Daily Grit by Wes Thorp

Here's "top words" for 2009 from the Global Language Monitor

I've always been fascinated by word and that's why I'm fascinated by this post from the Global Language Monitor naming their top words for 2009.

Number one word, of course, is "twitter."  Number two is "Obama" which can be stuck onto other words like Obama-care.  Number three is "H1N1."  Number 4  is "stimulus."  Number 5 is "vampire." 

Check the post for the rest.  After a cursory look of the blog, I will come back and take a deeper look to see what more it has to say about words and language.

My Wednesday a.m. online reading

It's 7:15 a.m. with MSNBC's Morning Joe on in the background.  Here's what I'm reading online:

• Detroit Free Press--Story about GM's board pushing out Fritz Henderson as CEO and giving the job to Ed Whitacre.  New guy must be tough.  Check out quote from U of M business professor: "If it was Jesus Christ, he would have bowled him over."
• Detroit Free Press--Hunt for long-term GM CEO will be tough because of the complexity of the company and the issues it faces.  A few names are mentioned, including:  John F. Smith, a GM group vice-president.  Anybody have other names?
• Detroit Free Press--Auto columnist Tom Walsh says that now was the time to replace GM's Fritz Henderson if the company was looking at doing an IPO of the government's share of the company sometime next year.
• Detroit News--Reaction from Michigan delegation to President Obama's plan to increase troop level in Afghanistan.  I was struck most by the lack of any reaction from U.S. Sen Carl Levin from Michigan who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
• New York Times--Story about GM CEO change says the goal was to show change from the past corporate culture and to make product changes quickly.  It also says that the GM Board asked Fritz Henderson to resign.
• Lansing State Journal--Story about how Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero wants $1 million in cuts from the city's police and fire departments.  The city provided few details which it said should be coming in a few days.
• Lansing State Journal--Story about how Mayor Virg Bernero is mulling a run for Michigan governor.  He says state government has gotten too partisan and he mentioned that White House political operatives asked him if he was interested in running.

Here's our family 2009 Thanksgiving picture

We got back from Washington D.C. yesterday where we celebrated Thanksgiving with our kids.  It was first a time of catching up and visiting.  There was plenty of eating and there was sightseeing.

Our tradition for the past four years has been to gather at our son Justin's apartment in the southeast portion of our nation's Capital.  

On Thanksgiving morning, we participated in the Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger where our son, daughter, her husband ran and where super-wife and I walked.  It was a gray, foggy morning where we had memorials in the background and where thousands of people participated.

We saw the movie, The Blind Side, at a theater complex in China Town.  It's an inspiring story where Sandra Bullock plays a character who shows the difference one person can make in the life of another individual.  It's based on a true story.

I thank God for my family, each one of them.  And we give special thanks for a family-member in waiting who is still in utero and who will be our first grandchild. 

My Sunday a.m. online reading

I'm using my son's wi-fi to do some Sunday morning reading while everybody else is sleeping.  Here's what's catching my attention:

• Our Daily Bread:  Bill Crowder writes about driving by a church that called itself The Galatia Church.  It's a quizzical name given the names Biblical background.  It makes a point for anybody who feels they can please God with their own efforts.
• Washington Post:  Story about D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and how he's lost approval among locals with his arrogant style and his moving away from a promise of inclusion and transparency.  Nevertheless, the story says he has been able to make promised changes.  
• Detroit News:  Columnist Nolan Finley dives into the fray between the Michigan State Senate and Gov. Granholm over the state's Promise Scholarship.  He says the scholarships to high school graduates could be funded by giving state employees raises to those going to college.  Granholm wants tax increases.
• Detroit News:  Columnist Thomas Sowell writes about how history shows that the promises being made by politicians about reforming healthcare cannot be kept.  Is this true?
• Wild Birds Unlimited:  Great post from a local store's blog about whether birds can predict the weather.  Birds, the post says, have a middle ear receptor that can sense small changes in barometric pressure.  Amazing.  It all started on the fifth day when God created them. 

Here's our Thanksgiving table for 2009

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner made by our son, Justin.  He made cornish hens, a special sweet potato dish, a special cranberry sauce and other items.  We also had a wine tasting with four selections by Gary Vaynerchuk who explained each wine over a web-based video.  Here's what our dinner looked like:

How will federal rationing make healthcare better?

I just read this story in the liberal Detroit Free Press about the healthcare bills being pushed for passage in the U.S. Congress and they say it's rationing. 

You won't be able to get healthcare when your condition says it's warranted, but you'll get it when some federal bureaucrat says it falls within a quota. 

What's better about this?  

The American people need to reclaim their brains and check back into this debate and they need to carefully weight the pros and cons of what's being discussed. 

Does anybody feel that what's being proposed is better than what we have?  Can the federal government do it better?

Does the Bible say we should give thanks for all the bad stuff that happens?

Our family Thanksgiving celebration is still happening and last night we watched a couple of episodes of Band of Brothers, the story of a World War II Army unit in Europe.  It was a dramatic depiction of what they experienced with all the ugliness of that war.

I was struck by their discovery of a concentration camp they discovered in Germany where hundreds of Jewish men were being kept.  It was searing to the soul to watch and it had to be life-changing to have been there in person. 

Where does being thankful to God come in this kind of situation?  For the Jewish captives?  For their families?  For the American solidiers who found them?

In his blog post, I think Mart DeHaan of Radio Bible Class answers this.  You don't thank God for all the meanness and nastiness that happens in your life, but you thank him for being faithful to get you through it.

But, I don't see God wanting us to thank him for all the bad stuff that can happen.  Losing your health.  Losing a child, a spouse, your home.  Being hungry.  And all the other crap that is sometimes dumped on an individual.

Is the federal debt really this bad?

Take thirty-seconds to watch this video about the national debt.  Is this just fear-mongering or is it a real concern?  What can we do about it? 

Why am I not dead yet?

I admit that I've struggled with the transition from the having a day job part of the world to being retired.

It has made me think more about my own mortality and it has helped me clarify what is really important in my life.  I've tried to shuck off everything in my life that I find unimportant and do with intention those things that matter to me. 

I feel that if I didn't do this then I would more than likely start losing traction in my daily life and start looking at the question posed by Michael Hyatt in his blog post, "Why You Aren't Dead Yet."  He's the CEO at Thomas Nelson Publishers and has effectively engaged blogging and other social media to develop relationships around the world.

In this post, he describes a conversation with an elderly friend who Hyatt describes as being a source of wisdom and as a "living treasure."  His friend asked him if he felt that he had anything left to contribute to the world.  Were his best days over?

How do you respond?

Hyatt then shares: " I then began to make an argument that I first learned in The Noticer by Andy Andrews. In the book, Jones, the personification of wisdom, makes six points to Willow, a seventy-six year old lady, who had given up hope that she had anything left to contribute. (see chapter 6, pp. 83–85)."

The six points he lists are:

1. God has a purpose for every single person.
2. You won’t die until that purpose is fulfilled.
3. If you are still alive, then you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do.
4. If you haven’t completed what you were put on earth to do, then your very purpose hasn’t been fulfilled.
5. If your purpose hasn’t been fulfilled, then the most important part of your life is still ahead.
6. You have yet to make your most important contribution.

Michael Hyatt, thank you for sharing that.  As a 63-year-old baby-boomer still trying to grab onto this senior citizen thing and onto my new place in life, I find this post helpful, really helpful.  I will check out the book.  I hope others do too.

Do you or somebody you know share the same challenge?

Thoughts from my 63rd Thanksgiving

This year when I think about Thanksgiving I think about four people in my life, my family.  It's my wife, my daughter, my son, my son-in-law and my unborn grandchild.  I thank God for each one of them.

Being part of a family is the closest that I've come to true joy.  It's belonging.  It's loving.  It's being loved.  It's sharing.  It's having a purpose.  It's being part of something bigger than yourself.  It beats anything I've ever done or been a part of. 

I say, "Thank you God for the privilege of being part of this family."  I know that I'm blessed by the grace of God.  I don't deserve what I've received.  But, God gave them to me anyway.

My wife is the second woman to be a life-changer for me.  The first was my mom who was left to raise me when my father vanished in 1948 to be found in the mid 1970s still married to my mom, married to another woman and who had a whole different family.

My mom loved me unconditionally and sacrificed to see that I got what I needed.

My wife loves me unconditionally.  But more importantly, she loves Jesus Christ more than she loves me.  As a result, she reflects back to me, to our kids and to others, the pure love she feels from him.  I've experienced true partnership with a mate, something my mom never felt.

Each of our kids know His love too.  I've felt their love.  They are love reflectors too who feel the steady love of Jesus Christ.  And let me emphasize that I include my son-in-law in this category also.

I don't know what lies ahead.  But, I know that I can give thanks for everything.  I just heard Pastor Joe Stowell mention the Bible verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 about giving thanks in all circumstances.  And by the power of God, I can do that.  And, it says I should pray without ceasing.

As a member of the first-class of baby-boomers, I am learning how to pray.  It's so simple that it's hard.  I'm talking to God throughout the day. 

I am thankful.  The list would be long. 

I know what lies ahead in eternity.

I'm really thankful for that.

Here's Dr. Joe Stowell on Thanksgiving.  It's worth watching: