Things worth remarking about are happening all around us in life. Have you taken the time to notice that? It's like my flight attendant said the other day, "I've never had a flight in 16 years that had this much orange juice." That comment that I eavesdropped - a simple muttering from one flight attendant to another - changed a routine flight into something special. I was thrilled to be a part of the orange-juiciest-flight that lady had seen in hundreds of similar flights.

What has been worth remarking about this Christmas?
1. Memories of a year gone by (a) :: 365 days ago I woke up in a grungy but hip hostel in the Old City of Jerusalem near Jaffa Gate. Mark, Keith, and I didn't have the typical Christmas celebration with family, feasts, and presents. In fact we slept till about noon trying to recover from the events of the night before. Our Christmas Eve service at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem didn't wrap up until after 2am. (To read more about our exploits in Israel click HERE, click on 'Journals', scroll down to posts between Dec 22 & Jan 4.)
2. Memories of a year gone by (b) :: I find myself also thinking about what happened 364 days ago in southern and southeast Asia. The UN reports that the killer tsunami took the life of over 223,000 people. Now I can see how New York can go on after a three day transit strike, but how do countries like Sri Lanka and Indonesia just go on after that kind of a loss???
3. Family Time :: I am in Indiana with my family celebrating Christmas this year. And it's great! Thursday through Sunday has been solid family time including parents, both sisters, their husbands, four nieces, one nephew, grandparents, and an aunt and uncle. [After the death of Tony Dungy's son, I found myself thinking how horrific it would be to gather together in a year to celebrate Christmas and have somebody missing!] I love my family!
4. Family Time (cute story) ::

As I mentioned I have four adorable nieces. I would enjoy telling you stories about each, but I'll use some self-control and keep it to one story. Becca is going on three years old. She has brown hair that is soft to the touch and a bit curly. Typically her large brown eyes are gleaming and full of excitement (and you feel as though things aren't quite right in the world when that is not the case). Her dimple-ridden smile can be somewhere between mischievous and melt your heart away. If you've ever seen her in full giggle-mode then you've truly witnessed something special. To round out the introduction, she's strong-willed, an explorer, a laugher, and as we found out yesterday a thief!
Mid-morning the lights to the Christmas tree suddenly went out. The newly acquired remote control to the lights was nowhere to be found. That is, until we found it in Becca's front pocket along with various other small items from different rooms around the house. As we were getting the lights back on, we heard the story from last Sunday that Becca had arrived home with at least one of the wisemen and a farm animal from the church's nativity scene. We were starting to see a pattern. Jeremy joked that we should have a pat down before sending her home today. So near the end of the day that is exactly what grandma did. She checked her pockets and found them empty. She gave Becca a dime and told her it's okay to have things in your pockets as long as they are yours to have. A wonderful lesson learned this Christmas, right? Nope. A phone call came later that evening bringing the news that Becca had arrived home with four pair of grandma's fine earrings in her pocket. A last minute bathroom check had turned into a last second pilfering opportunity for curious eyes and fingers. HA!

5. East of Eden :: I'm about halfway through this 600 page classic by John Steinbeck. It's one of those novels that when you're not reading it you wish you were. I had a few different friends give strong recommendations this spring, and I was able to pick it up at the Rapid City Public Library. So far I have found this book to be full of wisdom, the kind that you can look in on when your'e 23 but can only have as your own after many more years.
6. Random Road Trip :: This past Wednesday Richie Brannon and I headed to Rock Island, IL for a spontaneous road trip. We arrived in Rock Island at 3am Wednesday and were back in Noblesville, IN at 3am the following morning. Why brave the 5 hr drive two times in the middle of the night for such a short visit? That is the power of great friendships. The prospect of connecting with Mark & Jess Schmerse and Brooke Smith made it well worth it. It was a pleasant surprise to see Josh & Robin Fowler as well. I couldn't imagine the day long visit working out any better; it was a blast!


The chime of the clock in the other room just warned me that Christmas is over. I could tell you more about the two candlelight services or the pumpkin pie or the 3 inches of snow on Christmas, but tonight my list stops at #6.

Rejoice in the incarnation and strive to live incarnationally.

What does it take to bring the greatest city in the world to its knees? Another terrorist attack? Maybe an asteroid a la Armageddon or Deep Impact? Possibly a new ice age a la the Day After Tomorrow? Or maybe a 25-foot ape in heat a la King Kong? While each of those would bring their respective devastating effect, today it's a bit different. Today (and tomorrow? and the next tomorrow?) the havoc is brought on by a bunch of workers walking off the job.

The New York transportation union has gone on strike leaving 7 million commuters stranded on a freezing cold day. Of course the economic ramifications are staggering - especially considering the run up to Christmas. One article noted that, "At a subway booth, a hand-written sign read, 'Strike in Effect. Station Closed. Happy Holidays!!!!'"

Another article added these thoughts:

From before dawn, police set up checkpoints at bridge and tunnel entrances and at 96th Street, turning away cars carrying fewer than four people to avoid gridlock in Manhattan. Drivers desperate to fill their cars invited strangers to get in.

New Yorkers welcoming strangers into their car for a ride. HA! That's an ironic thought.

One stranded commuter put it this way, "At least the cabbies are making out well."

The other guy on the lift broke the silence first: "What kind of Spaceframes are those?"

The dance had begun anew. Each chairlift ride was an experience of its own with unique partners and unique content. One ride might be a conversation with a twenty-something hot shot racing-skier aspiring to attain National Ski Patrol licensing so that he could get free ski passes to any resort he wanted. The next could easily be with a forty-something Sales & Marketing manager ("I don't really sell anything; I just come up with ideas.") who quit skiing for ten years only to have today be his come back day. Sometimes it's simply six minutes of awkward silence, whether with a shy eight-year-old or a mid-teen, hot pink camo pants wearing snowboarding diva who’s matching hot pink gloves and hot pink, corduroy, short-billed, turned sideways hat project that she's much too cool to talk on the lift. You never knew what the dance would be like until you were in the midst of it.

I hesitated.

Not because I didn't know the answer to his question, but because I didn't want to reveal the answer.

He filled the silence again. “I mean, I’m familiar with the yellow Spaceframe skis, but I haven’t seen those before.”

I finally responded, “Yeah, I don’t really know.”

There wasn’t much conviction in my voice though, because I kind of did know. I was stalling, buying time. I still hadn’t decided if I wanted to reveal my secret. I didn’t imagine I would be pinned like this on my first day out on the slopes. So after the half second that seemed like five minutes had passed, I decided to go for it.

“Well, they’re actually women’s skis . . .”

The last thing I wanted to do was hesitate here. I didn’t want to give him an opening. I figured I was better off in this chairlift dance if I just barreled through and said several other things before giving him a chance to respond.

“. . . I picked them up on E-bay for a great price! As far as I know the only difference from the guy’s skis is the color. So I snatched these babies up since it was such a good deal.”

The last bit was doubly loud, just to be certain that the two guys on the other side of my conversation partner would be sure and hear it. I wouldn’t want them to have picked up on an earlier part of the conversation without hearing that bit, if you follow me. My pause was his cue to carry on the dance.

“That makes sense. Smart move.”

I failed to mention to him the name of the color that Salomon chose to put on their Scream8 Women’s Skis: Lipstick Red. ;-)

And just like that the dance was over. Gone in a moment, much like the snow flurries being carried off the side of the mountain by the gusting, winter air.

Anonymous Commenter>>>>>Hi Paul! I believe I went to school with you in fourth grade (barring the chance that you just have a doppelganger in Kentucky) and, as so often happens in the small world of the internet, happened to stumble upon your blog a bit ago. Nice to see you're doing well and that you've made such good use of your time on Earth. I envy your travels! (You were "Tigger," right?)

ME>>>>>First off, that is certainly the first time in my life I have heard the word doppelganger; I don't believe Ms. Tabor taught us that one in 4th grade ;-) I definitely just went to dictionary.com and looked it up. Second, while your reference to me being "Tigger" doesn't exactly bring back a flood of clear memories, it still rings true. I think I was "Tigger"; I just don't really remember it. Third, there were only eleven other people in my 4th grade class, so I'm sure I would remember you if you would reveal yourself ;-) Shoot me a line at pauldkind@hotmail.com - it'd be fun to connect. Thanks.

I find it fascinating that Aslan was not intended to be an allegorical depiction of Jesus. Wheaton College guy Christopher Mitchell puts it this way, "Lewis saw the story as 'supposal' rather than allegorical." He goes on, "Lewis is saying to the reader, suppose that the same God who created our world created another world of Narnia. And suppose that world needs to be redeemed. What do you suppose would happen?"

In preparation for seeing the movie tonight with a group of friends, I decided to read the book afresh. (The movie runs roughly 2 hrs and 15 minutes; interestingly, that's pretty much exactly how long it took me to read the book!) The plot theme that really stuck out to me was that of Edmund. Particularly in watching the film I found Edmund's actions quite repulsive. Didn't you? He was a through and through selfish prick that should have known better. And yet, I'm wondering if maybe he was so repulsive because his story is like a mirror into our own lives. We have all been Edmund. Far too often. We are all traitors. Our own selfishness has brought harm to others time and time again. We are repulsive.

And then there's this moment. We happen upon it soon after Aslan's chat with Edmund (strong grace/forgiveness/redemption themes here!). It shines through even more clearly in the written account. Here it is in Lewis' words:

"You have a traitor there, Aslan," said the Witch. Of course everyone present knew that she meant Edmund. But Edmund had got past thinking about himself after all he'd been through and after the talk he'd had that morning. He just went on looking at Aslan. It didn't seem to matter what the Witch said.

Edmund experienced a complete shift of focus. "He just went on looking at Aslan." Wow!

What's your deal? What's going on in your life, maybe even under the surface? What's plaguing you?
Now, where's your focus? What are you looking at?

You've got to check THIS out. I found it to be a lot of fun.

Here are the countries I've spent time in (doesn't include airport stops), 23 altogether:




And here are the states I've been in (again, airports don't count); 21 states still to go:



Would you say desiring to travel to all 50 states is a common goal for people to have? If so, why is that? What is it about human nature - or just my nature? - that enjoys keeping track of where we've been? What spiritual significance might there be to a question like that? What value would there be in remembering "where we've been" in a spiritual journey sense? Would you get upset with me if I asked another question? Okay, I'll stop.