, the OED listed 1,019,729.6 words, excluding scientific, technological, and medical terminologies.

So…, what is in a word? Putting aside prefixes, suffixes, tenses, homonyms, and nuances English is a convoluted language. Chinese may hold the record for number of characters (106,230 in the 2004 Yitizi Zidian Dictionary) but English takes the trophy for confusion. Add to that our postmodern propensity to invent meanings for conventional words on the basis of individual, personal preference and you have one “mell of a hess!”

For one, take cursing. Our media bleeps-out words like f*#k and s@%t, but uses the Name of God and Jesus Christ in profane manners. Our culture can’t even get cursing right! We extricate vulgar language and gloss over genuine blasphemy! Not worth a comment.

Aweful is another example, totally flipped in meaning in just 300 years. Once it referred to the glory and greatness of our God: today, it’s just Awful, meaning really terrible! Diddo.

George Bernard Shaw, (1856-1950) the Irish playwright, once quoted “God created man in His image and then man returned the favor.” The quote is not original with Shaw but his point is palatable. It is also transferable to language—Words evolve imbued with history & meaning; then we change their meanings to suit our fancy. Stephen Colbert’s idea of truthiness comes to mind.

Words do evolve and change in their usage over time, be it 300 years (aweful) or 2 years, “Tweet me.” Redefining words for personal pleasure should not be endured in civil society. Yet, in our postmodern/postChristian societies, we actually encourage the re-defining of words to fit our penchants. When we talk about sin the meaning should be clear. A lie is a lie, not a mis-speaking. Contracts should be written clearly, with NO questions about the meaning of its words.

Sometimes it feels like we’re dredging up the Tower of Babel because it suits our predilections.

For what it’s worth, [Whatever that means to you.]

Gary

that ringing in my ears

Stop! Listen! You can hear it if you think about it— that delicate ringing in your ears just below the surface of your conscious thought. Normally, most of us tune out its persistent ringing (although some of us are unable to silence it). Most of the time it is a background noise; that is all. But it can be a distraction. And in those quiet moments of self-conscious thought, it can be heard below the din of our ruminations.

Our ears tune into all kinds of ambient distractions. For some, music beckons like the Sirens of ancient lore, disrupting us from completely engaging in present conversations. For others, music provides a soothing underscore enabling us to focus more fully on the tasks at hand. For still others any ambient noise, the whirling of a fan, the clicking of a keypad, the laughter of children playing, distracts us from focused engagement. Distractions all!

So why is it, then, that too often we choose to focus on the distraction rather than the present undertaking? Could it be that some tasks put to us are too complex or immense? Then, the distraction becomes so much more appealing, drawing us to its fancy. Or might it be that we simply choose to not think too deeply, too hard, about anything. It’s just too much work. We’d rather tune into anything else, even that ringing in our ears, than give ourselves to proactive, difficult thought.

Dare it be said? The modern mind is no more. It has been supplanted by a simple mind, a lazy mind, for a mind poised for mediocrity. Rather than rising to the occasion we choose to wait to see what happens. Easier to respond; more difficult to initiate. So?!?

If a majority of us continue along this path we will be absorbed by the postmodern mindset of rejecting past wisdom simply because it is from the past. Instead, we will grasp the dribble of postmodern/postChristian philosophies that merely reflect majority sentiment and leaning. Brilliant!

For example, do we really believe that human nature and morality are mere societal constructs for the safe perpetuation of the human species?!? REALLY!?! Then evolutionary theory has degenerated into mere human mechanics. Human decency has descended into no more than what each individual thinks they can get away with. Individual commitments become mere conveniences.

You can believe whatever you want. I choose to learn from the past, live graciously in the present, and risk our futures on faith in a personal God and human integrity rather than on a closed universe and humanistic mechanizations. There may be ringing in my ears, but I still choose to think.

For what it’s worth,

Gary

pretending to be dead

“… he’s in the bedroom pretending to be dead.” was the declaration a 6 year old ‘Bekah announced to her parents when they inquired as to the whereabouts of her 3 year old brother, Duke. Kids say the darndest things. Of course, he emerged a few moments later, very alive, seeking a treat.

Not unexpectedly, there are a lot of us who pretend to be dead when we want to avoid certain uncomfortable situations; a drop-by at the office, unexpected relatives, a former boyfriend who wants to stay in touch, a boss coming down on you when you’ve screwed up, getting caught hedging on your tax return, being seen out with another woman.

Personal hide-outs & fantasies start to look quite appealing when we want to get out from under a potentially itchy predicament. Kids play at being dead all the time. The problem comes when this playing dead continues into adulthood. We don’t like what we see coming, so we hide, find our schedules suddenly over-booked, have another commitment, etc. In essence, we play dead; just for the sake of avoidance. Inevitably, however, there will come a day when we must face the Grim Reaper of personal accountability… in this life or the next.

So what can be done to avoid those special situations where we’d rather pretend to be dead?

  1. Prudent Transparency is a good place to start. Wisdom dictates our honesty at all times: caution guards our degree of openness and trust.
  2. Taking Responsibility is another initial posture we should practice. Most cover-ups and side-steps are eventually discovered. Don’t waste the energy.
  3. Placing Character before Compromise is also a good idea. There is nothing like a consistent trait of integrity that will encourage another person to criticize you with friendly impunity. Character builds both community and comradery, not to mention open lines of communication.
  4. Confession is good for the soul, it is said. It also expedites a return to sincere relationships. Clearing the air early-on always avoids further complication and hesitancy.
  5. NEVER pass the buck!

We have arrived at that stage in our cultural development where a man, a woman, of integrity is a rare commodity. Some even believe they can be a detriment to an organization. But in the long view this has not proven so. It is people who face their fears, or the consequences of their actions (or inaction), who lead us all into a more God-honoring, people-honoring world community.

Have a nice week,

Gary