Tony Wheeler dot Net

Ran across an article/interview of Dan Kimball, one of THE emergent dudes. Pretty interesting and pretty much the first time that I can say that I agree with him one hundred percent. Go check it out!

Been thinking a lot lately about the future. What does the future hold not only for my family, but for our country? I’m not exactly sure, but I have some ideas. Like everyone else in the country, I’m thinking about gas prices. I’m thinking about how they effect our daily lives not only our Visa at the pump, but the prices of absolutely everything. I also was thinking about the viability of the small business in this new economy.

The price of gas in Amsterdam is pretty much the highest in the world at $6.48 a gallon. Hugo Chavez pays the least for a gallon at .12 cents a gallon. My brother and sister-in-law recently took a trip to Ireland and France. What they noticed was that people rode bikes, drove tiny cars or scooters. I think that America is in need of some dramatic change. What am I doing? I am driving the same as I was, just now I am driving more of those miles on two wheels. This is a great solution in the summer. I get about 50MPG on my bike. I’ve had it about a month now and have spent exactly 4.65 on gas for it. Have I driven less? Nope. I’m not advocating that everyone get something on two wheels, but it is something to consider.

So where is all this going? I began to wonder what is going to happen. There are some serious changes ahead, one way or another. I see some scenarios playing out like these:

• People will drive less, thus using less petro.
• People will trade in their Suburbans for Civics and Corollas (Hybrid if you must). On a side note, I just saw that one of my neighbors bought a new-to-him/her Suburban…all I could say was WHY?
• There will be a shift from suburban to urban living. At the very least there will be a revival of town centers, where people will shop and recreate close to home. These kinds of community centers are being built all over the country, they already exist in small town America. Take a look around you, they are there. I drive 1 mile to the grocery/home center/Chinese take-out/Taco-Bell/Chipotle/Office store. Except for work and Church (and to be honest, both of those are within 5 miles from my home), I have no reason to travel beyond 1 mile from my home. This may also result in lower paying jobs closer to home for some people. I work with people who travel 40 miles one way to work. A couple guys have recently moved or are in the process to combat the commute. The commute isn’t bad if you are making serious money, but if you are an average joe it is on the verge of costing way too much money to commute.
• Discretionary spending. How are you making changes? How am I making changes? I began to wonder about restaurants and coffee shops and bookstores. Are they able to sustain these rocky times? I’m thinking in six months to a year there will be a lot of businesses for sale that weren’t able to sustain themselves through the dry times. Ask the people who bought a whole bunch of real estate at the end of a hot period who now have houses that have been on the market for over a year. If you have some investment cash, it would probably behoove you to watch the markets in both real property and liquid property. I don’t have the cash, but you can bet that I’m looking.

Anyway…just some thoughts that I had today. If anyone has any thoughts…feel free to chime in! Peace, love and chicken grease.

“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” –Richard Dawkins

You know, if Richard Dawkins had any understanding of religion, Christianity in particular, I think that he would come to the realization that if anything religion gives more understanding of the world. I’ve studied creation and evolutionary theory. I’ve listened to arguments from both sides of the coin and honestly I’ve never heard anything that compels me to believe in evolutionary theory. If anything, evolutionary theory makes me believe even more in an intelligent designer.

Just some thoughts from my mind to yours…

Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC hit another one out of the park today. His post really resonates in me at this time in life. I’ll post a quote here and if you like you can read the rest of the post here.

“If you want to lead a growing ministry (or business, or family, or personal life), get used to the journey, because the destination is a mirage.
As soon as you arrive, it??s time to pack up the tent and follow the cloud to the next then.
There??s always another mountain to climb, another conflict to solve, and another uncertainty to navigate”

Been a great few days. Spent a couple nights away with my wife. We didn’t have to worry about stuff at home or work, we were just able to hang out and relax. I wasn’t that relaxed, really, because I had to put together an outfit for graduation. My old standby stores of Gap and Old Navy let me down, had to settle for Target and Eddie Bauer of all places. I have never purchased anything at Eddies, probably never will again, but I am now a ‘rewards’ member. Why do so many stores have those things? Really, Eddie’s isn’t a bad deal. You get 10 points per dollar and at 1750 points you get a $10 gift card or something. Anyway, /tangent.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…I’m as pumped as ever to get going on something new and different. Starting to be the Outreach Coach at church over the summer. I’m looking forward to mobilizing the troops to reach out to this community in new and different ways. If anyone has any thoughts on books/resources, hit me up! I’m also pondering the merits of graduate level education. If I can get it paid through my employer, then I may do just that. Not sure I need any more student debt. Might take a little break to get a breath and get used to being a dad for a bit.

Just some random thoughts from the past couple of days. I’ll be back to normal posting soon. To be honest, haven’t been that stimulated lately. I’ve been unplugged from podcasts for about a month or so now. Haven’t been reading much outside of novels and school books due to time crunches. I’ve ordered several books, so looking forward to diving in. Going to go through one with my wife, which we haven’t done yet, so should be cool. I think I need a time of quiet sometimes, I’m pretty plugged into many outlets normally, so being unplugged so to speak is nice. I’m ready to plug back in and get fired up. It is hard to be fired up when you aren’t putting wood on the fire.

Until next time….

Big week in the Wheeler household. Saturday marks the beginning of the end of my collegiate career. To put some perspective on things, I started college in 1997. I have had many different majors and attended four different colleges. I haven’t gone to college continuously since then as I took about three years off in there somewhere to ‘find myself’. I had a lot of ups and downs in life and in love during that time. A lot of good times, some not so good….but all had some lesson to teach me. To be honest, I’ve learned more from life than I ever have in college. Education is good, but you don’t always get a degree for the most valuable education. Many of my most valuable lessons have been learned from people who are my dearest friends, long lost loves and bitter enemies. I cherish those lessons and memories. To those of you who read this and fit those categories, thank you. I’m 100% serious. You have helped me in ways that you probably don’t even know.

Overall, I feel like I have some sense of stability in life right now. I think that one of the things that I most feared in my previous college experience was the fear of finishing and then being thrown out into the unknown. I think that people at the end of their college experience have this idea that they have to graduate and get a job in their field. I’m not sure that is the be-all-and-end-all of things. One of the best things that I did was to stop going to college just because I wasn’t finished and go out and work and see the country. It wasn’t always easy, but I took my licks and worked very hard to be ‘successful’. I’m not bragging or anything because I don’t think I did anything miraculous, I just did what I had to do.

Not sure where all this is headed except to say I’m pumped for the days ahead. I think one of the things that makes this semi-transitional period easier is that I’m not really at a crossroads like most college grads. I don’t have any tough decisions to make just yet. I don’t have to get a real job, but I might have to get a second real job to keep my baby in diapers, haha! I don’t have to find a place to live unless I absolutely can’t handle having neighbors any longer.

All this to say two things: I’m finally graduating and thank you to those of you who have supported me in countless ways over the years.