... about what is of importance

OK, I just cannot let it go. The rear-ender fender bender has got me worked up. So, another post today about it, and then I'll drop it. Promise.

One thing that stood out from the whole surreal experience that day was how important this little crack in a bumper was to this kid. After I escaped to my van to avoid his mom (see yesterday's post), I jotted down a few things that are more important to me than the hole (notice the difference to his) in my bumper. I had a lot of time. The police didn't how up for an hour!

Here they are. Realize that apart from the top 10 there is no particular order. Feel free to offer your suggestions, filling in the blanks until we get to the number I believe a cracked bumper should be.

1. Me and God, his Son, his Spirit, his Word

2. My wife
3. My children
4. My extended family & in-laws
5. Serving in the Kingdom
6. The congregation I serve
7. The health of my family
8. My life-long friends
9. The memories shared from the above 8
10. A date with my wife
10 1/2. My next golf tee time

11. Music & the iPod I asked for for Christmas
12. Reading
13. Playing sports with my kids
14. Coaching High School Girls soccer
15. Watching my son play basketball
16. Watching my daughter play volleyball
17. Watching my youngest daughter laugh
18. Seeing movies with my wife in the theater (part of the date in #10)
19. Digital Video Recorder
20. High Speed Internet

21. Friends that send me the weirdest YouTube stuff
22. West Texas Sunsets

23. Fishing with my dad in the Great Lakes

24. Indoor plumbing that works

25. Sportscenter

26. Hockey - Go Habs!

27. Street Hockey with my kids in the cul-de-sac

28. Wahoo's Fish tacos

29. Buying used books online at Half.ebay.com

30. Memories of Rush concerts

31. My high school Air band

32. watching Jack Bauer, Jack Shepherd, Michael Scofield, and now Hiro Nakamura save the world - or at least escape from prison and survive on an island with bad people

33. Fresh Fruit - My new sugar high

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-

-

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-356. The hole in my bumper... (and the crack in the bumper of my young friend's car)

OK, I'm done for now. It's amazing the list you can come up with when you're in a situation like mine this week. Try it. Like I said, feel free to add some of yours to the list between the numbers 33 and 356. Have a good day and watch your rear-view mirror!

... and thinking,.. How Sad!

Monday I got into a rear-end to rear-end fender bender. It was about 50/50 as far as who hit who. The bottom line is that we ran into one another. I looked but didn't see him. There is "No Fault" when it comes to an accident like this, on private property, both vehicles going backwards... In Colorado (and probably most places) this is a No-Fault accident. Both people are out a deductible, you get the thing fixed and away you go. You did know that one of Murphy's other laws is that this kind of thing always happens around Christmas.

Here's where everything gets interesting. The driver of the other car was a 19ish young man with his girlfriend in the passenger seat. Nice new Acura. He was very proud of it. He jumped out of his car and spent the better part of the next hour surveying the damage. My minivan, while a valuable part of our family, is mostly a way of getting 5 or more to their destination. I have always felt this way about cars. Now, don't get me wrong, I drool over the sports cars like the next guy. Back to the scene: This kid (I can say that - I'm over 40) was pretty worked up. He said he wasn't hurt, his girlfriend either, and neither was I. I was prepared to trade insurance information and go on my Merry (sorry for the seasonal punni-ness) way. He thought we needed to call the Police, and since he was getting pretty agitated, I let him do that, showing him where the non-emergancy number was on his cards. Two minutes later, the ambulance and a firetruck show up!? They spent two minutes finding out no one was injured (interesting side note here: our young friend had been walking around just fine up until the ambulance arrived, then he got into his car and the emergency personnel had to assess his situation there... hmmm...)

It gets better: His mom shows up and proceeds to start in yelling at me for robbing her sweet, innocent son of his deductible claiming it was me who hit him and he shouldn't have to pay. She didn't like the news that this was "No-Fault". I think from there it just went downhill. Dad showed up and proceeded to talk to his son at length. Police arrived after an hour (shouldn't have been called in the first place, but I wasn't about to tell this kid what to do in his agitated state, especially after mom appeared). The officer took our information, wrote a report, gave our stuff back, and I left. Yesterday morning I found out from my insurance agent that a whole new story appeared about them driving forward, me hitting them at excessive speeds (in a small, tight parking lot???), and that he has medical needs, and they aren't paying for anything, including their deductible, they want us to. Wow. What levels people won't stoop to. This story has yet to unfold totally, but I have been assured that nothing will happen to me.

What really puzzles me is the steps that it took for these folk to go from being involved in a simple, small fender-bender to creating lies, wanting to cheat someone and something (wonder why insurance rates are so high?) out of a few hundred dollars. Worse still is the lesson this young man learns from his parents. It's OK to lie, cheat, and steal if it helps you, ends up costing you nothing, and pays for your car to be fixed. In the words of my title: How Sad.

... about the problems of Elves this time of year...

Elf Pet Peeves:

• All the tables/chairs in the cafeteria are built to Santa's Size.
• Those 16 hour workdays in December.
• The Movie "Elf" wasn't true to the book.
• Three Words: Reindeer Stall Duty
• Toil for 364 days a year just to make children smile and no one cares. Meanwhile, frolic around one day in some fruity outfit in February with a lousy bow and arrow and all of a sudden you're a hero.
• North Pole PPO health plan doesn't cover tattoo removal.
• The EPA's new relaxed reindeer-emissions standards.
• Icy cold North Pole temperature makes it hard to produce quality workmanship.
• Reindeer game #12: Elf lacrosse.
• Jolly Ole Santa has never yet brought back a single cookie to share.

(Adapted from Sermon Fodder and Joke A Day Ministries. http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=lx5kx9bab.0.pspisnbab.9nnikbbab.16604&ts=S0219&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sermonfodder.com)

... about golf (since it was 1 degree F yesterday!)

Hey, it's really cold out and at this time of year when it's like that my thoughts turn not to christmas, but to golf. Here's a good paragraph for all you golfers out there who feel the need to connect golf with theology. I don't need to talk about that connection as often as some because I feel the connection, deep inside my self. I need golf to help my spiritual walk. Those of you who are non-golfers will not ever understand that so I rest my case. I just call it spiritual renewal and go on.

Yes, it's fun.
Yes, I enjoy watching it on TV.
Yes, I follow the sport, and Tiger Woods, and I read the magazines as often as Bob Stephenson supplies me with his used copies! Thanks Bob!
Yes, I love the history of the game.
Yes, it is a hobby (and an expensive one at that).
I admit all of that. So sue me.

Oh yeah, back to the paragraph:

"You cannot golf well unless you combine a number of seemingly contradictory virtues: concentrated and relaxed effort, intensity and calm, active hope and long-suffering, to name a few. Golf is an eschatological (study of last things) game. It's a bout playing in the tension between promise and fulfillment, the already-but-not-yet."

Have a great Monday and remember: Golf is about spiritual renewal to me (yah, yah, and it's fun).