You say tomato, I say tomato. (Doesn't make much sense when you read it.)

You probably recognize the kid on the left. That's McCauley Caulkin, the actor who made it big as the child star of "Home Alone." Do you recognize his look-alike on the right?
One is a brat, the other a bully.

I thought today was going to be one of the five days each year (average) when we don't have sunshine, but we now have beautiful storm clouds breaking up the otherwise sunny skies. I'd go for a run if I could muster the strength to get out of my chair.

This is why they take naps!
Play Time

You've probably read the news - that Alex Rodruiguez tested positive for steroids the year he set the home run record and won the league MVP (2003). That's especially disappointing because A-Rod was, up until this report, considered the anti-Bonds, the guy who excelled and did it cleanly. Everyone expects him to break Bonds' home run record, which was supposed to return it to the clear (pun intended). So much for that. But what angered me most was footage they showed on NBC last night of a Dateline interview they did with A-Rod two years ago when he was asked about using steroids. He sat there as calmly as could be and explained that he never had to use drugs to excel; he had natural abilities that made it unnecessary.
How does someone lie that calmly, without the slightest hint of conscience? Scary.
Or am I naive?

So much for a new, bi-partisan way of doing business in Washington D.C.

We had a good morning at Pathway. In the worship service the focus was 1 Cor. 4 and second hour we began our brief survey of how we got our Bible. We learned about mss, variants and versions. But what floored me was that I was the only person in the room who knew what a pith helmet is. What??
You know what a pith helmet is, don't you?

Back to last night's topic:

When I was teaching we used to talk about creating "life-long learners." By that we meant, in part, that we wanted to teach our students not just data, but how to learn, how to gather and process information for themselves. Assigning research papers thus had a dual objective. By writing a paper on the authorship of Hebrews the student learned the issues involved in this question, but they also learned how to do research, to find sources, cull data and assemble it in a cohesive and organized way that arrives at and supports a conclusion. We were particular about not just the body of the paper, which gave us the results, but the bibliography, because therein we saw evidence of their learning process.

An assigned research paper, however, is extrinsic motivation. The students do the research and writing because they have to in order to pass the course. Only half of being a life-long learner is knowing how to gather and process information. The first half, the prerequisite ingredient, comes as an instrinsic desire to know, a curiosity about the world around us. Couple an insatiable thirst for knowing with the skill for acquiring and you truly get a life-long learner.

Where does that curiosity come from? Why do some people ask "Why?" into their sixth and seventh decade...or beyond? I suspect some of it is genetic but a lot of it has to come from an environment created in a child's earliest years. A walk in the forest or along the beach, a museum or factory tour, a good set of blocks or Legos, and BOOKS all stir the inquisitive juices in a child. Going someplace new, whether physically or through the arts - literature, music, theater - can't help but open up the explorer in them.
Was a life-long learner ever created by sitting in front of a TV for hours at a time? Or playing the same video game ad infinitum? In a world with an endless supply of NEW we too often allow the young to do the same thing day after day after day.

I've said often that my favorite stage of life was parenting when our sons were young, up until the time they were 8 or 10. That's about the time they become increasingly conscious of and anxious to earn the approval of their peers. Then it's time to be cool. Give me a toddler exploring a world where everything is a first-time experience, or a second grader having a eureka moment as the tens system suddenly makes sense. "Look Daddy!" are just about as exciting a pair of words as this dad could hear.

Mom & Dad, turn off the TV. Give them blocks, or a deck of playing cards, or a big box and scissors and a marker, and BOOKS. They'll go to a place they've never been before. They'll have fun and they'll learn without knowing it. They will grow up to be life long learners, explorers in this wonderful world God has given us.

I just watched a commercial for a product that can make my skin look like it did when I was younger. Oh boy! A chance to have a face covered with acne again!