What a Difference You Made in My Life

Several of my friends were at a conference in Texas last week and I have been there vicariously through reading their remarks via Twitter. The energy was palatable all the way from there to Murfreesboro. One of the quotes they sent has been ringing in my head ever since I read it: "Someone was dealt the same hand as you in life, and they are winning with it."

As I looked through my photos this morning I came across these. As a kid, I remember singing with Ronnie Milsap's song, "What a Difference You've Made in My Life," on eight track to the top of my lungs in my Mammaw Nita Ann's beige Oldsmobile. The feeling I still get when I listen to this man perform is indescribable.

We know Ronnie is blind, think about what that means. Just consider walking through life in the dark.



A few months ago, I got to hear him in concert and he's SO still got it. He recalled a time as a young man when he got to meet his hero, Ray Charles. Ray said, "Son, they's a lot a music in you." Can you imagine that moment!?

My Papaw Harold told me many times that you can always look around and find someone who "has it worse" than you. I know that is true. I admit, I have wasted time thinking about the hand I've been dealt. That is ridiculous! Don't ever do it.

For Lent, I am giving up my habit of wasting time with futile thinking and comparing myself to others.

Homemade Fun

I like homemade fun. The kind that you don't need ten quadruple C batteries and a two-hundred dollar hand-held device for. The kind that forces you to talk to other people, or even go outside! The kind that says, "Here's what we have, what can we do with it?" I like it because it's usually free or very cheap, you end up with original ideas, and it cuts down on the clutter of a million little toys making one's home look like a bunch of carnies moved in and left all their crap behind.

Here are just a few examples:

Our good buddy, Joel Brooks, Pastor of Redeemer Community Church in Birmingham decided to make some blocks out of scrap wood. Now he and his girls have tons of fun with the blocks, but the other night we had a fun night and the adults had more fun with the blocks than the kids! He made up a game where each player adds a block to the structure and the first one to knock it down is the loser. You may not believe me, but it beats Wi bowling by a mile and it is one-hundred percent cheaper.





This is a picture of a woman on CNN with hair that looks strikingly similar to the statue below her. That's pretty fun.





My current favorite free "adult" game is Homemade Balderdash. You need about six players, pens and paper, and a plain old Dictionary. (Those are the things people used to use instead of spell-check.) One person chooses a word that nobody knows from the dictionary and everybody else comes up with the best made up definition that they can. The person with the dictionary reads each definition along with the real one, and each player tries to choose the true definition. The reader gets points if the word's actual meaning wasn't chosen by anyone. If a player chooses your definition, you get a point, or if you choose the real definition you get a point. Try it.

As a kid my Mammaw Nita-Ann had her own version of charades that we called "Rum-Pum-Pum." Basically, there was a funny little rhyme you had to say before you did your charade. Somehow, that made it made it funny and special. My favorite game of her's was "I Spy." For some reason we always played it with some kind of a foreign accent, French-ish as I recall. (She said our ancestors were French.)

My great-grandma Barksdale had a very simple three or four room house with only the bare necessities. Among those necessities were always a medium sized rubber ball suitable for kicking around in her front yard in Fyffe, Alabama, some play-dough, and her ready laugh. I remember sunny Sunday afternoons after having the most delicious fried chicken (made the night before and heated up in the oven so as to avoid that hedonistic work of cooking on Sunday) I've ever eaten, her running around on stubby round legs with corn silk white hair in her homemade polyester floral print dress and black flat Sunday shoes having more fun than I could remember up until then. This is the same great-grandma who made for all her many grand and great grand-children stuffed elephants, turtles, squirrels and all manor of unusually shaped animals. All original, no pattern, and all with scraps from her or grandpa Barksdale's old clothes. These are the things I remember, but she was actually most famous in our family for being the best Christian anybody knew since Jesus himself. Seriously y'all.

There was always a piano or a guitar or various other instruments at my house and all my friend's and family's places. We inevitably ended up doing some kind of music for fun, and now I have fun for a living!

Point is, you don't necessarily get what you pay for when it comes to having creative fun.

Disclaimer: To all of you millions of Wi lovers out there, don't hate, create. And to all neat freak carnies, sorry.

Don't Jump!

This morning I thought, if my life had a remote, I would probably fast forward through this part. It’s gloomy, I have a dull headache, and I have to make a two-hour drive in that kind of nasty cold mist that never fits any of the settings on my windshield wipers.

Why is my brain so connected to the weather? What I’m really asking is: How is it that a few days ago I was ready to sign up as team captain for the race to the moon, and today, I want to bury myself alive? The difference? Twenty degrees, clouds and rain. Nothing else has really changed!

What does that tell me? Emotions can lie. They are real, and there is a good reason that we have them. They can cause real pain. They have the potential to lead us off deadly cliffs or to soaring mountaintops. They can be a valuable consultant, but not a program director.

Emotions have lead people to say hurtful words that could have been avoided with some thought. They have ruined perfectly good relationships. They have led otherwise good people into promiscuity, and have even convinced people that love was dead when it was only buried beneath layers of hurt.

They have also been that extra push needed to win gold medals, break world records, even save innocent lives. Some of the greatest art is inspired by the darkest of emotions, and the quest for happiness, or to escape pain, has caused some of the darkest of human behaviors.

So today my theme song is “The sun’ll come out tomorrow.” I know that today I probably shouldn't make any major decisions. On days like this I tell the Lord: “I know you didn’t give me a remote control for a good reason… but what is it I’m supposed to be learning today?” Maybe it is so somebody could read this and avoid jumping off a cliff somewhere. If that’s you, please comment. Maybe it’ll help me decide not to jump. jk

Life is Short, Eat Some Chocolate!

This week I had the unusual opportunity to explain the American calendar year to a group of African refugees in the ESL class Amanda and I help with at church. Beginning with January, not that difficult, New Year's is everywhere, moving on to Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter... Try to explain how our holiest Holiday's most widely recognized representative is a giant rabbit who carries a basket with colored eggs to someone who's had only a few months experience with the English language. I didn't. I just gave them the information and figured they could iron it all out later.

Now, after spending a nice Valentine's Day with Amanda, I think I may be a bit closer to understanding the point of all these random holidays. One thing about holidays is that they roll around whether you are in the mood for them or not. So, even if you've had a week full of little annoyances, and paper hearts and sweet words are not on your radar, V-day comes along to say, "Get off your butt and go buy her a present you big idiot! You're lucky to have her you know."

When I told my African friends that Valentine's Day was for love it made them happy. They seemed to get a charge out of the idea that we had a whole day dedicated to celebrating romantic love.

What's the point? We are forgetful. We need to be reminded that it is crucial to get out of our routine and eat chocolate, praise the Lord, be thankful, remember the sacrifices others have made for our benefit, make goofy April Fool's jokes... I know, eating chocolate is already an important part of your routine, that's fine. Really though... instead of being grumpy and feeling blue on holidays, I think if you just try not to blow it out of proportion and roll with it, these days can be just what we need to remind us to appreciate life. It's short.

That's Janvier in the photo. Thanks brother. He was a photographer in Congo.

The Time is Now

Somehow I can always figure out a way to avoid the moment. Why? Is it habit? Is it easier? Hmm, yes and it does take less effort. We lull ourselves into a state of numb existence by filling our calendars with activity and filling our heads with TV, YouTube, food, and more TV.

I think about spring when it's winter, and fall when it's summer. I think about something I said that maybe I shouldn't have. I think of something someone else said that I wish they hadn't. I think of how it's going to be when I have more money, time, inspiration... What it will be like when we have children, a different house, other clothes. You name it, and I have probably worried about it.

Well, scripture tells us not to worry about tomorrow, for it has trouble enough of its own. (Mathew 6:25-34) We have to grab the now. We have to look around at the opportunities that are in front of us. We have to love the one, or ones, we're with. We have to pay attention to the needs around us. We have to stop worrying about what we are supposed to do and read the Bible, see what God's word says to do, and just do it. It ain't rocket surgery.

Love your neighbor as yourself... the greatest commandment. Love your wife. Love your husband. Love your family. Love your friends. They are right in your face!

Engage. Listen. Love. Put on kindness, gentleness, patience. Share peace and encouraging words. Be thankful. Show forgiveness.

This may sound a bit random; it is just what I'm thinking right now. My sweet Grandma, Mammaw Nita Ann found out yesterday that she is no longer a candidate for a kidney transplant and this has been understandably difficult for her. It seems her health isn't what it should be to ensure that the operation could be successful. We have many dear friends who are struggling with relationship problems and troubles of all kinds. Tough situations always spur me back to the basics. Back to the essential truths of the gospel. The timeless, ageless truth that has been sufficient for generations before me.

When are we supposed to live out our faith? The time is now.

Friends

There is nothing in the world that can compare with good friends.

It's the opportunity to let off steam when something has been about to blow. It's the laughing at/with each other till tears stream down your face. It's the free, much needed counseling sessions. It's the inspiration to get up tomorrow and hope to get to do it all over again. Sometimes they have seasons, rarely they are forever, sometimes they burn bright only to fizzle, but I'll take them however they come, and try to be mindful enough never to take them for granted.

Don't get me wrong, family is good. But often you know too much. It's just a whole different thing. Every now and then the lines can cross and you can be both... but if you get tired of friends, you just go home to your family and soon enough, you'll have to have somebody to complain to about your family. Don't be hatin', you know it's true.

Thank you Lord for good friends.

Old Dogs and New Tricks

We've all heard it. It's an easy excuse... You can't teach an old dog a new trick. Well, as I gain a good percentage of my income by playing an old organ that is really no longer serviceable, it has become apparent that I must learn a new trick. "It won't sound as good, it's gonna cost too much, you can't do it! It'll change your sound too much."

These were all going through my head last summer as a cool young guy named Jason Dyba came over to my house with the intention of helping me put together a system using my laptop, new software and some really lightweight keyboards that could replace my five hundred pound, thirty-year-old Yamaha organ Amanda and I nicknamed "Yanni." You know the type, Jason's a tech genius... I'm not. I'm definitely the senior Saint Bernard to this fresh out of college Collie. He's running circles around me; and I am feeling every bit of my thirty-four years. Well, after months of banging my head against the keyboard, I finally had a much needed breakthrough yesterday.

The first thing we tried didn't work, neither did the second. But yesterday I walked back into "Guitar Center," Nashville's best stocked music store for keys, and I found the system that will do what I want it to do. The reasons why are many and a bit complicated, but suffice it to say that it is going to make my life exponentially easier. Here's the point. If you don't try, you have already failed. This old dog is learning all kinds of new tricks. That old saying is a lie. Don't believe it! You'll get to be an old dog before your time.

Special thanks to Molly for her excellent modeling work in the photo... and Molly, you are surely no "old dog.'

The Stacy Beam New Year

When I was about fourteen years old, on February 3rd, I was having a bad day. I can't remember all the particulars, but what I do remember is that I needed a fresh start. Now there are all kinds of reasons why I might have needed to turn over a new leaf, grades, girls, friends, some kind of New Year's resolution that had already fizzled... I guess it was a combination of all of those, and the fact that, every year, the day after Christmas, I inevitably begin dreaming of the first warm day when the Daffodils are in full bloom and the trees are covered with baby green buds. I was probably depressed that the Groundhog saw from his little roof hole how nasty the weather was outside and decided not to even poke his head out to see if there was a shadow. Anyway, that was the day I proclaimed February 3rd to be the Stacy Beam New Year.

This one man holiday doesn't in any way keep me from celebrating the other New Year. In fact, this year I even celebrated the Chinese New Year. (I found out that I was born in the year of the Tiger.) I always make resolutions on the first of January, but I'm afraid my timetable may be a little later than everybody else's. Maybe it's February 3rd before I really get serious about my goals. And during January, it's hard for me to do anything at all besides sit in front of a fireplace and hope for snow or ice to cancel whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing that day.

So today is my New Year. I think this is rooted in a message I was taught from scripture that says "It's never too late for one more chance with the Lord." Well, until your dead I guess. Feel free to comment and correct my theology or post the scripture reference that I am paraphrasing, or butchering. Also, feel free to make February 3rd your New Year in case you need a second chance to make good on resolutions that "didn't take" the first time around.