We had a nasty surprise this week.  When Maria went into the bathroom for her shower, she found that fresh sewage had floated up the clogged floor drain.  Our floor was covered with the nastiest filth you'd never hope to see.  It was not a good place for a shower, or much of anything else.  When your pipes stop carrying stuff away, bad things build up and back up.
The world marveled at Michael Phelps' diet as he prepared for the Olympics.  The amount of food he ate every day was overwhelming.  His breakfast, alone, was more than most people down in an entire day.  But that food did not just sit in Phelps' gut.  It flowed through is arteries, coursed through his muscles, and built one of the greatest athletes in the word's history.
Examples like these have led me to a simple rule to cover all of life:  Large intake + large output = success
I can think of many examples where this holds true, but it's your turn.  What do you think?  Where does this work?  Where does it fail?  How do you use this in your own life?

 . . . Steve Taylor, "The Lament of Desmond G Underwood"

Last night, Maria told me that when she was in college,  their class took a field trip into some desolate area for purposes we never discussed.  While she was there, in a scene straight of some creepy thriller movie, an old woman walked straight up to Maria, grabbed her palm, and predicted my future wife's future.  There was some unimportant stuff about great riches and a Nobel Prize, but the real IMPORTANT part was that she'd be a widow at an early age.  Now, I'd certainly like to hunt down that woman  and read her the riot act about how rude it is to predict the death of people you don't even know, but I doubt she understands English and my Cebuano isn't good enough to read anyone the riot act.  Frankly, what with accumulating visa paperwork, collecting letters of reference for future work, and holding down a job to support our family of 15, I don't need this.

So, has a creepy old woman from the middle of nowhere ever predicted your death?  How did it turn out?

Back in college, one of the few recreational activities nearby was the slightly illegal practice of cliff jumping.  It was legal up until the time the park service came up and told you to stop.  Since I didn't make rude noises, have hair in strange places, scratch myself like other college guys, my roommate figured I'd be too scared to jump off a cliff.  So I engaged in inane banter until he put up a sufficient wager and then, on behalf of band geeks everywhere, jumped off his stupid cliffs.  Good times

So, half a lifetime later, Maria dragged me to a river to go swimming on some family outing.  We had good food and cool running water.  We also had cliffs.  I might have casually mentioned once or twice that I'd jumped off higher places than that.  Somehow, her brother got the idea that I was hankering to do it again.  I figured I had a big enough audience just going around shirtless.  People here don't generally glow in the dark.  But, Kuya Mike pointed to the big rocks and I felt compelled to climb up to the top.

So, just to highlight the difficulty, I did showed everyone how slippery the bottoms of the rocks were.  I did finally manage to find a high ledge offering a good view of the water below.  It was a fine sunny day, and I decided to recline on the rocks and enjoy the view until my legs got a little less wobbly.  Everyone along the river seemed to be quite interested in my sunbathing position.  I did occasionally stand up to take some deep breaths and gaze at the water.  Some crazy people actually leapt off the rocks into the water below.  I was marginally aware of some marginal laughter and animal noises from people nearby, but was determined to focus on the beauty of God's creation.  I reflected on the wonder and fragility of life, how it could be senselessly snuffed out by any freak accident, such as jumping off a cliff with wobbly legs and not getting clear of the rock.  After awhile, it occurred to me that, fine as the day was, I had 4 hours to get to Manila to church.  So, I just hopped down. 

Seriously . . . what is it about fear?  I knew it was safe.  I had done it before.  But for some reason, when I got to the top, I couldn't bring myself to jump.  Fear, rational or not, can be paralyzing.  I knew I would, eventually, jump.  So I stayed on that rock for a stupidly long time until it passed.  I guess the lesson is that faith overcomes fear.