To Offend or Not Offend

Friends!  We love friends!  One of our friend couples, who will remain nameless, came over to our house for Family Night.  They offered to bring the treat and we accepted.  Who can give up good food from friends. 

They arrived with some wonderful rhubarb crisp and a half gallon of ice cream.  I eyed the ingredients of the ice cream, my hear sunk, dang, corn syrup; the bane of my existence!  My corn allergy haunts me wherever I go.  Natural corn I can eat; however, almost everything eatable contains some kind of processed corn and that is what kills me - not literally.  I get a really upset stomach and all the issues that come with it, sometimes, I wish that my allergy were deathly; then, I would be able to avoid it more thoroughly. 

Let me explain.  When my good friends who I admire and love came over to our apartment for the first time bearing lethal ice cream, what could I do except eat what I was offered.  Now many of you are thinking: okay, they are your friends and will understand your circumstance.  Yes, you are right, they would; I know that they would be okay if I told them I could not have the ice cream; yet, I have too much of South America in my blood to do it.  No, I am not Latino, even a little bit by blood, but I did serve the Latino people of Ecuador for two years.  In those two years I spent all of my time with people who would rather die than give offense.  Marinating in that mentality for two years has changed me.

Needless to say, both my wife and I want the recipe for the rhubarb crisp, a better desert I have not had.  And I, I, am suffering from an over does of corn syrup found in 98 percent of ice creams.  Tasted like a dream, punishes like a nightmare.  Such is life.

Of Length and Peace

Isaiah.  The first block I will be teaching reaches from Isaiah 24-29, a doable stretch.  The second block.  Isaiah 30-47.  Seventeen chapters of Isaiah to analyze, understand, apply, and then teach to high school age kids with a focus on relevance.  Don't get me wrong.  There is a lot there and that is part of the problem.  There is a lot there. Isaiah does not just come like some scripture.  One has to struggle, wrestle, and spend time to understand everything.  Sometimes, I just can't seem to grasp his words. 

Yesterday was one of these times.  I was focusing a little too much on getting the new TV up and running with my friend; not an activity conducive to the Sabbath Day.  After we finished, my mind still reeled with organization; was everything in the right place; and man, I could not stop thinking, that looks good. 

Then I sat down to read Isaiah.  The first paragraph left me stumped.  I did not understand what he was talking about at all.  My mind would not settle; I was still focused on the TV.  Finally I gave up and prayed.  I still could not focus. I prayed again.  Still no understanding came.  I asked my wife to pray with me.  Bingo!  I found the peace that allows the Spirit to teach and I could read, study, and understand.

Often, the world comes into your mind and keeps you from focusing on what is most important.  Satan loves it when we can't recognize up from down because that is when we are most vulnerable.  Yet, the Lord is always there and he will come to our aid as we diligently seek him.

Decisions, Decisions

Brooke and I work our in the morning using Just Dance on the Wii.  When we moved into our new apartment, we had no room for the TV.  My ex-roommates kept it for us until we has everything organized and a space to place it in.  Finally, in the second week of our marriage, everything was in place.  We even scavenged an entertainment center someone had put out by the dumpster. 

The TV fit perfectly, with one exception.  It wouldn’t turn on.  We checked to make sure it was plugged into an outlet with power and it still did not work.  We have friends living across the way form us and when I told him that I could not get the TV working, he said, “I’ll be right over.”  I guess I should have told him that I had run all the tests he was running because he did everything I had done to the same effect.  The TV still did not turn on.  Finally, he looked at me and said, “You need a new one.  I’ll go to Cosco with you, we can go man shopping!”  Pausing her added with a wink and a whisper, “Don’t tell Brooke, what she doesn’t know can’t hurt you.”  She heard that.

Anyways, my friend, his wife, Brooke and I all ended up at Cosco today to look at TVs.  I told Brooke that we would not necessarily be buying one today but lets face it, no one likes having to go out and shop again for something right in front of you.  I had a hard time picking something out.

The guys will appreciate my dilemma.  For 180 dollars I could get a 1080p 24 inch flat-screen.  It is small but the definition is excellent or we could get a 32 inch flat-screen 780p for 260 dollars.  The size makes a difference if you are watching with subtitles or if there is something small on the TV.  I ran and looked at one, then the other.   I put the 24 inch in the cart.  I kept looking around at the other TVs.  I compared the hook-up system in the back.  I debated with Brooke and my friend.  Finally Brooke and I made the decision: I put the 24 inch back on the shelf, wincing with pain, 1080p – I picked up the 32 inch and gently placed it in the cart, feeling better as I looked at the size. 

Now – for the rest of the groceries…

Almost Missed Today

My wife and I just returned from the dollar theater.  We left home with the intention to see the new Sherlock Holms movie.  Imagine my frustration when we get there 15 min early and it is sold out.  Friday nights, gotta love'em.  Anyways, I felt like i had to settle for another movie.  "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" intrigued me.  I looked at my wife, she nodded her head.  I bought the tickets.

What an experience.  I felt as though I were a passenger on the journey with our young hero.  The director orcastrated the film in a way that I felt a little bit what it might be like to live life as a young man with Asperger's disease.  I wont add any more details but it is enough that I could feel his journey as he made it.  I gasped when he gasped and I made connections when he made them.  I was so enthralled that I did not notice the constant music coming from someones ipod during the movie; at least not until my wife pointed it out.  I thought it must be a part of the movie because no one comes to see this kind of movie and then listens to their ipod.  The movie continued and I forgot about the music.

The end left me sitting without the desire to leave.  The credit music rolled over me like waves on the warm beach of Porta Pinllasco, Mexico.  Eventually, we decided to leave and let the people in our row out; though, i think they were as mesmerized as we.

Once in the car and moving I noticed that I could hear Wicked playing in the background.  I messed with Brooke's radio thinking it was coming from there.  It wasn't.  Confused, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to discover that Pandora had been playing for the past three hours. 

To Be, Or Not To Be. That Is The Question!

Nobody panic, I am not contemplating suicide as our good friend Hamlet.  Instead, I am referring to two exotic plants that my mother-in-law bought Brooke and I for our wedding reception.

Light yellow lines followed the contours of the veins in their broad green leaves; yet, if you were to lift up and look under the leaves, you would find a rich dark purple.  Brooke and I dreamed of placing them alongside the Faika bonsai tree that I had presented to her the day I asked her to marry me.  It seemed fitting, the engagement tree in between the marriage plants.

Alas, our dream was not meant to be.  After the wedding, our family brought our presents and plants to our apartment and left them for us.  After three days at the Grand America in SLC, we returned, excited to get decorating.  Having enjoyed my floral design class, I wanted to find our tropical plants and make sure that they would be somewhere ascetically pleasing. 

The dark apartment waited for us as we unlocked first the dead bolt and then the doorknob.  The blinds had been drawn to keep others from seeing we were not home.  Dragging as much luggage as I could, I hoisted it over the presents on the floor to our bedroom.  After a few trips we finished emptying the car.  I glanced over our living room and into the kitchen, there sat our exotic plants.  Brown and black death lined the once luscious leaves, leaving a small pocket of green along the center of a few leaves. 

Hurriedly, we watered them and placed them in some light and over the next few days, I trimmed away the dead leaves and hopped for a comeback.  Slowly, the green spread in the few living leaves; however, the purple bottom of the leaves looked a lot like the dead brown color and in a moment of sad stupor, I trimmed some of the living leaves on both plants.

Realizing what I had done, I examined the remaining leaves for healthy growth.  I spotted spots of green and even a strip down the center of a leaf.  I cared for them with the hope of a future and a prayer in my heart; to no avail.  These wonderful plants met their end just yesterday.  They are buried in a whited plastic sepulcher and will be there until the worms and insects destroy its flesh.  For these plants it is not to be.

Seminary Spotlight

"I'm nervous -- Are you nervous?" The class just stared back, I felt like the car about to hit the deer.  The deer sure is surprised and the car is destroyed.

Pictures, I know I have some pictures on the next slide.  That should help, there is still a chance to save this deer.  "What do you know about me from these pictures?"

"You're married!" shouts a few students.

"Almost," I say.

"Engaged to be married then."

"Yep, I will marry Brooke on February 18th."

"Wow, that is right around the corner."

"That's right.  The next time you see me, I will be married!"

Smiles broke out around the classroom.  "Ok," I think.  "I can do this."  And I did.

Long Time No Write

It has been a long time since I have written to this blog.  I guess wedding plans have taken the cake time-wise.

Speaking of cake, we are going to have the best of all worlds.  A carrot cake layer for the ground level, German chocolate for the second floor and the third is to be lemon ma-range.  Mmmmmmm.  The other day, Brooke's aunt who is helping to make the cake brought over a sample of the chocolate cake and I died, went to heaven, and came back for more.

I must be on a cake kick because of the strawberry pie Brooke's grandmother made; I tried it today and fell in love.  I must be hungry to be talking about all of this food.