179 Pounds, Who'd have thought?

D'Linda wanted to lose weight, she decided to do a diet program called "Take Shape For Life". A friend of hers had lost 80 lbs and kept it off for over a year. I have always felt that when one spouse goes on a diet the other one should do it too. D'Linda wanted to get down to 119, she was at 141. My weight has been creeping up for a few years since my knees have stopped me from running. I try to bike regularly, but I don't get as many miles in as I need to, especially when the weather turns cold and wet. I weighed in at 220, I could really lose 20 lbs, so I said let's do it.
The diet uses packaged food that you buy in monthly quantities, it costs about $300 a month per person, plus you add some salad and lean protein every day. The brand of food is called Medifast it is packaged in individual meals, that aren't big and some aren't that good. I usually put jalapenos and salsa in everything, and some onions too. The diet has you eating at least every three hours, so I never really got hungry.
As we got into the diet it wasn't that bad. When I was doing the diet right I was losing between one half and three quarters of a pound a day. We did complicate things with a trip to Ohio for two weeks to help our daughter move into a new house. We did pretty good there, but then we went to Mexico for two weeks and one of those weeks we were at an all inclusive resort. I did pretty good, but I did enjoy myself.
We read the literature with the diet and they had some good stuff, the goal is not to just lose weight, but actually end up healthier. The goal was to get to a BMI under 25, I have never thought that BMI was that good of a scale, but I decided to give it a try. for me to get under 25 I needed to get under 190. I graduated from high school at 185 and was over 200 within a few years. I have only been under 200 a few times in my adult life, and I have been as high as 254.
Once I got into the diet it was really easy, I never got hungry and I never ran out of energy. I rode 42 miles with the Palm Desert Cycling Club last Saturday and I was a little tired after the ride, but was able to do some projects after. I don't feel like I have lost any strength or stamina. I didn't have a set weight goal, but as it was pretty easy I decided to go for 40 lbs. I hit 179 this morning that gives me a BMI of 23.6. I wouldn't have thought it was possible when I began. I feel great, D'Linda says that I am too skinny, but I don't feel weak at all.
Now that we have reached our goals we need to transition to our new diet for the rest of our life. We will add more fruits and vegetables. We will stay away from processed foods and limit saturated fats. If I eat that way I should be able to have a calorie limit of 3200 a day according to the calculations in the diet book. That should be easy seeing we have been doing fine on about 1000. The test will be what I weigh in a year, but I just wanted to let you know how easy it has been.

Gordon A Laird

This is my Fathers Obituary, it will be in the Bellingham Herald this weekend. Many friends don't live in the area so I thought I would put it out this way.

Gordon A Laird was born April fools day 1928. He passed away August 18, 2013 with his children, good friend Elaine Wolf and other friends and relatives at his side. He lived a full life by his own rules. He loved his grandchildren and great grandchildren and always told them to "Save your money", advice he never took. "Gordy" never met a stranger. He would always offer his opinion, whether it was wanted or useful. He was never shy or embarrassed, some thought him a little abrasive, but most loved him. If you were in need he would give you the shirt off his back. He will leave a big hole in many peoples lives. We would like to thank Whatcom Hospice, the staff on the 4th floor at Saint Joseph's and Dr Sharf and staff for the wonderful compassionate care they gave dad. He did not want a funeral or memorial service, but he never followed the "rules" so we won't either. We will have a time of remembering Gordy Laird on Monday the 26th at 3:00 at Lairmont Manor, 405 Fieldstone Rd. Please carpool if possible as parking is limited. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Whatcom Hospice Foundation, 2901 Squalicum Parkway, Bellingham 98225.

Gordon is survived by his children; Jack (D'Linda) Laird, James (Jeanette) Laird and Nancy Braam

Grandchildren; Ric (Mary) Wilson, Scott (Cynthia) Laird, Rusty (Jamie) Laird, Andrea (Arthur) Pannell, Jeff (Laura) Laird, Jennifer (Grant) Bell, Asa (Tressa) Braam and Lauren Braam 21 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren.

Is science a tool or a god?

Wow, it just took me about a half an hour to get into my own blog, now I better say something worthwhile. I have been involved in a discussion with a nephew who I respect and admire. I think Facebook should only be for short comments so I am going to respond here. He wrote in support of the Pro-choice movement in Texas, and based his support on what he called "real unbiased science". I have thought about that and want to share. I doubt anybody can be truly unbiased, even in his argument he showed a bias against Christianity. I find that ironic in that much of science was pioneered by Christians trying to understand God's Creation. He is in the healthcare field, and hospitals were almost exclusively started by God followers. In the time of the plagues it was Christians who stayed and cared for the sick and buried the dead. Now Christian scientists are often ridiculed and or ignored.

Science has built a box and refuses to believe anything outside of their box exists. Science is restricted to observable, testable, repeatable results. That leaves a lot of things out. Many things do exist that cannot be confirmed or denied by science. History is a simple example, right and wrong is another, how about beauty or art? Human emotion, or attitudes, or love? Science would like to think of man as just some kind of biological robot. Given certain stimuli he will respond in a certain manner, but how do you explain personality, and differences in siblings? Philosophy, poetry and thought itself, cannot be understood scientifically.

How complete is science? That is an imposible question because we don't know where the end is, but is science nearing the end or just in it's infancy? Even math, called the pure science, is learning new things. Mathematicians are still trying to understand PI, a seemingly infinite number that has been studied for centuries. For argument's sake I will say science is 50% complete. That would mean that anyone basing their life on purely science only has half of the facts. Science has experienced game changing discoveries in the past and is sure to in the future. Even if science had 99% of the facts, the 1% left could change it all.

I think science is valuable, but it cannot answer all of life's questions, and pure science shouldn't even try. Science should be about facts not about whether it is good or evil. Science thought homosexuality was a defect that could be cured just a few years ago, now it  considers it normal, was it wrong then, or wrong now? What else does science have wrong?

"Real unbiased science" also sets up an interesting dilema, who decides? Is the process democratic Scientific consensus has been wrong in the past. Who is the ultimate arbiter of what is "real science"? History is full of scientist that were ridiculed and persecuted only to be eventually be proved correct.

Everyone has a right to make moral decisions, but to base them on science, an admittedly incomplete field, is not logical. Morality is another subject that is not open to scientific debate. We all must make decisions and decide to take stands. I choose to use a broader perspective than just science.

WE ARE GOING TO BE # 1

Last night I couldn't sleep, that isn't uncommon for me when I am away from my own bed. In fact that is how this blog started. I was visiting my son in Liberia and had been to a orphanage that day and couldn't sleep thinking of the orphans I had seen. I got up and blogged about my thoughts. I am in Ecuador now, helping with a remodeling project at Camp Bellevue. It is about 10,000 feet above sea level here and it takes a while to get used to the altitude. I was awake for quite a while last night, but instead of getting up and writing I just thought. Here are those thoughts.

A friend posted a Quote from Margaret Sanger on Facebook. I am not a fan of Margaret, she was a founder of Planned Parenthood. She believed in and promoted Eugenics, if you don't know what that is, think Hitler and master race. Eugenics was practiced in the US in the early 20th century, in an effort to "improve" the population, over 60,000 people were sterilized because they were deemed inferior. Margaret deemed all blacks and yellows inferior. She promoted abortion as a woman's right. "No woman can call herself free unless she controls her own body" was the quote. I got into a discussion about abortion with my friend. I believe abortion to be murder. We wrote back and forth about reasons for abortion, but to me the reason doesn't really matter, the baby isn't guilty no matter the reason. My friend is a good person and I don't know if I persuaded her or not, but I have continued to think about abortion.

I thought about the issue some people have, when is the fetus really human? Some say at birth, however we all know of premature babies that have lived just fine, so babies born before their due date, or because of some trauma are certainly human. Yet abortions have been performed just before a due date. What about viable, we hear when the fetus is viable. With the advancement in medical science that definition would have to be changed every few years, with each new break through. I have done some reading lately on DNA, it is very remarkable stuff. Do you know if we asked a CSI tech to sample DNA from an aborted fetus, they would identify that DNA as human. Not partial, not becoming, not almost, but human. In fact your DNA is the same from conception to death.

Since abortion became legal in the US in 1973 there have been 54,599,612 humans killed by abortion. Hitler is estimated to have killed 20 million people. The communists in Russia killed around 30 million. The all time leader, Mao, is credited with 60 million. In just a few years we will surpass Moa, and become #1. To all my flag waving friends, does that make you proud to be an American? I probably shouldn't say that, but we worry about taxes and deficits, and if we will be able to carry our favorite assault rifle out in public.

In Genesis 4 God says to Cain "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground". Imagine how loud the blood of 54,599,612 innocent babies could scream. Many people pray to God to heal our country, but I wonder if He can hear over the screams? Why don't we stop this evil? Oh well, American Idol, or The Bachelor, or maybe a rerun of Seinfeld is on, got to go.

The Fantasy Of Pi

I saw the Life of Pi last night, if you haven't seen it then you might not want to read this until you have. I would prefer that so you could tell me if you came to a similar conclusion. I would recommend the movie because it was very thought provoking and well done. I saw it in 3d but I didn't think that added much. I find 3d a little disorienting.

Near the end of the movie you are given the choice of two stories. Both can't be true. The one is evil and dark, the other is one of triumph and beauty. The outcome is the same either way, so the conclusion seems to be go with the better story. To me that is ignoring the truth and believing in fantasy.

Early in the movie Pi is seen as a person who readily accepts any religion that is presented to him. There are those that believe that there are many paths to God. Pi's father gave what I would consider good advice when he told him you can't accept them all, you have to choose one.

I would go a little farther and say you should examine and follow a true path. There are many paths, I will agree, but they don't always lead to where you want to go. Some just wander around and you end up where you started. Some lead to a dead end. Others just go on and on and you never come to an end. I have chosen Jesus as my path. I don't always stay on the path, often I find myself lost in the brush, because I take my eyes off of the path. I see something interesting or think I have a shortcut and wander off. I have to be diligent because many have gone on this path ahead of me and many have wandered off and left convincing trails that look like the real one.

Jesus said that He was the way to the Father, and that no one can get there apart from him. If there are many paths to God then Jesus is either a liar or mistaken. In either case you can't believe anything else He teaches if He is wrong about this. So if there are many paths, Christianity is not one. However if he is correct then there is only one.

Back to Pi, he seems to have accepted the fantasy story because it shows God's glory and provision. It is a better story, but it is not what is true. The harder story also speaks of God's provision, but it also shows that evil is present and effects us. If the hard story had been portrayed and the "better" one narrated no one would believe the "better" one.

You can follow any path you want, God has given you that choice. There are many paths and many seem right and good, but if Jesus is correct there is only one that will get you to God. Following fantasy because it is more pleasant is just foolishness. I liked Pi, but he is fiction, and the movie is not real, I believe God IS.

Meaningless, meaningless

I just got back from visiting the Habitat For Humanity home site that my son Rusty is supervising. He has 15 students from Portland State that he is trying to keep busy. They don't have any construction skills to speak of. Their accomplishments over the last two days are probably less than what two good framers could do in one day. The students all feel good about what they have accomplished, and they have contributed their time to help people less fortunate. This is a similar problem to me as my experience at Koinonia farm. I really like efficiency and high productivity. When I used to build houses I would often tell buyers who wanted to do some of their own work on their house "You would be better off working at what you do and hire a professional to do the work". Still I had people taking time off of their jobs and working on their house, usually doing inferior work and taking longer than it should, messing up my schedule. I can't help but think the world would run better if everyone would just do what they are best suited for, but how do you know what your field should be? Maybe one of those students will come away from their experience and revolutionize home construction.

I have recently started a study of Ecclesiastes, a book I find humorous and depressing at the same time. The "Teacher" says everything is meaningless. All of man's efforts, whether for industry or pleasure are "chasing after the wind". If he is right, then I guess I need to lighten up and not let other peoples efforts bother me. My father always used to say "a hundred years from now it won't make any difference" he's probably right about most things. It is becoming clearer to me that much of what we work for and spend our time doing is truly meaningless. I am not advocating that everyone just stop working, but maybe change our perspective. Work hard at what you enjoy, do good for others, spend time on noble causes, opt out of the "Rat Race".

This is still a work in progress, just keeping you updated.

Koinonia Farm

I've been putting off writing this blog because I'm not really sure what to say. My first impressions were not changed that much after my stay. Koinonia was started in 1942 by Clarence Jordan. He was a man who grew up in privilege, graduated from college with a degree in agriculture and went on to get a PhD in new Testament Greek. He was troubled by the prejudice and segregation of his time. He wanted to use his degree in agriculture to help poor farmers improve their situation. He used his Greek knowledge to make some translations of the bible called Cotton Patch Gospels. He also wanted to improve race relations. He used the example of early Christians in the book of Acts as his blueprint. He wanted everyone to share with each other and not consider anything their own. He and his wife and another couple bought a large farm in an impoverished part of Georgia. He was considered a harmless kook at first. He paid the farm help the same pay whether they were black or white, that didn't sit well with many. Then the civil rights movement got going and Koinonia was seen as a problem. They were shot at and there were some fires and businesses that traded with them were boycotted and burned. Koinonia persevered and started selling their products mail order. Clarence Jordan will probably never get the recognition he deserves, he remained at Koinonia until his death in 1969. Since then Koinonia has gone through many changes, with the last change trying to return more to it's roots. They are trying to make the farm more environmentally friendly. They share work and resources, and seem to get along pretty well. They are a community whose main goal is to promote peace. I don't think that is a bad goal, but I got the sense that they were content to live a simple life, just think nice thoughts and live a peaceful relaxed life. My main problem is I see that as somewhat lazy. Now here in Irvine I am confronted with this community thats main goal seems to be to live the good life. Everything is clean and new and in order. You don't see any cars older than 10 years every yard is well cared for, everyone is busy and in a hurry. I'm starting to feel like the writer of Ecclesiastics, "vanity, vanity, rich and poor, industrious or lazy, the same fate comes to all"(my paraphrase). I know the people here are too caught up in unimportant things, that was driven home at Legoland yesterday. I watched a woman get on a ride with her son and go on the entire ride and get off while on her cellphone. I think my problem is I can identify more with these Californians than the Koinonians. I really want to say that their simple life is wrong, but I can't. I don't want to live that way, I really like all my things. I have to do some more thinking on this, later though, I have to go play with my grand kids now. Let me leave you with this quote that I wish I had never found.

"When an honestly mistaken man is confronted with the truth, he must either cease being mistaken, or stop being honest". Author unknown