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A Serendipitous Birthday Party

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:12:19 -0500

Tomorrow we are going to the circus. Not just any circus, but Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus – The Greatest Show On Earth. Usually I’m the one in our family who is most wanting to go to just about circus, but this time it wasn’t even my idea. We didn’t plan it this way, but it turns out that tomorrow – February 20, 2010 – is a great day for our family to be going to a circus.

I’ve gone to circuses, carnivals, ice shows, etc. for as long as I can remember. That’s not too unusual. What’s a little more unusual is that my dad worked for all of the above. While in the army, Dad was stationed in Sarasota, FL where part of his responsibility was selling army surplus equipment. Some of his biggest customers were circuses and carnivals that winter quartered in the Sarasota area. He developed a strong interest in the fascinating world of traveling entertainment businesses. After the army, Dad worked for our local newspaper, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, for a while before deciding to take a year off to do public relations work for either a carnival or circus. This was before my time, so I’m not sure of all the details.
As the saying goes, Dad got “sawdust in his shoes” and never came back to the Herald-Journal. (Ironically I worked there many years later as a staff sports writer.) Over the years he did public relations, marketing, and all kinds of press work for some of the country’s largest carnivals, circuses (including Ringling), ice shows, and random tours featuring TV stars like The Lone Ranger and Lassie. As a boy it was fun shaking hands (paws?) with Lassie and getting a silver bullet from The Lone Ranger.
Dad eventually narrowed down his work to carnivals. For many years, in addition to his public relations work, dad worked in top management positions with the country’s largest shows. Somewhere along the way he also started Cox Amusements as a side-line family business. I know it sounds a little strange, but I really did start working with Cox Amusements when I was about five years old. I put myself through Furman with the money I made as manager of Cox Amusements (after many years of working for nothing). Those years of loading and unloading trucks and trailers and figuring out how to set things up and make them work are still serving me well in our ministry with Concoxions. I’ve never denied that I also have sawdust in my shoes. It doesn’t happen nearly enough, but I love to be around carnivals and circuses.
Dad died March 2, 1989 at the age of 69. I realized just last night that tomorrow would have been his 90th birthday. Most of the thousands of people at the Bi-Lo Center tomorrow won’t even know that they’re attending a serendipitous birthday party for a very special man.
Happy birthday, Dad. I miss you.

It’s OK To Wish Me “Happy Holidays”

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:51:38 -0500

I personally really like "Merry Christmas." But it’s OK to wish me “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Hanukah” or even “Festivus For The Rest of Us.” I promise not to think less of you, bite your head off, or respond with a terse sounding “Merry CHRISTmas” in a condescending, rebuking tone.

I don’t expect this to be a particularly popular post, especially judging from the number of people who have joined facebook groups supporting the idea that “Merry Christmas” is the only non-blasphemous greeting for this time of year.

To put this in perspective, I’m a Christian. Not because I was born in the USA of non-Jewish parents. Not because I go to church on Easter Sunday. I’m a Christian because I made a conscious intentional decision to invite Jesus into my life as Savior and Lord. I have trusted my life to him and have committed my life to loving him, pleasing him, and serving him. I don’t believe that all religions are equally valid or that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere. I think it’s pretty significant that Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life – no one comes to the Father except by me.” I think it’s vital that we share the good news of Christ and make disciples.

As a quite young boy, it bothered me whenever I saw the abbreviation “Xmas.” A few years ago I was griped when I saw a business catalogue that included only two card choices that referenced “Christmas” among the couple of hundred holiday cards available. Throughout all but the earliest years of my life, it has been very important to me to keep Christ the focus of Christmas.

So why am I not on the “Merry CHRISTmas” bandwagon or sleigh or whatever it might be? Because I do believe strongly that we should keep Christ in Christmas. Not the weak fragile Jesus that some of us have created in our own image, but the original Jesus who was God incarnate. I’d sure like the world to meet and get to know him.

Sadly, I think some of the efforts to Keep Christ in Christmas are instead driving a wedge between Christ and many who need to know him. While I’d like to think that many of our motives are sincere, too often we come across as arrogant and uncaring. I fear that we often act out of a misguided conviction that as Christians we have to be constantly standing up for our rights.

Isn’t a big part of the Christmas message that Jesus gave up his rights in order to dwell among us? Fast-forward 30 years and we still see him identifying with the non-religious populace and clashing with those who cared more about their religious traditions than about caring for others.

Some of us are demanding our right to live in a Christian nation. That is not our reality. It never has been and probably never will be. Why should we expect people of other faiths or no faith at all to conform to our way of celebrating? I don’t think we “win” people to faith in Christ through intimidation or majority rule. I can’t think of anyone who has ever been forced into the kingdom. I can think of many who have been loved into the kingdom.

I’m not suggesting for a minute that we do away with “Merry Christmas.” It’s a very meaningful and in many cases appropriate expression. My concern is when we use the phrase (or scorn those who don’t) in a belligerent or insensitive way.

With all the problems in the world, do we really want our most notable campaign of the season to be the battle of “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays?” Hopefully that’s not where most of are, but it seems to be a pretty major concern for others.

Pardon my radical thinking, but what if we found a peace about letting everybody express good will with the words of their choice? And if we really want others to know that we stand for Christ, we might just take his words as recorded in Matthew 13:34-35 seriously: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Warning – loving each other may require more effort than expressing a two-word phrase.

There are always multitudes of people whose hurts and problems don’t take a holiday at this time of year. For starters there are obviously many who are hungry, homeless, lonely, sick, discouraged, and lost. Right now we have more people out of work than ever before and many more who haven’t become a statistic, but who are privately struggling to hold on to their homes, businesses, savings, etc.

I can’t prove it, but I think Jesus cares more about us doing whatever we can to help those in need than whether or not his name is on a card.

And a kind, non-judgmental word for even those with whom we disagree just might honor him more than antagonism.

I sincerely wish and pray that everyone could have a merry Christmas. But if that’s not where you are, I still joyfully extend to you season’s greetings and hope you have happy holidays.

“welcometomoooooooooes”

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:50:46 -0400

When Moe’s first came to town I wasn’t much of a fan. But since others in the family did like the Southwest Grill fare, I tried to be a good sport and soon learned which of the strange-sounding menu items were most palatable to my palate (Joey Bag of Donuts being the current favorite). It really didn’t take too many trips to Moe’s before I went from tolerating Moe’s to looking forward to eating there. Especially on Mondays. The Moe’s Monday special has become a weekly part of our culinary routine, and even became our Seesalt staff’s new Monday lunch spot in Myrtle Beach this past summer.
When you walk through the Moe’s front door, you are immediately “greeted” by at least 3-4 Moe’s employees letting out a fairly loud “Welcome to Mooooooooes.” That’s still a long “o” sound like what you do to your grass, not the sound made by bovine animals who eat grass. The need for the extra o’s is because of the consistent way that all Moe’s employees are obviously trained to draw out the name of their restaurant to a length usually required for four or more syllables, not just four letters and a silent apostrophe. We’ve eaten at Moe’s Southwest Grill all over the southeast and the sound of the greeting is the same. Go through the front door of the Moe’s website and you get the same.
As a matter of fact, it’s about as personal on the website as it is in person. If the intent is to create an audio icon for the Moe’s experience, it is working. If the intent is to really welcome customers in any way beyond what a sign on the door would do, it is not working.
At the Spartanburg Moe’s, we usually sit the tall tables right beside the serving line. That means, whether we want to or not, we get to see and hear the greeting close up throughout our meal – in addition to the time spent going through the serving line. It would be nice if every once in a while a well-programmed greeter would at least look up and glance in the general direction of the greetee. A directed smile and welcoming countenance would add greatly to the illusion.
None of this is meant to cast aspersions toward individual Moe-ites. Many are very warm and personable people who already have their hands and brains full trying to get our food prepared properly. If they can get rice, pintos (not black beans), chicken, cheese, lettuce, and salsa rolled neatly into my Joey in a pleasant manner, then I’m really OK.
So what is “welcometomooooooes?” Depending on who you are and what kind of mood you are in, it might be fun and entertaining, obnoxious and annoying, or meaningless background noise that is just part of going to Moe’s. Overall Moe’s doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously, so there’s probably no intent or delusion of being warm and sincere.
But what about us? How many times do we greet each other and even express concern for others with not much more substance than “welcometomooooooes.”
“Howareya” … “Whatsup” … “Howzitgoin’” … “Goodtaseeya” … “Whatshappenin” … “I’llbeprayin’forya” …
Some of those phrases call for a “?” at the end, but in most cases we’re not really looking for much of an answer. It’s not a question so much as it’s a “welcometomooooooes.”
On at least some occasions, I’m afraid I’m guilty of using every one of those comments with all of the depth of a busy burrito builder. But I often use the same words to express a sincere gladness to see someone or a genuine concern. It’s scary to wonder how anyone can tell the difference if the words and even the inflection is the same. As I busily welcome someone to Seesalt or Chillipepper or whatever and tell them in some way that I care about them, is sincerity evident or is it just “welcometomooooooes?”
I’m going to try to let each Moe Monday be a reminder to slow down and be more intentional and personal in even my casual interaction with others. Hopefully the genuineness is usually there, but when it’s not, I pray that I’ll place an order for some warm sincerity. Feel free to join me.
Otherwise we’re all just going through the Moe-tions.

The Palm Chop

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 15:55:22 -0400

It seems like just yesterday that my two little boys were big Atlanta Braves fans. And if you remove the word “little” it was just yesterday. (Good seasoning opening game, Braves.)

Back in their little big Atlanta Braves fan days, I vividly remember a Palm Sunday at church when all the little kids got palm branches (or at least a reasonable faxsimile thereof). Braves fans are probably already way ahead of me at this point.

I’ve never forgotten the sight and sound of Christopher and Taylor coming down the hall toward the sanctuary “waving” their palm branches in classic tomahawk chop fashion and singing/humming the Braves rally chant. I’ve seen other children reprimanded for such “disrespectful” behavior, but I freely admit that I found it quite amusing and enjoyable. I think it was a very appropriate child-like understanding of what was taking place as Jesus entered into Jerusalem.

Baseball fans are known for being rather fickle. Some are worse than others. But it’s not unusual for “fans” to jump on the bandwagon and become almost rabid in cheering for the team when things are going well, only to turn into ostrich-sized boo-birds as soon as anything goes against their liking.

That’s a pretty good analogy of the crowd that greeted Jesus. As long as he was feeding the multitudes and healing the hurting, they were happy to be his cheerleaders. When the game changed, it didn’t take long for many to trade their “hosannas” to “crucify hims.” Probably many more just stopped cheering and quietly went away without going to that other extreme.

It’s easy for us to sit here in derision of such shallow fickleness. But how often do we follow that crowd a couple of thousand years later? It’s easy to be a hosanna hollering Christian within certain crowds and situations. That’s OK. It’s not OK for the attitude and action to change when the crowd and situation changes.

I believe that God’s perspective on us transcends time in ways that we can’t fully understand. He knows when our palm chopping is little more than fickle fan fun. I don’t much think he enjoys that parade.

So what does please God? Instead of a long attempt to answer that very important question, let’s keep it short and simple. How about consistency? Consistently loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and body; and consistently loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

No matter what the score, the record, or the inclination of the crowd.

Lessons From Hair Care

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:55:38 -0400

For quite a few years I’ve been fairly picky about what shampoo I use. I think it stems from the hope that if I’m nice to my hair, it might want to stay with me longer.

When we lived in Columbia, I had a barber who insisted that if I used shampoo containing biotin, I wouldn’t go bald. I faithfully followed his advice, but at some point it seemed like the shampoos containing this magic ingredient disappeared from the shelves. I’m wondering if some study revealed that continued use of biotin led to not only hair growth, but also to random rambling.

Shampoos that I’ve used seem to come into existence and then vanish pretty quickly, so with biotin no longer a determining factor, I mainly look for shampoos that promise to provide “thick and full” hair or are specialized for those with “thin or thinning” hair. I also like it if the word “men” is on the bottle and if anything flowery or fruity is not. A few days ago as I scoured the shelves at (no longer hyphenated) Walmart, I realized that none of the shampoos that I had ever used were in stock. After careful deliberation that included scanning the ingredients, I finally settled on something with “full and thick” in all uppercase letters. Even though it wasn’t specified for men, at least the bottle was mainly black and white. Right before I put the bottle in my cart, I opted for the same stuff in a slightly bigger bottle designed to sit with the cap at the bottom. That helps when you get down to the last few squirts.

At least I thought it was the same stuff. Today when I squeezed the first dollop (I don’t use that word a lot) into my hand, the texture was just different enough to cause me to glance at the bottle. “FULL & THICK … conditioner.”

I hate to admit that’s not the first time I’ve made that mistake - and didn’t realize it until I tried to lather up. So I can say from first hand experience that conditioner is no substitute for shampoo. As I waited for Kathy to come in and ask why I was taking even longer than usual (so I could ask her to get a bottle of the real stuff from my travel bag that stays packed) I had time to muse about a spiritual application for my blunder.

For some reason I started relating shampooing to salvation. No illustration or metaphor is perfect, but the Bible speaks often of our need to be made clean. Some of us sing songs about having our sins washed away. I believe that the essential ingredient for being made clean in God’s eyes is Jesus. At the risk of oversimplifying, we can find forgiveness and a new life by trusting in him. This involves active decision-making, repentance, and faith on our part.

There are other things on church shelves that have a similar appearance to putting our faith in Jesus if we don’t look too closely. The items on the shelves include things like attending church, singing songs, reading the Bible, adopting the right moral code, etc. There’s not inherently anything wrong with these things. Some positive results can come from these conditioners. But in no way are they substitutes for putting our faith in Christ.

I personally don’t like or use conditioner, but apparently the stuff in the look-alike bottles can make your hair shinier, softer, more manageable, and even thicker and fuller. But without shampoo, you still have dirty hair. Religious activity can possibly make you shinier, softer, more manageable and even thicker and fuller (hard to pass up a good covered dish dinner). But if we’re still unclean and unforgiven in God’s eyes, there’s not enough conditioner in the world to overcome that problem.

I encourage you to consistently look carefully at your bottles. Make sure you’re not missing out on the cleansing ingredient.