Seven Sevens (Almost)

Both Charlie Lehardy, whose blog is called Another Think, and John Schroeder of Blogotional, have hit me with a meme.

For the uninitated, this is sort of like a chain letter in which bloggers are asked to respond to a series of questions.

The meme they sent my way is the by-now-famous, Seven Meme, to which Jan of The View from Her has also responded.

Seven Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die:

• Write a book of practical inspiration
• Write a book of history or biography
• Record a collection of original songs
• Write and host a Cosmos-like presentation of the Gospel
• Travel (especially return to England and Germany and go to France, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and Japan, as well as to those US states I've not yet visited)
• Orbit the earth in space
• Sleep in the White House

Seven Things I Cannot Do:

• Play an instrument (even though I do compose songs)
• Change oil in a car
• Paint a wall without dripping paint everywhere
• Watch the ultimate scenes in It's a Wonderful Life, Field of Dreams, or Mr. Holland's Opus without crying
• Find my way anywhere using a map (I need written directions)
• Leave the label visible when I hang up a bath towel
• Understand the appeal of the movie, Titanic

Seven Things That Attract Me to My Wife:

• Her honesty
• Her common sense
• Her disinterest in receiving gifts
• Our shared philosophies of life
• Her integrity
• Her commitment to Christ
• Her impatience with phoniness

Seven Things I Say Most Often:

• "Am I calling at a bad time?"
• "I love you" (to my wife and kids and some of my friends)
• "Let's just give it a rip and see what happens"
• "I may have to blog about that"
• "Does that make sense?" (said to make sure I'm not just jawing incomprehensibly)
• "I've got a lot I want to get done today"
• "How are you doing today?"

Seven Books I Love:

• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• Prayer by Ole Hallesby
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (especially volume 7, The Last Battle)
• Patriarch by Richard Norton Smith
• Lincoln by David Herbert Donald
• The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
• Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham

Nine Movies I Watch Over and Over Again:

• It's a Wonderful Life
• Field of Dreams
• Bishop's Wife
• The Sword in the Stone
• Casablanca
• Citizen Kane
• The Philadelphia Story
• Spanglish
• Napoleon Dynamite

Seven People I Want to Invite to Join This Meme:
I won't list anybody here. But if any of the regular readers of this blog who are bloggers themselves want to participate, I would be interested in how you respond to these seven questions.