Ever heard of air band? Air band is where you pretend to perform a song. Well, now there are air abs.

Abs, of course, are abdominal muscles. And for people with really good bodies, abs are those six bumps that you see on their stomach.

Well, now with the aid of an air brush, you too can have athletic looking abs. First they spay you with a bronzing dye. Then, they color your stomach so that it looks like muscles.

I wonder if they can cover celluite?

Last fall, the voters of Michigan approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Because a doctors approval was required for all applicants, the State of Michigan assumed that there would be few applicants. However, that proved not to be the case.

With over 10,000 applicants still seeking approval, the requests are overwhelming the system. I guess the medical profession views marijuana in little different light. Either that or they are getting paid under the table. Regardless, if we tax the crap out of it, maybe we could continue to support public education..

Since the voters of the State of Michigan decided to legalize Marijuana in last falls election, it is now legal for individuals to grow their own pot for medical use.  And, if you can’t grow it yourself, you can obtain it from a designated “care taker”.

Now, most people are not versed as to how to grow marijuana.  So, to off set that fact, a young entrepreneur is offering a course on how to grow and process marijuana.  While there is no degree offered, the class guarantees that the attendees will make a substantial amount of money.

Since I am sure that organized crime will be apposed to such efforts, I suspect that “care takers” should keep their activities as quiet as if it weren’t legal.

In the election last fall, the voters of the State of Michigan approved the use for marijuana for medical purposes. This, of course, placed a burden on the State of Michigan as to how to regulate the stuff.

After much deliberation, the state decided that the pot program should fall under the department of Community Health and not the Department of Agriculture. After all, the Department of Agriculture was already too busy certifying gas pumps.

The Department of Community Health determined that anyone with permission from their doctor would be allowed to grow and process 6 mature marijuana plants per year. But, knowing that not everyone would have the knowledge of how to grow marijuana, they allowed “caretakers” to grow and sell marijuana to their customers, err, “clients”.

Thus, with the consent of the State of Michigan, certain people can grow marijuana  and certain people can buy marijuana.  I hope the State of Michigan is collecting tax on the pot as the population is going to increase.

Well, last week we learned that Tiger Woods was in an auto accident.  Then we learned that he had a mistress for several years.  Now we learn that he has had several mistresses for several years.

So far, 7 women claim to have been Tiger’s lover.  But, that was yesterday.  Who knows how many more will surface before the end of the week.

Of course, not all of the claims are legitimate.  But still there are enough to establish a life style pattern.

When did he find time to play golf?

We went Christmas tree shopping this last weekend. We were looking for a 12′ blue spruce. Anything shorter than that looks out of place in our great room.

Our first stop offered us a 9′ Frazier Fur for $85. We thought it a little too pricey. The next stop had 10′ trees for $50 but nothing in spruce. Our next and last stop was a very modest tree farm. They offered any size tree for just $25.

Since there was about 6″ of snow at the tree farm, and we were interested in a blue spruce, the owner suggested that he cut the top out of a blue spruce right next to the driveway. We looked over the tree and decided that it would work.

Now, this tree was tall enough that we had a hard time estimating it’s height. With Kathy standing next to the tree, I estimated it at about 20′. So, we had them cut it at about 5′ off the ground. Once it was down, they cut another 3′ off of it and then loaded it on the minivan for us.

Once we got it home and put it up, we determined that it was a 16′ tree; the largest that we have ever put up. Knowing that a tree that large would easily sell for $300 in Grand Rapids, I gave the man substantially more than his $25 asking price.

He and his sons were ecstatic. Kathy and I had a warm and happy feeling all of the way home; not just because we had purchased a beautiful tree but because we had made someone else Christmas a little happier.

Oh, we also got some really strange looks as we drove down the road.

One night in 1976, I was praying when I encountered something very evil. (I am very sensitive to the presence of evil.) I was hearing a voice but the voice didn’t feel right. Finally, when I challenged the voice, I was knocked over backwards and my whole body felt like it was on fire. Truly, I had encountered something evil in the spiritual realm.

From then on, I was terrified to pray. Oh, I could pray the superficial prayers, but I could never go back into what I call the spiritual realm. And going to church or reading my Bible did not yield any spiritual joy or peace. In short, I felt empty inside.

Dismayed by this condition, I talked with my pastor about this problem hoping he would have some answers. He didn’t. I talked with the chapelin at Calvin and like my pastor, he too was answerless. But, he did refer me to some books written by Catholic mystics.

One book in particular was “The Dark Night of the Soul” by St John of the Cross. In the Dark Night of the Soul, I found that it was describing my condition to a “T”.

Basically, the book said that this was one aspect of Sanctification and that it would last for many years. The book also said that the dark night would leave as suddenly as it came. And, there was not really any thing I could do except to continue to believe and wait.

The dark night lasted for 18 years.  So, for the next 18 years, believe is what I did. I lived by faith and not because I had some religious emotions or feelings. For 18 years, I lived in the “valley” with only memories of what it was like to be on the “mountain”.

Then, as predicted, it suddenly lifted. The joy and the peace were back and at 10 times the intensity of anything previous. Plus, I seemed to have a new relationship with God, one that was much deeper and more intimate.

This was also the start of the prayer time visions.  I will write more about those later.

The other day, I was in Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) when I noticed a strange event in the produce section. There was a man with a movie camera on a tripod filming some apples.

Now, the apples were not doing anything, they were just laying their in the produce case. So, if the man was making a movie, I imagine it will be pretty boring.

I happened to glance at the clearance section in the bakery at Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) the other day. I saw turnover on sale for 60% off.

Now, I love cherry turnovers and since these turnover were the large kind, I thought that i would grab a package. I picked up the first package on the shelf. I could see something that looked red oozing from the crust. Yes! Cherry! But wait, the label says that they are blue berry.  Bah!

Now, I have nothing against blue berry but I love cherry. So, I put the package back. Maybe there would be a cherry one also.

Since there were a dozen packages of turnover, certainly one of them must be cherry. But no, they were all blue berry, every last one of them.

Rats! Oh well, I didn’t need the calories anyway. I guess if they had that many packages of blueberry turnovers on clearance, they must not be that popular in the first place.

I was in the store the other day when I happened to notice a fairly attractive middle aged woman. She caught my attention because of her long hair and skinny legs.

Now, during the shopping experience, I often see the same people over and over again as we proceed throughout the store. So, I was not surprised to see her standing at the check out four lanes over from me. I was surprised though when she took out her teeth, inspected them and then put them back into her mouth.

Well, at least she can be spared the embarrassment of having food stuck to the front of her teeth.