Rebuilding the Tower of Babel, one website at a time...

Over the weekend, we had an event here at work, highlighting the old ways of growing/preparing/storing food.  (At least that's how I saw it)  We had people up here making Apple Butter, Peanut Butter, (regular) Butter, Sorghum, and smoking meat in an old fashioned (two month old) smokehouse.  The event was a success and I believe most everyone there had a blast.  It brought to mind something from my past which I hadn't thought of in a long time.  Once, when I was in Elementary (or Middle) School, we had a "Pioneer Days" event at Southside High.  I remember there was a log with one of those really big two man crosscut saws started into it to illustrate how hard it was to cut a tree that way.  There was also a butter churn, mule pulled plow, etc.  A typical collection of old Pioneer history.

I also remember, quite vividly, that my Grandma Wood was there.  She was there because of the things she knew how to knit.  She was a keeper of many secrets of crocheting.  Not that she kept them to herself on purpose, but just that it became at some point it became much easier to go to the store and buy a quilt/potholder/coaster/tablecloth, etc. etc. than to make your own.  She brought a number of her quilts and other creations for people to look at.  I specifically remember that she was sitting in a rocking chair, demonstrating a form of crochet called "tatting", of which she was one of only a few in Van Buren Co. that could still knit.  I remember asking Mom and Dad about it and being told that people were afraid that "the old ways" would soon be forgotten.

What the organizers of the "Pioneer Days" event of my youth were afraid of was not exactly the loss of "the old ways" as much as it was the loss of information.  Without documentation of history, whether it be stories, skills, or merely information about where something once stood, it can be as though it never was.  The specific method of crochet that my parents and others feared lost, was found (by me) on my second Google search. 

I know I'm opening a potentially huge can of worms with this, but so be it.  I believe the Bible.  I believe it says what it says for a reason.  I'm not sure the exact timeline (for it is not mine to study such things) but at some point in history, Man decided to ignore God's command "be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it" and replace it with “Come, let us build for ourselves a tower. . .”. “Lest we be scattered over the face of the earth”.  The people were afraid that their civilization, their knowledge...their information would be lost.  The tower was (at that time) the ultimate symbol of human arrogance.  Man telling God that we will build a tower as a symbol of our glory, not His Glory.

I hope I'm not putting forth the illusion that I believe to understand all the implications of the Internet as the new Tower of Babel, but in my mind there are some similarities.  In ancient times, without the help of cranes, bulldozers, etc, some of the most remarkable structures were made.  To this day we aren't sure exactly how they were errected.  The only thing that seems certain is that with subsequent generations the knowledge was lost.  With the Internet, and other information sharing technology related to worldwide communications services, it appears that will not happen again.  The world is effectively one big city again, with our communications network as it's tower.

What I've learned from video games. (But mostly the Bible)

I don't mind telling you that in my life I've spent a lot of time playing video games.  Looking back at my youth and college days I guess you could say there was not much I'd rather do.  In college I'd buy a game, play it whenever possible, obsess over it when I wasn't playing it, and then put it on a shelf after I defeated the last "Boss".  Then off to the next video game.  And so it went.  As life advanced and responsibilities increased, video game time decreased, but not the lack of desire for it.  Especially when traveling.  I'd buy a game on a 2 week job and play it every evening after the days work.  Until I beat it of course.  I've even replayed games to see if I could make the story turn out different.

A few weeks (or was it months) ago in our Sunday School Class we were reading through Ecclesiastes.  If you've never read it, I suggest doing so.  King Solomon (the most likely author) had more possessions than anyone before him.  The book of Ecclesiastes documents his quest for happiness.  He documents the results of denying himself nothing that his heart desired, and the emptiness of it all.

"Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 2:11

Here is a man who had 700 wives, and 300 girlfriends.  Obviously he got whatever he wanted.  Built vineyards, houses, monuments for himself, but found no joy in them.  He realized that life is but a breath, and someone can easily mismanage and ruin all that he'd built within a generation after his death.

I may be the only video game addict I know but I doubt it.  Once I start on a video game I can hardly stop until I've beaten it.  Then I get to watch how the story ends and the credits roll.  Thing is, I've played very few that were worth playing through again.  Then you are left to look for the next video game to obsess over for 2 weeks and then put on the shelf. 

Now for the tie-in. 

Video games are basically life accelerated.  In two weeks you can sneak aboard enemy ships, free hostages, learn to be a Jedi and save the Galaxy, etc.  all in the course of a few days or weeks.  But in the end, what have you gained?  Nothing really.  This need not only apply to video games, but could be a book, a TV show, whatever. 

Whether you're waiting for the season finale of 24, reading, playing video games, etc. you are living vicariously through something of the world.  The only thing that truly matters in this world is that we build a relationship with God and do our best to see that our friends/family do the same.  I'm going to paraphrase C.S. Lewis because I can't remember the exact quote, but essentially the only reason we're born is chiefly so that we can die. 

You and everyone else you know ARE GOING TO DIE.  No one gets out of here alive.  I'm not sure how many of you have read the entire "Chronicles of Narna" series, but as always I highly suggest it.  In the book, "The Silver Chair" Eustance has just watched the death of a dear friend, King Caspian, who has aged many years in the time Eustance was back in England.  After a solemn moment, in which Aslan weeps, (I'll try not to spoil the whole thing) King Caspian is restored to youth and life.  Eustance is reluctant at first to approach or touch him, fearing him as a ghost. (probably a slight paraphrase)  "Don't be an ass." Says Caspian.  "I've only died.  There are very few men who haven't."  Which is strange to think about but certainly has a ring of truth to it.  Our chief responsibility then, it seems should be to bring as many people to a relationship with Christ as possible.  But how to do that?  Bring yourself into as close a relationship with Christ as possible so that He can show you how.  To me that is time much better spent than "Saving the Princess."  My apologies to Mario.

I can't believe it, but I enjoy Facebook

I have avoided it like the plague.  Hearing ppl say things like [insert fake valley girl accent] "OMG, I so facebooked that yesterday! LOL" [/end fake valley girl accent]  I looked at it a while back and it seemed too infantile.  I guess based on the people that I knew who used it I thought it was more or less a dating site.  Well I guess I have to admit I was wrong.  I sort of have a disconnect with some of today's "young people" and I thought this was just another one of their things that I won't understand.

I signed up based on a recommendation from Jeff Hicks, who I visited on a recent trip to LR.  I have always liked and respected Jeff, and he has a way of explaining things that I enjoy.  Well we talked about it a bit and I wasn't completely sold, but at least willing to try.  I created an account on Wednesday, and added 2 friends.  At current count I have 39 "friends", including some who found me since I created my account based on either mutual friends or groups I'm in such as "I was one of Bro Dave's ATU Wesley Foundation Circuit Riders" or Arkansas Tech University Alumni.  Really pretty amazing.  I'm connecting with people from college and previous jobs that I haven't seen or heard from in years.  So I must say, "Facebook, you have my apologies for all the bad things I said about you. IMHO, LOL, AFK, BBS ...(trails off)"

Just a little update

The Wood family is bundling up for a chilly winter here on the mountain. It's been so long since I posted that I forget what I haven't updated. We're still working on getting the house in Russellville ready to sell, but we've had some setbacks. Once this post has settled in I'll post some info about the remodel, our victories and setbacks. Tessa told me just today that she's definitely a 'livin' in the country' kind of girl. Well I guess me too, but sometimes I think I'm a little too accessible to work. #:-\

Couldn't resist posting the costume pictures this year. I'm particularly fond of Bella's Batgirl one. Also just some random pictures, of everyone I guess except me.

It's (gonna be) a boy!

Well, we weren't going to find out but just couldn't resist.