Getting Loose

San Diego

Yeah, I know the hype, the press.  I have heard for years about how great and wonderful the San Diego weather was, etc. etc. etc.

Well you know what?  It's all true.  I was astonished.  There is the hugest contrast in weather between Los Angeles and SD, and there is even a greater contrast between SD and Houston.  On the days in SD that we were having trouble getting to 70, Houston was sweltering in the 90's.  In some ways it seemed like heaven on earth.  Plants were full bloom and had a luxuriant look to them.  Ate at a couple of excellent restaurants--Donovan's and Molly's.  Molly's is probably the only 4 diamond restaurant in which I have ever eaten.  It truly was superior.  But Donovan's was good, too.

As I had stated earlier we were in SD for the National Boy Scout meeting of the upper echelon people.  They really know how to put on a show.  The highest award that can be given for volunteer recognition is the Silver Buffalo.  It is given by a National Court of Honor.  It is so impressive to see what these people have done.  They truly have benefited young people through myriads of activities.

The Boy Scouts is an organization that helps to develop leadership in young men primarily, and girls after the age of 13, and to help them make ethical choices.  It is the largest such group in the United States, and they have poured a tremendous amount of energy into grasping that the real difference is what occurs at the local level--the Cubmaster, the Scoutmaster, the Advisor, etc. --in mentoring young people.

Disneyland

For 50 years I wanted to go. I was one of the Baby Boomers who was mesmerized with Annette Funicello, Cubby, Karen, Darlene, Tommy, et al. Religiously I would watch the black and white TV and wonder what it would be like to have been a Mousketeer. I so much wanted to go to Disneyland. But that far away dream was beyond my family’s grasp, or so I thought.

But this year, on the trip to Californi-ay I actually got to go to Disneyland. The thing I wanted to see the very most was the Sleeping Beauty Castle. That was the focus of the dreams, the wonders, the possibilities that I imagined as a kid. Of course I was influenced by the Disneyland tv show that would come on Sunday nights as well (but it debuted on Wednesday).

The park was well maintained, clean, and looks remarkably much like it did back in the 1950's. Fairy tales can come true.

L.A. Cont.

Another thing we got to see in L.A. was Beverly Hills. I thought the homes would be bigger and more spaced apart, but I was wrong. 

Also got to see the front of the house where they filmed the front exterior to the old Brady Bunch TV series.

We got to see the Grauman Chinese Theater and went to see Redbelt in a genuine THX theater. Unfortunately, Houston has none that I know of. The sound in a THX theater is incredible, and most other chains, looking at the bottom line install a bunch of woofers to blow you out of your seat during intense parts, but THX has a lot more of the discrete sound and separation that is amazing.

We saw Hollywood & Vine, and ate at Aroma's for a tasty lunch. However, the conversation of neighboring tables sent my eyes a rolling. I suppose there was someone quasi famous sitting next to us, but I am so clueless nowadays with who is on the inside or outside of the movie business that I heard one effete snob opine, "When Obama is elected . . ." I wanted to stand up and puke at his audacity. Of course he was wearing his Foster Grant's with his mobile out taking a call about every 8 minutes or so. It was amusing and disgusting to me. Those people are so out of touch with the rest of the world.

Now, don't get me wrong. Obama might indeed be elected, that is not the issue, it was his "moral certainty" tone in which he expressed it.

Contrast that scenario with another one I had in San Diego a couple of days later. I attended a National Boy Scout meeting for the muckety mucks of the movement. I was attending a lunch at the Hyatt Regency there and in walks this guy, thinner and taller than me, and asks if a particular seat next to me was taken (I had wrestled with sitting next to a federal judge, but fought that temptation and sat at another table).  I said, "No, come join us."

Well we got into a conversation and he wanted to know what I did with the Boy Scouts, and I humbly replied that I was on the Board of Directors for the Sam Houston Area Council.

I asked where did he live, and found out it was in San Antonio.  So I posited that perhaps he was on the local council's board?

Well, as a matter of fact , no . . . he was on the National Council.

The National Council? Are you kidding me? How did you rate that?

Well, he said he was on a plane ride and happened to be seated next to the former president of the Boy Scouts. The got into a conversation, and lo and behold, much to his surprise, the President called him a couple of weeks later and invited him to come join the national board. And he mentioned AT&T a couple of times.

I said, "Wow . . . that's quite a deal. You keep saying AT&T . . . do you work for them?

Well, as a matter of fact he did.

I asked him what he did.

He said that he was the chairman of the board.

I said, "You are the chairman of the Board of AT & T?" hardly believing my ears.

And replied that he was the very man.

I found out the next day that he was heading up the national celebration of the BSA for the year of 2010. I sought him out that day as well, and congratulated him on incredible service he was giving to the Boy Scouts. Now to me there is all the difference in the world between the humility of Randall Stephenson and the sycophants that populate so much of the Burbank/Hollywood area.

Hollywoodland

We came back a few days ago from Californi-ay.  It was my fourth visit to that state.  I was not really very sure what to expect.  What I did not expect was the realization that if it were not for water being pumped in, Los Angeles would practically be a desert. 

We visited with our middle son.  Saw a lot of sights.  We saw the "HOLLYWOOD" sign on the Hollywood Hills.  Those things are like 3-4 stories high.

Melancholia

Sometime, when you are sad, and just want to play a piece that evokes what you are feeling, try this one.

Building Blocks

The Rev. Dr. Lyle E. Schaller is one of the premier church consultants in America. I know he has written somewhere around 40 books and a number of articles. He is a man I have admired from afar for decades.

In one of his books he says that the crucial first step in planning is to admit that something needs to be done, and to be willing to do it . . . that people must recognize that past programs may not be adequate for future needs.

That is a remarkable statement for how it conceptualizes the truth in so few words. The church I serve in one of the Villages of Houston is in the process of examining this very issue—our past, our present, and where God is leading us for the future.

Our beliefs have pretty much been set in stone for centuries. By that I mean, there is no question that we believe in articles like:

• One God in three Persons

• That Christ was both fully human and fully divine

• The Resurrection of Christ

• The sufficiency of Holy Scriptures for salvation

• Original Sin

• Sacraments, etc.

Going beyond beliefs, though, we have finally hammered out a set of values by which we will make the journey in the days ahead as we self-assess and lean into God’s inspiration. Those values are:

• Prayer

• Worship

• Servant Leadership

• Proactive Response to Change

• Christian Education

• Outreach

We are now working on a Mission Statement. We’ll be able to put it on the front of a T-Shirt. We are making it 9 words or less. Stay tuned.

The Scruff of the Neck

Well, I went to the gymn last night. I usually try to go on Wednesday nights, but one of our sons was in town and I was helping him to move boxes. I was so tired and worn out from that, that I crashed in bed on Wednesday, so Thursday had to be my make-up day.

I can remember reading a column by Mouzon Biggs years ago when he was into jogging big time, that it never got easier for him—exercising, that is. You just had to have some discipline about it and do it. There is no way to store up your fitness. How nice it would be if there were! I almost always have to pick myself up by the psychological scruff of the neck and make myself go. I don’t wanna go. I’d rather stay at home and do any number of things. (Oh, let me tell you my wife’s favorite. I bought a SLR digital camera a while back, and still have never sat down to try to figure out how to use it: how lame is that?)

Anyway, I did my chin-ups (I can do 4 in a row now), my dips, push-ups/chest press, and I’m now doing sit-ups on an inclined plane that makes it harder. I can easily do 3 sets of 40, so I’m trying to challenge myself. I’m sure that I could do 80 sit-ups in 2 minutes the normal way. And then I go run.

Now unlike Ed Young who can skip rope and burn 100 calories/minute doing so, I can only burn about 17 calories a minute as I am cruising at 6.5 miles an hour. For me that is a tough pace to keep up. I’m good for maybe ¾ of a mile that speed, but then I got to rest for a while, though each time I after I rest (walking all the while), I then crank up the speed to a little higher until I fag out again.

Oh well, in my vocation it is often difficult to see a sense of accomplishment, but at least when I exercise, I can look back and know that I’ve gone through that grind and finished it one more time.

Pathway to Productivity

Penelope Trunk who has surely had her share of ups and downs has an interesting post today in which she writes about four pathways to productivity. Guess what one of the four is? That’s right! How perceptive. It is actually going to church! How is that, you may ask. It’s that girls who go to church regularly tend to work harder and are more optimistic. So boo on you people who don’t go to church: who wants to hang around a bunch of hopeless drips?

I Get By with a Little Help . . .

Man, I am a sucker for stories like these . . . especially if they are true. Tony Morgan (I think he’s like the head IT guy for New Spring Church) talked about this heartfelt story of human compassion. Thanks Tony for sharing!

The Broad Schemata of Christianity

There are always exceptions to generalizations; that is inherent in their nature. But I am going to paint some very broad brush strokes to which sharp people will find exceptions. But here goes . . .

In Christianity there are three major groups—Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant.

In the Protestant group, there are four main subsets—Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans, and the Radicals (not radical because they are out in left field, but rather radical because they went further in the reform of the church than did the other three Protestant groups).

The church I serve in the village comes from the Anglican subset. The Anglicans spawned the Episcopalians, the Methodists, the Salvation Army, and believe it or not, the Assembly of God and the Nazarenes.

Counting the four subsets of the Protestants, that make 6 major groups:

Orthodox

Catholics

Protestants

Lutherans

Reformed

Anglicans

Radicals

Enuf o’ dat.