The Ants Go Marching

As the temperature heats up the ants appear. All winter the ants are nowhere to be seen. With the coming of warm spring weather we see them routing large holes in our front yard. Thus far we have escaped the advance of their armies. In previous years they have aggressively marched into our house and taken over the kitchen. One day I walked in to find them making pancakes.

There are two memorable ant invasions. The first was one in which the little black ants formed a line across the ceiling and down into the kitchen. They were after something in the trash can and made a line (a bee line?) to whatever grease or sweets they were after. On that occasion I made the mistake of reaching in and shooing them away while taking the trashcan outside. Unbeknownst to me I had incurred a number of small ant bites. The next day my hand swelled to twice its usual size. Thank goodness for Benadryl.

While dating my wife she baked us a large bunch of oatmeal raisin cookies. We were going on a trip so she left them in a plastic bag inside the house by the front door. When we returned to grab them up they were being devoured by a hoard of large red ants. Having learned my lesson these went out without direct skin contact. This was a sad loss of time and energy as it was a special gift. Perhaps those cookies will be better remembered having been lost than having been eaten.

Today I found a line of them stretching from two houses down and going up our outside wall and onto the roof. I don’t want to know what is up there. My fear is that they are stockpiling battering rams and weapons for some future attack that will come from the ceiling and not from ground level.

We spray poison now. It doesn’t seem to help much. Like clowns coming out of a car at the circus there is a never ending amount of ants that live all around our house; largely in holes in the front yard. They have the upper hand. We remain vigilant at all times. Always on guard we hold out against them until winter comes again. Then we gain a season of rest.

Language, Television and The Muppets

The problem with posting daily is that I feel I have to produce a treatise on whatever topic I talk about. I considered a post on English grammar using an interview I heard on the NPR money show as a springboard. In the interview a writer and expert on societal norms said to the host, “Ya know ya gots to.” I almost swerved into the other lane. It is alright in conversation to be rather loose but not in a professional interview! I considered posting on this but I don’t feel I’ve enough material.


My wife and I were discussing favorite Sesame Street characters tonight in response to last nights’ mention of Kermit The Frog. Though it has been pointed out often it is staggering the effect that television has on our lives. So much so that we have discussions about shows that took place thirty or forty years ago.

These ideas may be the root of an upcoming post. This years commitment means I still am going to attempt a post for each day in June. Ya gots to read it every day or you’ll miss somethin. Just sayin.

It's Not Easy Being Green

“When land does well for its owner, and the owner does well for the land, when both end up better by reason of their partnership, we have conservation.”---Aldo Leopold quoted in Scorched Earth

The sad truth is, as Kermit the Frog said, it’s not easy being green. Culture has moved forward in the last years so that most of us have trash cans for yard waste, trash and recyclables. We won’t ever arrive as long as man is purely self-centered.

It takes work and an educated mind to think in terms of being green. In the store I work in many use plastic bags large scale for their groceries. They take handfuls of napkins, sugar, stir-sticks and other products instead of using what they need. “Me” is their mindset not you and not the environment or the state of the nearest landfill.

My landlord and the tenants in my community throw things into the recycle bin willy-nilly. They don’t know or don’t care what is supposed to go into the bin. They simply know that they have trash and it needs to go out. If they fill up their trash can then they simply put the overflow into the recycle bin. It’s all about convenience with little care about the impact large scale.

In “Land Ethic,” Leopold wrote that ethics rests on the premise that the individual is a member of a community of independent parts. Our instincts, he said, prompt us to compete for our place in the community but our ethics prompt us to cooperate. Leopold’s community included soils, water, plants and animals. Until we choose to live ethically we will live independently. Conservation and green living are not compatible with an independent and selfish lifestyle.

That's What Summers Are For

My daughter’s got ‘sophomoritis,’ my wife has ‘substitutitis’ and I am plain tired of work. Summer is coming and for the Dillo family that means travel. The rest of the year our travel comes chunks of two or three days since we have jobs that require availability most of the year, and the teen has classes. It’s instilled in us from birth; summer is the time to travel.

The family I grew up in took two road trips that I vaguely remember; one up to Canada and one south down through Baja California. My sister can remember a number of incidents which occurred on these trips. I don’t remember much (even now)---which is why I take pictures. I remember a mish-mash of things; Senor Frogs restaurant, my mother having to stop often as she was on diuretics, our car overheating (I think this happened on this trip---it happened often) and a big statue on a significant parallel (the 28th?). Beyond the road trips we spent one or two weeks each summer in Big Bear at a cabin owned by my fathers’ childhood friend.

Ironically my father never accompanied us on our trips to Big Bear. To this day I’m not certain why. One might think that this would make the Big Bear trips bittersweet but these were rich times made richer by their recurring every summer---and one winter trip which taught me that one man sleds were best not ridden in a group. The summers were spent walking into town with two or three rolls of nickels and spending the day in the arcade playing Skee-ball and miscellaneous other games. Higher scores in the games meant the machines would spew forth tickets which could be traded for prizes at day’s end. I had quite the collection of small furry plastic animals (not stuffed animals) each with a name of their own.

We’d walk back home at dinner time before the streetlights went on. Free of rolled nickel we carried our prizes in bags or pockets so they wouldn’t fall if the walk turned to a run or a race. After dinner the day would end but we’d get up again the next day and spend it hiking or playing or shooting more Skeeball. School and home were a dream we’d return to some day but today was a day to play and be a kid. That’s what Summers are for.

Why We Do World Missions

In front of you is a large rectangular table that is quite heavy. On one end of the table there stands one small weak woman and at the other end of the table stand five strong men. If the table had to be moved across the room what would that look like? The five men would have no problem with their side of the table but the woman would have to strain to even get the table off the ground let alone to move it to a different location. That is one visual of believing Christians worldwide. We here in American would be the five men while the unreached of the world would be the woman at the other end.


The U.S. Center for World Mission defines unreached as, “those groups whose populations (which can range from hundreds to millions) contain only a very small percentage of people who follow Christ (2% or less). Typically, this small percentage is not sufficient to build and sustain a movement to Christ internally. Those who are part of an unreached people group have little to no opportunity to hear a clear presentation of the Gospel—one that is culturally intelligible to them. In this case, the gospel must be presented and lived out by people from outside their people group.”

Certainly not all of us are called to become missionaries to the unreached. We are, however, all called to “disciple all nations,” which means that even if we stay here our hearts should be focused there---and so should our prayer and our pocketbooks.

I am enjoying marriage to a woman that has the same focus and understanding as I do regarding Christ’s call to reach the unreached. We have both supported and prayed for missionaries as well as for the persecuted church (“Remember those in prison as though you were in prison with them, and those ill-treated as though you too felt their torment.”). It has been refreshing to be reminded through her of the importance of this focus. That too is why visiting missionaries is important; it keeps you focused on the important things.

The table is easier to move if there are enough people to carry it. The gospel is better spread if there are enough people to share it. “It’s a big, big house with lots and lots of room; and a big, big table, with lots and lots of food.” Let us go invite people to the feast.

Grace Lost And Found

The free gift of grace gets buried in life like bills on my desk get buried under less important paperwork. I crank along day by day, going to work, eating, keeping church commitments and connections going. Free grace gets buried. Then it’s easy to begin thinking that somehow in the running that it’s about the running. The running leads to more doing. I begin to think it’s about the doing and earning; earning grace.

I get to running so hard and I wonder why I can’t feel the wind in my face. My legs feel heavy and my body strains against some invisible load. One day I wake up knowing that I’ve lost joy somewhere along the way. Time to hit the refresh button---but nooo (h/t John Belushi) I run harder and work harder. I say I’ll trust God to help me figure it out. The grace will come I’m sure. The joy will come I’m sure. The alarm clock rings and I’m back in the grind.

In a window of quiet amidst the run, driving seventy down the highway without traffic, the moon glints off the walls of the road-cut and a voice whispers, “Free, free, free.” The Spirit speaks to my spirit and I am reminded that grace is free and His burden is light.

Travel to God Forsaken Places

“Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine.”---Biography of William Carey


“Why go there? Why would you choose to go to that God forsaken place? Don’t catch Malaria! I mean I respect the people that go to those places but I’ve no desire to go.” We are visiting Guatemala to spend time with some Christ following missionaries and to see if God is moving us into missions. There are two opinions one hears when travelling to places that are far off the tourism grid. People are either excited because you are going to have an adventure or they think it a waste of time and finances.

The call to missions is not a call to comfort though certainly it is a call to adventure. I sympathize with my neighbor. If my wife and I were not seeking to serve Christ we certainly would choose luxury and fine-dining over wet weather in the Mayan highlands. We didn’t verify the comfort of the sleeping arrangements nor the quality of food on Trip Advisor. We were challenged to go and we are going.

In his book, Radical, David Platt explores a variety of claims about our purpose in life “that are contained in the Gospel yet contradicted by the American Dream. Claims such as these: Real success is found in radical sacrifice. Ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of God….Ultimately Jesus is a reward worth risking everything to know, experience and enjoy.” Platt challenges his readers to spend a year ‘to radically alter the remainder of your life.’ One component of this is to: Spend time in another context. This works out to be 2% of one year or about one week sharing the gospel in a different context.

Through prayer and networking God has led thus far to the “God forsaken” country of Guatemala. We didn’t have the desire to go anyplace initially. Enlisting in the adventure has been (and we trust will continue to be) a lesson in listening and following God. We hope it will be ultimately satisfying. We know that the cost is worth it.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” ---Jim Elliot

The Place Of Prayer In Public Meetings

This fall the Supreme Court will consider a case concerning public prayer before public meetings. Part of me is astonished at this. This has been an established practice since the founding of our nation. The fact that the Supreme Court is even willing to hear arguments for the case is proof that (as was in the days of Josiah) the law is lost.

My daughter would never say to me, “Dad, do you mind if I go down to the corner liquor store and steal some candy bars?” I would laugh then we would discuss right and wrong. There was a lengthy period in our history when such a legal suit would have been dismissed immediately. The suit would not have been in keeping with established law nor with common sense. Unlike in my household it is presently alright for a minority to sue and to place their own agenda over against that of the whole.

According to Dr. Del Tackett this is consistent with a State run government as well. A religion based on moral absolutes as set forth in the Bible are inconsistent with the agenda of the state specifically when they set forth family, community and God over against the desires of the federal government. Removing prayer, especially prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, opens the door wider to a general state religion with principles set forth by the state. The state then determines the absolutes.

Even if the court decides that it is proper and fitting to open a public meeting with prayer ‘in Jesus name,’ the lines have already moved. They will only be prolonging the inevitable. Unless the law is pulled from under the rubble and restored to it’s proper framework we, like Josiah’s Judah, will cease from greatness.

A Very Short Post

One thing you can’t know by reading this blog is whether or not I practice what I preach. Tonight I am doing exactly that. It’s been a full day beginning with the wind-in-my-face bike ride that I predicted in yesterday’s post. I did get in a good nap afterward though. That was followed by the normal errands which life demands and just now the daughter drop off at her moms’ house.


Four in the morning comes early so I am choosing sleep over blogging. The good news here is that the wind blew in cooler temperatures.  We will open the window and sleep deep and "sweet" as the wife is prone to say.   I’ll keep you posted.

The Full Force Of The Wind

The Wind In the Willows, Gone With The Wind, Chasing the Wind and A Killer in the Wind are some book titles with wind in the title. Google says there are 162,000 results. Wind is much on my mind today. Oklahoma is on everybody’s mind today because of the wind. Wind of two-hundred plus miles per hour in a hurricane ranked as a leader in its category. It is impossible to relate to the level of loss brought on by such a disaster.

On a much, much smaller scale I am disappointed due to the wind. Tomorrow is a training day and the weather forecast here is for wind everyplace. In the scheme of things it is obviously a small thing. Still it will make tomorrow’s ride seem mostly work and very little of pleasure.

In poetry and classic literature wind speaks to us of our transitory stay here and of the impermanence of our life as echoed in the popular Livgren song, “All we are is dust in the wind.” The writer of Ecclesiastes sobers us with words about the wind saying, “Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.” Isaiah compares the speed and devastation of the wind with our own brokenness for ‘all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.’

There is no real shelter from the full force of the wind and no escape from insignificance. Yet there will come a day when, “Behold, a king will reign righteously and princes will rule justly. Each will be like a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land. Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen.”