Commercials

I love commercials. I talked my wife into satellite TV for one main reasons: 150 channels of commercials. Ok, that and ESPN, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, ESPN 2 and ESPN Deportes. But commercials are really amazing when you think about it. After all, how much better off would we be if you and I could learn to express ourselves in just 30 seconds? And not just express ourselves, but express ourselves with quick witted humor that would make people talk about our message the next day at work.

C'mon, admit it, you like commercials too. Here are some of my favorites:

Have you seen the Nextel commercial where the the two guys are dancing like freaks in the office when their coworker pops in and is all worried about transistors, delivery trucks and where Mark is? You should see my daughter do that dance, it's hilarious. Do a google search for "NEXTEL dancing commercial" and you can see it.

I loved the Superbowl commercials where the Budweiser horses are playing football in the pasture and the other animals are watching. Suddenly you see a blur of activity and the spectators are guffawing and then you see why: A recently sheered sheep has run onto the field. The camera pans to two ranchers, one of whom says, "Streaker". The other just shakes his head and replies, "didn't need to see that." C'mon, what's funnier than a streaker at a ball game?

One of my all time favs is the KFC commercial where the bro is eating a spicy chicken sandwich. Suddenly he sneezes and breaths fire out his mouth and catches his paper on fire. Then he panics and every time he says "Oh no" or "Help" more fire comes out and before the end of the commercial, his whole office is on fire. Classic stuff people!

But all these subtle little commercials are actually, not so subtle. The commercial I saw today is a great example. Can't even remember what the commercial was for but the message was simple: Get what you can, or get what you want. In each of the "examples" a person (or people) stands behind a deep, dark red line and they are faced with the choice of taking what's being offered or getting what they want. From boats, to houses, to second homes on the beach, to a big wedding, family and a great party with friends, whatever you want, this company will help you get it. Don't settle for anything else.

Nothing wrong with getting what we want. In part, being able to pursue wants and passions is what makes this country so great! But there is something deeper in that commercial that I believe expresses a mentality that runs rampant in our culture today. It's the idea that you and I are entitled to what we want. The big goals and dreams of our lives are supposed to be given to us and waiting for them is somewhat silly. Somewhat, un-American! Why settle for what you have when you can have what you want! Isn't it strange that the commercial naturally assumes that the people who are watching their ad do not like what they already have? That the people watching this 30 second spot want something else? That the people in front of the tube are discontent? I wonder how right they are.

Solomon had it all. The Bible says that after being king for 20 years he decided life wasn't good enough. There had to be more out there because he didn't like what he had. So he did it all (and you can read his old school blog in the book of Ecclesiastes). He tried sex and lots of it, in fact, so much of it that he had 1,000 women at his disposal any time he wanted. He tried booze, and lots of it. He tried money, and had so much that people considered silver practically worthless in his day. He tried building bigger houses, palaces, libraries and gardens and history tells us that anything he built was the envy of anyone who saw it. But after Solomon got what he wanted, it left him emptier than he ever had been before. He had boats. He had horses. He says it best when he wrote, "anything I set my heart to, I accomplished." He crossed the big red line.

What did crossing that big red line get him? Let his "blog" speak for him: "I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for my labor. Yet when I survey all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless..." And later Solomon leaves us with this cheerful thought: "I declared that the dead, who had already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive. But better than both is he who has not yet been..." Makes you wonder whether stepping over that big red line is what it's all cracked up to be.

I think I might get into the commercial making biz. Imagine the scene: A young couple stands before a big red line. On the side they are standing on is a nice but modest home, a newer van with a couple of car seats and a mid-90s sedan parked in the driveway. Their yard is strewn with kids toys and laughter is spilling out of the front door and on to the porch. This couple has been together for a while, but they still hold hands and wear the look of young love on their faces. Across the line is an enormous house with a view and two brand spankin' new cars. The manicured lawn is flawless and the neighbor across the fence bares the face of envy. The young couple inside haven't seen each other in days but the kids are each in their own rooms enjoy state-of-the-art entertainment. The camera pans back to the couple looking across the line, the music builds and then the husband kisses wife, smacks her playfully on the back side and chases her into the nice, but modest home leaving the red line uncrossed. Suddenly the screen goes blank and these words leave the viewer with a thought: "Enjoy what you have before you are destroyed by what you want" -- Solomon.

And that's life between the sermons.

Justice Hounds

I have a four year old justice hound for a son. If you have one of these living in your house (it doesn't have to be a child; my son comes by it honestly from my wife!) you already know what I'm talking about. His life is governed by one basic rule: Fairness. Life must be fair or something is dreadfully wrong.

My son is fairly athletic and very coordinated. My daughter on the other hand....is not. My son hits baseballs thrown to him overhand, my daughter hits walls walking around the house. My son jumps off high things and lands cat like on his feet, my daughter trips over her own shoe laces and lands clown like on the floor. But she is sooooooo stinkin' cute. I digress.

The other day the two were racing down the hall and without much imagination you can probably guess that my son, won. (Not only is he faster and more athletic, but he's also 16 months older.) Then the drama unfolded:

Enter over protective father of his beautiful but uncoordinated daughter (OFBUD):

OFBUD: Son, why don't you race again and let your sister have a head start.
SON: (thinking beating her with a head start would prove his greatness) Sounds good.
OFBUD: Daughter, why don't you stand here (pointing to location at South end of couch)
Son, why don't you stand here (pointing to location at North end of couch)
SON: That's too much of a head start.
OFBUD: (secretly wanting daughter to win one race in her life) It's ok, it will make the race more fun for your sister.
SON: (becomes increasingly uncertain about winning short race with sister having such a
big head start.)
OFBUD: Go!

Two kids race down hall, daughter edges out son in close race.

SON: (music builds to a crescendo and then cuts in dramatic silence) IT'S NOT FAIR!
OFBUD: Lighten up kid, it's ok for your sister to win once in a while (OFBUD continues on long narrative of his life with two older brothers and how they let him win once in a while making games/races more fun...blah...blah...blah as he reminds SON that OFBUD also lets son win once in a while) (SON remains in a constant state of tears and wailing)

Drama ends as OFBUD places SON in bed and SON wails himself to sleep with this mantra, "That race wasn't fair". OFBUD is not happy.

If you had been in my house that night you quite likely would have figured a great abuse had taken place. If you're a mandatory reporter like me you might have made a phone call to certain protective services. But alas, the only injustice was indeed -- injustice. An unfair race had been run and the loser was not pleased.

After trying to console my son I was struck by a thought I have not been able to shake. Life is full of unfairities (I don't care if spell check underlines that word, I'm using it!). My son was right in his claim, that race wasn't fair, at least not in the strictest of senses. After all, can you think of any legitimate race where one competitor gets a head start over another? Hardly.

But then something else struck me as I pondered this ridiculous incident (quite honestly, I'm embarrassed to say that I reflected on "The Race" for several hours afterwards). We are all victims of inequity of one kind or another. It hardly seems fair that professional athletes can make millions of dollars entertaining us by hitting a ball, sinking a putt or colliding with another individual, while the pay scale for educators equipping us or our kids is (comparatively) pennies.

My wife and I were watching a recent powerball winner whine because he had to share the giant purse with several other winners. Instead of receiving the grand total of $140+ million dollars, the poor sap only walked away with $25 million. How will he manage I asked myself? Give me a break! How is it fair that an ungrateful swine complaining about an absurd amount of money, receives it? My wife and I are ecstatic about receiving $25 to our favorite little restaurant, let alone receiving a pitiable $25 million! So we played the game, "what would you do if...." you won $25 million? (For anyone out there with $25 million to give-a-way, we'd gladly back up our claims of only keeping $500,000 for ourselves and giving the remainder away!) And I was left wondering, how is this fair?

It isn't.

But is it any more fair or equitable that my wife and I have a humble but nice home, we have two cars, satellite TV and a pair of iPods while 75% of the world doesn't even own one car? Or the fact that nearly 80% of the people in this world don't own a house or property? Where's the justice in that? Is it fair that I can buy bottled water at any store I visit, or if I choose I could just drink the water from my tap, while over 40% of the world's population doesn't have clean drinking water?

I think you get my point. Fairness is really about a perspective and so often when we decry inequity, we're really decrying inequity from our vantage point. If we could just step back and see things from some one else's eyes, life might not seem so unfair. As I thought back to my son's race I realized that heart of the issue wasn't justice, at least, not a justice that would rule in favor of his sister. As I think back to the 25 million dollar whiner, I'm not really seeking justice for him, either.

That's the problem with "fairness" -- when you hop to the other side of the fence you get a very different perspective. Was it fair that my two week old daughter had to be readmitted to the hospital with RSV concerns in January? Well it depends, would I rather have been the family right next to our room that was admitted on the same day but extended their stay by seven days? Suddenly two days doesn't seem all that unfair.

I guess that's why the Bible tells us that "godliness with contentment is great gain" because if I can get a right perspective about God and the cards HE has "dealt", then maybe I can be content with what is happening realizing that in the end, it's not about my equity as much as it is about finding joy in what I do have and where I presently am. Looking for fairness can destroy my circumstantial happiness but searching for contentment replaces it with joy. Now if I could just get my hands on 25 million......

That's life; life between the sermons.

I'm a Pastor

March 5, 2006

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope to make this a semi-regular (although doesn't that also make it semi-irregular?) habit (is that contradictory? Can a habit be semi-regular?).

Ok, we're off to a bad start.

Each Sunday night or Monday morning I want take up some cyber real estate to develop my writing skills while expounding on life between the sermons. Yes I am a pastor, but fear not, the very title of this blog prevents me from preaching because preaching takes place during the sermon. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for sermons. I love to listen to good preachers and I love to hone my own abilities as a preacher, even if it's painful for my audience. But life takes a brief hiatus during a sermon, at least, during a good sermon. For 30-45 minutes I'm captivated by a good preacher as I wrestle with concepts, teachings and applications to concepts and teachings. A good sermon engages my mind, taps into my emotions and motivates me to think, feel and/or act differently. A good sermon might bring about an end to an old habit or bring about the start of a new one. A good sermon stays with you for a while. But what happens from one sermon to the next? What happens when one sermon ends and the other hasn't yet started?

Life.

I guess that's where I hope this blog picks up. That not-so-magical point when the sermon has ended and life sweeps you back in to her torrid pace because for me, life happens between the sermons.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope we can make this a semi-regular date.