The Kirby

It had been a long day. It was a Sunday and I had spent my entire day at the church. Between preaching twice, teaching Sunday School, and dealing with difficult church members I was ready to go home, pop in a movie, sit on the couch, and just relax. The doorbell rang. A young African-American woman stood at my door with a big smile. "Have you received your free gift yet," her question intrigued me. I love gifts, giving and receiving them, Dr. Gary Chapman would tell you it is one of my love languages. "No," I cautiously replied. "Well, I am from the Kirby company..." As she trailed off about offering me a free gift from the Kirby Company I had a horrific flashback to my childhood, sitting on a couch in Lawrenceville Georgia for two hours, while my mother had the Kirby salesman vacuum our entire house. "...so it is just a real quick presentation it wont take long at all. I will go and get George." As she retreated in the direction of the neighborhood she had come from the thought occurred to me, "OH NO!"
If you don't know about Kirby vacuums let me enlighten you. The only way to purchase a new Kirby model is to do so from a sales person who comes to your home. They present the product and let is "speak for itself." They have sold vacuums the same way since 1914 when Jim Kirby designed the Ezee Vacuum Cleaner. The Avon of vacuum cleaners Kirby has become an icon representing long boring presentations of products you most likely can't afford, and certainly don't want.

As George entered my home, while my dinner got cold and my movie was paused. I convinced myself that I would be polite for ten minutes before I ask the young man to politely leave, this was at 8:30pm. If you have never dealt with the Kirby Company before let me warn you that they train their employees in the art of refusing to leave. For the nest two hours George, an African-American young man vacuumed my house. And when I say vacuumed my house I mean any possible surface you can think of because the Kirby Sentria can do it all.

My carpet was vacuumed, and shampooed. My kitchen floor was vacuumed. My couches were vacuumed. My mattress was vacuumed. My Television was vacuumed. My ceiling fan was vacuumed. My runner boards were vacuumed. My dry wall was vacuumed. The man even wanted to vacuum my cat (THAT IS NOT A JOKE). Those were just the attachments that he brought. There were additional optional attachments that act as a spray painter, sander, and dermal. They even have a back massage attachment, this is for all for a vacuum cleaner.

Two hours after the young my door bell the "closer" sat on my couch. With his handy chart he showed me the price of such a wonderful tool, $2150.00. This could easily be broken down into affordable payments over the next several months. As I kindly conveyed that they had about a snowflake's chance in hell of selling me a vacuum cleaner, I made a promise to myself, the next time the door bell rings IGNORE IT!!

XYG (Examin Your Generation): Insight into the X Y Generations. Pt. 1

This is Who We Are

Recently I saw a video by a girl named Ladonna Witmer. In 1998 Ladonna recorded a video entitled Who I Am that explained generation X at a church conference for Baby Boomers. Though Ladonna spoke of her generation (Gen. X) and she admittedly is not the same person she was, the things she said in her 8 minutes presentation sum up the American and Christian condition for the twenty and thirty-something generations of today, generations X and Y.

The things that she stated were powerful, shocking, and hit close to home. She was a girl who enjoys black fingernails and strange clothes but had volumes of insight. She spoke of generations searching for truth but instead of finding truth they are finding hypocrisies from their parent's generation. In her presentation she states, "You speak of a Christianity that unifies and builds each other up but all we have seen is a church that divides." She makes some harsh statements about church and about church members who do not seem to care. In the end she spoke of seeking advice from our parent's generation because we know that they had been through much of what we are going through, but in seeking advice she stated that it was hard to find anyone to listen. She spoke of a generation seeking truth but being disgusted by the church's hypocritical answers for what truth was. She introduced two generations of cynics looking for answers to a room looking for who our generations are.

I saw this video with a room full of baby boomers. Myself and a handful of others were the only ones who fit into the generations in question. It was interesting to see the difference in how the age groups interpreted the video. While The baby boomers made the assumption that she was self centered and didn't really seem to care. Those in my group insisted on quite the opposite. She is searching for truth and in her search she is finding the same thing that many of us are, a two faced Christianity focused only on the appearance of excellence. When questioned what background we thought she had most baby boomers replied that she was un-churched. Our group hit the nail on the head when we suggested she grew up in a conservative church (It was a fundamental Baptist). The reason why so many churches are having a hard time reaching these generations today is because they are trying to reach us by pushing church at us and it is the very thing that is driving so many away. X and Y do not want excellence in their churches, Christianity, or lives anymore. Much more important than excellence is truth, a genuine, authentic truth.

I wouldn't consider myself so engrossed in our generational struggles as Ladonna and many others are, but as I watched her video I could most assuredly associate with her. We have grown up questioning, my father can attest for me, but in our searching so often we are given inadequate answers, or no answers at all. We question everything. Taking someone's word for truth went out the window when the concept of marriage lasting a lifetime did. It isn't that the words of others are incorrect, it is that they are open and subject to criticism. We are not a speak-when-spoken-to generation. We are not idle thinkers. We are a speak-a-voice-of-expression generation, and out-loud thinkers. In search for answers we don't find what we are looking for and assume the possibility that there is not truth. This postmodern view is simply a result of searching and coming up empty handed.

I don't know if we are right in thinking as we do, in fact many times I think that we are wrong, but this is who we are.

A Clean Case of Lifevesting

It was the Wednesday afternoon before my Grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary when I got the phone call from my mother. She was calling to make sure that I was packing my suit to take to Alabama for the celebration. Needing to bring a suit, being new news to me, came at an very inconvenient time. I knew that the one suit I owned was dirty and since I was getting ready to go to work I would not have time to drop it off by the dry cleaners before my scheduled clock-in time. I went to work, came home late and went to bed. The next morning (Thursday) I woke up and went to class. I arrived back in my dorm room at around 11:00. Knowing that I was leaving to go to Alabama Friday morning I began calling dry cleaners. For forty-five minutes I called business asking them if they could clean my suit and have it back to me today before 5:00. No Luck. At the end of my rope I reached the last number under the dry cleaner's section in the phone book, Tyler's Cleaners.

The woman who answered the phone was very nice and seemed to be a person in some position of power (latter I would find out that she was the owner of the business, Mrs. Tyler). I told her my situation and asked if there was any way she could get my suit cleaned and back to me by 5:00. Without hesitation she said,

Well even though it's a little late in the day if you can get it by here by 12:30 we can get it cleaned for you.

I hopped in my car and drove across town to the location of the cleaners. When I arrived I quickly found out that the same woman on the phone was behind the counter. I told her that I was the man on the phone, she smiled, and took my suit. She then turned and asked for my phone number, I gave it to her she wrote it on a piece of paper and pinned it to the suit. Along with it a note that read,

Rush Order! Call When Ready!

She informed me that it would probably be close to 5:00 before it was ready. I reassured her that 5:00 was great as long as it was clean, and then left. At a quarter to three my cell phone rang, it was the same woman telling me that my suit was ready and that she personally had just pulled it off of the rack. When I arrived at the cleaners to pick up the suit she again greeted me with a smile and gave me the suit, I paid her for the services and asked for a few business cards. I told her I didn't know of many college students who used dry cleaners but if anyone ever asked me I would send them to her way. She handed me the business cards, thanked me, and wished my grandparents a happy 50th.

Mrs. Tyler did what she had to more often than she probably wanted to for less money than she deserved all because she had a larger view in mind. Mrs. Tyler was a lifevestor but even more than that she ran her business with the same principles. I don't know how much business I gave Tyler cleaners, but I handed out all of the business cards, and every time I need something dry cleaned I will drive past four other dry cleaners on my way to Tyler Cleaners.

For more lifevesting stories check out www.lifevesting.com.

Medical Show Heroes

I have always watched TV shows that revolve or have themes that revolve around medicine, even those I have just watched in reruns. M*A*S*H, Doogie Howser, Rescue 911,Third Watch, along with other shows, have entertained me through many late nights and boring afternoons. The three crown jewels in my book of medical TV shows are, ER, Scrubs, and House M.D. In each of these shows there are characters who stand out. It is these characters that put each in the top three.
Dr. Robert Romano. Many fans of the widely popular ER hated Romano for his rude comments, rough social skills, and canny ability to piss people off. The character was killed off the show midway through the tenth season. Dr. Romano was the type of man who got things done. As Chief of Staff Romano would be described as being insensitive, but if there was one thing that he did care about was saving lives. Dr. Romano, usually a jerk, usually right, and always entertaining.

The next doc to grace my top three is Dr. Perry Cox on another NBC medical show, Scrubs. Though scrubs is the comedy that jump started Zach Braff's career the comedy stylings of John C. McGinley help to make the show. Dr. Cox appears to be a self centered arrogant doctor who doesn't want the role of mentor that everyone else places on him. The truth is Cox is self centered, but deep inside he cares more about his patients and coworkers than anyone else at Sacred Heart. His hilarious drawn out rants, insults, and raves make the character the hero of the show.
I guess the producers at FOX finally picked up on idea of the jerk doctor who doesn't like people and is always sure that they are right. In 2004 House M.D. premiered. Staring the popular British actor Hugh Laurie as a Gregory House, the brilliantly dysfunctional Head of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Living under the philosophy that everyone he meets is lying to him, House, spends as little time as possible with patients and uses questionable techniques to save lives. The pill-popping, limping self loathing doctor doesn't care as much about people as he does with doing what is right. The character offers a paradox with his questionable morals concerning his personal life but over exerts himself to save patients he claims he doesn't like. The intricate character development, in my opinion, is the reason the show is multiple award winning drama.

I don't know if it is the fact that there are few people in the world that act in the manner of Romano, Cox, and House, or the fact that at times we all act like them, but they are the type of characters that make me sure that cynicism makes humanity more entertaining.


Honorable Mention:


Hawkeye Pierce

The 40 Acres

I graduated Saturday. I became one of the many names to be placed on the alumni wall at Hardin-Simmons University, the 40 Acres. After four years I have earned my Bachelor of Arts in Ministry. The things I learned in order to earn my degree H-SU don't come close to rivaling the life experience I gained in the past four years. I have met people who have changed my life for the better, some of them friends I will keep close the remainder of my life. College went by Fast. I remember my first night on campus my roommate, Geoffrey, and I locked ourselves out of the dorm and stood outside for close to an hour before we found someone to let us in.

My very first class, Computer Basics, I sat across from a man named Arron Nunn. Aaron was on 25 and starting H-SU as a freshman for the second time in his life. The first time he had gone to college for all of the wrong reasons and as a result his GPA was so poor that he ended up dropping out and joining the military. While in the military (or some time shortly after) Aaron's life was turned around. He began living his life for the Lord.

My very first class was the only class I had with Aaron at H-SU, however I vaguely kept up with Aaron when I would run into him on campus. Saturday morning the first person I saw when I entered the room where the graduating students were instructed to congregate, the first face I saw was Aaron's. We briefly discussed our time at school, our wives, and our plans for the future. The thing that struck me the most about our conversation is realizing how much we had both changed while at the 40 Acres. The past four years have been some of the best of my life.

here are the links to my favorite H-SU posts I have written over the past four hears:

• HSU 04-05
• Hardin Simmons Round 2
• HSU 06-07
• Anderson Hall
  

Change

Over the past month I have experienced significant change. And over the next month I will go through even more change. Exactly one month ago I married the love of my life and my life suddenly changed. In less than one month my life will experience even more change and I will graduate from college. Change looks different throughout life, but never before can I think of change ever effecting me so much than now.

For the past four years my priority for living in Abilene was (at least supose to be) first of all school, followed second by work, and third social life including dating. As soon as I said "I do" (actually I said "It is") my priorities changed. My first priority became my family, second became work to provide for my family, and third now is school. Since I am a month away from graduating I am not to concerned about but if i had to make the choice, school would no longer be first.

I have also begun to realize that there has been a change in my time. I no longer am simply using "my" time to do things but am now using "our" time. My time is no longer my own. What I do with my time will effect my wife and the things that she does. I have become more conscience of what I do and how long it takes me to do that.

The way I live from day to day has greatly changed. I seem to clean much more now than I did before. I eat out less, go to bed earlier, and wake earlier. With all this change happening I have come to the understanding that not all change is bad. It seems that many times in life we reflect on how things were. Change often times is uncomfortable, it is awkward, and most of the time it is unwelcome. But it is important to realize that without change there would be no, reformation, no America light bulb, no cars, no computers, no cell phones. Change is a necessity of life. There comes a time when we have to realize that nothing is permanent, life changes, and with it so do we. There is a way to embrace change without forgetting the fondness of the past.


For more insights on change check out Lifevesting.com