Guadalupe

One of my favorite artists that nobody has ever heard of is Tom Russell. He just released his latest album called "Blood and Candle Smoke." It contains a great song he wrote named Guadalupe. It's the story of how he (a non-believer) found himself at the shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. Below is a youtube clip of Russell singing the song a while back. It's also been recorded by Gretchen Peters.





Russell wrote a blog post with some background on his writing of the song. You can read that here. A warning for the easily offended. Russell is not a believer anymore, so don't go expecting any orthodox opinions. But I do think it shows the power of this Shrine even to a non-believer like him. Plus, I think it's a great song.

An update and the future

I think I'm going to let this blog go dormant for a while. Before I do, though, there are a few things I need to talk about.

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for the good advice I've gotten on here. I started this blog to discuss issues I was having regarding religion and the church and where I need to go from here. Part of me worried that nobody would ever read it and I'd get no responses while another part of me feared what those responses would actually be like. I shouldn't have worried about either scenario. There have actually been people interested and I've been overwhelmingly pleased by the feedback I've received. I very much appreciate all the comments, advice, and most of all the prayers. (If anyone has happened onto this blog by accident and doesn't know what the heck I'm talking about, see the posts on the right side of the blog under the heading "My Religion Story.") Things on the church front are kind of at a standstill right now, but I have hopes that changes might start happening this fall. If they do, I'll be sure to start posting again.

Secondly, I posted a request for prayers in regards to a job opening a few months ago. Thanks so much for everyone who prayed for me. I got the job. I'd appreciate prayers that I do it well. It's a big job and a great opportunity, but very challenging.

I've been deliberately vague about my real name, but the more I think about that, it just seems I'm being silly. Anyone who knows me who happened across this blog really wouldn't have had a hard time figuring out who I was. My name is Mike and if you care to reach me on facebook you can go here. If you send me a friend request, though, just let me know you came from my blog in case I don't recognize the name. I'm also on twitter if you wish to follow me there.

Anyway, once again, thank you so much.

Prayer Request

Well, I haven't posted to this blog in a long time. There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all, I started the blog to talk about my religion issues and I think I did that. I didn't reach any conclusions, but I got lots of good advice. My situation is kind of at a standstill now, but I'll resume posting when things change. Secondly, I've had a lot going on in my life. Nothing terrible, but the usual types of problems everybody has. Financial issues chief among them. I know that nobody in the world wants to hear a lawyer complain about being broke, but I'm a government lawyer working for a poor county beset by budget problems. Considering how many really suffering people there are in this economy, I know I should just count my blessings and shut up, but it does stink always being out of money two days after payday. And if you can't vent semi-anonymously on a blog to strangers, where can you vent?

I do have a request. A favor really. On February 13th, less than two weeks from now, I have an interview scheduled for a new job. It is one that I believe I am very qualified for (more qualified in my opinion than the other candidates) and it would be a significant increase in pay. If anyone reading this could keep me in your prayers until then, I would really appreciate it. I feel selfish seeking prayers that I get a new job while I've already got one and so many others are unemployed, but I've always heard we should pray to God about all our needs, so I'm going to pray a lot about it and I'd like all the help I could get.

Thank you so much, and if there are ever any prayer requests you have for me, just let me know. Thanks!

Marathon Review

Well, I know it's a month late, but I need to report on the marathon.

I finished. The first 21 miles weren't that bad, but I thought the last five would never end. I was pretty sore for a couple of days, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. By Wednesday or Thursday afterwards, I was about back to normal. I've got to give a ton of credit to the Marines. For an event as large as this, I thought it was incredibly well organized.

The obvious question my friends an family ask me is "Will you ever do another one?" The honest answer is that I'm not sure. I definitely want to keep running, but training for a marathon is a big time commitment. My wife was so supportive, but I'd hesitate to ask her to do that again. In just a few years, our kids will be old enough to look after themselves for a few hours, so maybe then she and I could train together.

Anyway, it was an interesting experience. If anyone out there needs any advice, please feel free to email me. My address is in my profile.

One week and counting

The marathon is only a week away. I have to admit I'm getting a little nervous. I'm worried about making it within the time limit. You have to get to the bridge at the 2o mile mark on a certain pace, so they can reopen to traffic. If you don't make it by the required time, you can't finish. I've got a lot of family coming, so it would really stink if I couldn't finish.

So far, I've been ahead of the required pace, but not by a whole lot. What if we got inclement weather? Or if I was just off a little that day? Or sick? (A guy at work today was coughing and said he felt terrible. I tried to avoid him as much as possible without being rude.) Anyway, keep your fingers crossed for me. Hopefully, it's just a minor case of pre-race jitters and I'll be over it soon.

You did what?

The prosecutor's office I work in covers three counties. I'll call them counties A, B, and C for convenience. I live in County A but am assigned to the office in County B, about a 35 minute drive away. Yesterday, however, I had to attend some training on our new computer system held in County A, the county where I live. Our County A office is less than a mile from my house. The weather was nice and the dress was casual, so I decided to walk to the office. It took me about 15 minutes or so. Sidewalks the whole way.

People were amazed. You would have thought I was doing something remarkable. What have we come to as a people when the thought of a pleasant 15 minute walk to work is unthinkable to most people?

Look, I'm not posting this to make myself seem heroic or something. I'm as slack and lazy as the next person. And I certainly could stand to drop a few pounds. If the weather hadn't been nice or if I was wearing a suit, I probably would have driven. But we need to do something in this country to encourage people to get out and get some exercise. Next time you're out somewhere, just look around at people. We are becoming an obese society. People drive to places 5 minutes away in a big SUV and then circle the parking lot searching for a close parking space to avoid a slightly longer walk from their air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store. I bet cardiologists are doing booming business.

Good News

Arrest made in the two arsons that burned the courthouse and office where I worked. It took a while, but hard work and persistence on the investigation paid off. Excellent work by law enforcement. Good cooperation between a lot of different agencies in the investigation.

The defendant is only 17 years old. In addition to the two fires that affected me, he has been charged in a string of armed robberies as well. Very sad to see a young person ruin their life like this. Some early news article are here, here, and here.

A French Take on American Football

This video makes me laugh. Julie Coin is a french tennis player who played college tennis for my alma mater, Clemson University. She recently pulled a huge upset at the US Open, beating number one player in the world Ana Ivanovic. Coin was ranked #188 in the world. In the post-match press conference, someone inexplicably asked her about American college football. Her answer is below. She also manages to throw in a jab at our rival the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

I should have known this already

If you go to a college football game on Saturday and stand around in the hot sun all day tailgating and follow that up with a greasy burger with fries and onion rings for supper, you shouldn't be surprised when your planned Sunday morning long run doesn't go particularly well.

I hurt all over

The marathon training plan I'm using (Galloway for those interested) called for me to do 19-20 miles this past weekend. I took the position that 19 was a gracious plenty.

Ugh. I hurt all over. In addition to the usual aches and pains in my legs, ankles, and knees after I finished running, my arms, neck, and shoulders hurt, too. My current theory as to why that was is that I was too tense in my upper body as I ran, especially as I grew more tired toward the end.

I finished 19, but it wasn't fun or easy. I have been following a run 9 minutes/ walk 1 minute ratio on my long runs. Sunday I had to switch to 4/1 for the last couple of miles. It took me a smidgen over 4 hours. Incredibly slow for serious runners, but still a little ahead of the 14 minute per mile pace I need to run at the Marine Corps Marathon to be able to finish. My hope is that DC in late October is bound to be cooler and less humid than South Carolina in August and my pace will improve with better weather. I'm reminded of a quote I heard from a guy who was asked about the so-called "runner's high." He said that the only high he ever got was when he stopped. The high point for me Sunday was definitely when I finally quit running.

Oh, and there is at least one police officer in my hometown that I'm sure is convinced that I'm some kind of nut. I started out running a little before 6:00 AM and saw him pulling into the police department, presumably to start his shift. Over the next 4 hours, I must have seen him driving around five or six times as I ran. (Did I mention that I live in a very small town and that you have to do multiple loops to get this kind of distance?) I waved every time I saw him and the progression of the looks on his face over that time cracked me up. It started as kind of respectful for being out exercising. After an hour or two, he kind of shook his head at me in amusement/puzzlement. Toward the end of four hours I could almost see him thinking to himself "Is he mentally ill? Should I call an ambulance?"

The best news is that the training plan I'm on cuts me back to 8 miles or so as a long run the next couple of weekends before I do another really long one in three weeks. Hopefully I'll be recovered by then.

My New Office

Well, it's not quite this bad, but it does kind of stink. We're in cubicles in the basement of the county office building across the street from the burned out remains of my former office. )For anyone interested, you can read my post on arson 1 and arson 2.) At least I have a place to sit now. For a week or so, we were all basically operating out of our cars.

No arrests yet, but keep your fingers crossed.

Don't Ever Say It Can't Get Worse

Just when you think the worst is over.

As I mentioned in the last post, my office was destroyed by arson Monday. In addition to me, we had offices for two other lawyers and a paralegal in there. But the one sliver of good news was that we had one lawyer and a paralegal in another building across the street.

Well, not anymore. The portion of our office that was not destroyed in the courthouse fire Monday was burned in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning. On the bright side, nobody was hurt. Law enforcement is working very hard to find the person or persons responsible. Some news articles are here, here, and here.

This is shaping up to be the worst week at work ever.

My Office

The courthouse where I work was struck by arson very early Monday morning. For anyone interested, some articles are found here, here, and here. Very sad. The courthouse was built in 1828 and even survived Sherman during the Civil War. And of course, the damage to records, files, etc. was extensive. My office was not burned, but part of the ceiling collapsed and I had very extensive water damage. Considering how many people we've prosecuted over the years and how many people had pending charges, the list of suspects is pretty long.

Something like this really makes you feel for people who suffer a house fire. Here I am complaining about the loss of my diplomas and other things in my office, and some people have fires at their homes and lose everything.

Anyway, it has been a very painful week at work

Longest Run of My Life

Well, yesterday I ran 15 miles. That is the farthest I've ever run in my life. I was very slow (a smidgen over 3 hours) but at least I finished. A couple of observations:

1. To get that kind of distance in a small town, you have to do some loops. For me this is much harder psychologically. Starting at my house, I basically ran two 7 mile loops with an extra one mile detour the first time. The whole first loop around I kept thinking "Ugh, I've got to do all this again." The plan I'm running has a couple of runs in the 20 to 22 mile range. I'll probably have to do three loops then.

2. If someone you know sees you running and then sees you still running an hour or two later, you get a really funny look.

3. Water is really important. My previous long run was 13 miles a couple of Sundays ago. While I was more sore physically yesterday, I wasn't as mentally fatigued or exhausted as I was then. I think this is attributable to drinking more water. Two weeks ago I went through two bottles of water while running. Yesterday, I went through four.

4. I don't care how good your shirt claims to be at wicking away sweat, there is a saturation point. For me on a muggy, humid South Carolina morning, that point is about two hours. The whole last hour I felt like I was wearing a wet rag. I tried to console myself by remembering that a regular cotton t-shirt probably would have been like that in about 30 minutes, but it still stunk. I also kept telling myself it has to be cooler and less humid in Washington, DC in late October.

Next weekend I drop back and run 8. But in two weeks I'm supposed to run 17. I'm already apprehensive now thinking about it.

Running makes you do crazy things

As I've been gradually increasing my mileage, I've begun to notice the crazy things running has made me do. Take today, for example. The plan I'm following called for a 13 mile run this morning. Now some would say that the whole idea of getting up at 5:30 am to run 13 miles on a day when my wife and kids are out of town and I could have slept late is crazy in and of itself. And I couldn't really argue with that. But it gets worse.

I've been reading about the benefits of an ice bath after a long run to help reduce muscle soreness, so I decided to try it. So at one point this morning I found myself sitting in a bathtub full of ice drinking a big glass of my current favorite post run beverage chocolate milk. (For any of you that actually know me and know what I look like, I apologize for putting that mental image in your head.) I kept thinking if I have a heart attack, please let the ice melt before they find my body.

The Chinese Martyrs

Deacon Greg Kandra has posted an excellent homily on the Chinese Martyrs over at his blog The Deacon's Bench. A short excerpt:

I didn’t really know
much about them until I was asked to preach this evening. But again,
as I read their stories, I found myself overwhelmed. The loss was so
great. But so was their courage. If you visit the Vatican website,
there are details about the 120 people who are counted among those martyrs we
remember tonight. Most of them died in the 19th century, persecuted during the Boxer Rebellion.
Reading about them, you’re struck by several things. First, are the ages. So
many were children. Three, four years old. One was ten
months old. Some were
teenagers, like 14-year-old Wang Anna…who refused to renounce her
faith. Moments before her death, she cried out: “The door of heaven
is open to all,” then whispered, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” Seconds later, she was
beheaded. So many of them were also lay people. Mothers and fathers,
even entire families. They were people like 18-year-old Chi Zhuzi, who became a
Catholic at 17, and was disowned by his family. He was eventually captured and
ordered to publicly worship idols. When he refused, they cut off his right arm.
He still refused, declaring: “Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood
will tell you that I am Christian.” He died by mutilation.

Here is my question: Why haven't I ever heard about this? I've gone to church on most Sundays of my life and (at least at most of the churches I've attended) we never discuss the stories of those who laid down their lives for the faith. I know I've said it before, but we Protestants are really missing something important by not discussing the Saints. It's like we have some sort of historical amnesia or something.

Bella

Courtesy of Netflix, I finally got around to seeing Bella. It was outstanding. A wonderfully original story and well acted as well. I just can't recommend it enough. Keep the hankies handy, however, because it's tearjerker.

Almost Heaven

I just got back from 10 glorious days in the mountains of western North Carolina with the family. There may be prettier places in the world, but I haven't stayed there yet. We had great weather, hiked a lot, saw interesting sites, and ate way too much food. In short, an almost perfect vacation.

My 11 year old daughter has decided she wants to try to go to as many highpoints of states that she can. We had been to two before last week, Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina and Clingman's Dome in Tennessee. These were pretty, but basically just drive ups and we were there. Last Tuesday, she and I took off on a father/daughter hike to Mt. Rogers in Virginia. This was the first highpoint that was going to require some work to reach. We started at Grayson Highlands State Park and hiked up to the Appalachian Trail and followed it a little way to a spur to the summit. 4 mile hike to get there, so about 8 miles round trip. She was a trooper. We had a little whining about midway, but then she caught her second wind and was great. In fact, on the way back down, she was much faster than me. Apparently, young nimble kids are better at hiking than chunky 43 year olds. Who would have thunk it? :)

As has become my usual custom on vacation, I went to the local Episcopal Church. As usual, it was a beautiful service. Also as usual, I had the same misgivings I have had in the past about worship there. I won't rehash them here, but if anyone is interested, here is a post about my issues. No matter my current qualms, however, I will be forever grateful to the Episcopal Church for introducing me to a more liturgical style of worship.

Oh, and I had the best run of my life. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have made the rather foolish decision to train for a marathon. The first Sunday we were in the mountains, I was scheduled to run 10 miles. This would be the farthest I've ever run in my life. Naturally, I was a little nervous. I went to the Cone Manor which is a park off the Blue Ridge Parkway just a short distance from where we were staying. The run was outstanding. I was slow as Christmas, but I made it. I saw three deer and several rabbits. As someone who usually runs in town on sidewalks, this was quite a nice change. I'm a pretty cynical guy, but it's pretty hard to deny the existence of a God when your out in the quiet early morning in the beauty of God's creation.

The run the next Sunday wasn't quite as great, but I discovered a secret to make the miles go faster. Forget your usual running music and put your Ipod on shuffle. If your musical tastes are as varied and sometimes bad as mine, the tunes that pop up will certainly make you laugh. For example, Sunday I heard the following tunes in succession:

We Got the Beat, the Go-Go's
Mama Tried, Merle Haggard
Rock and Roll All Night, Kiss
This Land is Your Land, Pete Seeger
Baby Got Back, Sir Mix-a-Lot

I thought my Ipod would blow up playing this bizarre combination. But it made me laugh and forget about how sick I was of running for a little while.

Speaking of the song Baby Got Back, below is a pretty funny religious themed take off on it. For the easily offended, let me note that I don't view it as a spoof of religion, but as a spoof of Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Memorial Day in Church

Well, I waited a while to post this because I'm sure not everyone will agree. First a few disclaimers. I love my country. My father was in the Air Force when I was a kid and I spent the first ten years of my life on various Air Force bases around the country and the world. I have tons of respect for the men and women who serve our country in uniform and even greater respect for those that have sacrificed their lives in that service. But here's my question: How much, if any, of a Sunday morning worship service should be devoted to Memorial Day?

At my church on the Sunday before Memorial Day, it dominated the entire service. We usually sing three hymns. All three were patriotic. My Country Tis of Thee, Eternal Father Strong to Save and God of our Fathers. (Though in typical Presbyterian Church USA fashion the title of the last one was changed to the more gender neutral God of the Ages.) The sermon was something along the lines of this: Freedom isn't free, we don't celebrate the sacrifices of military members enough, spend some time this weekend remembering soldiers who gave their lives, and, oh, by the way, Jesus died to give us freedom, too. Now I know that is an unfair characterization of the sermon, but seriously it was probably 80% patriotism 20% Jesus.

As I said earlier, I'm not against patriotism. I just wonder if the pulpit on Sunday morning is the place for it. I'm in a community band and on Memorial Day, we played a concert of patriotic tunes as part of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston. A veteran gave a very moving speech on sacrifice in the middle. I thought that was great. But at a Sunday service (the only service at our church that day) I just think we need to focus a little more on Christ. Anyway, it seemed like everybody else seemed to enjoy the service very much, so maybe I'm just being a curmudgeon.

I read somewhere once that even though we are created in God's image, we humans tend to create God in our image. I worry when we begin to meld our national patriotic celebrations with our worship of God. It makes it all that much harder when our national values conflict with those of God. And this transcends any left/right dispute. If we constantly celebrate the greatness of our country from the pulpit on Sunday morning, how do pro-life folks respond when told "hey, abortion is the law of the land." And how does someone who believes our involvement in Iraq is immoral and not a "just war" respond in the face of a church that appears to believe God and Country go together just fine and dandy?

And since I'm on a rant that I'm sure will irritate some folks (especially some relatives of mine) one more pet peeve. When did the phrase "God Bless America" stop being a request and become either a command or a declaration. This nation has certainly been blessed, but God should be thanked for that, not ordered to continue. I for one would be happier if politicians would stop concluding every speech that way. I think it cheapens the sentiment. Maybe politicians should end every speech quoting Matthew 5:5.

Baseball in a small town

My little boy is seven years old. He is playing baseball in a league of seven to nine year olds. If you want to see both the best and worst of humanity, I invite you to watch a few games of youth baseball in a small southern town.

First the good. Almost without exception, the kids are great. They play with a real joy that is great to watch. They're having fun playing the game, being with their friends, wearing their uniforms, and all the other things that go with baseball. And for little boys (and this league is mostly boys) 7, 8 and 9 is a great age. They are old enough to basically understand the game, but they have yet to be infected with the attitudes of poor sportsmanship shown by many of the adults in their lives. And for a small, southern town that still has its share of racial divisions, it's nice to see white and black kids playing together. It gives me hope for the future.

In short, youth sports would be wonderful except for one thing, the adults. Why do grown men (and sometimes women) seem to invest so much of their self worth in a game played by kids? I have seen grown men yell at umpires. I have watched coaches verbally abusing kids (almost always their own child) to the point I felt sick. A couple of weeks ago I saw two adults almost come to blows over what one said to the other's child about a play on the field. There was an incident in the league below us (5 and 6 year olds, believe it or not) that resulted in the police being called to escort a parent from the area. What in the world is wrong with these people? And why doesn't it seem that more people besides me are appalled?

Look, I'm not one of those namby pamby guys that think we shouldn't even keep score. I think winning and losing and dealing with success and failure are important things for kids to learn about. But do coaches really need to approach every game like it's the World Series? Here is an example: Our league usually doesn't play games on Wednesday evenings because many people in my small southern town have church on Wednesday night. But a few weeks ago one of my son's games scheduled for Tuesday was rained out and the make-up game was scheduled for Wednesday. A kid on the other team played about half the game and then his mother took him to church. When his spot in the batting order came up, our coaches went to the umpire and invoked a rule that if he didn't bat it should count as an out. (In this league every child bats regardless of whether he is playing in the field or not and I guess the rule is to prevent coaches from having the poorer players skip an at bat.) Anyway, the umps enforced the rule and counted an out against the other team. What a wonderful lesson for the kids.

The frightening thing is that despite the incident I just related, we've probably got some of the better coaches in the league. I've seen behavior from some of the other coaches that would have made me take my son off their team. At least our coaches don't yell at the kids too much.

There is a lot of talk about how money has ruined professional sports and I have no doubt that is partially true. But the boorish behavior by professional athletes is due to more than just money. I think it is a symptom of a coarsening of our culture. When little kids witness adults behaving like I just described, is it any surprise that they turn out to be spoiled misbehaving professionals? My little boy loves sports and I want him to keep playing, but I'm going to have to be a lot more involved in seeing what teams he gets on and who his coaches are. Wish me luck.