I have read a few publications recently that state how customer service goes down during tough economic times. I never thought it made much sense, considering you would think that businesses would step up their services to capture every dollar they could. So far this week, I have left several messages for various suppliers, and am amazed that I can't even get them to call me back. Doesn't my money spend like everyone else's? I think I'll start calling my employees 'Ensign Ricky' if I hear about them not returning phone calls promptly?
Most of the guys from my "home team" at church met this Saturday morning for breakfast. We do this from time-to-time and have great discussions. This Saturday the conversation was about educating our kids. Each of us will be faced with the dilemma of choosing where to send our kids to school in the few years, and it was obvious from our banter, that each of us were passionate about receiving the best education that we could find. Although we couldn't agree on public, private, or charter education, we did come to the conclusion that we all desired our children to be able gain abilities that formal education does not offer-- logic and reason. When thinking of the education system today, I notice the tendency to teach based on a group of facts that create a "cookie cutter", "by the book" approach to learning. Is this really helpful in turning-out our future workforce? I have guys that work for me that have twelve years of formal education, but still can't tell you the equation of how how to figure out sales tax (and don't even get me started on their abilities to spell)! The lines of the 1979 classic song "Another Brick In the Wall Pt II?" by Pink Floyd came to mind: We don't need no education We dont need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teachers leave them kids alone
Could Pink Floyd have foreseen this dark day in education- when our teaching structure revolves more upon regurgitation of facts, than teaching the ability for children to be able to think through issues and use their reasoning to solve real problems? Perhaps this is why many brilliant people stop their formal education at the end of high school. Maybe they are smart enough to know that four more years of education doesn't necessarily dictate their earning potential. I know many people that have GED's and make six digits a year. Was college necessary? Were four to eight more years going to make them better at their trade? I digress. I want Drew to have a great education, and I want to afford him the best of what we can provided. Yet, I am grounded in the fact that life lessons will fall on my shoulders to teach him. To name a few: 1. Relationships 2. How to treat women 3. Personal responsibility 4. How to make money and invest 5. How use logic and reasoning. I hope that Nik and I can find a great school for him, but I'm afraid that the current education system is missing the mark. At least we know that his education will start-out right, because he will be attending Great Leaps Preschool (Shameless Plug). For some other great educational commentary tidbits, I recommend checking-out Michael Gray's blogs.
"Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something." --God v. Science
This came to mind today as I sat in on my first day of a case in jury duty. Although I was very apprehensive about the time I would have to spend away from work, it is turning out to be an amazing experience. Without discussing the case, a twelve year old girl took the stand, and after an hour of questioning, she voluntarily spoke of guilt, carving names and pentagrams into her skin, and suicide. It was enough to break anyone's heart. You could tell her words were unprompted and were spoken out of a need to get them out in the open. What happened next though, was amazing. The Prosecution asked a question that I deemed 'very odd.' She asked about a necklace with a 'cross' charm that the girl had been given as a present by her mother (after she had begun inflicting herself). She seemed taken back that the Prosecuting attorney had any knowledge of the necklace.
Her response was priceless: 'It's a cross necklace, with fake diamonds, but it made me feel better. It helped take away my guilt. (Long Pause) Our family believes in God."
I was moved. What an amazing example of what the cross can do for a person's life, and even though this fairly inarticulate girl was not looking to make a spectacle of her religious beliefs, I couldn't help but think that she had. People would look at you funny, if you wore a necklace with an 'electric chair' around you neck, but the cross is well accepted. The cross was a torture device that people suffered and died on, but somehow wearing that sign of capital punishment served as a reminder of a Savior that takes away guilt. "Darkness is not something, it's the absence of something" rang in my head. It took a 12 year old girl to bring the best true-life example that I could have ever witnessed to this quote. Light truly can illuminate darkness. Think about it.
A science professor begins his school year with a lecture to the students, 'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.' The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?' 'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?' 'Absolutely.'
'Is God good?' 'Sure! God's good.'
'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?' 'Yes.'
'Are you good or evil?' 'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible!' He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'
'So you're good...!' 'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?'
The student remains silent.
'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?' 'Er...yes,' the student says.
'Is Satan good?' The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?' The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?' 'Yes, sir.'
'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes.'
'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squir ms on his feet. 'Yes.'
'So who created them?'
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question.. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'
'No sir. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?' 'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelled your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.' 'Yet you still bel ieve in him?' 'Yes.'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.' 'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'
At the back of the room another student stands quietly for a moment before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'
'Yes,' the professor replies. 'There's heat.'
'And is there such a thing as cold?' 'Yes, son, there's cold too..' 'No sir, there isn't.'
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit up to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees'
'Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'
'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'
'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word.'
'In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'
The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.'
'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.'
'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher? '
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.
'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.'
The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter.
'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelled the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.'
'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?'
Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'
To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself.. */*/_Evil is simply the absence of God.. _/**/ It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart.. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'
The past few days I have been seriously struggling with being "in-sync" with those around me. For the first few days of the week, I had to fill-in for one of my guys, when he went on vacation. Although, he definitely needed the time-off, I can honestly say that doing my job is more than enough work, without piling on someone else's also. I have four guys that I closely work with, along with a family and friends that I interact with daily. Today, the frustration built to unprecedented heights as I felt that I "zigged" and everyone else "zagged." Ironically, I'm wondering (now that I have gotten past my growling phase) if everyone else is out of sync with me, or am I the issue here? I'll be the first to admit that I am intense when it comes to work, and it is not uncommon for me to bite-off a little more than I can chew, but I also realize that's my personality, and I have to be challenged in order to be successful. I crave efficiency and efficiency that happens at the speed of light. My obstacle is inspiring others to have that same craving, when their work barely happens at the speed of smell. There is a certain rhythm to life, and when you move with the rhythm, everything falls into place, but countering that rhythm causes a chain-reaction of disjointedness. The real question is whether you can keep in rhythm while juggling all the many tasks of life. It's difficult to keep all the "balls" in the air when getting distracted by insignificant details, or other's missing deadlines that effect how you perform. Today, instead of juggling, I ended my day with the urge to pummel several people with the same ball that they are supposed to help me keep in the air. Thankfully, the urge to go postal has subsided, and I know that tomorrow is a new day. A little sleep tonight, and the outlook for tomorrow should be looking-up.
Our message this week at church asked the question, " If you could ask God for one thing, and you knew He would answer it, what would you ask for?" Just thinking of the question makes me as weak in the knees as the Cowardly Lion when he stood before the great and powerful Oz (Of course God would have much cooler special effects than Oz). This question was thought provoking, because the message was about the resurrection of Christ, and that if God could raise Christ from the grave, what isn't He capable of. I trust God to take care of the smaller areas of my life, and I believe that He does amazing miracles everyday in this world, but what would make him mindful enough to be concerned about what I "want." I petition God to work in situations and in my life daily, but what would I ask if I knew that God would "throw the switch" and my request would be answered instantaneously? I'm reminded of the end of Bruce Almighty (Random Bruce clip below) when God (Morgan Freeman) asks Bruce to pray. He starts with the generic and very"Miss America" prayer of "please feed the children and establish world peace." Everybody wants those items to occur, but if I had one request of God that I was 100% sure would be answered, I think it would be that He reveal himself to the world in the same way he revealed himself to the Israelites during Moses' time. Atheist's couldn't stare head-long into a pillar of fire at night and say "God doesn't exist." Evolutionist's would probably bow out gracefully, admitting that "maybe they were wrong." Politicians would get a better understanding that what they do is insignificant if not guided by Him. Yet, I don't think that God would reveal Himself again in a pillar of fire, not that He couldn't, but because that's not how He works. Instead He dwells within each of us, and reveals Himself to us and through us individually. That being said, my prayer should actually align itself more with Gandhi, who said: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Therefore, if I could ask God for one thing, that He would definitely grant, it would be " God let other people see You through me."
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