Misc. thoughts

I've got a lot of things whirling around in my mind this morning. I thought it might be interesting to see what happens if I get them all down in "writing".

• College costs. Sitting here this morning, I hear on TV about how college costs are rising 7% per year...about how people should start saving immediately for their future kids' education right after they get married! Wow! Imagine that I've got two kids who will be heading off to the wonderful world of "higher learning" (as chronicled in the documentary "Animal House") in another 4 and 5 years. We are hosed, huh?! Since I don't have the cash flow to start saving now, maybe I'll begin praying daily for the financial aid that will support them! [Come on...Big money, big money...no whammies!]
• Celebrities. What is the deal in the US with celebrities? Seriously...this country is so fixated on everything they do. Can you believe that I've actually had a thought about constantly carrying my camera with me so that if the chance ever presented itself to snap a shot of some celebrity out in "the wild" I might be able to make a nice buck for the shot. It's ridiculous. Everything they do, not to mention say, is major news. Why do we take our cues from these people? They're paid to act...to entertain us...you know, kind of like organ-grinder monkeys. They're not there to be our moral or ethical centers. They're not elected to determine foreign or domestic policy. And they're certainly not called to be our spiritual leaders.
• My dad. I have spent about 10 hours in the hospital the past two days. The first day we thought he was having some big problems but it turned out that he was just experiencing effects from his brain surgery (seems you can't operate on the cerebellum w/o experiencing side effects). Yesterday we had three appointments with various doctors. It's ugly. It's tough. It will get uglier and tougher. I hurt for him and absolutely hate to see him scared about the future. He's doing well and now awaiting an operation to take out a large mass in his upper left lung (October 16).
• Life right now. Life is strange here. When we don't have speaking gigs (October will be super busy but it really hasn't been to this point) we are just professional parents. That's very difficult for us. We're used to working...accomplishing goals. And while we are accomplishing things with our family (and possibly personally), there is a certain level of professional frustration. Does that make sense?
• Book deal. No, I don't have one. But I do have an interesting idea. What do you think about a book called "When I grow up..." about how oftentimes our lives are vastly different from what we think they are going to look like when we're younger. Often that leads to frustration and disappointment...and can even lead to deep-rooted bitterness. The good news is that we are called by God to embrace the fullness of life that He has to offer as we learn to appreciate the context(s) we're in and how we can better serve Him there. I have this idea of having a companion website that would focus on forum-based discussion groups for people to talk about these issues together...maybe have some counselors that would be available from time to time to moderate the comments. Just an idea...what do you think?

Well that was fun. Obviously these are not in any kind of priority order...just the thoughts slamming around in my cranium this morning.

Happy Wednesday!