When I was growing up I was very competitive with my siblings. When I was nine I went to a Bible camp and at an alter call I observed my eight year old sister raising her hand …, so I also raised mine.
The leader asked the two people who raised their hands to come forward, I felt very uncomfortable as I walked down the aisle. When we got to the front he used us as examples. Looking at my sister he said “some people come to Christ crying” and looking at me, “and some people come to Christ smiling”.
Three year later at another camp, this time a family camp, at an alter call I was the one crying. My shirt could hardly contain the tears as I moved down the back row, past many other twelve year old boys, and down the long aisle to the front.
There were approximately a thousand people in the sanctuary as I slowly came forward. When I got to the front a pastor greeted me and asked me to sit with him in the front row and discuss my decision.
At the exact time I was making the biggest decision of my life, my fourteen year old sister, who was sitting about five rows back, decided to tell me something. She shouted out, loud enough so everyone could hear, “I knew you were faking it”.
When summer ended I started Junior High School. It was a hard transition for me for I had always been the tallest kid in every one of my elementary school classes. Whenever they took school pictures I was always the token boy in the back row with all the tall girls.
When I looked around, that first day of seventh grade, I was amazed that somehow I was just an average height kid. This started to bother me enough that I decided that it was something I should bring to the Lord.
That evening I prayed I would be six feet tall when I woke up in the morning. At the time I had so much faith that God was going to say yes to my prayer request, I slept diagonally on my bed, so that during this miracle I wouldn’t injure myself”.
Today I am 5' 11"
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Hairpiece Experience
In a previous post (Lawn Distraction) I shared about hair loss and Rogaine. In one of the comments I said I would soon share about wearing a hairpiece; so here goes:
From the age of 20 to 23, I wore a hairpiece, (three and a half years). Actually I ended up buying two of them.
First of all you need to realize that the raw material (human hair) used for wigs and hairpieces is best if it is not sun or environment damaged. With this need for undamaged hair, most hair used in this process is made out of hair from Asia. Culturally untanned skin and unbleached hair is in style. Only the unsophisticated would allow themselves to be exposed to the sun.
The reason I tell you the above is my first hairpiece was made out of thick straight black Asian hair died blond, parted on one side. It made me look like the Elf that wanted to be a dentist in the "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" TV special.
During this time if a woman looked at me I couldn't tell if she was flirting with me or if she was looking at my "piece".
I had many unique experiences then I wore them but three stand out:
*Church basketball League - one night as I was dribbling the ball across the top of the key the defender took a swat at the ball and missed. Basically I was going east and my hair was going west.
The other players couldn't figure out what was on the court and kicked it to the sidelines. I ran over and picked it up and threw it into my nearby coat and went back to playing ball like nothing had happened. The ref called a jump ball because they couldn't figure out what happened. I soon became an outside shooter.
*Basketball again - I was playing hoops in the culdesac in front of my Seattle cousins house. Three of the four clips that attached the piece to my natural hair came loose. It dangled from one clip off the side of my head.
My cousins and their neighbors laughed so hard, we had to stop playing for the day.
*Cleaning "the piece" - Even though my first one cost approximately $600 and my second one was closer to $800, I was too cheap to buy one of those Styrofoam heads to store and/or dry it with. I would store and dry my hair over a soccer ball.
Unlike natural hair you don't wash your hair every time you take a shower. You treat it more like a hat and wash it every two to four weeks. It was a royal pain to carefully wash and dry this thing and then put it on a round shape to dry. One time my girlfriend, who lived with her parents, gave me wig shampoo.
Using this shampoo I wasn't as careful as I was with regular shampoo. When I went to dry it I couldn't get a snarl out of the middle of the part. With normal hair your last resort is to cut out the snarl, with a hairpiece you can't cut it out, it won't grow back. I struggled for hours trying to get out the mess in my part. At 3 AM I finally went to bed.
The next morning I called in sick to work, saying "I hadn't slept well". Telling the total truth by calling in with a "bad hair day" excuse would not have worked.
About an hour later I got the snarl out and went into work mid-morning. I just told everyone I came in because I felt better.
With my girlfriends urging I soon stopped wearing my hairpiece. Looking back I unfortunately let her marry someone else.
I still have both hairpieces in a drawer, one looks like a sleeping small dog and the other keeps my rarely used soccer ball warm. I sued to be able to wear them for Halloween but the longer haired styles of the early eighties makes them not blend in with my short hair
From the age of 20 to 23, I wore a hairpiece, (three and a half years). Actually I ended up buying two of them.
First of all you need to realize that the raw material (human hair) used for wigs and hairpieces is best if it is not sun or environment damaged. With this need for undamaged hair, most hair used in this process is made out of hair from Asia. Culturally untanned skin and unbleached hair is in style. Only the unsophisticated would allow themselves to be exposed to the sun.
The reason I tell you the above is my first hairpiece was made out of thick straight black Asian hair died blond, parted on one side. It made me look like the Elf that wanted to be a dentist in the "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" TV special.
During this time if a woman looked at me I couldn't tell if she was flirting with me or if she was looking at my "piece".
I had many unique experiences then I wore them but three stand out:
*Church basketball League - one night as I was dribbling the ball across the top of the key the defender took a swat at the ball and missed. Basically I was going east and my hair was going west.
The other players couldn't figure out what was on the court and kicked it to the sidelines. I ran over and picked it up and threw it into my nearby coat and went back to playing ball like nothing had happened. The ref called a jump ball because they couldn't figure out what happened. I soon became an outside shooter.
*Basketball again - I was playing hoops in the culdesac in front of my Seattle cousins house. Three of the four clips that attached the piece to my natural hair came loose. It dangled from one clip off the side of my head.
My cousins and their neighbors laughed so hard, we had to stop playing for the day.
*Cleaning "the piece" - Even though my first one cost approximately $600 and my second one was closer to $800, I was too cheap to buy one of those Styrofoam heads to store and/or dry it with. I would store and dry my hair over a soccer ball.
Unlike natural hair you don't wash your hair every time you take a shower. You treat it more like a hat and wash it every two to four weeks. It was a royal pain to carefully wash and dry this thing and then put it on a round shape to dry. One time my girlfriend, who lived with her parents, gave me wig shampoo.
Using this shampoo I wasn't as careful as I was with regular shampoo. When I went to dry it I couldn't get a snarl out of the middle of the part. With normal hair your last resort is to cut out the snarl, with a hairpiece you can't cut it out, it won't grow back. I struggled for hours trying to get out the mess in my part. At 3 AM I finally went to bed.
The next morning I called in sick to work, saying "I hadn't slept well". Telling the total truth by calling in with a "bad hair day" excuse would not have worked.
About an hour later I got the snarl out and went into work mid-morning. I just told everyone I came in because I felt better.
With my girlfriends urging I soon stopped wearing my hairpiece. Looking back I unfortunately let her marry someone else.
I still have both hairpieces in a drawer, one looks like a sleeping small dog and the other keeps my rarely used soccer ball warm. I sued to be able to wear them for Halloween but the longer haired styles of the early eighties makes them not blend in with my short hair
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mary Magdalene and the other Women at the Tomb
On Saturday morning I had my last leaders meeting of the year for my men's group. We have been studying Matthew and this week was on the last chapter (28) about Jesus' resurrection. When the subject of women at the tomb came up, one of my friends and other leaders, Mickey, said "Otto knows a lot about these women".
I said a few things about them in the group and then later looked them up in my notes. I know a lot about these women but am a little rusty on having information immediately. Here's what I have on them:
Mary Magdalene:
Basically a former neurotic (seven evil spirits) released from torment by Jesus. Her name has been maligned by early leaders in the church who incorrectly tied her to the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50.
She is from the town of Magdala, today called Mejdel. It was a prosperous city on the most western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was on the major trade route between Egypt and Damascus.
She is probably a prosperous widow and might have had children running her deceased husbands businesses back in Magdala.
She followed Jesus, contributing support, out of gratitude and love for what he had done for her.
Whenever she is mentioned she is always listed first or right after Jesus' mother Mary. This either is because of her significant role or she is the oldest of the women listed, she might even be older than Mary.
If she was an unmarried women or a young widow she would probably be living with her parents or one of her brothers; and if she had small children she would not have been able to follow Jesus.
There is no way she is the women described in popular books, painting and movies.
Mary the Mother of James (Greek form of Jacob) and Joses (Greek form of Joseph):
We know from Matthew 10:3 that James was the son of Alphaeus. Alphaeus is from the same Arabic name as Clopas or Cleophas, (Not to be confused with Cleopas, road to Emmaus disciple).
This James is called "the less" or "the little", because of his lesser role compared to the more famous James of James and John, or this James is short in stature.
Salome, Wife of Zebedee: She is the mother of the apostles James and John. Many scholars believe there is a possibility she is Mary's sister. This would make James and John Jesus' maternal cousins. This has been disputed for centuries.
Joanna: Wife of Chuza, house-steward of Herod, probably a high paying position. Jesus healed her of sickness or an evil spirit. Out of her gratitude and love for Jesus she followed and contributed support.
I said a few things about them in the group and then later looked them up in my notes. I know a lot about these women but am a little rusty on having information immediately. Here's what I have on them:
Mary Magdalene:
Basically a former neurotic (seven evil spirits) released from torment by Jesus. Her name has been maligned by early leaders in the church who incorrectly tied her to the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50.
She is from the town of Magdala, today called Mejdel. It was a prosperous city on the most western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was on the major trade route between Egypt and Damascus.
She is probably a prosperous widow and might have had children running her deceased husbands businesses back in Magdala.
She followed Jesus, contributing support, out of gratitude and love for what he had done for her.
Whenever she is mentioned she is always listed first or right after Jesus' mother Mary. This either is because of her significant role or she is the oldest of the women listed, she might even be older than Mary.
If she was an unmarried women or a young widow she would probably be living with her parents or one of her brothers; and if she had small children she would not have been able to follow Jesus.
There is no way she is the women described in popular books, painting and movies.
Mary the Mother of James (Greek form of Jacob) and Joses (Greek form of Joseph):
We know from Matthew 10:3 that James was the son of Alphaeus. Alphaeus is from the same Arabic name as Clopas or Cleophas, (Not to be confused with Cleopas, road to Emmaus disciple).
This James is called "the less" or "the little", because of his lesser role compared to the more famous James of James and John, or this James is short in stature.
Salome, Wife of Zebedee: She is the mother of the apostles James and John. Many scholars believe there is a possibility she is Mary's sister. This would make James and John Jesus' maternal cousins. This has been disputed for centuries.
Joanna: Wife of Chuza, house-steward of Herod, probably a high paying position. Jesus healed her of sickness or an evil spirit. Out of her gratitude and love for Jesus she followed and contributed support.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Lawn Distraction
Another distraction from writing and blogging.
Last August I used either the wrong chemicals or they were too old and killed a quarter of my grass. I have been painstakingly fixing the patches. This has become my new exercise program.
It has been a cold spring here in Seattle (snow in late April?) and the new grass has been slow in popping through. When it came up it had that tennis ball fuzz look, for too too long. I am waiting for "mowable" grass. I have to keep mowing the good grass next to the patches without disturbing too much of the new growth.
It reminds me of my Rogaine attempts twenty years ago. I wanted combable hair, not peach fuzz. I finally gave up with Rogaine because I found people were more attracted to a confident man losing his hair than with an unsecure man with a full head.
Last August I used either the wrong chemicals or they were too old and killed a quarter of my grass. I have been painstakingly fixing the patches. This has become my new exercise program.
It has been a cold spring here in Seattle (snow in late April?) and the new grass has been slow in popping through. When it came up it had that tennis ball fuzz look, for too too long. I am waiting for "mowable" grass. I have to keep mowing the good grass next to the patches without disturbing too much of the new growth.
It reminds me of my Rogaine attempts twenty years ago. I wanted combable hair, not peach fuzz. I finally gave up with Rogaine because I found people were more attracted to a confident man losing his hair than with an unsecure man with a full head.
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