Many of my friends have heard me discuss the fact that on most days, I live my life in the "wreckage of the future." I even preached a sermon by that Title one time. The week before, when I announced the Title of next week's sermon, a visiting Bible Professor from Abilene Christian University looked at me like he was having an aneurysm and said, "What did you say?" Bless his heart! That's the problem with Bible Professors at Christian Universities. They have absolutely NO idea how to take scripture and make an application that will mean something on Monday morning at 8 AM. But that's another Blog for another day.
I find that for the most part, people spend a lot of time of time trying to clean the wreckage of the past. But, they have no idea, and have never really given any thought to the idea that, in reality, they are living in the wreckage of the future.
I often assert (probably just denial) that I have given up on trying to have a better past! Oh, it hits me sometime. Mostly at night, when I can't get to sleep. I will fall into the trap of morbid reflection and play all the "what ifs..." and the "woulda, shoulda, couldas...." over and over again in my crazy brain.
But during the day, when I'm caffeined up and managing my day......TRUST me....almost all my thoughts project me right into the wreckage of the future!
What's wrong with the present? Why does the "here and now" unsettle me so? Why do I find it so hard to live right here, right now, and simply go about doing the next right thing in front of me?
Most of you who know me think that this introduction has all been a "set-up" to discuss my devotion to running. Oooh! I heard it....the collective sigh! No one can believe that I've been at this over a month and have not mentioned the running one time. No, I'm not heading in that direction. I think everyone is pretty "beaten" by my hobby! However, I will reserve the right to go there. Eventually, I'm gonna be out of material!
In fact, I'm headed just the opposite direction. Last Fall, my Yogi friend suggested that I would benefit greatly (since I refuse to do Yoga) from daily.......oh no! don't say it! please don't go there!.......MEDITATION!
She even sent me a link to a website where some Zen Buddhist would lead me through a "guided meditation." Well, we know a couple of things: 1) I'm not gonna pay Grasshopper to teach me to meditate! 2) But, I could not turn down the 10 Day Free Trial!
Oh, trust me! I have "played" with meditation over the years. It looks like this. Get real still. Breath real deep! And think, "Meditate, meditate, meditate, BILLS, meditate, meditate, meditate, JOB, meditate, meditate, meditate, SEX, meditate, meditate, meditate, FAIL! All that occurred in about a minute and a half! And it would dawn on me that meditation was not for me.
Well, let me say, that my experience with Grasshopper was just the opposite! He gave me permission to fail (it's okay if the mind wanders). He helped me to get into the present. Right here! Right now! And probably for the first time in my life.....for 10 straight days, for 10 minutes each day, I was in the present, simply thinking about the next breath. Potentially, this could have been a life-changing experience, if I would only put into practice what this dude was trying to teach me. But I think about it on occasion. And I am reminded of the certainty, that right here, right now, I am blessed. All my NEEDS are satisfied! All else are just WANTS! In trying to satisfy the WANTS, I am projected right into the Wreckage of the Future!
The Old Man in Farmers Branch says, "He who has one eye on tomorrow, and one eye on yesterday, is COCK-EYED today. Here's to eyes that look straight ahead today!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
What the DUCK!
Okay! Okay! Okay! I am gonna find it impossible to put Spring Break behind me and get back to work unless I address the situation we VOLUNTARILY found ourselves in West Monroe, LA.
In order to do so, I have to make a confession: I am a fan and I do watch the fine work of the Roberston Family on A&E's Duck Dynasty. I kind of hate to admit that on the World Wide Web. But it's true. I was pretty much drawn in from Week 1 and even find myself watching reruns when A&E airs their marathons as they are so prone to do.
If you've never seen the show, you should probably just exit this blog and wait for another topic. I'm not gonna take the time to try and describe, explain, or pitch this Reality Show to you. Aren't they all the same, anyway?
Apparently not! I have no documentation to back this up. But I heard in an interview that Duck Dynasty is the highest rated "non-scripted" reality show in the history of ever. And I have no idea as to why! No, maybe I do.
Evidently, there is a TEMPLATE for reality shows that they all follow pretty closely. Show lots of dysfunction! Cuss, Cuss, and Cuss! (I mean really Cuss! Try to embarrass Sailors!) Stay pissed OFF! Make sure tension always exist among the cast! Have Sex. Lots of Sex! (Try to make jungle animals BLUSH).
Winning combination, huh? Trust me. It's there. I will not recommend that anyone watch these shows. But Jersey Shore and the new hit series Buckwild on VH1 are stellar examples. As a matter of fact, those kids on Buckwild (set in the Appalachian Mountains) make Jersey Shore look like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
But Duck Dynasty? None of the above. No four letter words. No animosity. They are married. The adults are the adults and seem to make the decisions. The kids are the kids and respect their parents. (Am I the only one that's noticed that, with the exception of Cosby, the kids are ALWAYS smarter than the parents and the parents are made to look like TOTAL baffoons in all television entertainment!) They pray at the end of every show and this Willie character always concludes the episode with a lesson learned.
And America LOVES it! And about a thousand Americans were just walking around the parking lot of that Duck Call business when we drove up over there last Wednesday. It was totally unbelievable! Church vans, youth groups, young and old were crawling all over this warehouse parking lot. There are no tours. There is nothing really to see. A small gift shop is there. And everyone is leaving with a couple hundred dollars of merchandise! But the rest are just standing there, hoping maybe one of these rednecks will poke his head out the door and say hello!
And seemingly, these travellers have journeyed to a parking lot because they remember! They remember a simpler place in time. They remember when they sat around a table for dinner. They remember when the parents actually ran the household. They remember their crazy Uncle! (Duck Dynasty does have the crazy uncle) And you almost sense, when they leave without meeting anyone famous, that they grieve a little.....but their grief runs deeper than we can imagine!
In order to do so, I have to make a confession: I am a fan and I do watch the fine work of the Roberston Family on A&E's Duck Dynasty. I kind of hate to admit that on the World Wide Web. But it's true. I was pretty much drawn in from Week 1 and even find myself watching reruns when A&E airs their marathons as they are so prone to do.
If you've never seen the show, you should probably just exit this blog and wait for another topic. I'm not gonna take the time to try and describe, explain, or pitch this Reality Show to you. Aren't they all the same, anyway?
Apparently not! I have no documentation to back this up. But I heard in an interview that Duck Dynasty is the highest rated "non-scripted" reality show in the history of ever. And I have no idea as to why! No, maybe I do.
Evidently, there is a TEMPLATE for reality shows that they all follow pretty closely. Show lots of dysfunction! Cuss, Cuss, and Cuss! (I mean really Cuss! Try to embarrass Sailors!) Stay pissed OFF! Make sure tension always exist among the cast! Have Sex. Lots of Sex! (Try to make jungle animals BLUSH).
Winning combination, huh? Trust me. It's there. I will not recommend that anyone watch these shows. But Jersey Shore and the new hit series Buckwild on VH1 are stellar examples. As a matter of fact, those kids on Buckwild (set in the Appalachian Mountains) make Jersey Shore look like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
But Duck Dynasty? None of the above. No four letter words. No animosity. They are married. The adults are the adults and seem to make the decisions. The kids are the kids and respect their parents. (Am I the only one that's noticed that, with the exception of Cosby, the kids are ALWAYS smarter than the parents and the parents are made to look like TOTAL baffoons in all television entertainment!) They pray at the end of every show and this Willie character always concludes the episode with a lesson learned.
And America LOVES it! And about a thousand Americans were just walking around the parking lot of that Duck Call business when we drove up over there last Wednesday. It was totally unbelievable! Church vans, youth groups, young and old were crawling all over this warehouse parking lot. There are no tours. There is nothing really to see. A small gift shop is there. And everyone is leaving with a couple hundred dollars of merchandise! But the rest are just standing there, hoping maybe one of these rednecks will poke his head out the door and say hello!
And seemingly, these travellers have journeyed to a parking lot because they remember! They remember a simpler place in time. They remember when they sat around a table for dinner. They remember when the parents actually ran the household. They remember their crazy Uncle! (Duck Dynasty does have the crazy uncle) And you almost sense, when they leave without meeting anyone famous, that they grieve a little.....but their grief runs deeper than we can imagine!
Friday, March 15, 2013
Kids These Days!
In an earlier post, I stressed my intent to only speak from experience and try not to give my opinion.....well, of course....unless it was a GOOD one. Well, today, I will launch an opinion into the blogosphere.....and it's a good one!
Those of you who know me best may find this opinion a little shocking. It's been observed that I'm kind of a negative, cynical, "glass half empty" kind of guy. Maybe that's true. But I saw something on Tuesday morning that made a profound impact on me and has caused me to re-think my position on kids these days.
We toured Lipscomb University in Nashville this past Monday morning. We were excited to get to Monroe to visit our son, but decided to hang around until Tuesday, so that we could go to Chapel on campus Tuesday morning.
Chapel was a way cool experience! Lipscomb's Spring Break is next week and the theme of the morning's service was about the TWENTY-TWO different groups that would be leaving campus either yesterday or today headed to all kinds of places to try and make a difference in the world---just try to give some folks a little hope!
Islands I've never heard of. Places in Mexico I didn't know existed. The streets of New York. The inner-city of Atlanta. Videos were played with students talking of their experiences and tears streamed down their faces as they described how they have spent every Spring Break in these locales and how their lives will never be the same. There's even a group headed to Panama City. There will be 500,000 students there next week getting sloppy drunk and groping each others' "toilet places." But there will be 14 kids there on the beach proving that life's not all about alcohol and toilet places!
So, here's the opinion. In general, this generation is less selfish, less materialistic, and much more concerned with making a difference in this world than my generation! Studies indicate that today's kids will be the first generation in this county to NOT make more money, live in bigger houses, or have a higher standard of living than their parents did.
And guess what? They could not care any less! I am finding that Tucker and Jentry's generation are actually even a little embarrassed by the emphasis my generation has put on the almighty dollar, climbing the corporate ladder, and trying so desperately to pay for that weekend getaway by the lake!
These kids want to make a difference! They want the hungry to be fed, the homeless to have shelter, and the hopeless to have hope. They are trying desperately to embarrass my generation into doing the right thing.
So, here's a big shout out from me to today's kids. Keep it up! Make a difference! Try to leave this planet a little better off than how you found it. God knows my generation didn't!
Those of you who know me best may find this opinion a little shocking. It's been observed that I'm kind of a negative, cynical, "glass half empty" kind of guy. Maybe that's true. But I saw something on Tuesday morning that made a profound impact on me and has caused me to re-think my position on kids these days.
We toured Lipscomb University in Nashville this past Monday morning. We were excited to get to Monroe to visit our son, but decided to hang around until Tuesday, so that we could go to Chapel on campus Tuesday morning.
Chapel was a way cool experience! Lipscomb's Spring Break is next week and the theme of the morning's service was about the TWENTY-TWO different groups that would be leaving campus either yesterday or today headed to all kinds of places to try and make a difference in the world---just try to give some folks a little hope!
Islands I've never heard of. Places in Mexico I didn't know existed. The streets of New York. The inner-city of Atlanta. Videos were played with students talking of their experiences and tears streamed down their faces as they described how they have spent every Spring Break in these locales and how their lives will never be the same. There's even a group headed to Panama City. There will be 500,000 students there next week getting sloppy drunk and groping each others' "toilet places." But there will be 14 kids there on the beach proving that life's not all about alcohol and toilet places!
So, here's the opinion. In general, this generation is less selfish, less materialistic, and much more concerned with making a difference in this world than my generation! Studies indicate that today's kids will be the first generation in this county to NOT make more money, live in bigger houses, or have a higher standard of living than their parents did.
And guess what? They could not care any less! I am finding that Tucker and Jentry's generation are actually even a little embarrassed by the emphasis my generation has put on the almighty dollar, climbing the corporate ladder, and trying so desperately to pay for that weekend getaway by the lake!
These kids want to make a difference! They want the hungry to be fed, the homeless to have shelter, and the hopeless to have hope. They are trying desperately to embarrass my generation into doing the right thing.
So, here's a big shout out from me to today's kids. Keep it up! Make a difference! Try to leave this planet a little better off than how you found it. God knows my generation didn't!
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