Two More Weeks

Where does the time go? It’s been little fixit jobs for Cathy and a lot of trips to town, doctoring – both Cathy and me. Cathy is visiting the chiropractor for her back pains and I am establishing myself with a new family doctor, who just happens to be “ScooterNerd” – another geocacher. Oh yeah, I did manage to make it into the city (OKC) to the Central Oklahoma Geocache breakfast meeting – and I have added a few geocaches to my list in OKC and in Norman. The big chore was renting a pole saw and cutting down all of the dead limbs and particularly the branches hanging over the house and the driveway. Cathy’s part of Michelle’s property is about an acre. Grandson Joe E. helped me and the job went smoothly in the allotted time of saw rental. The cleanup was the big chore. The Lynch family now has a good supply of fire wood for the winter – the leftovers have been burned – and I will probably be sore for a couple of weeks.

My case of hitch itch is getting worse and I think I will be leaving OK by the end of the month. There is still a French drain to put in the ground and a little administrative work but I am running out of real work. CARE says that they need me in Livingston and I want to stop in Dallas for a short time at the Red Cross to do the annual inspection of the Sysco Kitchen. So look for another update in two more weeks!

This I Believe

The last couple of weeks in Oklahoma have been full of chores – house and car repair and maintenance both for Cathy and myself. There has been, however, much time to reflect, read and observe. I feel it is time for me to share my belief – philosophy of life.

Who am I? I was born into a Methodist family, then baptized Lutheran, and finally chose to be a Catholic. I guess you could call me a protesting catholic because I do not believe in a lot of what the church does. In fact I do not believe in church, because most of the world’s ills seem to have been born in the various “churches” that compete with one another. My middle name is Thomas – and yes I do have a healthy share of doubt! I doubt that any religious practice is what God wants for us. I believe that good (God?) life practices are what he wants us to seek and what he wants us to reflect to others. That is –“being Christ for others”. My formation of belief has come from various sources – reading, observation, and practice. To recommend a few to you – “2001”, “Childhoods End” and “The Final Theorem” by Arthur C. Clarke and “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (see recent DVDs - Norman Jewison) all of which I recommend you read or view and reflect upon. These show me that there are basically two conflicting ways to go in the world – murder and love. I can choose to make myself #1 and put others down (get ahead?) or I can choose to love and share my self with others. Since my Cursillo and more recently ACTS retreat I have experienced God’s love and I choose to spread it. A great philosopher, whose name I didn’t retain, said (and I believe) “We shall believe ourselves to be serving him only by promoting everything that is best in the world both in ourselves and others”. What do I believe? Two words come to mind – TANSTAFL and Dunthers. TANSTAFL, is an acronym for “There ain’t no such thing as free lunch”. In other words, we have to do it if we want it done. Dunthers is slurred version of “Do unto others” as stated by both the Golden and the Silver Rules.

Oh well enough philosophy for now and I’ll get back to the chores, so I can again become The Vagabond.