Elvis, Gushing Water, and a Dead Squirrel

I was sitting in my garage earlier with a dead squirrel waiting for water to start spewing out of my washing machine drain pipe while reading Velvet Elvis thinking about life. I guess now that I have gotten the title explanation out there, I'll break it down.

The least relevant part is the dead squirrel. It came from my yard yesterday. Maggie's favorite game is squirrel chasing, and either she got one yesterday, or a poor sickly squirrel didn't know what a trophy he would become. Maggie carried it around very proudly until I got it bagged up and ready to take out with the trash tomorrow.

Next comes the gushing water. For about the past month to six weeks, my washing machine hasn't drained correctly. No amount of snaking, water pumping, or hoping has done much good. The drain just won't clear. I get to babysit the draining of the machine unless I want the water to end up all over the floor. I have some testosterone driven desire to fix it myself, and that isn't working out too well in the house these days.

The Elvis part comes from my most recent read, Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I have been on a big kick of reading lately. I have read everything from inspiring to entertaining to educational. Late last week, I finished another relatively long book that feel into the entertaining category. I wanted to get a quick read in before starting another book. Velvet Elvis has been sitting on my shelf for at least a year, and I hadn't gotten too far in it. It was one of the shortest books sitting on my shelf, so that is how it ended up making it to the top. I wasn't prepared for how challenging of a read it has proven to be. There is an awful lot in the book to sit and think about. Things that are right on the money....things that seem a little off base....things that are really off base.

Sitting on my garage floor reading the book, I was challenged to think quite a bit differently than I have for 27 years. I don't know that I consider Velvet Elvis a life changing read. I'm not done with it, so it still has a chance, but for now, I'd just rate it as a book worth reading for just about anyone who wants to do some thinking. It definitely has reminded me of some things. It has reminded me that I don't put myself out there to a challenge enough. I stay pretty comfortable. I like to know what I am getting into, and pretty much expect things to work out the way I have decided they should. It has reminded me that I have pretty much shaped my view of God, and I treat that shape as the complete form of Him without spending the time to let Him mold that shape. I trust Him as far as I have defined Him. It has reminded me of a lesson that keeps getting hammered into me lately that I need people and transparency in my life to keep me on the right path.

I spend a lot of time wishing a lot of things, while letting life get in the way. I idealize circumstances and think that doing the same old things slightly different ways should result in different outcomes. I get thrown when the results end up the same way. It is an insane cycle. I realize it very often, write about it quite a bit, and do something to alter the course too little.

Recent Playlist:
The New Year - The New Year
The Normals - Coming to Life
Yume Bitsu - Yume Bitsu
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Woven Hand - Ten Stones
Bob Dylan - Hwy 61 Revisited
Why? - Alopecia
Ghoti Hook - Two Years to Never
A Northern Chorus - Bitter Hands Resign
Gileah and the Ghost Train - Gileah and the Ghost Train
The New Year - Newness Ends
The New Year - The End is Near (Gotta get ready to see them tomorrow)
Suffering and the Hideous Thieves - Rats in Heaven
This Will Destroy You - Young Mountain
Lackthereof - Your Anchor
Robert Deeble - Days Like These
David Crowder Band - Remedy
Sonic Youth - Goo
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans