signs.

its amazing how much we can communicate about ourselves, our opinions, our beliefs, without using words...or audible words anyway. lately, as i drive here and there, i have noticed signs. bumper stickers on cars. big signs on highways. signs in front of houses. for example, one car had a political sticker that said "barack o'cain 2008". it went on to say something about how all politicians are the same. interesting. then there is a farmers market type place at a main intersection i drive through just about every day. there are signs for all sorts of fresh things - corn, blueberries, homemade cooking. then there is one that i find so disturbing, that if it were on sesame street, you would say "one of these things is not like the other". hot dogs. i don't even mind the sign for fresh coffee, at least it comes from a plant. but hot dogs?

okay, back to my point. so there is a house on prospect road/street/ave in woodcliff lake that bothers me. i noticed it around the time of september 11th, of course. it is hand painted, red white and blue. it says something like: "9/11. we will remember. never forget. never forgive." wow. never forgive? what a loud thing to be proclaiming, to be supporting, and possibly to be teaching their children. i know that forgiveness is one of the hardest things to do. i know that 9/11 was a horrific tragedy that shook our nation. but i also know what holding on to such things, not forgiving, can do to a person. and that is not something i would encourage...no matter how much someone has offended you. besides, think of all the forgiveness that we receive day after day.

that's my mini-sermon for today.

grace and peace.

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,

if any comfort from his love,

if any fellowship with the Spirit,

if any tenderness and compassion,

then make my joy complete by being like-minded,

having the same love,

being one in spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish amtition or vain conceit,

but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Each of you should look not only to your own interests,

but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness."

philippians 2:1-7

car myths debunked.

how often are we mislead with information because we have no knowledge of the thing/topic ourselves? cars are one of those things that if you have little knowledge of them, it easy to just buy into whatever the "experts" tell you. it gives them power over us less-informed folk. whether it be car buying, and that could be broken down into leasing versus financing, car selling, car maintenance, car whatever...you name it. i am here to bust a few myths, due to recent information i've become privileged to.

first, we are told that oil changes should be done every 3,000 miles or every 3 months. myth # 1. i recently learned through some reading that the 3,000 mile marker is a big unnecessary. a typical car would probably be just fine with changes every 10,000 miles, give or take. mind you, this may require checking your oil levels more often, and adding oil when it gets low. but something to consider and research, nonetheless.

second, why do we limit ourselves to using the typical oil products that we are told to buy/use in our vehicles. 10w-30, 5w-30 (which my car likes). overrated. white observing one of our carpenters work on his truck (his truck, i note, not ours) i see him for a while under the hood. i may have been distracted for a minute, but then i look up to see him step away from the hood holding two empty energy drink cans. we must not limit ourselves to the typical oils assumed to be good for a car - they are just trying to steal our money. energy drinks are not just for our initake, but for car use as well. i must point out, that his truck was purring like a cat as he rolled our of the driveway.

i will try to further assist those less-informed about cars with more myth debunking. for now, feel privileged to be in the know about these two items.

long time, no see.

i know, it has been a while. but as commented to my sister, there just isn't a whole lot new in my life at the moment. i think i pretend that i too am part of this whole "back to school" mentality - but truth is, my life just goes on as normal. but i guess i can try to adopt some of the mentality in my own life - the idea of starting over, of freshness, of new beginnings, of new motivations. i was pleased this week to realize that i was finding myself enjoying aspects of my job again. yes, then i had a friday morning meeting that completely wiped all of that away, and made me wonder whether i shouldn't quit my job. this is not at the fault of the clients i met with - i actually really enjoy them. it was more at the frustration of feeling like my boss should be doing a better job, as should our crew. the whole idea of, if you can't do something well should you be doing it at all, came to mind. and it seems to be the theme of the weekend. it carried over into our linC leaders breakfast meeting this morning. not that we are going to get rid of linC or youth group (no way, not at all) but are their aspects of it that we should do without.

okay, not at all what i intended to write about when i clicked "new post" with the mouse. sorry for my lack of focus. actually, this is going to be a random post. forget organizational paragraphs and coherent ideas. i'm just going to throw things at you...let you deal with them.

first, a picture of my grandma (nell schuurman) and myself in one of our summer excursions to michigan. a short and busy long weekend, but so enjoyable and inspiring. the reason for our trip was my cousin keith's wedding - which was beautiful and wonderful in itself. but being all together as a family, with the exception of adam, was great. and i post a picture of myself with my grandma because to me, it was all about her indirectly. we celebrated my cousin's wedding, yes, and my parents 35th wedding anniversity, yes, but what it comes down to is a celebration of what she and my grandpa did. their love. their faith. its worth celebrating.

okay, so i realize that i look a bit "under the influence" of something in this picture. but be assured that i am not, other than some chocolate milk and blasted goldfish. meet kristen lindsay and jamie van buiten. two girls that bring so much joy to my life, but more importantly are solid and quality examples of what it means to be living in Christ every day, even at their young ages. i may be their coach (and friend) but they are a blessing to me.

we recently enjoyed another celebration - matthew's 14th birthday - at carmine's in nyc. family style italian dinner. good times. simply put, mamamuchi (for those of you who don't know, "mamamuchi" means "its all good")!