high time

Security is mostly a superstition.  It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.  Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.  Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.   -Helen Keller   

   

I decided it’s time to pursue publishing and do something about it.  I’ve talked about it, thought about it and dreamed about it.  I have done a fair share of research as well.

                 

But I have yet to do it.

                         

It’s high time to throw off the bow lines and set sail.  There is something to be said for preparation, I will agree.  For several years I was in sales and eventually lost my marbles and became a sales manager.  As a manager I have always maintained that preparation breeds confidence and confidence breeds action and action breeds success—I preached the doctrine of getting ready quite regularly to our sales team.

           

I remember when I was about to become the proud father of my eighteen year old daughter Rebecca and talking to my dad about it.  As I recall, I was telling him how I didn’t feel one-hundred percent ready and asking him what in the world to do about it.  The reality was that as the day of her arrival quickly approached I was as ready as I was going to be.  There are some things that we better be getting ready for (such as our own funeral) that we can’t very well put off—these occurences will happen with or without our approval.  And then there are other things that will never happen unless we step out and take a tangible step of faith.  James the brother of Jesus writes, Faith without works is dead.

                       

I was listening to the gifted speaker Barack Obama deliver a speech the other night and he repeated a question someone had recently asked him about why he had decided that now was the time to run for president.  Whether you agree with Obama’s politics or not, what he said was profound.  Borrowing a quote from the renowned Martin Luther King Jr., Obama said he, along with the rest of the nation, couldn’t afford to wait because of the fierce urgency of now.

                               

There is no time like the present—and there are some things that can’t wait any longer.

             

About a year ago now, a writer friend of mine passed along some excellent instructions on how to write a book proposal that he followed in getting his first book published.  At the time I thumbed through it, found it helpful and saved a copy in my email.  It looked good and seemed to make a lot of sense.  Being that the information was rather new to me, I also found it a bit interesting.  But I failed to do anything with it.   I suppose there are several reasons I didn’t act at the time (and some are legitimate), but if I am truthful I’d have to admit a couple of them were nothing more than carefully construed excuses.

               

The witty Mark Twain once said Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.   To which someone wisely added, it’s going anyways.  I have several regrets in life, and yet, not a one of them has much to do with what I have done (and I have done some not-so-good things).  What I’d change if it were possible, is those things I didn’t do because I was afraid of what others might think or not think.  What if I fall flat on my face?, I thought.  I was too pre-occupied with what launching out into the deep and choosing not to float through life might cost me. 

           

And that kind of thinking has cost me a ton.

           

A favorite verse of mine the last twenty years from Proverbs puts it this way, A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great.  The gift never opens any doors mind you; it’s the giving of the gift that makes our way.  I have enough written to fill a high school locker and now have six working titles which are currently doing nothing but getting dusty.  Not to mention that there are thirsty, hurting, confused, discouraged and lonely people who would benefit from my doing more than merely collecting these stories and insights for some rainy day—or worse yet, to have them be discarded and never be read.

Mom’s Day

I was thinking about my own mother this morning and it got me to thinking about some quotes I have run across over the years.  Where would we be without our mothers? 

Happy Mom’s Day to all the moms!

Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face. -George Eliot

If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you. -Unknown

Flowers have the sun, children have their mothers. -Kay Andrew

A wise mother gives her children two choices at mealtime: take it or leave it. -Unknown

Raising kids is part joy and part guerilla warfare. -Ed Asner

Mothers are not paid for their work because it is priceless! -Unknown

Most mothers hate four letter words, especially: cook, wash, iron and dust! -Unknown

A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces that she never did care for pie anyway. -Tenneva Jones

Time spent as a mother is never lost. -Unknown

The mother who spoils her child, fattens a serpent. -Spanish Proverb

A rich child often sits in a poor mother’s lap. -Danish Proverb

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me. I think she enjoyed it. -Mark Twain 

 

mighty fortress

 

A Mighty fortress is our God,
A trusty shield and weapon;
He helps us free from every need
That hath us now overtaken.
The Old evil foe
Now means deadly woe
Deep guile and great might
Are his dread arms in fight;
On earth is not his equal.

 

With might of ours can naught be done,
Soon were our loss effected;
But for us fights the valiant One,
Whom God himself elected.
Ask ye, Who is this?
Jesus Christ it is,
Of sabaoth Lord,
And there’s none other God;
He holds the field forever.

 

Though devils all the world should fill,
All eager to devour us,
We tremble not, we fear no ill,
They shall not overpower us.
This world’s prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will,
He can harm us none,
He’s judged; the deed is done’
On little world can fell him.

 

The Word they still shall let remain
Nor any thanks have for it;
He’s by our side upon the plain
With his good gifts and Spirit.
And take they our life,
Goods, fame, child, and wife,
Though these all be gone,
Our victory has been won;
The Kingdom ours remaineth.

 

-Lyrics by Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God 

                

never unloved

 

I have been unfaithful
I have been unworthy
I have been unrighteous
And I have been unmerciful

  

I have been unreachable
I have been unteachable
I have been unwilling
And I’ve been undesirable

And sometimes I have been unwise
I’ve been undone by what I’m unsure of
But because of you
And all that you went through
I know that I have never been unloved

I have been unbroken
I have been unmended
I have been uneasy
And I’ve been unapprochable

I’ve been unemotional
I’ve been unexceptional
I’ve been undecided
And I have been unqualified

Unaware – I have been unfair
I’ve been unfit for blessings from above
But even I can see
The sacrifice You made for me
To show that I have never been unloved…

-Lyrics by Michael W. Smith ( Never Been Unloved)

a prayer—to Whom I may not give

Behold, Lord
   An empty vessel that needs
      to be filled.
   My Lord, fill it
   I am weak in the faith;
   Strengthen me.
   I am cold in love;
   Warm me and make me fervent,
   That my love may go out
      to my neighbor…
   O Lord, help me.
   Strengthen my faith and
      trust in you…
   With me, there is an
      abundance of sin;
   In You is the fullness of
      righteousness.
   Therefore I will remain
      with You,
   Whom I can receive,
   But to Whom I may not give. 

-Martin Luther, revolutionary
  

your bottom is when you stop digging

                                                                                                                                          

Say what you will about Darren McCarty of the Detroit Red Wings and his comeback to the NHL—and his multiple marriage woes, his financial troubles including a bankruptcy, his alcohol-abuse and the related problems associated with that, his well documented gambling issues, and his countless character flaws.

Hey—the guy has been to re-hab more times over the last decade than I have frequented the local super-market in the same span of time.

McCarty scored the first goal in a first-round playoff game against Nashville just over a week ago (April 12th) in an afternoon matinee over at the Joe Louis Arena here in town. The goal came in his first playoff game back with his old team and it just happened to come on his first shift on the ice—it would be his first goal since the 2006 Playoffs while playing with the Calgary Flames.  His last goal with the Red Wings was six years ago during the 2002 Western Conference Finals against the Colorado Avalanche. 

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said after the 4-2 victory, You can’t help but cheer for people that are trying to get their life back on track, especially when a guy has worked as hard as he has and has been one of the favorite sons here in Detroit.  McCarty’s take, What can I say?  People, from my opening night, have been something. Those moments you definitely cherish. I cherish that one. It’s great to be on this team, it’s great to play, it’s great to chip in.

I’m blessed, McCarty added—To realize that and have an appreciation for that, it makes me know that I’m on the right track.

Darren McCarty is 36 years old—or young—and he has traveled a few miles in the fast-lane all to have landed him on skid-row so to speak.  But somehow—like a puck tossed about the ice—he has bounced back.  A guy like this should be commended somehow for his courage to comeback in the face of so much criticism for his countless personal failings and the demons he must face every day.

He has no front teeth after all—well, maybe one.

The muck-it-up player he personifies reflects the type of person those who know him say he is off the ice as well. Stubborn I’m thinking—and can I relate. He’s scrappy to put it nicely, and like he does on skates—he’s gotten up after being knocked down again and again by the hits he’s taken from others–and from himself mostly. It’s easy to root for a guy when he gets back up, but how many of us never did pile on him when he was down? We like to feel better about ourselves by looking down over our noses at others—and this guy was the perfect target. I have to imagine there are those who are thinking Just wait.

A couple months ago when the local paper started whispering about his possible comeback and then as the whispers started to become more like a voice—he was working out here in town and his good friend and former team-mate Kris Draper was helping to pave his way back to the bigs—I ran across an article in which McCarty told about his brushes with disaster and the fall-out he had to deal with. In the article he re-told about a counselor’s words to him during one of his re-lapse and subsequent recovery stints and what the words meant to him.

As McCarty recalls, the words were profound.

The counselor told McCarty—Your bottom is when you stop digging.

I sure hope Darren has hit his bottom.