CULTURE WAR... SIGH

FEATURED SITE: THE HOT ROD CHURCH FOR SINNERS

I came across this unique ministry a few years ago. The Hot Rod Church For Sinners meets at Santora's Hot Wings in Mission Viejo, California.

Two things strike me about these Christians. First, they remind me of the excitement and sense of fun I had as a new believer. Anyone who is willing to drive around in a rat rod with "Hot Rod Church for Sinners" painted on the door is having FUN. There is a myth among unbelievers that you must be a sourpuss in order to be a Christian. I disagree. And these believers are certainly the antidote to that notion.

Second, the Gospel of Jesus the Christ has NO BORDERS. Whosoever Will and Just As I Am are alive and well in this fallen world. These folks are living for Christ and giving glory to Father God just by showing up. In case you're not familiar with the culture, this is Rockabilly, with a continuous nod to the Fun Fifties.

Another great thing about their church, and in particular their web site, is the free music downloads. The Pioneers are the official band of the Hot Rod Church. Their albums are featured on the web site and available for free. I have several myself. So, since you're here, that means you are wasting time surfing the web anyway. Why not click the link and visit their page. You just might be blessed.

If you find yourself in Mission Viejo of a Sunday morning you should go worship with them. I plan to.

WEEKENDS ARE FOR FUN

PRACTICING WHAT YOU PREACH

I'm sure you've been there; some Big-Cheese tells you how super-important you are to them. Then you find yourself blown off by the same honcho, sometimes within minutes. It might have been a corporate phone tree message or an employee meeting. It doesn't really matter. At one such meeting the CEO himself made that statement to us employees, then asked for input. Someone took what they heard at face value and responded with a criticism. The CEO's answer: "Perhaps you're not right for this organization."

I sat in one of those meetings again, today. Not employees this time, but volunteers for a large government entity. We heard the same assurances from the CEO; we are valuable, necessary, almost indispensable to the organization's mission.

YAWN. Been there, heard that. ...Not today.

Let me fill in the back story. The meeting took place in Los Angeles; a ninety-mile drive from my house. Since I am an important, valuable, irreplaceable asset, I got to drive a company vehicle--burning company gas--to the meeting. As they say in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, "I chose... poorly." The car I drove had a slight electrical problem. When I started the tank registered FULL. However, ninety miles later it still read FULL. Worse; after the meeting it read EMPTY.

I swallowed my pride and went back inside to ask if there was a company gas pump at this company meeting place. "Yes, there is," said the NUMBER-FIVE PERSON in this organization of over 4000. Then, "It's locked, let me take you to it." That person spent the next thirty minutes tracking down the gate combination and using his ID to fill my car. Need I complete the moral? That is practicing what you preach.

HIT PARADE

Whew. fifty-three hits in thirty minutes. I guess I'm not the only Don Francisco fan.

HE'S ALIVE

I've never had a chance to meet Don Francisco. I've loved his music since the '70's. We do have some significant connections. His father, Clyde Francisco, the John R. Sampey Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky is one by proxy. Clyde wrote several of the text books I studied in graduate school. That is not surprising, because of my other point of contact. My friend Bob Cate, who was Dean and OT professor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Bob was Clyde's student assistant at Southern. He told me this once when I brought up my love for Don Francisco's music. One of his collateral duties, he confided, was watching after a young Donny. (not me)

This song, "He's Alive" is the first of Don's I ever heard. I woke up to in one morning in 1979 as the radio alarm came on. It is forever iconic and my favorite of all Francisco's music.

OCCUPY YOUR LIFE

My twelfth grade civics teacher had the following illustration on the wall in his classroom. Still makes sense today.

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, makes you milk them and gives you some of the milk.

NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, labels you sub-human and shoots you.

GREAT SOCIETYISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, shoots one, milks the other and throws the milk away.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

THE BEST SATIRE OF HOLLYWOOD COP MOVIES

This is a compilation of the send-up of "Hollywood Cop Movie" scenes from "So I Married An Axe Murderer."

COMMUNITY SERVICE

The Captain asked me to assemble a team to conduct an official "visit" of our local Sheriff station. The idea was to have citizens from the community observe and report on the situation and practices they saw. At first, I thought this was some sort of public relations deal. If you watch the news you'll know that LA County has been under assault from the Without-A CLU people for the past month. Made sense to me.

However, when I got the files via email I discovered that this is a much bigger deal. It isn't merely a county or state PR attempt. No, this is a world-wide undertaking. For a two week period, citizens around the world will make similar inspection tours of their local police facilities. And, at least as far as our local station is concerned, the cops love the idea.

The concept is pretty amazing when you think of it. I mean, there are many places in this world where avoiding a police station would be at the top of my To-Do list. I can imagine myself checking the box for "No Thumb Screws In Evidence." CHECK. But here the police were eager to introduce citizens to the workings of the station. The tour itself was thorough. We went to every place in the station that I knew about and a few places I hadn't known previously. The consensus of the group was that real cops aren't much like what you see in movies. (Unless you've seen the wickedly funny send-up of "Cop Movies" in SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER) See Above.

BODILY EXERCISE PROFITETH LITTLE

While I enjoy hiking, getting there is nine tenths of the battle. Once my feet hit the trail I am focused on the hike. I push up hills, I enjoy the views, I try to find new trails to follow. Its the whole get up-get dressed-get moving thing that usually kills my hike aborning.

Not today. Well, that's putting it in a positive light. I still fought the urge to go back to bed. Today I overcame my genetic predisposition to sloth and got out of the house and into the car for the climb up the hill. In the photo you can see a bridge crossing the California Aqueduct. The white dot to the left of the bridge is my car. My house is in the line of trees visible in the lowlands to the middle-upper right of the shot.

Sometimes I walk or ride my bike from my house to the aqueduct. Other times, like today, I drive to the bridge then hike the hills above, from whence the photo was taken. I know it looks horribly end-of-season-dead in the photos. Up close and in person the reality isn't that parched.

I like to hike the Joshua Ranch Trail. There are miles of tracks I still haven't taken. Yet the whole hilly site is contained in a six-square-mile spot bounded by roads. Easy to get to. Challenging to hike. Easy to get out of in case of emergency; like running out of trail mix.

Joshua Ranch is "scheduled for termination" as they say in the Death Star detention chambers. Several years ago developers began building roads and clearing lots for high end domiciles. The housing bust of 2008 stopped that. The roads and lots are slowly returning to nature, like ancient Mayan ruins.

Have no fear though. As soon as the economy is back on track I have no doubt that this arid park-land will soon become another conquest of nature. I don't mean to sound cynical. Well... Yes I do. I like hiking there and will be sad to see it go.

Today I hiked for two hours. I figure I did a total of five miles. One of my favorite spots is a shade shelter near the highest point. You can see most of the Antelope Valley from there. If you happen to get there at noon (I never seem to) you might even find shade under the shelter.

The point of the post's Title: "Bodily Exercise Profiteth Little" is that though I exercise and work to lose weight, its really a losing battle. At my age I'm not really improving my body, merely staving off the eventual decay. I don't really feel young again. But I do feel like moving. And that's a good thing.