October « 2008 « The Rohr Family

Do you ever get the feeling you are living a lie, or at best a fib?

Do you catch yourself looking in the mirror in the middle of the night when the chaos of the day has drained and all that is left is you?

Just you.

Linger there if you find yourself looking with open eyes and open heart and silent mind.

Linger there and look deep and don’t be afraid of what you will find because in that moment you are likely to discover something valuable.

If you stare long enough, push past the exterior arguments of all that is not right, all that should be changed, all that has been damaged, eventually you will discover something true.

You have always been, and you will always be – you.

In that moment of nakedness, of honesty, of courage, fight the urge to argue. Fight the urge to proclaim. Fight the urge to run and hide. In that moment of being fully aware of the wonder of you, know that no matter the evidence, no matter the argument, no matter the experience, there is value simply because you are.

Not because you do, because you are.

That moment, every moment, is the sum total of all that have come before. All the hopes and dreams, fears and terror, faith and despair, is summed up in you and that mirror. The past and future intersect at the back of the glass and what is reflected back is the best of all who have lived before.

Sit, wait, embrace, and love what you see, as it is all we have.

The moment.

This moment.

This life.

This experience.

It is all we have, and we are the amazing result of all the hopes and dreams of all that have come before.

This is your life, are you who you want to be?

Written on October 28th, 2008 , Everyday Life, Faith

Things that really irritate me

Just a list…

1. People that are constantly late.

2. When I am late.

3. Violins that are out-of-tune, especially in an orchestra.

4. When I ask my children to do something and they tell me, “ok. Just a minute…” and then don’t do what I asked.

5. Sopranos that are flat. As in musically, not chested.

6. When I make a mistake while making dinner and the dinner isn’t as good as it could have been.

7. Retail service people that don’t provide service.

8. Being told that the McDonald’s ice cream machine is broken. (That is a lie, people. I had friends that used to work fast food that told me they would tell people the machine was broken because they didn’t want to have to clean the machine. Apparently, it isn’t that easy to clean.) Can 3 stores have broken ice cream machines?

9. People that send emails telling me that Proctor and Gamble is headed by a Satanist.

10. Forwards on email that have some sort of conspiracy in it, like saying Madeline Murray O’Hare is trying to take prayer out of school. She is dead! Snopes is an excellent site to find out if these rumors are true or not.

11. Emails stating that Obama might be the antichrist.

12. Little boys bathrooms. (Stinky!) Also cat litter that hasn’t been changed.

13. Eggplant.

14. Children that leave their stuff where they drop it.

15. Being told, “I don’t like that,” when I tell someone what is for dinner.

16. Going out to eat for a special occasion and having crappy food.

17. People that get paid to do something that they don’t do.

18. Gossip.

19. Dog smell.

20. Dog drool.

21. Sniffing dogs.

22. Jumping dogs.

23. The smell of the fish department of any store.

24. People that need to get the last word in.

25. When someone insists that they are right and you have the proof they aren’t, but you don’t say anything because you don’t want to offend them.

26. Emails that state “if you don’t send this to 10 people in ten minutes, you will have ten years of bad luck,” or other such luck related statements.

27. When children don’t study for tests and say they are ready to take the test. The same goes for children that say they practice, but you can tell they don’t.

28. People that use the “f” word in every sentence they speak.

29. Age spots.

30. Gray hairs.

31. Nylon socks. They make my feet sweat, which in turn, makes them smell horribly.

32. Having to shave my legs and then getting a nick.

33. Trying to wax/shave my bikini line.

34. When someone yells at my kids.

35. When someone is mean to my kids.

36. 40 watt light bulbs.

37. Spit up on my shoulder or down the front of my bra. (Yes, that has happened. All you can do is laugh.)

38. Pencils that squeak when you write with them.

39. Sleeping too late in the morning so you’ve thrown away your day.

40. The smell of raw chicken.

Written on October 27th, 2008 , Kids, Music

Why this white guy might vote for Obama

I am a Constitutionalists at heart.

I am officially supporting Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, but I am torn.

Torn like the fabric of this great nation.

I have been made acutely aware lately that there comes a time in every generation that defines that generation. 2008 may be that time for my generation and the weight of it feels familiar.

It may be my recent foray into facebook, but I remember an event in High School where someone from our class wrote “SBA” on the football field with fertilizer. Too much fertilizer effectively burns the grass and this act of youthful angst destroyed a portion of the field.

It was our class president and his lackeys.

Our study hall class was talking about it and something rose up in me. I didn’t want our class to be remembered as the class that destroyed the football field and suggested we impeach our president.

I still remember the following Friday night being confronted in the hallway by a very drunk, very agitated class president. He had got wind of the conversation and was not happy about my suggestion to kick him out of office. He was a bully, a drunk bully, and our conversation almost came to blows. Were it not for the intervention of a mutual girlfriend, we would have. Nothing more happened, but I learned an important lesson that night.

People in power do not like opposition and will do everything within their power to remove that opposition, and the most effective way to deal with opposition is fear.

Granted, the power of the high school class president is laughable today, but I learned a valuable lesson that fear is real, and I hate being manipulated by fear.

Fast forward to 2008 and all I hear this election cycle is fear.

Fear of Islam, fear of terrorists, fear of recession, fear of change, fear of taxes, fear of war, fear of spending, fear, fear, fear.

Fear is a powerful motivator and once you get past all the arguments, they boil down to one core issue.

Obama is black, McCain is white.

You see the Republicans have held power for 6 years. 6 years to end abortion, 6 years to lower taxes, 6 years to reduce government, 6 years to do anything conservative.

What have they done to reduce the power of government? Nothing. In fact, in 6 years we have more polarization on the abortion issue, higher taxes, more government regulation, and the destruction of the Republican party I grew up with.

It is because of this, the reality that the Republican Party is the Democrat Party light, that the only real issue this election cycle is race.

I can hear it now, you are a Christian, what about abortion? McCain is pro-life and Obama is Pro-death, shouldn’t you vote for the one that is pro-life?.

Sorry kids, this election is not about abortion and no election will ever be about abortion. Abortion, or more importantly the social acceptance of abortion as birth control, is not a government issue, it is a Church issue.

I am actually pro-choice when it comes to government. I think the choice to keep the baby should be so overwhelmingly better than abortion, that abortion becomes rare. I prefer an agnostic government over a theocracy. As long as my government holds to the value of liberty and that all men are created equal, we are good. If you truly want to impact abortion rates don’t just hold signs, offer to support a mother through her pregnancy. If you want to reduce pregnancies don’t just tell kids to stop doing the nasty, actually get involved in the lives of fatherless boys and girls and love them. And for God sake, stop thinking that pro-choice means pro-abortion and pro-life means anti-abortion.

If those labels were accurate, abortion would already be illegal again in the United States as the Republicans had 6 years to change it. Wake up Republicans, voting for an “R” means nothing when it comes to abortion and does not exempt you from doing your part. In fact, voting for a pro-life candidate (again) that promises to change law without addressing the underlying issue of eugenics is a greater evil.

For me, it comes down to one issue, race.

As a white man in power, I feel an obligation to move the issues I can actually effect forward. I can’t change the abortion issue with my vote, I can only change the abortion issue with my life. I can’t change the role of government with my vote, the power of the Constitution was destroyed during the civil war, and will take another to change it back. I can’t change the way the world sees our country, I can only teach my children to love and that war is the last resort. I can’t roll back the effects of decades of socialism with my vote, I can only reach out to those in bondage to socialism and offer them a better way.

I can’t do much with my vote this year but what I can do is very powerful.

I can remove the argument of racism from my own life and God willing, from these shores.

I can willingly use the power that has been granted me because of my skin color and advance a man that doesn’t look like me to the highest office in the land. I don’t have to agree with his ideas, because no matter who wins this year, they both have the same ideas. I don’t have to boil Obama down to a sound bite and decide that because he is pro-choice, he is pro-abortion. I don’t have to listen to fear and and miss my opportunity to do what is right, do what is courageous, do what might cost me something. I can willingly choose to do something that might actually make a difference. To willingly do something that in one fell swoop will start dismantling the wall of racism in my heart, and the heart of America.

Now that is one issue I may be willing to hold my nose and vote for.

Written on October 23rd, 2008 , Politics

Ouch

I messed my back up last week laying tile.

I destroyed that same back by playing guitar for two services Sunday.

My back took it out on me all day Monday reducing my six foot two frame to a blob of useless flesh laid out on a mattress in the master bedroom.

Back pain is evil.

It has completely messed me up this week, and all the plans I had have been tossed out the window as I struggle to simply think straight. Can you think crooked? Are thoughts linear in the first place?

See what I mean?

Everything has been tainted by this pain haze that refuses to leave me alone. Lest I forget about it, the slightest shift in the chair brings it front and center again.

Ouch.

It is better today and one more night of rest will cure it.

Recovery can’t come too soon. I have tile to grout, ceiling speakers to install, music to rehearse, and a family to husband and father.

Ouch.

Written on October 21st, 2008 , Everyday Life

Happy