Quote of the Week

“He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.” - Proverbs 27:14

Have you ever known someone with whom you were good friends, but their body cycle was opposite of yours?  Personally, I am a night person, and fortunately, so is my wife.  We have, on occasion, had friends that are morning people.  I can say without hesitation, there is nothing worse than a peppy, cheery morning person when you stayed up too late the night before.  Despite how much you love your friend, it is indeed easy to experience murderous thoughts.

I’ve often wondered what it is that makes someone a morning or night person.  I know that I can function as either, but I definitely prefer a lifestyle where I can stay up until midnight or just after and not get up until 8am.  I feel like I function better in that scenario.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the hours most jobs allow you to keep (including mine).  At MetLife, we were on “flex” time, but I still had to be in the office by 9am.  I was able to get closer to my “prefered” schedule.

I also have wondered whether or not my body “cycle” would adjust if I were to move to a different time zone, or would it be the same.  So, for example, if I moved from my Eastern time zone to Pacific, would my midnight to 8am sleep time adjust back to a 9pm to 5am schedule?  That might make a move to Mountain or Pacific more enticing.  But with the obviousness (is that a word) of jet lag and the reverse, it makes me wonder.  I know the one time I flew to Hawaii, I felt great when we were there, and I needed a day in bed to recover coming back.

It is nice to know that Solomon, the world’s wisest man, was a night person.  Even with all his wisdom, he didn’t like to be woken up by a cheery person in the morning.  I guess if I were a king, like Solomon was, I would outlaw loud noises before 11am.  I don’t think it would work, after all, I can’t keep it quiet until 10am on Saturdays in my own home. :)  Such is the life with kids.

CC

Oprah Heresy

I had the opportunity to see part of the Oprah show recently.  I was waiting for the service being done on my car, and I was absolutely amazed at what I heard.  I know there will be many people who disagree with me for many reasons, after all, Oprah is much more popular that I am.

Oprah’s book club was reading a book called “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle (a new age guru heretic).  I will admit I haven’t read the book, and after what I heard, I may never read it.  There was a short discussion of what they called “Aha” moments.  This is nothing really new to any of us, we all have “Aha” moments when we gain a comprehension of something we have heard.  That something applies to our life and is no longer just something we’ve heard.  No problem so far.

Then the discussion turned to religion.  Oprah was discussing with someone Christ’s purpose on earth.  Margit, the audience member, says “All my life, I thought it was just for him to die on the cross for my sins. But I now recognize that Jesus actually taught me Christ consciousness.”  Oprah commented on how she had come to this “Aha” moment some years before.  This is heresy of the worst kind.

Repeatedly throughout the Scriptures, the truth is clearly presented that Christ did indeed come to earth and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.

“I am the Good Shepherd:  the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” - John 10 11

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:13

But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:8

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. - I Timothy 1:15

It is difficult to align the comments of Oprah, her heretic guru, and her audience member with the clear and obvious teaching of Scripture.  The Bible is abundantly clear that Christ’s purpose in coming to earth was indeed to die on the cross to save us from our sins, not to reveal some mythical “Christ consciousness” to us.

In searching for the link above, it appears that the heresy from Oprah is nothing new.  I was somewhat surprised at the extent of this, but again, I’m generally working and not privy to what is going on with day time TV hosts.

Not sure who will read this, but before you reply, let me add one thought.  I don’t begrudge Oprah her freedom of choice to believe whatever she wants to believe.  What bothers me is the fact that her statements are directly opposed to the clear teaching of the Bible and are given under a guise of “true Christianity”.  The fact is that the definition of Chrisitanity and its doctrines and beliefs should come from the Scriptures, not from some new age guru.  I don’t have a problem with anything anyone wants to believe, but if it doesn’t line up with the clear teaching of Scripture, don’t call (or even imply) that it is Christianity.

CC

Cell Phones

Wow, here I wanted to have some time to share some of the “stuff” that passes through my head. And lately I’ve had lots passing through my head. In fact, several times a day I think of something that would make a good topic, but I forget it before I get home. Maybe I need to come up with a note system to remind me of what to write about.

Today I want to rant about cell phones. If you are anywhere near as old as I am, you didn’t grow up with cell phones. There were cell phones, but they weren’t the mandatory attachment that EVERYONE had to have. In fact, I can remember being out with my mom and wishing we had a way to call my dad without having to stop at a public phone. Can anyone else remember making sure you had phone coins when you went out?

Now we have cell phones, and we have them in spades. Everyone needs a cell phone, or so our culture would make us think. Don’t get me wrong, when my wife is out without me I’m glad she has a phone to call me if there is any trouble. As my daughter gets closer to driving age, I’ll be glad to be able to send her out with a cell phone. But seriously, at some point we should really say enough is enough.

Several people I know have these new cell phones with the ear piece you can hang on your ear so you are always connected. (I’m always reminded of the episode of Doctor Who where those things were used to control everyone’s brain.) I’m not sure if this is lazy, vain, or just plain stupid. I mean how hard is it to hold your cell phone up to your ear? Sure, it lets you keep both hands on the wheel when you are driving, but really you shouldn’t use your cell phone then anyway. (Yes, I do it, too.)

Finally, the abundance of cell phones has made one sided conversations that should be private very public. I bring this up because of an experience a few weeks ago at work. My cubicle is right by the stairwell. The right wall is directly across the aisle from the door to the stairwell. A bit noisy in the morning, at lunch time, and when it is time to go home. Generally, I have headphones on and don’t hear much of the noise. Depending on the cell provider, you may not get very decent reception in the stairwell.

It seems the other day a gentleman at work (I don’t know who he is and I don’t want to know) was heading out for lunch when his phone rang. He was engaged in a conversation when he got near the stairs, and I guess for fear of losing the call, stood near the door to the stairs and finished his conversation. As I said, I don’t know who this was, and I sympathize with his problems, but I really didn’t want to know this much about them. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my headphones on, but I should have put them on.

This guy is explaining to the other person about his recent doctor’s visit. It seems he had recently had an exam, the nature of which will become clear, but that he explained in more detail than I feel appropriate. The poor fellow had a recurrence of his colon cancer. He was explaining the exam (thankfully not in detail) and the treatment. He also felt it was necessary to share the side effects of the treatment which included problems that I didn’t want to know about.

As I said above, I really feel bad for the gentleman in question. I hope that everything goes well for him. I didn’t recognize the voice, so I suspect that it was not someone I know other than maybe by face. Really, though, this information would better be shared in private. I really didn’t want to hear it. How difficult is it to ask someone to hold on for a bit or to tell them “I’ll call you right back”? As I said, this guy was going out to lunch and could have called from the car.

Anyway, just try to keep in mind when you are on the phone that others may be nearby hearing, whether they want to or not. Try to remember to be discrete with what you share and be courteous to those around. And above all, be safe with your cell phone.

CC