Stuff That Matters in Life

Me: Hey, Amy, guess what?? Alex Trebek had a heart attack!!

Amy: I know already. It happened yesterday and it was minor.

Elliot: Probably within one hour everyone knew.

Wow! Amy doesn’t know who our Vice President is, but she knows when Alex Trebek has a minor heart attack.

Alex Trebek is indeed an icon of our generation, actually spanning 2 generations. I grew up with Jeopardy when Alex Trebek had dark hair and a mustache. Now my kids watch him on Jeopardy and he hasn’t changed a bit. He looks even smarter with his white hair.

“The answer is…” and that little tune for final Jeopardy is so much a part of our culture. That show is the hardest game show ever (I consider myself smart if I am able to get 5 questions right) and the one with the least potential for earning money, yet, people are lining up to get on it, and we love watching it.

This year, Wal-Mart is getting the campaign off to a great start with a $1 million donation. Tomorrow, the Wal-Mart Choir and the Salvation Army’s New York Staff Brass Band will perform a Christmas Carol Concert that will be broadcast nationwide on Wal-Mart’s in-store television network. The broadcast will also feature a message from Pastor Rick Warren. If you would like to thank Wal-Mart for remembering the reason for the season, please call 1-800-925-6278. If you happen to be doing any of your Christmas shopping in Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club this year, please take a moment to thank a store employee and wish them a very Merry Christmas!

From Gary Bauer‘s daily update on December 6th.

Did you even know that WalMart has a CHOIR??

While Wal-Mart has some policies that Christians may not agree with, at least I give them credit for supporting the Salvation Army which is a good thing.

On the other hand, I read that Ford Motors gives money to support the gay community without giving any to Christian organizations. While I don’t expect companies to give only to Christian causes, they should at least give in balance to various organizations that represents different views. Isn’t that what “multiculturalism” is suppose to be? In most cases, “multiculturalism” ends up meaning “liberal causes”.

From Gary Bauer’s news update today. There is still hope for America.

I am pleased also to report a surprising victory from our courts. Today, the Rhode Island State Supreme Court issued a crucial decision on the definition of marriage. The court had been asked to grant a divorce to a homosexual couple “married” in neighboring Massachusetts. But by granting the divorce, the court would have been recognizing the “marriage” as valid under Rhode Island law. Many pro-family leaders were not optimistic about the outcome of this case, because marriage is not expressly defined in Rhode Island law as the union of one man and one woman. Homosexual “marriage” advocates had hoped that they could exploit this perceived ambiguity in the law.

But the Rhode Island justices ruled 3-to-2 that Rhode Island would not recognize same-sex “marriages,” because in the court’s opinion, “The role of the judicial branch is not to make policy, but simply to determine the legislative intent.” And on that issue the majority found, “…there is absolutely no reason to believe that … legislators understood the word marriage to refer to any state other than ‘the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex.’”

Can you believe that? A New England court strictly limiting itself to the original intent of the law. I guess this really is the season of miracles!

I told Audrey to email her UCLA math professor for next quarter to tell him of her conflict in schedule.

Audrey: I don’t know his email.

Me: Just look it up in the staff directory.

Audrey: I did. But there are 4 profs with the last name Zhang, and first initial X!

I am on the floor laughing! X. Zhang is such a popular name! Don’t name your child with a first initial X. It’s just too popular and confusing when he goes to school…

—

Amy didn’t get her Art Club acceptance notice and thought she didn’t get in. Her homeroom teacher gave it to her 3 days later. Her teacher told her she was too short, and couldn’t see the notice on the bottom of her mailbox.

LOL, her homeroom teacher is shorter than me, and I’m pretty short.

—

At Walnut High School, I overheard a student talking: Mr. K***s’ password to the computers is Hello Kitty.

If you know me, you know Hello Kitty is my favorite character 🙂

El: It’s reassuring to read a survey that found rich people are not happier.

Me: I agree, but having money would take the stress out of worrying about that part of life though.

El: No, being rich have other worries. Remember Jesus talking to that rich man, told him to sell all he had, and the man went away sad.

Me: Yeah, you’re right!

With real estate being slow, finances have been an issue with us. The love we have with our family and our friends and with the Lord are certainly what gives us our greatness happiness. If I had to choose, I would certainly choose all of that over money. But yet, I can’t help but think that I still would be happier if we were rich!

But Elliot is so right. In God’s economy, being rich is not necessarily a good thing. Who knows what I am gaining spiritually through this season of my life that I wouldn’t gain if we had no financial problems? Who knows where my relationship with God would be if I didn’t have to put my trust in him for paying for my children’s college tuition?

I wonder what kind of life the rich young man led after he left Jesus? I wonder what his life would’ve been like if he wasn’t rich?