That Grand Old Game

I met my first love when I was only 5. Not sure how it happened. We literally happened upon each other with neither expecting "this would be the one". Nothing in life has been the same since then.





Now I'm getting to watch my oldest son fall for her too. Not sure (again) how it has happened but oh the pull on this father's heart watching it unfold. Her name is baseball and the love affair is stronger than ever.





Basketball was my ticket. It got me noticed, got me educated, got me in shape, and got me friends I still treasure today. I don't play it anymore though. I don't watch it on tv and I don't care much for it to tell you the truth. It's baseball I've longed to teach my sons. It's baseball I change clothes after work to play with my sons. It's baseball that we update each other on, laugh about and replay at the kitchen table daily. I love this game and so do they.





Benjamin is my oldest son. He's 9. Great kid. He has a purer heart at 9 than I did when I was half his age. He guards his eyes and his ears militantly. He questions me openly and often with "Dad, is that song appropriate (Shift Work by Kenney Chesney being the latest one I've been called to the carpet on)?" He's not had much to do with life outside of our home the first 9 years on earth and that has been very, very intentionally so. He's getting ready though to begin some forays into the world. This new love of his is turning out to be providing one of those first out of home and out of yard experiences for him.





For the last two years I've been introducing him slowly and deliberately to my first love. He's taken her by the hand, walked alone a bit with her, and has reassuringly looked over his shoulder back at me as if to say, "you're right. She's a cutie." The boy loves baseball. Our only exposure other than the yard has been 3 Atlanta Braves games over the last two seasons. All of that changed yesterday though.





We went to a local UMC simply to see a friend play in a starter's baseball league. A day before going we were told that this friend's older brother's team was short players due to a list of broken arms and body parts that I don't exactly remember the specifics of. While at the game we intended to watch, I got to talking with the league commissioner. She's a nice lady and since she was wearing a GA Tech pullover I knew she was of the good sort for sure.





She told me they did need additional players for this team in their "Major League" division. The ages of the kids in that league are 10-12. My Benja's is only 9. What she was suggesting was a stretch for me for sure and I assumed for Benjamin too. She also said the coach quit the night before on the eve of their first game which was later this same day. Boldly, she asked me if I could coach. It all happened so fast I'm not sure what came next. It's a blur really. I could make something up but I'll just jump ahead 6 hours into the future......





Benjamin Browne is on the Red Sox of the Grayson 1st UMC Major League Division, playing with kids older than him, playing at least as well and in all but one or two cases better than the kids older than him, and his Dad (when not traveling for work) is now a coach. His dad actually had to pitch to his team during the game too as that is the way the Methodists do it apparently. There were highlights (Benjamin's single with the bases loaded driving in 2) and lowlights (Dad beaming Benjamin in the back with the bases loaded and 2 outs on the 5th pitch of an at bat that only allowed, you guessed it, 5 pitches. My bad Benja. My bad.) but at the end of the day this love affair between dad and game, son and game and dad and son was cemented forever.





Let the picture show the boy has a pretty good stroke. Let the picture not show the Dad that beamed his own son in the back two at bats earlier.





Welcome to this love story Benjamin. I pray it lasts a lifetime for you as it has for me!

It's In the Bible You Know!

Overheard today at my son's martial arts studio between a dad of one child and a mom of another...both are very outspoken Christians.

Mom: "Yeah and the Mormons got their own problems too. That whole celestial marriage thing is just weird."

Dad: "I'll you what, they got some learning to do. The Bible clearly says '...till death do you part' and not a minute further."

Hmmmm. Lots going on here. Celestial marriage meaning, I think, that a Mormon couple is married in this life and in the life to come. I don't think so but I would not go far as to quote from the Bible that "till death do you part" is anywhere in the canon of scripture.

I laughed almost out loud at them but then I kinda thought about myself and how I probably have done the same thing before...but I sure hope not!

I Am Progressively Conservative...or Possibly Conservatively Progressive...

To tell you the truth I really don't know what I am or what you are or what anybody is anymore. I come from a heritage that wore out, reworded, and unwound all the meaning from the above terms. Progressive or Conservative used to be a nice label we hung on folks who clapped hands in worship (the P's) or thought of others outside of our tradition as "being of a different faith" (that'd be the C's) at best and flat out "going to hell" at worst (those were the ultra C's...a term we won't even get into here).

I remember a very uncomfortable Christmas season about ten years ago. I was in grad school so I was thinking in a mode and pattern that were uniquely grad-school-ish. I was spending time with a friend of the family I was visiting and kept hearing him wail on "liberals" and their desire "to change everything" and "take over the church". I heard liberal and thought of some non Bible believing theological professors I was reading at the time. I was thinking of Exetentionalists and Post Mods gone awry. What was meant though was the good ole tried and true "progressives" in our own heritage's movement. It was about 10 minutes later that I kinda woke up and realized I was likely one of those that this guy was spewing filth about. I realized that and decided not to elaborate any further on the topic we were openly discussing earlier. There was no use. This guy was right and that settled that.

Once again the terms "progressive" and "liberal" just seem way too fuzzy for me to use or understand when others use it with any high level of confidence or certain degree of exactness.

I was talking last night with a man of my parent's generation. We've known each other for years but have recently reengaged each other after we've both been through some very formative spiritual awakenings in our recent pasts. He kept using this term too (conservative this time). Unlike the guy mentioned above, as a result of knowing him and where he's come from, I think I could locate what he meant pretty easily but again his definition of progressive fell more into a category of what I would call mainstream. It's just not a word that says much to most people anymore. We gotta be more exact I think.

To get really personal I found myself last night driving home reflecting on me. Am I progressive or conservative? Depending on the topic, I think I am both.

Does a progressive person clap hands in church, raise hands, prefer instrumental music (big issue in my heritage...a very much non issue in the rest of the Kingdom it seems), embrace all Christ seekers, not feel it a sin to not be at church every time the doors are open, read from alternative interpretations of the Bible, believe the Bible mandates what is healthy living and eating as well as speak about human's enviornmental responsibilities? If so, then I am progressive.

Does a conservative person not watch rated R movies, allow his young kids to read sci fi/witch craft/fantasy novels believing they are "dark" and a threat to God's light, not celebrate Halloween, intentionally home school, home birth, and home church, believe the Bible has something to say about finances, and call people far, far, far more conservative than myself brothers and sisters? If so, I'm a conservative.

I guess I'm failing to see the logic or the reason in using labels. Labels also vary from person to person. That's another reason I don't prefer them. I'm just never really sure what you or she or they mean by them. Therefore, I just won't use them.

What's the point here? Well, I think we need a new venacular for one thing. Terms change. Definitions change too (don't they?). I know that limits of what we refer to something as change as well. So, let's use language that more clearly describes what we are trying to describe.

The other point is just to say what you mean. Don't refer to a hand raiser as a progressive. Refer to him as a hand raiser. Don't speak of a person who loves Fannie J. Crosby songs and only FJC songs as conservative. Just call them a fan of Fannie J!

That won't cure everything but it will sure will help me understand what in the world you're talking about!

Enough about travel stuff...

My head is hurting from the details of last weekend. Let's move on with a few random observations from Rob...

• Writing about your mom on your blog generates MAJOR traffic. I've been linked to and contacted more about this than anything I ever write about myself. Note to self: write more about Mom!
• When we landed in Atlanta last Tuesday evening, my son Nate set foot on the ground in the U.S. during the month of July for the first time in his life. He's never been, in 5 Julys, in the U.S. one single day. Pretty neat, eh?
• I know of a guy in Novosibirsk who makes $300 a month as an electrician. He is selling his apartment, which is in a primo location in the center of the city and was given to him 20 years ago by the state, to some friends of ours for...get this...$600,000. Real Estate, for now, is a great, great investment in Russia.
• Man vs. Wild is the best TV show of the last 5 years in my book. It alone makes having cable worth the overpriced price.
• I have been on the road for 47% of my 2 month old daughter's life. She was born on May 24 and I was gone just about a month so obviously the numbers are a bit skewed. As each day goes by I gain a few % points.

Nothing deep. Just some casual observations this Sunday night from east of Atlanta.

What If...

Just kinda thinking out loud today about...

• I often ask team members and co-workers to think about what our organization and teams would be like if everyone on them had their (or my) attitude and gave their (or my) effort. Would they be better? Worse? The same? What if everyone in my church had my attitude towards...the homeless...orphans...other believers...lost non-believers...seeking non-believers...malcontent believers...and on and on. Would anything ever get done? Would anything change? I'm nearly afraid to know.

• I've rubbed shoulders recently with folks who don't think like I think. They seem to have arrived, through sincere seeking and struggle, at a "stance on stuff" (that's a theological term I learned in grad school way back when) that I honestly feel I've escaped from. They're passionate though. That's for sure. They're sincere too. They've studied it out as well. This is not a lightly regarded landing place for them. It reminds me again that the greatest question in the realm of issues and stances for me is not where you/I land or what you/I think but what will you/I do with the other Christ lovers and Christ seekers who have worked out with fear and trembling their own answers just to find that you/we don't end up seeing things the same way? May grace abound.

• My wife is posing some of the most thought provoking questions I'm dealing with right now. Why is that? I'll credit it to two main things (among many). First, she is constantly in the Word and prayer. It just where she lives. She truly has no time for anything that is trivial or mindless (though I give her plenty of chances). Secondly, she is daily knee and heart deep into home schooling 3 boys. The oldest, he's 8, is a real thinker. What, when, where, how, and why are just the tip of the iceberg for him. I think he stirs her thoughts which helps her stir mine. Thank you God for Traci.

• We're just days away from the birth of our fourth child. I remember just after Benjamin was born. We were flying from Dallas to Atlanta after going to some dear friend's wedding. A guy sitting beside us on the plane saw how happy we were with our little guy. He said he had 4 and loved them dearly. I sat there and thought, "Four kids? How in the world? What does he do for a living? How can he be on a plane when his wife it at home with 4 kids?" 8 years later here I stand on the brink of my own #4. "How in the world can he" has turned into "anywhere in the world will we." "What does he do for a living" has been recast as "Wow is God ever a great provider!" and I've spent more time on planes the last 6 months than I ever thought I would in any 5 year period back when we were flying together back from that wedding. Be careful what you gawk at because it in you just might find yourself one day.

Reflecting...a dangerous past time for a guy like me...

I'm Back and I'm Serious This Time

After I finally figured out the Blogspot to Google transition had to happen before I could post again, I'm finally back.

I've realized recently, amid the insanity of my life's pace, that less and less time has been given by me to reflection. My friend Wade says that "without disagreement nothing can be learned" and that is true. I say that without reflection I get old, boring and stale real quick. Wade's tag line is more flashy but I assure you mine is just as true.

For me blogging serves as a mode of reflection so get ready because I'z be about to start reflecting again!