Scattered Soundbites

I've been in blogosphere hibernation since my last post on New Years' Day. Not that there hasn't been anything going on. In fact, St. Louis got hit with the most brutal winter storms in recent memory, and we spent some time dealing with that. School began afresh for second semester. I've been plotting through the concept of writing an Ethics textbook for Christian schools…one that resets the whole template. That and my next Cameron Ballack mystery still move along on the drawing board.

In reality, there are so many things that settling on one to develop in a blog post would be like nailing pudding to a wall. Thus, some scattered soundbites to get back in the blogging swing:

1. This is wisdom: If you are going to get fourteen inches of snow one day, and then the mercury drops to a wind chill of nearly forty degrees below zero the next morning…and if you need to shovel the driveway so your son's nurse can get in, do it in 5-7 minute piecemeal attempts. Guess who stayed out too long? Guess who nearly passed out when he came in? Guess whose temperature dropped below 96 degrees? Guess whose wife had to force feed him warm water and coffee to bring him back to normal? (Hint: If you answered those questions with "You did, Davis", congrats on your powers of perception)

2. When Christians were concerned about following the way of Christ, they didn't jack around complaining about the quality of their church's youth group programs or the length of the pastor's sermons, nor did they debate traditional music vs. contemporary praise songs or wring their hands over what political leverage they could use on abortion or gay marriage (mainly because they had no leverage of the sort when the Church was most gospel-vibrant). When I'm at church, if Scripture is explained clearly and God is honored, that's good enough. Everything spawns from that rather than influences it.

3. If you don't believe Samuel L. Jackson has ever been in the right place at the right time, remember: If he doesn't come out of his shop, Bruce Willis gets carved up in Die Hard With a Vengeance.

4. Freedom takes consistent work. If you want to remain free politically, read a lot and be an informed citizen and voter. If you want to be free intellectually, read a variety of literature, both fiction and non-fiction. If you want to be free financially, read your checking account register and keep it balanced every day. 

5. If the New Orleans Saints want to win the Super Bowl, they need to do three things: (A) toughen up the running game; (B) force more turnovers on defense; and (C) avoid the Seattle Seahawks.

6. Here's what I know about criminal justice: If you eliminate the death penalty and put violent criminals and murderers in solitary confinement with nothing but Kenny G and Justin Bieber pumped through the sound system 24/7, I guarantee crime drops 90% nationwide.

7. Here's what I know about fashion: I like hunter green, navy blue, earth tones, and jeans.

8. If I have a choice between TGIFridays or Ruby Tuesday, I'm going with Fitz's.

9. The key to success in writing, marriage, parenthood, and life itself? Never quit.

10. Either the Christian Scriptures are totally off, or Jesus was a complete nutcase, or Jesus was a liar, or Jesus was who he claimed to be. Those are the only four options.

Deal with this blog post as you will. More coherent ideas to follow.