In the comments of my last post, Chris and I began talking about the under-utilization (or waste) of church property. This reminded me of a conversation I was recently having with Kathy where I concluded that when I died, I wanted a simple funeral pyre… like the Vikings had.

We were working in the food pantry garden which is in the rear property of an old Methodist church in our community, directly adjacent to the church’s cemetery. I looked at the modest 25′ x 25′ garden that was allocated by the church and compared it with the vast cemetery and open space (probably reserved for future burials) and thought “what a waste”.

Now it’s great that they have even allocated the small space we have, I’m certainly grateful for that, but the fresh produce that is harvested is gone within the first couple of hours the pantry is open. Many (most) of the recipients would love to get some of that harvest (and probably nutritionally need it) but alas, its gone by the time their number is called. Wouldn’t it be great to quadruple the garden so that there’d be enough fresh produce for all of the recipients?

Our old church owned 7 acres. The church building itself was small, there was a modest parking lot, but the majority of the land sat unused. Congregational giving was used to maintain the property, cut grass plant flowers etc. Was that the best use?

Burials are another thing… What’s the point? We were at the funeral of a family member recently. Saw this huge cement vault in the ground where the heavy duty casket was lowered into… man, it’s going to last for a long long time… and we’re worried about Styrofoam in landfills….? I don’t know man…. seems like the whole cemetery thing isn’t really being a good steward of God’s Creation.

Me?… pile up some logs, throw me on top, toss a match, finito. If you really want to get fancy build the pyre on a raft and float it out on a lake or something… I’d even go for taking my body down to some third world country where there’s no laws about disposing of bodies and throw me out in a field for scavengers to clean up… or mushrooms to grow on or something….

Whatever it is… no redisual footprint.

Children seen engaging in unregulated homefeeding

In the upcoming election one of the ‘hot topics’ is government sponsored health care. I was recently digging through my archives and discovered this old chestnut which I think is still relevant in regards to that topic.

Homefeeding Children: Threat or Menace?
By Lydia McGrew
June 12, 2002

(Editor’s Note: The following editorial originally appeared in the June 6 edition of the Midwestburg Courier-Gazette.)

The recent tragic death from malnutrition of seven-year-old Johnny Marfan of Bensonville draws our attention to the growing trend toward so-called “homefeeding.”

While the majority of the local children still receive their nutrition from state cafeterias or approved, registered private cafeterias, a growing minority of parents - hundreds by some estimates - are engaged in homefeeding, a practice in which children receive at least breakfast and dinner in their own homes as provided by their parents.

In accordance with law, the Marfans informed the state health department that they were homefeeding Johnny. But in this state, homefeeding is relatively unregulated, giving carte blanch to parents to feed their children virtually any food under the sun; meat, milk, cookies, butter, pie - anything goes.

Some states require parents to have a certified degree in nutrition or at least be monitored by an accredited nutritionist. But here, parents do not even have to fill out periodic reports detailing what they are feeding their children.

Opponents of homefeeding argue that parents like the Marfans used homefeeding as a cover for abuse and neglect, with terrible results. While this remains in question, we’ve seen nothing to disprove this.

Calista Nicole-Carson of the state Department of Cafeterias and Caloric Monitoring says, “I realize that there are conscientious parents who genuinely try to feed their children what they need. But they should have no objection to filling out the forms we are introducing, describing each of the meals they give.”

That seems a reasonable step in safeguarding our most precious resource - our children. “Pro-active steps are necessary to insure we are protecting all children,” says Nicole-Carson. “It is ridiculous not to monitor what all children are fed because of a misguided concern for ‘privacy’ or ‘freedom,’ and such lack of regulation allows children to slip fatally through the cracks.”

Other critics are concerned about parents’ lack of necessary qualifications. “Every year we make new nutritional discoveries,” says Dr. Sue d’Panzoff of the University of Omasota. “Parents cannot possibly keep up with each breakthrough in nutritional science and give their children these benefits.”

It’s preposterous for us to leave such vital functions to amateurs who claim authority based on something as flimsy as parenthood, particularly in the realm of keeping pace with nutritional advances.

“Who knows what changes we may need to make next year to improve children’s nutrition,” asks d’Panzoff. “At a minimum, homefeeding programs must be carefully monitored in the domicile to make sure all the latest advances are represented.”

Still others point out the social skills homefed children are missing. Ms. Nicole-Carson tells us, “During meals at the public cafeterias, these children watch educational videos about crucial subjects like the environment, sex, and the evils of capitalism. The food itself is culturally diversified, and each day the children are taught a different set of table manners from another culture around the world.”

Homefeeders rely in large part on outmoded history in defending their decision to place their own children out of the mainstream.

“As recently as 1992, the majority of children in the United States were homefed,” says Philip Flicka, of the right-wing Home Food Legal Defense Association. “Even when kids went to school, they were allowed to bring lunches packed by their moms.”

Whether Mr. Flicka is right or not, it seems that homefeeding is here to stay, consequences be damned. But we cannot be too vigilant. Homefeeders of good will should, as Ms. Nicole-Carson says, be entirely open to having their homes and programs monitored by qualified nutritionists for the good of our children.

Any small amount of time and privacy this costs parents will be more than repaid in lives saved. If the Marfans had been properly monitored, Johnny would still be alive.

There is nothing more valuable than the life and safety of a child, and for that reason, strictures on homefeeding must be tightened in this state.

Copyright 2002, the Midwestburg Courier-Gazette.

Buddy and Bo at Masters of Metal

After our awesome time a couple of weeks ago at the Rush concert, Bo and I had a great opportunity to go to yet another great concert last night. A friend at work had tickets to the “Metal Masters” concert which was headlined by Judas Priest and Heaven and Hell (Original members of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio singing - Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Carmen Appice) with Motörhead and Testament opening up. Turns out he had to go out of town with family so he gave me the tickets! The seats were awesome, 8 rows up from the floor.

I went to a ton of concerts when I was young. That was back when you could get great seats for $18, lawn seats were only $10 (man I sound old) but those days are long gone. Even with all the concerts I went to there were plenty of all time greats that I never got to see. Rush was one [check] Black Sabbath was another [check] and Motörhead was another [check]… It’s been great to share these experiences with my son. These two concerts have really taken our relationship to a different place.

Motörhead (click to enlarge)

I was a bit worried about this one. I mean Rush was one thing, but Motörhead and Preist was going to be a different kind of crowd. I was pleasantly surprised. The people were awesome. Sure there was the occasional blurt of language and a frequent waft of “sweet Jamaican pipe dreams” (to quote Rush) but folks were just genuinely good people. Several people approached us and talked with Bo and I saying how great it was to see a father and son hanging out together.

But it got even better. Shortly after Judas Priest started, a security guard approached me. He had noticed that Bo was having a little difficulty seeing and asked if we’d like to come down to where he was and stand so he could see better. This was awesome, we were able to stand on the steps leading down to the floor level.

Heaven and Hell (click to enlarge)

About 30 seconds after we were there, this scruffy dude comes up the isle in a torn up Motörhead t-shirt and asks me if “that’s your kid”. After responding in the affirmative, he hands me 2 tickets and says “here, take take these, they’re row 6 center have a blast”. I couldn’t believe his generosity.

Well after the concert we were making our final ‘pit stop’ and there were a group of 20 somethings that had a few too many $10 beers. They were regaling with one another about the concert. Sharing in boisterous fashion the virtues of the show they had just shared… every other word started with F.  The only fowl language we had really heard came from either the stage or that group in the bathroom, but honestly I was sort of glad for it a a weird way. I mean that’s the world Bo is going to have to grow up in. Honestly, I’ve been at posh corporate events where the language was far worse than this “Metal Masters” concert.

Judas Priest from row 6 (click to enlarge)

In the car on the way home Bo and I talked about this. We talked about the language and that as nice as those folks may have been, it really give a very “trashy” impression. I asked him about those guys in the restroom and what impression their language portrayed about them. I asked how he’d feel if folks got that impression about him without getting to know him, just by how he talked…  It was all good.

The best part is that he got to see real people. He got to see that folks that may be a bit rough around the edges on the outside can be pretty great people. He learned about not judging folks, about seeing peoples hearts and not being turned off by exteriors…. me too….

I think a lot of churches could learn quite a bit from Motörhead fans…