Monday Musings - On Tuesday December 30, 2014

1. I've been having so much fun being off from work that I forgot yesterday was Monday!

2. 360 shopping days until Christmas!

3. 2014 is winding down rapidly. I have to admit, I will be happy to see this year end, there have been some great times, but some really down times, too.

4. Got health care? 2015 is the year we need to declare or pay penalties.

5. Winter has returned after a great respite. 

6. Pitchers and catchers report in about 52 days signaling the end of winter--at least in my mind.

7. NFL playoffs are in swing and the Ravens miraculously made the cut. For at least a week anyway, I'm afraid they are headed into a steel curtain ambush.

8. New Year's is upon us. Drive safe, be smart, and party responsively.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Bullseye!

It is a beautiful sight in my backyard. The bullseye!

It is a Christmas gift purchased with the gift cards that I received form a local golf store.

I admit, the bullseye may be a bit excessive, but having my own driving range in the backyard is really neat. I even acquired a bag of about 100 used golf balls to launch at the target. 

And it makes a really nice, and loud, sound when it gets hit right in the center--which is not that often. 

Hopefully the mat will save my yard a bit of wear and tear.

I wandered out a few times yesterday to launch balls and frustrations at the target. It is a lot more satisfying hitting real golf balls than the spongy ones that I have been hitting.

The other nice thing is that i don't have to worry about hitting any houses if I mishit a ball--which I do pretty often.

I wonder if I will actually get any better?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Good and Evil through the Eyes of a 14-year old

Usaid Barho  Reenacting His Surrender

There is an international story circulating about a 14-year old Syrian boy who was seduced into service with ISIL (or ISIS, IS) and figured out that by volunteering to become a suicide bomber he could escape from the radically, fanatic militant group.

Usaid Barho, 14, is the latest in a string of children who are victims and heroes in the barbaric conflict being waged across the Levant. The article in the New York Times titled, How a Syrian Boy, Sheathed in Explosives, Escaped the Islamic State's Hold, details how Usaid left his home in Syria and eventually wound up in Iraq with a vest bomb strapped around his body in from of a mosque that the ISIL fighters wanted him to bomb.

There are so many things wrong with this situation:

1. A 14-year old being used as a suicide bomber

2. Religious persecution

3. The target was a house of worship

4. The threat of abuse of his Mother and Sister if he did not fight for ISIL

But, there are a few things right with this tory:

1. A boy who knows right from wrong

2. A daring plan that saved not only himself but many other innocents

3. A security officer not afraid to separate the bomb vest from the boy.

I urge you to read the New York Times story to get a sense of what is happening in the region. 

Here is an excerpt:

Usaid said he still planned to become a doctor, and hoped to study in Turkey. He said that he missed his mother, and that the Iraqis had promised to return him to his parents one day.

Before the war, he said: "We were a normal family. It was just a normal life."

Whether he has a chance at a normal life again depends, in part, on how the Iraqis treat him: as a terrorist or as an exploited child.

We need to be aware that the pain, persecution, and suffering being experienced by the people of the region is real and we need to be reminded that life there is very different than life here.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Warmer Weather and High Spirits are not just for the Birds

The temperatures for the holiday period have been unseasonably warm. Today the temperature is supposed to top out near 53 degrees, and of course that means a trip to the golf course for a bit more frustration and jubilation. 

But, the fun part of the weather has been playing with one of my gifts of Christmas. I got a GoPro and am still learning about it. It has a lot of really exciting features--like its small size and ability to ride in places that allow for continual imaging of situations allowing for unique views.

Earlier this year, Patrick took his GoPro diving in the Bahamas. Not just diving, but diving with sharks and obtained some stunning video. I was sold right then and there. The GoPro is a versatile as any camera I have ever come across. 

I have created my first GoPro movie: Birds at My Feeder. It isn't too exciting, but the weather was awesome and the birds were anxious to get some food before the colder weather arrives. 

Even the birds are happy about the warmer weather.

Go forth and celebrate before winter decides to resume its grip on the land.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

What did You Get?

Weirdest Gift if Christmas

Isn't that the question that we get asked the most in the days after Christmas?

While we are still trying to come to grips with the idea that Christmas is over and the gifts are opened we try to extend the magic just a bit by talking about the great gifts of Christmas.

Of course, it is not all about the gifts. Really. And I think our family proved that yesterday. Christmas is about being together and enjoying each other during the celebration of life and gifting. What took center stage yesterday? Was it the food? Or was it the games we played until after dark? Was it the conversation or the wine? Was it the gifting? 

No--it was all of it together. Even the couple of minutes I took before noon to whack a golf ball around my yard. It was a complex and fantastic day that began about 5:30 AM and didn't end until after 10PM when I slipped under the covers on my bed and fell almost instantly asleep.

Earthworm on Christmas Eve

So, what did you get? Well, in the weirdest gift of Christmas category was the book about the Hittites received in a gift exchange. Really? Hittites?

The most interesting gift was seeing the earthworm in the driveway during the Christmas Eve rainstorm. We never see earthworms that late into December.

But the best gift of Christmas was not just a gift. It was a collaboration! A group and and event. It is our clan all gathered together again to celebrate. Together! 

Christmas 2014

And the dogs, too!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Christmas Isn't Joy for Everyone

I am reminded this morning as I am celebrating the birth of the Savior of the World: the Son of God who became man, so that men could become son's of God; that many people are in pain and cannot fully accept or appreciate the gifts or even the simple greeting: Merry Christmas!

My heart grieves for them because they are grieving. They are grieving the loss of loved ones, or health, or jobs, or something equally as tragic and important. They look at those of us who are celebrating and wonder why? Why did someone have to be taken from them or why did they get cancer or some other terrible disease. 

It is hard, no it may be impossible to accept the simple Merry Christmas greeting of others without being hurt and cynical and saying under their breath, "If you only knew," or "What's so Merry about it?"

I know people who are hurting today. And it hurts more today because they want to be happy, but they cannot. They withdraw.

What can I say to them? Nothing. 

I am reminded of verses from Job 2:12-13 where some friends came upon Job who was suffering a tragedy.

2:12 But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. 2:13 Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great. (NET Bible)

No one said a thing. Sometimes the right thing to say is nothing at all. But the most important thing was being together, they were there, even in the silence.

That is what we need to do to help our friends and family who are suffering during this season--be with them and help them to know, not through words but through actions, that they are loved and supported. 

I pray that those who mourn will be comforted, those who suffer illnesses will find relief, and those who are facing the worst that life can dish out will find the strength to wake up tomorrow and say to themselves: today is the first day of the rest of my life and I am not going to waste it!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

It's Christmas Eve Again or Finally

The words and tune of a 1971 song have been rattling around in my head for the past day or so. It is a John Lennon song written during the height of the Vietnam anti-war, peace movement. The song is titled, And So This is Christmas. It has been covered by many artists including Celine Dion, although I like the original Lennon version, too.






And So This Is Christmas

So this is christmas and what have you done

another year over a new one just begun

and so this is christmas I hope you have fun

the near and the dear one the old and the young

A very merry christmas and a happy new year

let's hope it's a good one without any fear 

And so this is christmas for weak and for strong 

the rich and the poor ones the world is so wrong 

and so happy christmas for black and for white 

for the yellow and the red ones let's stop all the fight 

A very merry christmas and a happy new year 

let's hope it's a good one without any fear 

And so this is christmas and what have we done 

another year over and a new one just begun 

and so happy christmas I hope you have fun 

the near and the dear one the old and the young 

A very merry christmas and a happy new year 

let's hope it's a good one without any fear 

war is over if you want it war is over now

I think what has grabbed my attention is how the words are ringing so true this year. We are in a torn world where wars are rampant internationally and there is tension here in America between the police and citizens. If I let myself--I might think everything is bad.

But--it is Christmas. And my prayer is for peace, protection, love, healing and helping. We can give these gifts to each other.

God bless you and protect you.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Eve of Christmas Eve

I remember that when I was young--very young, like 8-ish, that the longest day of the year seemed to be the day before Christmas Eve. Yes, Christmas Eve could be long too, but at least there were activities planned, like church, which provided mile markers along the pathway of the day.

The day before Christmas Eve, however, has no such mile markers to guide the day along and see it to a successful conclusion and transform the season from anticipation to almost here. I note that the local schools are mostly open today--and that is good for the kids, it will help them not to dwell on the "you can almost reach out and touch it" aspect of Christmas being upon us. 

I do not get into the Christmas spirit until very late in the season. Usually, my favorite day to shop is Christmas Eve because there is a feeling of magic and a sense of "this is it" watching the other shoppers scurry around. I remember working in the clothing store in Ithaca, NY, while I was in high school on Christmas Eves--the store had been open for almost two weeks straight until 9 PM, (except for Sundays when it was closed and Saturdays when closing was still 5PM) that was four hours longer than the normal closing time. I always noticed a change in the shoppers and the staff about noon--as the impending holiday grew closer.

But, the day before Christmas Eve has no sense of finality associated with it. There is still Christmas Eve out there if something needs to get done. Today, for instance, I have to slug to work--being sick and had this been a normal week I would have taken another sick day because I am feeling only about 60 percent--but with Christmas Eve tomorrow and I will be on leave and holiday for almost two weeks, I have a lot of loose ends to tie up. Somewhere in there the meat for Christmas dinner is waiting at the store--I have to purchase it and get in ready for the upcoming feast. 

And then Chris and I need to finalize the breakfasts, dinners, and create the agenda for Christmas Eve and prepare to plow into Christmas which has become a full two-day family celebration which begins with breakfast on Christmas Eve and does not end until after the last present is opened and dinner is complete sometime about 5PM on Christmas Day. 

So for me, Christmas Eve Eve has become Christmas Eve--because everything begins happening tomorrow as the season of preparation transforms into the season of joy and understanding that the most important gift was the one that we first received. You can read about it in Galatians 4:4-5. 

Say Merry Christmas to someone you meet--it will make them smile!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - December 22, 2014

1. The pace of life has continued to increase as the holiday season deepens. The is going to be a big sigh about 3PM on Thursday as all of the anticipation turns into wishes fulfilled.

2. Rain is the forecast for the next three days. At least it is not snow. The forecast for Christmas Day is for 50's and a heat wave!

3. 2014 is drawing to a quick close. It's funny, I just got comfortable writing 2014 and soon I will have to start writing 2015.

4. Being sick sucks! Seriously. Especially when it is a couple of days before Christmas and there is so much to do. So I'm home today feeling so worn out that I am not doing anything.

5. The news from this past weekend was especially bad. The assassination of the police officers in New York City was especially heinous. If I only listened to the news media, I might think nothing good ever happens, but I know there are millions of points of light out in the world doing good for other people.

6. I wrote about the governmental approved torture in my blog When the Good Guys Aren't. There is a good OpEd piece in the New York Times today titled Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses that cogently expresses a good view on the matter. 


7. OK, I am tired of looking out my window at the leafless trees and gray colors. Bring on the green!

8. The NFL season is finally winding down. Baseball is two months away as pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

And the Evening was Quiet

A funny thing happened yesterday evening--Chris and I were at home. . . 

And that was the funny thing! For better than the past two weeks we have been on a constant tear with somewhere to go and something to see or buy. 

Not so last night. A quiet, sappy movie, The Holiday, was on the Blu-ray player (betcha haven't thought about Blu-ray in a while). The house was quiet. Just the cats and dog for a nice evening. It was really different. We relaxed and let the Christmas spirit seep into our souls. Well, and a bottle of wine, too!

Louis in the Nativity

The fire in the hearth was a fascinating attraction for Riordin--he loves the heat from the fire. Louis, on the other hand, picked a quiet spot in the Nativity for a nap. One swipe of his tail and the whole nativity could be lost! Fortunately, he is pretty careful.

Riordin by the Fire

And Makayla? She was sprawled out on the floor--not really picture worthy. 

And that was how the first quiet evening of Christmas played out. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD