Random thoughts

I had traveled to a distant Texas town over the weekend and got the chance to talk at long length to a type of person that I normally wouldn't find myself engaged in conversation with. He, in many ways, reminded me of my younger years. What I saw was a decent guy who seemed to have absolutely no sense of purpose in his life. He knew there was a right and wrong but was content not to worry about why it existed so long as he could keep chasing the pot of gold at the end of his rainbow. Until he found it, he would keep chasing the skirt of the woman in front of him. I was reminded that to have a blind or empty faith is as pointless as having no faith at all.

When I got home from my trek across the state, I decided it was time that I changed the oil in my car. It was way overdue and I still had some time left in the day, so I pulled the car up on the ramps, drained the dirty old oil from my car and replaced it with new, clean oil. Since we're supposed to recycle our used oil, I funnelled it back into the oil jug. I had some space in the jug left over and I remembered that I had an open container of used motor oil that I had kept on my back porch the prior year to lube my chainsaw. As I began to pour that oil into my jug, a big lump coalesced in the bottom of the container. On closer examination, I saw that it was a bird... and that bird's nest. I remember seeing a big splash of oil on my back porch last year, but I didn't realize the bird had fallen into the oil container and died. Apparently, the bird had built a nest just above the oil container and had seen the oil and thought it was a water birdbath. She went for a dip and then got covered with oil, so she couldn't fly. Her flailing knocked her nest into the oil, drowning her eggs and herself. It was kinda sad.

All my life I have been an "idea man". I've always looked at things and wondered "What if..." I consider that my gifting, my raison d'etre, so to speak. But I seem to see things so differently than the rest of the world, it's sometimes a bit discouraging that so few other people seem to give a rat's ass about my ideas. Well, tomorrow someone's giving me their ear. And not just anyone, but someone who can actually help my idea come to fruition. Maybe it'll be like all the other opportunities gone by the wayside, but at the risk of sounding like the 30 something that never found a mate, I'd like to think that this opportunity will be "the one". I'm certain that God has given me this odd brain for a reason, and I'm also certain that there's a reason why things happen the way they do, so I don't begrudge past "failures" if you will. I'm just ready for a success.

A while back, my good friend Rina introduced me to a book written by an Indian doctor/philosopher named Depak Chopra. In the brief amount of information that I have gleened from Chopra, some amazing new paradigms have formed in my brain. He speaks, for instance, of our cells and DNA - the essence and base building block of who we are as people - essentially being a story book of our lives, containing information about our past and our present and our predispositions of our future. From the study of these cells and DNA structures, scientists can often tell people what areas of one's genetics are weak and susceptible to disease. Chopra's basic assertion is that while our parents birth us with a copy of their DNA, we are continually in the process of writing our DNA with our lives. Thus, if we make a major life change, our DNA can actually change. This statement, to me, is congruent with the process of spiritual re-birth - a born again religious conversion, a revelation which can fundamentally alter someone's viewpoint on just about everything. It also backs up the statement of the Bible that says "the sins of the father are visited on the third and fourth generation, but the mercy of the Lord is everlasting." Negative patterns of behaviour do indeed often last for several generations, but the hope that I find in this scientific research is that the DNA predisposition towards these negative behaviours can actually shift when someone makes a conscious and meaningful decision to see things differently and align their lives accordingly. Thanks for the book recommend, Rina. I hope your back is feeling better.

Well, as I said earlier, I am hopeful that tomorrow might be "the day" that this lifetime of dry ideas ends. I should get some rest for it. If you're so inclined to pray for things like this, I could use the favor of the Lord on my life right now. I will covet your prayers.