Posted by Terry Hull on June 20, 2006 to In a few days I will turn 53. According to , as a 53-year-old U.
S. white male, I have 26 years to go. So the question for me is, is the glass two-thirds empty or one-third full?
I don’t fear death. My attitude toward death wavers between, “When it happens, it happens,” and “Bring it on.” Still, 26 years is not as much time left as I used to have.
I’ve already burned up twice that, and I feel like I’m still just getting started. There are a handful of things I would like to do, if time permitted. If I ever have the extra time, here are 5 things I would do:
1.
Write a book and have it published.
Actually, I have written a book. I wrote it 27 years ago.
It is an allegory about the shallowness of the American church. It is far more relevant today than it was when I wrote it in 1979, as a young disillusioned minister four years out of Bible college. I have never submitted it to a publisher.
I need to do that one of these days. I have another book written in my head, if I ever find the time to put it down on paper, that I think some readers would enjoy immensely.
There are so many great books I have never read.
I would be embarrassed to admit the many classics I have never read. I could easily assembly a list of 100 great books I would love to read, if I ever had the time.
3.
Live in Mexico.
I love Mexico. When you travel beyond the crowded, dusty border towns to the interior of Mexico, you find some gorgeous places beautiful mountains, lush valleys, historic cities, quaint villages.
The culture is slower and the people are friendly. I have visited Mexico a few times, but I would love to actually live there. To be a resident, get involved in a church, get to know my neighbors, became part of the culture.
Maybe one of these years I will persuade my wife that Mexico would be a good place to spend at least a year or two.
4. Master the Spanish language.
I listen to tapes. When I can, I work the lessons. But I would like to actually become fluent.
To speak Spanish so well that Latinos don’t laugh when I ask to pass the salt.
5. Become an expert on end-times prophecy.
Bible prophecy has never interested me all that much, until lately. I cannot explain the change. Sometimes I wonder if God has prompted me to take a greater interest in prophecy to prepare me for the immediate years ahead.
Perhaps He has stirred a similar interest in thousands of other preachers and teachers. Lately I have been preaching chapter by chapter through Revelation. I have never attempted it before.
One big surprise is that I do not find the Revelation all that unfathomable. Actually, so far, it seems rather straightforward. I have studied Daniel and Revelation.
Next I would like to focus on Zechariah and Ezekiel.
I had a few other things on the list. Become more knowledgeable of poetry.
And classical music. Learn to play the guitar. But those five are at the top of the list.
However, there is a major flaw in my underlying assumption. Who says I only have 26 years left? The reason I do not fear death is because I have the gift of eternal life.
I believe Jesus rose from the dead and is the Son of God. I believe Jesus gives eternal life to those who have faith in Him. I believe Jesus will return to Earth and actually rule this world, at least for a millennium, as the great Messiah-King.
Before He returns, He will raise from the dead all who have pledged their loyalty to Him, to be citizens of His great Millennial Kingdom. It is a tragedy that so many people I know will miss out on that grand thousand-year period of peace and prosperity here on Planet Earth. But I’m not planning on missing out.
So it isn’t true that I only have 26 years left. If I never get to live in Mexico in this life, I’ll just spend a few decades there in the next life. If that is when I go, I hope I can still persuade my wife to go with me.
That adventure wouldn’t be the same without her.
Part of the beauty of being a Christian is that time really isn’t running out. What part of “eternal life” do I not understand?
Yes, there are a few things I would like to do, if time permits, before I die. But if I don’t get around to them now, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll have plenty of time after I die to do the things I’ve missed.
However, there is yet another flaw in my train of thought. How many of the things that I wish I could do now will have any appeal in the age to come? Will any of those great books I have never read still seem so great in the Millennial Reign?
Or will they be hopelessly out-of-date. Will the books I might write in this life have any possible value in the next? Of course, the study of end-times prophecy will be a lot easier, because the prophecies will all be history by then.
For that very reason, though, I doubt there will be much interest in prophecy study in the next life.
The truth is, most of the things I never get to do in this life will seem irrelevant in the next life. Considering the fact that the next life represents more than 99.
9% of my total existence, I guess if those things will be irrelevant then, they must be less important now than they sometimes seem.
How important is it that I squeeze any of those five things into my remaining 26 years? Not very.
It doesn t matter. After all, my best days by far will be 50, 100, 500 years from now. Bring it on.
Posted by Terry Hull on June 19, 2006 to : Fear of the number 666, because of its connection to the Beast in .
I file this tidbit under the Strange World category, not because some people fear the number 666. That s silly, but not necessarily strange.
What s strange is that somebody strung together a name for this fear. I feel a case of coming on.
$766.
25: Price of the Beast with 6-year, 66,000-mile extended warranty
$666/hr: Billing rate of the Beast (Oops, that’s wrong. That’s the billing rate of one of the attorneys down the hall).
There’s more: – if you’re not afraid to click on such a terrifying URL.
Posted by Terry Hull on June 16, 2006 to 1975. Morelos, Zacatecas. Miguel and Maria and their 2-year-old, Angelina, live in Morelos, a village in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Famous for its silver mines, Zacatecas was once one of the richest states of Mexico, but today more than half the population lives in poverty. Many jobs have moved from Mexico to China in recent years, and there are few opportunities in Zacatecas for young people like Miguel and Maria.
The young family has finally decided to follow in the steps of many Zacatecans.
Moving to the United States will mean leaving relatives and their hometown behind, risking their lives to make the border crossing, and struggling to survive as illegal immigrants in the U.S. But there are no jobs in Morelos, and they have a daughter to provide for.
Miguel and Maria’s dream is for Angelina to grow up with a better life than the one they have known.
1990. McAllen, Texas.
Maria and 17-year-old Angelina have lived in Hidalgo County for 15 years. Miguel was killed in a farming accident 10 years ago. Maria works full-time as a waitress to provide for Angelina and two younger daughters.
They don’t have much, but the life they have is better in many ways than what Maria knew growing up in Morelos.
Angelina may have been born in Mexico, but she has no memory of that place. She learned Spanish from her parents and still speaks it with her mom, but as a first-grader in McAllen public school, Angelina was a quick learner.
Soon she was speaking English fluently. Among the first English words Angelina ever learned were the words of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Angelina knows that some people consider her an “illegal,” but her face turns red and her throat tightens when someone calls her a “Mexican.
” The United States is the only home she has ever known.
This is a big year for Angelina. Last month she graduated from high school.
Next month she is getting married. She is engaged to Ricardo, a member of the youth group of Iglesia Bautista, the bilingual Baptist church she has attended since a neighbor first invited her to Sunday School when she was 9. Ricardo works construction and Angelina works as a checker at the H-E-B grocery.
Angelina plans to take classes two nights a week at the community college. Soon she will be married and start a family, and her dream is to give her children a better life than the one she has known.
2006.
Dallas, Texas. Emma came along 11 months after Ricardo and Angelina were married. Fifteen years later, Emma is a freshman at a Dallas high school.
Emma divides her time between girls basketball, digital photography, and instant messaging. Her favorite TV show is “American Idol,” although she can’t believe Taylor Hicks won. She loves Shakira, especially now that she’s finally recorded an album in English.
Like almost every Texan, Emma knows a little Spanish, including a few phrases she has picked up from her parents. But English is the only language Emma really knows. Her parents were born in Mexico, but neither of them have been back since they were toddlers.
Emma has never been there.
Like most American teenagers, Emma has way too many other things to think about to be concerned with the country of her grandparents. She’s a good student, and she has a secret dream, one she hasn’t even told her mom.
Emma hopes to be the first person in her family to earn a college degree.
2005. Washington, D.
C. Five times in the past 11 years (1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, and 2005), a minority of far-right lawmakers have introduced the Citizenship Reform Act, which would do away with “birthright citizenship.” The doctrine of birthright citizenship guarantees citizenship to all children born in the U.
S., except the children of diplomats. It is a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the U.
S. Constitution, adopted in 1868 to grant citizenship to freed slaves after the Civil War. Of course, the Constitution trumps any law passed by Congress.
However, proponents claim that if the law were passed and brought to the Supreme Court, it might somehow pass the test of constitutionality.
Shockingly, according to , 49% of American citizens say they agree with doing away with birthright citizenship. I have got to believe that many of those citizens have just not thought the issue through.
If there are many citizens who really do understand the ramifications of this proposal – the tragic consequences it would have for children like Emma, children born and raised in our country who know no other home but America – it would break my heart.
It is one thing to debate whether Miguel and Maria were right or wrong to cross the border in the first place, and what we should do to secure our borders. But it is a much different question to propose that the solution is to deprive citizenship of children who become Americans exactly the same way almost all of the rest of us did – they were born and raised here.
There are valid points to weigh on both sides of the immigration debate. But when it comes to the children, there is nothing to debate. If we turn our backs on our children, children like Emma and millions of others whose only home has ever been the United States of America, then we cease to be the country to which Angelina and Emma have frequently pledged their allegiance.
Remember that country one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all? That should not be up for debate. An Oklahoma pastor-blogger and other like-minded Baptist bloggers are credited for the surprise election of Frank Page as the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Tuesday the Southern Baptists elected as their president Dr. Frank Page, 53, pastor of First Baptist Church, a megachurch in Taylors, S.C.
Page was chosen over two more familiar candidates. The SBC, the second largest Protestant denomination in America with 16 million members, has been holding its annual convention this week in Greensboro, N.C.
Page’s supporters view him as more inclusive than the ultra-conservative power-brokers who have been running the denomination in recent years. This year, the Baptists have been arguing over policies regarding speaking in tongues and baptism, and for the first time, such denominational in-fighting spilled over to the blogosphere.
Bloggers are credited with maneuvering Page past the SBC’s powers-that-be and into the presidency, according to several media reports (see Time Magazine, or Nashville Tennessean).
Leading the Baptist blogging brigade is Wade Burleson, pastor of in Enid, Okla., and two-time president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Burleson is a trustee of the SBC’s International Mission Board.
The IMB oversees a and supports more than 5,000 missionaries around the world.
Recently, the IMB has been embroiled over new policies which would exclude a missionary from IMB support if he admits to using a charismatic prayer language in his private prayer time, even if he does not promote tongues-speaking publicly. Another disputed policy would exclude a missionary who was baptized by a “non-qualified” (translation: non-Baptist) baptizer.
Burleson opposes such policies, and he really provoked the ire of his fellow IMB trustees when he made his grievances public on his blog, , which he began publishing last December.
Through his blog, Burleson became a hero of many Baptists nationwide who disagree with policies that are viewed as legalistic and even mean-spirited. Several Baptists encouraged Burleson to seek the convention’s presidency this year.
Instead, Burleson persuaded Page to run. Page, hinting at how things may be different under his leadership, called for a “new tone” in the denomination. “I believe in the word of God.
I’m just not mad about it,” Page said.
Burleson has no question blogging is what propelled Page to the presidency. Blogging today about the election upset, Burleson wrote ( ):
One of the questions that kept being repeated over and over again is whether or not I believed blogs played a role in this election.
I said, “Absolutely.” Baptist bloggers in 2006 may well go down in history as the first time bloggers actually determined the outcome of a national religious/political election
I’m not a Baptist, and you may not be either. Burleson’s blog is a good place to turn for a peek at the fussing that goes on in that denomination.
In the inaugural post of his blog, Burleson wrote last December ( ):
I am a Southern Baptist. I will be a Southern Baptist until the day I die. I am a conservative.
I will cooperate with other conservative evangelicals until the day I die. I fought one war to rid our convention of liberalism. I am prepared to fight another war to rid our convention of legalism.
You know, what? I’ve often wondered how my life might have gone differently if I had been born to a Baptist family, raised in a Baptist church and schooled at a Baptist seminary. The independent Christian churches I have been a part of since childhood don’t hold a candle to the Baptists so far as educational institutions, infrastructure, church pastorate opportunities, and funding.
I admire many things the Baptists do, and I love them as the Christian brothers they are.
But when I hear about their constant squabbling – or, in Burleson’s own words – warring that goes on among them, I think, “Thank God I’m not a Baptist.”
However, as a non-Baptist looking in on the church next door, I also thank God for the Baptist bloggers who have hopefully pointed their churches in a healthier direction, away from the hard-hearted legalism and nitpicking they are increasingly known for.
And all the people said, Thank God for bloggers. is up, hosted this week by NerdFamily.com (no kidding).
It’s been a while since Terra Extraneus participated in the weekly Christian blog carnival, but I thought Rod’s interesting piece on deserves a wider audience, so we submitted that piece.
There are about three dozen articles in Christian Carnival 126, covering topics including universalism, homosexuality, growing old, the estate tax, tithing, tattoos, Hollywood’s anti-Christian bias, marriage, intermarriage, and divorce and “fat head Christian leaders.” Take a look.
Posted by Terry Hull on June 14, 2006 to My previous post is a review of Dustbury, one of Oklahoma’s best blogs, written by the inimitable Charles G. Hill. I intended to post that review to coincidence with Hill’s World Tour 06, which began two days ago on June 12.
Every summer Hill gasses up the car and hits the road to look for America. He burns 4,000 to 5,000 miles of highway exploring what he can in two to three weeks. Best of all, Hill invites his Dustbury readers to come along as he blogs each day from the road, complete with occasional photos.
Dustbury archives contain the reports from World Tours 2001-2005. On those various expeditions, Hill has traveled NW to Montana, N to North Dakota and Minnesota, NE as far as Maine, E to Virginia, SE to Georgia and S to Texas and Louisiana. Hill has a preference for the slower highways and out-of-the-way locations.
His tours have mostly taken him back and forth across the Great Midwest and Deep South. Writes Hill:
I’ve traveled to forty-two states … I’ve driven enough miles to reach half a dozen times around the world. Even in the cases where I can’t say “Done that,” I can still often say “Been there.
”
For World Tour 06, Hill mapped out a southbound route to Florida and back. For the first leg, Hill left OKC on Monday headed SE down Highway 3 toward Texarkana. He got as far Coalgate, Oklahoma, 114 miles from home, when World Tour 06 came to an abrupt halt.
I love Hill’s idea of driving the smaller highways. It’s not just about avoiding the traffic and tolls, but about taking your time and actually seeing America rather than just racing past it. Driving those old highways is like traveling back in time.
Rural America along the old state highways hasn’t necessarily changed a whole lot in the last 50 years or so.
But small rural highways are not without hazards of their own. In particular, there is the wildlife.
Just outside Coalgate, Hill had a collision with a deer. Bambi is dead. So is .
Hill is apparently OK, although I think he’s still in shock. He’s back home, and he’s kept right on blogging, but he has had surprisingly little to say about his disappointing turn of events.
You’ve got to understand, this is the biggest news to hit Dustbury in a long time.
For one thing, Hill is the kind of guy who gave his car a name and wrote a to “her,” a Mazda 626 LX, when he first brought her home back in 2000. Yesterday, he posted a terse three-paragraph note titled,
Furthermore, the World Tour must be about the biggest event of the year on the Dustbury activities calendar, so it must be a crushing blow to Dustbury’s citizenry for the tour to be canceled. In a post this morning, Hill comments on the Dodge Stratus rental he’s driving now:
This is the bottom-feeder of the line, with a nothing-special four-banger driving the front wheels.
It s an acceptable grocery-getter, but not the least bit amusing to drive, and while the seats are better than average, their adjustment range doesn t include any position in which I m comfortable.
Charles, we sure are sorry about your bad news. Sorry for you, and sorry for the rest of us, too.
I was looking forward to being a vicarious participant in my first Dustbury World Tour, and hoped to bring a few TerraX readers along for the ride. But we’re glad you’re OK, and hopeful that there will be plenty more World Tours to come.
Posted by Terry Hull on June 14, 2006 to , Have you ever visited Dustbury, Oklahoma?
Dustbury is a very real place just down the information highway, an unusual little world with a permanent population of 1. One eccentric, witty, irreverent, self-deprecating old coot named Charles G. Hill.
is one of Oklahoma’s most popular blogs; it was voted the best-written blog in the . I’ve been following Dustbury for a while now. I enjoy it a lot, and I added Dustbury to TerraX’s “Best of Okla.
Blogs” some time ago.
Dustbury’s mayor, chief citizen and resident sage is Charles G. Hill, a middle-aged computer guru slash homespun philosopher.
Hill has two adult children, two grandchildren and an ex-wife. Why hasn’t he remarried? “The level of desperation reported to exist among contemporary women is highly exaggerated.
” Hill writes about many things, almost everything, including frequent observations about being single in the second half of life. Last week he wrote:
“Alone,” of course, does not equal “lonely.” But I ve always believed that there’s a reason besides mere etymology that they share most of their letters.
Hill remains an Oklahoma Democrat long after most of the state has converted to GOP-ism. Sometimes he writes about politics, state and national, but he also serves up an eclectic mix of news, philosophy, music, poetry, computer tech notes – and a thousand other subjects. Among the numerous choices on the Dustbury menu is “The Vent,” a weekly column Hill has been writing for the last 10 years.
That makes 488 Vent columns to date, and those columns alone make a drive to Dustbury worth the gas.
Hill is an eccentric. He still has his e-mail archives dating back to 1994.
He has worn the same Casio watch for more than 25 years. He can tell you, in case you were wondering, the mathematical average of all of the zip codes at which he has ever lived. And, if you believe everything he says, at home Hill lives pretty much in the nude (Charles, too much information!
), although he assures us that he suits up to do his lawn work.
Where is Dustbury? Hill is an Oklahoma City resident, but Dustbury is not confined to the city limits.
“We want ritzy suburbia, but we know how hard it is to shake off the red clay of the country. Upscale, but still possessed by poverty: call it Dustbury the dream home on the edge of nowhere.”
Here’s a short and clever 1997 piece introducing Dustbury, in which Hill manages in a few paragraphs to touch on the Trail of Tears, the Oklahoma Land Run, the Dust Bowl days, mentioning John Steinbeck and Walt Whitman along the way, and taking the obligatory potshot at the Daily Oklahoman.
This isn’t at all a bad place to be. The sun shines most of the time, and the feeling is laid-back; while wages are definitely on the low side, the cost of living is not disproportionately high; and for every single example of Oklahoma stupidity and venality you see in the media, I can show you a dozen examples of Oklahoma brightness and kindness. I ve done a stint on the Left Coast and one on the Right, but just about half my life has been spent here among the Sooners, and for the most part, we get along just fine.
Dustbury’s archives go back to 2002, but the site contains articles dating back more than a decade, salvaged from previous Hill websites, and the site boasts: “founded: April 9, 1996.” Reading Dustbury is the kind of non-linear experience that exemplifies the way the Internet is supposed to work – but almost never does. A Dustbury visitor glances through Hill’s FAQ, where he clicks on a hyperlink to “mysterious people,” which mentions “She Who is Not To Be Named,” which clicks to another page that offers a poignant account of a heartbreak.
And no buttons or links back or forward to any other page except the homepage. So the reader is forced to click back to where he started, ready to take another ride. Before long the Dustbury visitor has started several articles and finished none, doesn’t remember where he began or everything he has seen along the way – but he enjoyed the trip.
There’s nothing fictional about Dustbury. It may not be on the map, but it has a very real URL address, and I recommend a visit. The site gets more than 800 visitors a day, and has had more than 1 million visitors since 1999.
Dustbury offers literally thousands of pages of good reading, with more served fresh daily. Dustbury is what a blog can become, when a talented writer with a keen wit pours his life into its creation for several years. As Michael Bates over at says, “Dustbury is the epitome of a blog … By comparison, other blogs are mere shadows on the wall of a cave.
” Posted by Terry Hull on June 12, 2006 to Entertainment Weekly has listed the No. 1 on the list: The Passion of the Christ. Other Christ-related movies on the list include The Last Temptation of Christ (No.
7) and The Da Vinci Code (No. 13).
Other movies on the list include: A Clockwork Orange, JFK, Aladdin, Fahrenheit 9/11, United 93, and the 1915 silent classic, Birth of a Nation.
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