Friday, August 31, 2007

"Didja Find Everything You Need?"

This is what the nice gentlemen standing outside the store in the humid garden section asked as I was departing with a sack of newly purchased treasures. Normally, that is an offhand question and I normally give a equally bland reply, "Yep."

But this afternoon, the sheer silliness of the question struck me. Perhaps it is because I have been sick this week and had far too much time on my hands to think about and reflect upon things. I suddenly realized what a rediculous question the otherwise well meaning man made. Several thoughts ran through my mind:

1. Perhaps he is store security and asks questions like this of suspicious people to discover any nervousness, shifting eyes, or other signs of potential shoplifters.

2. "No, would you come inside and help me look?" (Wonder how he would have responded?)

3. Hey, would I be leaving this store if I DIDN'T find what I need?

4. This store doesn't have everything I need anyway.

5. Most of the stuff I think I need, I don't really need.

6. If there were something I REALLY needed, I might not be looking here anyway.

7. When I shop, unlike my wife, I zero in for the kill. I need little time to find, neutralize the target, dash to the nearest cashier, reach to the parking lot in record time. Trying to find things without asking anyone is one of the "guy things" I do.

8. What business of this is his anyway?

9. Why couldn't he just have said, "Thank you for shopping _________________."

10. Why couldn't he just have said, "Have a nice day?" Because I could then have said, "I'll have any sort of day I wish, thank you." (Owing to the "Big Bumper.")

11. "No, I just come in here and wonder around aimlessly hoping to find something I might need."

Finally,

12. "Well, I see you're fresh out of stuff I need today. I'll be back tomorrow."

Have a nice day. Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you found something here you need.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Ode To 50


Today, I have reached half century mark. It was fifty years ago on this day that my mother bore her first child- me. And she has been paying for it ever since. I've thought about those clever things you can say and reflect upon as you reach milestones like this, so I have a couple of thoughts on becoming 50 years old.

1. There seems to be more people younger than me than older than me. Who moved? There are fewer grandfather/grandmother types, and now I am seeing fewer parent types. I am becoming, with my generation, "king of the hill."

2. There is a wisdom of life's experiences I can fall back upon to guide me in making decisions, leading my life, and leading my church. I certainly don't think I have seen it all, but I sometimes think I am coming close. That wellspring of wisdom I am passing on to a generation of new leaders. I told them last Sunday how I wish someone had done this for me 25 years ago.

3. I am finding it easier to just say what I think. In younger days, wanting to please others and not wishing to hurt feelings, cause conflict, or even disagree, I tended to keep conflicting perspectives and opinions to myself in one on one discourse. I didn't like confrontation. Really, I still don't, but I am not afraid to just say what is on mind, but temper the truth with love. I also find that the older I get, the more I appreciate this in others. So many people beat around the bush or indirectly hint at their points. Just tell me what you think!

4. Also, it is still good to have a birthday. They are not nearly as much fun as when I was six and got bicycle, and a tommy gun. For many years, my mother would make my favorite cake- strawberry cake with strawberry icing! Now the cake is the problem. A birthday is like a day when you are afforded a luxury to "have it your way." I like that for one 24 hour period a year.

5. Finally, though I enjoy birthdays, and enjoy celebrating with others, I am not as fond of having to sing the restaurant's birthday song as a fellow diner celebrates his or her birthday. I never liked much fuss over my birthday, so I try not to make a scene. Now, if I want to embarrass someone....

There is- me at mid century, midlife, and out of thoughts.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Culturocentricities

When we arrived at London Gatwick airport, jetlagged, we then took a two hour bus ride to Oxford. It was 7 in the morning London time and 1:00 am inside me. My son and I settled into separate seats to stretch out because the bus was not very crowded. It wasn't long as the English countryside passed by that I nodded off for a brief nap. I then dozed for the rest of the trip.

When we arrived at the Central Bus station, something seemed different to me about that bus trip.

I asked my son, Sam, "Did you notice anything different about that bus ride?"

"Not really," was his reply.

I said, "Did you notice how quiet it was on the bus?" He merely grunted. Not only was it sedate on the bus, but pretty much everywhere we went in England, things were fairly quiet, even in large restaurants. No boom boxes. No shouting, primping, yelling out, or calls for someone to pay attention. Even the most outlandish folks were not loud or obnoxious. There is a gentility present in the U.K. that is sadly lacking in American Culture.

It is natural to judge other cultures by one's own culture. By most of our yardsticks, the opposing culture gets lower marks. I did notice that things moved slower in England, and though people were friendly, they were, well, reserved. I was fascinated with the fact that radio dial found only 5 or 6 stations, and none of them walked on other, in contrast to the crowded dials for virtually any location in the U.S. I also missed the wide open spaces of home -the "uncrowded days-" and the variety of the local neighborhood megamart, but I didn't miss the "in your face; look at me!" attitude many Americans seem to have.

In that regard, our culture appears to be inferior. We lack the ability to have civil debates on television without someone shouting at someone else as we "take a timeout for this word from our sponsor." In short, many Americans seem to feel that the louder it is, the better it is.

I respectfully disagree. It was nice to snooze on a quiet busride through an English morning. Any conversation was low, civil and respectful. That's something that seems to be lacking in American culture.

In that regard, the British have us beat.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Things Are Different In England


Things like electrical outlets, phones, and even eating at restaurants are so different. There is a quaintness I have only read about.

Even phrases like "Give way,: (Yield) and explanations of things sound funny to the American ear. Not to mention that everyone drives on the wrong side. Double decker buses are everywhere.

People are quite friendly there. Everyone was most helpful in finding directions and one lady went after a piece of paper that blew out of my hand and brought it back to me.

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for me was jet lag. As we arrived, we had been up about 20 hours and it was only 7 am at Oxford! I was bushed when we went to bed. I got about 3 hours of sleep in 24. The noise outside with people doing things at all hours and emergency vehicles has been a bit disruptive, but it was a good night's sleep.

We walked around and took in a few sights. Most all buildings here are very old and made of stone. They are very gothic and many look like castles. There are many "pubs," or public houses that serve food and drink. Even the toilets, as they widely call them here, are different. Many have big bowls on the wall above the throne.
The first day for lunch we ate at the pub (Eagle and Child) that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein hung out as part of the "inklings." It was there that Lewis convinced Tolkein to publish the novel he originally wrote for his children- "The Lord of The Rings."

We later took a C.S. Lewis tour led by a man who knew Lewis as a child. He is quite adamant that Lewis' legacy needs to be preserved in his own country. Lewis garners more respect in America than in his own country.


More on Lewis later.
Cheers!

Proclaimer's Place


As promised, I will be posting some pictures from my recent trip to Oxford, England. Oxford University is a 900 year old institution comprised of 67 colleges offering one degree from the university.

Last week, at the Baptist College, Regent's Park, a few other preachers, my son, and I studied the art and craft of preaching with the homiletic genius, Dr. Joel Gregory. I wa careful exegesis, good hermeneutics, and creative homiletics. I was reminded of things I haven't considered in depth since seminary days. No doubt the setting at one of the world's top 5 universities was a big plus.s challenged to return home with renewed energy to approach the task of preaching with careful exegesis, good hermeneutics, and creative homiletics.


This is the class of approximately 20 men, meeting in the chapel of Regent's Park, discussing the preaching topic of the day. We came from Washington State, the South, and the Northeast. Some of us had attended the seminar before and others of us were like me, newbies. We sat in a small room for 5 hours each day with no air conditioning! Air conditioning really wasn't needed since the high temperature was in the high 70's with very low humidity. The greatest challenge with the open windows was the distraction of street noises and one persistent lawn maintenance worker!

Do we look like we learned anything?














On Wednesday afternoon, we took a tour a C.S. Lewis tour, hosted by Ron Brind, who knew Lewis as a child. He also is a childhood friend of Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham. Interestingly enough, the prophet Lewis is not without honor, except in his own country. Our host told us that of over 190 people he interviewed personally most at Oxford, where Lewis lived and taught, either did not know him, or thought that he had written "Alice In Wonderland." In my next post, I'll conduct a brief tour of C.S. Lewis sites, which will be somewhat limited due to the amount of space the blog host will allow me.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Learning To Preach (Again)

I've been quiet lately on this blog, but it is because I've been attending a preaching conference. You can read more about it here.

You will notice me in the corner of those shots. My son, Samuel, is the young man with long locks and an inquisitive mind. He took me on this trip. It is really neat that the guy would want his old man along. You will notice that I am doing my best to look scholarly and attentive.

We also took a C.S. Lewis tour and I will be posting some pictures as well as thoughts and reflections later.

Cheers!

Friday, August 3, 2007

The Day In Pictures






In a previous blog entry, I promised to post some pictures of the noteburning at Southside Baptist. I also promised to explain the signs on the gate. The reason for them is in part due to Hurricane Rita and in part due to my friend Bill.

When Rita hit southwest Louisiana, my family and I evacuated to Carthage with our RV in tow. We stayed at some friends' house and didn't need the RV. Because I feared high winds, I parked the RV (with permission) at Southside under their "pavilion." By midweek, after the storm passed, I was asked to move it due to the fact that the children needed to use the area it occupied for their AWANA activities. Bill and I were dutifully dispatched to move it to another location.

Unfortunately, as we left the house, I backed into a car standing in the street at the end of the driveway. Bill admitted distracting me with his talk, so I let him take the blame. :) The damage was minor to the other car -a dented fender- and almost unnoticeable on my SUV. After a visit from a city policeman and exchanging insurance information, we were again on our way. I was a bit shaken by it all.

We arrived at the church, hitched up to the RV and were again on our way. We arrived at another friend's place and I began to set up the trailer. I went inside and noticed sunlight streaming in from the roof. It was a curious thing to me as I tried to figure out why this was so. Just then, my wife and Kathy, another friend, arrived. My wife was (a bit) agitated.

She informed me that our rooftop air conditioner was lying on Southside's parking lot. That explained the hole in the roof. She also informed me that we had tried to go under a bar at the entrance to the parking lot designed to keep large trucks out. As we went under the bar, we neatly skimmed off the air conditioner on top, ripped the rubber roof, and messed some other things up.

We had no idea. As we went under that bar, neither Bill or I heard or saw anything. We were blissfully ignorant until my wife drove up. Again, Bill took blame for distracting me with his observations and insights. I was already upset because of the previous incident of backing into another car.

Two accidents in a very short time! When members of Southside Church learned of my plight, their response was to laugh and poke fun at my misfortune. I deserved it, though. Damage to the bar was slight, but I did notice Sunday that it was bent. I have had a history during my tenure at the church of being a bit absent minded and accident prone.

The ironic thing of it all is that our home and property recieved minimal damage from Hurricane Rita. Aside from some downed trees and a damaged fence, we got off very lightly. The RV we had taken with us to protect was the only thing that was badly damaged. The one thing I tried to save was the one thing harmed.

Hence the signs on the gate when I arrived Sunday. The congregation still enjoys a laugh at my expense and I have the deserved reputation of being a bit hapless.

As the old saying goes, if they're talking about me, they're leaving someone else alone.