Jeffrey Davis

A recent tradition in my clan is that my wife and I head to my parents’ house on Christmas Eve morning for breakfast and to exchange gifts with them and my twin sis. This year, a great conversation unexpectedly materialized around the breakfast table. Here’s a rough transcript (as I can recall):[something was said about how much money is spent this time of year]me: My blog bud Sam Davidson, founder of this thing called CoolPeopleCare…

Nana (my grandmother): what people care?

Mom: Cool People Care

Nana: Oh. ok?

Me: …he started this campaign called Christmas is not your Birthday and reports from the National Retail Federation that 450 Billion dollars will have been spent from Thanksgiving to Christmas and asks what would happen if even 1% of that money went to charity or someone you know personally who needs it.

Dad, mom, and nana: hmm [collectively]

Me: Have yall heard of Product [RED] by Bono?

[explanation of the RED campaign]

Me: …it would only take 50 cents per day to supply one person in Africa the medicine they need to not die from AIDS.

Nana: I think if it costs 50 cents per day in Africa, it should cost that in America as well.

Me: I agree, but it doesn’t. Damn capitalism.

Dad: It may cost 50 cents per day for one person’s medicine, but how much does it cost to get it to them? Does it even ever get to them? Do the governments intercept the monetary aid? How much of that goes to “executive expenses”?

Me: Good questions dad. That’s why I hate to give money to brick and mortar charities…not all of of the money I give, in fact, probably not much at all, goes to people who actually need it.

Dad: Yeah, that sucks (my paraphrase)

Me: A buddy asked me a question back in the summer that went something like this–what if every human on the face of the planet were aware of and lived life through the perfect Love of Christ that is within them? What things would we not need?

[puzzled and introspective looks]

Me: My thoughts exactly, lol…let me get us started, we wouldn’t need welfare, borders, governments, armed forces, …

Dad: No offense son, but that’s a Utopian dreamworld, why spend time thinking about that?

Me: Because I believe dreams can come true.

Dad: [head snaps around with bewilderment at the previous comment, followed by a look of apprehensive excitement]

Jessica (twin sister): [yells down from upstairs] Yall ready to come open presents?

That was a great covo Nana and Dad. I hope to continue it further. What do I want for Christmas? That aforementioned “Utopian dreamworld”.

Technorati Tags: Christmas, Sam Davidson, Love, utopia, dreams, Product Red, Bono, AIDS, Africa, Jeffrey Davis

Four words: BILLY GOAT COFFEE CAFE! This joint is my new favorite haunt and I am actually sitting here right this moment as I write this post. For, well what seems like forever, I’ve been looking for a non-franchise coffee house with, fancy this–good coffee, a good vibe, with reasonable prices on the east side of town. Well my friends, this is it.My wife and I came in Saturday night for the first time, after dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse here in Providence Marketplace with some friends. We met the owners, Judy and Gunnar, who shared with us the story of how the idea behind the Billy Goat Coffee Cafe was born (including where the name originated, but you can read about that on their site).

Now for more details about the Billy Goat. You can find it to the immediate right of the west entrance to Belk in Providence Marketplace. The billy goat logo bids you welcome as you walk through the double glass doors and into the warm and friendly atmosphere of “the goat”. Providing this soothing ambiance is foremost the friendliness of the employees that greet you; then a room full of decor in mocha, chocolate, and black; marbleized concrete floors of the same color palette; a big, marble-clad fireplace; and bistro sets, armchairs, and a leather love seat. There is even a huge wooden divider that can be slid shut, closing off a small section of the establishment for conferences or meetings.

The menu is cleverly created in the billy goat theme, even using “kid”, “nanny”, and “billy” in the stead of small, medium, and large. Another signature difference is the availability of cafe bianco. This is a milder espresso than normal, finishing with the note of something like a Butterfinger Bar, quite tasty indeed. The non-coffee drinkers may still want to visit “the goat” and find their way to the “un-coffee” section of the menu. Not an after 10:00am coffee drinker? That’s ok, stop in and try one of their gourmet sandwiches (with chips and a pickle), the soup of the day, or dessert. If you want something to eat with your coffee in the morning, grab a bowl of cereal, bagel, muffin, scone, or turnover.

Before I share some pics of the establishment with you, let me also say that though it may sound like it from this post, Billy Goat Coffee Cafe is not paying me for the positive publicity. I truly do love this new little place and wanted to give a shout out to an up and coming local business that fills a HUGE hole in the marketplace here on the east side of town.

Technorati Tags: Billy Goat Coffee Cafe, Coffee, Mt. Juliet, Providence, Jeffrey Davis

I came to again realize this morning that so often times I do not live, even through my writing, in the true reality that I feel exists beyond the realm of most people’s awareness. Too often, as someone I love dearly has gently and recently noted, my posts here are cynical and condescending in nature. Ashamedly I admit, this is too true. However, such realizations have led to another great question in my mind. Does the failure to “practice” what one “preaches”, in whatever percentage of the time, diminish the authenticity of the belief itself?This morning I had a meeting at the Frothy Monkey on 12th Ave S and, of course, decided to stay for a bite to eat, some coffee, and to start on a book. So there I was, sitting on the deck surrounded by pets getting their picture taken with Santa (courtesy of Agape Animal Rescue) as I cracked open C. S. Lewis’s the Problem of Pain (that I received last Christmas). In the introduction, Lewis writes:

“When Mr. Ashley Sampson suggested to me the writing of this book, I asked leave to be allowed to write it anonymously, since, if I were to say what I really thought about pain, I should be forced to make statements of such apparent fortitude that they would become ridiculous if anyone knew who made them. Anonymity was rejected as inconsistent with the series; but Mr Sampson pointed out that I could write a preface explaining that I did not live up to my own principles! This exhilarating programme I am now carrying out. Let me confess at once, in the words of good Walter Hilton, that throughout this book ‘I feel myself so far from true feeling of that I speak, that I can naught else but cry mercy and desire after it as I may.‘”

And so I echo those words of C. S. Lewis and Walter Hilton. Many times I may not speak and act and live in the Love that I believe is the true reality, but I believe it still. My only hope is that I will gradually transition to spending more and more time in that true reality, while spending less and less time in this false reality of difference, separation, selfishness, and hate.

Technorati Tags: C. S. Lewis, the Problem of Pain, reality, love, Frothy Monkey, Agape Animal Rescue, Jeffrey Davis

Well, one of my favorite meteorologists, News 2’s Justin Bruce, just beat me to the punch on this, but here ya go anyway. If you’re not doing anything between about 10:00pm and midnight this evening, you should consider finding a nice, dark spot to set up camp for a while and gaze into the night sky. That’s right, tonight is the peak of arguably the best meteor shower of the year, the Geminids. Oh and just so you know, the forecast is perfect for optimal viewing–not a cloud in the sky.Space.com writes,

“The Geminid event is known for producing one or two meteors every minute during the peak for viewers with dark skies willing to brave chilly nights…The Geminids are a very fine winter shower, and usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the Perseids. Studies of past displays show that this shower has a reputation for being rich both in slow, bright, graceful meteors and fireballs as well as faint meteors, with relatively fewer objects of medium brightness. Many appear yellowish in hue. Some even appear to form jagged or divided paths.”

SkyTonight.com writes,

“The Geminid meteor shower, possibly the year’s best, should peak late tonight in the moonless dark sky. The best time should be from about 10 p.m. until moonrise before dawn.”

Finally, the American Meteor Society (AMS) writes,

“The Geminid shower is the favorite of most experienced observers. While most showers wax and wane throughout the years, the Geminids almost always provide an impressive display of celestial fireworks…Near maximum activity this shower can produce over 100 shower members per hour as seen from rural locations…”

There ya have it, grab some blankets and coffee, brave the chill, and wonder at the beauty of the evening.

Technorati Tags: Geminids, space, nature, astronomy, radiants, Gemini

My wife and I have a great friend, Brittany, who is getting married this coming May. She and her fiance will also soon be finishing up school at my wife’s alma matter. Anyway, their soon-to-be legal union has had me thinking for the past month or so. The question at hand is, “At what point does marriage actually occur?”Traditionally, the institution of the church has forbidden sex before marriage. What has struck me as odd this last month is that it then goes on to define marriage with the intangible notion of the “two becoming one”. Such a notion is typically derived from portions of the Bible found in the book of Genesis and in the letter to the Ephesians, among other places.

That said, I do believe this notion is true and real. However, as I previously noted, such a definition is quite abstract. At what point do the two become one? Can you even select a definitive moment in time in which such an event occurs, or is it more of an ongoing process? [Let me take a minute to mention that if you define the two becoming one simply by the physical, meaning sex, then I believe you may have a grossly over-simplified perspective regarding the beauty of a marriage commitment.]

By now, you definitely see where I’m going. The institution of the church deems that “sex before marriage is a sin.” However, by its own romantic notion of marriage (and I would say this is the same notion shared by the general populous), wouldn’t it be impossible to say, as the result of an event (the wedding), that now you are married, ten seconds ago you were not? Does that really fit into the greater intimacy and truth of what a marriage is?

It seems to me, uncomfortable as it is to admit (because of my traditional upbringing), that the commitment of marriage and the wedding itself may actually have little to do with each other. Yeah, the “wedding” is the celebration of the commitment, but it’s truly more for legalities than it is reality.

Then again, I could be totally wrong, as I have been many times before. At any rate, what do you think?

[An Afterthought: I want to make sure that no one hears me saying that we should treat sex frivolously. I believe that sex is a great physical picture of the multi-faceted union occurring between two people who Love each other and have committed to that love for the rest of their lives...among other things . What I merely mean to ask in this post is how would a person/people/the church/etc determine when "marriage" has occurred, when the very notion by which we define it is, again, of an abstract understanding.]

Technorati Tags: marriage, wedding, weddings, love, reality, Jeffrey Davis