Stealing Time

I get a little "focused" on things sometimes. Some would say I suffer at times from OCD--Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Probably not, as an OCDer would seem to me to be the person who washes his hands all of the time, or cannot leave her house without checking 57 times to make sure the oven is turned off.

So, today, I got focused on time. Driving to the grocery store--again--I wondered to myself, "Self, how many hours do you think you have spent in your life just driving around?" Hmmm....

I pulled over and pulled out the calculator.

In order to come up with some legit numbers, I had to make some logical assumptions. First, I had to average out how many miles a day I have driven since I turned 16. Some deliberating took me to an average of 25.

For the benefit of the exercise, I jumped ahead 2 weeks to go ahead and make myself 40 years old. Man, that's old...

Anyway, I have been driving for 34 years, or 12,412 days (yes, that includes leap year). That would put my total miles driven at 310,250.

So again I asked myself, "Self, what does this mean, and what does this tell me?"

To answer this, I had to "focus" a bit more by coming up with the average speed I have driven over 34 years of driving. Not possible, you say? No way you can be accurate, you say? Well, you're probably right, but, with the combination of highway and city driving, and stops and starts, I'll bet that number runs right around 33.

OK, so we have miles (310,250) and MPH (33). Some easy math tells me I have actually driven for 9,410 hours, which is 392 days, or 1 year and 1 month.

So what?

OK, assuming I fall down dead at 72, and that I drive up until that day, I will have put in a total of 829 days, or 2 years and about 3 months, on the road.

Still saying so what?

OK, let's turn the numbers around. Let's say that by the time I am 72 I will have driven, according to the assumptions above, 829 days, or 19,896 hours. That would put me at 1,193,760 minutes behind the wheel.

OK, you say, it's a big number, but what in the world are you trying to say?

Try this. Sit there and time yourself not doing anything for 1 minute.

Did you do it? Seemed like a long time didn't it. Were you fidgeting around in your seat for the last 15 seconds?

Now try 5 minutes.

Wow! That really seemed like a long time!!

OK, this time, let's try 1,193,760 minutes.

How many things, like driving to the store, do we do that eat up our precious time? When I go to heaven, I sincerely hope I am not judged by the time I have wasted v. quality time I have spent with the Lord, and time I have spent honoring and worshiping Him and doing His work.

Don't go and sell your car. Just think about time you may be wasting now that you can trade in for time that is not wasted.

Is Flea A Christian?

Your first reaction to me telling you that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have released a new CD would probably be tepid at best. I mean, aren't these the guys, on the "Give It Away" video, running around the desert being, well, ridiculous? Or you may remember one of their early classics, "Real Men Don't Kill Coyotes," and wonder why, as an almost 40, father of two, I would be listening to a band that at one time resembled the infamous Surf Punks--nothing but a cartoon party band.

Yes, I will admit that the first decade of the Red Hots was intellectually, and some could argue, creatively, void of a heartbeat. However, that was before the addition of John Frusciante--musical boy-wonder--as their guitarist in the early 90's. His first CD with the group was only a glimmer of his possibilities; and his ability to be able to mesh his guitar style with a funkadelic bass-playing guru like Flea was, to some (me included) one star away from true brilliance. Unfortunately, Frusciante exited the band via heroin addiction, and the Red Hots were left on hold.

Their next CD, One Hot Minute, is hardly worth mentioning. However, upon the return of a now-clean Frusciante five years later, the band continued where it left off with two subsequent relases that were very diverse but very awesome all the same.

Now, just two days ago, those of us who have hung around Flea and the gang through thick and thin have been treated to what can only be described as the most important rock and roll collection (and I do mean a collection-28 songs) since Pearl Jam's Ten.

I strongly encourage you to go out and get Stadium Arcadium ASAP. No matter what your musical taste or IQ there is something here for you. While I would never even attempt to argue that the Chili Peppers are, or even remotely resemble, a Christian band, they do--after weathering through 20 years of member's deaths, numerous stays in rehab, internal conflict, and generally not being taken seriously--offer some faint wisdom from a real-world perspective. Although the music itself is why you should buy this CD. You should not buy this CD if you are looking for it to offer any solid advice for you to base any life decisions on!

And don't judge a CD by the first single. While Dani California will certainly be your first look, I challenge you to dig deeper, although the video for this song, the continuation of a character created by lead singer Anthony Kiedis, is extremely creative, as is Frusciate's Hendrix-inspired giutar solo.

One of the best tracks to start with here is "Slow Cheetah," an observation of sin being akin to a creeping killer, and the reality that, on the surface, sin can feel good, despite the obvious consequences. Again, please note the guitar work here. Defintely worth a listen.

Speaking of listening, even if you don't understand the lyrics for "Torture Me," it is OK, but at least sit and enjoy the Flea bass intro and his trumpet solo, punctuated by some unbridled excitement shown by Kiedis. The lead singer is back into his 80's rapping/singing best on "Warlocks," while the band takes a nostalgic look back at that era with "Strip My Mind."

I did promise a little substance, right? Check out "Stadium Arcadium" for a look at how to keep your head up in the face of public criticism, and "Snow (Hey Oh)" to see someone grope with the reality that we can't live in this life with no spiritual direction. There is also the struggle to be a normal and grounded person in "Wet Sand," telling us that "you don't form in the wet sand/you don't form at all."

In "Tell Me Baby," we are reminded that "life could be a little sweet/but life could be a little sh****." How true. "Hard to Concentrate" is an introspective look at marriage and the vows of marriage, and "If" is a neat little ballad worth some interpretation. Like many of the tunes, this one has biblical references. In fact, as I listened to all of these songs, I was surprised that, interspursed among some of the familiar and surface themes of drug abuse and relationships found in all of the Red Hots CDs, there are a lot of blatant religious overtones that could be seen as evident of some self-softening and soul-searching by Kiedis, who authors most of the lyrics.

Unfortunately, there are some tunes that seems promising on the surface (i.e. "We Believe") and sure sound good, but fail to make any statement at all. One of these is "Death of a Martian," which is truly a masterpiece, but only musically. Lyrically, it leaves us wondering what "bear paws" have to do with someone's garage, and what the heck is "rascal power" anyway??

So, the question remains. Is Flea a Christian? He may not be, but he plays a vital role in making Stadium Arcadium a CD worthy of anyone's collection, regardless of your musical taste. The REAL question is why can't we find anything that compares to the complexity and texture of this CD in the contemporary Christian music genre? I wish someone would tell me why the John Frusciantes and Brian Wilsons of the world are confined to the secular music scene. What Christian music needs, and what would certainly attract non-believers, is, unfortunately, limited to bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who, through true honesty and unhindered creativity, bring us music worth considering and worth listening to.

Clear and Valid

I am a gadget-geek. Just ask anyone who knows me. I surround myself with stuff: instruments that read temperature and windspeed, and handheld units that track my exact global position, within 20 feet or so, via a half-dozen satellites zooming above me. Strapped around my wrist is a watch that tells me my current altitude and in which direction I am heading. I have two docking stations for my iPod, and when I take the iPod for a iRide in my iSUV, I can tune it in to any FM station on my iRadio. By-the-way, if I wanted to listen to every song and every Podcast on my iPod in one sitting I would need to carve out no less than 5 days in order to do that. And the little bugger isn't even half-full. Incredible.

One of the most basic gadgets I own is a scanner. Basic technology. Lots of fun. I am the type of person who sees a fire truck pass by, with sirens screaming and lights flashing, and wants to know the inside scoop. False alarm? Car fire? Cat in a tree? I have to know. Since it would be unwise to follow every emergency vehicle I see, lest I be seen as a stalker, all I have to do is switch on my scanner, which, of course, I have pre-programmed to monitor all of the local emergency channels, and PRESTO! Instant information!

So a couple of days ago, on my way home, I found that I had tired of listening to all 1646 of my iTunes, and I switched on the scanner. I have discovered, after listening to this thing for hours, that the police spend an inordinate amount of time doing traffic stops. At least in my small town. Between the city, county, state, and federal officers who patrol my area, you would think that with as many folks as they stop each day that by now everyone in my county has been pulled.

All that to say, when a cop pulls you over, he immediately radios his dispatcher with your license plate number, to make sure the tag is on the right car and that it has not expired. Then, he saunters up to you and confiscates your driver's license, ambles back to his car, and calls his dispatcher with your OLN (operator's license number). The dispatcher then checks their system, and if everything is cool, they let the officer know that you have no"29's", which means you don't have a warrant or 187 parking tickets and haven't recently escaped from prison.

Stick with me, I am making a point.

Each dispatcher has his or her own way of saying things, and you get to know their own individual sayings and vocal shorthands. This particular day, a new dispatcher was working, and, as usual, an officer pulled over a car and did the routine. This time, though, when the OLN came back OK, instead of announcing the subject had no 29's, the dispatcher told the officer that the driver was "clear and valid."

Clear and valid. I immediately thought back on the past five months of my life--probably the hardest time I have ever endured. The pain here was self-inflicted, but came with such a multitude of aftershocks and flashbacks that it will literally take years to restore peace in my world. Years in order to be clear and valid. And it may never happen.

I sat in my car stunned--like someone had taken all of my feelings and boiled them down to a couple of little words. I am not clear and valid. Not in my eyes, or in the eyes of many who know me. I have hated myself, had friends turn their backs on me, and inflicted so much damage that there are days when I wonder if it will ever end, and days that I wish that dump truck coming towards me would suddenly veer into my lane and take me out of my own, and everyone else's, misery.

Sure, I know in my head that in the eyes of my Lord I am indeed clear and valid. Jesus did that for me. Christians talk of the crucifiction and how Christ took all of our sins upon him up on that cross. And I believe that. But, I wonder sometimes, if He did indeed suffer for my sins, then why do I hurt so badly when I sin and why does it have to hurt those around me? Why couldn't part of the deal be that not only are my sins taken away, but the suffering as well? Or even half of it? Maybe limit the pain and suffering and consequences to a particular time limit. You know, lie to someone, get 14 days. After that, clear and valid.

Because the real truth is, no matter what Christ did for us, we will never, here in this short plastic life, feel totally clear and valid. It's not the plan. I guess if we were, we wouldn't need God anymore, right? The suffering and pain is just the road to our Redeemer that we have to travel in order to see Him and feel His love.

Maybe today, we as Christians focus too much on being clear and valid. You hear a lot of talk today in Christian circles about VICTORY and "putting your sin behind you." But what if victory feels more like defeat, and what if I will never forget my past sin? What then? I don't believe the Church today is willing to answer those questions, because to admit that there is actually pain in being a Christian, and that suffering is required in order to follow Christ, then that would be negative advertising, right? Preach a month's worth of sermons about suffering and pain and watch your numbers dwindle. And it all does seem to be about numbers sometimes, doesn't it?

Instead of trying to quicken our steps and impatiently trying to move ourselves, and those around us, out of the pain and straight into a world where your sin is forgiven so why are you still sad you must not be a true Christian--maybe instead we should stop and feel the pain for little while. Maybe the pain and suffering is the victory.