Even more reasons to Cocoon

The advent of air conditioning and television have encouraged us to just stay home. Why go to the mall? Why fight the traffic? I'll just stay home and "cocoon." I can shop for just about anything online.

While exploring the local library (internet version of course), I came across resources that make it possible to exert even less energy. Not only can I avoid leaving the house, now I can just stay in my chair. No need to get up and go to the bookshelves. The library now houses my college annuals and newspapers. See for yourself: ACU publications.

The Sun is Riz the Sun is Set

There's an old story about traveling across Texas by rail. The passenger described it: "The sun is riz, the sun is set and here we is in Texas, yet." And it is a long way across Texas. But I think this also describes any endeavor that's more than microwave quick.

Not good news

We had hoped our kids would be able to come back home tomorrow. Instead they'll head back to the hospital for another round of chemo. Apparently the little feller didn't respond all that well to the standard treatment. The regular approach is supposed to knock the lymphoblast count down to zero. Ours is still high. So instead of a week off, they'll start a new mixture.

We were there for the weekend. He didn't have much energy but we did get a smile or two. Those smiles are precious.

Turkey at McDonalds?

Our world changed on November 12th when our grandson was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acute_lymphoblastic_leukemia). The “acute” describes the aggressive nature of the disease. I was floored by how fast things moved. Our five year old (he’d say “almost 6”) was diagnosed on a Friday. They sent him to a major children’s hospital on the same day. Treatment began within 24 hours of diagnosis. They began his treatment on a Saturday. I’ve spent a lot of time visiting hospitals. In my experience it is very unusual to do surgical procedures on the weekend. I was glad they were able to get things started. But I was also very concerned that they thought it necessary to move so quickly.
Alarms were going off in my head. I’ve spent a quarter of a century visiting folks in hospitals and in my experience cancer treatment moves slowly. Usually, a person starts out feeling lousy. They finally go to the doctor. Diagnostic tests begin. Eventually, the doctors decide that it is cancer. A referral is made. Then the patient waits for an appointment. Finally, options are discussed and treatment begins. So, moving from nothing to hospitalization and chemotherapy in a single day boggled my mind.
We were worried. Like other families we waited eagerly for any encouraging words from the medical team. We tallied the risk factors. We took comfort in the ones we didn’t have and tried to ignore the ones we did. We scrutinized the doctors and nurses for clues–dissecting both words and demeanor.
We hoped that the little rascal would be in the group which responded most rapidly to treatment. We settled for being in the standard risk group until the third bone marrow test. That one moved us into the high risk category. There is a higher risk group but missing that designation didn’t comfort us. We had expected better. We were disappointed and trying hard not to be worried.
The little feller left the hospital after about 12 days and joined the rest of his family in the Ronald McDonald House just in time for Thanksgiving. Family friends brought our turkey dinner. I guess you could say we had turkey and dressing at Ronald McDonald’s house.

The Garageable Airplane

Well they won't tell us the top land speed, but the soon to come Transition offers us a chance to have a genuine fly/drive vacation.

http://www.terrafugia.com/photogallery.html

Harry Potter did it with magic. This US company has already tested their car-plane. Looks good, too.

Hmmm.

Not sure what just happened. I accessed the dashboard. Changed the background. And previewed a new post.
But when I "published" the post. It disappeared and I got a message that I needed to sign in again. Hmmm.

It isn't working

Oops, this isn't meant to connect to the previous post. Instead It's about a book I saw in the bookstore tonight. My wife and I have a ritual on Friday nights. We eat (out) and then invade a bookstore. In Abilene we have 2 choices. We then select reading material and veg for an hour or so.
Tonight's discovery was this one.

Because I didn't find it until after I'd scanned a couple of other books I stayed in the shallow end. Moving beyond material mentioned in Gladwell's Outliers, author Tony Schwartz delves deeper into the study of thirty young musicians to show that excellence wasn't simply predicated on much, much more practice. Those who excelled also slept and napped more than the "normal" bunch.

Perhaps humans aren't so much like mechanical brains after all. Instead we're more like the created world. We have cycles. Productivity is enhanced by relaxation.

This is one of those insights we need to be applying to the church. The biblical worldview rests on such cycles. Our modern approach reflects too much dependence on mechanical or business models.

I'm not saying that Jesus wouldn't have used allusions from machinery or the business world. But I believe that his agricultural allusions were more than just the result of his agrarian culture.