The Draper Street Hill Fight

Family is important. I grew up surrounded by family and family friends. My uncle Charles and aunt Myrtle lived immediately behind us and the fence had been cut down so we could go back and forth. He owned a bakery and would have donuts in his truck. He never said anything if I took only a couple. My Granny, mother's mom, lived sorta across-the-street. You had to cut through Mrs. Snellings yard and then you were in Granny's side yard. They didn't have fences. Mrs. Snellings daughter was my mother's best friend all through grade school and high school. So, Mrs. Snellings was like Granny #2. Granny's husband died before I was born so Mrs. Romberg rented the side bedroom in Granny's house. Mrs Romberg was like Granny #3. Two houses down from Granny's lived another uncle and aunt. Hugh and Loren were Presbyterians which was unusual in the family because everyone was not only Baptist but members of the Immanuel Baptist Church. They had two kids with whom I played all of the time. In among all this neighborhood family, lived long-time friends who were like family. There are advantages and disadvantages of growing up surrounded by family and family friends. One of the advantages were the many bathrooms accessible whenever you needed to go. You just had to run in a house and yell your name. Also, in these many neighborhood kitchens, someone seemed always to be baking goodies that seemed always available for a hungry kid. A disadvantage was that everybody knew your business. One time David and I were on our way to school when we got into a pushing fight. David was my best friend and we always walked or ran to school together because school was only two blocks up the Draper street hill. In this fight, one of us fell into Mrs. O'Connell's bush and broke some of the limbs. We got out of the bush real fast and ran on to school. We thought we had made it because Mrs. O'Connell hadn't come out and yelled at us. She must have known all of the women in the neighborhood because they came to her back room and had the hair fixed every week. When David and I got to school, Mr. Sercey met us. He was the Principal. He asked if we had fought and broken Mrs. O'Connell bush. We couldn't lie, even though we really wanted to, because he was a Sunday School teacher in our Department at the Immanuel Baptist Church. We had to confess. He told us that Mrs. O'Connell had called him and he had called both of our Dad's who said that we should get a paddling. David and I leaned over Principal's Sercey's desk and he paddled us each one time with a wooden paddle. The hardest thing about being a boy in grade school and getting paddled is not to cry. Getting paddled was hard enough but years later when I was a college student at Oklahoma Baptist University, Mr. Sercey was one of my professors and he not only remembered but, also, told te class about the paddling. That's an example of a disadvantage of growing up surrounded by family and family friends.

Bobby and the penny

Bobby is my younger brother who is developmentally disabled. During a recent colonoscopy a pre-cancerous polyp was found. It was in a bend so it was difficult to completely remove. Yesterday was the third effort to get all of it. If this failed the Physician was going to schedule him for major surgery in order to remove that part of his colon. After yesterday's procedure the Physician said, "I got clean tissue. So, I think we've avoided the major surgery." When Bobby began to wake up in the recovery room, his first thick-lipped comment was did I still have the penny he had found in the parking lot of Wal-Mart and would I put it in his bank account. Well, thanks-be-to-God I had a penny in my pocket. Therefore all is well. We are thankful that he has avoided major surgery.

The Frost is on the Pumpkin

As they say, "The frost is on the pumpkin." In other words, a killing frost has hit Lexington. The plants are off the front porch after having been washed and sprayed with something to kill any bugs and bug eggs. They are back in the house. There are five plants, several of which are big, and they seem to take over our dining room. In the past we've put plants elsewhere in the house but they don't 'winter' very well. The light is best in the dining room. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. Some of our plants are not very pretty because they've become leggy that is, the leaves are on the top and the stem is bare. We don't want to throw them out because we hope they might begin to make new leaves on the stem. Even if the plant isn't a great looker, we keep it and nurture it along. We don't like artificial plants, even if they look real. We want plants that are alive. I recall a quote from Elton Trueblood who wrote somewhere that many churches are like cut-flowers. They look great but there is no life in them. He termed this "cut-flower religion." So, when we deal with our plants, we choose life and some nurturing. That seems more healthy and realistic to us.

Oh, The Titles We Wear

I recently talked with a gentleman who introduced himself as the Executive Director of an organization. Executive Director sounds impressive, and I noted that he used the title several times in our conversation. Later, I learned that the organization of which he is the Executive Director is comprised of himself, his son-in-law, who does sales, and a part-time secretary. He is not in a large organization, but, nevertheless, he wears an impressive title. Maybe titles mean more than they say. Perhaps titles have more to do with a person's need for prestige and self-image than they do with the actual work that is to be done. Perhaps titles are like clothes. Some folks wear clothes because of the name and prestige of the clothes designer and maker. There is some emblem on the shirt, blouse, pants, etc. Maybe those emblems are signs that the garment was made with special care and the extra stitch. I really don't know all that much about clothes. For some folks clothes are just that--clothing to cover the body and help keep one cool, warm, appropriate, etc. I have found it interesting to wonder why people 'wear' the various titles that they use.

On Balancing the Federal Budget

Prominent in the news has been the issue of balancing the federal budget. I do think the federal budget needs some balancing. However, in doing so I’m not opposed to having some debt. Most families have some type of debt. For example, we’ve gone in debt to purchase a home and automobile. Too many have gone into debt to purchase things that are needed for their self-image rather than realistic living. Their self-image needs a certain size and location of house, make of automobile(s), children in certain schools and colleges, clothes, etc. Debt must be managed but, not by propping up an unrealistic self-image. Our nation's debt has been incurred because too many of us wanted more than we could realistically afford and there were systems that would loan us more debt than we could afford. In addition to being careful about the nature of debt we incur, I’m also concerned about how our national budget will be balanced. In Deuteronomy 10:17-19, we are taught that God carefully notices how a nation cares for the orphans, widows and strangers or foreigners living among us. In Matthew 25, Jesus clearly says that we are judged by how we treat the hungry, thirsty (those without clean drinking water), strangers, poorly clothed and incarcerated. These scriptures tell us that those who fail to take care of people in these situations have failed in being God’s people. If this is true, then how we encourage, pray and hope, not only for our elected officials, but also their decisions about balancing the budget may be a defining time in terms of national identity as a nation under God. I think we also need to recall that Jesus said to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48.)

The Malaise of Violence

I’m finding less and less to watch on television or in the movie house. Even some music feels like as assault, yes, and even some church music. Violence is done to the earth in the seductive name of progress and a better life. I think violence is the malaise of our society and culture. Certainly I know that there is violence in our society. However, I suspect that with an attention to violence, we are helping to create the atmosphere in which it flourishes. In David Ford’s book, The Shape of Living, Spiritual Directions for Everyday Life, he writes, “The violence of our times is horrendous—physical violence, verbal violence, economic violence, institutional violence, spiritual violence. It is intensified by being vividly presented in the media, so that violence often dominates imaginations as well as behaviors.” (page 130.) The remedy for violence is a loving respect for all humanity as well as the created world. That is my prayer and hope.

Keeping Up Is Essential But Not Easy

I've just completed reading a book about being a pastor. It is an excellent book written by a well-known pastor-scholar. In a very honest reporting about being a pastor in the mid-1960s, he tells of a physician's advise to a young boy who had been sexually abused. That advise was "forget it." Maybe that is how mental health workers were trained to respond in the mid-1960s. However, to offer that advise today would probably begin a process resulting in having your license to practice revoked. Today, you call in the "authorities" who are trained not only to investigate but, also, to get an abuser away from children and, hopefully, to some help. Keeping up with how to do one's job is essential but not easy. There are always changes which require continual study and on-going supervision. In my mental health field, i.e., Marriage and Family Therapy, I'm required to have Board-approved 15 hours of continuing education each year. I usually fuss about that because the Board doesn't necessarily approve the seminars that I want to count. Nevertheless, I know that those continuing education units are essential. I wish ministers were required to have some continuing education units each year in order to keep our Ordination valid. I believe that keeping up is essential but not easy.