I tried to go to church...

So, as a guy who doesn't have many Sundays off I was excited to be able to visit somewhere and see what they do and how they do it. Saturday evening I jumped online to start looking over my options. I started in the Nashville area, looked several over, decided which one I wanted to visit, looked at the map to see how far it was, went back to the church's website to check service times only to find that they had canceled services! I checked my #2 choice - canceled, #3 choice - canceled! So then I started checking locally, canceled! In their defense the roads are still very covered in snow / ice.

Plan B.

Ok, there are churches that stream their services. I'll try that and see what that feels like.

Sunday morning, sleeping late (don't get to do that often), planning on watching the 10:30 stream. Kevin wakes me up in a panic trying to get video on the front screens, we quickly figure it out and Heritage is good to go. Back to sleep.

I wake up in time for service, sure, I was a little late, but I got there. I checked Westover in Austin. No streaming today. Hmm, the website says that it streams the services, it lies. I head to Prestoncrest - bam - there is is, streaming church. You can only imagine my delight to find out that it's Budget Sunday! Joy, oh Joy. I can do a budget Sunday, but I can't do one that stops every few seconds while it buffers the video. Plus it doesn't pick up where it paused, it jumps ahead so you are hearing a few seconds, then skipping ahead a few seconds. Can't do this.

So, if I can't stream live I'll watch a service from the archive. Back to Westover, I'm now attending their 1/17 service. We sing together for a while, but I'm really hungry so I pause the video to start waffles in the toaster, hit play, listen for a while until the toaster pops. I find that I don't sing along very well with waffles in my mouth but a guy's gotta eat or die so I finish the waffles. Pause, rinse the waffle plate because nobody likes the smell of syrup when there are no waffles left over. I watch some more, Joann calls, I pause. We visit for a few minutes as she heads to lunch, then back to church. Communion was strange, not being there to have someone hand you a tray, not passing it to someone, not really Sharing The Lord. We move to the message, it's a good one. They are stressing "One More", that we need to constantly look for one more person to help, to feed, to bring into a relationship to Christ. It's a good thing. I even took notes! (The advantage of having a computer in front of you during church!). Two points that really hit home are:

• In the hopes of reaaching "one more" we will continue to look at change, in how we do things, in schedule, in all areas.
• Traditions can become the measure of how we judge others. We can't honor traditions above God.

I'll have to think on those for a while, we need to be willing to do the same to help "one more".

Church is over. Sure, I took another phone call or two during the service and opened a bag of socks. Surely that didn't distract me from the service? Distraction are so easy when it's just you and a computer. Well, I've tried the online church thing and it was indeed better than not doing anything, but it in no way comes near to what the real thing is. The smiles, the hugs, seeing others worship, watching God move in them, having someone hand you the communion tray, offering the body of Christ, sharing time with others, these are what make church work. These are the things I missed here in my hotel room.

Next Sunday should find me at my favorite place to be, Heritage. I'm looking forward to it.

John

A Close Shave...

Literally.

Those who follow my hair length carefully (and there are so many) know that I am not the type of guy that has a regularly scheduled haircut. I understand that there are those who do so with predictable regularity but that is just way too mainstream for me. It just takes way too much time and time is so valuable! It's much easier to get a haircut and then go as long as possible until the next shearing.

The current assignment came with little notice, I knew that I had a possible assignment a week ago Wednesday but it was still up in the air. Then Monday noon I got an email that stated I needed to be in Ft. Campbell that evening! Yikes! Pack 'em up, move 'em out rawhide.

So, here I am on a Saturday with nothing major to accomplish, thinking that it would be good to get my beard trimmed up a little to meet the big-wheels on base Monday. So off I go in search of a barber. Remember, I am a guy and would not be caught asking for directions. According to the gps the closest ProCuts is Nashville. That's out, bound to be a local place, the small town barber. I head down the main drag. It is THE main drag, there aren't really any other main roads in town. I cover about 10 miles, nothing. I turn around and head back the other way, nothing. I turn around again (at this point I'm kinda like cruising the strip). Then I spot it, the traditional red & white barber pole. Sweet. I go inside and it's a little confusing because there is a reception desk but nobody is there. Then a guy comes around the corner and waves me back into the next room. It is a typical, small town, African-American barber shop. (Sure, like I know what the typical one looks like.) Four chairs, two barbers giving two guys a haircut. Hmm, what we now have is a Texas white boy in a Tennessee African-American barber shop. Bet that doesn't happen every day.

My brain is rapidly sorting through the options: run, pretend I was looking for the TV repair shop, tell them I'm there to check their licenses, ask them where the traditional small town white guy barber shop is, or sit down and get a haircut. Since I don't have a broken TV with me I sit down. I notice that both guys getting a haircut have hair shorter than a burr. Seriously, compared to them my son Aaron would have long hair and he keeps it short enough for me to not be able to grab it. I'm studying the big poster on the wall showing all the different styles of haircuts that I might be able to get. I really like the one with the lines shaved in the sides of the head but I'm not sure I have the hair to pull it off. But if it makes me look thinner...

A new barber comes in, he looks somewhat surprised to see me. I'm not the customer he was expecting to start the day with. He walks around a little bit with no real purpose I think his brain is rapidly sorting through the options. Finally he puts his barber cape on and asks me what I need. I tell him that if he has a weed-eater handy I need to trim my beard up some. Ha laughs uproariously, (not), I sit in the chair, the two guys are still getting a haircut. I'm trying to figure out just what they are trimming as there is not really anything long enough to trim, I don't get it.

My guy starts on me, he is a trimming machine. The man has serious skills with a trimmer, it's going here, there, under, over, around, I have never had anyone take the amount of time that he took trimming my beard. When he pulled the cape off I asked him what I owed him. $5.00. It honestly seemed like too little for the amount of work he did so I gave him $10. One of the original two others getting a haircut is still in the chair, I'm still trying to figure just what he could possibly be trimming, is he working by the hour?

In the car I look in the rear-view mirror. Wow! I now have the most carefully carved beard that I have ever had in my life. There is a part of my upper lip showing that I haven't seem in over 30+ years, I have this thin line of a mustache on my lip with what feels like a four lane highway between it and my nose. I've never felt this before. I also notice that one side is trimmed shorter than the other, I briefly notice it and then go back to looking at the lip.

I'm not sure that I will go back to the "Fade to Glory" barber shop again. I'm not sure they would want me to come back. I did my best to find a barber, I was in need, I think that they did their best to fill my needs but I'm not sure that they were prepared for me as a customer. So it makes me wonder, just how do people feel when they leave our church service? They were looking for something, they had a need, they came to us. Did we shock them? Did they shock us? How different from us did they feel? Did we know what to do with them? Were we OK with the fact that they were different? Did they get what they were used to getting or was their lip showing way too much? Will they feel comfortable enough to come back?

I'm different as a result of the visit, still a little uncomfortable with the change but I'll get over it. In just a few days the mustache will be coming back in and soon the visual signs of that experience will be gone. That makes me wonder, how long do those who worship with us feel the effects? Will they be happy when it "grows back" or will they grow to like it.

I'm not sure.

So much for the close shave.

John

Friday Night in Ft. Campbell

So, some may ask "Why John, why are you in Ft. Campbell? or "What is Ft. Campbell?", or "Where is Ft. Campbell?". I'll answer. First, Ft. Campbell is an Army base, it is the home of the 101st Airborne a very storied and decorated group for sure. It sits on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky about 50 miles North of Nashville. Those are the easy answers. Now for the harder one.

Why? Bottom line, it's a job that pays the bills. It is a very rewarding, very fulfilling job and sadly it happens to require me to be out of town for now. I am doing Financial Counseling to Service-members and their families. Most soldiers have significant debt and our job is to help them learn how to spend less and save more (or maybe at least save something). The job entails training and presentations along with one-on-one counseling. Those who know Al Jameson will know that he has done a similar type of thing, just on the "touchy-feely" side. Ft. Campbell currently has 21 "touchy-feely" and 3 financial counselors, these are in addition to what the Army is providing in-house.

While this is not really where I would like to be this Friday night, I am thankful that I have a nice income stream to keep things like electricity. So, here I sit. By the way, it's snowing like crazy! It has been since about 3pm, won't be going far in the morning!