Allergies in the Springtime

 

I’m struggling with a low level cough/congestion/sore throat thing. I’ve noticed it now for at least 2 weeks. It’s nothing too out of the ordinary. I get allergies every year; they spike in the spring and fall but I’m not sure what I’m allergic too. Actually I’d rather not know. When you know your exact triggers you’re more alert to weather changes and variation. You’re more mindful of pollen counts and windy days that bring distant allergens into the atmosphere. You watch stare out those ragweed graphs on the news like they’re lottery numbers.

And what if my affliction includes freshly cut grass? Imagine having a reaction to grass. I like to work outside and plant flowers and water. I take pride in making my lawn look clean and green. If I was allergic to the grass I might wear a facemask like my neighbor does when she works in the yard. She was doing that way before masks became the trendy must have item for surviving the Covid apocalypse. But at least she doesn't let the air quality affect her livelihood. She's been a source of information on planting too. Being in the yard every day and brings with it knowledge that others can pull from, like dividing up hostas every year. 

There are certain compromises I won’t make. My allergies aren’t debilitating anyway. On certain days they can be downright irritating and cause me minor grief, but they don’t require a total rethink in how I behave. I think smoking cigars makes it worse though. The smoke seems to weaken the immune system and create long term bouts of coughing and soreness. That shouldn’t be a surprise, even without inhaling smoke the effect can be damaging. I’ve mostly quit now. No more nights spent firing up a couple of sticks and chilling to a podcast on the deck. Part of me misses those easy nights but I had to stop or my fitness would have fallen off a cliff.

If I didn’t run and work out like I do, I may not have felt a need to quit. I don’t think it affected my running that much but my chest pain became unbearable. With that I started thinking about stopping. I guess I needed that bit of pain to goose me into getting serious about fitness. I still smoke on occasion when hanging out with my brothers but only then.

My diet is shaping up as well albeit, a slow churn towards less and better.

I say “less and better” because a lot of the problems we have are caused by overeating, and not necessarily the type of food we eat. I’m a big eater and as such, heap up the goodness and go back for more. Portion control goes right to the “less” aspect of diet. For the “better” I buy fruit and vegetables and a nearly daily basis and taking them to work. No more Whataburger lunch runs and cinnamon roll breakfasts (well…sometimes). I make better choices like yogurt and dried fruits, nuts and eggs. I don’t do this every day of course but if even 5 days a week are healthy I’m better than before. I skip breakfast a lot too. I’ve heard that’s a bad idea but if the choice is between sweets and no breakfast, I’d rather skip it and start lunch a little earlier.

Part of me hoped the allergies would settle down if my food choices got better. Well I’m not there yet... pauses to get box of Kleenex… but I’m a little closer. I could find out if my allergies are in any way related to certain types of food, but that’s potentially more devastating. Imagine being allergic to strawberries, or watermelon? I could handle never eating dates or squash or coconut, but ice cream or donuts I don’t think so. For now I’ll load up on the Claritin and ride out the bumpier seasons.

 

Thoughts on Job

 

I dove into the book of Job recently. It’s one book in the Bible I usually avoid because it always seemed unfair to me. It starts out with God and the Devil discussing Job and his righteousness. Satan is sure that if he can mess up Job enough than he will curse God and reject Him. God is confident in Job’s faithfulness and as such, gives the devil free reign to steel, kill and destroy. Presumably this is a bet between two beings over the fate of a puny human, like a Greek tragedy that the gods put into place. Job is a cursed man put through the crucible to prove his worth.

This is how I always imagined it. Somewhere I knew it couldn’t be totally true; it doesn’t line up with the loving God of the rest of the Bible. Yes, even the God of the Old Testament who gave the Hebrews a strict law but always gave them a way out of self -imposed misery.

Chapter 1 clearly describes Job as a blameless and upright individual that fears God and shuns evil. So why the attack on his family? I could say that maybe his son’s and daughters committed evil and their punishment was death. But that doesn’t help me understand Job’s plight. God is merciful and gracious and Satan is the destroyer. But if God signs off on the destruction, as is pretty clear in Chapter 1, it seems to show Him as vindictive. I don’t believe He is, but the story is written in a way that suggests God tests us though trials.

Maybe that’s the best way to understand Job’s plight, as reflecting the test of a loving God. He sorts Job out in later chapters by explaining how little he (Job) understands the things of God. ‘Can you draw out leviathan with a hook?’ or ‘Can you mark when the deer gives birth?’. These questions direct us toward the vastness of God’s plan. We aren’t meant to understand the reasons or times in which things occur.

The answer may lie with some sin that Job’s kids committed to bring destruction on themselves. It’s not a perfect example but it at least explains why they lost their lives. I thought this scene between Satan and God over the faithfulness of Job almost seems like a courtroom drama without a jury. Job represents himself to God (the judge) and Satan prosecutes some past wrong from Job’s family. The judge allows the punishment to go forward but sets a limit on how long it will be. This way he can fulfill the required judgement but not allow it to overwhelm Job (the defendant). Once the allotted time is up and if the defendant is faithful to the charge and still fears God, he receives a reward larger than what he lost. The blessing is God’s nature--a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him.

The connection between trouble and sin is a tough one to undue though. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself temp anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown brings forth death.” (James 13-15)

Even Job’s friends assume some sinful behavior brought on the misery. The reason it fits here is that God permits Satan to destroy a man’s life. Seeing him recover and even prosper after the ordeal is small comfort to a father who just lost his kids, these kid’s that he made daily sacrifices for. Buy we know that not all calamity comes from sin. 

There isn’t a straight line that explains all loss. We have to open our thinking a little and consider how Christians or Jews in Muslim countries fare under pogroms against them. What trespass did they commit to endure the violence or theft or raiding of property? Car crashes kill record numbers every year, is there a hidden sin that permitted the destruction? Of course not.

The story of Job just doesn’t work for me any other way though. But understanding the eternal struggle taking place between good and evil forces us to realize the attacks on us raging at all times.  

 God doesn’t permit pogroms or massacres or wars against people, full stop. If we say that in certain situations he might allow disease and violence and looting to bring us closer to Him, then so much about our Heavenly Father from the rest of the Bible is surely wrong.

We don’t understand the times, the seasons or the way in which He brings about change, but we certainly understand His attributes. We can understand the natural laws that govern life and death; plants come back to life in spring after they’ve died in the winter. Back to James: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:16-17).

Like so many disasters in life we want a clean answer that may never come. But it isn’t because our God is inconsistent, He is the source to all answers and to fear Him is to understand wisdom. Job figures this out as well. “…I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42: 3)

We should always come before the Lord confidently, in the knowledge that He longs to teach us.

 

Uber Money and Mexican Food Trucks

 

I play this game with myself just before I pick up a rider. I try to guess where they’re going based on the time of night and the location I’m picking them up. It never really works.

 I got a request yesterday from a guy in Broken Arrow who was at a vintage toy shop. First off, vintage toys is a thing? I must really be out of it. Is it like when a thrift shop charges you $45 for a used Van Halen tee from 1989? I showed up and the guy had two bags stuffed full of goodies.

I didn’t ask him what he bought or what he paid since I didn’t have a baseline for what old toys go for. I assume every business is a racket until proven otherwise. Is that too cynical?

It was a short ride to his hotel. He was in town to film a documentary. I didn’t get a chance to ask him about the film or how long he’d been filming. The ride was short and didn’t net much fare. He made up for it by giving me a cash tip. That was decent of him I thought. Often I wish for longer rides with interesting people. He was from California, working for a local production company. Our conversation was sadly brief. I wanted to know what he was shooting, the name, subject matter and a little insider info about the business. Maybe next time, he was focused on his toy shopping spree and seemed pleased. 

I had a local business owner that was a bit tipsy. I picked him up from a downtown restaurant after a few (maybe quite a few) cocktails. He was riding back with a buddy who gave me a nice tip after I dropped them both off in a swanky part of town. I recognize the neighborhood as one of my regular spots to jog through on early mornings. I only live about 3 miles from there and as such, run through the attractive neighborhoods and dream a little. Both men seemed to be long time friends by the way they jokingly called each other derogatory names.

There is a conference going on this weekend at Clay Clark’s Jenks studio. Clay is a local entrepreneur and funder of quite a few conservative causes. General Flynn and Sidney Powell are here, as well as a few nationally recognized names. I picked up a younger guy (mid 30’s?) at a hotel near the turnpike and headed for Jenks. I could tell right away this guy was different, sure of himself. He noticed I wasn’t wearing a mask and said “I can see you’re a freedom lover”. He asked if he could sit in the front, I obliged and he asked me I was available to drive all day on Friday. He needed a driver to shuttle him around all day. He was worried he couldn’t get an Uber if he got too far out of town which is a legitimate concern. We never approached the subject of money but I’m sure he would have paid me over what I made with Uber.

I couldn’t do it though. I had work with my regular job but I would’ve liked to help him out. He said he was speaking but I didn’t get a sense what kind of conference it was. I checked the Thrivetime website but the page wouldn’t load. He is a holistic practitioner (he said doctor) from California who, I guess, came to some notoriety through a Youtube video that was picked up by the Hodgetwins.

I dropped him off just as the party at the Riverwalk kicked off. Wealthy patrons in sharp clothes shaking hands and taking pictures. 

Some evenings I drive between BA and Tulsa on the way to a pickup for longer than the ride actually lasts. It’s disappointing because I only get paid for the actual ride, not the trip out or back. This leaves me accepting only close rides. Anything over10 minutes is potentially an out of the way pickup. But I take what I can get and some nights, like last night was a lot of long trips out of the way.

I’ve noticed a significant uptick in the number of Mexican food trucks in the area; call it an unexpected benefit of Uber driving. Most are near the Mexican area of town but not all. As a huge fan I’m going to start taking them down one at a time. I might have to put a ranking system together for each one, best tacos, burritos, quesadillas and so on. It’s not a great idea considering I’m losing weight and my diet is more under control then ever. But, this is a target rich environment for Mexican food.

Choices.

Perceptions on Competition

 

How important is winning?

 I sell sporting goods to high school and youth teams in the area. I’ve always loved sports and competition so being a small part of it is exciting to me, even if it’s just taking orders and picking colors. Youth football has waned a little in popularity over the last 7 or 8 years. My best guess is the concussion scares from the NFL. It’s a real thing of course, football is a rough sport but girls soccer is far more dangerous where head trauma is concerned. But football has always been a target for ‘Karens’ in multiple industries. Close to 20 years ago I listened to an interview with a doctor that wanted it banned. Baseball is largely spared this kind of shame. But this isn’t a diatribe on football’s unfair critics.

I’ve been thinking more about competition and what it looks like in American culture.

We live with two distinct realities on competition; one says winning is everything and second place is for the first place loser. Two, says winning should be deemphasized because it’s unfair to the losers; better to hand out trophies so no one gets their feelings hurt. We understand the danger with both theories but they actually lead to the same result, watered down victories.

The problem isn’t soft parents who are afraid to let their kids fail, It’s that the separation between the two camps is stark and causing a deficit in the middle. Middle range talent gets squeezed between the highly skilled and the rec groups. Nothing is wrong with trying to be on the best team or build the best teams, but we give up too quickly on leagues where we haven’t had success. Getting beat in your current class? Jump down a class and get your trophy. This is true across high school, college and travel ball. Competition is the victim when winning is everything.

Winning is the inherent goal of every season, but the talent might be too rough. Let’s face it only one team is going to win the championship, does that mean everyone else is a failure?

When you subdivide teams and leagues and players to ensure a winning season it waters down the efforts and discipline necessary to get better. You can find a league with marginal talent and win it with superior players. But do you really need a championship that bad--to go beat everyone to the point of humiliation? If you’ve ever been a part of men’s basketball league where one team is loaded with a former Division I athletes you know how frustrating it is. Good for them I guess, but do they feel like champions?

Both extreme views on competition reduce the value of it by spreading out the amount of ways there are to win. Start your own tournament with 35 subcategories and try to win one. Or better yet, if you’re a marginal talent as a man, join a women’s league and pretend to be a woman. You don’t even need to do the surgery! Just tell people you’re confused. No they won’t think you’re crazy, well some will. A significant number will tell you how brave you are and best of all, you’ll win a lot more!

I think the key is to focus less on winning and more on personal improvement and overcoming challenges. The teams that win long term (again with baseball) are the kids that stay together and learn how to play together. I helped a coach get uniforms and equipment one year. Near the end of the season he came in to pick up some baseballs. I asked him how the kids were playing and said they were starting to get it. “It’s fun when the kids start to figure it out” he said. He seemed content with their progress. I’m sure they started winning more but his focus was on their improvement and learning the game. Their minds slowly absorbed the principles and it came through in the performance. They’ll remember what it was like to make progress and rely on each other.

I don’t begrudge talented kids from playing with other talented kids in the same group. But I worry that winning is so important that we discount the great experiences of competition by chasing rings, trophies, awards. We leave teams where there is little chance of winning, even if our contribution would mean more.

But then again, I’m just a salesman .

Wars and Rumors

 

I’m not having a good run of the ideas for writing lately. The news is depressing and I can only take so much of politics. When I say politics I mean specifically Republican v Democrat Washington DC stuff that is just a circus. It’s been like this for a while but it feels extra gross after the fraudulent election. I used to take pride in my knowledge of the world’s heads of state, cabinet leaders and important politicos. I care much less than I used to because my country is overrun with despots and crooks in official roles. No, not everyone in elected office is a crook, much of the corruption is from the functionaries. But it feels increasingly like something awful is going to happen or in order for patriots to get liberty back.

I realize how dark that sounds but how much more money do we need to print or illegals do we need to let in to learn that freedom is tenuous? So what might happen that blunts the ‘reset’ that’s underway and puts this country back on sound footing? Most likely, a major crash hits the stock market and precipitates a sell off. I don’t pretend to be a brilliant economist but I know a bubble when I see one. 2008 should have showed us all that banks tend to get overleveraged on these debt instruments. Back then it was the housing market and the government backed subprime mortgages that did us in.

Really it was the lack of accountability that did us in. Those of us on the right blamed quasi federal institutions like Fannie Mae. Those on the left blamed the risky behavior of the banks. But business and government haven't been separate things in a long time. Why do we think it might be different this time? We might not call the underlying debt subprime, but with all the stimulus there is too much worthless cash in circulation thanks to stimulus.

The second possibility is a war that ties us down in Ukraine or Syria or wherever our fighting forces happen to be. Ukraine is the most likely; Russia is amassing on the border as NATO troops engage in war games in the Donbass, an area occupied by Russia. These are large numbers, one hundred thousand troops from each side. Why is Ukraine so important to Europe and the US? And if it’s worth escalating a global war over, why now and not in 2014 when Putin took Crimea? Make no mistake, this is serious business.

The larger view on all of this is that wars and rumors of wars are just par for the course, something that happens once in a while. But whether we go to war or lose our economy in a financial crash, the responsibility for the government rests with the citizens. We tend to get lazy when our basic needs are met. What are the major issues within the country right now according to the MSM (mainstream media)? Racism, White supremacy and Christian Nationalism. really? Those aren’t real issues. The talking points have been about this ‘white horde’ ever since the chaos at the capitol building during the Trump rally.  Even when an Islamic terrorist shoots up Boulder Colorado some call it White supremacy. The false nature of media today is twisted and sick, used as a guided missile to take out anything resembling our Christian heritage. It's a smoke screen for the corruption of our institutions.

Our collective moral laziness creates room for grifters to sweep in like a tornado and stir us up. The latest manifestation of evil philosophies is called Critical Race Theory and it’s rooted in Marxism. Christians that fall for this are suckers. Jesus Christ put to death, sin and shame for all time. Stop apologizing for past mistakes (even heinous stuff) and move on! More importantly, defend America as an idea where everyone can succeed and thrive. Resentment is a road without an end.

 But a decedent society with no little understanding of the gospel, history and culture is easily baited by peddlers of fraud.

I’m not rooting for a disaster to derail this globalist reset, but I don’t see a positive way around it. When you try to bankrupt your country, overrun with it illegal immigrants and fight wars every few years you’re going to regret it. Addicts eventually hit the bottom. Gamblers eventually get into debt and governments eventually fight the wrong wars. I’m praying for the right kind of reset in America. I don’t believe the racial division is nearly as bad as portrayed. I do believe these next few years can set us on a course toward a lot of racial healing, in a true biblical sense. It may get worse before it gets better though.  

Church Leadership and Covid

 

Weakness breeds disdain.

People who get pushed around bring on more bullying. Why? Because it’s an easy way for bullies to enforce their authority at very low cost. We understand this dynamic from grade school. Bullying gets rewarded when kids let themselves get pushed around. Compliance is an understandable reaction to implied force. “Give me what I want or I’ll punch you” is a direct exchange. But with every threat to violence the bully gets stronger and the compliant becomes even more compliant. It’s a tough cycle to break. Most kids experience it as some point and probably even understand the implications for future interactions. If I don’t stand my ground here I probably won’t later. It's more subtle in adulthood but still there.

This looks to be the situation in a lot of churches around the world. They’ve let the authorities tell them how, and how often to hold services. It’s despicable that after a year of “15 days to flatten the curve” (March of last year) that some countries are still cracking down on gathering, mask wearing and distancing. Even worse than that are these soft headed clergy, putting in the requisite complaints about ‘unfairness’. Are these even good faith complaints anymore? Are they just putting their objections on the record, making sure the faithful know they don’t approve? If church leaders can’t see how ridiculous and uneven the restrictions they should be replaced.

I can’t feel much sympathy for these ministers (elders, pastors) that don’t tell the authorities to leave. Respectfully but forcefully, any nanny state police or constables or bureaucrats need to be shown the door. If the state is really aggressive to the point of arresting, let them. They can’t arrest everyone. Imagine Black Lives Matter being told they couldn’t meet or march because it violated the distancing rules; how about Antifa? Would they put up with it? I think you know the answer. We know this stuff is unfair and specifically targeted at Christians. 

Get over the unfairness of it all and start pushing back. I can’t take any of these silly articles anymore where some dopey pastor lets the state tell him off.

At what point do we stop blaming the bully for their ‘unfair’ behavior and start taking initiative. It’s way past time. In the UK the police shut down a Catholic service. Look at the pictures from the mass. Citizens dutifully walking out the door as the priest is told to shut it down. It is of course despicable and absurd, but you can’t keep blaming the bully. It’s what he does.

Pushing back doesn’t mean violence either. I remember seeing a Dateline (maybe 60 Minutes) profile on NBC maybe 20 years ago. The best way for other kids to break up an ongoing fight between 2 others was to just object to it. Anyone who shouted “Hey! Knock it off!” or “That’s enough!” or “You guys quit right now!” was likely to stop it. I was floored when I saw that. Just objecting to the fight, in most cases, stopped it. The problem is when kids do the opposite; they feed the anger or encourage violence. Forcefully objecting turns out to be a statistically good idea. Dear church official, take notes. Start shouting "Leave!" or "You aren't welcome!".

I’m not saying this to pick on clergy or pastors or teachers. And their lack of grit presents the rest of us with an opportunity to take charge in the vacuum. But too many of us are used to thinking institutionally, or with the least amount of risk. The corporate structure of modern churches is as bland as it is ineffective. Time to go to the scriptures for direction instead of the board. Time to stand on the truth of Christ and His resurrection. Time to spread the gospel and stop overthinking how it might play in Peoria.

“The wicked flee when no one pursues but the righteous are as bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1)

There is good news though. A pastor in Calgary tossed the police out in an angry tirade, calling them “Gestapo” and “Communists” and “Evil”. It was beautiful. It was the voice of a man who recognizes this authoritarian menace for what it is. He shouted “Out!” and filmed the whole thing. When we are united in Christ and strong the disdain goes away.  

Uber and the Elevator Pitch

 

I started driving for Uber a couple weeks ago.

So far at least I’m doing 2 nights per week for 3 hours a night. That’s not a lot of course, but I have other plans to make money that don’t include driving perfect strangers around. Actually I kind of like it. I like meeting people in quick bursts. In Hollywood there is such a thing as the elevator pitch. The idea is to summarize your movie idea in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Quite a few people are transplants like me. I like to find out why they moved here and how they like it. What about this city is different? How is it similar? One guy told me he thought Tulsa was a big/little city. He meant a smaller city that wants to be larger than it is. It didn’t feel like an insult to me, more like a sense he picked up. He worked downtown in the business district and probably got that feeling from the professionals and the newspaper.

Initially I only wanted to do the Uber Eats portion. I didn’t like the idea of strangers in the car. I’m an introvert by nature and don’t like to talk people up. But I’m changing too. Delivering food wasn’t enough money. The orders weren’t happening so I decided to jump on the ride sharing part. I’ve already met some interesting, sweet and sketchy riders. One kid had to go pick up a puppy. He told me this via the notes section that the riders can send the driver. I didn’t have all the details but figured I can deal with a puppy, probably. We are required to pick up service animals but pets, I wasn’t sure. He explained along the way that he sold two huskies to a guy who decided after a few hours he didn’t want one of them.

I’m not sure how the kid talked this guy into both dogs but he did. The goal was to pick up the female but when we arrived, he walks out carrying a dog under each arm. In my head I can see two dogs pooping in my car and jumping around, scratching my seats. This doesn’t look good.

 He gave the guy back his money because he couldn’t stand the thought of both dogs being separated from each other. The puppies sat patiently on his lap while we drove away. The nightmare scenario averted. He was really down and didn’t think he’d get rid of both. His plan to give them both to the same customer seemed a little unreasonable to me. Maybe he’ll get lucky though.

I took a women home from Cici’s pizza. I had to wait for her for almost 10 minutes. I could have left of course but I’d already had one rider stand me up and I didn’t want to lose another. She had a son, maybe 6 or 7 years old with her. They had 3 pizzas which explains some of the waiting I guess. I didn’t have a seat for the kid even though I think the nanny state requires it for kids up to 9 or 10? Anyway it didn’t matter because they needed a ride. She was pleasant, talking about the books she liked and how she stayed up late to read. Her son had a tough ride. He kept asking for his lemonade, his mom said no. He asked again, she said no again. Each time the “NO” had a little more of an edge to it. I did feel bad for him. We were in car for almost 30 minutes-the aroma of pizza and breadsticks reminding him of how hungry he was.

Uber requires a mask for drivers and passengers. I don’t wear it though unless the passenger gets weird about it. I ask them first because passengers could give me a poor rating for something like that. I’ve probably had 50 people in the car so far and only 1 requested I wear it. He looked a little skittish to me about getting in the car, like a boy taking his first swimming lesson. I put the thing on though and he warmed up OK. I guess I’m getting pretty good at the elevator pitch. Good enough to allow people to relax at least.

Something tells me I’ll have a few stories to tell with this job.