On Responsibility

So last week we stayed in a hotel for 2 nights in Rochester, NY, while we helped my brother move back into college.
One of the first things i noticed when we got to the room was a little envelope on the table.
Here is a picture of it.




If the people seen on the streets of Rochester are any clue to demographics, Patty is probably a middle-aged single mother struggling to make ends meet.
And she has, by signature, claimed to be here to clean up my life's messes.
Or at least, whatever mess i make of that particular hotel room.


Let me tell you a story.
I've told it here before.
In Luke 16, Jesus told his disciples about a rich man and his servant.
This particular servant was in charge of managing the rich guy's money.
However, the servant had not been a good manager and had wasted his master's money.
So Rich Guy gives the notice that the servant is going to be fired.
Knowing that he is not going to survive well in the world of toilsome labor, the servant has to drum up a way to creek by after he's let go from the firm.
So he goes around to his soon-to-be-former master's debtors- the people that owe him money- and changes all their bills.
He knows that he's going to be fired, so he has nothing left to lose.
Now his master will be even more angry at him, BUT he'll have made friends and collected favors from people in the town.
That way, when he's in need, he only has to remind someone, "i gave you half your money back", and he's good for a few months.

Now, here's what happened:
"The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings." [luke 16:8&9]

Jesus is proposing that, since the wealth of this world is temporary after all, why not use it for something useful?
We can bless the people around us, and what we lose on earth is made up for many times over in heaven.

But He goes on to say:
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

We have responsibilities here.
In the grand scheme of things, there isn't a housekeeper who will gladly pick up our messes in exchange for some measly tips.
We have to be able to act in a way that is trustworthy to God, so that when we're done in our hotel room, we have a real place to stay.

More NY Recap

Yesterday i was too ridiculously tired to make a blog post, and i'm completely pooped today, too.
so i dont know how interesting this one will be.
Yesterday and today both consisted of dragging all around the city of Rochester, NY getting junk for my brother's second year at college.
We ate at a pretty good bbq place for lunch yesterday.
except the $7 sandwich i got was just big enough to make me more hungry.
I haven't had any time to do my homework cause i've been dragged around nonstop, and right now i'm rather miserable with a nasty headache and intense desire to pass out.

In my own life, i have discovered another justification for not moving away for college:
Currently, im at my aunt's house.
She lives about 10 minutes away from where my dad's family grew up in Schenectady, NY.
While we were going to the pizza place that has made my dad's favorite pizza since he was in highschool, he was driving around his old neighborhood... we looked at the house he grew up in, to which he remarked, "our house was really that small?"
He also found his old gradeschool, which appears to have been converted into an office complex, as well as his little league field.
He named off stores that haven't existed in a decade, some of which are still empty buildings in the dying town that used to be a bustle from General Electric's presence.
He rattled off the names of kids he grew up with- most of them ending with, "then we got into a fight and i never talked to him again"

In short, this is what i've decided.
I don't want to find myself in 30 years, driving down the streets of Dover and Somersworth, trying to remember all the times of my youth, recalling places i used to hang out with my friends.

I don't want to have fragments of memories, pieces of my life, attached to someplace that i no longer live in.
I don't want to move someplace new and have to make new friends, pushing my old ones out of my head to make room.
My life is pretty good right now; i don't need to escape to a new part of the country.

I don't like nostalgia.
Not because i don't like remembering the past- its good to go back sometimes and remember what life was like.
But sometimes it shouldn't exist in the first place.
The same way you should never have nostalgia about an ex-wife, i don't want to have nostalgia about where i used to live and the people i used to know.

Sure, you can point out all the flaws in my reasoning, but this makes sense to me.
I have a bunch more to talk about, but im gonna save it for sometime when i can think straight.
Like tomorrow or saturday night or something.

A Positive New York Blog

Since Freshman year, when i got a myspace account, i've documented every trip to the state of New York that my family has taken.
This consists of mostly the sad ramblings of a teenager stuck on Long Island in the confines of his grandmother's lonely-old-lady house.
This generally entails much talk of the latest unreasonable work that must be done during the already painful "vacation".

However, with my brother going to college in Rochester, NY, there is a new kind of New York Trip to document&183;
Though still family road trips, which are amongst the least favored of all activities, Rochester happens to be on the "good side" of the Empire State.

Long Island, where my grandma lives, is a veritable snob-fest.
We read a book in English class last year called The Great Gatsby, which fictionally documents a middle-class young man's experiences with the Rich and Famous in the vicinity.
The Island is only a few miles from Manhattan, and as such has a rather dense population.
Trees are few and far in between; the landscape is more-or-less grey from everything being paved.

Rochester, on the other hand, is in Upstate New York, only a couple-hour-drive from Buffalo, and a day trip's distance from Niagra.
Up and Downstate new york couldn't really be much different.
The swelter of Long Island gives way to the picturesque landscape of New England autumn, with gorgeous trees and temperate climate.
People are courteous on the streets unless you venture into the slums of the city.

But New York is still New York.
Not being at my Grandma's doesn't make up for the fact that i'm currently typing whilst crammed on the larger side of the 60/40 seats in my dad's Extended Cab F-150.
I'm leaning on two pillows to cover up the harsh protrusions of the door handle and windowframes, and in order to change my position I have to pull myself up from a hook on the seat.

Lack of Amenities aside, the good part about roadtrips in general is still here: being in a car.
8 hours is a long time, but nothing beats watching the road go by at 80 miles per hour for thinking, atrophying, and justifying long naps.

Besides bringing Dave all his junk for the year (dave flew up a couple days ago), my parents are making me do interviews at my brother's school and then at RPI, which is in Troy.
But i dont think i want to go to either school.
I'd rather just stick around home, where Uturn is going to grow, and where Kindle is going to get better at writing songs.
At the same time, i could let all the growing happen while i'm in college, and then just come back after i graduate.
But that doesn't seem like a good plan to me.

Trying to decipher the future seems pretty useless.
If i were to ask any adult right now if they had any inkling that they'd be where they are when they were deciding on college, i'd get a "no way, kid" answer.
I have absolutely no idea where i'll be, who i'll depend on, who'll depend on me, or what i'll be doing to support those dependencies in 5 years.
5 years and i'll be completely done with school.
I'll be entering the workforce as an eager wage-earner.
I'll be searching for a cheap apartment.

I just hope that i'll be where i'm supposed to be.


Anyway, my point was that driving makes me think.
Actually, movement in general makes me think.
When i talk on the phone i pace in circles.
It helps me to concentrate when my surroundings aren't constant.

But being on the road always lends itself to me thinking of the future and progression.
It makes me want to go out and lead my life, to get on with it.
To make an impact, to make a difference.
I want to go places, and not just physically.

I had a sheet of paper last year that i found this morning whilst rooting through my backpack.
On it i had written a bunch of thoughts that had come to me at random times, with intents to write blogs on some of them.
Almost the whole first side of the page was about roads.
One line read:
"Let's drag race down the straight and narrow"

Our walk with God is often paralleled with a road or path.
Jesus described this as the "narrow gate" which leads to a straight path that is difficult to stay on.

But i think that we can be competitive in our relationship with Jesus.
By that i mean that, as Christians, we can-and should- push each other to grow.
Beyond "accountability partners", which seems to entail keeping each other in check, almost passively, i'm talking about actively pushing each other, the same way you push each other on a sports team to work harder and longer.
Just like how people drag race each other on highways to get to the destination faster.

On Treasures

There's a MuteMath song that we've played at uturn a few times now.
It's called "You are Mine", and the first verse reads as such:

Everyone has their obsession
Consuming thoughts, consuming time
They hold high their prized possession
That defines the meaning of their lives

Now, being as how MuteMath filed a lawsuit with Warner Records a few years ago because they were being marketed as a christian band, it's not really clear if Paul Meany is talking about God or a girl.
BUT, we sing it as a worship song.

Anyway, the point of the song is that every person has something/s in their life that is a complete obsession-so much so that it determines how they act, how they carry out their life, and how they think and reason.

For many people, we can call that thing a relationship with some person or a group of people.
For many near-hopeless americans, it's money.
Others, even, spend their entire lives in the "Pursuit of Happiness", the elusive and tantalizing ideal brought forth in the Declaration of Independence.

Plenty of people are obsessed with things.
Here's some examples:
Beer Cans
Lawn Mowers
Children

Jesus had some good words to say about obsession:
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

The things we value most are tied into our emotions, our thoughts, and our actions.
When we value lawnmowers, we start collecting them and let them sit in our yard.

But when we value our place in heaven and our relationship with God, we start living in a Christ-like manner. We love each other. We witness to people. We plant churches.

Andy's neighbor is a moron.
We don't have to be.