It is September and my mental New Year has arrived. Since childhood my calendar has been the same as the school calendar. I also am renewing my efforts to blog or as I think of it a to journal.
I am discontinuing movie ratings since I have waited out the people that used to read them. I believe that I now have no regular readers. So everything is new again.
In a Table Talk in worship Sunday I told about reading a story in Richard Beck's blog where he told about a session of his prison ministry where he was talking about God's Love for us. One of the inmates raised their hand and asked, "How can I believe that God loves us when no one in my life has ever told me that they loved me? My father never told me he loved me. My mother never told me that."
Last week Mike Gundy, Head football coach at Oklahoma State University, was asked about how he helped his players cope with the OSU Homecoming accident. It was also mentioned that OSU has dealt with two plane crashes of the basketball program in the past three years. He said that former Basketball Coach Eddie Sutton gave him the best advice that he follows daily. Eddie told him that the most important things that he could do for his players was to tell them that he loves them EVERY DAY.
These two captions are the most frequent quotes about great stories. I love stories.
In Music I like ballads and simple stories. That used to be available in Rock Music when Springsteen sings "Glory Days" or Chuck Berry singing about a race between a Cadillac and a V8 Ford. It was the Beatles singing, "Lady Madonna" or Brad Paisley singing "The Fishing Song".
I gravitated to Country because Rock stopped telling stories. As a matter of fact my favorite music acts are all story tellers: Beatles, Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Paul Thorn, Todd Snider and Willie Nelson.
AND MANY OTHERS.
When I go to the movies, I go for the story. That's why the first movie in a series is the best. It is the original. (Ex: The Godfather). Critics grade movies down because they want to see something they have never seen (which by the way is the definition of porn). They want better effects, shocking dialogue, more nudity, more chases, inventive chases, inventive dialogue, inventive sex. Me, I want a good story.
I like to read. I am not good with how-to books. I want the story. Give me a biography or fiction just give me a great story. Give me the Bible, Hairy Potter, Jack Reacher, etc. or give me Unbroken, Mark Twain, Bill Bryson, Malcom Gladwell or something like that.
At church when I have the opportunity to conduct an adult class, I leave the subjects like spiritual disciplines, the concept of faith, or what are the 20 words for GOD to experts. I tell stories- pure and simple. Bible stories and stories about My silly life. They are real. They are today. They are NOT theory. Most of my church family do not care for my "teaching". They, like the movie critics, are looking for the next big thing. I would rather think of the Story of David or the Story of Jonah so I can think, "There is hope for me." The best example, of course, is Jesus. He told the people stories because their little brains could not begin to understand what HE knew. Jesus is the standard.
I have now gotten hooked on several strong and stout TV dramas. None are for the weak at heart and none are how-to's for my life. BUT WOW! What great Stories. I am talking: House of Cards, Justified, Breaking Bad, Homeland, The Americans, and Downton Abbey. Great Stories all.
Strange thing is happening in the college football world. It is the battle of the legendary schools vs the newer upstarts. I'm talking Baylor versus Texas Longhorns; Alabama versus Auburn and OU versus Oklahoma State.
Example: Oklahoma U is playing Oklahoma State in 10 days and OSU is favored. OU sports information has countered by sending out press releases about all of OU's 44 conference championships versus OSU's TWO. Staggering isn't it. OU has even one National championships 7 times to OSU's 0!
Now that is formidable, I think. But here is the problem: When OU won its last National Championship, the current OSU players were 6 years old.
OSU stands to win its 2nd conference championship in 3 years. It has been longer than that for OU.
What I am saying is: Today's players (and young people in general) don't care about history! Any History! They are in the NOW.
Older football fans want teams like OU, Alabama and Texas want to keep traditional uniforms while the teams of Baylor, OSU and Oregon use wild uniform combinations. Why? The kids today DO NOT CARE ABOUT TRADITION. THEY LIKE WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW!
THINGS CHANGE AND SOMETIMES SO DO THE CHAMPIONS.
BTW: I think my theory works in most arenas (including music and religion).
On this day in 1979 I changed once and for all. This was the day of our daughter's funeral after two previous mind numbing days of shock, grief, etc. etc.
I am not the person that I was on Sunday, November 18th, 1979. You don't know it but I do. Things would have turned out completely different. Not necessarily better, just different. When I went back to work I took a different role. When I went back to Church, things changed too. I suddenly had someone in my family in Heaven! Well things just changed. Friends and business associates that were close to me before Heather died, stopped being close because of my reaction to their actions. (Long Story)
People say" "Time heals all wounds". Those people just don't know what to say. Time changes us but not our memories.
I don't know if I liked the me before 11-19-79 better than the now me, but all that happened did draw me closer to GOD than before.
David is one of my all time favorite people. King David - The Man after GOD's own heart.
Malcolm Gladwell is also one of my favorite authors. So when he writes a book, I read it. When it's title is "David & Goliath", I can hardly wait.
I just finished the book and was not disappointed. He starts with the Bible story and takes it a different direction than we tend to do in church. Gladwell says that while David appeared to be an underdog, he was far from it. He then proceeds through the chapters telling true stories of underdogs, misfits and people who battle giants. It is both uplifting and eye-opening.
One of the coolest stories is about a father in California who took the task of coaching a basketball team composed of 12 year old girls. Fact was he was not from the United States and had never played basketball. He didn't even like basketball. He was a computer programer in Silicon Valley. He had a daughter who played in high school and college, but he paid little attention. So he reluctantly agreed to coach after reviewing the rules.
While I won't tell you the story, he took this small, no talent team and made it to the national championship game for 12 year olds. He was not burdened by history, tradition or expectations. He simply took a fresh look at the rules!
The stories in this great book tell shocking stories of the Civil Rights Movement; amazing stories of dyslexic people who excelled; and times when people in positions of power, mis-understand the limits of power when faced with "Davids".
Read this book. You can thank me later! It is *****star.
I still wear a watch. I have since high school and that's a long time ago. My first was a simple Timex and I closely moved up the food chain of watches. A few years ago before "smart phones" I had a Sunto electronic watch that kept my "outlook" schedule, movie times and a few other things that "Apps" replaced. Now a wear a simpler watch a Wenger titanium time piece that has served me well.
BUT I like others keep questioning the sense of keeping a watch. We all have phones and the phones have clocks and the clocks are the "true time". So why a watch?
My conclusion is based on social acceptance.
Before Cell Phones, if you were in a meeting and looked at your wrist, you could catch the glare of someone who had decided that your were bored or at the least discourteous. Today if you keep looking at your phone you will get the same stare.
BUT when I look at my wrist, no one has a clue that I am checking the time, because No one wears watches any more- right!
Carol and I exchange Valentine's cards during the week leading to the DAY. We leave our cards in each other's cars, bags, etc. We usually start off silly and end up mushy. One Card that I received from my wife simply said,
"On life's road, it's not where you go but who's by your side that make's the difference." p.s she started with a card that showed an empty box for chocolates with the caption: The Democrats took the Valentine candy I got you!
My Mother was one of five children and of the five, two were found to have to have Huntington's Chorea or Huntington's Disease. My uncle died of it a few years ago and My aunt is suffering from late stages of it. It got to the point with my uncle who was widowed, that his neighbors sold their house because of his threats and actions. My aunt goes into a rage whenever my Mother tries to visit. Something that can't happen any more. This disease causes abnormal involuntary writhing movements and later dementia coupled with hostile actions towards family and others. They become increasingly hard to live with.
It is said that there is a 50 percent chance that their children will get it. Ny aunt has 4 children and 3 of them have the disease.
Today my Mother told me the rest of the story: My great grandmother had it so bad that my great grandfather committed suicide when my Grandpa was 12. Mother then told me that my Grandpa also had it and my Grandmother Thomas suffered greatly from his actions until he died of a heart attack when I was 8.
The problem with the disease is also that it does not show until middle age until about 60. There is no solution for this at present.
Today I suddenly feel very blessed that I (and my family) dodged a major and fatal bullet.
"Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living" Pelikan
I' m reading a very good book by Rubel Shelly "I Knew Jesus Before He was aChristian .... and I Liked Him Better Then".
The current chapter deals with tradition and it made me think about my past. When I got out of college, I was ready to change the world and take it into the future. I pledged to myself that my architecture would be contemporary. No "Colonial, early American gothic" for me. I thought the same way about church. We are still singing songs of the 1700's and in King James' version of the Bible. I wanted new and bold.
My first pledge lasted almost two years until I was asked to work on an addition to a Colonial Church. for the record I did not do colonial architecture, but it caused me to see the qualities that makes it stand the test of time. But I still was not buying in.
In church I sought congregations that were more progressive. At least in the Church of Christ. I DID get to try many progressive things and was pleased.
Advance a few years: I was having lunch with my guru, Dan McCaghren, and we were talking about tradition. He, knowing my thinking said, "Mike, the biggest need in our fast changing society today is tradition. He went on to say that family traditions fall because of the neglect of spending time and being together. He said that people need something to depend on being there and having something to fall back on as safe and comfortable.
In my life today an old hymn from my childhood is as welcome as a favorite family photo.
I have learned great respect for the architecture created by Thomas Jefferson.
I still like Santa, but the Advent story is fantastic. I have even just discovered the magic and the majesty of "The Lord's Prayer" in the same way I discovered anew "Psalms 23".
I still have no use for traditionalism. Hanging on to things for no reason!
