What sort of sticker would your car wear?

My mind spins in abnormal orbits. At least, that is the impression I get of myself sometimes. Perhaps I just have an odd sense of humor. On Tuesday October 16th I read Psalm 146: 5 which says:

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God."

Maybe, by chance, you saw what I did. Does this verse recall some of the sweet or down right strange bumper stickers you have seen while driving around town? You know the ones... "Happiness is being Kelly's Grandma" or "Happiness is drinking Starbucks."

This pithy connection struck a chord with my quirky little brain and I began to think of those public definitions of happiness in comparison to King David's definition. I couldn't help but giggle when I saw a mental picture involving David unabashedly driving his kingly chariot around with something like this on the the back:

"Happiness is having the LORD for you hope!"

Now by all means I am not one to take Scripture lightly and to make its meaning worth nothing (I despise those shirts that say "Jesus is my homeboy"). But my little mental picture prodded me to think on how bumper stickers reveal a trend of thought. If someone took enough trouble to look or even pay for the creation of a bumper sticker that advertises their love of a grandchild or Starbucks, would that not also indicate that they think about that love much of the time?

So here are the questions...

- What is your trend of your heart-thought?
- If it was made into a bumper sticker what would it say?

I can tell you what it should say; it's right there in Psalm 146:5. Yeah I know, ouch!

Once Upon A Time...

...there was a little girl who loved to create stories. Most of them she kept hidden in her young head but a few she unleashed onto paper. She herself, being such a youth and unable to write, penned the tales of the little friends that dominated her world through her mother. Unfortunately, at five years of age she knew nothing of copyrights...this was her first written work....

Mickey's Golden Sword

Once upon a time there was a Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. The city where they lived was name Persia. There was a handsome prince named Mickey Mouse. There was a pretty princess named Minnie Mouse. There was also a dragon. He was a giant green dragon with burning fire coming out of his circled nose.

Micky Mouse put on his army stuff and the princess was glad that he was going to fight the dragon.

Mickey Mouse fought the mean dragon with his golden sword. the dragon faked he was dead. Minnie's yelled, "Watch out, watch out!" Mickey looked behind him and the dragon fell down again. So Mickey didn't stop looking behind him. Then the dragon opened his green mouth to bite Mickey's head off but Mickey stabbed the dragon in the stomach. The dragon screamed and cried, "help!" He yelled so loud that the walls of the King's castle fell down.

Everybody ran out of the doors but Minnie couldn't get out. The lights went out and Minnie's couldn't see. Mickey rescued her because his golden sword led the way. Meanwhile. the dragon climbed over a tall wooden gate but he got 31 splinters on his stomach near where he got hurt earlier. Mickey's father the King of Peria. borrowed Mickey's sword and stabbed the dragon 32 times. The dragon crashed sown into the thorn bush. He was dead!

Hooray! Mickey and Minnie's got married and had a wedding party. They had a baby girl and named her Mary Mouse, another baby named Timmy Mouse, another baby named Tommy. Copyright 1992

Laugh as you might, you must admit that this story has all of the pillars of the most complex chronicle or tragic tale: character development, double climax, even a satisfying ending! I'll concede, it may not bare an exact resemblance of , say, today's famous Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I am pretty sure that when Tolkien was five, he wrote about Mickey Mouse too!

Read and Wash

Reading is one of those things on my "I enjoy doing" list. However, with my school and work schedule, the latter slides lower and lower on my to do sheet as the semester progresses. I am a slow reader in general which not only means that I study slowly but I never get far in a book if I have only ten minutes (although you must understand that I am not discouraging that practice nor it's positive benefits at all). I need a good 45 minutes at least.

Some people take pride in "never having time to read." I do not. Recently I was contemplating this personal travesty when I came across a new techno- toy. It is called a playaway and it is basically an i pod book. Not so long ago (yes I remember when) they called them "books on tape." Now however, with the advancement in technology, this audio book is i pod size. You simply provide the headphones and voila! you are set! Unfortunately, unlike a cassette tape, you cannot rewind or fast forward to a particular spot but you can pause and skip forward and back by chapters.

This is perfect for me. Instead of having to lug around a walkman and all of the cassette tapes with me, or worse, not absorbing anything literary, Jane Austen and I can now workout on the elliptical machines or even walk to class. Just last night we washed dishes together.

I am not sure how many books are available in this format but it is worth a look into. Check out your library or go to http://www.playawaydigital.com/.

Happy reading!!