Author Archives: Aaron

Grateful

—Aaron

At church on Sunday, the question, “Is gratefulness foreign or familiar in your life?” was posed. Now, of course the normal “churchy” answer is that we should be familiar with it. I’m in agreement. But sometimes it’s really, really hard to be grateful. Sometimes there are barriers (besides difficulty) to being grateful. But the “foreign or familiar” kept sticking in my head. From everyone that answered, it was either foreign or had become familiar (meaning it wasn’t familiar at some point) or when it was familiar, there was a reason, or a practice that kept it familiar.

Those answers, and raising a toddler, lead me to the conclusion that gratefulness is not 100% ingrained in the characters of human beings by default. It’s learned, not inherent.

But I kept coming back to “foreign or familiar”. It made me think of food – like ethnic cuisine. (That seems to be a theme in my life – food.) Like on a good day, in my life, gratefulness might be like spaghetti: foreign in origins, but absolutely familiar. On other days it’s a little more like Pad Thai: I’ve had it a number of times, and I like it, but when I eat it, there is no doubt that it stands out due to it’s unfamiliarity in my life.

How foreign or familiar is gratefulness to you?

Potholes

— Aaron

There are some HUGE potholes in the streets of Spokane this winter. Some seem like they’re twice the length of my tire, half the lane wide, and way too deep. According to this article, our city crews have filled over 160 potholes already this year, in the middle of all the plowing they’ve done. I’m sure the guys in the street department working their tails off — they usually are — but there are not enough of them to do all the work, if you ask me. They even laid off some street department guys late last year (on Christmas, no less).

OK, they aren't really this bad, but that's a funny one, isn't it?

I was wondering if there was a reason, besides poor money management by the government (which, in theory should be spread pretty far and wide among departments) that there seems to be less and less funding for our street department. Lo and behold, I found one. According to this FAQ from the Spokane Street Department, there are a number of sources of funding for our street department.

One of them that has got to be lagging lately is the Real Estate Excise Tax. The fewer homes get sold within the city limits, the less money our street department has to pave and plow. And according to this chart, the number of real estate sales per year has gone down by half in the last four years.

So that’s my conclusion: we have crappy streets because people aren’t buying and selling houses like they used to.

Making things

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—Aaron

I often have the urge to create things. Things that will be useful, helpful and hopefully aesthetically pleasing. So I’ve decided to just do more of that. However, stuff breaks too, so I’m not going to just make new things, I’m going to fix old things, too. I have done that at least as long as I’ve owned a house, but I’m going to try to be more intentional about it, and life tends to give me frequent opportunities. This is kind of like Dana’s 52home project, but I don’t know if it will happen more or less often than every week. I suppose it is a celebration of the mundane things in life, and how fortunate I am to be able to attend to them.

So…

My guitar amplifier has a built-in vibrato effect and a built-in reverb effect, which can be switched on and off by the use of a foot-switch. Such a foot-switch originally came with the amplifier, back in the late 60s/early 70s when it was made. But since that time, it has become lost/stolen/broken/who knows.

I decided that I would build one. I looked up the schematics, and it is really as simple as two on/off switches. I went ahead and bought the switch components for like $3 each. But the rest was free *. For a housing, I used an old cinnamon tin, for a cable I used some twisted-pair phone wire. I hijacked some RCA cable ends from an old RCA cable that was too short to be useful for anything else, and I made some little “feet” for it from some rubber grommets that  I had. There is some bracing on the inside that I made from an old bracket that I had (the cinnamon tin, while sturdy, was probably not sturdy enough to stand up to repeated stomping). I could have purchased one that would have worked for nearly $40, and an “authentic re-issue replica” for like $80. But I knew I could do it for cheap, and I think it turned out well.

* Or as good as free. Some parts were truly free – I inherited them, they were a gift, or junk that someone left behind. Other parts I had purchased two or more years ago, for other projects, and that is a lot like “free”.

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 7

Luke 2:1-20

The Message

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancee, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 6

The Risk of Birth

Madeleine L’Engle

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.

That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;
Honor & truth were trampled by scorn-
Yet here did the Savior make his home.

When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn-
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 5

1 John 4:7-21

The Message

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 4

Love Came Down at Christmas

Christina Rossetti

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, Love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, Love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 3

Jeremiah 31:2-6

The Message

This is the way God put it:
“They found grace out in the desert,
these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
met God out looking for them!”
God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,
dear virgin Israel.
You’ll resume your singing,
grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You’ll go back to your old work of planting vineyards
on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit—
oh, how you’ll enjoy those harvests!
The time’s coming when watchmen will call out
from the hilltops of Ephraim:
‘On your feet! Let’s go to Zion,
go to meet our God!'”

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 2

Some Thoughts on God’s Love

Søren Kierkegaard

This is all I have known for certain, that God is love. Even if I have been mistaken about this or that point, God is nevertheless love. If I have made a mistake it will be plain enough; so I repent – and God is love. He is love – not he was love, nor he will be love, oh no, even that future is too slow for me – he is love. Oh, how wonderful! Sometimes, perhaps, my repentance does not come at once, and so there is a future. But God keeps no person waiting, for he is love. Like spring-water which keeps the same temperature summer and winter – so is God’s love. His love is a spring that never runs dry.

Oh, marvelous omnipotence of love! But God who creates out of nothing, who almightily takes from nothing and says, ‘Be,’ lovingly adjoins, ‘Be something even in opposition to me.’ Marvelous love, even his omnipotence is under the sway of love.

Oh, our loving Father, help us to remember that it is not where we breathe, but where we love, that we live.

Advent 2010, Week 4, Day 1

—Aaron

Psalm 59

New Living Translation

For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Saul sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”

Rescue me from my enemies, O God.
Protect me from those who have come to destroy me.
Rescue me from these criminals;
save me from these murderers.
They have set an ambush for me.
Fierce enemies are out there waiting, Lord,
though I have not sinned or offended them.
I have done nothing wrong,
yet they prepare to attack me.
Wake up! See what is happening and help me!
O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,
wake up and punish those hostile nations.
Show no mercy to wicked traitors.
Selah
They come out at night,
snarling like vicious dogs
as they prowl the streets.
Listen to the filth that comes from their mouths;
their words cut like swords.
“After all, who can hear us?” they sneer.
But Lord, you laugh at them.
You scoff at all the hostile nations.
You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me,
for you, O God, are my fortress.
In his unfailing love, my God will stand with me.
He will let me look down in triumph on all my enemies.
Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons;
stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees,
O Lord our shield.
Because of the sinful things they say,
because of the evil that is on their lips,
let them be captured by their pride,
their curses, and their lies.
Destroy them in your anger!
Wipe them out completely!
Then the whole world will know
that God reigns in Israel.
Selah
My enemies come out at night,
snarling like vicious dogs
as they prowl the streets.
They scavenge for food
but go to sleep unsatisfied.
But as for me, I will sing about your power.
Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.
For you have been my refuge,
a place of safety when I am in distress.
O my Strength, to you I sing praises,
for you, O God, are my refuge,
the God who shows me unfailing love.

Advent 2010, Week 4: Love

—Aaron

The love that is celebrated this week is God’s love to man. So, to be clear, not my love for coffee, not my love for family in general, not even my love for my daughter, my wife or Jesus. God’s love for us. The amazing, all-encompasing, forgiving, merciful, sustaining, wonderful love that he pours out on us continually.

Advent 2010, Week 3, Day 7

John 12:12-17

The Message
The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him. And they cheered:
    Hosanna!
    Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!
    Yes! The King of Israel!
Jesus got a young donkey and rode it, just as the Scripture has it:
    No fear, Daughter Zion:
    See how your king comes,
    riding a donkey’s colt.

The disciples didn’t notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done to him.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: “It’s out of control. The world’s in a stampede after him.”

Advent 2010, Week 3, Day 6

—Aaron

First Coming

Madeleine L’Engle
He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release.
He did not wait for the perfect time.
He came when the need was deep and great.
He dined with sinners in all their grime,
turned water into wine. He did not wait

till hearts were pure. In joy he
came     to a tarnished world of sin and doubt.
To a world like ours, of anguished shame
he came, and his Light would not go out.
He came to a world which did not mesh,
to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh
the Maker of the stars was born.

We cannot wait till the world is sane
to raise our songs with joyful voice,
for to share our grief, to touch our pain,
He came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

Advent 2010, Week 3, Day 5

—Aaron

James 1:2-5

New Living Translation
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.