Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Victory

I like to think of this blog as the "BLOG OF VICTORY." Yes, my friends, that is correct..."THE BLOG OF VICTORY." I have triumphed over my furry little competitor. In the words of someone else, "I came, I saw, I killed it." So, last night my wife and I are watching a movie downstairs (sidebar - the movie was crap). Suddenly right in front of us the mouse runs across the floor (cue ominous music) and then, in front of our very eyes, scales the wall and disappears into the furnace vent (six feet off the ground). What in Hades? I didn't know mice could climb vertical walls. It was terrifying (cue sounds of my wife screaming a little bit). BUT - I now knew where to set the traps. Bwahhahahahahah This morning there was a mouse caught in the trap. He was dead. I now have four traps set in the same general area in case any of his friends decide to try and crash this party. I have also cut a small notch on the side of the trap that caught the mouse. That trap my friend is special and shall receive recognition among all the traps. It shall have a high standing among traps. It shall be called The Trap of Victory. Oh its on now baby.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Mouse Hunt Pt 2

So, this mouse obviously thinks it is the evil king of my house or something. So far, it has managed to elude my traps. There have been no sightings. I am not giving up. No mouse shall live in my house. While I was hoping to be able to provide you with photographic proof of my victory in the form of a mouse in a trap (or my daughter suggested we cut off its head and mount it on a toothpick outside our front door as a warning to all other mice) fear not: this mouse's days are numbered. I am the king of my house. No mouse shall usurp the throne. Stay tuned. Moving traps to better locations today.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Mouse Hunt Part 1

I have battled a skunk that lived underneath one of our houses. It won and we moved. I have yet to battle a little critter that actually lives in your house. This blog will chronicle my Herculean struggle against the evil force pictured above - mighty mouse. It isn't my fault. I didn't start this battle. I didn't go looking for this battle. I was drawn in to it as unwilling participant. But let me be clear. I may not have started it, but I will finish it. Last night as we were getting ready for bed, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a shadow moving across the ceiling. Because the lamps were on, I naturally assumed something on the floor had cast a shadow and so I leisurely looked down on the floor. There, staring me down, mano to mano, was a mouse. A real, live, breathing, mouse on my floor in my bedroom late at night. It was a shock. My heart began to beat faster (a lot faster). I did not, for the record, scream or jump on the bed, or do anything like that. I went looking for something to capture it in. while I was upstairs looking for a bucket or a container of some type, my wife yells that "it's moving" and by the time I get back downstairs, it has disappeared into the laundry room. A fact I did not know. A mouse can flatten its body so that it fits underneath a closed door. I did not know this. It freaks me out a little. What evil genius (Satan) thought up a rodent that could flatten itself almost as thin as paper. That just plain isn't fair. How am I supposed to fight a creature that can transform itself like that to escape? Well, needless to say, I am up to the challenge. No rodent...NO RODENT...enters my house, stares me down, and then lives to tell about it. I'm on my way to buy traps. The kind that maim and kill and mutilate in the most hideous of fashions in order to send a warning message to other rodents who might happen by and see their colleague in one of my traps. (I'd best protect my fingers while setting them or I'll be looking for another career but that is another story and frankly...I'm obsessed with finding and destroying the evil in my house and my fingers are only a minor secondary concern at this point). I'll be out of town for a day or so. When I get back I expect to find a mouse cut in half in my trap. I'll let you know where to send congratulatory cards and champagne when I celebrate my victory.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Identity

Who I am is made up of several interactive and, at times, competing factors. I wish it wasn't true, but the more I think about this, the more I get to know myself, the more I have to admit that it is true. I am a believer, a husband, a father, a musician, an academic, a sceptic, a sinner, and a pastor. All of these things define me and the struggle is to keep each in perspective. That struggle exemplifies the human condition. Popular culture, at least in North America, tends to define you based on what you do. When two people meet each other for the first time the natural first question that comes out after getting to know your name, or often even before that, is "what do you do?" What you do so often defines you. I've fallen victim to this self-identity far too often and I've allowed the "musician" or the "pastor" or the "academic" to take centre stage. When I primarily identify myself by what I do, it doesn't take long until I am caught up in the game called "success". If who I am is determined by what I do, then in order to feel good about myself I need to be the best at what I do. My self worth is then tied directly to my level of success in my given area, and this of course leads to jealousy of those who are better or more successful in the same field. When I don't get a promotion or a gig or a deal that I feel I deserved, it affects my self worth. Christian culture tends to define you based upon what I will call "the Christian index." The talk that most Christians have amongst themselves, at least on the surface, revolves around knowing their identity rests in the knowledge that they are a child of God and therefore forgiven and headed to heaven when they die. Noting wrong with that. There are however, things that are implied in this knowledge that are not often talked about, but which also define us. What if I am a child of God and I'm still struggling with sin in my life? Trust me, everyone does, it isn't really an "if" question. So, my Christian identity is both as a child of God and a person who still struggles with sin and does sin. Christians don't usually say that part of their identity is that of a sinner. They'd rather just ignore it, sweep it under the rug, or "deal with it" privately. What if I'm a child of God but I don't really attend a church? What if I've been hurt by so many Christians and churches that I avoid them? In Christianese, church attendance and participation are so often inversely correlated with being a "good Christian." Also, does my relationship with God exist in a vacuum? Is it completely separate from what I do? Doing so seems to me to be rather esoteric, otherwordly, and not at all relevant to the fact that my identity includes what I do as well. Finally I am also a husband and father. If I forget that part of my identity includes my responsibilities to and relationships with my family then I am not being true to who God calls me to be: in essence I am not being a believer if I neglect my wife and kids. I've seen lots of pastors neglect their families; thinking that their role as pastor defined them and therefore their family just had to take second place, to say nothing of their identity in Christ. I can't tell you the number of professionals, whether academics, musicians, businessmen, (check out actors too), who believe that success in their field is their identity and that their families are holding them back. No wonder divorce rates are so high. Having realized this stuff, I have to say that although I certainly don't have it all figured out, I am beginning to figure out who I am and who I am not. I am a complex interactive of competing and cooperative desires, goals, and realizations. I don't yet have them all in balance, and I doubt I ever will this side of eternity. The best I can do is try to realize when something is out of balance and attempt to bring it back into some type of balance. I am a believer, a husband, a father, a musician, an academic, a sceptic, a sinner, and a pastor. Hopefully in that order.