Ice Fishing

There really is very little to do that is worth while in January. The ground is frozen solid. The lakes have a 12" lid of ice on them. It seems like every thing in nature has just shut down to wait for spring. We are lucky enough to have a daughter willing to play the game of basketball and we have enjoyed watching her over the winter. We also have an undefeated Northridge boys high school basketball team. In the state of Indiana that is no small thing. But those things only keep my mind occupied for a couple of hours a week.

I suffered so much from cabin fever this winter that, on January 24th, Lorilee and I, together, attended the wedding of a daughter of a friend of mine at Lorilee's church. That took me back into church for the first time since Trey's Baptism almost a year ago, in March. The experience was good for me. Community is always a sight for sore eyes. And I saw that diversity is continueing to creep into the community, especially in the size and shape of the bonnets that the women are wearing now-a-days.

I coaxed a friend to leave the reception early and take in a Northridge boys basketball game. There, at the game, we sat behind one of the player's mother from a local conservative Mennonite church. Her son can shoot, NBA three pointers. This mother was having a really good time cheering for her son, standing up and shouting at the top of her lungs for her son. My friend leaned over to her and asked the woman if she cheered like that in church. "Of course not," I thought to myself, "Not unless they could find a way to play basketball on Sunday morning".

The wedding whetted my appetite for church and I attended again the next morning. I enjoyed talking to the people. The sermon was good, about money, since that is on everyone's mind these days. I thought it interesting when the pastor talked about people wanting everything when it comes to their health care. In my mind if a person wants everything the world has to offer when it comes to health care, the best doctors and the best facilities, the newest equipment, then they had better go with the best insurance company that has the best underwriters on their staff so that they can get the right pricing. I do wonder why God does not inspire some more contemporary writers so that pastors could safely use words like insurance in a sermon. On second thought I know what its like when a church trys to reach too far with its mandates. If mandates were appropriate I would certainly prefer a mandate for fuel efficient cars rather than a buggy with a horse power of two. I suppose it is a full time job for the church to keep its people sleeping with the right person. Anyway, I think that the Amish/Mennonite idea of sharing to pay hospital bills is a bit out of touch since there is no such thing as an Amish/Mennonite hospital. While our government has protected the right to freedom of religion I doubt that the government would stand by and let people of faith take their children to a medical facility that is sub standard. I wonder how hospital CFOs view Amish and even Mennonites who walk into these state of the art medical facilities making no apoligy for the fact that they do not have health insurance. Caring for a person's health needs has become a big business and it takes the best of business sense to properly provide for one's future health needs. Trusting in God to care for one's needs may be the preferred policy, its just not a policy that can be presented at the billing desk of Goshen General Hospital. If you want to read more about health care click here: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/26/090126fa_fact_gawande

I was writing about cabin fever before I got distracted by church, one of my favorite subjects. Almost all of my free time, and there is a lot of it, in winter, is up for grabs and Holly Wood seems to know that. They sure have come out with a bunch of good movies for this winter. We started out by seeing “Valkyrie”, on the day after Christmas. It’s a historical movie about the assassination attempts made by the German army on Adolph Hitler during World War II. We saw it because Dana’s history teacher gave her extra credit for seeing it. It was a chance for me to go out with my brother Nate, and Cousins Richard and Wilson, and it really wasn’t too bad for a history assignment. Next, my whole family saw “Marley and Me” on the day after New Year’s Day. There aren’t many movies that Lorilee and I can agree to see together but there was one. I liked the fact that this movie was realistic about what it is like to own a dog. Those families who don’t already have a dog are not likely to run out and get one and those families who already do have a dog probably broke down in tears during the movie and now understand more about why they love their dog. We don’t have a dog. I want to get one when I am retired and can spend a lot of time with it. Somewhere during the Holidays our whole family also saw "7lbs" with Will Smith. Worthwhile... once you figure out what is going on. 7lbs of flesh is worth a whole lot if you can manage to give it away. The next Sunday on January 8th the rest of my family seemed to be having a lot going on but I had nothing to do. By mid afternoon I was bouncing off the walls. Lyle was on a road trip and Lorilee was refusing to go and see "Gran Torino" with me. She has seen enough Clint Eastwood movies for her life-time. I used to go to movies by myself a lot. Especially when I was a Conservative Mennonite and movies had to be seen in secret. Anyway, I was desperate to get out so I went to see the movie by myself. Boy, was that a treat. From the moment the movie began I knew it was a good one for me. It started out with an old man, Clint Eastwood, sitting there in his wife’s church. She had lived a long, fulfilled life, but now it was her funeral and Eastwood’s character found himself forced to go to church. The look on his face was priceless to me. His face revealed a lifetime of pain and anger towards his wife’s church and most of the rest of the world with the low growl emitting from deep in his stomach saying what the look on his face couldn’t. As it turns out the man had all the normal hurts picked up over a lifetime that he was nursing each afternoon while sipping cheap beer on his front porch. I enjoyed the movie; it has many themes including, family, aging, racism, religiosity, as well as the age old theme of violence and I hope to see it again with Lorilee when it comes out on DVD. On Wednesday January 11th our kid's church youth group came to our house for their mid week meeting. Lorilee and I wanted to make ourselves scarce so we decided to try to see a movie together. I was resigned to some chick flick or worse but I ended up being pleasantly surprised with the “Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” This movie is very long, we totally missed seeing the youth group, but the movie tackles just about all of the aging issues one can imagine since the main character, played by Brad Pitt, ages in reverse. Figure that one out. It’s hard to wrap your mind around unless you see the movie. Then the last weekend in January Lyle and I wanted to see a movie. We got lucky when we saw “Defiance”. I wish I had taken Trey with us. I usually don’t invite him to see an R rated movie but this one was worth while. This is a true story about four brothers, Jews, who find their parents killed in cold blood on their small farm by Nazi sympathizers. The brothers flee to the forest where they protect other Jews and fight off the Nazi’s for a couple of years until the war ends.

Whew… I am really ready for spring. The Super Bowl is finally in the past. Today is Ground Hog day. And so it can’t be too long. Trey and I did get outside this weekend for some ice fishing. We didn’t catch anything worth keeping but that was not the point of being out there. It is amazing to me how we walked around all weekend on the same lake that we swim in all summer. And sunsets were just as pretty as in the summer. Trey and I missed two basketball games in our Northridge boys basketball team’s run to 14-0 win loss record. But I’m glad we missed the games. It’s the principle of the thing I guess. I was proud of Trey for shutting off his cell phone and just sitting still in the ice shanty without the texts going off every few seconds. I refuse to carry a cell phone because of its invasion of my privacy but the rest of my family does not usually follow my lead. Trey and his friend Tyler, who also has the patience required for fishing, ended up staying out in the 5 degree temperatures til midnight on Friday night.

We were disappointed that we didn’t catch much of anything but being out in nature is much more valuable than catching hundreds of large fish. Ice is something that I can look at for hours without beginning to understand it. And to watch how plants and animals handle the change in seasons is also fascinating. We will have to try to figure out how to catch the fish some other weekend.