Various Musings

I missed the first half of The Soup tonight, which was okay, but then after it, this awful show about hoaxes (or something) came on! It was one of those bandage-face people! Where was Fashion Police?! We didn't know. So I went to 27 because it's first on my channel-flipping rotation (27, 35, 39, 40, 45, 55, 58, 65, 66, 76. Wanna guess what they are?), and it was Mamma Mia! at about halfway through. I like it. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep together? Yes, please? And did I mention Colin Firth? So that's what I'm doing as I type this.

News flash: the world is not ending tomorrow. The guy who says that, and organizes the people to put up the billboards, etc., he said it was happening in 1994. Somehow, he retained his followers or got new ones even after that fail. His explanation was that he hadn't read parts of the Bible closely enough.

A five-year study published by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice has revealed the cause of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members. Homosexuality and celibacy are not the causes, they said very emphatically. The reason many, many Catholic leaders have molested children is THE UPHEAVAL OF THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES. No joke. That's what the study said. Its detractors call it "The Woodstock Defense." I appreciate that they don't want to demonize homosexuality or celibacy, but really? Everyone went through those decades, and very few people reacted by sexually abusing children. My theory on why the study took five years is that they came up with an answer after one or two, and someone didn't like the answer (I don't recall whether the study was commissioned by the Church), and they took the remaining years to come up with something, and because the funding was running out, they panicked and said what they said. I think it offends my intelligence. To be clear, I haven't read the study and don't know many details. I suppose there could be some more-convinving evidence. But just from what I know now, I'm very disappointed in everyone involved.

I woke up the other morning with a book in my bed. It was Understanding Comics. I hadn't read it in months. It's second-closest on the bookshelf right next to the bed, which makes it not completely bizarre, but I had no recollection of taking it from the shelf or wanting to. I figure I was grabbing for something in a dream and grabbed the book in real life.

This afternoon, I was thinking of what to wear tomorrow and remembered a shirt I hadn't worn in a few weeks. Then this evening, as I shook out my clean sheets while making the bed, I found that shirt wrinkled up in one of the corners of the fitted sheet! It had been folded up in the closet with the sheets for weeks. I laughed out loud.

I've been seeing things a little differently as seminary draws near. For instance, the management section at Barnes & Noble suddenly means at least a little something to me. Not that I'm all "I'm a manager of the church," but surely some of those books have valuable lessons for leaders of all stripes, and I guess a leader is what I'm gonna be. This may stem partly from the fact that I've seen the management book Good to Great on many pastors' shelves, specifically in the summer of 2005, which made me think the conference or district I was in at the time had all the pastors read it. I remember being surprised but interested in how it was used.

I got a tiny Hebrew lesson from my roommate today, which gave me an idea of how much I'm going to be learning this summer. I'm slowly shedding books, papers, clothes, and other items to prepare for the move. Three more weeks of work! Then a big party, camp, logistics galore, packing, and we're off. Thank and praise God.