Taking the Golf Clubs out of the Car...

First off, I don't own a car.  I own an SUV.  Secondly, I don't know what the name is for the storage area in an SUV.  In a car, its a trunk.  I still call the storage area of my vehicle a trunk...but maybe its more correctly the way-back.  My struggle with that whole storage area and type of vehicle was resolved by just giving this rant the title, "Taking the Golf Clubs out of the Car."

That's the model and color of vehicle I own. 

During much of the year...roughly April thru October...I keep my golf clubs in my SUV.  I only play golf, on average, once a week during this time but just having those clubs with me wherever I travel opens the possibility that I might find a way to sneak off and play 9 or 18 holes.

Those are not my golf clubs.  And that is not my golf bag.  My clubs are specially crafted for "senior" players...a different type of flex in the composite shaft, and maybe even a more forgiving "sweet spot" on the club-head.  (Trust me, I need all the age-appropriate help I can get with this crazy sport.)

My golf bag is quite old...and is close to needing replacement.  It also is blue and gold, and has Notre Dame logo on it.

This is what I will be giving up until about next April.  Sigh. 

The weather has turned cold here at the northern border of Southern Indiana.  Snow flurries are in the weather forecast.  It was 31 degrees outside when I woke up this morning.

Its just a seasonal thing, I guess...the clubs will be back in the Honda soon enough.  But it got me to wondering about all the things we set aside over a lifetime.

Activities...you can think of many that are abandoned as the aging body can no longer do what it used to do.

People...the ones that are left behind because of graduating from school, moving to a new place, getting a new job, divorce, death, a "falling-out."

Beliefs...about how the world operates, how life is constructed, what is "right" and what is "wrong," the role of religion and faith in the business of living day-to-day.  (I have said and written many, many times that, "There comes a time to stop believing the unbelievable.")

Memberships and Associations...with groups, organizations, and causes that once were important to you, but now are not. 

But golf.  Oh my, golf is about to be set aside for another winter...with the hope and expectation that it will be back in the spring.  There are some very important things in our lives that need to be seasonal.  They remain important in our lives exactly because they on-purpose show up again and again.

Sigh.

No Yankees in the Post-Season...

The regular major league baseball season has been over for a couple weeks now.  There's a new wrinkle in the Playoffs this time around, with five teams from each league (American and National) making it to the post-season. 

When the ten teams were finally known, I chose the Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates to face off in the World Series.  The Tigers are still alive and fighting for the American League Championship.  The Pirates took an early exit and are probably playing golf by now. 

But here's the shocker: The New York Yankees didn't make it to the post-season!  Usually, they do.  No such luck this year.  Wait til next year!  That's what my Chicago Cubs fan friends say every year. 

The Yankees will make it back to the post-season again.  Probably sooner than later.  And they will make it to the World Series again.  Sooner than later.  And they will win their 28th World Series Championship.  Yup...sooner than later.

But baseball really is more than just a game.  Its philosophy.  And hope.  And drama.  And theology.  And the promise of life eternal.  OK, maybe not that last one.  Maybe.

See what I mean:

"Its wonderful to meet so many friends that I didn't used to like."
"There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had many of them."
"You have to go broke three times to learn how to make a living."
(Those three quotes are from Casey Stengel...long-time manager of both the Yankees and the Mets.)

"We made too many wrong mistakes."
"The game isn't over until its over."
"You can observe a lot just by watching."
(And, those three quotes are from Yogi Berra...also a player and manger with both the Yankees and the Mets.)

"Its a great day for a ball game; let's play two!"
"You must try to generate happiness within yourself.  If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace."
(Those two are from Ernie Banks..."Mr. Cub.")

"Why does everyone talk about the past?  All that counts is tomorrow's game."
(From Roberto Clemente...great ball player; wonderful humanitarian.)

"It is dangerous for an athlete to believe his own publicity, good or bad."
(From Bob Uecker...average player but quite famous announcer.)

Like I said, baseball really is more than just a game.  Its philosophy.  And hope.  And drama.  And theology.  And the promise of life eternal.  OK, maybe not that last one.  Maybe.

Someplace Else...

I live in Bloomington.  A very nice and decent-sized town in what is just about the northern boundary of southern Indiana.

I grew up in Lydick.  A very small little burg just west of South Bend (and Notre Dame!), and just about a half-hour drive from the Michigan border.

I moved from Lydick to Los Angeles!  Yeah.  All that.

Just shy of five years after moving to L.A. I moved to Indianapolis.  Between Indianapolis and Bloomington, I have lived in Jeffersonville (on the Ohio River just across that river from Louisville), Indianapolis again, Greencastle (about an hour drive due west of Indy...home of DePauw University), Indianapolis one more time, Vincennes (the oldest city in Indiana...right on the border with Illinois), Avon (a fast-growing suburb on Indy's west side...in a neighboring county)...and, as I stated above: (Now) I live in Bloomington.

I think in all those places (with perhaps one exception) I have felt "at home."  I moved from Indianapolis the first time...and all subsequent moves...because of my job.  I think in all those places (with perhaps one exception) I liked my job.

I have, from time to time, wished I was someplace else.  Ft. Myers Beach, Florida comes to mind.  And the southwestern part of our country...maybe New Mexico or Arizona.  The only place I have previously lived that I have thought I might like to go back to is L.A.  I have returned to Indianapolis often...as the above itinerary shows...maybe back there.  Maybe.

The great Yogi Berra once said: "If you don't know where you're going, you might wind up someplace else."

Trouble is that someplace else is always someplace else.

Kinda like wishing to be in sometime else. 

Or maybe like wishing to be someone else.

Being comfortable with when and where and who you are is a really big deal, don't you think?

Still, the sun and sand of Ft. Myers Beach is very inviting.

Nonsense

Being serious all the time is a real drag.
I can't imagine what it would be like to never just do or think something nonsensical...can you?

And so...just because I can:

~You non-conformists are all the same.

~I know it sounds like I'm in denial.  But I'm not.

~Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.  -Albert Einstein

~Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited.  -Santayana

~Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.       -Albert Einstein

~When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it.    -Yogi Berra

~The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.        -Carl Jung

~Always remember, money isn't everything - but always remember to make a lot of it before talking such fool nonsense.     -Earl Wilson

~The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense.
 -Vladimir Nabokov

~The world is nonsense: what looks beautiful in the morning looks ugly in the evening.    -Maltese Proverb

And finally...just so I can feel good about posting this blog, and you can feel good about reading it...

~To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life.  -Gelett Burgess

War and Peace (not the book)...

If you are my age (68) or thereabouts, you probably remember the song by Edwin Starr that contained this lyric:
"War! What is it good for?  Absolutely nothin'."

Great song.  Easy to see why the lyrics spoke to a generation of young people ready for the war in Vietnam to be over and done with.  Surely singing about no more war is much easier than actually putting an end to war.

However, given our nation's involvement in a couple of continuing wars...that seem to have been going on...like, forever...peace-in-place-of-war seems as urgent today as it did in 1970 (when Starr's record was released).

There are no doubt many reasons for war.  I would guess that most of those reasons are just silliness...and vengeance...and aggression...and nastiness.  There may be a time and a situation when war is none of those things.  There may be.  But then again...

Peace must really be hard to achieve.  We achieve is so seldom.  Oh, we achieve an end to hostilities, but achieving peace is a whole other thing.  And it must be really hard to achieve.  Maybe war is easier.

I wish war wasn't so easily resorted to by peoples and nations.  I wish peace was pursued as vigorously as war...I doubt that it is.

I remember Jimmy Carter saying that, "War may sometimes be a necessary evil.  But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good."

And, the very next time our country is ready to do the easy thing, instead of the hard thing...I hope somebody plants this sign smack in front of the place where such decisions are made...

What is the Proper Use of The Holy Bible?

As often as not, the book known as the Bible, is labeled The Holy Bible.  That's a pretty big set-up for a book. 
Look up the word "holy" and you will find something like this: "Specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority...dedicated or devoted to the service of God."
And since it is the Bible, it is clear that this Holy book is about a particular understanding of God. 

What is the intended...the proper use of The Holy Bible?

Maybe it is as an award given to children for memorizing certain Bible verses, or for completing Confirmation Class.

Maybe it is as a convenient place to record important family events...births, deaths, marriages, etc.

Maybe it is as a resource for those who put together sermons or other religious presentations.

Maybe it is as an authority to quote (or mis-quote) in the heat of an argument.

Maybe it is as a devotional book for personal use.

Maybe it is as an easy reference for too often uninformed politicians wanting to endear themselves to folks they think are drawn to a particular slant on the information contained in the over 60 individual books that have become the compiled work known as The Holy Bible.

Well, that a pretty harsh view of The Holy Bible.  But there is a whole lotta truth that ought not be missed in the words under the picture.

What would be the proper use of this book?

Probably there are millions of answers to that question.  Probably suggesting just one is very suspect.

So let me answer with this...an answer that seems right to me:
It is a great starting place to learn of many attempts over hundreds of years by scores of individuals to understand and act on the relationship of humankind to its creator...its source...its ultimate end.

And then...put the book down and start acting on your own understanding of your relationship to God and all of God's creatures and creation.

 

And life goes on.

Always Drink Upstream from the Herd (And other Farmer Truths)...

 

 

These days, most of us have no first-hand knowledge about farming; maybe a little gardening, but not full-out farming.  I did not grow up on a farm.  My father was pretty clear on the fact that my brother and I would be responsible for the cultivating and weeding of a good-sized garden plot out behind our house, but that does not qualify me as a farmer of any sort.

However, having grown up in Indiana, I have been aware of the farmer-truth that if you want a good yield of corn, it should be “knee-high by the fourth of July.”  You don’t question that kind of knowledge, you just abide by it.

 

Just as you don’t question the wisdom of these farmer-truths, you just abide by them:
-Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- A bumble bee is faster than a tractor.

 

In a story about farming, Jesus said this, to those who would listen:
“A farmer went out to sow seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn’t have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop.
“…the seed in the good earth—these are the good-hearts who seize the Word and hold fast no matter what, sticking with it until there’s a harvest.”

 

Here’s a truth…to be learned whether one is a farmer or not…from what Jesus said:

-The “Good-Hearts” are the folks you want to be like.  (He didn’t say this, but if he had it wouldn’t be out of character from what we think we know about him: “You don’t question great truths, you just abide by them.”)

The good-hearts are women and men who hold fast to the truth about God… 
…through thick and thin;
…through good times and bad times;
…through prosperity and adversity;
…come rain or shine;
…come hell or high water.
…the good-hearts hold fast to the truth that nothing in all creation can come between them and God’s love for them.

The good-hearts are women and men who keep themselves open to all the times and places where the truth about God may be found.
…who hold fast to what Jesus is offering to each and all of us.
…who hold fast to the truth that our value is more in our “being” than it is in our “doing.”
…who hold fast to the truth that we are absolutely worthy of God’s love.
…who hold fast to the possibility that we may not get everything we want, but life will be alright anyway.
…who hold fast to the truth that love of God and love of neighbor is the basis for any true spiritual discipline.

 

 

Perhaps God comes to us disguised as “our next moment.”

And in that next moment we can choose to be the Good-Hearts, holding fast to the truth about God until the harvest comes in.

 

And here are two more farmer-truths:
- When you wallow with the pigs, expect to get dirty.
- Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.