DaddyRoBlog

It's Been a Long Time, Been a Long Time...

Ah, the lyrics that stick in our heads...

This is just to reassure everyone that I'm fine and well--just very, very busy.  Working on a couple projects that haven't left much time for blogging.  And, of course, it is summer, and any chance I get to be outside in the "real" world I am, which is to say about the only time I tend to spend on the computer now is when I have to for work.

Anyway, I did catch another eastern hognose a few weeks ago, which led me to create a new photo album this morning.  As you may know, snakes have a special place in my heart (yes you read that right) because they are so often misunderstood, the victims of irrational fears and prejiduces that have also too often been fueled by Christianity.  So I like to do what I can to help people appreciate snakes for the exceptional animals they are.  

I've got some more pictures and perhaps even some thoughts to post, so maybe I'll be writing a little bit more over the next few weeks.  Then again, when I get home from work at dark, I might just pick up my flyrod, jump on the bike, and buzz down to the Potomac for some night fishing for smallmouths with poppers.  It doesn't get much better than that!

A Story to Touch the Heart and Inspire the Soul

As I’m sure we all remember, on August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. We made our first trip down a few weeks later, and I had never seen anything like it. I was totally unprepared for, and could have hardly even imagined, the depths of destruction we were seeing.

 Perhaps some of you remember the pictures posted and stories told as I blogged about it. The experience totally wrecked me; I simply did not know how to deal with it emotionally. And I got to leave after only a few days there, coming back to all the comforts of home.

One person who did not leave, and has not left in the years following, is David Knight. David is the Rector (Senior Pastor) of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church. We, and many other churches, partnered with St. Patrick’s to help them rebuild. I am thankful for the relationship I have come to have with this dear man.

 I cannot even begin to comprehend what is must have been like for him to live in the middle of this suffering for years on end.  Many people never came back. For those that did, the area is still being rebuilt to this day (yes, they still need your help). To live with such loss for so long, and be there as a healing presence to the many who were suffering through it… let’s just say that David remains one of my personal heroes, a model of faithfulness and perseverance. Thank you, David, for helping me remember what a priest is really meant to be.

 Finally, after almost 5 years, St. Patrick’s is rebuilding their church building (albeit at a different location farther inland!). They can do this because they never stopped building the church itself. The story is deeply touching, and can be seen on the video posted below. I commend it to you, and hope you will take a few moments to watch it. If you are able to help in any way, I know they will much appreciate it.

National Hummingbird Day

OK, OK, so it's not really National Hummingbird Day.  In fact, I don't think there really is such a thing.

But it is Local Hummingbird Day if for no other reason than that we just saw our first hummer of the season.  Linda and I were surprised to see a bright male hummingbird show up at the dining room window at first light this morning. 

I had neglected to take the feeder down last year, so it's been up all winter.  I thought we had another month before any hummers showed up, so I haven't scrubbed it out or changed the nectar.  

That changed, however, with the appearance of the season's first hummingbird.  I immediately boiled up the first batch of nectar--4 parts water, one part sugar, and gave the feeder a thorough cleaning.  It's back up now, waiting to welcome our favored guests home once again.  

Editor's Note:  Since cleaning the feeder, filling it with fresh nectar, and hanging it back up outside the window, the male is now feeding regularly.  I was a little worried that the condition in which he initially found the feeder would deter him, but that does not seem to be the case!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl

Today is my older daughter’s 20th birthday.

When I was growing up, I can remember men saying things to me like, “I don’t even remember when my child began to walk. It is my life’s greatest regret. Make sure you are there for your kids.”

And so, for the most part I think, I have been. I’ve been an intentional parent who has made the conscious decision to be present in the moment with my children. I’ve slowed down, and sometimes just plain stopped, and cherished our time together. Not always, of course, but I feel like I’ve generally done a pretty good job of it.

 But even so, it has gone by in the blink of an eye. It still feels like somehow it has somehow slipped through my hands, that their childhood has gone by so fast that I’m not even sure where it has gone.

That’s just parenting, I think. We love our kids so much.

We love them so much, in fact, that although we long to freeze time and hold on to them, we choose instead to take joy in watching them grow and step out on their own, even if it all happens way, way too fast.

Shock and Awe

As you might imagine, I get quite a bit of material forwarded to me of widely varying quality.  I think this, however, is one of my all time favorites:

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.
 
But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.
 
There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money! twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.
 
Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.
 
I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.
 
'And why's everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

Quitting

One of my goals this year was to write a blog post every day this year. Unfortunately, I got too close to a bed a little too early Monday night and that was it. I was out cold, with nothing posted and my exhausted mind on a trip to la la land.

I must admit, it felt pretty good. At least, it felt good until about 2AM when I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. I finally got out of bed about 4:30 and went to the gym to work out.

Anyway, Tuesday was surprisingly busy, and somehow not having posted on Monday it was a lot easier to blow off posting on Tuesday. On the heels of blowing off Tuesday came the thought that I should just take an extended break from blogging altogether.   As the weather gets nice and there are so many other things to do, it is tempting.

Isn’t that the way it is with all our disciplines? Whether it is dieting or exercise, going to church or reading the Bible, having family dinner or volunteering on a regular basis, when we give ourselves a break it is even easier to take another one, keep the break going, and eventually quit altogether.

Which is why I figured I better get back in the saddle today. Tomorrow might just be too late!

Whew!

For churches that celebrate Holy Week as an integral part of Easter, this past week has been full of services.  Each is unique, allowing participants to focus on what happened in the life of Jesus each day, and to experience the flow that ties them all together. 

Over the course of these services, a great many prayers are said, a great many songs are sung (I think our choir learned 30 new songs for the week), a great many chapters of Scripture are read, and yes, a great many sermons are preached.  It is a bit overwhelming at times, and that is at least part of the point of it.  But it also has its moments of  unspeakable glory and transcendence.

Here is one of my favorite prayers, which happens to come from the Good Friday service:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light... let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Importance of Holy Saturday

At first glance, it doesn’t seem there is anything to celebrate today. There is neither the “thrill of victory” (Easter), nor the “agony of defeat” (Good Friday). Why have a service today?

If we look a little closer, though, we see today has a lot to teach us, because most of our life is not lived at the extremes of victory or defeat. Most of our life is lived in between the two; times when it seems like nothing is happening, or if something is happening, we’re not sure what. We have to wait and see. We have to wait and see how things will turn out.

 It’s in the “in between” times that we need to learn to be faithful; to trust in God even when it seems like nothing is happening, when our lives are just the same old thing over and over again. To trust in God while we wait, wait for graduation, wait to see what college will accept us, wait to see how a relationship will develop, wait for a child to be born, wait to see how a medical prognosis will turn out, wait to see wait will become of a tragedy. This is the thick and thin of real life, of everyday life, and if we are not faithful in these times, we are not faithful at all.

Today we heard of Joseph of Arimathea. We are told that he was a secret Christian, and that he was rich. We can understand why he was secret about his faith: as one who had so much, he had a lot to lose. But it is in this in between time that he must stand up and be counted, and he does.

He goes to Pilate and risks everything, asking for the body of Jesus. In the middle of the great crowds that were surely watching, he indisputably declares his loyalty by tenderly carrying the body of Jesus to his tomb.

Nicodemus does the same. When we first meet him, he comes to Jesus by the night. He too has a lot to lose. If he declared loyalty to Jesus, he would lose respect, social Standing, his job, and in the wake of Jesus’ death, potentially even his life.

And yet it is in the in between time that he must stand up and be counted, and he does. Now it is by day that he also accompanies Joseph, carrying the spices need to anoint Jesus’ body for burial. There will be no more questioning where his sympathies and loyalties lie. We too must make our stand in the in between times.

We too must decide whether will be counted as among Christ’s faithful follower, and whether others can count on us. We too must decide whether we will be present to God in the thick and thin of our everyday lives—which, despite the great promises made to us by preachers preaching success and prosperity (and it is not just the “prosperity gospelers” who preach this), are nothing so much as they are ordinary and mundane.

And finally, we must decide whether in these times we will be present to one another as well. While we are waiting for something, anything to happen, can we still sit and be present right now with those who need us?

I've mentioned before how many of people are suffering, and suffering more deeply than we might expect. Suffering is harder to see in the in between times, but believe me, it is very much there. There are people sitting right here today whose hearts are breaking with the burden of sorrow they are carrying. Will you stand up and be counted, when it would be so easy to do something else, something more productive, than simply sitting with someone waiting, dwelling no so much here or there but caught with them somewhere in between?

Most of our world is far too busy, far too caught up in making things happen, to dwell with us where we dwell today. And that is sad, because it is often here that God calls us to dwell, with him, with others, often those who need us most.

Posers?

There’s an interesting little book called The Radical Leap by Steve Farber. It’s worth reading if you get a chance. Here’s a little snippet from it: Skateboarders developed baggy pants so they could wear kneepads under their clothes. But most people who wear baggy clothes have never even touched a skateboard. They’re called posers; they want you to think they’re risk takers and real skaters can’t stand them. Posers try to grab the skaters glory without putting themselves at risk. But wearing the pants doesn’t make you a skater, wearing spandex doesn’t make you a cyclist, looking at the world through Oakley shades doesn’t make you a snowboarder, saying dude doesn’t make you a surfer, and in business printing leader on your calling card doesn’t mean squat...

On Good Friday, Christians reflect on the cross of Christ. In so doing, we reflect on what it means for us to take up our own cross in being faithful to Jesus. We remember that to wear or profess the cross without being willing to truly suffer, sacrifice deeply, and surrender our self interests in the service of Love is to be the posers of the Christian world.

Profoundly Personal

Today is “Maundy Thursday.” The word Maundy is derived from the Latin mandatum, and in particular from Jesus' words Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos.  Or, as it is more commonly known, A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you.

At the service this evening, we read Scripture about Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper.  He tells us to do this in remembrance of me. We also read about his washing the disciples’ feet and then saying you should do as I have done for you”

It’s interesting to me that the church picked up the one command and institutionalized it in Holy Communion. Thus, when many people think of church, they primarily think of a building and a one hour service that occurs weekly in it.

The other command goes largely ignored and forgotten. If we did remember it, we would realize that the church is primarily people, and that we are the church when we live in such a way as to cultivate the kind of profound relationships that allow us to engage in such a deeply personal act as washing one another’s feet.