Not of this World

On the way to the office this morning, we saw a Hummer H2 with a NotW sticker. I started cracking up, and my wife said it well: "I'm not of this world, so I can waste all it's resources!" This was, after all, a city Hummer.

A bit later, she said, "Darn those illegal immigrants! They won't assimilate into our culture, and they're using all our resources!"

Then, piling on, she said, "They won't even learn our language! They just speak this weird something . . ."

My wife, the comedienne. The more I try to parse it, the more ironic it gets. They are of this world in investing massive amounts of resources in their home. Oh, I mean their car! (I recognize the sliding scale here.) But driving the H2 with that sticker really says their theology is escapist. We're called to steward this creation well without buying into the corrupt thought systems.

Patriotism

A couple of weeks ago, Susan and I were driving through a new construction zone, and we saw a delightful sign. It was delightful because we were pretty sure there was a mistake, but we weren't sure. It said, "Stores open during construction," and the second screen said, "Thank you for your patriotism." We tried laughing, but we were too incredulous to do so wholeheartedly. What if they actually meant that?

Tonight we drove by, and thankfully our suspicions were confirmed. The second screen read "Thank you for your patronage."

Gales of laughter.

Kelly

I'm sitting at the oil change place getting ready to try to get some work done. (How's that for three degrees' separation from reality? I swear I'll accomplish a lot.)

I have to make the quick note that Kelly Ripa looks extremely bored. She looks utterly disengaged, but on cue, she knows when Regis will ask a question, and she deadpans a sarcastic answer. I know that's part of her schtick, but I've never seen somebody so disengaged in a "conversation."

Leadership and service

Oddly enough, as I was washing the skillet in which I prepared scrambled eggs for our egg and cheese tortillas, I started thinking about leadership vis-à-vis crap jobs. I've also had amorphous ideas brewing for a while about gifting and the utilization thereof.

Then it hit me. In figuring out responsibility within a group, a leader should first see if there is anyone who is gifted at or likes doing a certain thing, say, cleaning toilets. If not, then that is for that group a "crap job" (pun not necessarily intended). At that point, it is the leader's responsibility to do that job.

It's important to weigh gifting before "servant shepherd" leadership. Only when it is clear that there is a dearth of gifting does the leader do the right thing and be the servant in that particular task. It should also be clear that there's no BSing (pun also not really intended) when people are claiming gifts. The leader should not allow any individual to curry favor by taking the crap job. Then gifting and service are both allowed to flourish.

This is idealistic for sure, and there may be situations where it is utterly impractical and totally counterproductive. But I think there's some merit here, and I'd like to hear your thoughts.