Day 109 - Another Space Heater (Throw)

It's been about 85 days since I threw away a space heater. Our last working heater just gave up the ghost and there's no reason to think I'll be able to fix it. Plus, spring fever drives me to take pleasure in tossing it...

We got another call on the house today - but the guy was wanting to know if we would consider renting it out. Since we're leaving the country, I don't think that would be the greatest idea.

And we still don't know what to think of the time-share deal, except I'm beginning to think the price $16,000 price the first company quoted may be a bit too good to be true. A second company today quoted $5,000! That's quite a difference. The first company also manages renting time-shares out and said they could net us around $1,000 a year. If THAT is true, it might be the best way to go.

Day 108 - Comic Strips (Throw) and Update on Time-share

At the bottom of my box of letters, I discovered a stack (at least 50 or 60) of comic strips I had cut out of Sunday newspapers over the years. Most of them are not nearly as amusing to 42-year-old-Steve as they were to teenage-Steve. In fact, I can't figure out why I would have gone to the effort of cutting and saving most of them.

But, about 20 or so were Calvin and Hobbes strips and I passed those to Dats (age 9) before tossing them in the recycling. He giggled all the way through them. It's such a joy to listen to from a distance!

After making fun of the time-share salesman yesterday, I have to report a development that has shocked me greatly. Apparently we had a call out of the blue a few weeks ago from some company that deals in selling and renting time-shares. They had left a voice message and Melissa had saved it. Today she replayed it and eventually made contact with the company...

And according to the company, we could sell our existing time-share (which we bought for $9,000 about 8 years ago) for $16,000 today! My gut instinct is that it's too good to be true. But if it is true, that time-share is the best investment I've made in my lifetime. And $16,000 would put a decent dent in the debt we need to pay off!

Can I request your prayers that we would be wise in figuring out just how to go about cashing in the time-share? Thanks!

It's funny. When I was thinking yesterday that the best case scenario would be that I might be able to get some decent fraction of what we paid for it out of it today, I was raring to sell it. And now that I know it is (possibly!) worth twice what we paid for it, I feel hesitant! Why is that?

Day 107 - Time-Share (Sell)

The man leaned forward, elbows on his desk, and asked Melissa and me, "Do you know why so many American marriages end in divorce?" He had already implied the answer to his own question, but he wanted to hear it back from us.

Melissa didn't bite. She responded quietly, "Well, I suppose mainly because God is not at the center of a lot of marriages."

It was not the answer he was looking for, but his eyes lit up as he recognized a new angle.

[For the record, the "correct" answer was supposed to be "because couples don't start their marriages by taking a good honeymoon at some far off time-share." Seriously!]

He pursued this new angle: "Oh, you go to church? My family and I go to church here in Myrtle Beach..."

After two or three minutes of church small talk, it was back to business: "I believe God knows how stressful our lives are. He knows we need to relax. Even He relaxed on the 7th day of creation. AND He wants us to enjoy the beauty of His creation." So that settled it: God Himself wanted us to upgrade our time-share.

He excused himself from the tiny office to get his supervisor. [It was time for the old "Good Cop/Bad Cop" part of the sales presentation - Melissa and I had sat through enough of these pitches over the past eight years to know what was coming next. We sat through one of these sale pitches each time we used our time-share because they offer freebies if you do.]

Alone together, I turned to Melissa and said, "OK. If Jesus walks through that door and says with His own lips, 'I want you to go another $30,000 in debt in order to have bigger and better vacations', then let's do this!"

Yes. $30,000. That was the smallest "upgrade" possible on our time-share. It was an absolutely ridiculous conversation, especially since we had leveled with our salesman from the moment we sat down in his office: 1) We were meeting with him in order to get the promised freebies [Free tickets to a local water park in this case] for our kids' sake. 2) We have enjoyed the use of our time-share BUT when we first bought it eight years ago, I had literally lost three nights of sleep in a fit of financial anxiety because we really could not afford it. 3) We were currently not in the position to buy ANYTHING more and we certainly would not consider going further into debt to add anything to our current time-share plan.

His response at the beginning of the meeting? "That's OK, because I just want to update you about some improvements with your BlueGreen time-share. I am not going to try to sell you anything."

And he had said it with a straight face.

So when he brought in his supervisor, Melissa and I felt compelled to repeat that there was zero possibility of us "upgrading" our time-share. Nevertheless, the two of them now kept pressing forward:

"BUT ... when The Drama Queen (now age 9)grows up and gets married, don't you want to be able to send her to Hawaii for her honeymoon?"

"BUT ... don't you see how, rather than an expense, this upgraded time-share will become a source of income as friends and family members will flock to you and give you money so they can also enjoy it?"

"BUT ... don't you want your kids to be well-traveled and exposed to new places?"

"BUT ... $30,000 is a good deal. In the future, when the price goes up, you'll regret not jumping on board when the price was only $30,000."

They gave it their all.

"Sorry. No money. Not going to happen."

When the supervisor left, and Melissa and I thought for sure the presentation was finally over, our salesman said, "One last thing ... I want to show you a website on our computer that will demonstrate all the benefits of this upgrade."

I think that's when I finally laughed.

Our salesman was deeply offended. But even now he saw a new angle - guilt: "I can't believe a professing Christian would laugh at someone like that. I'm just trying to do my job."

We still didn't upgrade, but I did apologize and explained that I wasn't laughing AT him, but at the situation: We were so eager to get out of the meeting so we could get on with our week of vacation and he was determined to continue talking about a product we simply were not considering buying.

His irritated response: "But you KNEW this was a sales presentation when you signed up for it!"

I refrained from laughing this time, because I didn't want to slow us down again; we pretended to be impressed with the website and then he, dejected, showed us to the window where a happy lady gave us our water park tickets. We bolted for the door.

Fast forward about eight months to last night and a table at Olive Garden. Melissa and I were on our first date in months. In the midst of all the talk of moving to Haiti and selling this and throwing that, we had yet to talk about the time-share. Melissa had assumed we would be keeping it; I had assumed we would not.

If the time-share were free and clear that would be one thing, but it costs us around $500 per year in "maintenance fees". Also, although we've really enjoyed our times at the resorts each year (and Melissa is an expert at stretching our condo days as far as they can go), our summers from here on out are bound to be rather unpredictable. And I'm not sure a week at a resort in Myrtle Beach or Virginia or Michigan will be a top priority in coming summers. We anticipate getting back to the States each summer to visit family and friends and probably do some ongoing fundraising.

Melissa agreed we should check into selling it. If we can get back some of the money we invested in it, we could use that to pay down remaining debts before we enter the mission field.

So like most of the Sells I have listed on this blog, the time-share is on the market, but not necessarily sold yet.

Which reminds me, dear reader ... God knows how stressful your life is ...

... and I believe He wants YOU to buy this time-share from us! ;-)

Day 106 - Gag Sign (Give - as a Birthday Gift)

I picked up this sign at a yard sale back when I was at Asbury Seminary. For a while I was sharing a trailer home - a real "Kentucky Home" - with my friend Tim. I thought this sign would look good in our trailer.

And it did.

Since it is now a family heirloom, I passed it to my neice in class yesterday (she is in my Sophomore English class). She turns 16 this weekend.

I put a little bow on it and attached a Pixy Stick with some tape.

All she said was, "I don't get it..."

Oh, but you did get it! It's yours now.

Day 105 - Magnetic Dry Erase Board (Sell)

This thing can go in the garage sale tub. I bought it to put in my classroom - I wanted something to stick magnets to. That was before I realized that all my chalkboards are magnetic.

So it went in a filing cabinet drawer for a couple of years and now I'm hoping I can get a dollar or two out of it on some upcoming Saturday morning.

Day 104 - Stack of Letters (Throw) and Some Quotes on "Stuff"

Nothing too exciting here. I've held onto a box of old letters for years now. I should show them to my kids - they would probably look as foreign to them as the records I pulled out a few weeks back. "Look, kids, this is what people used to do before email, texting and Facebook ... it's called a letter. Paper and pen and a stamp."

I found letters from individuals dear to me and individuals I had completely forgotten (literally ... still can't place them). There were letters from Grandma Gross, Mom, former campers, fellow camp counselors, high school friends, the sister of a college friend, and my first girlfriend - who missed me terribly now that summer was over! I glanced at every letter, but I pulled out very few to read.

The stack in the picture is maybe a fifth of the box. I can't throw them all out at once.

I did find a half dollar coin in a birthday card from Grandma from 1982.

And I set a few letters aside to look at more closely before I toss them ... I'll let you know if I find anything interesting - assuming it's not too personal! Ha!

Recently I also found all of my old class notes from my Asbury Seminary days. I saved them, because there might be some usable stuff there. And I pulled out a reading packet from my favorite class: Anthropology and Christian Missions.

The reading is fascinating - all kinds of stories about eating caterpillars and such. Here's a random quote from Henry David Thoreau that really resonates with me at this stage of my Giving, Throwing and Selling (taken from Walden):

"When the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him ... a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone."

And the other day I ran across a George Carlin video about STUFF (which I would link to here, but the language throughout is so ... Carlinesque!). In this particular stand up routine, he explained:

"A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff. And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!"

Day 103 - Clock Radio (Sell)

This is one of many time pieces I have bought for Melissa over the years.

I've struck out every time I've spent the money.

Various clocks and watches ... they've all been rejected!

Usually in short order.

I think this clock was either too bright or too big or too complicated to program.

Or all three.

Maybe it was the wrong color too...

Day 102 - Comedy Writing Secrets (Sell)

I bought this book years ago - I think while I was still active with "FishForce", but I'm not sure.

I found it in a closet and first thought it would be a great give to couple of students I've had in class. They are really into filming videos and they come up with some really funny stuff. (To see a video they made for my class last fall, click here - you'll get a kick out of it.)

I figured they'd really get some good use out of the book. But then I started to flip through the pages and I quickly realized some of it was not the kind of humor I would want to be passing on to high school kids!

So I won't.

I'll either sell it or throw it. For now it's going into the box for my garage sale.

Day 101 - Exercise Weights (Sell)

I think I have changed the "comments" setting on this blog to make it easier for folks to leave a message now without going through the hassle of signing in and all. Let me know if I was successful! I would love to hear some feedback now and then - hopefully now it will be quicker and simpler for anyone to talk back to me.

Today I am moving a set of weights to the Sell box for the garage sale. Melissa and I have done a good job over the last decade of spending money on exercise equipment to place in the corners of the bedroom or underneath the bed.

I used to have this theory that, being such a tightwad, if I spent money on something, I would follow through and use it - just to get my money's worth out of it. (I once spent $200 on a guitar under this delusion. My seminary roommate tried to teach me how to play but I gave up before learning my fourth chord!) This includes gym memberships at various times.

The funny thing is that at 42, I am probably in the best physical shape of my life. (Which is not that amazing of an accomplishment if you spend the first four decades or so as a couch potato!) But the way I keep fit these days is as free as exercise gets - about 80 to 90 push ups every morning, some sit ups, and regular running ...

... at least when the weather is nice. I've got my winter ten pounds that will hopefully be history as spring returns. I can't wait.

"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." - I Timothy 4:8

Day 100 - The Message (Sell)

On Day 100 it is great to have a SELL and one that is a win/win for all but a bookstore in Shelbyville.  When I listed on Day 88 the Bibles I had found around the house and which were bound for Papua New Guinea, I mentioned that I had a copy of The Message.  If you haven't read any of The Message, you really should.  It is Eugene Peterson's modern English version of Scripture.  I find it especially helpful in bringing a fresh perspective on familiar passages. 

I had hesitated on whether or not I would send it with the Bibles to Papua New Guinea.  The folks collecting the Bibles had specified no King James Versions, so I got the impression they were looking for translations in modern English.  Although The Message can be useful, it is not strictly speaking a translation.  Peterson does take some literary liberties with the text. 

My copy was a hard bound book for which I had paid $40 many years back.  My future sister-in-law sent me a message on Facebook saying she wished she had seen my posting earlier - she had just gone out and purchased a copy of The Message for my brother  ... for $50!

She further explained how she'd be glad to return it to the store ... if I were selling my copy for less.

I wrote back and said my copy was only $49.99.

We haggled... and settled on $25.  Win/win!

And unlike most of my "Sells" so far, this one is actually a done deal - the book is in Russ' hands and the check is in mine.  That's another $25 in our Haiti fund.

Day 99 - Garfield Posters (Give)

These are a few of the posters I unpacked a few weeks ago (Day 74).  I took them to my classroom thinking I could give them away but then I looked at them and thought, "What modern day high school student would want a 30 year old Garfield poster?"  So they languished on my counter, just getting in the way. 

So I decided the other day to go ahead and throw them away.  But first I would hang them on my front board and see if anybody commented on them.  We went through an entire day of school - and not a word.

Then 8th period rolled around and somebody asked about the posters.  I announced that I was hoping to give them away and then asked, "Any Garfield fans in here?"  Two of my sophomore BOYS shot their hands into the air... and they were serious!  So I gave them each a poster.  The last one is still unspoken for.

Day 98 - Winter Shirts (Give)

This is another of those spring fever moves!  I realize I still have at least one more Indiana winter to go through before we move to Haiti, so I'm not getting rid of all my good winter clothes.  But if I have survived almost an entire winter now without wearing some particular shirt or sweater, I think it's safe to assume I won't be wearing it next winter either.

Especially turtlenecks.  I've got two of them ... and I don't know why! 

You know how sometimes you'll wear a piece of clothing even though it doesn't look all that great because it's so darn comfortable?  And sometimes you'll wear a piece of clothing that's somewhat uncomfortable because it just looks good on you.

Well, turtlenecks are uncomfortable AND geeky looking.  So what's the point in having one?

Much less two.

I got started on this because I found a long sleeve shirt today that I hadn't worn for a while and put it on only to discover the sleeves are a couple of inches too short.  Then I remembered... I don't ever wear this shirt - because it's too small.  But I don't throw it out because it's a nice shirt and I paid money for it. 

Well, it is going to Goodwill along with all the other winter clothing I don't wear.  Why should it hang in my closet when some poorer person might actually get some use out of it?

Day 97 - Letters from Pete (Give ... Back)

I came across some letters from my first best friend, Pete, and got a laugh out of rereading them.  These are letters Pete wrote after his family moved on from Shelbyville. 

Pete and his family first moved to Shelbyville when I was in third grade.  His father was the new pastor at our church.

I took an instant disliking to Pete when my parents dragged my brothers and me to the church basement for the welcome luncheon.  He was skinny and his ears stuck out.  And there was my Mom nudging me forward, saying, "Oh look - they have a boy your age. Why don't you go introduce yourself?" 

"Because he's skinny and his ears stick out" is what I wanted to say.  But I did introduce myself ... and we became the greatest of friends. 

Pete made church fun for me.  And he was the first person to show me that real Christians would stand out in a crowd ... and it wasn't something to be feared.

When 7th grade rolled around, I was excited - even in the midst of fears of going to a new building - because it meant that Pete and I would finally get to go to the same school.  I remember the relief I felt when I realized we would have the same lunch period. 

And the junior high cafeteria was the place where Pete taught me how a young Christian acts on his faith.  The cafeteria was segregated - the "normal" kids jockeyed for positions at the majority of the tables but there were two tables that were reserved for the special ed kids.  None of the "normal" kids ever EVER considered sitting with the special ed kids.  Except Peter.  I, of course, tagged along, but it was Pete who initiated sitting THERE.  And not only sitting there, but actually talking to THEM.  Like they were human beings. 

The way Jesus would have done if He had been a junior high student.

I learned a lot from Pete.  Unfortunately, he moved away at the end of that 7th grade year, but we wrote letters and visited whenever he could talk our parents into making the drive.  I'm still in contact with him through Facebook but not enough.  After reading these old letters I realize I need to spend some time with Pete sometime soon. 

Because I can't keep all these old letters, I thought I'd put them in the mail to him.  I figure he'll get a big kick out of reading what he wrote to me.  There's absolutely nothing serious in any of the letters; they're filled with sentences like the following:

"Do you play with brissle bears, grrrr." 

"Do you still like poneytail head?"  (That was about Amber - my first crush.) 

"If this letter seems a little strange, it should, I wrote it!!!"

3-26-82  - a reddish stain that he drew a line around and called "Ketchup Man"

"James and Berta (Pete's sister, Rebekah) are still romancing.  He comes over and eats all our food." (They eventually got married!)

And my favorite (although I have no idea what it means):  "Have mercy on me, Buddy Bear!"

Day 96 - Assorted Shells (Throw) and Day 97 - Four Gallon Mason Jar (Hopefully Sell!)

Keeping it short so that I can get caught up soon.  The Drama Queen is beginning work on a school project where she gets to choose a president to study.  It reminded me of an odd little artifact that had fallen out of some of my Grandpa Henke's books that were passed on to me when he died.  I went out looking for it and came across some interesting stuff in the process.  (I will write about the "artifact" in a separate entry.  It is truly unusual and I DID manage to locate it eventually.)

First of all, I came across a whole bunch of sea shells.  I just love collecting sea shells.  I could spend hours on a beach just strolling in the surf and keeping an eye open for little (free!) treasures that have recently washed ashore.  They all look so beautiful and utterly unique in the moment, but then I get them home and, over time, I don't remember which shell came from which beach.  Because they all pretty much look alike.

I didn't even bother to take a picture of them.  Only one was marked with the name of the beach of origination - it came from the Shetland Islands - up north from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where I spent my junior year of college.  I've never been anywhere so remote and so ruggedly beautiful - but the shell I brought home as a souvenir was dull and ordinary! 

I tossed all (ok... most) of the shells.

But the container I found them in may actually be worth something.  It's a mason jar.  I have no idea how old it actually is (it was another item from Grandpa's estate - so it has potential to be fairly old), but on the one side it says "Mason's Patent Nov. 30th 1858".  On the other is an eagle emblem.

[A few minutes later ...]

I just finished a bit of internet research.  If the folks at answers.com know what they are talking about, the jar is worth $40 to $80.  Apparently it is a reproduction - produced in 1975 in celebration of the coming bicentennial.  So not so old.

Still ... it could put us $50 closer to Haiti.  Anyone want it?

Day 95 - Grudge Stuff (Throw ... Twice!)

I don't know what else to label these items collectively than "Grudge Stuff": a couple of letters, a print out of a blog entry, and some other documents - all dealing with my rocky relationship with a supervising pastor who greatly offended my wife and me.

I've mentioned several times here how bad my memory is.  When it comes to "Forgive and forget", forgetting is the easy part for me.  Which is why I held on to this grudge stuff.  I didn't want to forget because I didn't want to forgive.

So I found these items in a box I was sorting through and I reread them all ... and plenty of anger and hurt returned afresh.  (I didn't even mention them to Melissa - I didn't want to see her stew!)

This is stuff from six years ago and this individual played a large roll in catapulting me out of church ministry and into teaching.

And even though I know it doesn't necessarily mean that I have completely forgiven this man, I do feel like I took an important step towards total forgiveness when I threw this grudge stuff away.

Here's how crooked my heart is:  I had the throw the darned things away TWICE.

Before I threw away the physical papers, I sat down and recorded some of the key words and phrases that got me so riled up.  Plenty of them!  I recorded them here in my rough draft for this blog.  And only then did I throw away the papers.

I suppose the dark part of my heart wanted to drag this pastor through the dirt a bit ... publicly. (Even though I would never name him here.)   And the needy part of my heart wanted to highlight the offenses in detail in order to elicit some sympathy from anybody who might happen to read this blog.  (Maybe I could insert a link to some sad violin music here while I'm at it!)

But ultimately I Threw the grudge stuff away a second time by hitting the Delete button here.  So it's really gone now and, even though I have a ways to go yet (obviously), I feel cleaner and more spiritually healthy than I felt while I was trying to preserve some part of the grudge stuff. 

When we consider all that the True and Holy God of Heaven has forgiven us, do we have a right to hold onto some minor grievance with a brother or sister here on earth?  The parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35 can be a rather scary story if we take it seriously!

Day 94 - Muppets Book (Sell - but apparently not today!) and Ignorant Opinions

I am sitting in the Borders Bookstore cafe in Greenwood after a visit to Half Price Books.  I pulled a couple of extra books today to sell - like this great Muppet coffee table book - and then drove the 45 minutes to HPB.  You know how much they wanted to offer for two tubs full of books?? Sixteen dollars!  Unbelievable!

I was insulted!  The Shakespeare book alone is worth more than that. They made the offer; I repacked my boxes and left with my books.  I could get more than that by selling them for fifty cents apiece at my upcoming garage sale. I also hear there's a website called Booksintocash, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

I can't close this so-far-uneventful blog entry without relating one of the most ignorant statements I've ever heard in my entire life.  (And when I say "ignorant", I am being diplomatic because I really want to say "moronic".) 

Just across the coffee shop from where I am sitting was a youngish couple (mid-20s I guess) who seemed to be at the getting acquainted stage of a romance.  She had quite a loud mouth and seemed rather confident of the correctness of her opinions, especially when she got onto the topic of religion.  Here's how the "conversation" went:

Loud woman:  "Oh, I'm a believer, I just don't go to church."
Man:  "Mmmhmm."
Loud woman:  "I don't think church is necessary - organized religion and all that."
Man: "Mmm."
Loud woman:  "Someone once pointed out a powerful fact that really struck me..."
Man: "Oh?"
       [Here it comes!]
Loud woman:  "Yeah, my friend pointed out that Jesus himself never did any of his teaching inside a church."
Man:  "Hmmm." (Deep in thought, apparently.)
Loud woman:  "He did his teaching outside ... and that's where I really feel most connected to God."

I really should have said something, shouldn't I have? 

Should I have pointed out that technically her friend was absolutely correct since the church didn't officially form until after the death and resurrection of Christ and then the coming of the Holy Spirit?  Or that the first church buildings didn't appear until about 300 years later?

Or should I have pointed out that her friend was essentially quite mistaken, since the church is simply a gathering of believers, and thus anytime and anywhere Jesus addressed the disciples, he was essentially speaking in the midst of the church?

More importantly, should I have informed her on how Jesus did in fact speak in the "church" of his day? 

His first official sermon was in the synagogue of Nazareth where "He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
   ¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
   because he has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
   and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
   ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
 ²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  (Luke 4)

Rich Stearns, President of World Vision, calls this Jesus proclaiming his mission statement.  It's the work He was sent to accomplish and it is the work He has called the church - His Body! - to join him in.

Sadly, it seems to me that the coffee shop woman is not really all that far removed from many churchgoers in her attitude toward religion.  Consider this: her basic operating assumption is that faith is exclusively something between her and God and is much more about self-fulfillment than self-denial.

May God forgive the church when we neglect to gather together (Hebrews 10:25!) or ... just as bad ... are content to be pew potatoes.

Day 93 - Outdated Technology ... Camera and Disks (Throw)

Home from school for the day with Ida (Age 7) who was running a fever.  Melissa stayed with him yesterday.

I took a little time to clean out the hall closet.  There's mostly winter clothing in there, but also an assortment of cameras and camera equipment.  I found some old computer disks  -  considered keeping them, but where would I even find a computer that could read them?  So I concluded that if I have lived without them for the past ten years or so, I can live without them permanently. 

I found some extra camera equipment - lenses and such - that should be worth something if I can find the right market, but I also found this particular camera which was called an "Izone".  In effect, it spit out miniature Polaroid pictures.  It still had a couple of pics left, so I pointed it at a kid or two and waited to see what would happen.  Nothing.  Just a tiny black square.  I think I got the thing around ten years ago.  I doubt that they even make the specialized film for it anymore. 

Before I threw it away, I briefly recycled it as a toy for The Princess (Age 4).  She was so cute with it - "taking pictures".  Furthermore, it really drove home how quickly technology changes - she would "take my picture" and then say, "Want to see it?" and turn the camera around to the back side where, in her young mind, a camera should have a display screen!

The highlight of my camera sorting was finding my old pre-digital camera with an unfinished roll of pictures in it!  I finished off the last couple of pics with Dats and The Drama Queen once they got home from school.  It's at Walgreens right now getting developed.  Could be trash ... or treasure.  I'm in great suspense!

Day 92 - "Queen" Glass (Sell)

It's early February and the weatherman is calling for high temps in the mid-40s in the next few days and that gives me the first tingles of Spring Fever.  I hate winter with an unholy passion.  I hate putting on a coat.  I hate being trapped inside.  I hate the cloud cover.  I hate shoveling snow.  I hate the barenness of trees.  I hate the brown grass.  I hate the noise the furnace makes.  I hate not being able to strap on my running shoes and head out the door for a run. (Because I'm not one of those nuts who jogs in sub-freezing weather!)

So I might be jumping the gun a bit, but there it is - Spring Fever.  The advent of Spring usually brings an anxiousness to get out and run or do some yardwork, but this year there's something new.  Something I've never ever experienced at any time of year before:  the desire to hold a garage sale!

Usually, I hate garage sales with an unholy passion ... so this is confusing me.  But I grabbed a gray plastic tub tonight and marked it "Moving Sale" and I've started to fill it.  I plan to fill it with things to Sell over the next few weeks and, at the first sign of a warm weekend, I'm going to have a Garage Sale!  WooHoo!

And I must confess ... the first thing I put in my gray tub is the oil dispenser from Day 75.  It was in a box bound for Goodwill that got trapped in limbo in the back of our minivan.  I figure someone will give me a couple of bucks for it.  And if they don't, THEN Goodwill can have it.  Is that selfish? 

But the second thing I put in there was this wine glass with the word "Queen" and various crown shapes on it.  Sorry, cousin Angie - I remember that this was a gift from you to Melissa...

 It is not destined to become a family heirloom, but maybe it can get us a few dollars closer to Haiti.

Day 91 - Shakespeare (Sell)

This is going into the box designated for "Half Price Books".  "The Riverside Shakespeare" is 1,923 pages - and almost six pounds - of the Bard's masterpieces.  It's one of those books that looks good on a shelf, but it's not something I'm going to pull down for some leisure reading.  That's probably literary blasphemy for an English teacher to say, but I find reading Shakespeare about as enjoyable as the next guy.  (Plus, the font in this book is microscopic!)  WATCHING Shakespeare is an entirely different story.  I actually enjoy a good Shakespearian production either on the stage or on the silverscreen.  And you may doubt me, but I once saw a film version of "Taming of the Shrew" that was laugh-out-loud funny. 

Currently, I am reading Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" with my students.  We have two acts out of five under our belts and the big stabbing scene is coming up.  (Nobody is in a hurry to finish it ... the research paper comes next!)   I try to make sure the students don't dismiss it as "history" and "politics" - a deadly combination in the teenage mind.  I play up the "forming alliances" and the "betrayal" aspects of it all and compare it to the way reality show contestants behave - it's Survivor in togas. 

There are a few memorable lines in JC.  Of course you have the "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" and "Et tu, Brute?" lines.  And this play is the source of the saying "it's Greek to me."  But Caesar himself says one of my favorite lines from all of Shakespeare:

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come." (2.2.34)

Has the ring of Truth to it, doesn't it?

 ¹⁴ Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.   (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Day 90 - Giant Inflatable Basketball (Give)

I picked up this oversized inflatable basketball in Clay City, Indiana, if I remember correctly.  There's a Free Methodist camp in Clay City ... and very little else. 

There was a little shop "downtown" which sold ice cream and an odd collection of this and that.  We actually bought their restaurant booths when they went out of the ice cream business.  The booths fit perfectly in the youth room housed in the basement of the parsonage we lived in at the time.  The basketball and a smilarfootball were for camp games.

They've been in a box ever since.

So I took the basketball to school with me over a week ago, but put it in my trunk and kept forgetting to get it out.  Today after school, I remembered and got it out of the trunk, but nobody was around except the student I affectionalely call "Satan".  She suggested I leave it in the back of somebody's pick-up truck.  So I diid. 

I just hope it doesn't blow out of the truck bed as the driver heads down the road.  I'd hate to think I littered.

Day 89 - Youth Ministry Books (Give)

I have been sorting through stacks of books lately.  I have found several from my youth ministry days and have offered them to the youth pastor at our church over Facebook.  Hopefully he'll be willing to take them off my hands.

It's funny now that I think about it.  I left youth ministry for two main reasons.

1)  The average youth pastor serves a church for 18 months before moving on ... or being moved on.  Melissa and I had a couple of toddlers and I wanted to give my kids a more stable life.  That's funny because now we're getting ready to uproot our kids and take them to a foreign country.  So much for stability!

2)  I only got to spend Sunday mornings and one evening a week with most of the teens - with the occasional weekend retreat and week-long mission trip thrown in.  I was jealous of the teachers who got to see the kids on a daily basis week in and week out.  Of course I quickly learned that a teacher is pretty limited in what he can speak of with students in a public school.  Still, I have found opportunities to share Christ in more covert ways.

In Haiti, we'll be able to openly teach about Christ because it will be a missionary school.  I might even get the chance to teach at the Emmaus Bible Seminary that is part of the OMS mission there.

Speaking of the Emmaus Bible Seminary, Stacey Ayars (who serves alongside her husband at EBS) posted a fascinating story on her blog today about one of their students, Junior, and where his enthusiasm for evangelism took him.  It involves "deadly trees"!  Take an extra three minutes and read it here.

One last thing ... if you are of the spirit to pray, please pray for one of my students.  She is an incredibly talented young lady with a huge personality who has endured a rather troubled home life.  But specifically, here's what she said that calls for your prayers and mine:  "I'm pretty sure God hates me." 

If that breaks your heart like it does mine, offer up a little prayer for her to the God who is running toward her with His arms wide open.  Thanks.

Day 88 - Bibles (Give ... to Papua New Guinea)

Storly got onto a track during Sunday School today where he started asking about folks within our class who have connections to some sort of charity work or missions - places that have needs of one sort or another.  (This is all in the context of our study of "The Hole in Our Gospel".)  One of the couples have a daughter and son-in-law (and grandkids) on the mission field with Wycliffe in Papua New Guinea.  Apparently, there is a need there for English translations of the Bible and there is an effort underway in our church to collect a thousand Bibles to send.

I immediately thought this would be a tailor-made Give.  I have collected a fair share of Bible over the years.  This afternoon I took some time to gather together some Bibles and realized I had even more than I had thought!

Look at this stack:

That's fourteen Bibles.  Fourteen!

There's the J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament (given to me by evil pastor Gjerde), God's Game Plan FCA Student Bible, two copies of the Serendipity New Testament for Groups, a copy of The Message Old Testament Wisdom Books, The Message Bible, one New International Version (which I got at the Urbana Missions Conference in 1987), a New American Standard Version, and the Young Reader's Bible presented to me on August 28, 1977 by my home church.

I've got to keep one or two (or three), but the others tend to gather dust.  I'll definitely keep the top orange Bible.  It's compact and has a durable cover.  There's another one in there I'd like to keep: a Greek/English interlinear version of the New Testament.  And maybe one of the study Bibles - the Ryrie Study Bible is very helpful at times and I also like my study Bible with the Wesleyan slant.

To me, this stack of Bibles represents just one more example of how blessed we are with resources that many Christians around the world could only dream of.  And what do we do with God's blessings?  We allow them to sit on our shelves and gather dust.

Not these Bibles... they're headed overseas. 

If you have an extra Bible or two around your house, get ahold of me and we'll make sure they get included in the shipment. 

P.S. Found three more Bibles in the house - Melissa's leatherbound Bible, and Caleb's, and a big honking King James version we got as a gift when we got married.  That's 17 Bibles in our house. 

Wait.  One more.  Just remembered I have a Bible that belonged to my grandmother, Lucile Henke.  She was Lucile Linville when the Bible was presented to her by her church on April 3, 1927.  I'll be keeping that one, too. Or passing it on to one of my brothers.

That's 18 Bibles under our roof.  That's crazy.

Oh yeah ... I have at least one more Bible I keep on my shelf at school.  19.  That's over three Bibles per family member...

Day 87 - Pencil Holder? (Give) and Progress Towards "Katie"

Not sure what this thing is.  It's not a mug - the lip is flared and would make it impossible to drink without spilling the contents all over yourself.  I have some vague recollection of this thing holding pencils and pens on my oldest brother's desk in our childhood room.  I have no idea if it has any significance to him or not, but I'm not mailing it to him like the frog (Day 85) ... this thing is metal - I'm not paying postage for that! 

Goodwill can have it.

Also, an update on our progress toward Haiti.  As far as our long range plan of moving our family there August 2012, I had promised myself that if we got any snow days this week I would use the time to work on my application to OMS (for becoming a full-time missionary).  I hadn't worked on it since Black Friday when I filled out some of the forms as I sat on the floor of Walmart waiting to get this laptop I am currently typing on.  Well, I ended up with three days off from school last week because of the ice storm.  I took a bit of time to call a couple of friends to see if they would fill out the reference forms for me.  Melissa and I each have to have four references - a pastor, an employer and two non-family members who have known us for at least five years.  My small group leader (and friend!), Steve, agreed to do one for me and my old seminary roommate (and friend!), Tim, also agreed. 

And when it comes to our short range plan of getting our kids down to Haiti this summer, we also heard back from the field director in Haiti about what it would cost us to have our family there for a short term trip this summer.  It's typically $45 a day per person to cover food, housing and transportation costs, but he's going to count our family of six as just three persons. 

So we're starting to get an idea of what a two week trip will cost for the family:  $450 per person for flight from Florida to Haiti, about $100 per kid for passports, and $135 a day for the family while in Haiti.  Those are the major expenses, but of course there will be others.  For instance, we will have to drive ourselves down to Florida and back.  I'm also not sure how much of the kids' vaccination costs will be covered by insurance.  100% would be nice.

But I've already started a "Haiti Fund" that has some cash in it.  At the first of the year, Melissa and I threw some Christmas money in there.  Last week, a friend from church tried to sneak a couple of twenties into one of my bags as I was leaving Walmart.  When I caught him, he insisted I keep it ... for Haiti.  So I did.  Today I spent part of my day helping out a couple of friends from small group.  They had a painting project which involved high, vaulted ceilings and scaffolding.  I only went because Jeff's hands are too shaky to cut in paint along the ceiling edge 25 feet up and Karen was a bit nervous about climbing all that scaffolding.  I usually hate painting, but it's because it's so doggone boring.  But it's not so boring when you have to climb to paint.  They knew I wasn't expecting to be paid, but they generously offered a check ... for Haiti ... so I didn't turn it down. 

The field director suggested we come for just 5 to 7 days, but Melissa and I want to take the kids there for two weeks if we are going to go to all that expense to get down to Haiti and back.  He also suggested the end of July or beginning of August might be best.  He'd like for us to be there when there isn't a mission team already scheduled to be there.  We'd have to make it the end of July since school typically starts the middle of August and Melissa has kindergarten screenings and a lot of prep work before the school year even begins.

So at least as far as this summer goes, we've got an idea of costs, a bit of money being put aside, and some idea as to a target date.  Things are rolling!  The kids are excited.  The Princess (age 4) still cracks me up each time she calls Haiti "Katie"!

Day 86 - Vintage Star Wars Posters (Give)

At first I was going to let my kids enjoy these posters for a while before tossing them out, but then I got to thinking - it doesn't look good to have a bunch of ancient posters taped to the walls when you're staging a house to sell.  (Not that we've had anyone yet express interest in seeing the house!)

Then it occurred to me that I have a mega-Star Wars fan among my students this year.  Let's just call him Obi Wan for our purposes here.  Well, Obi Wan loves all things Star Wars - he will actually blurt out random Star Wars quotes in class.  Which is amusing.

Here is the only problem:  his love for Star Wars includes all six movies.  As if they are on equal footing!  I cannot allow such wrongheaded opinion to stand unchallenged!  Obi Wan and I have had numerous debates about the worthiness of Episodes 1, 2 and 3 - and, I am proud to say, I have made some headway.

Because I was a kid when the first Star Wars movie debuted (Episode 4 - A New Hope), I am one of those who loved the first three films and then was absolutely disgusted by the 3 prequels.  What beautiful, computer-generated garbage they are!  George Lucas produced three great movies and then turned into the Bride who goes all out on her hair, wedding dress and cake but puts no thought into the marriage ceremony itself. 

I hate to crush Obi Wan's enthusiasm for those three movies, but as an English teacher, I am compelled - by law! - to point out that all the special effects in the world can't replace PLOT and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. 

And there's simply no excuse imaginable for Jar Jar Binks.

Anyway, maybe giving these posters to Obi Wan makes up a bit for bursting his Phantom Menace bubble.  Honestly, I have to tell you that his gratitude for the four or five posters I gave him was something to behold! He was beaming. He actually offered to pay me for them, but I refused.  And when I saw him leaving the building after school, he yelled his thanks down the hallway again.

Day 85 - Frog (Give ... Back)

This evil frog is a bank.  I found it in one of the boxes my younger brother Russ brought me from our childhood home.  So now it's in my possession.  But it's not mine. 

It took a long time of glancing repeatedly at that ugly thing (I tried not to look directly into its eyes) to kickstart my memory, but now I'm reasonably sure it belonged to my oldest brother, Ryan.

So I'm mailing it to him.  I didn't get him and his wife anything for Christmas (and they sent us a bread recipe book that Melissa has used several times already) so maybe I'll put a couple of quarters in before I seal the little devil in a box...  I'm sure Ryan will be so excited when this shows up at his door.

Day 84 - Records (Throw)

I found about twenty record albums in a crate.  When I pulled one out of its sleeve and showed it to the kids, their eyes got wide and they asked, "What is THAT?"  So I explained how - years and years ago - CDs were not shiny, but black, and they laid flat on a revolving table.  When I got to the part about the arm and the needle, they started looking at me with that expression they get before they ask, "Are you teasing us?"  (Or, as The Princess (age 4) says, "For REAL?")

I'm sure some of you are thinking, wow, a couple of dozen thirty-year-old records ... those have to be worth something.  He should Sell those!  First of all, they got wet somewhere along the way so the covers are ruined and they smell like mold.  Second, this is MY record collection, so there's nothing remotely "cool" or valuable in the entire stack.  There's no Pink Floyd or vintage Led Zeppelin here.  (Heck, I don't even know if I spelled "Zeppelin" right.)

Only THIS:

Which I believe is the diametric opposite of Pink Floyd...

And THIS:

Which epitomizes my musical tastes with the song "Happy Boy":

I was walkin' down the street on a sunny day
hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba
A feelin' in my bones says I'll have my way
hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba

Chorus:
Well, I'm a happy boy (happy boy)
Well, I'm a happy boy (happy boy)
Oh, ain't it good when things are goin' your way? Hey hey

My little dog, Spot got hit by a car
hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba
Put his guts in a box and put him in a drawer
hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba

(chorus)

I forgot all about it for a month and a half
hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba
I looked in the drawer and started to laugh
hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba

So, as you can see, my musical preferences were a bit ... off the beaten path.  Somewhere along the way - around Jr High School - my brothers and I discovered the Dr. Demento Show.  His show aired on an Indy station on Sunday nights from 8 to 10.  That meant I had to take a radio to bed with me and listen to pressed against my ear with the volume low if I wanted to hear the show all the way up to "The Funny Five" - the five most requested novelty songs of the week. 

We actually recorded the show on cassettes whenever we could and then compiled our own "best of" cassettes.  I saved up some money finally and bought an actual album:

This album includes such hits as:  Short People, Junk Food Junkie, My Bologna, Fish Heads, The Cockroach that Ate Cincinnati, King Tut, Dead Skunk, and the classic Dead Puppies (whose chorus contains the indisputable truth "Dead puppies aren't much fun").

And, of course, Dr. Demento was the one who introduced me (and the whole world) to the genius of 'Weird Al' Yankovic.

Albums by 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Steve Martin, National Lampoon and Ray Stevens...

I also discovered Ray Stevens - who had been around for quite a while already and is still going strong today.

So there you go... more fodder for the landfill.  I hesitated over tossing many of these albums (and I do plan to take a couple of the Weird Al records to school, cuz I bet I can find a kid who would want them), but in the end it started to sink in to me:  with the advances in technology, if I really want to listen to any of these albums again (and that's a big IF for many of these), I am sure I can find them on-line any time I want.

And probably sounding much better than I could get with my records on a turntable - if I could even find one that still works.

Day 83 - Hairbows for Haiti (Give)

We were stranded at home today (like 100 million others) by the "historic" snow and ice storm.  We've just had the ice part of it.  The trees are starting to lose some branches and Melissa swears she is seeing our lights flicker now and then.  The kids are all hoping the power goes out because Melissa made the mistake of telling them that if the power goes, we might just have to invite ourselves over to Steve and Keri's house.  They have a fireplace and a kerosene heater and are within walking distance.  Melissa and I are thinking survival ... our kids are thinking Monster Slumber Party with Steve and Keri's four kids.  Dats (age 9) wants a schedule:  "If the power goes out, when do you think that will be?" 

Of course, Melissa and I were going to get all sorts of things done today.  Reality fell short of expectations.  Steve's accomplishments:  showered, cut fingernails, carried on a political argument on Facebook, stayed awake throughout a family viewing of "Nanny McPhee Returns", made homemade lemonade, and caught up on my blog writing (assuming I do finish this entry).  Melissa's accomplishments:  showered, cooked chicken-fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner, checked the weather repeatedly, endured wallering by The Princess (age 4) throughout "Nanny McPhee Returns", and sorted through the girls' hairbow collection. 

The extra hairbows are to be given away.  If we can keep track of them for the next several months, we'll take them to Haiti with us this summer to give away.  The little girls there LOVE their hairbows. 

By the way, "Nanny McPhee Returns" was pretty decent.  The moral of the story, as I saw it (through half open eyes), was that a family doesn't need Nanny McPhee and her magic once Dad comes home...  Good message.

Day 82 - Chunk of Carpet from my Boyhood Bedroom (Throw ... Sadly)

This is one of the few momentos from my childhood that I remember holding onto. I knew it was around here somewhere, I just wasn't sure what box it was in.  My oldest brother, Ryan, and I shared a bedroom as kids.  There was his side and there was my side and I was strictly forbidden to cross over to his side - even when he went off to college.  (On weekends home from Purdue he would carefully inspect his side of the room for evidence that I had trespassed.)

Once we were both out of the house, my parents turned it into the guest bedroom.  They painted over the robin's egg blue walls (still my favorite color), tore down the bed my Dad had made for us, tore up the carpet and then proceeded to make the room all girly instead. 

I must have caught them in the act because I managed to snag a piece of the old carpet before they threw it out.  I saved it because I'm sentimental like that (not "girly" as my wife calls it) ... and because it was unique carpet, at least for a bedroom.  I was too young to remember the circumstances of its installation, but it didn't take me too long to figure out that it was outdoor carpet.  My family was far from rich and outdoor carpet was a lot cheaper and SO much more durable!

It's not like I have particularly happy memories associated with the carpet itself.  Just the opposite.  There was no padding beneath it and it inflicted MONSTER rug burns!  I mean, you didn't even have to go sliding on your knees to get a burn - just crawling around on all fours without the benefit of jeans was enough to draw blood!  Outdoor carpet like this is slightly softer than your average cheese grater.

So why did I keep my little square of sadistic floor covering all these years? 

I guess that's what psychoanalysts are for.

But I threw it away last night ...

Well ... not all of it.  When the moment of truth came, I couldn't bring myself to toss it in the trash can.  Then I realized that I didn't really have to throw it all away ... just most of it.  So I cut out a two inch by two inch square to keep. 

It doesn't take up much space.

Anybody got the number of a good psychoanalyst?