Finding the Promised Land

I once owned a house up in Running Springs and I loved it. When my marriage failed, we lost the house and I moved into my in-law's garage. I was very grateful for their kindness, but to go from a two story house of my own to a garage that barely held me and the kids (Isaiah and Abby), it was quite depressing. A few months after that I had the opportunity to rent a house. It was small (about as big as the garage), but it had it's own bathroom and I no longer had to let people in to do their laundry. I was VERY grateful. A couple of years later I married Becky and we moved into a two bedroom apartment. That sounds small (and it was), but it was still so much bigger than the previous place.

A year and a half after that, we started renting the place we are in now. It has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! It doesn't have air conditioning and the house is constantly falling apart, but (again) we are so grateful because it is that much better than our prior situation. We have been renting here for 3 years. It gets really hot in the summer.

All 4 1/2 years of our marriage, Becky and I have been looking for a house to own. Every time we find one, the deal falls through for some reason or another. And we've had LOTS of deals fall through. Lots of doors closed. We've prayed and searched and searched and prayed to the point of emotional exhaustion - throwing our hands into the air to ask "WHY?" when we can't find our permanent place. We've felt like nomads. And yet, all the while, God has taken care of me. Time and time again, He has blessed me and my family with something better. And so, a year ago we decided to stop grumbling like the Israelites and to start praising God for what He has done. We realized that God wants us HERE. So we asked God to give us a clear, obvious sign when it is time for us to move. And in the meantime, home is where the heart is and our hearts are with God.

A couple weeks ago, our property manager told us the owners are selling our house. We have 60 days to vacate. Our first reaction was to get all huffy and offended and start freaking out a bit. After all, we had looked for a house for years and couldn't find one. How are we supposed to find one in 60 days?! But then we realized that this was God telling us that it is time. That means He must have a house ready!

We started looking immediately. We looked at 6 houses the first day. We never had any other days of looking. As a matter of fact, the first house we looked at is the house that accepted our offer. In the past, deals have fallen apart because we are using a VA loan which requires the seller to pay closing costs. This time, the sellers chose us BECAUSE they want to help a VA family. In the past, the inspection has found major problems with the house. This time, it was virtually flawless. In addition, there have been little ways that God has allowed for me to see (behind-the-scenes) to know that this is His direction - without a doubt. Nothing that is a deal breaker, but eventually enough coincidences pile up to where you can't label them coincidences anymore.

On April 24th, Becky and I are moving our family of 6 to Beaumont - to yet a bigger house - one that is ours - with air conditioning! And we just can't praise God enough!

Things Don't Always Happen for a Reason

Things don't always happen for a reason. Sometimes they do. Sometimes I can see God working. Sometimes I can see forces attacking. Sometimes I can see nothing, but later I can look back and see how it all came together – like some sort of behind-the-scenes documentary. But sometimes things just happen. And I don't mean small things. Sometimes life altering things happen and it has nothing to do with Heaven or Hell. When my dad got cancer I heard all sorts of people telling me this was a spiritual battle and we had to fight back with prayer. My dad died almost 12 years ago. It wasn't because God lost, or Satan won, or we didn't pray hard enough, or because God intended my dad to suffer and die. He just had cancer and died. 

That's not to say that God wasn't there all the way. He kept our spirits from shattering. He kept us from falling apart. He put my dad to sleep in a coma for weeks while going through the worst of it. And then he allowed him to wake so we could all say our goodbyes. Even my dad spoke of a general who would come to him at night and ease his pain. God was always there. As a result, my perspective on death completely changed. It's not “the end”. 

Every action movie in Hollywood is about fighting to stay alive. Death is always the worst thing that can happen. We must never stop running or fighting, from the humans to the animals to the insects to the viruses. To live is the most important thing of all. This is ingrained in us because we are of this natural world. But we are also spiritual. And because of that, death is okay. An old busted suitcase doesn't mean that the luggage inside will be thrown away with it. This is what God taught me when my dad left us. 

Everyone in my family (my sisters and my mother) all learned things from this dreadful situation. We all grew, and were shaped and reshaped. Did God take my dad away to teach us lessons? Absolutely not. But He used the situation for our own growth. And because we held on to Him, He showed us where life blooms in the desert.

Spidey 2002 vs. 2012

Last night I rewatched The Amazing Spider-Man. I admit that I originally watched it with a closed mind. I enjoyed it well enough. The action was great, and Garfield's Peter Parker was actually pretty great. Gwen Stacy and Captain Stacy were also solid matches. Rhys Ifans was okay as Dr. Conners, but for a villain he was fairly forgettable. I don't blame him for that. The Lizard was never a very compelling character for me in the comics as well. Pete's mechanical web shooters is straight from the comic. And his costume feels more real.

This morning I watched the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man. I will admit that Garfield plays a better Peter Parker than Maguire. The Spidey of the comics is funny and charming, but only to the readers (and the audience). To everyone around him, he is a great big loser. Maguire plays it all as a loser. Garfield plays it charming, with the director making him a loser to everyone else. This works well for The Amazing Spider-Man, but it's probably the only point that is genuinely stronger. Raimi's film is just more engaging. The origin flows better. The colors and editing are more fun and comic- booky. It has more comedy and a better villain. Elfman's musical theme is much more heroic and catchy (if you need a super-hero theme, call Danny Elfman). J.J.J is such an integral part of the mythos. The fact that he was left out of the new one is the biggest misstep in my opinion. JJ is Spidey's constant foil that he can't actually take out or put in jail. And he is Peter Parker's ONLY source of income. I missed JJ quite a lot. So as far as the origins go, Raimi made a better Spider-Man. Don't get me wrong. I'm still plenty excited about the new one coming up. It looks much more cinematic and comic-booky. And I'm really looking forward to seeing Garfield as Parker again.

Great Eagles of Middle Earth!

I've been hearing lots of talk lately about what everyone perceives as the BIG FLAW of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  It always comes back to the eagles.  Why didn't the eagles just take the ring to Mount Doom?  Why didn't the eagles just take the dwarves to the Lonely Mountain?  I'll explain why this doesn't happen, but first I'm going to give you some background on the Middle Earth pantheon.

The god of all Middle Earth is called Eru.  He sent the Valar to create the world.  The Valar are basically “high angels”.  The head of the Valar is Manwe.  He is the Valar of the air.  The Great Eagles (giant eagles) are his personal servants.  We are in the 3rd age of Middle Earth.  Man was created in the 2nd age.  Elves were created and ruled the 1st age.  Melkor (a.k.a. Morgoth) was the one Valar who rebelled and became the “Satan” of this world.  The lesser demons that followed him were called Balrogs.  Sauron was one of these lesser angels.  In the 1st age (and even before, when no intelligent life was on Middle Earth) the “angels” and “demons” were constantly warring over Middle Earth and each epic battle would reform the surface of the earth.  The last time this happened was at the end of the 1st age.  Whole nations of elves were destroyed by landmasses being relocated to the bottom of the sea.  “God” said that enough was enough and forbid the Valar from ever interfering in Middle Earth again.  The good thing is that Melkor was finally chained forever in outer space.  Most of the balrogs were destroyed or buried (Sauron being one that laid low for quite a while).

The Valar saw Sauron gradually coming to power but they couldn't do anything about it.  So they helped by sending 5 “lesser angels” called Maiar to Middle Earth so help fight battles not by using their great power, but by influencing mankind to make the right decisions and teaching them to defeat the great evils on their own.  Gandalf was one of these maiar (though the people of Middle Earth called them istari or wizards).  The 3rd age was ending and man would inherit the earth from the elves, so it was important for them to figure out how to stand on their own and not be so dependent on gods and elves.  This is why Gandalf VERY rarely uses epic powers.  When he went up against that balrog in Moria, it was like two Maiar squaring off against each other.

The other ace that the Valar kept in Middle Earth were the Great Eagles.  They were the spies for Manwe who would tell them what was going on.  And very rarely, at the last possible minute, they would help Gandalf if he needed it.  Gandalf, after all, was a direct maiar of Manwe himself.  This is why they would show up when they would and it is also why it was so important for them not to just take the ring to Mordor or help out with menial dwarvish quests.  Man will not attempt to step up and accomplish great and wonderful things for the world if he knows God or the angels will do it for him.

I feel this applies in our own world as well.  We blame God for the evils that exist in this world that He “loves”.  But what we should be doing is drawing inspiration and courage from Him and standing up to do great deeds for our world.  What goes on in this world is in our hands.  I've heard it said that God is love, yet too many of us sit back getting all the love without passing any on.  God (Who is love) created us in His own image.  It is time we start living up to that image.

My first CAT scan!

Had my CAT scan today. They gave me a GIANT berry smoothie to drink 45 minutes prior to the appointment. I've had my fair share of Jamba Juice. This was NOT a berry smoothie. And when I showed up at the hospital, they gave me more to drink. Their product will not be getting an endorsement from me. They had me lay down on this platform in front of what I can only describe as a “Stargate” portal. In fact, the whole room felt like I was preparing to board Space Mountain at Disneyland. After 15 minutes of vigorously slapping my arms, they determined that I was vainless and had to bring over yet another expensive looking piece of technology that they called “the vein finder”. Once they located their prey, they jammed an IV into my hand and told me to pull down my jean shorts. I still don't quite know why that was necessary, but whatever. Needles in arms, and pants around ankles, the platform that I was lying down on started moving forward towards the Starcraft portal. I was certain that any minute it was going to shoot me forward like the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and I actually braced myself for that to happen, but it never did. I did get to see laser lights all over the inside of the portal, and a friendly robotic voice told me when to breathe and when to STOP breathing. The technicians told me to prepare for the iodine that I would get through my IV. Next thing you know, my ears got really hot – like I was wearing some sort of earmuff/heatpad contraption. Well, that's weird. My crotch is also really hot. Kind of like.... OH CRAP! Did I just pee myself?! Is this one of those adverse reactions that I skimmed over?! I try desperately to see if my undies were wet, but the techs keep telling me not to move. So there I am with my pants around my ankles, unable to move, wondering if I just paid a $200 copay to use a $300,000 piece of sci-fi equipment as a toilet. Luckily, I kept my bladder in check and the sensation was simply that. They told me I was done and I took off out of there like I had robbed the place. Good times.