Birmingham Bowl Reflection: A Fast 40 Hours

*I don’t think the South Florida fans were feeling as optimistic when South Carolina scored a very late touchdown and then made the 2 point conversion. It got rather quiet on that side of the field. Of course, that changed when USF threw for 7 in overtime. I really thought Carolina had a chance to win in OT. Until then it was a very lopsided game.

*The rivalry between Bama and Auburn is real. Just seeing the license plate battle (who had which team on their plate) says it all.

*The light poles of The Old Grey Lady (the nickname of Legion Field) had to be at least 50 years old. They had weather worn rust and looked all of their age. Kind of like some of us fans.

*The So. Florida fans were unfortunate having the shady side of the field. Most of the time that is an advantage, especially in the south and summertime. Not so much on December 29 with a gusty cold front blowing through the night before the game.

*Birmingham is surrounded by the most southern end of the Appalachian mountain chain and that part of Appalachia is a striking feature of the city and area. I must say rather beautiful.

*Uptown Birmingham is nice, albeit a bit new by all appearances. It’s in the heart of downtown and had some nice restaurants and entertainment. It is a nice feature for Birmingham to showcase.

*I-20 through Atlanta reminded me of NASCAR--again. Everyone does 70 mph and above—easy.

*I am convinced that car turn signals are outlawed in Alabama. It seems that very, very few people used them. (See note on NASCAR and I-20 above…)

*You know you are in the south when you have the option of buying “Dreamland Barbeque” from one of those mobile van hitch and go restaurants.

*Sometimes the best part of traveling is turning down and getting some much needed sleep.

*The next best thing sometimes is the wake up free breakfast at the hotel. It’s never good to overeat, but…

*How is that 18 hour bowl game trips feel like 7 days after the fact??

*Having 2 bowl game travelers made some things less complicated. For example when people car pooled and traveled with 8 or more it can make choosing the place to eat a bit more complicated.

*Columbia SC feels more southern than Birmingham AL. It’s an intuitive thing. Hard to say why but it just feels that way.

*The Vulcan statue is an impressive sight as it oversees the city of Birmingham and gives a nod to metalworking and production of steel in the city.  

*You know you are in the southern Appalachians when the warm up street party has a band with an electric ukulele and an electric banjo.

*Hotel coffee is never as good as the stuff at home. Never.

*Mid-level bowl games are less expensive in all ways compared to the major bowls. Cheap is good sometimes.

*It’s ok to lose a bowl game. It is obvious that many mid-level bowls are very family friendly. I saw tons of younger fans. That’s a good thing. Again, cheaper is good especially with families with kids who went to the bowl.

*This was my second bowl game. First was the Liberty Bowl in 2006. Lots of fun. Highly recommend if one is willing to spend the money and time.

*Most of all, hanging out with my son, Austin, now that is priceless.  

*GO GAMECOCKS! Hoping to go bowling in 2017 in a bigger and better bowl.

Hello...

The world renowned musician Adele has one of the most powerful voices I have ever heard—ever.  It is deep, strong, and moves the listener to feel the music as much as hear it.  
 
Yet, the real strength in Adele’s music is the message sometimes.  Her song “Hello” is one which we need to hear more.  It is one that we need to act on too.  When is the last time you or I have said “Hello” to someone and sought to meet him or her and sought to know that person a more real, personal way?  Her song for me is a spiritually and emotionally moving invitation to connect with others and to open myself to the life of other human beings.   
 
Our lives are governed by the clock.  No one knows how much time he or she has on this earth.  Is there someone who you want to call, text, or email?  Maybe you will be the one who reaches out and makes the first step of communication.  Maybe your “hello” will be the start of something deeper.  
 
Working in a hospital has been a constant reminder to me that it is always dangerous to “read the book by judging the cover.”  Sometimes the content of the book is anything but what the cover is revealing or showing.  Instead, the cover is just that.  It’s a façade, a first impression, and superficial picture of what is deep down in the heart and soul of a person.    One of the most hurtful things that a person can experience are the bias and prejudgment based on looks, religion, race, ethnicity, gender and so on.  I would like to think that a simple “Hello...” can be the starting point of making deeper connection with others and with God.  I want to be a person who says “Hello” even more so now and I hope that it will lead to deep connections with new and old friends that touch on emotions, thinking, and spirituality.  
 
So, today, I share a heartfelt “HELLO” to you as you read this blog.  Feel free to say something back.  I am always interested knowing readers of this blog in a more deeper way.  Here’s a link to the song if you need it.
 
http://www.vevo.com/watch/adele/hello/GBH481500074

Where Spirituality and Illness Meet: The Middle Ground

Some people need to become more human.  Some people need to become more spiritual.  

Wholeness is found in the middle ground.  It’s the place where the coastal sea water from the Atlantic Ocean meets the black soil of the South Carolina coast.  It’s a rich and fertile place where marsh grass thrives, shrimp populate the grassy reeds, and redfish troll the high tides for dinner.  The meeting and convergence of water and land is much like the meeting of the physical and the spiritual.  It’s the place where one has to merge with the other and something magical and something important becomes reality. 

As a minister my growing edge is on the “becoming more human” side of the equation.  Just recently I read an excellent tweet from Twitter that was trying to “normalize” (eliminate shame) the fact that humans become physically ill, experience terrible disease processes, and eventually face difficult medical challenges.  For some that happens very early in life as a neonatal baby, and for others in their 20’s, and the much more fortunate, those in their the 50’s and 60’s when one has to carry more daily medications in his or her briefcase just to take care of themselves one more day.  Here’s the point of the tweet I mention and my point now:  Having illness is “normal” because it is reality and we have to find ways to talk about it more and to recognize our humanness, our fragile bodies that depend on equilibrium and homeostasis.  Yet, sometimes we are anything from feeling even-keeled or living in a good equilibrium.  A recent prescribed dose of antibiotics confirmed my disequilibrium as my stomach rumbled and tried to cope with the antibiotics.

Honoring our imperfect bodies is a way to honor our deep connection with God.  It means looking to God for grace so that one can “gracefully age.”  Sometimes prayers and reading and reflection can help one “accept one’s humanity which does eventually include illness.”   

I encourage you and me to find fellow strugglers who are able and want to live in the middle.  In my case, the goal is to accept my humanity, find true physical and spiritual wellness, and to live a balanced life.  Illness can send that balance out of orbit with one abnormal lab result for sure.    I think we need more ministers, more medical professionals, more people who can help others and themselves to “normalize” the experience of illness and give people space and time to make sense of it.  I venture that healing will happen as people balance medical challenges with an alive faith and in that find health and meaning and purpose for living. 

Finding Meaning in the Ordinary: A Spiritual Embrace of the Routine

Here are some ordinary tasks of life that you may enjoy, may moderately enjoy, may moderately dislike, or may find much too mundane. 

·         Getting gas for your car

·         Buying groceries

·         Attending church with the same people every week

·         Giving your pet dog a bath

·         Washing your car by hand or going through the drive through

·         Cutting the grass, trimming the hedges

·         Ironing clothes in preparation for work

·         Doing the laundry and washing dishes

·         Checking your email

·         Monitoring your finances online

·         Making a visit to someone who may or may not respect your time

·         Doing homework

·         Going for a six month dental cleaning

·         Moving the clock back one hour or ahead during “time change”

·         Working at the same job with the same people

Life can be so ordinary.  It’s sometimes tempting to look for the more glitzy and exciting parts of life instead of embracing the routine.  What if the State Fair or Coastal Carolina Fair happened every weekend of the year?  It would probably lose its special fanfare with the citizens.   Having the State Fair once a year for two weeks in the fall makes it distinctive.  Sometimes finding meaning in the mundane takes work.  For me it’s part of being human, and so is the work of maintaining my body, my car, my house appliances, and my soul. 

Moving into the ordinary tasks of life can be meaningful even if their completion is not very glamorous.  Tending to one’s soul is connected to the routine parts of life like shaving, bathing, exercising, sleeping, and eating.  In our routines we accept the world as it is and not as we wish it would be.  We embrace the basic, the simple, the routines as God’s world and our work.  We need the ordinary and we need the special.  Embracing both the distinctive and routine will let us fully accept our human condition, its struggle, and its demand to do the sometimes hard tasks of life.  For students that means studying and writing research papers on difficult topics which is never easy.  Yet, in the routine and mundane and daily tasks we accept our true humanity. 

The birds of air teach us so much.  I am amazed at how birds build a nest, one stick and one piece of weed at a time and one step at a time.  It’s the way of the animal world.  It’s our way too.  One task and one step we move closer to knowing ourselves and God our Creator.   Self-awareness and connection to God are both mundane and profound and probably ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.   Let us ponder the routine and ordinary and in them find our life.  Amen.  

Blessing Your City: Post "Hurricane Matthew"

Jeremiah 29:7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Hurricane Matthew just blew a path of destruction through Haiti, Cuba, and other Caribbean countries, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and eventually North Carolina.  All of us live in our own countries and our cities.   Through the years some cities become more near and dear to our hearts.  Some cities we are glad to leave watching them from one’s rear view car mirror.  Which city is closest to your heart?  Which city do your truly care about and work for its welfare?  I am challenged by the above scripture to work for the welfare of my own city.  Today that would be the cities of Columbia-Irmo.

Here is a list of cities where I have lived as a teenager and adult:

King of Prussia, PA
San Antonio, TX
San Angelo, TX
West Chester, PA
Fort Worth, TX
Summerville, SC
Dallas, NC
Columbia-Irmo, SC

Each of the above places, cities and population has been unique and special for me.  Most of them are large cities but Dallas and Summerville are the two smaller towns.  I have tried to put down roots in each place and I have worked to be helpful to the larger community.  In some cases it was obvious that the city was more of way station on my spiritual path to the next place.  For example, I lived in Fort Worth as a seminary student and never intended to stay there afterwards.

My daughter Heather went to college in Spartanburg, SC.  They call the city “Sparkle City” because it is so clean.  They also call it Hub City because of all the railroads that run through it.  Most importantly Heather has consistently talked, tweeted, texted, and posted on Face Book all of the ways she values the city and how she has helped make it better.  Even last week while working at USC-Upstate she helped college students and others get registered to vote for the 2016 general election.  She is also involved and supportive of urban gardens.  She is truly integrated into the work and social life of the city. She is committed to Spartanburg’s welfare and it is truly inspirational to me.  

"Becoming"

Old Man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you. That's what Neil Young sang.


Jesus called us to follow him and to become like God. That's what Jesus said.
 
Yet becoming somewhat like dad or mom means I have become a little something that I never expected.
 
Becoming involves destiny and genes, culture and powerful stories, which all hide deep in my soul.

Becoming is a hidden work. It shows me my genetic history and my living story that are layered like the earth's crust.


Becoming a little like dad or mom is rather unexpected.  It's ok and I want to become who I am meant to be.


Like dad and mom, it was meant to be.  How could it not be?  It was set in the code even before I knew me.


Old man take a look at my life, I'm a lot like you. O God, take a look at my life, may I be more like you.

(9/6/2016)

Work Anniversaries: Staying, Growing, and Becoming

I just celebrated the 15^th anniversary at my current place of employment.  Staying and growing in one place has many benefits.  I would like to share a few:

Staying gives opportunity to build trusting relationships and to prove oneself to be helpful and supportive to others and the larger mission.  Yesterday’s successes don’t guarantee today’s success but it does make it more likely when strength is built upon strength.

Someone once said that the 30 year pastor has 30 years' experience.  Year one was the same as year 30.  Nothing changed much and the person and the organization benefited little.  Growth and adaptation are needed to ensure one is a contributing and helpful member of the larger work system.

There is always a new challenge and something new to achieve.  One has to seek out new opportunities and even ask for them.  I try to be open and flexible and ask for new ways to serve and grow.

Deep and lasting relationships are built and make the workplace enjoyable and rewarding.  Lifelong friendships are built.  Feedback is easier to give and receive when we have longevity and trust with work associates and colleagues. 

Finally, I try never to take my work for granted.  Milestones and work anniversaries help one to track progress and to plan new goals and help one to chart increased effectiveness and efficiency.