A Life in Line

My “To Be Read” list keeps getting longer, because I get new books faster than I read them. As of today, I am not going to get any new books until I have read the ones on my reading list. Here are my lists, broken down by category:

Fiction
1. 1984 by George Orwell
2. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
3. The Stranger by Albert Camus
4. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
5. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
6. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
7. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith (Highsmith wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley, which is one of my favorite books AND movies of all time.

Personal Development
1. What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson (I’ve read this twice already, but it’s good enough to read a third time.)
2. On Writing Well by William Zinsser (currently reading)
3. Put Your Life On A Diet by Gregory Johnson (current reading) DONE
4. The Renaissance Soul by Margaret Lobenstine (I’ve read this one already, but need to read it again. It describes my personality to a “T.”)
5. Your Money Or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (I’ve already read this once, but need to read it again.)
6. Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin (I have a hard time getting past the liberal propaganda, but there is really some good stuff in there.)
7. The Not So Big Life by Sarah Susanka (I started reading this one and decided to put it down, but I will give it another shot.)

Urban Planning
1. The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs (I’m in the middle of this one, but it’s slow going.)
2. The Great Neighborhood Book by Jay Walljasper
3. Livable Cities Observed by Suzanne and Henry Lennard

Miscellaneous
1. Reagan, In His Own Hand by Ronald Reagan (I hope to learn a few things from him.)
2. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

This is a phrase with which I am very familiar. I have come to the realization over the last couple of years of my life that I am a chronic sufferer of the “Grass is Always Greener Syndrome.” I’m always on the lookout for the next bigger and better thing in my life. It doesn’t matter which area of my life, there is always something that looks better to me than my current situation. This is a dangerous position to find myself, because it will cause me to never be able to settle down and enjoy life. For example, since moving to Knoxville, I have caught myself thinking there is probably a different place I could be living that is better in any number of ways than where I live. I have a new job, about which there is nothing to complain, and I am thinking that there is a better job somewhere out there for me, even a better profession than engineering. Someone wiser than I once said that if you find yourself unhappy in circumstance after circumstance, you must realize that the common denominator is you. I must be the reason that I can’t find contentment.

Paul said in Philippians 4:12, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Paul knew contentment. He was content in knowing that in whatever circumstance he found himself, his focus was on something bigger than those circumstances. This is what I desire – contentment in whatever circumstance I am in. The great Puritan theologian Jeremiah Burroughs wrote a book about contentment in 1651, so this is not a new struggle. The book is called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I think the title says much about contentment: 1. That it is rare. 2. That, once obtained, it is like a jewel. I happen to have a copy on my shelf that I have not yet read, so that book will be the next on my reading list. It will be a long and arduous read, but I’m sure will be well worth the effort.

This post doesn’t really have anything to do with the stated theme of this blog, but I just have to get something off my chest. I got a speeding ticket this past weekend – my first in Tennessee so far. I was traveling on I-40 west of Knoxville. The stretch of I-40 that I was traveling is straight and relatively flat for about 15 miles. Can anyone explain to me why the posted speed limit is 55 mph? I will tell you why, and this is the only reason: it’s within the city limits of Knoxville. There is no other reason than that. In fact, coming from the west, the speed limit is 70 mph until you get into Knox County, where it drops to 65, then to 55 once you enter Knoxville. That speed limit is absurd. Is the road all of the sudden that much less safe when you cross an invisible line that is the city limits of Knoxville? Don’t tell me this has anything to do with safety. Speed limits and safety are completely unrelated. I can almost guarantee you that if you did a speed survey of that stretch of the interstate, you would find that at least 80% of the drivers drive faster than the posted limit of 55 mph. Why is it that such a high percentage of people disregard the speed limit? Because everybody knows it’s unreasonably low. But you have police officers stopping people and harassing them for going 70 or 75 mph when it’s perfectly safe to do so. Speed limits are set arbitrarily and are based on political and monetary considerations, which, of course, any municipality will deny. There is actually a proper procedure for setting speed limits, but it is not followed, because it will reduce the revenue potential of the speeding ticket business. What is that proper way, you ask? Perform a speed survey on the road for a period of approximately 1 month. You will obtain data showing the range of speeds that people are driving on the road. Plot these speeds on a bell curve and read off the 85th percentile speed – the speed at which or under which 85% of the drivers are driving. THAT should be your speed limit, not some arbitrary number that makes no consideration for the design of the roadway, the weather conditions, the traffic conditions, the ability of the driver, or any other sensible consideration. Merely increasing the speed limit is not going to cause people to automatically drive faster. Sure, there are some drivers who will drive fast, but the vast majority of them will drive the speed at which they feel comfortable and safe driving. People aren’t going to drive like maniacs just because they can.

There…I feel better.

It might come as a surprise to some of you who follow this blog, especially since in my previous posts I sound so excited about Faith Promise and getting in the band, that I have decided that Faith Promise is not the right church for me. This realization came sometime between when I tried out for the band and now.

I began attending Faith Promise because I was put in contact with some family of some friends from Newnan. When I got here, I knew no one (and still don’t know many people), so I attended the church they went to. It was fine for a while, but I slowly started to realize it wasn’t what I wanted in a church, but I had already started the process of getting hooked up with the band and going through their membership classes. I haven’t become a member of the church yet, but I have actually played in the band one week so far. So, I found myself at a crossroads. Do I continue to play since I’m already somewhat committed or do I let them know I’m out? After consulting with family and friends, I decided the right thing to do would be to be honest and break it off now.

I never gave any other church a chance, so my new task is to visit churches and not make a decision about which church to join until I feel like I’ve visited enough churches to make a qualified decision.