And Now For Something Completely Different

So today is Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful for...and I am. But this morning I wasn't too sure. I was waiting around waiting for Tracey to wake up and thought I might invite her for a walk. She was pretty negative at first...it was pre coffee. But by the end of her cup of Joe she decides she wants to go. "Okay then...lets get ready to go" I says. "Okay...just a minute" she says.

First she checks the weather to see what the temp is outside...it was 30. Then she has to get her walking attire just right...a couple of outfit changes and she's finally ready to go...15 minutes later...I'm starting to have my doubts about this.

But she is finally ready to go and we head out into the cold. So we head down the street and the very first thing she does is try to hold my hand. Now trust me...I love holding my wifes hand...always have always will...but not when we're walking walking. So I have to tell her no...I'm having serious doubts about this now. But we keep walking...and she is talking. Now trust me...I love to hear my wife talk. She has kept us in many conversations over the years when I'm ready to pack it in and head for the cave. But while I'm walking walking?

Walking for me is a very solitary endeavor. It is about quieting my mind and heart and listening for God. But this woman...doesn't know quiet...she likes to be together and when together talk. I am really having extremely serious doubts about this joint venture.

As we approach the hill she says "you would probably have preferred to walk by yourself...right?" I thought for just a second and said "no...I wanted to walk with you." That was the right answer. It has been the right answer for almost 32 years. You see, I know me. I know what I am like...and frankly...left to my own devices I would be a wreck...a shipwreck. But Tracey has been the steady presence in my life...not the quiet presence...but steady.

God has used her over and over again in my life to cause me to grow...to come out of the cave and enjoy the sunshine. Like God, I know she will always love me...despite the who I am. So I am thankful for many things this day...but I am most thankful for the wife God gave me in my youth.

Drift..........

What is it about me...well about most people...as Seinfeld would say "What's the deal with people..." It seems as soon as we find something really worthwhile in our lives...we seem to end up drifting away from it. It seems we are a whole world full of ADD people who can't stay focused on anything for longer than 13 minutes.
Let me give you some examples.
Walking- I love to walk in the morning. I am awake anyway...so just get up and walk. I love it when it is nasty weather cause I get to break out all my gear from years of being in foul weather while backpacking and climbing...its as much fun as walking. I love walking cause I get to listen to music, connect with God, and get some much needed excercise. Who wouldn't want to do that? Well many days...I don't.
Relationships- why is it the people you feel most close to, we end up taking them for granted. I think about how easy it is to slowly drift into complacency in our most vital relationships. That is so easy for us to do that. Even with the most famous and powerful person who ever walked the face of the Earth, Jesus Christ, people drift away from him all the time...I hate that.
Eating Right- trust me...this is one I know intimately...I do really well for so long and then I find myself eating bigger portions and the wrong stuff. I mean I have never met a pile of potatoes I didn't like. Really, you know what your doing is wrong and will only hurt you...but please can I have a second helping of those spuds please.
It really bugs when I find myself drifting...I seem to set goals just so I can drift away from them. A slow self destruction.
But this morning...I walked hard. I mean fast and consistent and launched my self up the hills...it was great. I was determined to not drift again. I am determined to follow the rules for eating right. I am determined to have a great day with Jesus and Tracey...and everyone else I encounter today...God help me...



"Hey are you going to eat those potatoes?"

The Morning Was...Damp

This morning it was cold dark and damp. You know one of those mornings like you might see in a werewolf movie out on the Moors in England...you know in black and white. It's the kind of morning that if you stop to take a picture you will get really chilled. So I just kept walking.

I tried to look for positive and hopeful things this morning, but I have to admit...it was hard. I realized I am sad. I am...try to deny it...but I am. I should have known when I picked my music for the walk...it was Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I saw these guys perform when we were in Ireland...they were in that movie "Once." The music is...well...sad. So why am I sad? I mean really...shouldn't I be the happiest person on Earth. I have a great wife, a great family, super great grand kids, a great job, a great house and yard, a great shop, great cars, great friends...my life is great. And yet I'm sad. Like the fog enveloping me as I walked I am enveloped in sadness. As I walked I asked God for forgiveness for being sad...I mean doesn't this mean I'm not trusting him? Isn't this a lack of faith? Shouldn't I rejoice in all circumstances? I heard an answer...I mean it wasn't an out loud answer...but an answer.

God told me this morning that my sadness is normal, and completly human. It is much the way Jesus felt when his heart was broken by those who should have known him and yet didn't. He felt a form of sadness...and I do too. I'm sad because of all the pain that people are experiencing these days. So many good godly people who trust God are loosing jobs and really struggling. If people have not lost jobs they are living with the prospect that it could happen any day. It's really bad. It makes me sad.

I am not a man without hope...but it is really hard right now. I just gotta keep walking!

It's Just A Block Or So...

So you know your getting old when...

Well last night Tracey and I were going to a surprise party for one of our friends...we'll call her Amy...cause thats her name. So our other friend...we'll call her Heather...cuz....well you know...tells us to park at her house and we'll walk over to Amy's house so our cars won't be visable. Great idea...except we don't know where either of them live. So Heather is this really spunky outdoorsy girl who has more energy than a nuclear power plant, but we agree to go.

Now mind you, I'm going to a party. I've got my dress up big boy shoes on, and my dressy party shirt with the sleeves rolled up for a little extra cool, and my slightly tightly jeans...oh I'm stylin. So of we set into the brisk November night, walking at an even brisker pace. Now it is a really beautiful night, full moon, clear and bright, you know those perfect fall nights, great night for a stroll. That's what I thought...for the first couple of blocks.

After a half a mile of brisk pace in the party clothes...I'm starting to feel a little...well...tired. My feet are sore and my pants are clingy...but Tracey seems to be doing fine, and Heather is just bolting ahead. We keep moving...I do have a shread of dignity left. We get to where I think Amy's house is and we just keep moving. We finally arrive at the house...oh yeah...it's like a mile. My feet are swollen inside my shoes, legs are tight, I'm cold, and not really in the mood for a party. But we pull off the surprise and Amy is stoked...it was really cool.

After lots of laughs and stories, Heater the Dynamo says..."Gotta Go" and off she goes...IN HER FRIENDS CAR!!! We hang out a bit and then decide we should go too. All of these young people...obviously concerned about us old people...offer to graciously drive us back to the car. And then...just then...the battle that middle aged people everywhere have to face...are you really "as young as you feel". I...the I inside me...still feels like I'm 18. But my feet and my legs were feeling more like 53. But off we set on the return walk...like a couple of young kids...we even held hands.

Cold, tired, needing to pee, feet throbbing, we arrive back at our car. We make it home and plop down on the couch. It gets you thinking you know. When did we get middle-aged. Wasn't it just yesterday we were 27. Where did that time go? How did we get here? 53 years old and walking two miles in big boy party shoes. What's next...Bermuda's and black socks...and those damned party shoes.

Okay, Let's Get On With It

Well it is amazing to me to turn on the TV and notice the stark absence of those nasty political ads. Now for once those antacid ads and the couple sitting in the seperate tubs on the beach seem almost refreshing...I actually get a little misty watching them.

But it seems life in the church is a little less back to normal. Many of my friends are plotting how to rush out and buy a supply of guns, storing up food, and bracing themselves for the complete unraveling of America. Not to mention what will happen to our churches as a result of the "godless democrats" who are now at the reins of this sinking ship called America.

The whole thing got me thinking about life in the early church and how they might have responded to all of this. I'm sure the Zionists would have been gathering up their arms (swords, spears, etc) and preparing for the worst. The Greeks would be philosophizing about the dangers and unfounded and irrational fears that people would be experiencing. You know...it sounds like they may have responded like we would.

So imagine their pastor...realizing all of his flock is freaking out ...thinking how am I going to rien in all of these extremists. So he drafts a letter and says something like this. "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."

Why doesn't he try to feed the rebellion or get them rallied around the cause to stand against the regime? Instead he tells us to relax and do good. Don't get so uptight. We all know our real citizenship is not in this world...so why get so upset. It seems that back when Peter was the pastor, his people acted as if the government was in control of their future...how silly.

You know, it's good advice for us as well. Even if it were true that President elect Barak Obama was a Muslim terrorist loving baby killing gun stealing anti christ America hater, he is now our President. He is our countries equivalent of a king. Peter says you better honor him. So that would include not making snide and rude comments about the man or his family. That means we can't tell our friends that he is something that he is not. Slander, libel, defamation of character, all would get you killed in Peter's day. Today...it causes death as well...but it is more a death to intimacy with God, connection with other Christ-followers, and an ability to reach out to all of those who think differently than we do.

Peter the pastor also wrote this, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Come on folks, lets be reasonable. God is still in control...He knows what He's doing. Let's just keep focussed on what we need to do and let God be God.

Who'd Of Ever Thunk...

Wow, what an amazing thing we have witnessed. I mean really...think about where we have come from. No really, I don't care what your political views are, this is really significant. I remember hearing about JFK having to defend the fact that he was a Catholic and overcoming that stigma to become President.
I am just old enough to have spent much of my youth watching the struggle of people of African descent trying to gain the freedoms promised to them under the Constitution. I watched on the news as men and women were beaten on the bridge. I was stunned to see those tragic images of MLK being assassinated. I have had many friends express to me the struggles of being a black man in America. Overwhelmingly, they shared the difficulty of knowing what America stands for, the ideals and principles, and yet the harsh reality of knowing much of that was not available for them. I have no frame of reference for understanding completely what they sense and know as reality in America (other than being the lone Dem in an all Rep office :)).
So for me, to see the faces of black men and women weeping in joy just got me...I mean tore me right up. Mothers and fathers, who had told their kids that in America you could be anything you want, were right. I can't help but feel so proud of being an American.
Now don't get me wrong, I am also old enough to know that making great speeches and making lots of promises is the easy part. Doing something is the hard part. Maybe I am naive, maybe foolish, maybe just stupid...but my hope in America is renewed. My hope that we can change is restored. Maybe President Obama will be a total bust...I hope not. But maybe...just maybe...we can be better...if I don't believe that...

A Cluttered Landscape

It is almost over. One of the greatest environmental hazzard known to man will be over tomorrow. That's right...the political signs. Thank you Jesus...it's almost over.
This morning as I was walking, I wondered just how effective is the sign in front of our houses. Does it create more exposure for the candidates (like these people need more of that)? Or....is it really intended to make each person take a stand on who they are choosing. Do I need to take a stand on which candidate I am choosing? Will my neighbors say "Oh look...Bill is voting for Barak McCain...maybe I'll change my vote and vote for him too." I just don't see it happening. Most people have decided in the quiet of their home who they are going to vote for, and despite eight billion negative ads, 40 debates, and countless speeches, most people's mind are already made up...even undecided's know...they just don't want to say.
To me, it is even more weird how people change when you begin to discuss politics. I spend most of my time speaking with other followers of Jesus. It is amazing to me how loving and compassionate we can be to those who are far from God, unless their politics differ from ours. I have seen kind loving people who really want to honor God, turn into foaming at the mouth rabid attack Badgers, ready to tear you up and spit you out if they find out who your voting for. I don't get it...is it that important? Is it worth causing all those hard feelings and divisions in the Church? Do you think it really matters who is in the White House? The best government in the world (which I believe we have) still can't save one person for all of eternity. Have we cluttered the lines between our will and wishes and the fact that no matter who is in office, God will reign supreme. And even if the new President leads our nation into the very gates of hell, my life is still secure in the arms of my Father. It is amazing how trials and tribulations have produced amazing men and women of God throughout the world and throughout the ages. A really bad president chould ignite the Church into action...too bad that has to be the case.
Please people...don't let the signs on our lawns clutter up our perspective as well as our landscapes. The race for president will be over tomorrow...but the RACE...the real one...will continue.