Forward Motion

 

 

 

"Swift and resolute action leads to success; self-doubt is a prelude to disaster.” Joseph Addison

The word maybe might be the most allusive word in the entire English vernacular. Just saying the word tends to evoke doubt, instead of a straight answer it leaves the outcome to chance. 

Here’s a few examples:

-Maybe, due to times being so hard, I’ll lose my job?

-Maybe sometime soon I will get my act together?

-Maybe it was someone else’s fault?

-Maybe I should exercise more and eat healthier?

-Maybe I will finally catch a break and things will go my way?

-Maybe I should stop complaining so much and enjoy life more?

-Maybe today I will pull myself out of my funk?

-Maybe I will start taking responsibility for my actions?

The last question reminds me of a young man named Raymond, who I used to work with when I made sausage years ago.  One day while he was mixing a five hundred pound batch of sausage I saw a bag of seasoning standing directly behind him that he had neglected to add.  When I asked him if he had forgotten something, he shrugged his shoulders and sheepishly said, maybe?  His non-committal response only made me want to dump the seasoning on him.

That got me to thinking that instead of maybe living we should be exhibiting some forward motion. For examples, Columbus took a chance and discovered an entire new continent.  Peter used forward motion when he obeyed Jesus by getting out of the boat and walking on the water.  Moses, with God’s help, parted the Red Sea and then walked to the other side.  Abraham Lincoln was actively applying forward motion when he helped free the slaves.

 Even the fictional character, the Winter Warlock, in Santa Claus is coming to Town, put one foot in front of the other and switched from being bad to good.  And let’s not forget the one cut and run philosophy in football that Mike Shanahan invented that forces the running back to make up his mind and move forward gaining positive yardage.

There is a fine line between properly waiting and then there is hesitation fueled by doubt.   No one wants to be a fool and rush in where angels fear to tread.  On the other hand, no one wants to miss out on doing something significant with their life because they were afraid.

Forward motion simply sees an obstacle as part of the course and then scales over it.

Swavel

Favorite Neighbor

A good neighbor is someone who makes you feel welcome at all times.

Undoubtedly, Kass Detweiler is who Mr. Rogers had in mind when he said, “won’t you be my neighbor?”  To make a long story short, allow me to introduce you to my favorite neighbor.

Here are the basic facts:

Kass Detweiler and her husband, Al, have twelve children.  Three were born to her, nine were adopted.  Kass was a Pastor’s wife in a church in Allentown and then they moved to Boyertown where she now resides as my landlord for the last twelve years.  She and Al we instrumental in founding Spruce Lake Wilderness Camp in Canadensis, PA, a Christian retreat center.  Kass and Al were married over fifty years when Al changed his address to Heaven in 2005.  Kass loves the yard mowed once a week and I believe in Heaven, her yard will look immaculate. 

Here are a few stories:

Kass is a giver.  Often when I call Kass on the phone, it is to ask for eggs or milk or sugar or soy sauce or lawnmower money.  Whatever it is, this is how I start the conversation: “Hey Kass, this is your favorite neighbor.”  She always laughs, “So I hear, how I may help you?”

Kass doesn’t sugarcoat the truth.   When I was about four, I used to live next to Kass and Al, but I don’t remember much about it.  However once out of the blue, Kass clued me in on how I was as a kid. She said that I was a snotty nosed kid who was always wiping my nose.  Just Kass calling it the way she sees it. 

Kass treats my kids like her kids.  All my kids have had or still do have their picture on her bulletin board in her house where her family pictures hang.  This reminds me of the time my wife and I took Kass to our son’s high school graduation, where he was salutatorian.  After his moving speech, Kass, who was sitting next to me in the audience, turned to me and not so quietly said something like this, “I couldn’t hear a thing,” she said, “but I’m sure it was great.”  That night Kass taught me how just being there for someone is the best way to show you truly care.

No one can pray like Kass.   In June of 2012, we were in China and were adopting our youngest daughter.  However, we were having a tough time adapting to the time zone, culture, and just feeling lost.  Not to mention, the threat of a typhoon right as we were about to leave.  So, we called Kass in the middle of the night more than once and she prayed with all heart.  I swear that Kass Detweiler has a direct line to God and that He takes what she has to say into consideration.  No one else I know can use the word “crappy” in a prayer and get away with it. 

Kass is full of wisdom.  She once told me a story in regard to dying.  “Just like a parent has to call a child in from playing so he can eat supper, God the Father is not being ugly when you die and He calls us home.”  As she would say, like only Kass can, “It’s just time to come in.”

Here is the conclusion:

One day I believe that our kind and generous heavenly Father will bring us together once again.  And off in the distance I will hear, like only Kass Detweiler can exclaim, "Look who it is, it’s my favorite neighbor, how may I help you?"

To be a favorite neighbor, one must act the part.

Swavel

Kill the Bum

 

A game official puts his shirt on just like you and I; however, we are the ones who chose whether or not it has a bull’s eye on it.

Back in the day, when a questionable call would occur at a sporting event, you could often hear a certain refrain.  It would belong to an unhappy patron yelling kill the bum.   This universal obsession to blame the man in blue or zebra stripes seems to be prevalent in every sport and in every era.

Here are four options to entertain, instead of just yelling kill the bum:

1 Take personal responsibility.

During the World Cup of Soccer this year, I remember hearing on the radio that the Mexican coach was blaming the referee for their loss.  Unfortunately for him, from what I could gather, their poor play was what truly led to their defeat. 

Of course, the calls going against them made it more difficult to succeed, but good teams use adversity to fuel them.  A fellow softball coach once told me that if you lose a game due to bad call, you should have never left the game get that close in the first place.  Fate is not always kind. 

2 Don’t throw a fit.

A perfect example of how not to respond to an umpire’s bad call has got to be baseball’s famous pine tar incident.  The image of a ballistic George Brett as he came charging out of the dugout to confront the head umpire for having too much pine tar on his bat, is unforgettable.  Needless to say, the above picture aptly conveys that he certainly was feeling like killing the bum because the call had ultimately cost his team the game.

Eventually, his team, the Royals would win the game when they replayed the inning weeks later. However, that visual still stays with me as a testament that you can be right and still be in the wrong, if you lose your temper.

3 Try putting yourself in their shoes. 

A few years ago, during an NFL game, the Seahawks trailed the Packers by five points with seconds to go and twenty five yards to go for a score.    The Seahawks’ quarterback heaved a desperation pass into a group of players and it appeared that a Packers’ defender had intercepted the pass.  However, after the Packer fell to the ground a Seahawk player, grabbed onto the ball. One referee called it a touchdown and one referee called it an interception.  After a lengthy review the play stood and fans everywhere couldn’t believe what they had just seen.

The play has been dubbed the Fail Mary, because of how badly the referees blew the call.  However, the real story was that the poor referees doing the game were just replacements filling in for the real ones who were on strike.  In essence, these referees were doomed to fail sooner or later.  They had no professional experience doing mostly high school and lower level college games and were in way over their heads.  Frankly, anyone of us could have made the same poor call, if we had been in their shoes.

4 Be the bigger man.

Speaking of big men, BJ Raji, a 300 plus pound defensive player for the losing Packers appropriately summed up his feelings about the famed Fail Mary play.  He said this, “right now it’s a tough pill to swallow, but we’ll get over it.”

Sadly, I must confess that as teen I chose far too often to act like a raving lunatic when playing sports and the calls went against me. Consequently, somewhere in my adult years I discovered that being right doesn’t give me the right to act like a spoiled brat.  Over time, I also discovered that regardless of what the referee or umpire called that he was a human being too and tried accordingly to treat him as such.

Ask yourself this: if your child were old enough to officiate would you like someone to scream kill the bum at him?

 Swavel

By George

 

May we never forget America’s Independence wasn’t free; it cost many all the bravery they could muster.

This time of the year got me to thinking about the phrase home of the brave.  Of course, that comes from the last words in our National Anthem, in which the author was referring to America.   And we need look no further for someone who  best epitomizes true bravery than the example  set by George Washington.

Here are the givens regarding George Washington.   He was First President of our proud nation. He led the Crossing of the Delaware in the Revolutionary War. His wife’s name was Martha. And as a child, he chopped down a cherry tree which sadly was just an old wives’ tale.

Although, before one can be great there is a lot that goes into building that character. Strange thing about George Washington is that things didn’t always seem to go his way. 

While our First President reportedly stood 6’ 3  1/2”  tall, he was not traditionally regarded as being overly attractive.  It has been said that his facial appearance had been scarred as a result of small pox during his teen years and this apparently seemed to make his relationships with the opposite sex difficult.  Twice, women he proposed marriage to rejected his offer.  On top of that, his father passed away when he was eleven and he seemingly was raised by a domineering mother. 

Let this be a lesson to us all; appearances can be deceiving.  Although, the beginning of his story was difficult, George did not allow this to define his character and the man who he was becoming.

For example, nothing more embodies Washington’s bravery than when he was a young officer fighting in the French and Indian War.  It was July 9^th, 1755 when he quite frankly should have not survived, in a war which pitted the British against the French. Under the leadership of General Braddock, one of England’s most experienced officers, they went to battle seeking to forcibly evict the French from Fort Duquesne, which now is Pittsburgh, Pa.  However, the French, along with their allies the Indians were lying in wait for them in a heavily wooded ravine.

General Braddock’s plan of attack was the European approach in which the soldiers march in columns while staying in the open, never retreating.  Despite George’s warning, Braddock  refused to considering any other tactic than what worked in the past. Unfortunately, the British in their bright red coats were easy targets for the French and Indians who were hiding behind trees and rocks.   It was quite literally a massacre. 

After only hours,  more than half of the 1300 men were dead, Braddock among them.  On the contrary, only thirty or so of the French and Indians suffered fatalities.  Yet, somehow, by George, our first President survived.    History tells us that his coat had four bullet holes in it and that two horses were shot out from under him, yet he refused to retreat.

This, in his own words, is how he described his miraculous escape from death.  “ By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation.” In my opinion, using modern terms, he was claiming God had protected Him.  The Indians agreed, in principle. 

 

Years later, Indian soldiers swore that they had singled out Washington to kill him, but each time they fired at him they mysteriously missed.  The Indians sincerely believed that  an Invisible Power was watching over Washington.

 

The Father of our Nation was quite a man. Certainly when it comes to true examples of bravery, you need look no further that the example set by George.   

Bravery, unlike bragging, allows its actions to speak for itself.

Swavel