Entries Tagged 'Friends' ↓

Saturday night was a sweet and sappy evening(thanks JSarr!) filled with good-byes and hugs. Many were gathered at my house for a seeing-me-off-to-Israel party. It was some good fun with food and fellowship. Was is food always involved in American gatherings of people, I don’t know. Here are some sweet pics from the cool cam!

skh weblog

Just to make the circle complete, check out my youth pastor’s blog. He has gold bars of wisdom, not to mention a lot to say.

“As the sun doth shine, may the grass on the other lot amidst the grassy, flowing folly.” –Amy Ronk (Carruthers)

I was given this bit of advice about two years ago and by a senior who was about to graduate from high school. You may be thinking that I didn’t complete the statement, that there should be more. The simple fact that this phrase is not a complete sentence or complete thought is what makes it a keepsake to be treasured. Although it is easy to be written off as a foolish attempt at a scholarly aspiration, I believe that there are some key principles about adolescents in society today that we can learn in this quotation.

First, the statement begins with the recognition that life exists under the sun, but it stops here. American adolescents don’t think beyond the physical life that they see in front of them. Nothing is interesting except that which brings them immediate pleasure.
Second, adolescents are always looking for the next thing to please them. They find one thing and then they realize that they aren’t really satisfied and so they look to the other lot to please them. The constant discontentment of many teenagers today proves that they only wish they have is to get something better.
The third and final observation is that the actual value and worth of the grass on the other lot is completely foolishness. It is worth nothing and will only result in disappointment. Learn and turn.

I have no idea if this is actually the original intent of the author, but this is what I saw.

1. When borrowing someone’s car you must never ask any questions about weird flashing lights on the dashboard. This step is essential to pushing the car too hard. You cannot ask about any problems that it has on a regular basis because that will only prepare you to keep the car in working condition. It is much easier to put the car in a seriously damaging situation when you know nothing about its quirks and normal problems.

2. Another key principle is to run the car for about an hour at freeway speeds. This gives the car enough time to surface anything that may be wrong. The only way that could be potentially easier to do so, is to go from stoplight to stoplight for a long period of time.

3. One of the most important steps to making a friend’s car non-drivable is to ignore all signs of a problem. For example, when you get out and the car is putting out a white, putrid-smelling smoke, you must completely ignore it and think that it is one of those weird regular quirks that you never asked about. If this step is avoided it is possible that you can actually save the car.

4. The final step to the demise of a borrowed automobile is to put the smoking, funny-sounding vehicle back to freeway speeds. Something that also helps this is to load it full of people and luggage before going back on the highway. Step number three must also be carried into this step, by ignoring the sights and smells of the car breaking down. Continue to hold your foot on the gas, until the car comes to a complete stop and won’t go anymore.

Mission accomplished!

PB – In case you are wondering, I can say from experience that these steps do get the desired effect.