Last Friday I went out and bought some new headphones for my iPod. They were those kind that you stick in your ear. The ones that came with the iPod do not fit my ear very well. In the shopping process I quickly discovered that you can pay close to $100 for a set of earphones (is that a word?). My purchase came in much, much lower.

When I got home I was very pleased with the quality of the sound. The next step was to find a place for the old original set. That’s when I was struck with the number of unused and sometimes unusable wires I have around the house. Actually, they are not so much around the house as in a couple of drawers.

One of the main culprits to the wire mess is chargers. I’ve had three different cell phones over the years, and each one requires a different charger. So, two of the three chargers sit in this drawer with tips that do not fit anything and may never fit anything again. Yet, they live on as pieces of junk.

And then we have computer wires. Or should I say left over computer wires than snake through other wires in formations that scream of knots soon to be discovered. It is impossible to pull just one from the drawer. In fact, it’s pretty hard to not pull them all out at once even if you just have hold of one.

I have some old telephone wires mixed in, too. Before cordless (as opposed to wireless) phones arrived on the scene, it was not uncommon to have 20 or 30 foot lengths of phone line hooked to a phone or to the handset. Now those wires are all out of date and useless. The wires are just smaller snakes in the drawer, but no less of a tangle.

I should mention here that I’ve gone through several different stereos (old word for sound system), speakers, and various media players (never had an eight track, thankfully). The wires with their endless variety of jacks (phono, RCA, mini, etc.) seem to be enjoying the worthless life of leisure with the rest of the cables.

Now I find it interesting that I apparently have had no trouble ridding myself of all the phones, stereos, monitors, speakers, televisions, and other electronic junk, but I cannot seem to get myself to pitch the wires. So, in they go - the earphones that I will probably never again use. They will be in that drawer entwined with the other wires like a ball of nightcrawlers long after iPods become ancient history to be archived in a museum. Well, if you hear of a museum in need of an original set of iPod earphones, let me know.

Pastor B.

There’s nothing quite as uplifting for one’s ego as making the front cover of a magazine – especially a nationally distributed magazine. And so, with great Lutheran pride (you know – proud but not too proud) I’m pleased to announce I’m pictured on the front page of The Lutheran magazine.

Okay, it may not be a magazine that you find on the rack in the grocery store or a shop at the airport. It may not have the largest circulation in the world. Still, it’s a magazine that’s circulated in Lutheran circles all over the country.

Think about all the celebrities that grace the covers of magazines. Think about all the important people whose faces have starred back at us from a coffee table. Not just anybody gets to be on the cover.

So, I’ve truly made it to the big time. I’m right up there with the President, senators, rock stars and movie heartthrobs. I’m expecting a call from an agent any day now. I’ll try not to let the fame go to my head.

I know there are a few OSLC folk who get The Lutheran, and council members get one. There may be a few on the Ministry Opportunity Table. This issue is about the Churchwide Assembly.

Oh, and if you’re having difficulty finding me on the picture of about 1,000 people at the assembly, I’m in the fourth row below the center aisle about six people in. Even I can recognize that hairline.

Pastor B

What happens to those kids who can’t stop talking? You know, the students in class whose genetic code has them wired to chat in every situation. They can’t help it! It’s built in.

But do they grow out of it? Do the youthful talkers eventually mature beyond the need to be in constant conversation?

I learned the unfortunate answer to that at a Jazz at Five concert near the capitol this summer. Susan and I brought over camp chairs and a picnic to enjoy some interesting music. About 20 feet in front of us two couples had rented a table for the event. They never stopped talking.

They seemed to know every fourth person who walked by on the sidewalk. They would call them over to join the conversation. Remember, this is a concert that’s about listening, not conversing. They were obnoxious, rude, and disrespectful of the musicians. At one point their four teenage sons appeared, and other than responding to their mother’s questions (How was State Street? Did you buy anything? Etc.), they were much more polite in trying to make themselves small and talking very little.

It is truly unfortunate that my memory of a very good concert is this table of trouble. But, at least now I know that youthful gabbers never mature out of the DNA that makes them that way.

Pastor B