Is Waiting Worth It?

Thirty-three miners trapped for 17 days in an underground mine in Chile! There are two amazing stories here - one, all 33 are alive and well; and two, it will take 2-4 months to get them out of the mine. A small hole was drilled that enabled a message to be sent from the miners to the surface that they were alive and safe. That same hole can be used for sending food and water to the miners and maintaining communication with them. However, the hole is too small to use to remove the miners. It will take 2-4 months to drill a large enough openning to use for the release of the miners from the mine. Christmas is the time being used most often in the news reports as a time for their release.

After seeing that on the news, I wondered if I were one of those 33, could I wait that long to be rescued? Or if I were one of the family members of one of those 33, could I patiently wait for a larger hole to be dug over a 2-4 month period for my loved one to be rescued?

We all have a tendency to expect everything we want to happen quickly. The truth is that most things of real value and importance do not happen quickly, rather they tend to develop and evolve over an extended period of time. For example, an education is often measured by the time period of kindergarten through 12th grade, followed by 4 years of college and maybe 2 to 4 years of graduate school. The truth is that an education is a lifelong process that still has many gaps when our physical lives end.

Today we are concerned about the year long time that a military serviceman might serve in Afghanistan or in Iraq. The truth is that many of them serve two, three, or even four tours of a year each. Some of our fathers and grandfathers served up to four years away from family during World War II either in Europe, Africa, or the Pacific. Whether today or yesterday, it is a long time waiting for a loved one to come home safely.

I wish that I could get a better grasp of the entirety of life. Maybe then I could accept that some of life's events don't really take as long as I currently believe they do. At the same time, maybe I could be more patient in waiting for those happenings that will actually take an extended period of time.

One final thought today - in the area where I live, today is the first day of a new school year for many school districts. My own children have been out of public schools for 16 and 18 years respectively. That is a long time. But it must be a short time because I can still remember the days that each of them was born, the first time I held them, and the first time I heard their sweet little cries.

Time is a funny thing. Two to four months seems like a lifetime if you are trapped in a mine. Two to four months isn't even a full semester of one school year. "Lord, help me be patient enough to wait for the things that are worthwhile and that add value to life. Help me to be disciplined enough to resist quick and easy fixes that have little value and marginalize life."

When Do We Start the Doings?

Ron Hall and Denver Moore are known for their first book "Same Kind of Different as Me." Their story centers around how Denver Moore, homeless, is befriend by Ron and Deborah Hall and Deborah's subsequent battle and death from cancer. Their second book "What Difference Do It Make?" is a continuation of their ongoing true story.

In this second volume, Denver Moore asks a probing question of Ron Hall: "Mr. Ron, all these white folks be invitin us to their Bible studies. How come none of 'em's invitin us to their Bible doins?" (p. 152)

Several years ago, a friend of mine told me of inviting a new Christian to his church one Sunday morning. When the worship service concluded, the new Christian asked my friend, "But when do we do the stuff?" He was referring to the things he had read about Jesus and disciples doing in the Bible.

Could it be that we are too busy hosting studies that we have scheduled ourselves out of doing? Just saying . . . as I sit in my office, in front of a computer writing a blog . . .

Nostalgic Closing

The local news in Denton, Texas, this week included the closing of the two Piggly Wiggly grocery stores in town. While this doesn't compare to the President speaking in Cairo or the Texas Rangers leading their division, it does elicit a certain sense of nostalgia. These are the last two known Piggly Wigglys operating in Texas. I may be one of the people responsible for their closing. In almost two years of living in Denton and fifteen years working in Denton, I have only been in one of the stores and that was only one time. I think I bought some candy - not a big purchase.

But my nostalga is not about the last ones in Texas; rather, it goes all the way back to my childhood in Temple, Texas, where my mother seemed to always shop the small grocers - Dooleys in Troy, Wrights, Spot Cash, and Piggly Wiggly all in Temple. The thing that stands out to me fifty plus years later is that all the employees seem to know your name and knew where everything was on every shelf. As a child, I often ate a package of Mrs. Braid's chocolate cupcakes while we shopped. At the checkout counter, the clerk rang up an empty wrapper. If you went to one of these stores to run an errand for your Mom, you could tell the clerk what you needed and they could tell you what brand your mother usually bought. It was a day of personal service that has slowly slipped away as the smaller gives way to the larger. The need today is to recapture the friendliness and customer service of the smaller and place it in the larger. I just shop better at the grocery store if I am eating chocolate cupcakes.

The Shallow End or the Deep End?

As a young child, the question was simple to answer. I wanted to be in the shallow end of the pool because I didn't know how to swim. Somewhere around the age of 8, I caught on to swimming, floating, treading water, and assorted other water related activities. Again the question was simple to answer because it was more fun and more challenging in the deep end of the pool.

Most of us are not trying to decide about whether to go swimming today (in Texas the air temp is to be about 80 but the water temp is still too cool for most of us). But I do wonder today if we are thinking in the shallow end or in the deep end. I wonder if we are reading in the shallows or in the depths. I wonder if we are living on the surface or plunging into the regions of hard work and diffult choices.

Does your mind drift to the dwindling 401 (k) that you were counting on for early retirement so you could pursue your favorite hobby or spend extra time with the grandchildren? Or instead is there a focus upon those who will spend today, this week, and their final days in the process and pain of starvation?

Is my biggest thought today about a receeding hairline or about the global millions who are infected with AIDS? Am I already thinking about where I will eat lunch (currently 10:05 AM) or is there some thought about where my friends and neighbors and the people in the office next door will spend eternity? Were the comics my most thought-provoking read of the day or was there something I read that will stimulate my actions in some aspect of making the world a better place?

It is pretty easy for me to confess that some days the shallow end of the thought pool puts this underworked brain in a very comfortable and relaxed position. But occasionally (tho' not often enough) I was to go to the deep end, think and read about that which is most important, and in someway make a dffierence in this world. My best thought today - I want to go to the deep end far more frequently until it becomes the norm of my life. So, what are you thinking about today?

Where Have I Been?

Time passes so quickly, particularly when you are having fun or it is Saturday. I was searching through a stack of bits on my computer and found my blog buried deep in pile of documents, emails, spreadsheets, calendars, and organizational planning. I haven't spend any time with my blog since April 1st. I don't suppose that changed or altered anyone else's life in any way, but I committed myself to writing an entry at least weekly - obviously it has been more weakly in April.

We all get caught up in a variety of responsibilities that call for our urgent attention. Tony Dungy, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, states in his book, Quiet Strength, that while he was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he gave instructions to all the coaches and players that when they lost a game (often) their response was to be "No explanations, no excuses!" Well, that is my story and I sticking with it. That is a lot easier than trying to explain the past 21 days.