A to Z's of Me: A Reflection

The 2025 A to Z challenge is over.  I finished.  My theme this year was the A to Z's of me .  

During the last few weeks of each year I spend a lot of time tinkering with the look of my blog.  I made a text box called Me from A to Z.  It had an attribute of me from A to Z. As I shared in my theme reveal the original 26 attributes were :

Amateur Parodist, Blogger, Christian, Daring do-gooder, Evangelical sans Trump Kool-Aid, 

Father of 3 adult children, Giraffe lover, Husband of one amazing wife, Illinois resident, 

Jester, Kindred spirit, Library lover Middle School teacher, Nincompoop, Original, Poet,

Quintessential worker , RITA (Republican in theory, anyways.) ,Sixty something 

Teller of jokes,U of I Parent - ILL,Voracious reader, Willy Wonka Wannabe, Xenophile ,Yankovic enthusiast ,Zoo attender

I made the list , put it on my blog home page and kinda forgot about it.  As I began to prepare for the challenge I ruminated between several ideas for themes.  I thought about going without a theme

 or even not participating and just concentrating on reading and commenting.  Then I remembered the list.  I hadn't even considered using it for the challenge when I created it.  

 

As I began to prepare posts that matched the titles it became clear that some of those titles weren't going to make it to the final product.  I have emboldened the attributes I didn't use in the list above and the attributes I replaced them with in the links below.  For example in the middle of March I stopped subbing at the middle school I'd been at for over 2 years.  So M for Middle school had to go.  Others were so similar that expanding on them made it seem like I was being redundant.

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

R was for R.I.T.A. Republican In Theory Anyway

S was for Stonehill Fan

T was for Teacher

U was for U of I Parent

V was for Voracious Reader?

 

W was for White Sox Fan

X was for Xenophile

Y was for Yankovic Enthusiast

Z was for Zoo Aficionado

This is the 4th year that I have been copying and pasting the same introduction at the beginning of my posts.  I did use 2 variants of the intro this year: 1 for when I was posting on time and 1 for when my posts were late.  In the latter I would say how many posts I was behind.  I stayed up to date from amateur to Iguchi and caught up at Xenophile and was still on pace when I ended at zoo.  I was late for a little more than 1/2 of the challenge.  The funny thing is I posted on my blog on both the K and the L day which is where I fell behind.  They just weren't A to Z posts.

Being behind didn't bother me too much.  I was always confident that I would finish.  It did impede with my reading and commenting on blogs which was the least I have ever done in all my years doing the challenge.  I did get to more of that in the last few days once I caught up.

Something I did this year that really helped me get to this reflection right away is that from day 2 I built the index of the challenge on my daily post.  So, it was a simple matter of changing the topic from the previous day from "A is for " to "A was for"  and then copying and pasting the whole thing to the current letter.  Today all I did was take my list from the beginning of Wednesday's post  and change is to was for Z.  I'll change them all back to is when I put the index on a page in my blog later this month. 

One thing that surprised me this year was how many of my posts had political or spiritual components.  I guess I shouldn't be so surprised since my theme was me and I do have spiritual and political components.  I did go hard after Trump on 3 occasions and restrained myself from making it four when I was writing X is for xenophile.

There were many posts including lots of A, some of B, and all of C where I reused previous posts, pictures, poems and songs.  Again, with the subject being me, it felt natural to share as many examples of me as possible.  

A is for Amateur Parodist may have been my favorite post this year.   It had links to works by 3 other parodists, examples of some of my older parodies, and 2 that were written while I was writing the post.  I was especially proud of Amlodopine, which is a parody of Yesterday that starts  with someone singing the praise of the efficacy of their blood pressure medicine and quickly changes into a rant of how Trumps first 100 days is making him more  dependent than ever on the medicine. In my mind, the song  became an homage  to the old Sesame Street segment when Kermit The Frog would interview Don Music at the piano and after a little head bashing on the piano due to writer's block  the lyrics of the song would change dramatically from the original.  

I enjoyed participating in the A to Z challenge again this year.  For more about the A to Z reflections click here. To sign up for the reflections click here.For the reflections spreadsheet click here.

Team Saturdazzle: The One Without the Kool Aid

 

Hello, those dropping by from the A to Z challenge and welcome to Team Saturdazzle! 

Team Saturdazzle is the best thing on the internet that no one has ever heard of.  It's one of those super cool, super hip things that needs no explanation.  

Okay here's a small explanation; Team Saturdazzle occurs each Saturday at Leap of Dave and is a Potpourri of randomness and merriment.  Team Saturdazzle began when I led a work group chat at a previous job on our Saturday shift.  I called the chat, wait for it, Team Saturdazzle.

This year I have titled all the Team Saturdazzle posts with titles that look like they are episodes of the T.V. Show Friends.  That's why this post is called The one Without The Kool Aid.  

So for the Saturday's of the challenge I will have my A to Z post as the first part of the Team Saturdazzle post.    

Before I start I want to share that during the A to Z challenge my  Weekly Writer's Workshop submissions will appear as a segment in Team Saturdazzle or as part of my daily A to Z challenge response.

Here are this week’s prompts: 

1.Write a post based on the word roommates. 

2. Write a post in exactly 12 sentences (lines). 

3. What’s something that makes you far angrier than it should? 

4. Write about something you’ve recently spent a lot of time wondering about.

5.  If you could change the color of one thing, what would it be and why? 

6. If you knew you could live forever, how would you spend your days differently?   

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is E so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich 

E is for Evangelical Sans The Trump Kool-Aid

A Quote To Start Things Off ...

As a Christian I believe that the only thing I deserve is an eternity without God as a result of my own sins. I also believe that my salvation comes from God through Christ and is taught in the Bible. Nothing else is needed. When evangelicals defend unchristian behavior because they like the politics behind it they are not showing an understanding of Christ's redemptive love to a watching world.

Dave Roller - The Politics of Christianity 7/1/2020 Random Acts of Daveness  Word Press Blog

Yes, I am quoting myself.  I will be making many of the points today that  I have made multiple times on this and other platforms.  Since it is the ABC's of me, and I am, in fact,  me.  I will be quoting myself whenever possible.  All quotes unless otherwise noted are from the post The Politics of Christianity  which there is a link for in the paragraph above this one. 

John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing  put out his prompt list earlier this week for his Writer's Workshop segment. I chose #4: Write about something that you recently spent a lot of time thinking about.  I've been ruminating about this topic for many many years and that includes recently.  It is one of those things that makes me go" Hmmmm?".

I consider myself an evangelical Christian. This is how Wikipedia defines Evangelicalism:

Evangelicalism (/ˌiːvænˈdʒɛlɪkəlɪzəm, ˌɛvæn-, -ən/), evangelical Christianity, or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity that maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, solely through faith in Jesus's atonement.^] Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity, and in spreading the Christian message.

Wikipedia

 I know I wrote more experientially and anecdotally when I wrote about being a Christian on my C post.  However if I were to take an academic or explanatory approach it would match pretty close to Wikipedia's entry above.  The Wikipedia entry is very similar to the 5 Solas (Latin for alone) the tenet's of the protestant reformation.

They are Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, Glory of God Alone, and Scripture Alone.  Evangelicals, in a nutshell, believe in those 5 points and spreading that message as a regular practice of their faith. -

Why is the church getting engaged to the republican party when we are supposed to be the Bride of Christ? - Dave Roller TPOC

The problem of putting something in a nutshell, is that there is usually a nut or two alongside. (That is definitely a future quote from me.)  Among American evangelicals these days there seems to be many who are nutty about Making America Great Again.  It's as if there was a 6th sola, America alone (Sola America) and since 2016 a 7th Sola : Trump Alone (Sola Donalda) 

It wasn't always this way.  Back in the 1980's and 1990's  I knew  evangelical Christians who were Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and some even who were fans of the Green Bay Packers. aka Packertarians. Back then Donald Trump was not necessarily someone you would equate with evangelicalism of any stripe.  

A  letter to the editor in a suburban Chicago newspaper, The Daily Herald  regarding Muslim reaction to Trumps proposed Taj Mahal casino had this to say about Trump:

Donald Trump's very name has become synonymous with conspicuous consumption, greed and arrogance.  He is now linking himself with gambling more and more.  A Reaction To Trump, Daily Herald April 27th 1990

The author  did not identify himself as an evangelical in the letter, however, since I was the author of the letter, I can assure you that I was an evangelical at the time , and still am (sans the Trump Kool-Aid).

Billy Graham, who I will refer to for the rest of this piece, as EFE (Everybody's Favorite Evangelical) had this to say about gambling: 

“Gambling is nowhere approved in the Bible. Instead, the Bible stresses that the Christian should earn his living by honest work and effort, and this would exclude relying on chance (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12). The Bible tells us to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil’ (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Gambling has often done untold evil to people by making them lose money that could be used for good purposes or even the necessities of life. Money is given to us by God to be used for good, not evil. Anyone seeking to do God’s will should not be involved in gambling.” Billy Graham - My Answer Column quoted in Gospel Herald Article 1/26/17

Trump still profits from his previously owned  casino resorts.  The AP reported this past Tuesday that Trump has an agreement with Bally's that if they build a casino on the former Trump Links that Bally purchased in 2023 that they will pay him 115 Million dollars.  It is just one of many instances where it makes it hard for me to understand the relationship between Trump and Evangelicals.

Michael J. Kruger wrote an excellent article at his website canon fodder entitled "How the 5 solas do more than respond to Catholicism".  Kruger breaks down each sola,  saying what it fights against.    Kruger says that Soli Deo Gloria (For God's glory alone) is about "letting go of our glory, and living for God's glory." He concludes that Soli Deo Gloria fights against pride. 

If that's the case, MAGA doesn't make sense coming from the mouth of an Evangelical. Making America great again and  all our energies on being a proud American sound like what people who need Christ may be looking for Glory but not the evangelicals dedicated to sharing that Christ.  The Wikipedia definition calls evangelicalism a world wide movement.  If that's the case, wouldn't  the aims of evangelicals be more global, if not other worldly, than national? 

In my post, The politics of Christianity I explain how I have both a passion for political involvement and also a passion to shower the world with the love of Christ. I then say:

 If I had to choose between passions I hope I’d choose the passion mandated in the Bible. Jesus states this passion very succinctly in the book of John ...

¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:12-13

Or in the words of EFE:

“I’m trying to stay out of it and just keep preaching the gospel, because there’s nothing coming out of Washington or any of those places that are going to save the world or transform men and women. It’s Christ,” Billy Graham 1987 – quoted in What Billy Graham taught us about a healthy relationship between religion and politics – Deseret News 2/21/2018 also quoted in TPOC

The point I hope I am making is that evangelicalism has nothing to do with Trump.  This doesn't mean that evangelicals should have nothing to do with him.   Evangelicals carry the good news of Jesus Christ and that message is vital and has eternal consequences.  It is a message worth sharing to presidents, felons, adulterers, poor losers, and instigators of riots.  Evangelicals can and should vote in their countries elections, but that doesn't mean they need to drink the Kool-Aid.  

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Team Saturdazzle At The Movies

Powered By Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films 

 top 10 Films of 2025 as of 3/31/2005 

 10. Paddington In Peru   

9. A Complete Unknown Down 1 from February 

8. Nosferatu down 2 from February  

7. One of These Days  

6. Moana 2 down 1 from February 

5 Snow White  

4. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 down 1 from February 

3. Dog Man up 1 from January 

2. Mufasa The Lion King  

1. Captain America: Brave New World 

 Top 10 Films of March 2025

  10. Dog Man down 8 from Debruary 

9. A Working Man 

8. Paddington in Peru down 4 from February

7. Last Breath Up 13 from February

6. Black Bag

5. Novocaine

4. The Monkey up 2 from February

3. Mickey 17 

2. Captain America: Brave New World down 1 from February

1. Snow White

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I just love this standup routine from Nate Bargatze from the first time he hosted Saturday Night Live.  The first few minutes are pretty good but it's the last 5 to 6 that just about kill me.  So funny.  

I may have broke AI

While I was researching and writing my A to Z post for today,  I searched for how the 5 Solas would be translated in other languages.  This was for a point I decided not to make.  I looked it up in  Spanish, Russian and Greek.  Each time Googles AI gave me an overview with the 5 Solas and what they would be called in that language and then I could further search the links below that.  Being the totally Saturdazalous person that I am I decided to see how the Solas might look in Klingon.  AI went to work but after 30 seconds it was still thinking and I decided that maybe I should back out before anything really bad happened.  

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That's about all I have for Team Saturdazzle today.  Thanks for stopping by either  from The Sound of One Hand Typing or the ABC Challenge.  For More Writer's Workshop click here.  To get back to the A to Z Challenge website click here.  To go back directly to the A to Z Challenge Master List click here.  Otherwise leave a message at the tone and  I'll call you back at my earliest convenience.

Beeeeep!

 

C is for Christian

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is C so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C is for Christian

Note: Since these posts are about aspects of me it stands to reason that I have written about these aspects before.  I will be using some of those writings directly and indirectly in the challenge.  Last week I came across a paper I wrote in college back in the early 90's.  I have decided to use it in it's entirety including a note to my professor and my  professor's comments as today's submission.  

Tama - I wrote this for another class in the Fall.  I will submit fresh Thursday work as well.  I include this because I am interested to see if you can respond to this.  If you can I hope to expand on it as my third form.

Growing out of Old Clothes

          Once when I was growing up I came up with the notion that I was adopted.  I didn't know why I felt this way because I look exactly like my Dad.  I was driving everyone crazy until my Dad came up with irrefutable evidence that I was his. He said, "David, when you adopt you get a choice in who you get."

     It is true that you can not choose your children.  Children have no more choice in who they will get as parents. Parents influence their children heavily in their early years.  Children are not even aware of their influence.  They accept what their parents say and do as right without questioning it.

One such area that this occurred in my family was religion.  I was born and raised in a Catholic family. We went oft church every Sunday and I went to Parochial school for nine years. I regularly received the sacraments of Communion and Confession and was confirmed in the seventh grade.

I never minded being Catholic growing up.  We got holidays off that the public kids didn't.  In my early years we learned a lot about the Bible.  I enjoyed that. At home we never really looked at it, only at school. Still and all, I thought Catholicism was cool and even thought about the priesthood.

As I grew older I became less satisfied with Catholicism.  In the eight grade our priest came in to clear up the Bible for us.  He told us that many of the stories we had been learning to be true were just allegory.  This really bothered me.  Was belief something just for children? If it was, I was not ready to outgrow it.

Disillusion grew as I entered high school.  While religion was a staple in our family, it had no everyday significance. At dinner Dad would lead us in the same memorized prayer we'd been saying for years.  It was sometimes difficult for Dad to get control of 5 rowdy children and one talkative wife so he could lead us,  On one of these hectic occasions I remember him bellowing, "God Damn it! We are going to pray!" It is a funny and sad memory for me because it indicates the dichotomy of religion and practice in our home.  

In junior high and high school I was always growing. I was constantly growing out of old clothes and in need of new ones.  My Mom and I would go to the store and she would ask me what I wanted and proceed to buy what she wanted.  I knew that someday I would be able to choose my own clothes.

As I grew up my family's Catholicism seemed not to fit.  I needed a God who was stable. One that was not going to change. One that was the same on Sunday as He was at the supper table.  I spent my high school years looking for something that would fit.  

I made a discovery two days after Christmas my Senior year.  I found something that fit.  I discovered a Jesus that wasn't distant. A Jesus that was the same yesterday, today, and forever.  A Jesus who was interested in all areas of my life.  I never met that Jesus in the church I grew up in, and I gradually stopped attending there.  I discovered Him in the Bible and in the lives of those who followed Him.  I decided that day I would follow Him.

Often when I tell friends I once was Catholic, they ask what I am now,  Some days I just respond by whatever denominational dog tag I happen to be answering by. On my good days, I answer by saying what I became that day in late December 1982: A follower of Jesus. Being a follower of Jesus is not something I was born into.  It was clothing that I chose to put on, and I have never outgrown it.

Professor's comment: Yes - This is much more accessible.  I find this by far & away the least alienating.  In fact, it's engaging. All people, no matter what their faith, are fascinated by the spiritual quest of others. It's such a private matter such a crucial matter, we care.  And when you simply share, you've an audience.

 Well that's all of me to C today.  For more of the A to Z challenge click here.  

Coming Up: Son of a David.

 

Facing The Unknown - Weekly Writers Workshop

 

This weeks prompts for Weekly Writers Workshop hosted by the inimitable (I should know, I try to imitit him all the time, and I am not able) John Holton on his blog, The Sound of One Hand Typing, are:  write a post on the word medications,  write a post in exactly 12 sentences, write about what would induce you to give up life as you know it and face the unknown, tell us the story of your personal experience with rejection, write about a bad habit you'd like to eliminate from your life, and write about a time you had to let go of someone you cared for.  I'm sure you have deciphered by the enormity of the first sentence, and the title of this post which prompts I have chosen.  

There have been at least 5 times in my adult life that I have given up life as I knew it and faced the unknown: moving across the state at the age of 22 to attend university,  moving across the world to serve 2 years as a Southern Baptist missionary in Far East Russia in 1992 a few months after the country had  opened it's doors to Western missionaries, moving across the U.S. to attend seminary, moving across the country again back to my native Illinois to court the woman who would become my wife, and finally moving against the grain by staying at home for 6 years and homeschooling my children. In each of these cases I gave up life as I knew it and faced the unknown; in the first 4 I also had to let people go that I cared for (the 6th prompt).  

What motivated me those 5 times varied by degree but they all had to do with a path I have tried to follow since becoming a follower of Jesus more than 40 years ago and that path has been putting the needs of others before my own.  I am not perfect, so I haven't  been perfectly motivated and I sure haven't perfectly followed this path but the path has certainly led many times to leaving life as I then knew it. 

My first three travels were all based on what I thought would be the life of a missionary.  When I left South Carolina where I had attended seminary for a year to pursue marriage with Amy, I had already become uncertain of a career as a missionary, but one of the myriad reasons I had fallen in love with her was because I had seen in our 7 years of friendship that she was also on the path to putting others needs before her own.  So I envisioned that we would attempt to meet those needs together, which we have for 26 years and continue to do so however imperfectly. 

The needs of my wife and children motivated me as a home educator, they also prepared me for my current job as a substitute teacher. With all our children out of high school, there may come a day when Amy and I, as a couple give up life as we know it and face the unknown. I am certain  that the same motivations that directed in the past would lead us into any new unknown. 

I know would like to lead you back to the known, which is a variety pack of other submissions that can be found in the comments section of  this weeks edition of the Weekly Writer's Workshop. 

Spiritual Thursday: Delivering the message of delivery.

It is time once again for Spiritual Thursday and I am hosting today.  Today I have some ruminations on the church.  But before I ruminate away, I have some questions you might want to reflect on and answer.  Of course these are just ideas and you are free to write about anything you  like.  

First, is there a physical place that has deep spiritual meaning to you?  Secondly, are there people  who have invested in, walked alongside, or that you have walked along side of in your journey?  How have they encouraged you on the way? Has your spiritual journey given your life purpose?  Does your journey have a way?  In other words, what has been your path on that journey?   In my mind the answers to those questions help constitute what church is to so many of us. 

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I am going to Greece in less than a week and I am super excited!!! We will be spending time in Athens and Corinth, but mostly be on the islands of Sifnos and Paros.  The island of Sifnos boasts 360 churches, the most if any island in the Cyclades.  Including this one which we hope to travel to.  

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Church_of_Epta_Martyres_,Kastro_on_Sifnos,_153398.jpg#/media/File:Church_of_Epta_Martyres_,Kastro_on_Sifnos,_153398.jpg

While preparing for our trip we have found many churches that we can visit as tourists but have had more difficulty finding churches we can attend as practitioners.  This is what gave me my idea for today's post.

Oftentimes when we think of a church, we think of a structure.  Just in the same way when we think of the post office, we think of a building or perhaps a mail box.  Perhaps we might think of a person when we think of the church, perhaps a  priest, pastor or parishioner. Thinking of the post office, we might picture  our mail deliverer.  Sometimes when we think about the church, we might focus on the negative, the scandals, the abuse, the hypocrisy.  Again, at the post office, we might think about lost mail or someone going, well, postal.

I would say that the church and the post office are really about one thing, the same thing, and that thing is delivery.

There are 2 meanings of the word deliver and they work in concert with each other.  First, you deliver a message, second you deliver something from one place to another.  In the post office context, the message that gets delivered is separate than the place it was delivered from and where it's going. So if I send a letter from where I live in Illinois to where my sister lives in Virginia,   the route that the message is taking does not change the meaning of the message.

But the church is also delivering a message and being delivered at the same moment.  I will give an Old Testament and New Testament example, but there are countless  examples that don't derive from the scriptures.  In the Old Testament the Hebrews are literally being delivered from bondage in Egypt and being delivered to the promised land. One example from the New Testament is I Peter 2:9,

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

In this example, the message that is being delivered is that people are being delivered from darkness into light.

I guess what I'm saying is that when I think of the church, I think of the message being delivered and the journey from where you've been to where you are now, to where you are headed.  The two types of delivery message and journey are intertwined together.  

For me my spiritual journey is centered around Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has delivered me from slavery and is leading me to the promised land and is preparing a place for me there.  It is Jesus who has called me out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Before Jesus church was just a place and a practice.  Now the church is His body here on earth.  He is the message that we deliver and the Messiah who has is delivering us.  

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Poetry Friday: The Problem of Good.

 It's Thursday night so we all know that mean's it's time for Poetry Friday.  This week's festival of free verse, carnival of couplets, and symposium of sonnets is being held at Bookseed Studio.

I went through about 1.3 million drafts or so of this poem before I got this far. I was driving my family crazy with all the revisions.  Here is what I came up with ...

The Problem of Good.

I tried feeling good

       But ...

Feeling good fades.

I tried being good

       But ...

Being good is impossible

I tried doing good

Doing good is filling a leaky bucket

One exhausting drop at a time

Then I remembered

God is good.

I can ...

Feel His Goodness

Be His Goodness

Do His Goodness

And...

That's not bad. 

For more Poetry Friday click here.