Travel Bug

By raise of hands, who knows what geocaching is? Wait, really? I expected more of you to raise your hands. If you don't know, geocaching is a real-life treasure hunt that is happening all over the world. Other people hide "caches" or small plastic containers in public places and post its location online. Then people like you and me go and try to find them. The idea is that you can exchange a little toy or trinket for another that is in the cache and record your visit, without being discovered by the "muggles" (people not geocaching).

Yesterday Marian and I went geocaching near White Rock Lake. It was a beautiful day, and we found 2 of the 3 caches we were looking for. You can see part of the first cache we found in a tree above my head. It was a peanut butter jar wrapped in burlap. I was a little worried it wasn't a cache, but someone else's stash.

Our purpose was to find a new home for Marian's travel bug, Mr. Fox. Hailing from Provo, UT, Mr. Fox is a small stuffed animal with the instruction to take him as far south as possible (Provo to Dallas is pretty good, wouldn't you say?). As I opened the cache, I found that it was completely full. To make room for Mr. Fox, we would have to take something else out. The largest item was a nasty looking mermaid doll. We exchanged her for Mr. Fox and promptly threw out the mermaid.

What can we take away from this parable? Sometimes we must get rid of something to make room in our lives for something more important. Are you making room for the most important things in life? God, family, friends are the most important in my book. My experience has taught me that when we put God first, we have room for all the rest, but if we put things before Him, then we will be frustrated by our lack of wisdom and time.

An Experience in Bearding

For the first time in my life I decided that I would let my beard grow out over the winter break. Before this I think I had never gone more than 4-5 days without shaving. I'm not sure what got in to me--well it was probably curiosity for the most part--but I determined not to shave for at least 2 weeks.

There were a few obstacles along the way, but I let my beard grow for about 16 days. Here's the result.

After a while I felt like I looked older and it started to itch less. People say that after 2-3 weeks it isn't so bad, and I started to like it--sometimes. Overall it was a good experience for me. I learned that I can grow a beard (albeit a little spotty) and it taught me a lesson in self-judgment.

As I began to grow my beard, I started to feel like a different person--even though I really wasn't. I felt like everyone was noticing my beard first and thinking something like, "Why is he growing out a beard?" or "Can't he do better than that?" And some people did make comments, but they weren't ever critical. My favorite was said by a friend in Utah who attributed my new-found strength to my "Samson Beard." Slowly, I began to realize that most people didn't care to note my change in facial hair, so why should I be so critical of myself?

I imagine that you may have had a similar experience when you got a new pair of glasses or woke up with an unattractive zit on your forehead. The lesson: Remember you are generally your own harshest judge. Don't get down on yourself. Be proud of what you have and do the best you can.