Mandalorians and the Church

Though most mandalorians were associated with love of war, bounty hunting and a lot of bloodshed, there was at least one mandalorian who chose not to kill unless she absolutely had to. In fact, she always chose bounties that required the "hard merchendise" to stay alive. Once she saved another bounty hunter's life, even though had been trying to kill her. Even more, a lot of her bounties she chose because she had lost her family in the mandalorian war - her birth family, not her adopted mandalorian family - and she wanted to help others find their families. Not that she was a saint, but Mira was probably one of the better, more honorable mandalorians.

I think that one of the things that the church is horrible at doing, that it could take a look at people like Mira - even if she's a fictional character - and learn from. Let's just face it, the Church should be in the business of restoring and creating families. I think that the current structure of a lot of churches is built for other purposes and doesn't help families at all. Sometimes, like in my father's case, it destroys families. Take for instance the current norm of separating the age classes: teens, preteens, children, toddlers, adults, seniors, college kids, you name it. Of course the target is getting families to attend, but even more important is the number of people that attend. Let's just face it, if your goal is number's that kind of structure works, but it doesn't really help the family stay closer, it doesn't nurture the family - just the individual, and it doesn't help restore families.

Of course churches with this kind of structure try to compensate by having times where families get together and fellowship. Come on people; let's come back down to reality. Anyone on a board or committee should know that just because some program was made with a specific purpose in mind doesn't mean that when put in place; it will be used for that purpose. Often times, the program will be exploited or the purpose ignored, even in so called "healthy" churches.

It's time for a new structure that is centered on the worship of God, but is done by the family and with the family instead of numbers. This is why I am a strong advocate of the house church. It takes place where the family is at, or rather where several families are at. It doesn't separate the age groups, and the whole community is involved in raising and teaching the children and can be involved because they know each other that well. When one family is hurting, (physically, financially, relationally) the other's can pitch in and help. The sad thing is that often it takes people becoming "disillusioned" about the church to become a part of a house church. Instead I think people should do it because right now, it's the best model there is.

Blogg Forward

Here is a link to a friends page. He says some good stuff.

Mando'ade

If i were to ever switch cultures, I would become a Mandalorian. Personally that would solve a lot of my problems. First of, if I was a Mandalorian, my roomates would start doing their dishes and clean up after them selves. Seriously, there is just somthing about that T-shaped visor and a full suit of beskar that just says "don't mess with me and do your frikindishes you dickat!" Okay it's not just the reputation that's atractive, it's their passion for life, living on the edge, doing what they believe in no matter what the consequenses might be. They have a passion for family and a unique way of cellebrating the dead. Being divorced by their family is one of the worst things that could happen to them, and addoption seams to be one of their themes. Interesting, bloodlines don't matter to them. If your a mandalorian, it's not because it is your haritage, it's because you chose it as a way of life. It's funny most mandalorians are highly influenced by the dark side, become bounty hunters, and do a lot of killing, but also share a lot of traits with Christians - not that "christians" haven't done their fair share of killing. To bad they don't exist, because I think that Jesus would like them.

Zirk Tom! I don't like him (J/K)

I worked with Tom yesterday. We did seventeen cars, that's still high, but not as high as the legendary twenty-six on one Sunday. I expected to have a high count just because he and I worked together. It wasn't so bad working with Tom. In fact, I think that Tom plays an important role in the company. He always seems to be able to break down tension. The downside is he just needs to get his butt working sometimes and not be so lazy, stop talking on the phone when there are cars in, and spending extended periods of time over at Barneys. He just doesn't make a good assistant manager. Me, well I just need to suck it up and work with Tom every once in a while. If D's not allowed to be an assistant manager because he can't get along with people, then why should I think I can get the same position and expect to also be selective about whom I work with.
On another note, GM fittings suck. Yes, that's right and they are a waste of time. Take Daimler-Chrysler's Jeep line. A lot of their vehicles can have anywhere from two to eight or more zirks to lube. Usually all of them will take grease. Ford SUV's which usually have two or four zirks, with the exception of their big Econolines which have about fourteen zirks. Usually most of them take. GM on the other hand will have two to eight on their cars and up to eleven or thirteen on their trucks or SUVs’. About an average of half take grease on the cars while the trucks or SUV's are worse. Often times, I will come across one that doesn't take any or just one or two take grease. Here's one thing you might consider. The reason car manufacturers are going from zirked fittings to sealed fittings is to take one more job out of the production line. It saves the manufacturer money.