My race car

We've all seen the race cars of NASCAR...every conceivable color combination is out there. One of the things I like about them is all the decals on the cars and driver suits. The labels allow the team to identify who they are and who sponsors them. In many cases, the announcers don't even refer to the cars by the driver or race team name...it's simply "the 18 car." (NASCAR fans know all the car numbers.)

Imagine if each of us wore labels on the outside that identified who we are. What kind of decals or patches would we apply? What would others say we should wear? We might be surprised to learn that our self-described labels are probably different from the ones others would suggest for us. You may disagree and argue that people shouldn't be given labels. But don't all of us, when we think of or see others, label them?

There are the familiar labels...labels for our gender, sexual orientation, political party, ideological position, ethnicity, socio-economic status, citizenship, marital status, personality, health status, age, interests, geographic identification.... and on and on.

Let's see...my "car" could be labeled: short bald pudgy healthy white married American straight baby-boomer male Republican conservative middle-class Southerner ESTP (Myers Briggs personality type) business owner Bulldawg musician camper dog-lover...and that's just a start. Man...wouldn't my car look cool?

Every race fan knows that the most important decal goes on the hood...that's the major sponsor's position. What label would go on your car's hood? Are you most identified by your job? the initials after your name? your social status? your financial status? your relationship status? your family heritage?

As a Christian, my desire is for my relationship with Jesus Christ to have the primary position..the most important label. But honestly, I think there are times when I relegate that decal to the quarter panel. Seems I have other sponsors that I allow to become most important. But my job, my money, my social status have no eternal value. My relationship with Christ does...

How do you want to be identified? What would your car look like?

Cheering the underdog

Guys... (I am speaking to the male sex here)... I bet I can guess a few of your favorite movies: How about Rudy, Hoosiers, Remember the Titans, Braveheart, Shawshank Redemption, The Blind Side, Facing the Giants (excellent Christian movie..check it out), The Patriot?...I could go on. You do realize that there is a common thread that runs through each of these movies, right? These films feature a main character, sports team, group of people, etc. that is/are clearly the underdog...never expected to win or prevail. We love these movies because these underdogs do ultimately succeed (OK... Mel Gibson's character, Scotsman William Wallace, didn't actually get to see the fruits of his cause...but we come away convinced that, despite death, he actually wins.)

We love underdogs! But, you know...that admiration isn't solely due to their underdog status. There are plenty of underdogs. Frankly, many, if not most, underdogs remain so... never winning the prize.

Each of the movies I listed has a person or group of people that are not only underdogs, they also do something about their situation with hard work and dogged determination. We admire people like that and cheer when we see it happen....whether in a movie or real life.

Rudy overcame his blue collar upbringing, where friends and family insisted that he couldn't succeed, and worked his tail off to not only get into Notre Dame but actually make the football team. He made the team despite being "5 foot nothing" and weighing "a hundred and nothing". He had a huge heart and worked harder than most of his teammates. Link to You Tube: The real Rudy sacks the GA Tech QB

Andy Duphresne...convicted of a crime he didn't commit, didn't wait for Shawshank's prison walls to fall down. He used his brain and an indomitable desire to be free and eventually escaped after nearly 20 years in prison.

Japan's women's soccer team defeated the American women to win the World Cup and, while we were disappointed that the U.S. lost, nonetheless we secretly cheered the Japanese victory... considering all that island nation has been through recently. Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, after 19 attempts at winning the British Open, did so on his 20th try...and the whole world cheered.

What is it about us that pulls for and celebrates the success of the "never give up" underdog? I'd love to hear your answers!

--Mike

I call them screamers...

I was born back in the old days...back when TV was only black and white and everybody smoked. I think parenting styles have changed a little since I was a kid. Back in my day, the only time you heard anyone say "time-out" was in the middle of a sporting event. But, don't get me wrong...I am in favor of parents doing what is most effective (and basically legal) in raising their kids. Parenting is hard work. Kids can be a challenge and often times act like...well...like kids. So here's my beef. How many times have you been in a restaurant or some other public place and somebody's kid is running around the tables or jumping up and down on the chairs and the parents do....nothing? I mean, they yell at the kid and tell him/her if he/she does "that" one more time (they must actually mean a hundred more times), the kid is going to get whatever it is Mom or Dad is threatening him/her with. But then what happens? NOTHING! The kid continues on with the rampage and Mom or Dad yells the same threat over and over...but does ...nothing. Because doing something means inconveniencing yourself by having to stop eating, stop talking , stop watching...whatever you are too busy with to deal with your kid. I guess it is easier to just keep screaming idle threats. I call these parents - screamers. I'll admit..when our kids were growing up we used the "count to three" method (getting to three was not going to be fun for said child.) I think it effectively acknowledged the natural procrastination in all of us. Why do (or stop doing) something right away when you can get a 2.9 second reprieve? You gotta give a little...

If you are going to give your child an "if - then" statement ( [If] you do that again [then] you will spend the rest of the night in your room) how about actually following through on it? Children need to know there are boundaries and know what acceptable behaviors are. I've worked with enough teens over the years to know that deep down they crave parents who care enough to say no and appropriately discipline them, even though they may never admit that to their parents. One high school age young woman my wife and I were counseling told us that she wished her parents cared enough to tell her she couldn't stay out all night. Her staying out all night was her form of rebelling against parents she believed didn't care.

If you are a parent...God bless you. It is a long, hard, (but incredibly rewarding) job.
You can't bail out.
And PLEASE...don't be a screamer!

-Mike

Keeping up with the Joneses

The Joneses' house

You might have heard that Congress and the White House are trying to see if their credit card company will increase their credit limit (of course, they control the credit card company)   ...seems they need to charge some more stuff but the credit card is maxed out. From their conversation I gather they also think that maybe they might need to cut back on spending a wee bit. Some up in Washington think that some Americans (and businesses) have more than they need and should have to give it (by way of higher taxes) to the government to help make some of the credit card payments and buy more stuff. I've got another idea. You know all of us pay sales tax and property tax but, darn it...we all pay the same rates (in the same jurisdiction, of course.) Not being progressive taxes, the only thing that keeps the tax burden from being equal is how much we buy and how big our house is. I know those rich people already pay more in property taxes because their houses are valued higher but that's not really enough. I think people with those big houses and mansions should also pay a higher millage rate than the 3 BR 2 BA folks like me. I mean, who needs 6000 sq. ft. anyway...and a pool? Seems unfair don't ya think? Yeah, I used to want a bigger and better house as I was coming up the ol' ladder but now I see the error of my ways. Why can't we all have the same size house? I know that will never happen but we can certainly make sure those fat cats in those mansions pay more. We don't need to keep up with the Joneses...we need the Joneses to keep up with us!! By the way, a couple of my neighbors work for Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones started his business 30 years ago and worked 60-70 hour weeks building it into something that now employs about 100 people. But he sure has a big house. I wonder how much his taxes are? Not enough I'm sure.

We all wear glasses

I know...you're already thinking this guy makes no sense. I've got 20-20 vision you say and I don't wear glasses or contacts. Well, good for you. But I still maintain that all of us are looking at the world around us through corrective lenses. Our view of the world is focused by the "glasses" in our mind. We look at things around us through the lens of our upbringing, education, life experience and current circumstance. Just to make it clear from the get go...I am a follower of Jesus Christ and my worldview is greatly influenced by that relationship. Just thought it was important to be up front about that. But, I bet we see many things the same way...and probably see many others differently. Let's see how we match up. Cool?

(this blogging stuff is new to me so I apologize in advance if this site has an amateur look because, after all, that's who I am. I promise I will work to make it better as I go)

Mike...