Tag Archives: Personal

All red in the face

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red-faced monkeyStepping out of theological discussions for the moment, I wanted to say a word for the red-faced among us. You know who you are. Or, should I say, who we are.

I’m a blusher. I turn red easily. For a variety of motives. Something that non-blushers don’t understand.

Turning red is frustrating enough. Having people ascribe motives to my redness is even more frustrating. Let me put it bluntly: you don’t know. Almost never.

Let me tell you why I turn red. The biggest motive for me is perceived conflict. When I have to say something that I know someone isn’t going to like, I turn red. It’s not embarrassment. It’s not anger. It’s not that I’m upset. It’s probably best described as mild anxiety.

From there, I’d say that turning red comes from self-consciousness. Self-awareness. Which means that if someone says, “Look, he’s turning red,” I’m going to turn bright red. Blushing is embarrassing; embarrassment causes blushing. It’s a nasty cycle.

Other things that make me turn red:

  • Exertion
  • Exposure to sun
  • A rise in emotion
  • Shame (both present and past)
  • Sexual interest or arousal
  • Anger
  • Embarrassment

And I could go on and on. As I said, the biggest problem is when others try to read my red face and determine what caused it. “I can tell when Tim is upset.” Baloney. All you know is that my face is red. Maybe I’m remembering a mistake I made in the past; you have no way of knowing.

“You must have been really mad. Your face was red.” Uh, no… maybe I was feeling bad for how bad you were going to look when I pointed out your mistake.

So here’s my tips for dealing with people who turn red

  • Try to graciously overlook their redness.
  • Do NOT ascribe motives to someone’s blushing. (Unless you’re playing poker; maybe it’s a good tell!)
  • Recognize that it’s something absolutely beyond their control.

Thanks!

Zurich

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ZurichOur trip to Israel was made possible by a gift from an anonymous benefactor. They paid my way. The Texas International Bible Institute helped out with a portion of Carolina’s expenses. And we paid another part with hotel points and airline miles.

Because we were flying on miles, we had to get a bit creative with our itinerary. Flying directly from Abilene toIMG_3095 Tel Aviv would have cost too much, so I began looking for intermediate stops that were within our price range. We finally settled on Zurich. I had enough air miles to get us there, and the ticket from Zurich to Tel Aviv was much more reasonable.

One complication was the fact that we would have to leave two days earlier than the group. We quickly saw the advantage in that: we could spend a day in Zurich, arrive in Tel Aviv the night before the group, and be more rested than they when we Zurich lakemet up in Israel.

Carolina and I have been to Spain, but not to the rest of Europe. We were pleased to get to see Switzerland, even though we were warned that Zurich is the most expensive city in Europe.

If you ever go, look into purchasing a ZürichCARD. That’s especially true if you’re going to be there several days. The card pays for all municipal transportation (including a neat boat ride on the lake) and gives you discounts to many museumsZwingliplatz

We didn’t have enough time to do a lot. We walked through the old city, making sure to see the Grossmünster church where Zwingli led the Swiss Reformation (and where they don’t allow photos!), and did the half-hour bus tour. We also Grossmunsterdiscovered that U.S. dollars aren’t accepted anywhere, nor are Euros; be sure and get your Swiss francs! (And make sure your credit card will work… we got into a very awkward, embarrassing situation without acceptable currency and without a working credit card)

Unfortunately, it was cloudy when we were there, so we couldn’t really appreciate the mountains around Zurich. But if you ever get the chance to go, Zurich is worth your time.Zurich

Busy days

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Class at LipscombIt’s been an eventful few weeks. The last day of May, I traveled to Long Island for a campaign sponsored by Hope For Life (Herald of Truth), the ministry I work for. We arrived on Saturday. On Sunday, I received word that my mother had fallen in Abilene and broken her hip. I cut short my participation in the campaign and returned to be with her. I got her settled into a physical rehabilitation center, spending two nights with her in the hospital, then two in the rehab place.

The next week, Carolina and I left for a long-planned trip to the Holy Land. My sisters graciously came to be with my mom to allow us to make the trip. I’ll tell you more about that trip in the coming days.

We returned late one Wednesday night, then I left on Saturday to speak at a church in Morro Bay, California, the following day. That Sunday night I took a redeye back home, before leaving on Wednesday for the Summer Celebration at Lipscomb University. Hope For Life hosts a breakfast every year, so I was there for that. I also got to teach a class with Steve Ridgell, as well as doing two classes in Spanish.

So yes, I did get confused more than once as to what time zone I was in. And I’m afraid I had to push this blog to the back burner. I’ll try and do better over the next few days.

What have you been up to?

Goodbye Mr. Price

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1185458_10200224626090213_1232961308_nI found out that Mr. Price passed away. Robert Price was a teacher for 43 years. He was an educator that stood out from the rest. You can read the letter he gave to his last group of students the year he was retiring.

I can’t remember very many specific lessons from high school. (For those trying to calculate, I was in the class of 1980) I can remember numerous things from Mr. Price’s class:

  • I remember having to be able to identify dozens of animals by order, phylum, etc., after looking at specimens in jars around the class room
  • I remember him using a huge ketchup gun, pretending to draw blood from a student and then eat it, helping to ease the fears of students who were dreading pricking their finger with a lancet
  • I remember the weeklong discussion of “IT” (“you know,” he said, “everyone talks about doing it, getting it, making it…”). He took questions via a suggestion box all week, willing to answer any questions about sexuality. There was a paper bag available for rent for any who got too embarrassed.
  • I remember the unit on ecology, when he turned down the thermostat, covered the windows with black paper and piled trash on the floor (mainly newspapers, but we found the dead fish under it all)
  • I remember the nature walks along the river behind our school

When I’ve been asked over time to name my most memorable teacher, I repeatedly have pointed to Mr. Price.

Mr. Price was also the first openly atheistic person I was ever around. Having had a terrible experience with a minister as a child, he had turned his back on religion. He had his own unique views, suggesting that the various deities in different religions might actually have been aliens who visited the earth.

During his fight with cancer, his ex-students filled Mr. Price’s Facebook page with words of encouragement. It’s a funny thing to me to see how many mentioned they were praying for him. I wonder how that made him feel.

Or did he possibly come to believe during all those years? I certainly hope so. It’s sad to see someone who was so dear to so many pass from this earth without any relationship at all with God. I hope he got past his resentment and found his way to God.

Edit, 10:00 a.m. — I need to include what Chuck Smith wrote in the comment section:

Tim, Mr. Price was baptized a few weeks ago by my dear friend and former Pastor Carl Rohlfs in San Antonio.

Confessions of a Nielsen family

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Our family was chosen recently as a Nielsen family, filling out the diaries about our viewing habits during one week. It’s surprising to me that the system is basically unchanged since my family did it when I was about 10. (Yes, they had television back then)

With my wife and daughter on a mission trip and my son not watching TV, it was basically a record of my viewing. I was interested to see how aware that made me of what I was watching. I don’t watch a lot of TV (everyone says that): an hour or so in the morning and some in the evening. But knowing that someone was going to see what I had watched made me ver self-aware; when I watched 30 minutes of Phineas and Ferb, I wondered what they would think of a 49-year-old cartoon fan.

Years ago, a sociological tendency was discovered, something called the Hawthorn Effect. Here’s a description from another website:

The Hawthorne effect — an increase in worker productivity produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out and made to feel important.

Individual behaviors may be altered by the study itself, rather than the effects the study is researching was demonstrated in a research project (1927 – 1932) of the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. This series of research, first led by Harvard Business School professor Elton Mayo along with associates F. J. Roethlisberger and William J. Dickson started out by examining the physical and environmental influences of the workplace (e.g. brightness of lights, humidity) and later, moved into the psychological aspects (e.g. breaks, group pressure, working hours, managerial leadership). The ideas that this team developed about the social dynamics of groups in the work setting had lasting influence — the collection of data, labor-management relations, and informal interaction among factory employees.

The major finding of the study was that almost regardless of the experimental manipulation employed, the production of the workers seemed to improve. One reasonable conclusion is that the workers were pleased to receive attention from the researchers who expressed an interest in them. The study was only expected to last one year, but because the researchers were set back each time they tried to relate the manipulated physical conditions to the worker’s efficiency, the project extended out to five years.

The Hawthorne Effect isn’t all that it was once thought to be. That is, researchers have discovered that other factors influenced the original study. However, my experience as a Nielsen respondent reminded me that there is some truth to it. People alter their behavior when they know they’re being studied.

Or at least they become more aware of what they do. Even if it’s watching Phineas and Ferb.