Eat, Pray, Love

I recently finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. And I feel obliged to stop here and point out that this is definitely not the kind of book I would normally undertake. Staci asked me to read it so we could discuss it, and I agreed.

Anyway, Gilbert points out early on that she can’t call herself a Christian, which put me on my guard. And while there are spiritual aspects of her book that I simply can’t agree with, there are many others that challenge me.

Among them is a situation in which she describes herself as being completely desperate to hear from God, and she cries out to Him and demands an answer. Immediately, she gets one. In fact, she describes similar scenarios in other places in her book, where she calls on God, and He answers her.

Most of the conversations she describes with God are not examples of places where I can’t agree with her. The responses she describes seem very much in line with God’s character, as I understand it. However, reading her descriptions makes me feel (yeah, I know – I used the F word) simultaneously Pharisaical and jealous:

• Pharisaical because I think, "Hey, that’s not how you’re supposed to approach God." Part of me is indignant that she didn’t deliberately find a quiet place, clear her mind of its clutter, perhaps listen to some good Christian music, read a few Bible passages, and then, with all humility and meekness, politely ask God for His intervention in her life.


• Jealous because part of me says, "Wow, that’s more along the lines of the relationship I’d like to have with God." The steps I described above are more like the approach I take when I think about praying. It shouldn’t be hard to believe, then, that I don’t spend a lot of time praying.

There’s no doubt which approach is more Biblical. In Ephesians 3:12, Paul says, "Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God's presence." Come to think of it, it’s also Biblical for God to use someone who’s not in His "club" to teach lessons to those who are.

Baseball Beatdown

I figure all of us have been on a horrendously bad sports team at one time or another. My seventh-grade football team was so bad that before the last game, our coach offered to buy us all a beer if we won. He later insisted he meant root beer, but either way, he was pretty confident he wouldn’t have to pay up.

For all of us who’ve ever had to endure a crushing defeat, we can at least take heart that it wasn’t as bad as this story from Yahoo! Sports:

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TOKYO, April 17 (Reuters) - A Japanese high school pleaded for a regional game to be abandoned after surrendering 66 runs in less than two innings, local media reported on Thursday.

The coach of Kawamoto technical high school threw in the towel to spare his pitcher’s arm with his team losing 66-0 with just one batter out in the bottom of the second.

The hapless hurler had already sent down over 250 pitches, allowing 26 runs in the first inning and 40 in the second before Kawamoto asked for mercy.

“At that pace the pitcher would have thrown around 500 pitches in four innings,” Kawamoto’s coach was quoted as saying. “There was a danger he could get injured.”

Opponents Shunshukan were officially credited with a 9-0 victory, giving the line score a tinge of respectability for the luckless Kawamoto school.

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Wow! Even my junior high football team wasn’t that bad!

Sinus Mess

So I’m in the midst of yet another sinus infection. It has occurred to me that I’ve been averaging about three sinus infections a year for the past 6 years, and this is my fourth one since December. It’s really frustrating, especially since training for a triathlon is difficult when you’re sick all the time. Thus, I went to my doctor yesterday armed with the attitude that “if what you’re doing isn’t working, do something else.”

He reviewed my records, and he agreed that something different is, in fact, called for. He mentioned something called a sinus ablation. It’s a relatively new procedure in which the sinuses are removed and replaced with a balloon-like device (kind of like an angioplasty). I had preliminary X-rays done yesterday, and assuming those show that I’m a good candidate, I’m supposed to have the procedure done on May 6. You can read more about the procedure at www.sinusablation.info.

In Hot Pursuit

I’m sitting outside on the patio of Staci’s Grandma’s place in Vero Beach, reading a book, when a splash noise catches my attention. I look up and see a male duck chasing a female around the little lake out back. And I do mean chasing. They’ve been at it for at least ten minutes at this point. Flap, flap, flap, splash. Flap, flap, flap, splash.

I assume this is mating time. It does seem barbaric by our standards, but I suppose that’s the way things are done in the animal kingdom. And you know, I see parallels in that scene and the way God loves us. Not nearly so aggressive, but no less relentless. God won’t force us to love Him, but the Bible refers to the hounds of heaven pursuing us.

I’m stricken, too, with thoughts of how many of us spend a considerable amount of time and energy desperately running away from God’s love. Here He is, trying to surround us with a redemptive, all-consuming love, and we’re trying to escape it with every ounce of our energy. I’m convicted that I, for one, need to stop running and doing for a change so I can just let God inside for a while.

The Arrogance of Believers

I read an article recently in the Daily Toreador, Tech’s campus newspaper. I use the term “read” loosely, because I tend to just skim through the articles very quickly. This particular article had caught my attention because the author was discussing religion. This author was not an adherent of any particular religion, and while I’ve forgotten most of the content, one line did stand out to me: He said that the concept of human beings having the ability to converse with – and make requests of – the Almighty creator of the universe seems arrogant.

Wow. What’s really striking to me is that he’s right. Who are we, really? Outside the context of Christianity, humans are just another species in a long evolutionary procession. Sure, we seem to have control of the planet now, but from a scientific viewpoint, we’re just one species among billions, and our time for global dominance will eventually end, just as the dinosaurs’ did. With respect to the divine, we have no more right to approach God than the ants do.

And yet we do have, if not the right, then at least the opportunity. As Christians in our society, we seem to take God and His omnipotence for granted. Not only do we assume the right to make petitions before God, we demand it. “God, get me out of this mess.” “God, why did you allow this to happen to me?” “God, fix my… [insert problem here: job, marriage, kids, etc.].”

I, for one, am grateful for that author’s column. It has reminded me of the incredible privilege I’ve been given. Not only does the Almighty creator of the universe know me and care about me, but He allows me into His presence. I’m free to be in His presence, to worship Him, and yes, to converse with and make requests of Him. That’s a perspective I’d like to keep in mind.

Rental Car

Check out the title bar in the screen shot below. It makes me wonder about the vehicle we'll be renting.

Staci: Follow-Up

So Staci went to her doctor today to see where things stand. As it turns out, things are about as normal as they can be. The CAT scan and other tests came back indicating that almost everything was completely normal; the one aberration was an inflammation in her sinuses, but Staci would’ve guessed that based on the allergies she’s been experiencing over the last week or so.

Staci’s doctor took the time to listen to her whole version of events, and it was reassuring to Staci to hear her doctor say things like, “Wow, that is scary.” (One would always rather hear that from a doctor than, “Um, I think you need to reconsider your reaction to such trivial events.”!) Dr. Stewart also reiterated her belief that Staci had a complex migraine. It’s also interesting to note that Staci never had a severe headache, but Dr. Stewart said some people have complex migraines without ever having a headache.

So you may be wondering (as we were) what caused it in the first place. I suspect that’s as much guess as diagnosis, but WebMD mentions several contributing factors that affected Staci:

• MSG is considered a factor in up to 30% of migraines.
  Not to impugn Pei Wei, but Staci had lunch there on Sunday, and leftovers on Monday.


• Stress.
  Staci’s school is a big contributing factor, plus I was out of town all weekend.


• Lack of sleep.
  See above.


• Caffeine.
  See above!

Thus, it seems Staci’s reaction may have been caused by a “perfect storm” of contributing factors that all came together at the same time. As for how to keep it from coming back… well, the best hope is that this was a one-time event that won’t happen again. Then again, Dr. Stewart gave Staci samples of drugs she can try with ensuing migraines at the first sign of repeat symptoms. (Of course, Staci would prefer not to have reason to take the samples!) If Staci does continue to have repeat symptoms, she can get a preventive drug to limit this kind of migraine, but the doctor didn’t feel that’s necessary at this point.