Three Wishes

The other night, while sitting at the dinner table, my daughter asked the question, after having watched Aladdin for the first time just a few days earlier, if you had a magic lamp and genie, what would your three wishes be? Now this is a very common question that people ask, sorry if like "What would you do if you won the lottery" but it's still a fun one to explore.

My response was that my first wish would be for $2,000,000,000, to which my wife responded "Why not just wish for a bottomless bank account that refills every time you use it?" She's smarter than me. So I modified my first wish to that. My second wish was to have every superpower possessed by any and every comic book superhero. My third wish was ...

May The Fourth Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day everyone! I hope you are celebrating by wearing Star Wars clothes/eating Star Wars food/watching Star Wars movies, etc... I am planning on doing all of the above.

I have loved Star Wars for as long as I can remember. I was a 9 year old boy totally freaked out by the torched bodies of Uncle Ben and Aunt Beru in A New Hope. I would play Star Wars trivial pursuit with my friends, and we all knew so much about Star Wars that we required word perfect answers to the questions (I remember getting a question wrong because I answered "a asteroid" instead of "an asteroid"). I collected all form of Star Wars paraphernalia and remember saving Taco Bell cups because they had Star Wars characters on them (yes, I was a bit odd). As a teenager I dressed up as a Jedi with my friends and attended midnight openings of Episodes I-III. I attended midnight openings of Episode VII and Rogue One (though sadly not Episode VIII, it was sold out, and I had to wait a bit to see it). I own all of the movies except for Episode VIII, which I believe is in the mail for me. Star Wars was important to me growing up. I loved it. I still do.

The Force

It's the 4th of May, Star Wars Day, so I thought I'd write a bit about The Force today.

The Force is the energy, power, life force within the Star Wars universe, that is in and around everyone and everything. Certain beings draw power from The Force while alive and every living thing becomes a part of The Force when they die. The Jedi and Sith are capable of using/controlling/manipulating The Force, in the case of the Jedi, to selflessly protect and defend and promote peace, in the case of the Sith, to selfishly pursue personal gain and power by any means necessary, including destruction and death. The Force is what allows Jedi and Sith to wield lightsabers efficiently, dodge blaster rifles, levitate, read/control minds, move objects, have advanced senses and reflexes, etc... It is essential to life in major and minor ways. It drives the stories of Star Wars.

Things I Learned From Racing a Train

Wednesday was Zac's birthday, and as part of his 5th birthday celebrations we went to the Zoo and the Children's Fantasy Garden at the Botanic Garden. There is a train that connects the two, which are about 1.5 miles apart, and runs alongside the bike trail. Upon our return trip to the Zoo Manda suggested that I run the trail and see who gets back first, the train or me. I decided to take up the challenge, and in the process I learned a few things.

When Mustard Moves Mountains

What are you confident of? What are you absolutely sure of? What do you hold in your life as a rock on which you can stand secure, unwavering?

Now, what are you unsure about? What do you doubt? What leaves you with unsteady footing?

Have those two ever met in your life? Have doubts and uncertainty ever crept into those things that you have always been sure of? Has something you once doubted now become your firm foundation?