“For if the days of a person should be as many as all the days of the world from Adam to the end of the ages and he should sit and meditate on the Holy Scriptures, he would not comprehend all the force of the depth of the words.” Aphrahat, (from The Ancient Christian Devotional).

Profound, meaningful and worth contemplating, but I couldn’t help but notice the place where this quote was written, Mosul Iraq, circa 340 AD. Mosul Iraq? What happened? Makes me wonder what might be the spiritual climate and beliefs of future Orange County-ites if we don’t do a better job effecting our culture and those that come after us.

For the last month or so I’ve been watching the series “Planet Earth” on the Discovery Channel. It took five years to put together and it is excellent. There have been episodes on “Ice Worlds” “Fresh Water” “The Great Plains” “Mountains” etc.  They really have some AMAZING footage that took weeks sitting in a tiny blind in the some odd/hot place (like the Amazon) to capture. The show has a little politically “green” stuff going on, but not much. Basically it is a love letter to this amazing place where we live. Incredible shots of sharks (one of a huge Great White catching a seal and coming out of the water four feet), flocks of birds (half a billion strong?), elephants, baby polar bears, wacky rare jungle birds, bazillion cockroaches eating bat dropping in huge caves in Borneo. The show is really excellent propaganda (in the best sense). The creators/producers wanted to show the viewer the greatness of this earth and they have succeeded mightily. The music, the narration, the footage, it is all a well crafted love letter to this place we call our home. The stunning creativity of it all, the unspeakable beauty, endless variety of this creation is truly beyond description. Of course I couldn’t help think about the Creator. Christ Himself and the sad presentations He usually gets on TV. No masterful propaganda, no well written love letters, instead too often He gets only the most base, pathetic, greedy shysters imaginable (I’m thinking TBN) that any thinking person could see through in a heartbeat. From “Planet Earth” to PTL is quite a gap. One references Him constantly, the other never, but I couldn’t help but think He’s probably far from one and being glorified by the other. It’s just like Him to be somewhere He’s not expected.

Why would someone who can pontificate AT GREAT LENGTH over the various merits of the four Velvet Underground albums or which of the The Smiths’ singles was the greatest or why Al Green was amazing or how Iron & Wine or Modest Mouse are artists worth watching, care one tiny wit about American Idol? I’m not sure. It must be another odd anomaly of this thing called being human. Because I admit it, I watch American Idol every week and I somehow care who wins. Don’t ask me why. I WILL NOT be buying any American Idol CD any time in the near or distant future. Taylor who? Not interested any more. Not even in the clearance section, BUT while the show is going on, it’s somehow… (I can’t say important) captivating. My guess is, it’s the competition of it all. Music is a sport now and its being played out in front of the whole country, millions voting (something I don’t bother doing, again I don’t know why).  I guess it’s the same reason I once watched VH1’s 20 greatest 80s hair metal bands. I hated each band equally and the phrase “I couldn’t care less” really applied here, but at the same time I couldn’t turn it off until I saw who was number one.  Something takes over. I blaming it on my doppelgänger.

my kids are always saying I’m obsessed with my amazon feedback (since aug 06 I’ve been seller books/cds on amazon), but what do they know? absolutely nothing! anyway, today I received my 100th feedback/response, and and I’m still 100% positive! they like me, they really like me (or er my service I provide). A couple of thoughts… one, only about 15% of your customers take the time to give you feedback. something about the 10 lepers jesus healed and only one came back. have no idea what that means, other than my second point which is… it sure feels good to have people compliment you (even when they are only saying… good job, book like new, etc.,). It seems to say something about the power of compliments. Wow. Powerful. It was Mark Twain who said he could live for two months on a good compliment. The thought is, do I go back and give people compliments one out of ten times? (probably less).

my favorite amazon feedback, “FANTASTIC, NO SOONER HAD I ORDERED AND IT WAS HERE, AND IN FREAT SHAPE, THANK YOU SO MUCH:)”

your welcome.