Eleven

Memorization - some people are great at it, others are not. I think I fall somewhere in the middle.

I have never had a problem memorizing some things. For example, I can memorize song lyrics with no problem. I've always been good at that. Once I memorize a song, it's in my head forever. Believe me. I'll give you every word to "Bust-A-Move" right now if you want me to.

On the other hand, there are some things that I have a really hard time committing to memory. For example, anything to do with arithmetic. I could never memorize formulas or any of the tables. That was always very difficult for me. Math, in general, is not a strong subject with me. Why memorize when you have a calculator?

(At this point I'd like to mention that a calculator can't help you with "Bust-A-Move" lyrics. This proves that it is more necessary to memorize "Bust-A-Move" than it is to memorize the square root of 5781).

Sometimes, at our jobs, we are required to memorize certain things. Often, we memorize things almost by accident, just because of the constant repetition of doing the same thing over and over.

I was shocked during my most recent visit to McDonald's. I usually drive through McDonald's on my day off as I am out running errands by myself. I have to go then because my wife despises McDonald's and I can never go when she is with me. I don't really blame her...I admit, it's pretty disgusting. But, for some reason, I keep going back.

I pulled up to the drive through and was greeted with the usual, "Can I help you?"

I said, "Yes, I'd like a number eleven with a Sprite." I only drink clear liquids ever since my kidney stone incident (just in case you were wondering why I would order a Sprite instead of the obvious Coke).

The McEmployee said, "What's a number eleven?"

I wasn't sure I heard the question right, so I said, "Excuse me?"

She said, "What's a number eleven?"

I thought to myself, "What's a number eleven? Seriously? How could she not know this? I have ordered a number eleven many, many, many times in my life and I have never, NOT ONCE, been asked to explain what a number eleven is!"

You see, I had always just assumed that the register the McEmployee uses is marked with huge numbers, each corresponding with a value meal number. Couldn't she just hit the big 11 on here key pad?

Then it hit me...maybe they all just have the value meal numbers memorized and when I say "number eleven", the McEmployee, due to the fact that he/she has heard a number eleven ordered a million times, automatically knows that a number eleven is a Fillet-O-Fish.

If this is the case, which I am assuming it must be, then either:

A. The person I was currently ordering from was really bad at memorizing the value meal menu, or...

B. This was the first time someone had actually ordered a number eleven from her.

I going with "A." Mainly because I don't want to believe I am the only one in the world who eats a Fillet-O-Fish on a regular basis. And, to be honest, I can picture myself being lousy at memorizing the value meal menu. So give her a break, will ya?

Anyway...I started thinking about this because I often get very frustrated with myself for being so lousy at scripture memory, too. At first glance, you would think that I would be good memorizing the Bible since it is "words" and not "numbers." I wish that was true. I even remember doing terrible at scripture memory contests that were held at VBS or Camp as a child.

Just as it is great to have a calculator as a reference for math problems, I feel fortunate that I live in a country where I have access to a Bible when I need scripture. But...I don't ever want to use the same excuse for not memorizing the Bible that I used for not memorizing math stuff.

"Who needs to memorize that formula? I've always got a calculator with me."

"Who needs to memorize that scripture? I've always got a Bible with me."

The real reason I don't memorize math stuff is because I don't care. I don't care enough about it to commit it to memory.

On the other hand, I do care about what God's Word says. Therefore, I should constantly be reading it, studying it, and focused on it. If that's the case, then it will become a permanent part of my memory. And that's important. Because, when the Word is in your heart, you will recall it at the most important times in your life. God will speak to you through it. Nobody will ever be able to take it away from you.

My Fantasy

Last year was my rookie year at fantasy football. Call it beginners luck - I made it to the Super Bowl (and lost). But, I was still very proud of myself.

This year I am off to a good start. I won this past weekend, which puts me at 1-0! The bad news is that I won with the lowest winning point total in the league. Basically, I got lucky.

I think after a bit of tweaking I should do alright this year. Let the trading begin.

...In Seattle

Here's how it all went down in Seattle.

Day 1 - 6:

Christy and I attended an orientation with the agency Mission To Unreached Peoples. It was great for us to learn more about missions and to learn the ins and outs of MUP. The information that we gathered and the conversations that we had with the staff of MUP will surely help us along in our journey.

It was also great getting to know the other orientees. They were all amazing people who are truly willing to follow God anywhere he leads them. We are excited to hear about the amazing ministry they will all be doing in the future.

And, I have to mention that the location of the orientation was beautiful. The Homestead is a very cool place. The facilities are great, the food is amazing, and the staff are all very nice.

Here are a couple pictures. That's me by a big tree. The other is the view from the dock.

Day 6 (evening):

After Christy and I got checked into our hotel after the orientation wrapped up, we caught a bus to downtown Seattle to attend the Sunday evening service at Mars Hill Church downtown campus.

Unfortunately, we arrived 2o minutes late due to the fact that we caught the wrong bus. For those of you who may be planning a future visit to Seattle, you might want to make a note of the fact that there are TWO buses that are labeled 192 from the airport. One goes downtown, the other goes AWAY from downtown.

After our detour, we finally made it to Mars Hill. We got there in time to hear the message, take communion, and hear the band play a couple closing songs.

Trying to find a bus to take us back to our hotel was another adventure. I am sure we stood out as obvious out-of-towners among all the locals. But, we finally figured it out and realized that we were making it way more complicated than it actually was.

Day 7:

In the morning we caught the RIGHT 192 and headed back downtown Seattle. We had already fallen in love with Seattle so we were really looking forward to the day of sight-seeing.

First, we headed to the famous Pike Place Public Market. We spent quite a bit of time there. There are tons of shops and vendors selling everything you can imagine. Personally, I could have spent all day watching the action at the world famous Pike Place Fish Market. If my digital camera didn't have the longest delay known to man, I could have gotten some sweet shots of the fish throwing - bummer. But, at least I got to experience some first hand throwing (I bought a t-shirt and they even tossed that).

At Pike Place we also found the original Starbucks (big deal) and we came across a man known as "The Cat Whisperer." I didn't get any pictures of him. But I became really intrigued when I saw him pulling additional live cats out of a duffel bag.

After Pike Place we headed down to the waterfront. There were lots of shops and restaurants. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Ivar's. This seagull stared at us the whole time. It really made me nervous. I am sure he was contemplating how fun it would be to gouge out my eyes. Either that or he just wanted my salmon.

We then headed for the Space Needle, which is actually quite a few blocks from the waterfront. It was a beautiful day though, so we decided to walk. I am glad we did because we got to see some more cool parts of Seattle.

The Space Needle is neat to see in person. But, we didn't go up in it. It costs $16 per person and in my mind I had already seen Seattle from the air when we flew in. I am sure it would have been a great view - maybe next time.

Instead of going up in the Space Needle, we decided to go through a couple attractions that are built near it's base - the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum. The two exhibits are combined, so admission to one gets you in both. Guess which one of those Christy was NOT looking forward to.

The EMP was awesome. I love going through exhibits that have to do with music and music history. This one did not disappoint. They had lots of cool memorabilia from Seattle natives The Kingsmen, Jimi Hendrix, and of course Nirvana (among others). It was also a very interactive and "high-tech" exhibit, so there was a lot to see and do.

I was happy to find a French Horn in this sculpture of thousands of instruments.

The SFM was actually pretty interesting. If you hate science fiction books and movies, then you would really hate the SFM. But, it had some cool memorabilia and movie props/costumes. All I could think of when I was walking around in it was, "Man, I am a nerd."

Once we were done there, we crossed the street and had a bite to eat at a sports bar & grill as we watched the Seahawks play some pre-season Monday Night Football. After that we caught a bus back to the hotel and crashed. We needed rest so we could catch our 5:45 AM flight out the next morning.

Seattle is an awesome city and western Washington is one of the most beautiful places in the US, in my opinion. I hope we get to go back some day.