I went to Applebees for lunch. Got their Oriental Chicken Salad. Sitting in the next booth were a young couple, he in a business suit, she in bluejeans. My expert analysis: husband and wife, he was free for lunch, they got together. Then he got a phone call on his cell. I noticed, because he was talking louder than normal. Everyone talks a little bit louder than normal on a cell phone. It’s annoying, sticks out like a rhino in a phone booth.

He talked for probably 15 minutes, stuff about mortgages mostly. Meanwhile, the poor gal (I kept glancing her way) sat there bored, looking into the air, probably wondering why she gave up part of her day to be with her husband, when he let a phone call push her aside. I felt sorry for her. And I wondered about the ways I let work or personal projects or websurfing or blog-writing push aside time with my own wife.

Not to mention the fact that I’ll allow just about anything, no matter how trivial, derail time with God.

I listen to ESPN radio on my way to work each morning. It’s a 25-minute drive. Last Christmas, I used gift money to get XM Satellite radio, so I can switch between various news and music channels. But in the morning, I mostly keep it on ESPN. So I’m a shallow guy.

This morning, they were talking about last night’s Cowboys-Eagles game (which I missed). They noted that on Monday morning, Bill Parcells attended the funeral for his brother, but that he was on the field coaching at night. Mike and Mike (the ESPN hosts) criticized that, and I certainly agree.

Brett Favre, the Packers quarterback, set a record for playing in consecutive games. But along the way, he buried his father, his wife suffered cancer, and there was some other similar event which I can’t remember, all of which occurred during the football season. But on Sunday, Favre was on the field leading his team.

I remember watching the McLaughlin Group one Sunday, and noting that Eleanore Clift just seemed out of it. At the end of the show, John McLaughlin, the host, said something to this effect: “On Wednesday of this week, Eleanore’s husband,____, passed away. But she’s here today, because that’s what he would have wanted.”

My immediate thought was, “McLaughlin used that line on her to get her to appear. He was just too lazy to go get a replacement, and certainly far too insensitive to think maybe she should just take a week off.”

I imagine Bill Parcells was told, “Your brother would want you to be coaching tonight. It’s what you do. He’ll be watching. Blah blah blah.” And Brett Favre probably heard (or said) the same thing regarding his father, his wife, his relatives in New Orleans post-Katrina.

Well, I think that stinks. Take some days off. Mourn for your father, your husband. Spend time with your wife as she suffers from cancer, even if your streak ends. Show some sense of priority.

If I fall over dead today, I hereby give my wife and family permission to break their usual routines. It’s okay if Pam doesn’t run the sound next Sunday. It’s okay if my Dad finds someone to sub for him in the pulpit at his church, while he deals with the death of his eldest son. It’s okay if my two brothers are bummed out, and don’t do all the things that were on their schedules for the coming week. If anything should happen to them, I certainly wouldn’t be carrying on as usual–playing in the worship team next Sunday, writing new blog entries, going to the ping pong club–under the pretense that, “That’s what he would have wanted me to do.”

My alma mater has seen fit to change its name from Huntington College to Huntington University. I fail to see the point. I guess it’s supposed to be a big marketing advantage. I haven’t talked to anyone who’s excited about the idea. But the Trustees went along with it, so it’ll happen with the start of the 2005 class. “HU” just doesn’t have the right feel as “HC.” The theme song will need to be changed, since it now ends, “Hail, all hail HC.” A little thing, obviously.

I’m increasingly concerned about the high cost of a Christian liberal arts education at Huntington, as well as at other Christian colleges. It seems to me that our Christian colleges are pricing themselves way beyond the reach of the lower classes. There seems to be a chasing after US News rankings and such, after prestige. It’s a form of elitism. And, I increasingly fear, of messed up priorities and sense of mission.

I was a poor preacher’s kid who emerged from HC in 1979 with no debt. I’ll bet that doesn’t happen much anymore. My brother Rick, who works at a state university, talks about the joy of helping truly struggling, poor people obtain an education. Isn’t that something our Christian colleges should be doing? But more and more, we’re leaving the poor behind. This greatly disturbs me. I’m sure that, if I asked, HC people would give me some wonderful anecdotes. But I know it’s not the norm.

At my church near downtown Fort Wayne, we have several kids going to Taylor-Fort Wayne. They couldn’t afford Huntington College or the Taylor Upland campus, but the Taylor-Fort Wayne campus is several thousand dollars cheaper. But even that college is too much for some of our kids, who have switched over to IPFW (Indiana University-Fort Wayne). I have also sensed at Huntington (and I’ve heard the same is true at Taylor-Upland) a somewhat condescending attitude toward Taylor-Fort Wayne, as if, “You get what you pay for.” It smells to me like arrogance.

I’ve become a huge fan of Taylor-Fort Wayne. A lot of those kids come to my church, and they are involved in ministry throughout the city. They may not come from well-off homes, but they’re great kids with a strong Christian commitment. And if the education they get doesn’t quite measure up to Upland or Huntington–so be it. I’m more interested in their character than in the accreditation and ranking of their school.

Am I on a rant, or what?