Traveling Challenges

So we got back late Tuesday night from Kansas. The thing is, we were supposed to get in Monday evening. The story goes, we arrived at the airport at 3PM on Monday only to have our flight delayed by an hour and a half. So our 4:15 departure was pushed back to 5:45. Then around 6PM, we find out the flight is cancelled and we are scheduled to fly out at 5:50, the next morning. People, I’m still on vacation. And I am not about to wake up at no 4AM while I’m on vacation. So we pushed our flight back to 1:15PM (Tuesday), getting us to Atlanta at 4PM, then to Charleston at 6PM and finally home at 8PM, no big deal. So we leave the airport at 7PM on Monday having been there for 4 hours. Thankfully, the airline, that shall remain nameless, put us up for the night in a hotel and gave us food vouchers. Sleeping in and shopping a bit on Tuesday for some last minute gifts, we got to the airport at noon for our 1:15 flight. While checking in, the airline worker offered us compensation for our seats, in the form of travel vouchers, i.e. a free flight, and scheduled us for the same original flight plan as the day before, the dreaded 4:11 flight from Wichita to Atlanta. For some reason, we felt good and we took the deal. Imagine our dismay when the dreaded 4:11 flight was delayed until 6:30 after having been there since noon. For those not good with numbers, I’ll do the math for you. That’s ten and a half hours in the Wichita airport. That’s about nine and a half hours too long, in a very little airport, complete with screaming kids, angry travelers (not us, other people) and a set of twins I deemed the ‘creatures of chaos’ (Because of them, I am thankful we are only having one). Miraculously, we managed to make our original flight out of Atlanta. Because of storms, it had been delayed. So we landed in Charleston at midnight on Tuesday night, when we were supposed to be in at 10PM on Monday. Interesting couple of days to say the least. I thank God for safe travel, an understanding wife and just enough patience to get us home. Now for our vacation from our vacation.
Brad

Micah's words

We read this last night in Bible Study. I love it.

“Many nations will come and say,

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob.

He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’

The law will go out from Zion,

the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes

for strong nations far and wide.

They will beat their swords into plowshares and

their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

nor will they train for war anymore.

Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree,

and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.

All the nations may walk in the name of their gods;

we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever.”

-Micah 4:2-5 (NIV)

I love this passage for its vision of peace, but I am drawn more to the line, ‘no one will make them afraid’. We live in a world that wants us to be afraid. We are constantly being told who or what we should fear. Whether it’s a poor economy, soaring gas prices, a terrible housing market, infectious diseases, war across the world, violence here at home, terrorism threat levels, natural disasters or terrible weather, we are always being put on the defensive, being told, that we should fear this or that. It is so good to know that a day will come when we don’t have to fear a thing, a day in which God will set things right.

Brad

“We’re not in Kansas anymore!”

For those of you who did not know, we’ve been in Kansas since last Wednesday on vacation. That’s right, I said Kansas. For VACATION. Every other year, Megan’s father’s family holds the Stone Family Reunion in Kansas, where it all began, or close to where it all began. I believe it actually began in Oklahoma, but that’s another story. Anyways, it’s quite an impressive gathering of around 90 people, from 9 states, with at least 4 generations present. Having only been present for the last 2, I do not have much experience with the extended family, but I have found them very kind and loving, with a tiny bit of competitive nature sprinkled in there. It is with the last part that makes me feel right at home.

Two events highlight the weekend that is filled with fun and fellowship. Each event finds a winner having his or her name written on a trophy to be carried for one year. The first is the golf tournament that occurs Friday morning. Two winners, low gross and low net (the former being the person’s score, the latter the score when the handicap is factored in). For the second straight reunion, I walked away with the low net score. Shooting 75 (par 71 course) while carrying a 13 handicap makes it pretty easy. There is something about my game and the Hesston golf course that clicks. I cannot explain it. Last reunion I shot 76 with a 15 handicap. Needless to say the word sand-bagger and a few others were thrown my way.

The other event that occurs during the weekend is far more important and far more coveted. It’s the Stone Family Pitch tournament, a mid-west or Kansas card game that nearly no one east of the Mississippi has heard of. I’ve asked, and the answer is always no. It’s kind of like spades and bridge in there is a trump suit and you get to bid and when points with a partner. The Stone family has been playing pitch for a long time and nearly everyone over the age of 15 plays. The tournament is double elimination and this year 24 teams competed. The winner has their name written on a water dipper that was on the Stone Family Ranch many years ago. Needless to say, the tournament is a big deal and a lot of people watch the final couple of games. You also draw your partner at random. I managed to get paired with my sister-in-law Abby. And thanks to her gutsy and amazing play, we made it to the championship game, out of the loser’s bracket, and forced a final championship game, only to lose. It was exciting nonetheless.

So all in all, I won a share of the golf tournament and finished second in the pitch tournament, in my second family reunion. I can honestly say, I don’t believe in the sophomore slump/jinx/curse. Oh, and by the way, I am hoping to start teaching others to play pitch so to start training for two years out. You can never start too early.

It truly was a wonderful vacation, exhausting, but great to visit a close-knit family, separated by many, many miles. Can’t wait for 2010!
Brad

Truly Amazing!

I was listening to a radio program this morning that referenced the fact that we now confine ourselves to concrete jungles rather than enjoying the creation with which God has truly blessed us with. After spending a couple of days and a night at Pisgah National Forest with two good friends, I would totally agree. For a vast number of reasons, we have isolated ourselves from God’s creation. With inventions and innovations, we have attempted to make our lives easier, resulting a lot of the times in making things a little more difficult and vastly more stressful. But every now and then, I am amazed at what the human mind is capable of. For example, it is remarkable that we now can keep in touch with friends, family and loved ones with the simple stroke of a few fingers. What is even more remarkable is the fact that I can introduce the world to what will be, in less than five months, our newest addition. Meet our yet-to-be-named baby boy!

Change

A few days ago, we drove up to one of my favorite places in the world, Asbury Hills United Methodist Campground. Asbury Hills is special to me because of its sentimental value. As a youth, every fall we had a retreat up to Cleveland, SC that was the highlight of the year. I have many great memories of those trips during the seven years I was in the youth group. While in college, I worked at Asbury Hills for a summer. I recall that summer as one of my best ever. So when Megan offered me a chance to go with her to visit the kids from her church who had been at camp all week, I couldn’t pass it up. Walking into a dinning hall filled with kids, kids who had been camping out in some pretty rustic conditions, you can imagine the first thought. “Wow, these kids stink! I don’t remember them smelling this bad when I was here.” While the smell may have appeared to change, some things have not. The kids still eat family style, working together to get the food to everyone and cleaning up the tables. The kids still bang on the tables after dinner, chatting crazy rhymes together. And thankfully, the kids still sing “Here I Am, Lord” at the end of each week. Still today I can’t sing that song without a tear coming to my eye.
Interesting enough, we got into a conversation with one of the female counselors over lunch. She was one of those life-time members of the Asbury Hills Family. The kind that go to camp as a kid, then are CIT’s (Counselor-in-training) for two years or so, and then are full counselors. In all total, she had been at Asbury Hills in some way, shape or form for the last thirteen years. (It was only when I got home and looked back at my pictures that I realized she was one of my campers when I was a counselor, 9 years ago. Boy do I feel old.) Talking to her was very insightful. She was very opinionated about some of the changes that appear to be coming to Asbury Hills. Without the boring details, the camp is supposedly going to look rather different in the future. And she wasn’t completely buying into it. I suppose she had a right to be wary, I mean she had a lot of time and energy invested in the camp, and she didn’t really want to see it change from what she had grown to love. She said that even the kids were talking about not liking the changes at Asbury Hills. That got me thinking, here is a camp that is filled with young people resisting change, just like many congregations who are filled with much older people. Do we ever like change? As human beings, has God created us in a certain way that we want to resist change? Or, better yet, did that come with ‘The Fall’? That would make me feel a little better if it did. Regardless of where it came from, resistance to change is all too real, no matter the age of the person involved. But, and it’s a pretty big BUT, change has to come. It’s necessary. It is the only thing that keeps us alive. Literally, the medical definition of death deals with the fact that it occurs when the body ceases to change. Of course, all of this has huge implications for businesses, institutions (like the church), corporations, states (although we in SC don’t believe this) even nations, but I believe it also has implications for us as individuals. We are constantly changing, that’s the way God made us. The question for us is this: Are we changing for the better or changing for the worse? Are we constantly trying to improve ourselves and be more than we are right now, or are we just trying to get by? Are we picking up bad or negative habits that are hurting us more than they are helping us? Are we living in a way in which changes come easy or do we go kicking and screaming? I know I’m anticipating some HUGE changes. Maybe, with God’s help, I can start living in a way in which those changes won’t be so difficult.
Brad

Fantasy versus Reality

I am a huge sports fan. For those of you who know me well, know how much of an understatement that may be. I eat, breath and sometimes sleep sports. I have my favorite teams and my favorite sports, but that doesn’t stop me from watching anything sports on television. My current sport is cycling as I am enthralled in watching the Tour de France. Now those guys are athletes, and a little crazy. Before the Tour, I watched Wimbeldon, before that Euro 2008 soccer. Notice how I haven’t even included any ‘traditional’ American sports. I watch those too, especially baseball. I have also gotten into the fantasy sports scene as well. I have my golf team, my baseball team, my cycling team and have just signed on for another year of fantasy football. The fantasy sports world is interesting to me. As one of those guys who had just enough sports talent not to make the final cut of any team, I have become an avid fan of anything and everything. Having the fantasy sports world gives me an outlet for my obsession. Who to trade, who to pick up, who to play or who to leave on the bench? All questions I ponder, during my free time of course. In a way, it kind of allows me to ‘play’ from the sidelines. I know, I am not really playing anything, but in a small sense, I at least feel a part of the games I watch. It keeps me interested.

In thinking about this, I wonder about the church or the faith people have. I wonder if people are out there who participate in church in a similar way. Do they look out on the church and feel as if they don’t have enough faith to fit in? Do they think, “I’m not quite good enough to do the whole church thing”? Some even lead a lifestyle that is not exactly the most holy, so they therefore feel guilty about being involved. I remember in college, how awkward it was to see some people at our campus worship service on Sunday morning at 11AM, when I had seen them only 12 hours earlier in a very different state. That’s just one example of many. This begs the question, like in the sports world, have we set the bar so high that these people simply don’t make the cut, like I experienced with high school sports. I was lacking just enough to keep me off the team. Do we treat people the same way in the church? Is the bar set so high that they don’t feel welcomed? Or should the bar be set higher for more accountability to occur? Or should the bar be set at all? I think all parties share in blame. We in the church are not as welcoming as we should be to those who are different. We rush to judge someone far quicker than we are to learn about them. Those who are not in the church sometimes carry around a sense that they are not good enough for the church, a low spiritual self-esteem if you will. They too are guilty of passing a quick judgment on individuals, only theirs is aimed at people inside the church. And none of this tackles the difficult issue of what the church as an institution means to people who are inside and outside its walls.

Going back to the idea of fantasy sports, I believe there exists a fantasy world for faith as well. A few months back, I learned how large communities are worshipping now via the internet. People will turn their computer on and listen to a podcast or watch a live streaming worship service, never leaving the comfort of their own home. While this may seem new, it is not. Older folks turn the television on and watch a worship service. Some have done this for years. These individuals do this, not because they cannot physically go, but merely because it is easier that way. They observe from the sidelines, watching a service, but not participating in the traditional, communal kind of way. While their own personal spirituality is affected, they do not interact with anyone else while doing this. Jesus himself said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (Matt. 18:20)”. Now does this mean that Jesus isn’t with the individual who experiences a crisis or goes through some hard times? Absolutely not. But when it comes to worship, the sermon, the music, the prayers are only part of the whole. Another part is the community that gathers together, comes together in relationship with one another, for both the good and the bad. The bottom line is the fact that relationships were created by God. God looked at Adam and felt like he needed someone to be in relationship with, so God created Eve. We as human beings were created in relationship with God, in relationship with other human beings, in relationship with all of creation. When we live in a way that lacks those real, concrete and holy relationships that we were created to be in, we cannot become all that God wants us to be. We try, oh do we try. And by doing so, we tend to play the role of God the creator. So we create fantasy worlds for all kinds of things, relationships, worship, sports, just to name a few.

So here’s the thing, maybe it’s time for us to quite living in fantasy worlds and staring living in the world God created for us. For me, that means going out and throwing a ball with someone rather than simply playing sports with my computer. What does that mean for you? What fantasy world are you living in instead of living in the real world that God created for you?

Brad