Dear Elliot,

Happy birthday, Charlie Bogantz.  Happy birthday, LeBron James.  Happy birthday... my son.  I love all the different parts of your personality:  your goofy grin and deep rolling belly laugh when you’re laughing at one of your own jokes... the crazy look in your eyes when you’re playing basketball and determined to score “one more time” before dinner... the passion and focus in every movement when you’re singing and dancing to one of your favorite songs like “Billie Jean” or “Chasing Corporate.”  I love you so very much.

You’ve been a part of our family for eight years now -- but you’re still as enthralling and intriguing and alluring as ever (I use these big words on purpose, by the way, in the hopes that you will look them up in the dictionary, pick up some new vocabulary, and hopefully make a connection in your mind between those words and my feelings towards you).  Yes, you’re still as enthralling and intriguing and alluring as ever, and perhaps even more enthralling-and-intriguing-and-alluring than ever before.  Because you’ve grown and added more layers to your personality.  Elliot, I consider it a great privilege to be able to watch you grow and become the person that you’re becoming.  As I think through everything that you experienced during the course of the last year -- your eighth year of life -- I’m amazed to see just how much can happen in such a time period.

Your eighth year of life has been one of dealing with increasingly complex relational tensions at school.  Boys with behavioral issues... girls who are “een beetje verliefd op jou”... kids from all different kinds of ethnic and religious and economic backgrounds.  Elementary school never seemed to be that complex for me, when I was a boy.  But then again, you don’t make it seem all that complex either.  To you, it’s natural and easy.  To you it’s doable.  Your behavior towards others is marked by love and gentleness and kindness.  There may be difficulties and annoyances at times, but you seem to take it all in stride.  This makes me really admire you, Elliot.  I’m really proud of the ways that you maintain healthy relationships with so many different people.

Your eighth year of life has also been one of developing a deep and abiding appreciation for sports:  baseball and basketball, in particular.  Seriously:  just about any day when it’s moderately warm and it’s not raining or snowing (and sometimes even on days when it is raining or snowing!), you’re asking to go to the baseball diamond at the Middenmeer sport park.  Or if it’s not baseball, it’s basketball!  I love how you put on your head-band (just like LeBron James) and your uniform (just like the real Cleveland Cavaliers), even if it’s just for five minutes of shooting around in the basement before dinner.  You find such joy in the rhythm, the language, the exertion of sport -- and I especially appreciate how these are things that we can enjoy together.  You really have developed some impressive skills throughout the last year, when it comes to throwing, shooting, catching, and hitting.  Keep up the good work, my boy.  Some boys (and men) can take sports a little bit too seriously sometimes, to the point where it’s not really fun anymore.  But for you, Elliot, I hope that sports can be a lifelong source of fun, physical development, and relationship building.  As long as you can practice a little bit of moderation, sports can be a very wonderful thing indeed...

Your eighth year of life has, perhaps most significantly, been a year of learning to overcome your fears.  At various times during the course of the last year, you’ve been deathly afraid of, let’s see... Saturday swimming lessons, museum closing times, tram rides, anesthesiologists, dark rooms, hair-cuts (but only because you were growing your hair long), and the flame-throwing scoreboard at the Q in Cleveland.  Quite the list, isn’t it?  I write this down in the hope that we will be able to laugh about it all together someday.  But for now, for you, these are just your daily realities.  You’re being forced to learn that overcoming fears is just a part of becoming a man.  There are so many scary things in the world, you just have to learn to face your fears and choose for courage.  This is why we’ve been reading you parts of Joshua chapter 1 almost every night for the last couple of months.  When God is with you (and I feel confident of the fact that He is with you, Elliot), no one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.  As God was with Moses, so He will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous... Be strong and very courageous... Use the Bible as your guidebook, that you may be successful wherever you go... Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.  Haven’t you been commanded?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

I feel like I could make this letter last for pages and pages.  But I wonder it might be better if I leave it at this for right now.  Let love and faithfulness never leave you... work hard and play hard... and be strong and courageous.  If you could manage a lifetime of these three things, you would live a very good life indeed.  Happy Birthday, my boy -- my son, my flibbertigibbit.  I love you more than words could ever say...

Dad

At our church's weekly worship gathering, earlier this evening, we decided to study the Bible together a very simple and interactive way.  The entirety of our "message" was based on just one single Bible passage and four simple follow-up questions.

It went so well that I thought I'd share the lesson plan.

Basically, we just picked one Bible passage:  in our case, today, it was Luke 19:11-27.  First, we read it straight-through, with everyone reading along (visual reinforcement of the words on the pages).  Then, without any follow-up explanation, we read through the exact same passage a second time, with Bibles closed and everyone listening to a purely aural reading of the passage (aural reinforcement of the words from the passage).  Then, we asked these four simple follow-up questions and allowed opportunity for group interaction (which worked well, even though we probably had about 110 people in attendance).  These were the four questions:

1. How would you restate the passage in your own words?
2. What does this particular passage teach us about God?
3. If the message of this Bible passage is true, how would we have to obey?
4. With whom do you plan to share the things that you just learned?

My hope in doing things this way was for us all to be sucked into the learning process together -- not just me, the pastor, studying and studying... and preparing and preparing... all throughout the week and then sharing a "very wise, very insightful" message with the congregation while they all sit there and listen quietly.   My conviction is that the Bible is way more accessible than we typically believe!  You don’t need any kind of theological degree to read the Bible -- or even to teach from the Bible.  You don’t have to have any kind of formal "adjustment period" before you can start to get meaningful insight from your own study of the Bible.  Even if today happened to be the first time someone ever read or heard the words of the Bible, I'm convinced that it could have been an amazingly powerful and insightful experience all the same!  Yes, there are some parts of the Bible that may be kind of confusing, at first glance -- and there definitely is some benefit to deeper study and learning from others who have greater experience with studying the Bible... But I actually think that the vast majority of the Bible is immediately accessible and beneficial for anyone who would choose to pick it up and read it.  And this simple focus on one Bible passage and four follow-up questions provides a simple tool for any individual, small group, or church seeking to learn from the Bible.

To give credit where credit is due, I learned about this way of studying the Bible from an Indian church planter named Victor John.  He called it a “Discovery Bible Study.”  But seriously:  Even Victor John would admit that it’s not rocket science.  It’s not some magic formula for understanding the Bible.  It’s just one Bible passage and a total of four follow-up questions.  Maybe you should try it sometime...

The first spring in which I was living in Amsterdam, I totally missed the time change (because I had not yet realized that it was different from the American time change, which happened at a different time).  I was on my way to a soccer game at the Museumplein when my friend Steve called me and asked why I hadn't shown up to play soccer like I promised I would.  The tardiness turned out to be of no great consequence; still it was kind of embarrassing.  Steve mocked me mercilessly for the next several weeks.

In subsequent years, my friend Todd showed up late to church -- on weeks in which he was scheduled to preach -- not once, but on two separate occasions!  On each of the occasions, we were able to scramble up a plan to cover for his tardiness so that it turned out to be of no great consequence; still it was kind of awkward.  I mocked him mercilessly for years afterwards, whenever there was another switch to "summer time."

So as a public service to all of my European-based readers, I just want to make sure that you realize that I'm not telling these stories purely for the sake of amusement.  This weekend is the weekend in which the clocks are set ahead one hour.  If you're reading this, then, and you haven't set your clocks forward -- now might be a good time for you to do that! If you miss it, it probably will turn out to be of no great consequence; still it might become a bit awkward or embarrassing for you if you're "that guy" who forgets.  There's always somebody, every year.  But maybe this year it doesn't have to be you. :-)

You're welcome.

I just made two new friends on Facebook.  They are a married couple, whom I've known for awhile.  And as I was looking at their profile pages, I thought it was interesting to see which photographs each individual had chosen to represent themselves within the Facebook world.  The man had selected a photograph of him and his wife together, with the wife standing in the foreground and himself standing behind her.  And the woman was represented by a photograph of herself with her father (not with her husband), leaning her head on the elderly gentleman's shoulder.  And I thought it was so insightful -- so aligned with what I know of them, personally -- that they would select these particular pictures of themselves, to broadcast themselves to the world around them:  him standing behind his wife, letting her be the most visible part of him -- and her choosing to go with a picture of her beloved and aged father, standing in the old family farmhouse.

Without going into too much psychological analysis about this particular couple, I started to wonder if there might be something significant about the images with which we choose to represent ourselves to the outside world, particularly as it relates to Facebook profile pictures.  My wife, for instance, is represented by a picture of our whole family laughing together -- which, obviously, seems very much in keeping with her life priorities these days...  My friend Eva has a picture of her playing a guitar on-stage -- which fits very appropriately with the fact that she's currently trying to develop herself as a musician and put herself and her music out there for a wider public... My friend Marco uses an artistic, angled black-and-white portrait of himself for his profile picture -- which, again, matches up with the fact that he's currently launching his own photography business... I could seriously go on and on with these types of analyses.  Some use pictures of kids, or sports teams, or strategic scenery -- but they very often (though not always) seem to say something interesting about the person whom they are meant to represent.

I would suggest that there really might be a direct correlation between a person's Facebook profile picture and his or her (either momentary or long-term) values and priorities.

So what does my Facebook profile picture say about me?

If I were to analyze (or perhaps "over-analyze" -- as is always the danger, in an exercise like this) my own profile picture, I might say:  "Here is a guy who's a bit of a loner.  Kind of a serious person.  He tends toward introspection, given the fact that he's just kind of looking off into space, watching a sunset by himself.  His heart is stuck in the farmlands of Ohio (even though he's been living in Amsterdam for the last 7 years).  He longs for open space in his life.  He has an unusual affinity for the color brown, which is kind of a natural, down-to-earth, neutral color.  He is someone who is consistent though perhaps slow to change (given the fact that he's stuck with the same profile picture for about three years now)." And to be honest, I don't know if I would be able to fault such an analysis of my own profile picture!  I'm not completely sure that I like everything that my profile picture says about me, but I couldn't really argue against it...

When looking at a Facebook profile picture, trying to analyze any potential meaning that may (or may not) be there, it seems to me that these are perhaps the most strategic questions:

1. With whom are you pictured (or not pictured)?
2. What is your relationship to any other people who might be pictured with you?
3. What might be significant about the spatial relationships within the picture?
4. Where was the picture taken (i.e. what geographic location)?
5. What else can be seen in the background of the photograph?
6. How often is the profile picture changed?

So what do you think?  Is this total psycho-babble crap?  Or could there really be something here?  Please forgive me, if I've offended you or made you unnecessarily self-conscious about what kind of picture you've posted for yourself on Facebook.  But this kind of thing is absolutely fascinating to me... I'm sure there are studies along these lines that are already out there.  But without doing any of the research myself, I'm still very curious to consider the implications of our Facebook profile pictures.

The above photograph of daffodils bears a striking resemblence to Amsterdammers these days.

The weather has taken a turn for the warmer, and people are flocking to the many sidewalk cafe terraces in the city.  They are eager to sit with their faces towards the sun, soaking up as much of its light as possible -- following another long, dark winter -- even if it's only cool enough that they must be bundled up with winter coats and hoods!

Today, however, was warm enough to sit outside comfortably, without the bothersome winter coat.  So I spent my first afternoon on the sidewalk cafe terraces (though other, die-hard terrace lovers have been out for a couple of weeks already!), and at one point I even needed to pull out my sunglasses.

It was glorious.

Spring has to be my favorite season of the year in the Netherlands.  Especially living in the city.  There's a powerful energy that comes over the city, as all the people are shaking off their winter slumber, and everyone is out on the sidewalks or sitting in front of their houses, reveling in the sun.  It feels like some kind of impromptu festival or fair.  It's hard to describe but wonderful to experience.

Have you ever wondered what King Solomon might have to say to Neil Diamond, if ever the two of them were to meet?  Have you ever considered the deeper implications of the phrase:  "Monkey pack him rizla pon the sweet dep line?"  Or, on a more serious level, have you ever wondered about the Bible's perspective on alcohol consumption?  Not American Evangelical totalitarian restriction, nor the hedonistic embrace of European aficionados -- but the Bible's perspective?

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, I might recommend that you take a look at today's installment of Proverbs 365:  P2331 - Red Red Wine.  I can't promise that it will resolve all of these questions -- but it very well could provide some interesting food for thought... Or should I say, "drink for thought?"  I'd be curious to hear others' interactions on these points of consideration...

It's an old, familiar story:  Older brother teases younger sister, and younger sister screams back at older brother.  The cycle repeats itself and amplifies with each occurence -- until there's some sort of explosion.  Our household knows this story all too well.  Elliot says that Olivia's little toy puppy looks like a turtle, and Olivia says that it does not look like a turtle.  Elliot laughs and pretends that he's a little toy puppy pretending to be a turtle, poking his head out of the shirt that he's pulled up around his forehead -- "Hi, umm... Actually I, uh... I wanted to let you know that I'm not actually a little puppy... because I'm actually a little turtle" -- and Olivia says that no, her little puppy does NOT look like a turtle, not even a little bit.  Elliot laughs and continues his puppy / turtle impersonation, while adding a small turtlish dance and song -- and Olivia screams at the top of her lungs, "LITTLE PUPPY IS NOT A TURTLE!  ELL-I-OOOOOTTTT!!!" and breaks down into heaving sobs and rolling tears.  This is a way of life with young siblings.

But we try to teach them other possibilities for managing such situations.  We say, "Elliot, please do not antagonize Olivia," and "Olivia, please just use your words instead of your screaming."  We try to think through other possibilities for dealing with the problems.  If Elliot notices that his sister is becoming uncomfortable with the flow of any given conversation -- or especially if she specifically asks him to stop a given behaviori -- he is to cease and desist.  If Olivia notices that her brother is bothering her, she is to specifically ask him to stop -- and if he will not stop, in spite of her specific and direct requests, then she is to calmly come and bring the situation to Mommy or Daddy's attention.  We've tried disciplining them with time-outs and loss of privileges for negative behavior.  We've tried rewarding them with words of praise and even candy, at times, in an attempt to reinforce positive peace-making behavior.  But the cycles persist.

But one morning, not too long ago, the cycle started up again.  Specifically, I took Elliot aside and asked him why he was antagonizing his sister (not that I'd never asked such a question before nor did I hope for any particularly original answers).  It was a hopeless question, really:  "What makes you want to antagonize your sister like that?"  But for whatever reason this time Elliot paused, cocked his head to the side and considered the question seriously for the moment, and answered with a moment of remarkable clarity:

"I guess I do it because I'm bored and can't think of anything else fun to do."

The answer was so simple, straightforward, and insightful that I wanted to give him a kiss on the lips.  His honesty was so refreshing!  I couldn't keep from smiling and chuckling a little bit, out-loud.  But knowing that I also needed to be parental and opportunistic, in light of the brief epiphany, I said: "Good answer, Elliot!  I think that's very insightful.  So what do you think might be some other ideas that you could come up with, when you feel like you're bored and don't have anything else to do?"  He looked at me, blankly.  Completely clueless.  "Could you... play basketball in the basement?  Could you... read a book?"  I was trying to get his juices flowing.

"Umm... what about picking on Cor?" He smiled a mischevious grin.

It's an old, familiar story -- a way of life with young siblings.  But at least we can enjoy some rare moments of honesty and insight, for whatever they're worth.

Some people have an irrational fear of public speaking.  Others are uncommonly afraid of international air travel... or germs... or enclosed spaces... But for me, it seems that I have an unnatural fear of plumbing, carpentry, and masonry.  I have no problems at all, speaking in public.  International travel is commonplace in my life.  And while I don't find germs or enclosed spaces to be particularly pleasurable things, I've come to accept them as a part of everyday life.  But when it comes to some kind of home improvement project, I become mildly panicky and obsessive.  I'm filled with a sense of dread and foreboding -- with a dozen "worst case scenarios" buzzing through my mind.  I tend to put  off such projects as long as possible.  And when I finally decide to tackle a specific project, I become freakishly obsessive.  My mind picks away at a thousand possibilities.  I sleep poorly at night.  I feel literally weak in the knees -- and my stomach feels as though it's filled with a thousand crickets.  It's just about pathological.

This is what's kept me from doing much blogging this week (in case you were wondering).  We've been renovating our old half-bathroom (WC):  tearing out the old toilet and floor (all the way down to the foundational support beams), laying a new sub-floor, tiling and grouting a new floor, and reinstalling a new toilet.  And it feels like it's consumed all of my physical, emotional, and intellectual energy outside of the basic necessities of work and family life.

But now I'm on the other side.  And man, does it feel good!  That's what's crazy about these irrational fears:  once I push through them and find out that they are, in fact, quite conquerable, I experience an incredible amount of pride and satisfaction.  Like the world is my pearl.  And even though it's a toilet (for-crying-out-loud!), I feel like a conqueror and king.

Perhaps it's not all that fascinating for anyone else to see pictures of our modest little renovation project (which is still far from being totally completed or really all that pretty to look at, yet) -- still, I feel like I need to share the photographic progression of the project, as a sort of personal little Ebenezer.

I've noticed that God teaches me a lot during these times when I'm forced to push through fear and doubt.  Last spring, this was definitely the case when we remodelled our kitchen.  And the same circumstances seem to come into play in other similar situations as well.  I learn patience, joy, and self-control.  I learn to fight against doubts with faith.  And I learn to stay humble -- realizing that one man's "no problem" is another man's impossible mountain.

These are good things.

I was watching recent episode of the TV show "30 Rock" (one of my guilty pleasures) -- and there was one scene in particular which made me laugh out-loud.  One of the show's main characters, an executive with NBC named Jack, was talking on the phone with a news reporter about media buzz relating to the sale of his television network, and he was trying to pretend that he was in the midst of high-level discussions with other network executives at the very moment -- when, in fact, he was simply in his private office and effectively out of the loop of whatever was currently happening with NBC.  When the reporter expressed doubt that he was actually meeting with other network executives, Jack frantically instructed his assistant to make noises like network executives might make.  The assistant quickly improvised:  "Rhubarb, rhubarb.  Golf!  Prostate." And that's the point where I busted up, laughing.  The absurdity of it all was sublime.  Those are the key words that a group of stodgy, white, conservative businessmen would chat about in the proverbial board room?!?  It seems hilarious -- but then again, maybe it's not so far from the truth...

I got to thinking about it.  I had also recently seen a YouTube clip on the blog of my friend JR, which made light of the "white noise" of writers (a group with which I closely identify) -- who are always talking about "a compelling protagonist," with his little "obstacle to overcome," written with a "narrative beginning, middle, and end"  and a dozen other buzz-words in which writers tend to truck, though their personal writing projects typically progress at an embarrassingly-slow pace.

That one, personally, hit a little bit closer to home.  Hilarious, but also a bit painful. :-)  Again, it's totally ludicrous -- but then again, not so far removed from reality, when you actually think about it.

So all of that ultimately got me to thinking:  What's my white noise?  If someone were doing a parody of Amsterdammers, or of Midwesterners, or of Christians, or of me personally -- what would their mocking mantra be???  I'm guessing it would probably be something like, "Jesus, Jesus.  Basketball!  Bible, potty."  But the trick is that outsiders can often see these things so much more clearly than the directly-involved parties can see it!  I'm not exactly sure why it so typically works out that way, but it seems to be the way it goes... Do you guys have any ideas of how I should be parodied (now how's that for a dangerous question?!?)?

Or perhaps it's even more interesting for you to consider:  What's your white noise?

I recently went through a one-month beard-growing experiment.  Every man has to try this every so often.  I can't tell you why; I just know that it seems to be an irresistible part of the masculine experience.  So yes, from February 6th to March 8th, I did not shave my beard.

So when I got to the end of my self-imposed trial period, I decided to take the beard off in pieces.  If it took me one month to grow the beard, I figured, I might as well take a whole week to shave it off.  So on Monday, I went from the full beard to the "Chester Arthur" (which could also be called a "Lemmy," I've learned).  On Tuesday, I went to the "Vintage 1977" lamb-chop sideburns and full moustache.  And on Thursday, I went with the "French waiter" look -- sporting short tidy sideburns and a pencil-thin moustache.  Today, I went back to my regular clean-shaven look.

What was most interesting of all, throughout the week, was the reactions of others around me.  Ironically, without my really realizing it, this week turned out to be the week in which our church hosted a city-wide pastors' breakfast (while I was sporting the "Chester Arthur") -- and also the week of our parent-teacher conferences at school (while I was doing the "Vintage 1977").  But throughout the week, my facial hair also proved to be valuable conversation banter and more than a few awkward glances indicating that the other person was thinking "Does he know how ridiculous that actually looks?!?"  Other children at my kids' school were less discreet about their observations -- actually pointing and laughing on occasion!  But I actually kind of enjoyed it.

My children hate it when I call myself "old."  God bless them for it; they're remarkably consistent in their aversion to any indication of my aging.  I'll tell them that I need to take a break from living-room wrestle-mania "because I'm old"...  Or I'll tell them that I prefer to sit in a chair, as opposed to sitting Indian-style on the floor "because I'm getting to be an old man"... And in these situations, Elliot and Olivia will always faithfully interject:  "But Dad!  You're not old!"

This evening, I decided to play out the conversation a little bit further, just for the sake of fun.  I said, "So how old do you think someone has to be before he becomes old?"

Elliot's forehead wrinkled in thought.  "Umm... How old is Opa?" asking about my father's age.

"58, I think," was my answer.

"Well, then I guess you become old when you get to be about 50."  That seemed to settle the question satisfactorily for his eight-year-old mind.  "And, you know, Dad, you're a young kind of grown-up, like with the teenagers and everything"  (I promise I'm not making this up!).

While we were on the subject, I continued probing for other valuable insight into the topic of aging -- and children's perspective on life.  "So how old do you have to be when you become a 'grown-up?'"

"Well, you have to be finished with college first..." and that age, I eventually drew out of Elliot, would seem to typically be about 28 years old.

"And what age are you when you get married?" I asked.

"17" was his confident, immediate, answer.

"What age are you when you start having kids, then?" I asked.

"I don't know.  Like one or two years after you get married?  Or three or four or five."

"But when you're 33, you are..."

"Not old."

Good to know.

It's strange, but I've had a couple of people initiate conversation me in the last month -- pretty much out of the blue -- to talk about the meaning of my last name.  "Hey, I just learned what your last name means," the conversation goes.  "Do you know what your last name means?" I have a few ideas of what my last name means, but having had this conversation numerous times throughout the course of my life, I tell them that it depends.

According to Wikipedia, the word "Asp is the modern Anglicization of the word aspis, which in antiquity referred to any one of several venomous snake species found in the Nile region.  It is believed that the aspis referred to in Egyptian mythology is the modern Egyptian cobra."  This is what most people are getting at, when they say that they've discovered the "secret" meaning of my last name.  An Asp is a kind of snake.  "Which means I better watch out for you!  Har, har, har..." is the standard follow-up joke.  The deadly snake -- perhaps most famous for being the instrument of Queen Cleopatra's suicide -- has also given rise to modern usages of the name "Asp" for (among other things) a type of hand-gun and for the name of (the little orphan) Annie's Chinese chauffeur / body-guard.

As far as I've figured out, however, my last name is actually more closely linked to the Aspen tree than to the Aspis snake.  At least when it comes to Swedish and Norwegian names (there's some confusion about which side of the Scandinavian peninsula our ancestors -- and indeed all people with the surname Asp -- came from), the surname Asp generally indicates "dweller by the aspen trees."  It's a name derived from geography -- from a landmark.  And since this is a lot more peaceful and pleasant and benign than the idea of being named after a deadly snake, this is usually the definition that I typically embrace.

It really goes further than etymology, though, doesn't it?  Ultimately, the public perception of any given name comes down to random word association.  And that's where I've been saddled with a name that sounds unfortunately similar to the English word "ass."  Yes, there are other near-homonyms as well -- "ask" and "as," for instance.  But those sound-alikes are not nearly as fun for experimentation among school-aged children.  Thus through the years, I've picked up a lot of creative permutations of the name Asp, including (but by no means limited to) the following:

• Kick-Asp
• Kiss-Asp
• Jack-Asp
• Dumb-Asp
• Pain-in-the-Asp
• Asp-hole
• Smart Asp
• Hairy Asp
• Rudy-poo candy-Asp (i.e. an adjective, describing anything exceptionally wimpy)
• Big-Asp (i.e. an adjective describing anything exceptionally large)

One of the classic jokes along these lines goes with the naming of children, given the fact that Harry, Jack, and Candy are occasionally used as personal names (and how cruel it would be for me, as a parent, to give one of these names to a child born into our family name!).  But suffice to say:  I've heard these variations on my last name for so long that it's even gotten to the point where I can genuinely appreciate it if anyone comes up with a new one!  It's a whole lot more fun to play along and make light of the situation than it is to become hurt or offended anytime someone pulls one of these word associations out.  So I'm curious:  can any of you think of any other good ones?  I'll give bonus points to anyone who comes up with something original...

And in the meantime, I'll just go on with being an Asp.

I'm curious if anyone out there might have some advice for me.  For my birthday, I was given a gift allowing me to download an audio book from a website called Audible.  I'm super-excited to give this a try -- but to be honest, I don't have any real experience with audio books.

So I'm wondering:  Are there any special considerations for choosing an audio book?  Are there any particular authors out there who are especially enjoyable by audio?  In short:  Do you have any recommendations for how I should go about my first real audio book experience?

I'd appreciate any and all input that you might have for me.

Tomorrow is my first opportunity to participate in Dutch democracy.  I'm not sure if it's because I've now been officially registered in the country for a certain number of years now, or if it's because I'm now a property owner, or what -- but I'm going to vote for the municipal elections tomorrow.

The only prolem is that I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to vote.

I've tried a couple of the different on-line "stemwijzer" (voting test) sites, plus I've read a number of the printed materials put out by the government and by the parties themselves.  But all this has done is help me to decide how not to use my vote.  That is, I'm pretty sure that I will not be casting my vote for the CDA, who has chosen to make the main thrust of their Amsterdam campaign a "Big Brother" like camera system to capture any wrong-doing that might happen throughout the city... And I can't really see myself voting for the Party of the Animals (making animal rights the primary issue) or the nationalistic PVV (a sort of anti-immigration party, like the 21st Century Dutch version of the 19th Centry American "Know Nothing" party)... But who should I vote for?

I'd be very open, if anyone had any advice they wanted to pass along to me.

For me, I'm voting primarily as (1) a follower of Jesus, (2) an immigrant, and (3) someone who naturally tends to prefer a less invasive form of government (i.e. someone who could tell the leerplichtambtenaar to relax a little bit).  But are there really any parties who tend to combine these issues?  Open to religious freedom, and even cooperation between the church and the government... But also more liberal in its views on immigration and immigrants' rights... While still entrusting power to the people, more than to the bureaucracy???  Do these terms ring any bells, for those of you who might be more familiar with the Dutch political system?

I've got some ideas for how I might use my vote, if all else fails.  I'm not going into things totally ignorant.  But if there are any last-minute pieces of advice that could be thrown my way, I would certainly appreciate it.

Today marks the beginning of the third month of my Proverbs 365 project.  It's going stronger than ever, and I find that I'm really enjoying this good, long soak in the wisdom of Proverbs.  Just like I did last month, I thought it might be interesting to highlight three of my personal favorites from the past month of the project.

My favorite Proverbs-related story from the last month would have to be P2306 - Coffee Cake Conflict.  In the post, I share a personal anecdote from my university years which helps to illustrate Proverbs 23:6-8:  "Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost.  'Eat and drink,' he says to you, but his heart is not with you.  You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments." You really have to read the post to get the full effect of my reflections on the subject -- but suffice to say the story involves young bachelors learning to run their own household, eating nothing but coffee cake for dinner, and gift presented to a 20-year-old with a note saying, "Happy Birthday, you bitter old man." Follow the link above for the whole story.

Secondly, one of the greatest personal challenges that I experienced in the month of February came from reading Proverbs 26:11, which prompted my recollections entitled P2611 - Vomitous Victuals.  The title of the post is a direct reference to the Proverb itself, found in chapter 26, verse 11:  "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." As I meditated on this verse, I came to realize how I can foolishly respond to feelings of loneliness by sitting at the computer, obsessively hitting the Send/Receive button on my e-mail reader -- hoping for some sort of pathetic companionship from a glowing computer screen.  When the e-mails don't come, I get sad.  When I don't get many comments on my blog(s), I get sad.  But I keep going in a foolish cycle of loneliness.  "It's the same story... when I check my Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, and YouTube pages.  I scramble around the internet like a squirrel, hunting for nuts that just aren't there... " If you can relate to these feelings at all, I would definitely recommend following the link and taking a look at the post for yourself.

Thirdly, I think one of the verses which stuck with me the most from February was Proverbs 3:3-4:  "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." You can read my thoughts on this Proverbs at P334 - Love and Faithfulness.  Honestly, I'm not sure if my personal reflections in this post are really all that poignant -- but the Proverb itself is powerful enough to prompt us to question ourselves:  "So how do we get back on track with these core qualities of Love and Faithfulness?  How do we make these our calling card?  The necklace around our necks?  The tattoo written across our chests?" I attempt to start answering some of these questions in my post, and I would love to hear any other dialogue that others might want to contribute as well.

For a more comprehensive listing of the February's content, here are the titles of all 28 entries, along with direct links to the rest of the contact:

• P122 - Stuck on Simplicity
• P206 - The Key to Understanding the Proverbs
• P334 - Love and Faithfulness
• P414 - Traffic Advice
• P506 - Checking for Blind Spots
• P610 - How to Avoid a Hold-Up
• P702 - Apple of Your Eye
• P809 - Atheist Buses
• P903 - Lady Wisdom and Her Staff Team
• P1008 - California Ryan
• P1124 - The Wedding Card Dilemma
• P1216 - Wat Vervelend
• P1308 - Mo' Money Mo' Problems
• P1410 - Considering Condolences and Congratulations
• P1504 - Green Tree
• P1618 - The Prognostication Possibilities of Pride
• P1714 - Water Management is Serious Business
• P1803 - Downward Spiral
• P1919 - The Predicaments of Hot-Headedness
• P2029 - Gray Area
• P2109 - A Case for Separation
• P2204 - NHL vs. NBA
• P2306 - Coffee Cake Conflict
• P2410 - Feats of Strength
• P2515 - Bones Yes, But What About Bureaucratic Red Tape?
• P2611 - Vomitous Victuals
• P2711 - Prudence Not Panic
• P2809 - Love Triangles

And that's just February!  March promises to be another great month, so check it out for yourself at http://proverbs365.ericasp.com.