Corrupted Youth?

I found these two unrelated articles about Israel to be, in some ways, quite related. I read them on the same day and simply connected the dots. At least in my own mind.

Is it reported that officials from the Israeli government invited the two surviving Beatles (Paul and Ringo) to perform at the 60th anniversary of the country’s creation this May. This seems to be some sort of apology for what the government did some 40 years ago.

Apparently the Beatles had been booked to appear in Israel in 1965, but government officials refused to grant the necessary permits, citing concerns that the band could corrupt the morals of Israeli youth.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948893.html

Fortunately for Israel, the avoidance of the evil Beatles music played live in the Holy Land has saved the youth and kept them pure and white as the wind driven snow.

Or did it?

Moments after reading this article I stumbled on this one:
Israeli Knesset member Zeev says: “Gay 'plague' could destroy Israel”

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3500042,00.html

Perhaps if the Beatles back in 1965 had been allowed to perform songs like “And I Love Her,” “She Loves Me” and “Girl” they wouldn’t be having these problems now.

Update: Announced Shoplifting

Wow. My “friend” who I will not name, but is the writer of the wildly popular blog http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/ did a favor recently by linking to one of my posts from a couple weeks ago: Announced Shoplifting.

I thought is was a mildly humorous story about my sometimes flaring temper and what I did when I had horrible customer service at a beach store in Ft. Walton Beach FL.

Apparently some of my “friends” readers did not. Had a few comments that were less than complimentary about my behavior. Well, at first I just laughed about them. Then I started thinking more about a few of them. I think the breaking point was when my daughter spoke up for me and defended me saying that I wouldn’t do anything dishonest or wrong.
The fact is, what I did was wrong- even though the way I was treated (or rather ignored) by the store staff that day was incredibly bad. It just does not justify taking merchandise without paying for it. The more I thought about it the more I remembered about that day. While I was in a typical rush to get back to the beach and my family, I had no real deadline. No event at the beach required me to get back at an exact time with a boogie board and sand toys in hand. I was on vacation. And there are 2 or more other beach stores a short drive away. I could have just dropped the merchandise on the floor and driven to another store to buy the stuff.

So there it is. It was wrong, and I’m glad the issue came up. Its always a good thing to right the wrongs.

I mailed a check today to Wings for $60. That should cover the $50 worth of toys plus $10 in interest for the last 46 months.

I also included a print out of my original blog post so they will know why they are getting $60. Didn’t feel like writing a letter to go along with the check.

Therapy

Never been a big believer in therapy. I know deep in my heart in can be necessary in some cases, but the widespread and chronic use of professional therapy seems a bit, umm, unproductive.

I stumbled on this skit this morning while at the gym. I was channel changing while putting in a brisk treadmill walk at 4MPH with a nice 5 degree incline when this segment from a MadTV episode came on. Loved it. Hope you enjoy it too.

Something Is Happening

There is something going on deep in my very being.

In the deep and secret places of my heart and mind there is a shift going on.

I cant explain it, I cant really even define it.

The last couple of months God has been moving inside me.

Moving out the old comfortable furniture and art hanging in the home of my heart.

The fact is, the furniture there is pretty crappy.

Its old, broken down, and threadbare.
What He is moving in is radically different.



The equivalent of shifting from the décor of a disgusting trashed living room to a brand new brighly furnished home.

That’s about the best way I can describe it.

The last several weeks the words of the Bible I am reading are pounding in my head like never before.

The lyrics I’m singing are almost scorching my throat as I sing them.

I am being moved.

Moved somewhere new.

I need this.

Hours Burned

Have you ever had a day that was chocked full of things you HAD to get done, only to have someone call up or pop in and steal an hour of your time with worthless chit chat? How about 2 hours? Well, I had almost 5 stolen yesterday.

I already had a packed day- something I always seem to do to myself on the day back from vacation or the first work day of the new year. Too many things late in the game before a break get pushed to “first thing next year” or “as soon as I get back.”

The result is an insane schedule the first week back that teeters on disaster if one thing does wrong schedule-wise. Well, it all went wrong yesterday. An unexpected call ate up 90 minutes, an unscheduled conference call ate up another 60, then another unexpected call from the same person as the first- another 60 minutes gone.

Then I came up with plan B. I would get it all done that night. Eat dinner with the family then pop down to the office and get a couple hours in to hopefully catch up.

Well…unexpected dinner guests. 2 hours gone.

What a day.