He Wins

Jo took advantage of an insignificant, short distraction during supper to relocate his green beans from his tray to below the table. This act of defiance prompted his father to stick his face within about a foot of Jo's face and give him a stern look. As Jo noticed him, his face broke into a big smile, he laughed out loud, and leaned forward, immitating his father. Realizing that his son had won that round, the father retreated to a normal sitting position to consider his options,which prompted his daughter to comment,

La: "Look! Jo scared Papi away!"

A Tale of Two Cities: Georgetown, KY and Toluca, Mexico

What, exactly, is an American car? A car branded by a company with headquarters in the U.S.? A car manufactured by people in the U.S? A car manufactured by people in Canada or the U.S.?

(Georgetown, KY is where Toyota manufactures the Camry. Toluca, Mexico is where Chrysler manufactures PT Cruisers, among others.)

BTW, as for my thoughts on Fiat taking a 35% stake in Chrysler: that's like Dollar General taking a stake in The GAP. Not what you want if you like The GAP.

Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin

One of the most challenging things as a Christian is how to express love, which we are clearly called to do, without endorsing what the Bible is clear is against the will of God. Far too often, we err on the side of condemning the sin, making others feel like we are rejecting them, rather than expressing love. Philip Yancey has some tremendous thoughts in "What's so Amazing About Grace?" (though some of what he says will be hard to digest for some).

Pastor Rick Warren took a stand against homosexual marriage recently. As a result, there was a demonstration headed for his church. Saddleback answered this way: serve the demonstrators water and donuts.

Supposedly, another person will be as impressed by one bad impression as by twelve good ones. If that is true, then if we want to get Jesus' message across acurately, we have a lot of water and donuts to serve. Or would we rather get a different message across?

Prayer on Being Made Redundant

The Church of England has published a well-put prayer for those who have been laid off. Hope none of you has occasion to pray it - maybe the only time I'll ever say, "I hope you don't pray (this prayer)."

Food Likes and Dislikes

My wife made a very nice dessert today, with the ingredients including among them

• Raspberries
• Chocolate
• Whipped Cream
• Cookies

You'd think our kids would be ecstatic. Turns out, my son decided he was too tired to bother. My daughters refused the treat, preferring instead ... sour grapes. Hmmm.