In love with a 44 year old . . .

This beautiful lady is my new wheels. Darcey and I have yet to name her but she's already a member of the family. 1965 was a great year for the Volkswagen Beetle. It was the first year the defroster was added in the dash and the front axle was improved. The innovative designs and features on the car were both classic and timeless. It's arguably the best selling car of all time after the Carolla. But the Toyota has gone through way more changes and upgrades. The VW has been almost the exact same over the more than 40 years it was produced. I hope this car will be with us for a long time. We'll slowly restore it back to it's original condition with some modern upgrades like better brakes and a bigger engine.

We are going to be moving within the next two months and that means the start of paying a monthly rent bill again. In order to continue saving for a house we've decided to sell our 2006 Honda Element. After the payment, insurance and everything else it was costing us up to $400 a month which is a lot of money for us right now. Darcey can drive the Jetta when we have the baby. It's a very safe car and reliable too. But first things first for the new . . . old bug. I have to install seat belts. Maybe I'll get a fire extinguisher too.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

I'm feeling preachy today so here we go.

Yesterday I was at work early so I could sit in on a training session for a new home filtration system made by 3M and Body Glove. You know those guys. They invented those sweet wet suits ocean goers love so much. They are introducing one of the first fully recyclable filtration systems that could soon be used in almost every new residential and commercial system in the US. This led our presenter to mention that this is important because unrecycled plastics are causing massive damage to the ocean by what is call "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "Pacific Trash Vortex" as it's sometimes called.

I can't believe I've never heard of it. Apparently, there is a gigantic mass of trash floating in the pacific ocean that covers an area . . . (and I'm not mistaken) twice the size of Texas. Texas is 268,820 square miles. I'll let that sink in.

Trash that goes into land fills near the ocean don't stay in the ground. The go into a water shelf and float out to sea. The swirling current pushes it all together somewhere in between San Fransisco and Hawaii where wild life eat it. This is the point where trash enters the food chain. I've read that because of this patch, eating one steak fillet from a sword fish in the Pacific contains your entire year supply of mercury. Looking at the pictures make me feel ashamed. I can't think of a better word. Luckily there is an organization called the Environmental Cleanup Coalition that is trying to put together a fleet of ships that will clean a large amount of the trash and recycle it.

I recommend seeing what you can do to avoid letting your trash end up in the ocean. One tip I've heard is to take the cap off of you plastic bottles. Most but not all cities will not recycle your bottles if the cap is still on, even if you put it in your blue recycle trash can!

I sound like one of those green hippy activists. I guess I'm concerned that I've never heard of this problem and it seems so huge. We've been blessed with a planet that holds so much beauty that I know I take for granted.

This will end up on my list of things I'd love to fix in this world. Along with the children soldiers in Africa, the awful sport of bear baiting in Pakistan, and the lack of investments our own country makes in it's schools.

Measuring the Reach of Forgiveness

The last few months I've been kicking around an idea that hasn't really gone away. It's not something that concerns or excites me either way. I'm just curious.

What if, in the end at the final judgement, Satan falls on his knees and begs . . . and God forgives him?

I think about what a great moment it will be when victory over death is declared by God like I've always been taught, but then I think that an equally, if not greater moment it would be when the ultimate display of love's victory is to forgive the unforgivable and to love the unlovable. This can be opening a gigantic box of messy theology questions and debates, but part of me kind of finds the idea beautiful. I realize the arguments that "Satan doesn't want to be saved!" and "he'll just try to be like God again!" but when it comes down to it, I'm not his judge and either way shouldn't affect the way I live or decisions I make. If it is possible, I have a funny picture in my head of the devil sitting on a bench thinking to himself, "to perish in a burning lake of sulfur and fire or not to perish in a burning lake of sulfur and fire?" I guess we can take bets and split up the winnings when we get there.