being jake wood

Today was a relaxed day for the Wood family.  Hannah and Elli are really enjoying the time they are spending with their cousins.  For those that don’t know, Kim’s Sister, Jana and her husband Shane have 3 kids and have adopted 4 girls from Haiti.  So the house is full and alive with sounds of children at play.  

This morning me and Kim were able to go to the dentist for a cleaning.  I know… many of you are wondering why we would spend time on vacation at a dentist’s office.  And the truth is we are just weird like that.  Since I have been married, we have had regular teeth cleanings every six months.  This has not been the case in the last year.  So when a dentist from Portland offered to clean our teeth out of the kindness of his heart, we jumped at the opportunity.  I must say the only thing frustrating about visiting the dentist is the continual prodding for conversation while metal tools scrape and dig into your mouth.  Must we always be cordial while laying flat on a chair and our drool is sucked  up a hose?  Is it normal for a session of 20 questions to begin while the taste of metal still lingers in my mouth?  No, normal left along time ago.  I’m normally a pretty talkative guy, but this morning I just gave the nod.    

After a good cleaning we went home and lounged around the house doing little odds and ends.  After a good session of doing “nothing”, I turned on the TV to watch the Patriots upset the Ravens.  I’m so sick of Tom Brady, but I don’t have the time or the patience to go there.  After the game me and Kim gathered with her parents and enjoyed a good game of “Rook”.  Did I mention I caped off a tub of ice cream.  I love vacation.  

I’m now sitting in bed with my daughter on the floor moaning with stomach pain.  She has got some wicked gas going on, so if things sound a little weird, it’s because of the fumes.  Today I’ve been just meditating on some thoughts from a book I finished called “The Contrarians Guide to Knowing God” by Larry Osborne.  It was a great read.  Highly recommended!  Very applicable and very challenging at the same time.  In one of the later chapters, Larry talks about spiritual disciplines and how they are “tools” and not “rules”.  Meaning there is no real scripture that tells us it is mandatory to practice any certain spiritual discipline.  It is beneficial, but never a mandatory “rule”.  With this being said, he paints a more organic approach to the disciplines we are all familiar with.  Since many of these disciplines like, payer, fasting, scripture memorization and more are “tools” to us in this journey,  then we need to use them when the time is right.  When I have a plumbing problem, it would be wise to open my toolbox and use my wrench to get a better handle on the situation at hand.  The same in our lives.  I open my toolbox (spiritual disciplines) and find which tool would work best at the moment.  Now I may use this tool for a long time and then find that it isn’t as useful as it may have been at the beginning.  That’s Ok.  Or maybe, it’s a tool that I find never gets old and is always useful.  Then I use it.  The idea is to find what works in growing and challenging me spiritually and using it.  What works for some may not work for everyone.  This was a revelation to my soul!  A refreshing take on what can easily get overwhelming.  For instance, right now I feel a strong desire to plug into the scriptures.  To memorize and study like never before.  To lay other books aside and just dive in head first.  When I step into this, I may find it very rewarding.  But just because I do, doesn’t mean I have to practice this for the rest of my life.  I may find after a few months that it just isn’t as satisfying as it was earlier.  Then I may put the “tool” down and look inside my toolbox for another.  Maybe fasting.  Maybe a day of silence.  Who knows?  But there a many great “tools” out there for us to choose from.  Just remember that it’s not a “rule” that every christian must follow in order to be a successful Christ follower.  It’s a tool in the box of disciplines God give us in this journey with Him.   

So whether your a dentist with a tool in the mouth of your prey or a Christ’s sojourner with a toolbox in hand,  pull out those tools and use em.  They do no good with anyone just sitting there.

Why couldn’t God have made me a Patriots fan?  Why did he pump my veins with blue and orange?  Why does a team with so much potential end up the biggest disappointment?  These are the questions I grapple with every Sunday afternoon.  Why, you ask?  Because I’m a Denver Bronco fan.  And apparently Bronco fans have to endure a roller coaster of emotions that never end.  They build you up…. to bring you down.  It was like this in the eighties and it will be like this in the future.  And yet we love our Denver Donkey’s.  It’s a blessing and a curse (obscure MONK reference #1).

Today we visited Marty and Fern’s church with the whole family.  The kids gathered around their grandpa and sang a song together on stage after the offering.  It was beautiful.  After the church service which was themed around “The Good News”, I was ready to hear some good news from Oakland about my Broncos.  We all arrived home on a cold and wet day, filling our stomachs with homemade chili and garlic cheese bread (the perfect combination to accompany an easy win against the Oakland Raiders).  Since I’m in Oregon and without my NFL ticket, we were forced to watch the Cardinals / Cleveland game and the Giants / Bears game.  Both end up being great games, so it wasn’t that bad.  But because there was no Bronco game being broadcast, I was forced to watch and wait with ESPN.com.  After news of the 4th Bronco turnover came across my screen,  I began recalling early days of painting my face orange and blue only to wash it all off with tears of sorrow.  Another Denver lose.  Why do I torture myself like this?  Can’t I just walk into a Sunday afternoon game expecting the Broncos to lose so the pain wouldn’t be as bad?  But alas, by Saturday of this next week I’ll be sitting on the edge of my seat, face paint in hand hoping that, “this will be the turnaround week”.  

It’s a vicious cycle.  

So tomorrow I’ll scour the internet for any and all news on my beloved Broncos.  I’ll agree with the “haters” and love on the “disillusioned”, for this is the life of a Denver Bronco fan.  For better or for worse, we’re here to stay.  So strap on your orange and blue barrel, because we’re not going anywhere. 

I just thought I would share this awesome link to all my Seinfeld fanatic friends.  Believe it or not it’s already been featured in newspapers and TV shows all over!  Thanks Larry and Jerry for the greatest sitcom to ever grace the airwaves!

http://www.festivuspoles.com/pages/Festivuspoles.htm

http://www.festivusbook.com/

We’ve now been here for almost 3 days.  It is good to get a break from things and just enjoy the company of family.  My father in-law is a great guy and I always enjoy our conversations we have.    We share many of the same interests and ideas despite the huge age gap between us.  Last time I visited we attended the church that Don Miller calls home, Imago Dei.  We really enjoyed the service and discussed our thoughts on the afternoon.  It’s not to often you can openly discuss changing church and christian philosophy with someone who’s at the age of retirement.  

Anyways, today we dedicated the day to finding a christmas tree and bringing it back to the house.  I never grew up with this age old tradition and personally find it more of a hassle than entertaining.  I’m probably biased in this arena because of the last time (and only time) I’ve ever attempted to chop down a living tree to use as a family christmas tree.  I became extremely allergic to something in the “blue spruce” and we were forever cleaning up needles that had died and fallen to the floor.  Not to mention all of the watering and disposing of the “must have” tree that people go crazy about.  I realize people have strong opinions about this topic but it just doesn’t make sense to me.  Why not just drop the “one time” $100 and buy a tree that looks great, is already lit and can be stored year after year?  I know, I know… it’s the experience that everyone loves.  We’ll if cold weather and overpriced trees fancy you then why not make it a date every year.  For me and my family you will find us around an old “reused” fake fir tree, sharing hot cocoa and memories.  Which one is better?  That is up to you.  I don’t think either one is going to be a bad choice as long as it’s together with the family.  Traditions are the many things our memories cling to.  So if it’s a fake tree or a real one it doesn’t really as long as you’re with the ones you love.  What’s your take on the subject?  

So we all trekked out to find the perfect trees.  Me and my family, grandma and grandpa, aunt Jana, Uncle Shane and their tribe of 7 kids all piled into 3 cars for a “Christmas tradition”.  It really was pretty fun.  We found the perfect trees and within 30 minutes were on our way back to the comfort of warmth and home.  We made enchilada’s for dinner and a birthday cake to boot.  Aunt Val was coming over to visit (Kim’s oldest sister) and celebrate her birthday as well as Francia’s (Jana and Shane’s adopted cutie from Haiti), who was turning six.  We laughed and played games and watched the Ducks beat the Beavers in a double overtime game.  The night was fun.  The cake was good.  The enchilada’s were heavenly.  The only thing I need right now is some sleep.  It seems that going from east coast time to west coast time is more than my body could handle.  In Oregon it’s 11 PM, but my mind keeps telling me it’s 2 AM.  I wake up at  6 AM because it’s 9 AM my time and that’s sleeping in.  By the time my body adjusts, it’ll be time to pack up and go home.