Xtian Suburbanite

I’d like you to watch the following video before you read this. Click on the link below or go to youtube and search "Rabbit in your headlights".
WARNING: It has some disturbing scenes of a man being hit by traffic (but no humans were hurt during filming of the video.)


I’m interested in your thoughts about the video. I found it disturbing but I got the emotion. If you listened to the lyrics you might have caught the phrase “I’m a rabbit in your headlights Christian suburbanite”. What do they mean by that? This lyric is especially worrisome when juxtaposed with the scenes of the man being brutally run down.
I have 2 comments:
First, and some may be surprised by this, I completely agree with the artist’s generalization about my religion here in this country. Many suburban Christians today are comfortable, lazy and generally ignoring the dying world around them. Sure we might give our tithe, send a few bucks a month to various charities and share our faith when asked so we can sleep at night. But this artist has exposed and highlighted a serious problem with the Western church. And before anyone thinks I have an answer for this dilemma or that I lead by example let me be clear. I’m talking about myself here too, I have full-sized Douglas Fir stuck in my eye.

Rabbit in your headlights – UNKLE
I'm a rabbit in your headlights Scared of the spotlight

You don't come to visit I'm stuck in this bed Thin rubber gloves
She laughs when she's crying She cries when she's laughing

Fat bloody fingers are sucking your soul away...(Away....away....away....)
I'm a rabbit in your headlights Christian suburbanite
Washed down the toilet Money to burn
If you're frightened of dyin' and you're holding on...You'll see devils tearing your life away.
But...if you've made your peace, Then the devils are really angels
Freeing you from the earth.....from the earth....from the earth
Rotworms on the underground Caught between stations
Butterfingers I'm losing my patience
I'm a rabbit in your headlights Christian suburbanite
You got money to burn....

'Like a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich. They are fat, they are sleek, They also excel in deeds of wickedness; They do not plead the cause, the cause of the orphan, that they may prosper; And they do not defend the rights of the poor. Shall I not punish these people?' declares the LORD, On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself?' - Jeremiah 5: 27-29

My second comment is a frightening message that I picked up on. It’s not found in the lyrics but it’s in the video. The vehicleless man seems to suddenly be freed of his psychosis and finds clarity of thought. He throws off his coat as another car speeds towards him, he throws wide his arms, the car collides with him and is utterly destroyed.
You think that’s an idle threat by UNKLE? You’re wrong and the Word of God confirms it. Why do many atheists refer to Christians as “Xtians”? I believe it’s because the name of Jesus is offensive to many people unless it’s used as a curse word. If we are treated badly because of Jesus’ name that’s to our gain if it’s because we’ve done wrong then we deserve it.

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another.” - Matthew 23:9-10

Generation NOW!

I get really frustrated when my computer takes more than a nanosecond to do anything I ask it to do. Often when I’m at work I’m working over a satellite connection and then there is a latency that makes even the words I type appear a split second after I type them. This is really annoying. I want immediate action! Isn’t this the way of the world right now? Information is available immediately and many services are available on demand. This generation more than any other could rightly be called the “now generation”.
Coupled with this reality is the sensation that time itself is moving at a faster pace. One year for me today feels like it goes by like a few months when I was young. Why is that? Why is it that a summer used to last for an eternity and now I blink and a year passes? I’m in such a rush for things to happen and every once and a while I stop and look around and it’s dizzying how quickly life is speeding by me. Well, a co-worker explained to me a few years ago that time seems to be speeding up because each measure of time is actually getting shorter as a percentage of my total age. In other words, a year today is roughly equivalent to 4 months when I was 12 years old and 1 year when I was 12 is like 3 years to me today. If I follow that logic out to when I’m 95 years old 8 years will be like 1 year when I was a child.
Have you ever wondered why God sometimes takes days, months even years to answer our prayers? Sometimes I pray for something and I’m hoping that the answer will be there when I open my eyes. I’ve heard people suggest writing your prayer requests down and looking back at them years later. I think those people have also noticed God sometimes takes longer than we would like to answer our prayers. If you believe what I said about 3 years to an adult being like one year to a child what does that mean for God? What would one year be like for the One who formed the earth, the Ancient of Days, The Eternal God? How about one day? Or a thousand years? Looking at time this way hasn’t helped me be more patient per se, but it has helped me understand that waiting a day, a year, or even a lifetime for an answer doesn’t mean God doesn’t love me He just sees time different than I do and His timing is perfect.

For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. – Psalm 90:4

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. – 2 Peter 3:8-9

Unconscious competent or conscious incompetent (conclusion)

We all settled into a circle on our knees on the bow. We took turns and performed all the skills but one. I had no problems with any of them but mask removal was the final skill. As each person took their turn my heart was racing. I hadn’t decided if I would even go through with it or would I shake my head no and fail the course. That really wasn’t an option but it did cross my mind. Then came my turn and this is where the story gets a bit strange. Even though I was nervous and I knew now if I breathed in water I couldn’t bolt for the surface from 70ft like I did in the pool. If I did that now, at two atmospheres of pressure the compressed air in my lungs would expand faster than it could get out and could blow a hole in my lungs. Even though I knew that a strange calm descended over me and I was able to remove my mask, breathe, replace and clear it slowly and confidently. I remember being so calm that I actually took longer than I needed to replace my mask and clear it. It was a great feeling.

Now someone may argue that there is some subconscious self-preservation instinct that took over, sure maybe like the mammalian dive reflex, but that doesn’t explain the calm I felt before. To me it was nothing less than a miracle and although it makes me extremely uncomfortable I’ve found in my experience that God delivers what I need precisely at the moment I need it. When I operate on my own strength and don’t ask Him for help I usually figure it out too late.
An unconscious competent can handle a particular situation on their own strength, a conscious incompetent is aware he or she can’t handle it on their own strength. The key for the people in the latter group is to rely on and have faith in God’s strength.

I’m definitely a conscious incompetent

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me – Phillipians 4:13

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me – 2 Corinthians 12:9

Unconscious competent or conscious incompetent (part two)

Ok, when I left off I was panicking like a drowning rat. I was executing a textbook powered ascent with blatant disregard for the air rapidly expanding in my lungs and that of my instructor. (ok, it wasn’t that dangerous we were only in a 10ft pool) anyhow (ahem) I dug deep and somehow found the strength to surface with my instructor in tow. I coughed and sputtered and looked over at my instructor expecting him to be impressed by my strong swimming. He was not impressed. Neither was my bruised ego, but I was alive.
After that disturbing episode I practiced and practiced but I couldn’t seem to master this skill, every time I took off my mask, I could expect one of three outcomes; either water would rush up my nose immediately or after a few breaths or sometimes, and I’m not sure why, it wouldn’t and I would complete the skill. If I didn’t figure this out I would fail this course, which consequently, I needed for my job or worse I would drown when we did our final practical exam at sea 70ft below the surface of the water.
After I gave up trying to master this on my own strength I prayed. I know, I know, that’s probably what I should’ve done first but I didn’t and anyhow nothing happened and I was still worried. And on the last day of the course we headed out to the dive site for our open ocean dive.
Of course it was a miserable, cold, rainy day and we were all shivering in an open aluminium herring skiff. I confided in my instructor that I was still having trouble with the mask removal skill. I think I was hoping he would let me skip it but instead he advised me to get my gear on as quick as possible and while everyone else was getting ready I could dive down 10ft and practice a few times before we went down to the bottom as a group. That didn’t really calm me down instead I grew more tense as the boat slowly, inexorably moved towards the dive site.
As soon as we arrived I quickly geared up, tucked in my legs and rolled backward off the boat into the water. You might find it hard to believe but in every other way I am like a fish in water and so while everyone else was gearing up I was already in the water. I dove down to 10ft, grabbed onto the descent line and started practicing. I’ll spare you the gory details, suffice it to say it didn’t go well. The time arrived for us all to descend and as a group we started our descent. Some swam down; some held onto the descent line and dropped feet first. I pointed myself headfirst and swam straight towards the bottom. As I got close a huge grey hulking mass loomed into view. It was the ruined hull of a destroyer that had been purposely sunk there to be used as an artificial reef dive site. This gloomy and lifeless warship would be the scene for our practical exam. I was really hoping it wouldn’t be my grave.
You’re going to have to wait until my next post to find out if I lived or died, ok, ok there could be kids reading this so I’ll tell you I didn’t die. If you were smart you would’ve figured that out already. “How’s that?” You ask. Because it would’ve been on the news of course… (sigh)

Unconscious competent or conscious incompetent (part one)

Have you ever wondered why sometimes the skill you need for a certain situation only arrives precisely when you need it or (in my experience regrettably more often) just after you need it? The brain sometimes comes to our rescue. Sometimes it’s something older and wiser.
Twelve years ago I was taking my commercial dive ticket and I kept having trouble breathing water up my nose whenever I removed my dive mask underwater. Of course now I realize that’s because you’re not supposed to breathe water up your nose. That seems simple enough but I’ll never forget the time that I learned that lesson the hard way.
I was in full scuba gear kneeling on the bottom of the deep end of our community pool and my instructor was asking each of us to take off our masks, breathe in and out several times and then replace our masks and blow the water out of it. The student to my right was taking his turn and I had about 30 seconds before the instructor would point to me and I would have to remove my mask. Let’s rewind this scene 15 minutes and I am poolside with my fellow students getting on our gear. “Listen up!” my instructor asserted, “Underwater, there is no freaking out and rushing to the surface. Do that on a real dive and you will have an air embolism and you will die. If I see you panicking”, he continued “I’ll grab onto you and hold you down there until you calm down” Wise words, not comforting, but wise. Anyways I’m ashamed to tell you what happened next but here goes.
Now fast forward back to the bottom of the pool… My partner to my right executed the mask removal, replaced it and cleared it perfectly and then the instructor turned and motioned to me to fill my mask partially with water. I closed my eyes and pulled the top of my mask away from my forehead. Water happily poured into my mask and filled it up to my eyes. Ok, so far so good, I opened my eyes and breathed carefully through the regulator in my mouth. Then he motioned for me to fill it completely with water. I opened my mask and filled it the rest of the way. This was going good. A blurry shape I recognized as my instructor motioned for me to remove my mask completely. Inexplicably I obeyed. Terror! I bolted like a tomcat from the deck of a carrier as water poured through both nostrils and threatened to fill my lungs. How did the pool get so deep? I felt the iron grip of my instructor fasten on to my BCD strap as he pulled me back down. For a split second I thought he might win and drag me back down to the bottom of the pool.
My daughter wants to get onto Webkinz so I’ll tell you what happened next later.