For No Rhyme Or Reason

So, I'm not what you would call a fatalist and never have been. I have been an existentialist at one time... meaning that I was desperately searching for meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. I read Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sarte, and even a couple of Richard Wright's lesser known works when I was in my teens and was convinced there was no meaning in the world and that there was, in effect, no order in the world. I say that because in the past few weeks, things have been happening to me... bad things... and for seemingly no reason. I haven't done anything to anybody (This year!) and I do believe in karma!

Two weeks ago, I'm sitting in my parked car and I see an old man in a car built before I took my first shave, moving towards me. I beeped my horn, yelled, and screamed. But, this old man doesn't put on the brakes so my newly washed, waxed car is the breaks and he leaves a sizeable dent in the rear passenger door of my car! To make matters worse, he refuses to give me his insurance information (I suspect that he doesn't have any). My insurance company wants me to get his information. He wants to pay me for the dent out of pocket but he doesn't agree with the price the collision garage gave us. I admit, I don't agree either, but I want the dent out of my door and I'm losing my patience with the old man and the collision garage.

A few days later, while I'm still pondering how I'm going to handle that, a 23 year old man driving a pick-up truck (with a revoked driver's license and registration that expired a year ago), has a seizure and crashes into an electrical poll with such force that his truck flies backward, hitting my next door neighbor's car and then, mine! He broke my headlight, bent ny hood, and dented my front fender. Incredible!

Meaningless events. No rhyme or reason. This time, my wife takes the photos (see one above), the police and insurance companies are called, my car is towed to a collision garage, and I'm told that they are going to repair everything and paint my car as well. I was even given a loaner to tide me over until my car is totally repaired. Ahhh, the joy of good insurance! (Don't tell the tea party people, they might get mad!)

While my insurance company and the insurance company of the young man will pay for most of the damage from the latest incident, that stubborn old man is going to be given a quote for the damage (dent) that he did. He's going to pay whatever that quote is out of his pocket and if he doesn't, there may be another meaningless act committed! (Did I write that?)

Is the world full of meaningless, random acts that just occur for no rhyme or reason? Well, one would have to be an athiest or agnostic to kind of go for that and I'm neither. I can say that I'm lucky that I wasn't in the car at the time of the impact because I most certainly would have been injured. I could say, it's just a car, lives are more important, and just be thankful that no one was hurt... not a child, not the reckless young man driving the truck, and most of all, not me!

I can say that God was watching over me and that maybe my plans got side tracked to protect me from something far worse that might have awaited me that Friday morning. I just don't know and I'm not in a position to care. I'm just shell-shocked right now... waiting for the other shoe to drop and staying prayerful.

He Lives... Nuff Said

ART: "His Voyage" By Unknown Artist

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

Pray For Haiti

By the time you read this, you all will heard about the horrific earthquake that took place in Haiti two days ago. I'm not going to go into the gory details but I'm going to pass on some information about how you can help.

The U.S. State Department Operations Center said Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti should call 1-888-407-4747. Due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording. "Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American citizens through our Warden Network", the U.S. State Department said in a statement. "Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time."

For those interested in helping immediately, simply text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10.00 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Finally, the FBI urges people who are looking for ways to help with earthquake relief to be wary of solicitations that could be from scam artists.

Past tragedies and natural disasters have prompted individuals with criminal intent to solicit contributions purportedly for a charitable organization or a good cause," the FBI said and they are passing along these tips:

1. Ignore unsolicited e-mails and do not click on links within those messages.

2. Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via email or social networking sites.

3. Be cautious of emails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, because the files may contain computer viruses. Open attachments only from know senders.

4. Decline to give personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions.

5. Make contributions directly to known organizations, rather than relying on others who claim in emails that they will channel the donation to established groups.

It's unfortunate that we have individuals who try to take advantage of well-meaning people during a tragedy but, that's the world we live in today. What are you gonna do but use some common sense... mix it with your compassion.

Pray for these people, pray for those in the United States who have relatives and friends trapped over there as I write this, and pray for Haiti.

The New Year's Theory

You know, it's crazy to be superstitious and even more insane to create your own superstitions. I don't know why, but I have long believed that whatever happens to me in the first 48 hours of the new year will be a forbearer on how the rest of the year goes.

One year, I got into a loud knock-down, drag-out argument with someone on New Year's Eve. The rest of that year, I was in one verbal conflict after another with various people and by the end of that year, I had ended a bad relationship with a girlfriend and had ended two toxic relationships with friends.

Then, there was the year that I slipped in some ice and fell down in the street on New Year's Day. There was a wet, five dollar bill stuck to the sole of my shoe and I was unemployed at the time. I got not one, but two jobs within a three month period of time that year and started a bank account for myself. Coincidence? Who can really know?

Another year, I was at a New Year's Eve party at one of my old college roommate's home. This party was rowdy and long and I was depressed because I had broken up with my girlfriend right before Christmas. I drank until I was good and soused and walked from his house to my house that night (his house was about 2-3 miles from my house). There, I fell to the floor and went to sleep in my hat and coat and stayed there until morning. You would think that beginning a new year like that would mean that I was going to either be in rehab or just have a crappy year right? Wrong. I met the woman I eventually wound up marrying four days later and had a great year so, go figure.

This New Year's Eve, my wife and I went to Watch Night Service at our church and came home to our living room ceiling leaking from the rain outside. I vented a little but my wife reminded me to be thankful for the fact that we have the means to take care of it now and several years ago, we might not have been in such a position. Then, I felt better. She has always been good about reminding me of the positives. So with that, what kind of year will I have? A wet one? (Just kidding!) One full of challenges but challenges that can be met and overcome? A reassuring one? I still don't know.

What I do know is I believe in God and so far, no matter what has befallen me, I have somehow survived and looked good doing it. So I say, bring it on. I'll be here...