Eight Things Meme

Dana of Principled Discovery tagged me for a meme. Now, many of my readers don't know what a meme is. The correct definition is "a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition." In the world of blog it's a repeated theme among bloggers. "Eight things I like about Thursdays." "Eight ways to cook eggs." "Eight things I have in my closet that I shouldn't." For reasons I don't comprehend they often revolve around "eight", and for reasons that I do comprehend I dislike them intensely. However, I like what Dana writes and don't wish to be a snob, so I'll play along.

The rules are simple. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

There ... the rules are now posted at the beginning. Well, almost the beginning. Next, I have to come up with 8 things about myself that you don't know. Let's see ...

1. At the age of 3 I contracted spinal meningitis. They tell me it was a strain called "H flu". They tell me that it normally kills within 24 hours. And they tell me that I had it for 24 hours before they figured it out. Mom's first clue? Her 3-year-old wouldn't wake up. I was in a coma for a day and they administered (out of desperation) some questionable treatment because the prognosis was so bleak ... and I lived. Of course, there is the brain damage, but that should be obvious from my writing. Otherwise I came through with only a scar on my ankle. (An IV got infected.) The only other side effect was a sense from a very young age that I should be dead, so God must have kept me around for a reason. I'm still waiting to find out what that is.

2. I spent 10 years in the Air Force. It was part of God's amazing work in directing my life. I was uneducated and my big plan was to be a security guard. When I lost that job (and my wife was pregnant), I acted out of desperation and joined the first place I could find that might give me a job skill that would help provide for my family. Ten years and two children later, I had learned electronics and had spent 3 years as a military electronics instructor (which is a good training ground for things like being a Bible teacher). I emerged with skills I never would have acquired "voluntarily" and got a good job right off the bat. I've never looked back.

3. It has been amazing watching God's hand in my life. A prime example was when I got out of the military. I was in the middle of an enlistment period in New York when a friend from a previous assignment called me from California (my home state) and said, "Get out here as fast as you can. I have a great job for you." Of course, I had two years left, so I couldn't ... until the military announced that they were having a force reduction and anyone who wanted out could get out. Well, I couldn't afford to fly to sunny California for an interview. "That's okay," he told me ... and the vice president of the company flew out to interview me. "I would have to have $x to leave the military," I told him, to which he assured me they had planned to start me at $x + $5000. "Oh, you can't get out," my supervisor assured me. "You're the only instructor here with your skills and we're planning to make this the depot for the area. We'll need you and three others like you." Still, the military honorably discharged me. And when we arrived in California, the bad news: "Oh, I'm sorry ... the job we were going to offer you is gone. In fact, we're laying people off." But after a couple of weeks of job searching I went on an interview in another county. "How did you hear about us?" they asked. "I read your ad in the newspaper." "But," they assured me, "we didn't put an ad in the newspaper." For a non-advertised job that was a hallucination of mine, it sure was a good job ... for the next 15 years. Yes, it's been fun to watch God open and close doors as He sees fit whether or not circumstances seemed amenable.

4. Deep down, I'm a rebel. I struggle with this because I like to get along and I don't like the consequences of breaking rules, so part of me doesn't like being a rebel. The result is that I only break rules when they aren't significant rules. I'm talking about rules like "list 8 facts about yourself" or "tag 8 other people". I'm not gonna do it. That's the rebel in me. I can't think of 8 things nor would I wish to inflict this on 8 people. You're just going to have to live with it.

Now, if 8 of you who have blogs and read my blog would like to tag yourselves on my behalf and do this because it's just so much fun for you, have at it. And let me know! I'd love to see what you have to say.