Archive for April, 2004

Uncle Channing

Published
by
Mike
on April 29, 2004
in General
. 0 Comments

Until last night, I’ve never lost an uncle or aunt to death. (With six divorces among my parents’ siblings, I’ve lost contact with some of the uncles and aunts by marriage–but not by death.) Our parents are still relatively young. Diane’s parents and my parents are all four 66-68. So we hadn’t had to face the passing of their generation.

My Uncle Channing was, of my parents’ brothers and sisters, the one I knew least. He was a bit of an enigma to me. But here’s what I am proudest of: he rose to the occasion of his wife’s battle with Alzheimer’s. He became so kind and gentle. He respectfully ushered her around and cared for her. At this point, she may not know that he’s gone. But even with her growing fog, he loved her as he’d promised so long ago.

Coaching Tips

Published
by
Mike
on April 28, 2004
in Baseball
. 1 Comment

Six observations about coaching little league (from someone who’s been doing it since 1989):

1) Practices that last 2 hours are half as effective as practices that last 1 hour.

2) Practicing every day makes the coaches self-satisfied, but the kids tend to lose the fun.

3) Small amounts of money pay big dividends. On rare occasions I’ll play “hit the bucket,” where the first player to field a ground ball cleanly and hit the red bucket at home plate gets a buck. You’d think you offered tickets on the first manned mission to Mars.

4) Make sure one of the assistant coaches is much younger than you but still significantly older than the boys on the team. (Here is the advantage of having one son who’s 11 and another who’s 22.) That way the kids can have batting practice for an hour, but YOUR shoulder doesn’t feel like it needs surgery the next morning.

5) It’s just a game.

6) It’s just a game.

Wrinkles & Smiles

Published
by
Mike
on April 27, 2004
in music
. 0 Comments

Words to think about from Jimmy Buffett (”Barefoot Children in the Rain”): “Wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.”

Having probably put well over half my life astern, I like that.

Are All Children Really THAT Precocious?

Published
by
Mike
on April 27, 2004
in family
. 0 Comments

I’m reminded by my little league team that some children have no one to be their advocate. No one to protect them. They have to grow up way too quickly.

But my observation elsewhere is that many young parents, eager to be advocates for their children, are tempted to go the other way in being overprotective. They always side with their child against the teacher, against the little league coach, against really anyone who doesn’t agree that THEIR CHILD IS THE MOST PRECOCIOUS CHILD AROUND AND HE/SHE IS NEVER WRONG.

If a child isn’t playing enough, it’s the coach’s fault. He must not like the child. Or he’s playing favorites.

If a child doesn’t make All-Stars, then the people voting had some vendetta against the parent (since the child obviously should have made it). This is the Oliver Stone conspiracy theory of how All-Star voting takes place. (Stay tuned to this blog for my ranting and raving against the whole idea of All-Stars.)

If a child gets in trouble at school, it’s the teacher’s fault–even if the teacher is known to be loving and competent.

Do we really do our children any favors by giving them a sense of entitlement? Does it prepare them for the world to let them know that anytime they run into trouble, THEY aren’t responsible?

It’s a frightening thing to me to run into such children–whether as a coach in little league or as a professor in college.

Everyone is tempted to think their child is precocious–uniquely funny, artistic, smart, and insightful. In fact, we want so desperately to believe that about our kids.

But they’re just children. (A very, very few are, in fact, precocious–but they’re still kids.)

God love ‘em every one.

Brand Loyalty and Churches of Christ

Published
by
Mike
on April 23, 2004
in Church of Christ and General
. 0 Comments

I guess I’m the kind of customer that companies depend on. I’m an obsessive-compulsive loyalist. Which means this.

I like Lever 2000 soap. That’s all I’ll use. It’s all I’ve used for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I carry a bar with me rather than use the little freebies in the motel rooms. And with my O-C personality, I like to keep about 20 bars in the cabinet so I don’t run out.

I’ve stuck with Crest toothpaste, Gillette foamy shaving cream (although sometimes I’ll go crazy and opt for the exotic Lemon-Lime scent), Gillette disposable razors, and Paul Mitchell shampoo (no comments, please, about how little good it’s doing) my whole adult life.

I never have to ask myself, “What kind of aftershave will I buy this time?” Always the same. Nor do I have to ask what kind of vehicle we’re going to buy. It will be some kind of Chrysler. (That does have something to do with the fact that my father-in-law was a lifelong Chrysler employee and we get the family discount!)

I wonder how much of this goes back to the loyalty bred and preached into me by my father. My dad believed that we made a living by the good businesses of Neosho, Missouri that advertised in our newspaper. And so, we were expected to buy products from those stores and from those stores alone.

Once I used some of my paper route money to buy a new baseball glove from a sports store on the square. You guessed it: they were committed nonadvertisers in the Neosho Daily News. When I got home, Dad gave me the lecture about loyalty. The next day I took the glove back, went to the newspaper-friendly sports store on the other side of the square and bought another one.

A few times people who were upset with me have suggested that I leave Churches of Christ. Ha! Try getting me to buy Ivory soap! Or brush with Colgate. Or shave with a Bic. I’m afraid people in this wonderful religious tribe are stuck with me!

Elders Meetings . . . Holy Ground

Published
by
Mike
on April 22, 2004
in Church, Highland and faith
. 0 Comments

More holy ground to walk on last night.

First, there was the testimony in “Oasis” from a woman who said she is a “recovering screamer.” Her eloquent words drew us to the love of God and invited us to be a more open community.

Then, in the elders’ meeting there were so many sacred moments. There was the welcoming of a new member who was converted by missionaries in Turkey. He’s been imprisoned five different times for sharing his faith–three of those times in cities visited by Paul (yes–THAT Paul).

Then there was the young couple placing membership who are taking a survey trip to Tanzania this summer–and, because of their devotion to world missions, are planning to get married while there. (I know a beautiful spot about 19,200 feet up that I might suggest! I’m sure a tent on the slopes of Kilimanjaro would make a beautiful honeymoon.)

And then we blessed a couple who has born the pain of childlessness and now find themselves as parents to two teenagers. It’s an amazing story of love: two teens who are not parentless because an eighth grader’s teacher (from last year) has now become her “mom.”

Reality Preacher

Published
by
Mike
on April 21, 2004
in General
. 0 Comments

I have an embarrassing confession to make: I don’t watch reality tv shows. None of them. Nada. Not “Survivor,” not “American Idol,” not “The Apprentice,” not “Fear Factor.” I’ve never seen Trump say, “You’re fired!” (except on “Today Show” highlights). And watching people eat bugs doesn’t do it for me.

I’m not anti-TV. I O-D on sports during baseball season. I just can’t get into reality shows.

As I read about some of the reality celebs in this morning’s USA Today (while experiencing my normal 2-hour airport delay!), I wonder: What’s the appeal of Kelly and Justin, Clay, Ruben, Bill Rancic, and William Hung (the “She Bangs” guy who is endearing, though perhaps lacking in self-awareness)?

Could part of it be weariness with real celebs? Are people finally seeing through the lunacy of our celeb-worshipping culture? Are we tired of watching people who specialize in image management and who change spouses and “significant others” as soon as they move up or down the ladder of celebrity? (An A-list star can’t remain attached to a husband who’s stuck on B-level status, can she?)

Maybe the reality people seem, well, real. Maybe people think that Kelly would be more fun to chat with over lunch than Brittany.

Or maybe I’m just jealous about the whole thing–that no network has yet come up with Reality Preacher. On that note, I’m off to try to get a plane to take me home.

Little League

Published
by
Mike
on April 20, 2004
in Baseball and General
. 1 Comment

Dontrelle Willis is having a decent season so far for the Florida Marlins. As a pitcher, he’s 2-0 with a .000 ERA. As a hitter, he’s batting 1.000 (6-for-6).

My little league team isn’t quite that hot, though we are 4-1, and 2-0 in conference play after a 10-8 victory in the late game last night. That’s right: last game at the ballpark last night and the first flight (5:45) out of Abilene this morning!

Elie Wiesel

Published
by
Mike
on April 19, 2004
in Books
. 1 Comment

In the year I was born, Elie Wiesel wrote a stirring memoir of the Holocaust called Night. It was a brutally honest account from this man who lost both his parents and his younger sister in concentration camps.

Here is a stirring interview with this Nobel Peace Prize winner (1986) in which he talks about his faith. It isn’t the existence of God he doubts, he says, but the ways of God. (If this sounds blasphemous to you, go back and read biblical literature again!) In other words, his crisis is one of “God’s apparent absence.” He speaks profoundly about evil, suffering, prayer, and faith. “The tragedy of the believer is greater than the tragedy of the unbeliever,” Wiesel claims. Why? Because the suffering all around is just what an unbeliever might expect. But an honest believer is faced with cognitive dissonance.

Once you face up to this, there is, for sure, a chance you might lose your faith. But there is also a chance your faith can move to a deeper level of trust.

As for me, I’ll take Wiesel’s struggles over the easy, breezy health-and-wealth stuff that fills Christian bookstores. (Actually, my own preference would be for the writings of Philip Yancey, who constantly faces the reality of suffering — but from the perspective of a Christ-follower.)

Forgiveness

Published
by
Mike
on April 18, 2004
in General
. 0 Comments

“Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat do die.” - Anne Lamott

“When you forgive someone, you are dancing to the rhythm of the divine heartbeat.” - Lewis Smedes