All over the world

Just a brief post - or I'll be late for Praise Band rehearsal at the ungodly hour of 7:15!

I received an interesting email from India recently. No, it wasn't the son of a son of a sultan, needing me to hold on to $10 million for safe-keeping. This was a manufacturer, somewhere in the south of the sub-continent. He owns a factory, employs over a thousand people, and was looking for permission to re-print some of my newspaper columns in his company newsletter.

"I like what you have to say about family," he wrote. "Very few of my employees understand these values and your faith perspective means so much to me...."

The letter went on, but - in a nutshell - this Hindu businessman wants his workers to read about family values as expressed from a Christian world-view.

It's always thrilling when I get to track the trajectory of what God has put on my heart. Most of the time we don't get to see the results of our words and actions. But it doesn't mean there is no effect. The experience gave me pause. What truth, I'm wondering, is my life illustrating at the moment - What I say, what I do, and how I interact with my job and my family and my community?

Have a great Sunday - DEREK

Lighter fare - "Shoe-Chauvinism" in America :-)

Three sets of pictures - three short posts:

1. I am not believing the hard time we've had trying to find Rebekah a pair of good walking/hiking shoes for the trip to Europe! Walk in any shoe store (each mall or plaza sports an average of ten shoe vendors per 100 yards of shopping) and there you'll see it, shoe-chauvinism in action!

Look to the men's side first. You'll find every imaginable shoe variation under the sun. Dress, casual, walking, running, tennis, sandals, flip-flops, work, every task and every activity imaginable. At Rack-Room there were close 20 options in hiking alone....

Now check out the shoes for women: Pretty, colorful, impractical, high-heeled, decorative... then usually all kinds of pseudo-athletic shoes in a variety of "high-fashion" styles sporting no end of bling. The sporting stores did offer running and work-out shoes, but the hiking selections simply do not exist.

"So do you expect women to wait in the car - or stay home - while the men hike?" I asked one store manager.... "Or is it asking too much to sell footware my wife can actually ambulate in rather than simply stand still and look pretty?"

The best exchange came at a store in the Westfield Mall (Brandon) - the site map lists 25 shoe stores. The store in question is called "The Walking Company."

"This has got to be the right place," I said when I entered the store. Incidentally, the place was empty of customers. "Good evening. We'd like to see your women's hiking shoes."

"We don't carry hiking shoes for women," the guy said.

"But this is 'The Walking Company,'" I retorted, looking around incredulously.

"It's not the right season. Hiking is fall and winter," he explained, beginning to sound all prissy and fashionistic. "We don't sell women's hiking shoes in the Spring and Summer."

"But people go on vacation in the summer," I offered. "That's when they walk the most."

I knew the conversation was over when he rolled his eyes with an air of, You have no fashion sense and consequently you shouldn't be in my store.

So we left, and I said "Thanks for your advice" with the air of You have no customers, good luck meeting the rent this month.

Fortunately they built this huge "Big-Box" store in the mall. "Dicks Sporting Goods." It was possibly the 30th shoe store we had visited in two weeks and the first to stock women's hiking shoes. The selection was good, but we had to pay over $100 for appropriate footwear to traipse around Italy next month.

2. This next picture was taken late at night, right after another good rain. We have this unsightly vine running down the side of an oak tree. But once in a while - always late at night - it offers the most spectacular bloom. The flower only lasts a few hours, and it makes me wonder about the purposes of a Creator who puts that much careful design into something that is not even seen unless by accident. I wonder a lot. In fact, I wonder much more than I manage to draw any useful conclusions.

3. Scout's favorite after breakfast activity is a ten-minute game of "tug." This is her just a few minutes ago. If I forget (or try to sneak into my study without playing) she will find me, shove her soggy rope into my hand, and start to pull. She's very good at this game, and has the strength to pull me pretty-much anywhere. Only she lets me win sometimes - just often enough to keep the game going.

I'm sharing these un-profound posts because I'm trying hard to be more balanced in my life. It's great to have and to share spiritual insight... But sometimes the best spiritual insight is to simply live. I've been doing a lot of living this week, and enjoying it immensely.

Love and blessings - DEREK

Rainy Days and Renewed Life

Experiencing the Serenity Life:

I woke up to another cloudy morning today. When we set out on our walk it was tough to tell if the thunderclouds were moving away or getting closer. Lots of rumbles but nothing directly overhead, so Scout Labradoodle and I launched out on our normal route - until the skies opened up and we got another one of those sudden soakings Florida hands out so well!

Scout loves splashing in the puddles, but is less enthusiastic about a heavy rain, so we made our way home early and I set out to the grocery store for coffee so I could have a fresh pot brewed when Rebekah woke up.

I rather enjoy rainy mornings. Especially days like today when there's no rush to be anywhere too early. We're three weeks into a sustained wet spell here around Tampa, and our whole world is a damp green. If you bend close to the ground you can almost hear the grass grow.

Prayer came more naturally this morning. I'm not sure if it's a signal that I'm more spiritually disciplined or simply a natural response to the serenity that's in the air.

Yesterday a non-believing friend took me to task for posting a prayer-request on facebook (I'm putting together an important book proposal). He suggested I eschew prayer in favor of self confidence. "Pray? Nah, you can do it on your own," he said. "Self-confidence is an amazing quality."

But what he doesn't understand is that prayer explores our relationship to the dynamic power that authored and sustains creation. What makes prayer so helpful in my personal creative process is the awesome truth that God believes in me! Trusting God doesn't imply a lack of self-confidence; quite the opposite: Faith affirms me and builds me up. God and I are partners in this ongoing work of creation.

So let it rain. No gloominess this morning, just an affirmation of renewed life. It's growing all over the place out there; water and life; re-creation. Like my baptism; like my creative spirit bolstered and amplified by God's belief in me.

Grace and peace - DEREK

Terror in America

I've been thinking about the latest episode of violence in the ongoing tragedy of abortion in North America. A doctor was shot to death this past Sunday while ushering at the church he attended in Kansas.

Years ago, when Rebekah and I lived in Pensacola, we witnessed a series of similar crimes. The first, the infamous "Christmas Day Bombings," featured explosions at a clinic not far from our home. Later, a young man shot and killed an abortion doctor outside the clinic.

The administrator of the abortion center in question attended our church. The man who killed the doctor was the son of my dentist - also a member of our church. The lawyer who defended him was also part of our faith community.

Some time later, in one more horrific episode, a man with a shotgun killed both a doctor and his escort in the parking lot of another Pensacola clinic, again in our section of the community. The perpetrator was a minister from another state, credentialed in the "Orthodox Presbyterian Church" - a denomination so far "right" on the Presbyterian spectrum as to be out of sight.

Unfortunately, although the terrorist's congregation was of another denomination and from the state of Mississippi, the murderous minister was identified in news reports as pastor of "Trinity Presbyterian Church" - the same name as our church, Trinity Presbyterian (PCUSA) of Pensacola. You can well imagine the phone calls we fielded.

Rebekah was even interviewed by National Public Radio, who were bitterly disappointed to learn that we were reasonable, peace-loving, socially active moderates.

Pensacola, however, is a town with a large, hard-core cadre of reactionary religious extremists. These folk routinely wave placards, yell at motorists on street corners, gather outside downtown watering holes to obnoxiously condemn patrons to hell, and cruise grocery-store parking lots on Saturday afternoons, standing in the back of pick-up trucks with bull-horns, loudly proclaiming either the end of the world or the ruinous end of all hope for the perdition-bound shoppers who don't attend the particular church of the favored few...

So, after the double murders by a self-proclaimed minister of the gospel, you could cut the tension in the town with a knife.

Leaders in Pensacola quickly got together and organized an inter-faith prayer-service of peace and unity, to be held at one of the large down-town churches. So we gathered on a Sunday afternoon, crowding out the sanctuary until people spilled over onto the steps. There were four speakers, representing the broad spectrum of Christian witness. Rebekah was privileged to fill one of the slots and a segment of her poignant message made the feed to national prime-time news.

After the service we were all scheduled to march down the main thoroughfare in a mass demonstration of unity. But the clouds rolled in and the skies opened up to one of those hour long torrential downpours.

However, and in a scene I'll never forget, it seemed like 100% of the participants followed those of us from the stage as we sloshed our way along the street regardless of the pouring rain. It was my one good suit; they were my best Sunday shoes - ruined beyond repair! But it was Okay, because the world was able to witness the truth about living faith. We may disagree on so many details, and we may have political convictions that cover every conceivable variable...

...but there is absolutely nothing about following Jesus that supports or condones violence or terror tactics in any possible way. Not violence against the misguided; not violence against the violent; not violence against the not-yet-born; not violence against those we disagree with...

Like I said, I believe that abortion is an ongoing American tragedy. On balance I tend to align myself with Bill Clinton's remarks, "Keep abortion safe, legal and rare..."

Not my usual blog direction - but the subject has been on my mind.
Peace - DEREK

To do anything less than be a pilgrim is to miss each day's opportunity

I captured this "impressionistic" image adjacent to the 7th tee on my morning walk with Scout. There was just enough light to reveal the pathway and I took the rough cell-phone picture posted here.

I thought about what had compelled me to take the picture. It's an ordinary enough scene - but I am drawn to roads, pathways, tracks and lanes. I like it when they meander into the distance in a series of distinct curves. I especially enjoy views where the road disappears, then reappears a little further along.

Then I thought about my first book. "GET REAL: a spiritual journey...". It's all about the path.

And the second volume is a guide-book for the road that leads to Christmas: "In My Heart I Carry A Star".... The star provided direction to the magi on their quest to find Jesus; constellations have been used for navigation since ancient history.

Now my new book, "The Unmaking of a Part Time Christian" originally used the sub-title "Pilgrim in Progress". The sub-title has gone, but the idea of pilgrimage remains and the phrase comes up again and again in the text.

This is evidently a theme that runs deep with me. It's the conviction behind my facebook status post this morning, "Today could be amazing." Because each time I wake up a new panorama of possibilities unfolds.

I remember hiking the Appalachian Trail (I walked the length of Virgina plus some over two months in 1976). Once in a while there would be a break in the trees and some stunning vista would emerge. Sometimes the view would be that of the pathway, winding into the woods. Other times it would involve a meadow, or a solid quarter-mile of rhododendrons in full bloom, or a lake, of maybe a panoramic sweep of the Shenandoah Valley.

Always, the outlook would be fresh, even if it was merely the few steps ahead before the trail made another turn.

Standing still? Not an option. Resting on my laurels? Not a great idea. Taking the freeway and bypassing all that struggle and challenge and satisfaction? Not on your life.

This is the "Life Examined". Sometimes there is time to pull out a camera and record the view; sometimes there are folk along the way who help me interpret the journey. When it is dark there are stars to point the way. "Shine like stars in the world. Hold fast to the word of life..." (Philippians 2:15-16)

But always, always, the journey offers the opportunity for progress and refreshment. It is our nature.

To do anything less than be a pilgrim is to miss each day's opportunity.

Reveling in the Grace

"Head back, face up, arms outstretched - reveling in the grace..."

Picture: anonymous child in Portland, reveling

I'm not sure how kosher it is to quote myself, but this was yesterday afternoon's facebook status update, just before Rebekah and I drove down to Sarasota for dinner with my brother and my cousin Marion. Marion is over for a couple of weeks, visiting from England.

"Reveling" is a fairly strong word, and any time I use a word that evocative I have to think about it evaluatively - one of those "A Life Examined" moments. I have to make sure I'm not guilty of using inflationary language. Writers like words, and there's always a danger of employing words we like instead of the correct word. Then, having elevated an experience to the level of a high-value word, the reporting loses credibility.

But, on further evaluation, "reveling in the grace" was an accurate description of my disposition yesterday afternoon. Life, in the ebb and flow that characterizes our experience, is extremely positive right now. My work is enjoyable, my family is happy, our church is in a great place - even the garden looks pretty good.

I don't attribute any of these factors to my skill or merit, to God's special favor focused on me, or to any possible variable that points to my life having any more value at this particular moment than any other moment (including the terribly difficult moments)....

... Instead, I just received what is with "head back, face up, arms outstretched". All I can do sometimes is to simply revel in the grace, say "Thank You", and then continue to live in such a fashion that I am - hopefully - a conduit of such graces to this world.

I don't begin to understand, although I suspect there is more grace available than we typically engage because we do so much and think so much and believe so much that blocks the flow.

Sometimes I get the feeling that I am just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible when it comes to appreciating this life to its fullest extent. And it's not a matter of figuring out God so that we can "tap" the divine resource and "get" all the blessings we can. I'm inclined to believe the secret goes the other way, inasmuch as we learn to allow God to "tap" us; inasmuch as we are more open to be a blessing to others; inasmuch as we wear the mantle of servant.

The same mantle Jesus wore.
"Jesus then told the crowd and the disciples to come closer, and he said: 'If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross and follow me'."

Looking into the future

Big day at First Presbyterian Church yesterday. We voted - overwhelmingly (at around 98% in the affirmative) - to move forward into our future with a "site development" concept that's truly awesome in its implications.

What's cool about the plan is that it is the brainchild of a "visioning team" that has spent three years and invested literally hundreds of hours in the discernment process.

The team started their task in prayer and Bible study, before they even considered anything else. Then they looked at our mission and ministry. In other words, any building that we do is going to be driven by the mission and ministry of the church, not the other way around.

What happened in church yesterday really got its start six years ago, when the congregation shot down a proposal to build. It was the right decision - although it seemed difficult at the time - and the meeting set some good things in motion. At that point our church was carrying debt, landlocked and understaffed. So, instead of forging ahead, the "Foundation for the Future" was launched in order to put us in a position of strength moving forward. What has been achieved has been amazing.

1. Tim Black was called as associate pastor. He (and his growing family) has been an unqualified success).
2. The debt has been paid off 100%.
3. We've acquired several surrounding properties, demolished some of them to expand parking, and almost doubled the acreage surrounding the church.
4. We have - to date - almost $250,000 set aside to begin the next phase. We're adding to that total every month.
5. Updates and improvements to the existing facility have made our campus a truly beautiful place for the first time in decades.
   

So we were nervous going in to yesterday's meeting. This is not an easy economy and change can be unsettling It's tempting to rest on your laurels, enjoy what you have, and simply be a strong church that's happy with the way things are...

But First Presbyterian of Brandon understands one of the fundamental principles of life. Life necessarily involves movement and growth. Standing still is not an option. Organisms either grow or they have stopped living.

We plan to live abundantly as a community of faith, to move into the future with vision, and to serve God in this place with eloquence and generosity and renewed faithfulness. That's a great thought to start the new week on!
Love and blessings - DEREK