March 12th!!! Here it is, almost the end of July! No wonder no one reads these things. They'd die from the entropy!

Now I AM a Production Manager. I have just wrapped my third film. None of them are completely through post-production, so I have nothing to show you, dear reader. I have been told they will be listed in IMDb as soon as possible, but none of them are, yet.

But that doesn't change the fact that I AM a Production Manager. It rocks! Now, I just have to start finding better and better paying gigs.

The Quotable Thumper

"If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say nothin' at all." I guess, since my career life is all doom and gloom, and it seriously affects the rest of my life, I have been living on that premise. At least subconsciously. I think laziness fits in there, too, as far as writing here on the blog goes. I've said a number of times lately that the old saying is true, "If you need something done, give it to the busiest person." I see now that the truth is that busy people have a momentum going, so they can achieve even more if pressed. Nonbusy people, on the other hand, don't have that momentum. Whether momentum is caused by their activities, or they pick up activities because of their momentum is a chicken-and-egg argument. My main point is that I experience this to be true in my case; I can't seem to get much done, and I blame being unemployed.

Now, fortunately, I am changing gears a bit. I am enrolled in the Lifton Institute for Media Studies, a new film institute based in Allen Park. I intend to study Production Management. It seems to be a logical path for me, having studied operations management and project management recently. Basically, I see it as the completion of my education in a few months' time, and connections to get into a real career. Given the past many months, this is a wonderful bright spot. Forward!

End of the Church Year

Well, here it is, the last Sunday in the Episcopal Church year. Next Sunday, November 30, is the first Sunday in Advent, which marks the beginning of the Church year. Advent is the four weeks before Christmas, the Advent or birth of Christ. Keeping all that in mind, let's look at what we're reading in the last Sunday after Pentecost, the feast of Christ the King. They all seem to foreshadow the season to come, and have some wonderful things to say about God.

The passages include Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 95:1-7a; Ephesians 1:15-23; and Matthew 25:31-46.

Ezekiel shows a God who is going to provide. Look at how many times in the passage it says "I will". A couple of times the phrase is, "I myself will", which is an emphatic construction. God will search, seek, rescue, feed, bind up, bring back, save, judge.

And this will all be for his sheep. Who are his sheep? Ezekiel talks about judging between fat sheep and lean sheep. The promises are for the lean sheep, the ones who have been abused, neglected, scattered, or have strayed.

The benefit of being one of these sheep can also be seen in the Gospel reading. Again, we see God judging, this time between the sheep and the goats. The sheep are the ones who have served those around them, the good Samaritans, if you will. Serving the least of those around you is the same as serving God. The goats are the same as the strong, fat sheep mentioned in Ezekiel. They have not served openly, but only with their own interests in mind.

Sheep need a shepherd. God will provide a shepherd in his servant David. A close reading of Scripture reveals that this refers to Jesus, the son of David. This shepherd will also be a prince among the people, who will be the people of one God. The Ephesians passage for today shows Jesus in this position already, a position "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named". Could you ask for a more effective shepherd? A more powerful shepherd? A more able shepherd?

Christ is indeed the Great King. It will be well worth being one of "the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand." Make no mistake, though; the Gospel passage talks about how God can tell who the sheep are, but works are not the way to salvation. Works should be the result of salvation. Salvation comes from believing in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture. Today's Scripture reveals a caring, concerned Savior, who will provide comfort for his people.

Purpose

Question of the day: Why do I have to endure these problems? Why can't life just become wonderful and get better from there?

There is a company called Despair, Inc. (despair.com) that gives us a glimpse of the other side of the motivational world. Instead of shiny posters offering uplifting, energizing slogans, their posters use pictures and words to say it like it really seems to many of us most of the time. Why is there a huge motivational industry? Because failure is so prevalent, disappointment is a constant experience, and life does not seem to just want to spontaneously erupt in goodness.
I went looking for Despair again today, having remembered one of their signs. It says, "It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others." Bleak. Depressing. Definitely a call for sympathy, I think. But keep your antidepressants to yourself. I have this amazingly undying optimism (could be a virus, even), and I love to spin all things positive-at least sooner or later. So as I wallowed in the thought that my life is only a warning, it occurred to me that that means someone else might BENEFIT by my mistakes (notice I did NOT say profit; there are plenty of those, too, however). Hopefully at least my children, as long as I am honest and open with them about the mistakes I've made. Perhaps others as well.

Yeah, I'd like to have a storybook life. But I am a teacher to the core, too. I love to share things I have learned myself. So it figures that I'd end up learning lots of "lessons" myself, so that I can turn around and teach others.

One thing I have definitely learned, though, is that people will only learn if they are motivated to do so. People living good, happy, trouble-free lives probably won't learn much from me. Why bother? You only become teachable when you want to be. The thing is that change is inevitable in this life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all figure out ahead of time what lessons we will need to have learned BEFORE we need them? Heh. Doesn't work that way. We don't pursue answers until the question occurs to us. Most of us don't question things when life is going well.

I don't know if anyone will read this any time soon, or any of my future postings, for that matter. But let me offer this. I have two favorite books, and I will recommend rereading them both many times. The first is "The Phantom Tollbooth", the source of this blog's name. It is the story of a young boy who is going through the motions of life, and wondering why he is never satisfied. He is then immersed in a world that has all the "right" motions, but they are very disjointed. He helps set them right, discovering the joy of "rightness" in the process. I bought it in the third grade, and still reread it about every other year.

The second book is the Bible. I went through a reading track that had me read through the entire Bible in a year, and managed to do it three years straight. There are a lot of lessons in there that aren't necessarily relevant to life all the time, but the more you read it, the more likely it is that you will be able to recall the lessons or stories when you need them most. And reading all the way through gives a continuity that can't be attained by reading a verse here and a verse there. I'm trying to get back on track again, doing only the New Testament this year, and hopefully the whole book next year.

Two great sources to learn from others' mistakes and trials. I'll offer what I can as a poor third.

And furthermore...

I kid you not. Not at all. I was driving the freeways of this doomed metropolis the other day, and saw a large semi driving along with a TOLLBOOTH on back! Really! Someone was in for some fun, but unfortunately it wasn't me. Oh well.