The Price of Faith

Note: significantly edited shortly after posting. I may share 

Belinda is pregnant and little baby Liam's arrival is expected on January 3.

As of Dec. 1, we will no longer have health insurance.

This isn't a plea for help. We're going to be just fine financially. That's just my hook to draw your attention to a moral question that Belinda and I have had to wrestle with over the last months.

There is no health insurance plan renewing after August 1, 2012 in the state of New York which will not cover abortion-causing contraception in full. Let me put it succinctly:

 If you have a health insurance plan in New York, you are paying for abortions.

That I cannot stomach.

What do you think? Is this a moral dilemma for you?



For those who are freaking out, we've found an excellent alternative to health insurance in a Christian cost sharing program called Samaritan Ministries.

Adds

So I'm thinking about adding ads to the blog, just to see if I can make any money. Readers, please tell my what you think! Are the ads distracting? Is your experience with free convection significantly better with or without the ads?

Right now I'm using the sidebar, but I could put a box at the bottom of the first post instead (or both). Any thoughts on the location?

Peace.

a job

I was surprised the other day when a friend in conversation asked if I ever thought about coaching gymnastics again.  And I hadn't.  But then I started to.

And I wondered, "Maybe I could get a job coaching gymnastics right now."

Here's the thing about men's gymnastics:  It's not nearly as popular as girls'.

This means that there are less students, but also that there are less coaches.  And for gyms, the latter seems to be more of a problem.  When you have a quality coach who is dedicated, you can generally build a good men's program.  Parents can send all of their children to the gym at once instead of just the girls.  The joy of a single drop-off and pick-up location for all 2.5 kids!  Soccer moms everywhere rejoice.

The other thing is that most programs have their programs set on a schedule similar to the school calendar.  So, I knew going in to the process of looking for a coaching job that I would probably find a lot of people who would really want to hire me... for the summer or fall.

Really, what are the chances that I would walk into a gym and they would be in desperate need of a coach the next day?  If they didn't have a coach back in the fall, they would have adjusted their program to meet the abilities of their staff.

But, I called a bunch of area gyms anyway.  You never know until you try (which applies well in this case but is NOT an axiom that I would suggest applying to life's circumstances broadly).

Well, it turns out there were a bunch of people praying to a God who answers prayer.  I got calls back from a few places.  I set up two "interviews" for today.  The other place I talked to on the phone was trying to hire for summer and disappointed that I won't be around.  One of the two places I actually went to today said pretty much the same thing.  "Please give us a call if you've ever around more permanently."

The other place was The Victors Gymnastics & Cheerleading.  I saw the first half of Psalm 127:1 printed on their home page, so I suspected that the owners were Christians.  Turns out most of the staff is, too.  My 'interview' with the owner and head coach was mostly him telling me his testimony about how he was a successful businessman and God had completely taken everything away from him and his wife and then Jesus rescued them and they somehow started this gym from scratch with no money.  They see themselves as really being in a type of youth ministry, living the gospel, and they've seen God do really amazing things through it.  And not only that, but they're also really successful at gymnastics.

Well, it turns out that they used to have a really great boys team coach, but he left a few years ago and they haven't been able to replace him.  The boys' team has completely dissolved.  They have a few classes for younger boys, but the guy currently 'coaching' them has a background in cheer and tumbling, not gymnastics.  So those classes are mostly "let's go have fun throwing ourselves around in the gym" instead of "let's learn gymnastics."

So, the owner starts getting excited about employing me to actually coach gymnastics with these boys.  The problem is that I'm only around for 2.5 months.  But my secondary purpose is to also teach the current 'coach' a thing or two about gymnastics so that the program can continue to develop after I'm gone.  And if there is significant interest among the boys, they may look into hiring another men's coach again.

God is so good!  I start in two days, Monday night.  Miracles happen.

bread, discarded

This morning I threw the last two pieces of bread in the bag out the window onto the snow.  The ends: one crumpled, one whole.  They were stale.

This afternoon the crumpled piece was gone.  Why the crumpled piece, hungry animal?  Why the crumpled piece, and not the nice, flat slice of wheat staleness?

crazy question

Here's a crazy question that I came across at the Rabbit Room today.

Would you want to date yourself if you were not yourself and yourself was an option?

Alternatively, for the married folks out there, ask yourselves "Would I want to be married to me if I was not me and me was an option?"

I think this is a very difficult question to answer honestly.  It's also hard not to judge someone else answering it based on your own biases.

It sounds really conceited to say that I would date myself.  But if I can't say that, then does it mean I don't like myself?  I don't hate myself.  I certainly have at least my share of flaws, if not more.  So, I'm not sure if I would want to date  m a t t.  I'm glad I'll never have to make that choice.

I'm even more glad that someone I do want to date did make that choice.

a mean question

How do you feel about surprises?

That's my new favorite question to ask. And it really is a slightly mean thing to do to people. Because it is asked only to observe the reaction to the question. See, most people immediately think that there is some surprise, when the actual surprise is that there is no surprise at all.

Also, it can start very interesting conversations.

Apparently a bad surprise is getting a bucket of fish dumped on your head.
A good surprise? A bucket of money dumped on your head.

HT: Sarah

roses

Yesterday, I sat outside for almost four hours in 20 degree snowy weather.

And I loved every minute of it.

Actually, over 108,000 people paid real $ to sit outside in the snow yesterday for almost four hours, at the same time, in the same place, and 95% of them loved it.

The other 5% (by my own somewhat arbitrary rough estimation) were rooting for Michigan State.

Penn State clinched the Big Ten Championship and will be going to the rose bowl.

We're actually crazy.  Sports has made our nation crazy.  We pay incredible amounts of money, develop loyalties to teams that are stronger and longer lasting than our marriages, and sit outside in the snow.  Last weekend I sat outside in the rain, which is arguably worse, just to watch a bunch of 18 to 23 year old kids beat each other up in attempts to get a funny-shaped ball from one side of the field to the other.  Objectively, I'm insane.

But what can I say?  I love Penn State football.  I know the player's names (which are not on their jerseys!).  I remarked yesterday how much I'm going to miss this year's senior class, as if they're my buddies or something.  

Did I mention that we're going to the Rose Bowl?  (Yes, "we")

And yes, that is Navorro Bowman with a rose sticking out of his helmet, standing in front of a banner welcoming snow.

HT:  BSD

debates

Today I am both in a funk, and wearing shoes.
Two questions:

1. Which came first, the shoes or the funk?
2. Is there grace where there is no sin? (is creation an act of grace?)

storage units

In response to my previous post, I was once asked, "Would you rather be a cloud or a capacitor?"

I realized, they're pretty much the same thing.

sound or potential

Would you rather be a tuba or an acorn?