In the Prime of Life

I'm not sure when the prime of my life was...or if it hasn't already been, then I'm not sure when it will be. I don't think I'm in it right now. I am in possession of a Medicare Card. I am not all that many years away from mandatory retirement. I cannot yet come close to shooting my age in golf. I recently suffered my first broken bone. That bone was broken in my first motorcycle accident in the 45 years that I have been riding. (It wasn't a bad accident at all, and I am going to recover just fine...and fully.)
I wonder when "the prime of life" comes for each of us. I wonder what it looks like. What it feels like. I wonder if I will know it when it arrives. Will my outlook on life be more positive when I'm in my prime? Will I be a better father? Will my faith deepen and maybe make a bit more sense? Will those closest to me be able to detect my prime and advise me of its arrival?
Maybe I will be in the prime of my life when I have more answers than I have questions. Could that be true, do you think?

College Football is Back!

I am a Notre Dame college sport fan. Doesn't matter the sport, I pull for the Irish to win. But football comes first...basketball second. Having grown up in a town just seven miles from South Bend I come by this ND-thing easily.
This Saturday the Irish will open the 2010 football season againt the Boilermakers. Neither team distinguished itself last year and neither is ranked among the top teams nationally this year. Its a home game for ND, so perhaps we will have a slight advantage...but nobody really knows much of anything about how good or how not-so-good either of these teams will be this year.
In some ways, it doesn't matter who wins because the fact is COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK! (But that previous statement isn't my real sentiment: LET'S GO IRISH!!!)

Still a Wonderment...

In Iowa a billboard had been designed that pictured US President Obama, Germany's Hitler, and Russia's Lenin. The three were listed as equals: equals in the evil of socialism. Its shocking to see pictures of that billboard, evidently even so for some members of the Tea Party group that paid for the ad.
It brings up the question once again about our commitment in this country to freedom of speech, freedom of expression. I am strongly in favor of that right...even though sometimes it is a wonderment to me what some folks are willing to "speak" and "express." Perhaps they feel the same about some of my speech or expression.
I write these observations about the billboard in the past tense because even as I began to blog about this matter, I was made aware that the billboard had been taken down. I like that those behind the billboard responded to what must have been considerable pressure to remove it from the side of the highway. But their message did get out, and I have little doubt their beliefs are still held.
I wonder what test to my commitment to our right to free speech and expression will come along next.

Last night a big league pitcher's perfect game was rendered imperfect by an umpire's bad call on a play at first base. Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers had retired 26 Cleveland Indians' batters in a row and the 27th batter should have been called "out" by first-base umpire Jim Joyce. On a play that wasn't all that close (as evidenced by those who saw it live...as I did...and the replay video) the ump blew the call. The batter was ruled "safe" at first base and it became necessary for Galarraga to pitch to the 28th batter in the game and thus record the 27th out but not a perfect game.
Jim Joyce recognized his mistake and apologized in person to Galarraga and the Tigers in their locker room immediately following the game. For his part, Galarraga never appeared angry at the ump...at least visibly so.
Joyce and Galarraga will now have to live with what might have been. Joyce will suffer the most because fans and critics will not let him forget this one blown call that has had such an impact on Galarraga's career and the record-keeping of the game's history. By all accounts, Jim Joyce is an excellent and well-respect umpire.
It is too bad...too very bad...that a perfect game wasn't to be had even though it should have been. But the classy way in which the two gentlemen directly involved conducted themselves is quite remarkable, and may just be the take-away from this game: Real life is bigger than a game!

They've decided to go down a really scary and who-knows-where-it-will-lead path in Texas. The state has adopted new "facts" for its social studies text books. "Facts" which will go light on slavery, the civil-rights movement and the separation of church and state. The US will not be known as a Democratic Republic but rather a Constitutional Republic. And there is more, of course.
We all share a history in this country and in this world. What we do not all share are opinions about what that history means and how it was reported down through the ages. To teach our children and even delude ourselves into believing that opinion is history is, it seems to me, a very dangerous path to start down.
The path looks so scary that I do not want to travel it with those who are starting down it.

I live in central Indiana. It is spring time. There are thunder and lightning storms. Those three facts fit together, naturally. Really, I mean it, nature in the form of these kind of spring storms is something that is natural...if you were raised and/or live where I live.
The storms can be beautiful and terrifying. They can produce big buckets of rain or damaging downpours of hail. They scare my daughter's pet Guinea Pig every time. We have to leave a light on so that Smorz (the pet's name) won't be quite so hyper during all the nature-displays of noise and light.
My airplane-pilot son, while studying meteorology at Purdue University, home on break, said to me (some years ago) as we sat watching TV during a quite noisy and brilliant storm(and I was going over notes for a Good Friday sermon), "Dad, those storms are caused by the warm air that is pushing into the area doing battle with the cold air that has been here all winter...kinda like the forces above (hot air) battling the forces below (cold air) and something pretty violent has got to give." Pretty good theology, I thought. (His observation made it into the sermon.)
However, what bugs me about those storms nowadays is that the electricity gets cut off all too often. And all the digital clocks in the house start flashing 00:00! Resetting those things (we have 4) gets to be a pain...especially trying to get them all to sync-up. With analogue clocks "close" was good enough, but with digital clocks "precise" is what is expected.
Its almost as frustrating as trying to "reset" my life every once in awhile. You know, when the power source gets cut off and you have to deal with everything that has gotten out of whack and needs to be reset.
Yeah, like that.

Friday of Holy Week. Much time is set aside during this one week each year...at the church I serve we will observe Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday...each with a special worship experience. The week will begin with shouting and joy and a parade, center in on Jesus' intimate relationship with his closest followers, devolve into extreme cruelty and miscarriage of justice, and finally result in the incredible surprise of an empty tomb and the challenge of following Jesus Christ beyond even the darkest of life's experiences.
For pastors, and maybe for some parishioners, as well, the week can be tiring. It calls upon clergy to find several different ways to express the events of this week in our faith's history.
For several years, back in the day, I and three clergy friends would take the Monday following Easter Sunday off to go to a wooded area to play laser-tag. It was refreshing...it got us away from the responsibilities we had just exercised to lead several worship services the week prior.
This year I will most likely take some time to refresh in ways more fitting a man in his middle sixties. Whatever choice I make, it will be on this side of Easter...a reason for doing something special if ever there was one!