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At different times during the year, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has free admission. Today was the last one for a while, so Bethany, her grandma and I took the boys downtown for a visit. I love the reactions the boys have to each room and display. Visiting the museum is funny because many of the exhibits haven’t changed and I remember them from when I was a kid…and they haven’t aged well.

Then there’s the whole issue of getting to and from the museum. I went to their website for directions (usually I just google map it) and wrote down the info. Unfortunately, I’m a moron and passed 51st street because I was looking for exit 51. I realized it only a couple of miles later, so we got off at Canal Street. That should have been fine, except for the fact that I have no sense of direction downtown.

None whatsoever.

Since I think of Chicago as being north, I think of the Lake being north.

Wrong again.

The Lake is east. But I didn’t realize my error until we drove out of our way again.

After an extra 30 minutes in the car, we finally made it home. You’d think I’d learned my lesson, but I managed to take the long way home, too. Two words: Chicago Skyway. I hate getting lost.

Speaking of lost, Lost returned tonight. The next 7 episodes are going to be great.

I’ve been reading in the book of Job the past several days. It’s not my favorite book, but I appreciate the overall message. The majority of the book is Job discussing with his “friends” why he’s experienced such great loss and pain. Job defends his innocence while his friends insist that he must have sinned in some way to cause it. At times, Job demands an audience with God so he can defend himself.

Then God responds.

He’s basically puts Job in his place, reminding him that his knowledge and power are finite.

Job’s responds by saying, “I am nothing–how could I ever find the answers? I will put my hand over my mouth in silence. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”

Sometimes I think we talk so much that we forget who’s ultimately in charge. I think it’d do us well to put our hand over our mouth and just listen.

I found this video in a myspace bulletin from the band “Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin.” One of the band members, Phil Dickey, was in the youth group I worked with in Springfield, MO. I thought the video was funny and the music was great, so I thought I’d post it here.

This Wednesday night we’re going to be discussing substance abuse in our youth service as a part of our current series. VH1 has a show called “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew”. Although it’s a reality show, it does seem to be fairly authentic and the drama doesn’t seem to forced or contrived. I watched parts of a couple episodes tonight in order to get some perspective on what we’ll be dealing with on Wednesday.

It’s really a sad show. The “celebrities” go through withdrawals, freak out, and reveal their dirty laundry. It’s amazing to me how deeply entrenched and how dependent people can become on drugs and alcohol.

I’m also amazed by Daniel Baldwin, who is one of the “celebrities.” Besides Dr. Drew and the other workers, he’s the only one that seems to have his head on straight (at least in the episodes I watched). It’s apparent that he has his own issues to work out, but his ability to speak to the issue is impressive (which, in my opinion, is doubly impressive for a Baldwin!).