48 Hours to Solve World Poverty

My daughter, (and about a million or so other daughters and sons) loves the show, "24". Somehow the hero, Jack Bauer, saves the world, the nation, etc within a 24 hour time frame. Fantastic! (Still, my standard hero is MacGyver, he'd save the the situation within the 30 seconds it took him to defuse the bomb with a paper clip). But even these guys never solved world hunger, world poverty in any amount of time given them.

So what can I possibly achieve by traveling across the Atlantic to a former soviet bloc country to work for 48 hours on a house for a poverty stricken Hungarian family. Will it really make a difference?

There is the well worn parable of the small boy walking the beach and throwing back into the sea starfish after starfish. A wiser person approaches and sees the hundreds of starfish stranded by the low tide, and the young boys futile efforts to save them. He says to the boy, "This is foolish, you'll never make a difference, there are too many." To which the boy replies as he chucks another toward the receding ocean, "It makes a difference to this one."

And that is true. There is a small humble family in a rural city in north-eastern Hungary that will have their lives impacted significantly by the work I do in the 48 hours I actually work on their new house.

I also like to live the words from a Garth Brooks song,

I hear them saying you'll never change things

And no matter what you do it's still the same thing

But it's not the world I'm changing, I'll do this

So this world we know never changes me

What I'll do is so this world will know that it will not change me

We are all hit with a deluge of dispair and cynicism each day, but I firmly believe that taking positive steps on our own we can keep ourselves from going under.

And yet, there is a much simpler reason. There is no goal to attend, to problem to solve. No destination to reach in my life. I do this because Jesus told us to show love to one another. I like the way Oswald Chambers covers this lesson.

What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see "Him walking on the sea" with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see "Him walking on the sea". It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.

In a little more than 48 hours from when I publish this, I'll be near my destination. Adventure awaits those that follow the cross.

Gotta Love Craigslist

I have this idea in my head that I should collect cute, funny, and off the wall ads from Craigslist. Some of the ads are too good to even make up. Tonight I am looking thru some random ads and found this:

My "HEN" started crowing and is now a Rooster. Must get rid of him as I can not have one in the city limits. Please come and take him. He is a georgeous friendly bird and will make a great pet. Need to find a home quickly. Please do not inform me if you plan to have him for dinner, let me live in my own world and believe that he will live out his life on a happy farm.

Fishless Again

I have never been known as a great fisherman. I am a great pole holder, but when it comes to pulling in the gilled critters, not so great.  That being said, once I get set up, and can relax and enjoy the quietness of a lake, or small stream, it feels great.

There is some great fishing here in Colorado, but this state also has some strict residency hoops to jump through before they grant you a sport license. So I have had to wait out the 6 months. That was finally accomplished, and with some heavy prodding, read, "nagging" from my daughter, it took her out to one of the local city ponds.

No bites, no nibbles, no dinner.  What I did have was some neat time with my daughter and even in the middle of a large city, the water and the scene was relaxing.

Still, I tend to be results minded at times, and it would have been nice to bring home some tangible evidence of my time away from the computer.  Second thought, I really do need to get out the lake more often.

Point A to Point B

So, assuming I make it through all the airports, the customs check-points, and I'm still somewhat coherent, I still have to get from the Budapest airport to the hotel downtown.

I remember Paris had a metro train station right at the airport, and we stayed in a hotel directly above the metro stop, so aside from juggling the baggage on and off the train, I managed. That seems to not be the case for Budapest. There would be bus transfers to even get to metro.  Sleep deprived, jet lagged, strange language, strange alphabet, not going to happen.

One of the reasons I'd like to take the metro, is that there is a 48 hr pass you can buy that would allow me to easily explore the city once I get settled in, and I still might, it's just that I would have liked to have this first transportation expense included.

My team leader for this Habitat for Humanity mission has said that we should take the taxi. She says they charge a flat rate, they have an easy access kiosk in the airport terminal. But there is really one thing I hate worse than foreign metro/bus systems, and that is a foreign taxi.  Sure, they say they have English speaking drivers, (which is big, because we don't have that in America) but I don't know how to whistle real loud, and I'm just a country boy in the big city.

Suck it up Daley.  I know, I know.

Lets Get Naked

The trend for naked bikes got it start with penny pinching riders trying to get a good deal on a used motorcycle. They'd pick up a deal off the classifieds because the bike had been in a small tangle with the pavement. The factory furnished fairing and side covers were missing, or badly scarred, so it was ridden that way. The broken pieces were cut cleanly off, and the the reverse side modified to match. And so the bike was down to the bare essentials, and it looked cool.

This was different from the "Rat Bike" look. This was purposeful, not from neglect. Not making repairs to barely keep it running, but often tuned to take advantage of the lighter machine. The Naked Bike, the street fighter look.   Manufacturers took notice, and they came up with their own version of off the production line "naked", but it is not the same.

Bikes are now being turned into naked bikes not just because they are busted up. My nephew bought a perfectly good looking older bike, and turned it into a naked bike. Guess he didn't appreciate the retro look. Two tone, straight line stripes just said, "Hey, look, my uncle gave me this bike cause he hasn't ridden it in 20 years." Nope, strip it down and paint it flat black and now your bike is bad-ass. No embarrassment called for.

I've never been one for that look. Well, let me back up.  I am not one to ride a bike with that look. It's just too, too naked. Windshields, fairings, etc have good purpose. I like the comfort. I bought a naked BMW 500/5 bike in high school (no, it wasn't vintage then) and the first thing  I did was put on a full Windjammer fairing. I loved the convenience of the saddle bags. Call me a wimp.

On the other hand, I do like a good looking bike. So, after putting over a hundred thousand miles on my Kawasaki, I want to dress it up a bit for the next 100K. How about a custom paint job.

My daughter's boyfriend is pretty handy with the air-brush and wants to practice his skills. So I tore off all my plastic, and sent it over to see what he can come up with. I ride this bike to church, so maybe alot of naked biker babes would not be best for this machine, but I could go with a Star Trek theme. Something subtle like Borg symbols, stars, painted on rivets, and techno pieces. Could work. Be real cool if I can replace the wheels with the spoke-less wheels that junior Jim Kirk had on his bike in the latest Trek movie, but that is not in the budget this time.

If you like that idea, what till you see what he has planned for the matching helmet....

"This is Exciting"