The Sound of Silence (My apologies to Simon & Garfunkel...)

The Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley experienced a reasonably large windstorm on Sunday night --large enough to knock down a plethora of trees and leave thousands of folks in the dark, either for minutes or hours at a time. It was uncanny... The weather forecasters predicted 10pm as the starting time for the storm, and sure enough, at 9:54pm... BUZZ. ZAP. CLUNK... The power went off in my home and silence descended like a curtain. What?! No TV?! I am appropriately ashamed to admit that I was watching a reality show (which shall go nameless here) and was mildly vexed that I was going to miss the results!

Alone with my feline companions, I promptly lit a few candles and snatched up my cell phone to reach out and connect. I texted a friend..."Are you without power, too?" Then I called my dearest Mommers to relate what I was experiencing at that very moment, and while it wasn't exactly press-stopping news that I was in the dark, she patiently listened to my plans for just how I was going to manage to clean up the painting project that I had been in the midst of, and how I would need to use the alarm on the cell phone for the morning since I couldn't set the clock by my bed. Eventually she tired of my survival checklist mentality and excused herself with the advice that I should simply go to bed since I couldn't do anything useful anyway.

I fumbled my way thru washing my face, brushing my teeth, etc. A sidenote on the bedtime toilette routine: Why is it that when you're washing your face by candlelight, *that* is the exact moment that the stupid urban legand about looking in the mirror in the dark and saying "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary" comes to mind?! You couldn't have paid me enough at that moment to try it. Anyhow, I digress....

It felt truly strange to be in total quiet, no comforting white noise of the cats' water fountain or the aquarium filter or the dryer tumbling my clothes. No sight but the flicker of a dozen candles in my living room, reflecting from the 3 cats' wide, curious eyes. A few faint flickers behind curtains in windows across the way reminded me that others were at home, sitting in the same silence, whether they found it to be refreshing or oppressive. After a brief attempt at reading by candlelight, I gave up the fight and went to sleep.

Power returned during the night, and as I pondered the experience on Monday morning while grooming myself for work, I kept thinking back to a point Pastor Bill made in his Sunday morning sermon. We often chip away at our exterior lives, trying to force ourselves to be more like God. We keep track of how often we pray or read the Bible. We engage in acts of mercy or compassion, consciously thinking that this is "what Jesus would do." Not to devalue those things, but we can try to squeeze endless godly activities into our lives, and form words that sound like a gentle rain of wisdom straight from the Bible, but we can never carve or mold ourselves into a righteous, godly being. That change works from the inside out. You have allowed Jesus into your heart, and from there he speaks directly to you of his love and will for you, and rebukes you out of fatherly goodness when necessary. The process is more like an injection mold... We start out as this empty casing in the image of God, and then as He works his way into the very corners of our existence, the mold is filled from the inside, gradually expanding until it is complete. After our earthly existence ends and the shell of our bodies is peeled away from our soul, out pops this newly completed spiritual being, in the image of our Heavenly Father.

Here I was, sitting in the dark, bemoaning that I couldn't do anything "useful" and initially uncomfortable with the silence. How much of my life is like that? Do I volunteer to sing with the worship team because I love to praise the Lord, or because it's one of those ministry activities that should in theory benefit my spiritual growth? Do I volunteer with the kids program because I treasure the youngest members of God's Kingdom, or because it's an opportunity to show my spiritual maturity & leadership, making me feel like a better Christian? Am I just trying to chip away from the outside? And maybe most importantly, is the silence uncomfortable because it throws into sharp relief what's in my heart and mind and forces me to work with God from the inside out instead of saying, "See? Look what I did for you this week? Aren't I doing well?"

Maybe power outages are less of an inconvenience, and more of an opportunity to look into deep places untouched by the light we try to shine for the world.

Celebrity Lookalike

Dammit. I caved to peer pressure and tried the "Celebrity Lookalike" program. I was utterly (although not unpleasantly) shocked that Courtney Cox is my highest rated match (Puhleeease! Does this mean I get to have her teeny-tiny bodytype as well?!). Then there's the eensy wee problem that all of the rest of my matches are GUYS!!!! I think it cut me off at at 9 celebs, so the freakish resemblance to James Spader will not be evident unless you use your imagination. Just picture him wearing almost identical glasses with an almost identical backdrop and an almost identical smile... Kinda creepy really. (Or for Beth and Elise, that would be "Creeepay!")

Elton John?! Phillip Seymour Hoffman?! WTF?!?!

This may take some time and plenty of facial masks, pore cleansings, and alcohol to get over. I blame Devin.

Parental Notification

Election Day is fast approaching and Oregon once again faces a ballot measure that will set precedence regarding the sanctity of family and the rights of parents to be involved in the lives of their children. The measure is designed to require parental notification for minors seeking abortion, 48 hours before the procedure. It does not require parental approval or permission, just notification. The measure includes a loophole for cases of incest or minors who might face danger at home if the parents were notified. The loophole requires a judge to waive the notification requirement based on a meeting or phone call with the minor in question.

Silly me, I thought this would be a fairly cut and dried issue. Minors are differentiated from adults because they're different, right? We set age requirements for driving a motor vehicle and for exercising the right to vote. Why? Because the maturity required for certain activities takes time to develop. Granted not everyone is a safe driver at 35 much less 16, and some adults never make their voice heard in the political process, but age increases the potential for wisdom and more informed choices.

For the life of me, I can't imagine that ANY 14, 15, or 16 year old who finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy is mature enough to set aside fear and circumstance to make a decision that will affect not only the remainder of her life but also determine the life or death of a newly formed human being. Hell, I don't think teenagers are emotionally mature enough to have sex no matter what their bodies may tell them.

Next time you walk thru a shopping mall, take note of the ear piercing station at the teeny-bopper jewelry store. Parental permission is required for minors to pierce their ears. Why is this even a question that a teen should be able to undergo a medical procedure to terminate a pregnancy without a parent being involved? Why is it that about half of the folks polled in Oregon are planning to vote against this common sense measure?

How has our society gotten to this place? Is this about "choice" and "reproductive rights"? In which case, do we hold that notion so precious that we think it extends to not only women, but young girls as well? Is this issue rooted in that legendary fierce American independence, that none of us can be owned or controlled? Bottom line: Parents are responsible for the welfare of their minor children.

A majority of Oregonians stepped up two years ago and said, "Marriage is between one man and one woman. We believe that definition is crucial to maintaining the institution of family." Certain lawmakers promptly said, "You know, you're wrong. We're being tolerant and accepting of other lifestyles, and you are clearly either ignorant or just plain bigoted. Since we know better, we're going to go ahead and establish 'civil unions' in order to make Oregon a progressive and accepting sort of place."

IF this parental notification measure passes, I expect the same type of reaction from Planned Parenthood and the other "feminist" powers that be. How can we consider taking away the rights of these pregnant teens? How could a parent possibly know better than a kid when it comes to her body? How, you ask? Because we love them. Because we respect them enough to say, "You aren't ready to make a decision like this without the support of the people who love you best and will stay with you either way."