I Ain't Complainin'

I wanted to tell you about the “Complaint Free World” seminar that some friends and I attended together.  

Will Bowen, a Pastor at one of those new-age churches came up with the idea while preparing a sermon.  The plan was to get everyone to wear a rubber band on one wrist, and every time they verbally complain switch it to the other wrist.  He figures that if one can go 21 days without switching you will have formed a habit of not complaining and be a nicer person because of it. 

Actually, it’s quite fun to try and he gave good examples of the difference between complaining and stating the facts.  If you tell the waiter your soup is cold, it ain't complaining, it's stating a fact.  If you tell your dinner partner but not the waiter, you're complaining. 

My only criticism of Will Bowen is that he left the religion out of it.  I know he has to in order to speak to so many people and get buy in, but couldn’t he at least attribute his source?  Presumably if the idea came to him as he prepared for a sermon, surely it was inspired by scripture.  I sure hope so, because if it wasn’t then the whole point of the Sunday sermon was missed. 

These are the thoughts I gleaned from his lecture, then.  

First, I really am working on not complaining thanks to the method he teaches.  Secondly, though, is that when one preaches no matter how brilliant an idea he might have, if independent of God it can’t help but fall short.

So today I turned 50

The Top 50 Coolest Things about turning 50

50 to 11 are all variations on the same theme - "it's better than the alternative."  I may not be 6 feet above ground level, but neither am I 6 feet under.  Here's the other reasons I'm feeling pretty good today:

10.  Good health.  I'm in good shape.  I did 50 pushups this morning just for fun.

 

9.  Most of the people I hang out with socially think I'm just a kid (in comparison).

8.  People over 50 get it when I tell them our three kids are named Vera, Chuck and Dave.  One of my kids gets it, too.

7.  If you're 50 plus you've probably seen original episodes of The Brady Bunch, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Batman and Lost in Space.

6.  The Mayor of my city, the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of the United States are all younger than me.  

4.  At this point my future boss at Wal-Mart has already been born.  And someday I'm going to be the best damned Greeter that place has ever seen!

5.  Hawaii celebrates its 50th year as a state this year.  Coincidence?  Yes.  

4.  I've been married for more than half my life.  The better half.  

3.  When my kids did essays and projects on Kennedy or Trudeau or JPII, I had personal insights to share.  And they'll have Obama...

2.  The ladies in the Catholic Women's League think I'm a nice young man.

1.  They're right.