I want a big one....yes, I have Scooter envy!

I told myself I would only blog once a week, but this week I just have to have 2. One of the most common forms of transportation is a 2 wheeled device. They can range from a little electric bike up to a large Harley or Rice Rocket. Somewhere in between are different sizes of scooters. My favorite (which I will desperately try to get if we ever start seeing some income) is the BMW Executive C-1. It really is a cool, awesome scooter. It's not that I care that it is a BMW (cause if someone else made it I would still want it). It's like a little one seater Jeep, you know the kind everyone unzips the doors or takes them off.

Now, I am not sure I will drive it like Parisians do. Of course if I lived in California or New York, maybe I would. See here they drive between vehicles no matter what the size. You will see these little scooters come flying by (on highways and city streets) and you are just supposed to know they are there. These flying Wallenda's have no fear. They have no care of getting hurt or dying. The little devil-may-cares just go where they want. I saw a scooter squeeze by a truck and car by going around the mirrors of the vehicles just to get up to the stop light. They fear no death. No, after not just driving in Houston and in Paris, I would just do what a car does, wait my turn and not push the timeline of me meeting Jesus.

Maybe I will start a Scooters for Jesus club. Maybe then they will take driving aimlessly and erratically more seriously and wait to meet Jesus another day. Until then, I will only dream of my scooter and the scooters for Jesus club and continue to walk, take the bus and the Metro. I will have to wait to have a Big One!

Pairs - Home of La Bag....

On any normal day, I would walk into Walmart, pick out what it is I want, as much as I want, go to the register, have my items scanned and bagged and then out to the car to head home. Well as we know this is no longer the "norm" in our lives. Here, you buy just what you can either carry home or put in your little old lady wheeled cart (photo to come later). But it does not stop there. In Paris, bags cost money, so if you don't bring your own they charge you for what you need and you have to bag up your own items. This goes for anything that you buy, not just groceries. Want to buy an blouse, or shoes or school supplies, you have to have your own bags or buy a bag or bags from the clerk.

Now you must realize there is a method to the Parisian madness. This is a city that is big on recycling or being environmentally friendly. So to force you to think about bringing bags with you, they charge you for them. So everyone here is basically a "bag lady." You have a bag stuffed somewhere so in case on your way home from work you want to stop in and buy something, you have a bag for your purchase. I like the idea, it forces you to really think about the impact of just getting a plastic bag and then possibly throwing it away into a landfill somewhere. If we in America adapted such a simple principle, we might have less plastic bags in our landfills.

So the next time you buy groceries, or kids clothes, or school supplies, think about if the store made you purchase bags from them to put the items in you just bought, would you think about keeping some bags in your car just for those times when you needed to shop and had to have a bag? I recommend getting the bag that is either canvas or already made of recycled materials rather than having a hoard of plastic Walmart sacks in your trunk.

Remember it's not "paper or plastic" but rather reusables.....

Au revoir

Look out Paris, all that Houston driving is going to pay off!!!

We have no furniture for the new house, so we needed to get some so it could be delivered. We wanted to go to IKEA here, but it is 25 minutes outside of paris (weird). Problem is, that there is no bus service or train that goes out there...how to get there. Liz called work and got a rent car, a Renault 4 door diesel standard. Now, I google mapped where IKEA was and where we were and put together a driving direction plan to get there. Now, I have no clue what most of the signs say, nor do I understand that pedestrians just stroll across whenever they want. But, we need to go, so I put on my brave face and got in the car.

My co-pilot Liz with my hand written directions in her hand, we headed off. Can I tell you, I love driving a stick, not only that the diesel engine is quite and fast. So with the family in the car, we entered traffic in the general direction we were supposed to start in. 30 minutes and all the right turns, success.....IKEA found. There are round red and white signs on the road that tell you the speed limit. Now, it is weird to look down and see you are doing 130....then you remember that is 130KMH, not MPH. IKEA was packed, wall to wall, parisians/french people with no code of order. you could be standing in a line of 10 people waiting for something and someone will just walk up and cut everyone off without a care. Now, this redneck just bit his lip and was strangle holding his wife to keep from looking and sounding like the ugly americans buy saying, "Hey we are all in line, can't you see?" No we just stayed in line, bid our due and finally paid our bill.

Now the drive back was a little more eventful as we missed our turn and ended up accidentally being able to find our house and the school (we could so win Amazing Race). We pulled out a map in a paris book and navigated back to our house after a full day at IKEA. So now our airship is still in limbo (not sure when it is coming) and the stuff we bought won't be delivered till Sept 6th (another 10 days in this "little parisian hotel."

So this redneck's observance is this, if you can drive in Houston, you can drive anywhere with the best of them, if you don't have anywhere to go in a hurry, paris is for you and if you don't want to wait, just cut.

Love, Life, Church

Today, was our last sunday in church. All the students were so incredible, hugs just kept coming. As we made this decision to go, church was a big issue for me. I love UBC. But more over, I am going to miss my "kids," especially my Senior boys. This group of guys has the potential to make this world a better place. They have come so far in what will be 4 years and I will miss them. Matt P, Matt B, Austin, Brandon, Lawrence, Derek, Robert, Grant, Tyler (taco), Adam, Will and Ryan (I know I have left someone out..sorry).

I have cherished watching them go from goofy 9th graders to more mature (still a little goofy) men. They are the leaders of tomorrow. When these guys enter a room, people notice, and it isn't because they are good looking (like me) and are built (like me), but it is the confidence they exude. Their confidence makes them the men of tomorrow; leaders of industry, doctors, lawyers, engineers or whatever road God takes them.

As they enter their Senior year, they will be faced with even more challenges than in previous years. The achievement of maximizing their grades, excelling at sports and maintaining friendships are all the areas of opportunity where they will face pressures to go outside of their belief. Pressures to do things that go against what God has in store for them and what is in their best interest.

I have seen them make good choices and not so good choices and they are learning every day. I pray that God keeps them safe, holds them in his Grace and guides them down a path that honors him.