Hardright

Perils of the road: #9 Delays ahead

OK, so patience is not my long suit. In fact, if Americans share one common trait it may just be impatience. It is visible every where---tapping pencils, bouncing feet, poking elevator buttons, pounding computer keys, huffing and puffing, fingers counting cadence on the steering wheel, looking at your watch---the nervous ticks + twitches of people always in a hurry.

So much of life is defined by waiting. At the restaurant, a waiter or waitress serves you, like their sole task on the job is taking care of you while you wait. Check out the hospital some time. How many waiting rooms are there? At the crosswalk or intersection the signals say go or stop, meaning proceed or wait. Wait a minute. Please, wait. Wait here. Wait your turn. What are you waiting for? How long is the wait? Wait right there! The computer screen often yells (((((wait))))) while something is loading. A busy telephone annoys with a tone meaning ((((wait)))). Was it worth the wait?

Of course, the delays in the journey are numerous, often unexpected, usually necessary, sometimes not, aggravating at times too. Traffic gets gnarled and congested. Fender benders slow things down. Equipment malfunctions. Then, there is the need for routine maintenance, pit stops, a break in the itinerary. Arrrggggh! The slow poke in the vehicle in front of us has the entire passing lane stalled. Construction crews have the roadway closed or moving too slowly. Something turns the freeway into a parking lot. Ruh roh! You take a wrong turn. Don't forget the fog, the slippery surfaces, dangerous curves, and other hazards. Delays indeed!

So, I'm first in line at the confessional. Truly, I'm not the best wait-er in the world. Sorting out the root of this restlessness causes more than a little introspection. What I want to know is, is this thing just a part of my personality, an evidence of my personal strengths, or a spiritual flaw? Is this thing always bad?

Well, the answer is "e", all of the above. Personality does influence things. Mama Holmes, my paternal grandmother always said I had ants in my pants. Cool down, that was when I was two years old and not having sexual urges quite yet. My strength array includes achiever at the middle. So, people with these kinds of striving strengths can expect a little foot tapping when things ease off some. Oh yes. Mr. or Mrs. Job, patience is a spiritual thing too. It can grow in your life naturally as a fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22), or you can learn it from the hardships and trials of life (Romans 5:4). You decide how you want to learn it!

Just so, we should learn to stop and smell the soap along the way, to be still and know, to step aside from the flow of life traffic to commune with the Father, sharpen the saw, so to speak, go to the well, if you will, be filled with Holy Spirit so we engage what is before us in the journey.

I love what the Apostle Paul wrote---"For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for we do not already have, we wait patiently for it" (Romans 8:24-25). Now, there some good advice for the journey---wait patiently!

Nice.

Final @ thoughts

 

Here's a song that has blessed Harriet and me through our journey for the past few years. God gave this song to us through the ministry of Dave and June Bullock, leaders of a music collaboration called the dB Network Band. He is also the worship pastor at Elmbrook Church, Brookfield, Wisconsin. Each year they provided the worship leadership forthe Shepherding conferences sponsored by the Leadership Development Team @ the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

The first time I heard them sing this song was in one of the conferences. The whole room was silenced by their rendition of the Margaret Becker lyrics. By the final verse, almost every pastor and wife in that huge room, perhaps 500 people, were weeping openly, broken and contrite before God. When the song was over, we're were all thanking God for His provision for the journey. It has become our life song, the words of which guided us through a very difficult time when I was diagnosed with cancer, experienced major surgery, and chemotherapy treatments. Take in these words---

Chorus 1
May this journey bring a blessing
May I rise on wings of faith
And at the end of my heart's testing
With Your likeness let me wake

Verse
Jesus draw me ever nearer
As I labor thro' the storm
You have called me to this passage
And I'll follow tho' I'm worn

Verse 2
Jesus guide me thro' the tempest
Keep my spirit staid and sure
When the midnight meets the morning
Let me love You even more

Chorus 2
May this journey be a blessing
May I rise on wings of faith
And at the end of my heart's testing
With Your likeness let me wake

Verse 3
Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go
And at the end of this long passage
Let me leave them at Your throne

Ending
Jesus draw me ever nearer
Jesus draw me ever nearer
Jesus draw me ever nearer to You
To You

Blessings for the journey---

 

reTHINKING Saturday: thot 3,865

OK, let me explain. Pretty sick isn't it? I've had about 3,862 various thots about CHURCH, our new Saturday evening worship experience. This particular one occurred a couple of months ago as we were thinking through the entire process. In short, I've decided to tag team with our youth pastor Ron Hickson as we explore the theme CHURCH, really!?! in our first month.

So, let's be clear. [1] We are not wrestling on the stage. This definitely is not Nacho Libre and Esqueleto. I don't do the wrestling tights thing. Rest assured we are not going to be doing that. [2] This is not a crowd gimmick. Yes, plenty of people would gather to catch me in one of those outfits. But, we're not going there, I promise. [3] Tag team is really just a reference to the way we're going to do the main lesson each evening. OK, we thought about mud wrestling, but we'll just tag team the thought each week, me doing a part, and Ron doing another.

Another new wrinkle for an old dog like me. Shoot, I've been preaching now for thirty years and have never shared the pulpit with anyone but the Holy Spirit, who, by the way, is the main presenter every single time. I'm just the dummy mouthing the words. So, troops, this is going to take come adjustment. But, I really like it. The plan is for me to set up the main idea and lay the Biblical foundation---the WHAT? and SO WHAT? segments. Ron is going to develop the NOW WHAT? piece. Cool! A preaching tag team.

Already this collaboration has been a blessing! We've met for a few hours to work through the text, find the big idea expressed in each, and form the basic framework of a coordinated message. This is another of those new things that God is doing. It has nearly exploded my mind as younger Ron has introduced so many ideas that God has shown him in the text. ((((((((((Pass the duct tape))))))))))

Now, thots 3,863,  3,864 and 3,865. Two are better than one. Us old guys can learn new things. God is faithful.

Happy Saturday. Counting down the days till September 12. Whooooaaaa!

Perils of the road: #8 Pedestrian Crossing

Lest we forget, people really do matter! Of course, with the boundary lines invisible in this foggy climate, traction nearly impossible because of the slippery surface, dangerous curves claimingour attention, the journey often devolves into a mad dash to click-off the mile-markers along the way. Since speed  appears to be the real deal these days, and getting there in record time seems be the controlling interest, then it is more than possible that a few pedestrians may get sacrificed along the way. Sad, isn't it. To forget that people matter and relationships comprise much of what is truly important in this life. 

OK, the current economic crisis has made the people thing a little more visible. Business owners and bosses across the fruited plain have been forced to reduce the staffing components that comprise so much of the operating budget these days. The other day I heard a small group leader agonize over having to lay off one of his best friends and small group members because of financial shortages. It was, to be honest, a blessing to know his anguish over the personnel decisions. Sounds nutty, doesn't it? The truth is, a lot of people today are just cold-blooded when it comes to stark realities of life. It encouraged me to find someone who cared.

Life is fast, and life is brutal. Someone said a few months ago that Baptists are NASCAR fanatics because they love to see people running in circles at top speed and witness a fiery collision every once in a while. Crazy! Still, Harvey Cox's Secular City, Technopolis, with all it's anonymity and mobility , seem to be definitive of our times. People don't figure in the chase as much anymore. So, it's okay to sacrifice a life here and there to make a living or fulfill a dream or be first at the finish line.

So, let's kill a few thousand babies for convenience, maybe let some vet's die so we won't have to spring for their medical costs, you know, shove some others under the bus so we don't have to see them or mess with them, or allow them to slow us down. You see, there's this schedule thing about the journey---time tables, departures and arrivals, the slots on the trip planner to check off. A whole cast of OC people straining not much for the finish line, but for the fastest intervals. Lose a few in the process, no sweat.

People matter. The world that Jesus died to save is people, in case you were wondering. Standing at the bed-side of many individuals experiencing their last hours, some believers, some not, people seem to be what mattered most.

A few years ago I was asked to speak to a high school football team on the night of their last game. These kids had not won a single game in four years. Not one young person in that room had ever won a high school game at that school. So, I gave them a David/Goliath story---rah rah sis boom bah---you know, a real pep talk. They weren't too impressed. They lost that game too. When I was finished with my sizzle, I asked if anybody wanted to say anything. One of the young men added some meat. He said something like this: "In twenty years we're not going to remember what the score of tonight's game was. What we're going to remember is the guy sitting next to you." I wish I had said that.

Read the New Testament and measure how others should fit into the picture of your life. People matter. Your journey is going to encounter many of them, at just about every important intersection. How you deal with them is going to say a lot about who you are. No. Whose you are!

Use caution. "Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4).

Maybe they'll do the same for you.

Perils of the journey: #7 Uneven pavement

OK, travelers, life isn't fair! The uneven surface at just about every mile-marker in the journey is a vivid reminder of the inequities that define this out-of-kilter world. So, road-rage often attends the journey---pilgrims who are embittered and angered because something doesn't seem right, because the contractor didn't level the surface in their lane, and, as a result,  they are forced to make the trip  disadvantaged in some perceived way. 

Trouble is, many pilgrims can't keep their eyes on the road. They are too busy gazing at all the other vehicles to appreciate the surface under their tires, and the unique lessons that will accumulate with their mileage. Of course, a good bit of this unfairness thing involves the wandering eye anyway, you know, the comparisons that enlarge situations and make reality all the more bleak. Shoot, while you're bumping along in your old clunker, sleek turbo-charged jets glide by in the fast-lane. Or, while you're handling your greasy burger the person in the next booth is attacking lobster bisque. Or, just as you're registering @ the Dew Drop Inn another family is unloading their Caddie into the spa right across the street. Or, your child says, "Mommy, why can't I buy that cool South of the Border flamingo to put out in our front flower bed?" I mean, you can't help but notice that some people travel in style and others just eek along, some people get the goodies while others get the goofs, some thrive while a good many wither. Yes, life isn't fair. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Jesus explained it well: "He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).

Jesus told a story once, a parable, about a rich land owner and the people who were hired to harvest his grapes. He hired them all at several intervals during the day, meaning, some worked longer than the others. They had all agreed to a specified wage for their labors and they had all been happy at the time of their wage contract because it seemed fair to them. Of course, when their salary was finally distributed, some of them were angered because they all received the same wage, those hired in the first hour and those hired in the last. Unfair, they cried. Not until the comparison thing happened. Then, they were filled with envy and jealousy and anger and all manner of malice.

Much of life is cloaked in mystery. True, some people enjoy enormous advantage, which they will  attribute to many factors. Successful people talk about hard work, good connections, an incredible sense of timing, opportunism, superior education, a clever idea, wise investment strategies, and a long list of things that moved them past the pack. While you're calculating the tote board remember that there are humble honest people numbered among the rich and famous as well as quite a few criminal minds and immoral manipulators. I mean, read through the Book of Ecclesiastes and  contemplate who is actually the most privileged under the sun. And, of course, that is the point. Under
close scrutiny none of that mattered anyway. As one movie character said, "It's all just a way of keeping score." And, what's that about? Winning. And, what's that about? Competition. Me against everybody else. Now, you have it.

There are too many lessons to be learned from the uneven pavement. Think about this, though. If your whole journey is spent placing everything on the road under the microscope you're in for a miserable time. Scripture teaches us to occupy the lane we're placed in, enjoy the ride as much as possible, keep the lines of the road visible in the fog, maintain traction on the slippery surfaces, avoid the dangerous curves, and be content with what you have.

And, I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:11-12

And, what a journey it is!

Perils of the journey: #6 Dangerous curves

The journey is hard enough without so many dangerous curves along the way. Shoot, finding your way in the fog is enough of an impediment to forward motion. It really slows you down when your directions are fuzzy. Even worse, slippery roads are a straight path to a ditch, or worse, a serious collision. But, dangerous curves are, well, dangerous---more than a speed adjustment or a skid. Dangerous curves wreck lives.

OK, we'll encounter many curves in this journey. The shift from vast to fast in pop culture makes negotiating these curves just that much more critical. Now, you can take this thing into just about any direction you desire. But, the curves I'm talking about are the curves that define the outline of a human body. More specifically, I'm talking about the twists and turns of sexual temptation, the curves that not only will cause a collision in your journey, but may wreck a lot of other travelers in the process.

Follow this logic. The lines are obscured by heavy fog these day. Who can see them? What is more, the roadway is slippery between the barely visible lines, making traction difficult, impeding progress. The world around you is zooming past at warp speed. It is a literal freeway, every man for herself, defining the rules as we go, on the run. When the dangerous curves hit the landscape, we're either moving too fast to apply the brakes and change direction, or, the lines are so indistinct we don't see them any more, or, we're skidding so fast on the slippery surfaces of contemporary mores, we just crash. And, this is usually a serious, catastrophic collision between two vehicles that may be transporting several people. The resulting wreck is a mess. What is worse, it can be fatal.

We're a little casual when talking about dangerous curves anyway. Face it, we usually talk about this stuff with a wink and a nod, loose talk about loose morals and snide comments to gloss over the tragic truth that dangerous curves gnarl lives, maim relationships, injure innocent people. Last Sunday I spoke about the most deadly of our pretenses, the belief that this kind of thing can't happen to me! Most of us think we have been behind the wheel long enough to be able to control this here vehicle through any road-way hazard of challenge, dangerous curves included. Yet, hardly a day passes without hearing about another journey cut short or detoured by failure to navigate dangerous curves.

Taking dangerous curves successfully isn't rocket science. You have to keep your eyes on the road and slow down a bit, insuring enough tread in your life to find connection in these slippery times. There's a great safe driving manual available for people who have trouble with the dangerous curves thing, and numerous drivers training ed classes to help develop your skills behind the wheel. You don't have to be a casualty of road. The manufacturer has designed a road skills course to help you learn basic vehicle maneuvers and how to take the curves.

In fact, the owner's manual indicates that He will straighten out the roadway before us. Solomon wrote, "...in all your ways acknowledge him; he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:6). Shoot, bro, that's the ticket for this journey, a highway without the dangerous curves.

Cool.

Perils of the journey: #5 Slippery When Wet

Finding landmarks and establishing directions is hard enough when you're shrouded by fog. But, the journey is imperiled when you're slip sliding away on treacherous, slippery roads. Shoot, fog is basically an inconvenience to the road-wise traveler. When the fog banks move in you just hit the low beams, slow down, and pay attention. If it's real thick, you find a place to get off the road and exit stage right ASAP. This certainly slows the journey down. But, you can inch your way along in fog, slow but sure.

Of course, we live in foggy times. Things just aren't clear any more. Well, that is if you're measuring by cultural standards. There aren't any. So, you have to discover something to guide your way when the clouds move in. Voila! We have the sure directional guidance of Scripture, right on target every time, certain even when reality and truth are distorted by fuzziness.

Wet, slippery roadways are dangerous for several reasons. And, things have gotten pretty slippery these days. Just read the paper and listen to some of the political double talk our elected and appointed officials share in defense of their pet projects or favorite government programs. Talk about slippery! These guys are eels. The President and all his henchmen, along with the political wonks in the press won't be specific about anything much, with the exception of treating our citizens like a bunch of idiots. Listen to the drivel about health-care, for example. The only thing I'm sure about in this debate is that they don't care---not about me, or things that are important to me. OK, it's not about me anyway. But, that's the deal. Who is it about? No one's saying. More elusive slip-sliding. Get a life!

Nail down some moral precepts for us, will you? Well, there's another of those greasy trails, the much maligned and argued slippery slope of cultural digression, values without tread, feet firmly planted in mid-air again, just another wreck waiting to happen. No wonder people can't get a grip. The highway is coated with slime, the ooze of oily beliefs and silicone filler, slick tires losing traction on even slicker pavement. You know, empty people coasting around on slippery ways. No wonder we have a pile-up at every serious moral intersection.

Hold it, judgment begins where? Oh yes, the house of God. So, church people, we're on the hook about our slippery theology and loose interpretations of Scripture, about faith without teeth, and fluid stands on key cultural issues. The Episcopalians and one group of the Lutherans, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, are in a total skid as they flaunt biblical guidelines about marriage and ordination.  Most other denominations are declining, and church watchers most often point to slippery doctrine and uncertain ethical standards as part of the problem. Our own denomination is slipping backwards because we we lost our traction after settling the Bible issue. Now, we're stuck on some side-road in the back country of the 1990's. In a ditch, those slippery roads.

We are instructed toward more solid, firm surfaces for the journey---you know, ideals like confidence, certainty, trust, faith, assurance, beliefs, doctrinal integrity, vision, mission, our direction fixed on a focal point, Jesus the Lord, our settings firmly established in Scripture. It's being sure of the things hoped for, and standards that are eternal. Right?

Definitely, maybe! How's that? Almost?

Perils of the journey: #4 Fog

Leonard Sweet's 2001 book Carpe Manana is a creative review of nine seismic shifts apparent in the new world. His work takes an odd tact: it is a naturalization tutorial for immigrants in the www world, namely, citizens born before 1962. This means that everybody over the age of 40 at the time of publication is considered an immigrant while the younger cohorts are pictured as natives. Whooaaa!

Before you get your pants in a wad think on that a little longer. Sweet isn't trying to be offensive or exclusive. He's not taking cheap shots at older Americans or using the age discrimination thing to throw us into the categories of worn-out or useless. Being a South Carolinian and living in Charleston, them are actually fighting words, to call me anything other than a native born citizen. Shoot, bubba, you can purchase "native" decals at every tourist trap in the Low Country or on the Interstate, even if you're just passing through. This native stuff is pretty serious business to most of us. Still, be honest for a minute and you'll agree, most of us older people just are not at ease with technology, can't understand most sit-coms on TV, have a hard time with the speed at which things are coming at us, and can't figure out how to open packages, program cell phones or alarm clocks, or make the DVD player work. Yuk!!!

One of the shifts which most immigrants, including me, cannot fathom is the change from sharp to fuzzy.  Our cohorts were raised with an EITHER/OR persepctive about life, you know, black and white, good and bad, left or right, in or out, with us or against us, with little room for gray. Natives on the other hand live in an AND/ALSO world, a very ambiguous point of reference, the world of fuzzy thinking, options, as Sweet mentions, "blurred genres, messy categories, multiple identities, no pure constructs or ideal types". This kind of thinking is basically offensive to us older types because it smacks of relativism, no absolutes, the foggy areas of personal experience being definitive in most decisions, a case for multiple options. This may explain why so many younger people attend several churches, maybe even differing denominations, perhaps with widely divergent belief systems. Lately I've heard talk about karma, regeneration, channelers, and many other references that sound kind of odd coming out of younger Christians.

Of course, truth is truth, and the Holy Spirit reveals the truth of a life altering relationship with Jesus as the only way to fellowship with God. Still, understanding the fog along with way may influence our apologetics and proclamation, not the message mind you, but the way it is presented. This is the real challenge for us boomers when the time comes for us to speak the words of faith to these younger cohorts. There's really little room for this ambiguity in our proclamation. But, these so-called natives are very comfortable in the fog. Methods like looped-learning, lateral thinking and understanding relationships from multiple layers of reality are genuine elements of the way younger people think. And, if we are to be true to our mandate, we've going to have to translate that message into language and concepts that people can find in the fog.

It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who fears God will avoid all extremes. Ecclesiastes 7:18

OK, get a grip. There is no case in Scripture for being lukewarm,indecisive, or for advocating straddling the fence of faith. Grasping one and not letting go of the other doesn't mean that we can live in two places at one time, nor does it allow for such polarities in regard to our faith. The fog that marks these times is not a crisis of belief nor does it create a new category of believer for being almost a Christian, or nearly a Christian, or a little of this and a little of that. Certainly those are not Biblical values. But, in a world gone mad, defined by multi-culturalism, pluralism, and a whole list of other -isms not known before, there is a certain amount of ambiguity and tension in the air. Ours is the task of speaking a definitive, clear, concise, pin-point message of redemption and faith in such a world, increasingly clouded by fog.

And, we know that clear, concise, pin-point message. It is Jesus.

"...a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to Him'" Matthew 17:5

Escape

                                                                               Christian lyrics don't always express solid biblical theology. Thumb through an old hymnbook and you'll encounter any number of hymns with great meter, rhyming words, a clever angle on faith, but a thin scriptural foundation. Of course, contemporary Christian music (CCM, for short) carries a rep for being shallow as well, stylings to appeal to the younger audience that prefer a more up-to-date expression of faith. So, it's always a blessing when I discover lyrics and musical presentation with a fresh sound and words that are at least consistent with my personal understanding of faith.

Of course, I prefer CCM. Now, many of the old standards are precious to me as well, the hymns that assisted my personal spiritual growth and brought comfort, guidance, and perspective as we experienced the seasons of life. How could I ever forget hearing Be Thou My Vision in the chapel at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary when I needed something to sustain us in the challenging days of seminary, the hymn that was my life song till 2003. Or, It Is Well, sang with tears streaming down my face as I prepared to speak words of faith at my mother's funeral. The list of cherished hymns is long, a story behind each one, something meaningful that places them strategically in my heart.

Still, my life song shifted in 2004 when God gave us Jesus, Draw Me Every Nearer, a new hymn by Margaret Becker and Keith Getty. This wonderful selection became our anthem during cancer surgery and treatment and still raises chill bumps when we sing or hear it. Along with In Christ Alone and a score of new hymns and worship music, God is truly doing a new thing in raising new composers and musicians for the next generation.

Lately, I've been listening to Rush of Fools, a contemporary Christian band that will appear in our church on September 18, 2009,in a concert co-sponsored by us and WAY FM, 100.9. Their lyrics grab my heart. Today, at the conclusion of our 11:00 a.m. worship, our worship team will provide the Rush of Fools song Escape as our hymn of decision. Take in these words---

Everybody crashes down
Sometimes
Everything comes falling down
Sometimes
I don’t even know how,
Or know why

CHORUS
The thing I can’t escape is You
The promise that You made is You will pull me through
You’re never far away no matter what I do
The thing I can’t escape is You

At times I try to hide away
From Your eyes
At times I’m covered up in shame
From my lies
You sweep me into Your embrace
And I cry

CHORUS

It’s You
Your grace
Irresistible
It’s true, it’s true
Your grace
Irresistible

The thing I can't escape is You---

reTHINKING Saturday: part three, change of venue

 

OK, I'm not a football fanatic! But, I'd be less than honest if I didn't say that one of the things I've enjoyed about being in Charleston the last six years has been the opportunity to follow my alma mater in Southern Conference football. Buying season tickets, tailgating, attending alumni barbecues, hanging with classmates before and after games has become part of the fall routine. Be real and get a life, it's not like following Penn State or Ohio State, or genuflect, Carolina or Clemson. This is football on another level, better than high school, but not BCS stuff, that's for sure. Still, my blood runneth Citadel blue. So, attending games every Saturday has been a treat.

Yes, I've got stadium seats and reserved parking in the Bulldog Club Section. Last year Harriet and the kids treated me to a pair of deluxe Bulldog khakis, the most expensive item of clothing in my closet. I have umpteen Bulldog shirts, and even a pair of shoes somewhere. Yes, there are towels to wave, flags to fly out the car window, decals, and oh yes, a hat collection, every color, every style. If the weather ever gets cold enough there are also sweaters and jackets, rain gear, umbrellas, totes, gloves, insulated Bulldog socks, blankets, and afghans. Don't ask Harriet about the jewelry. As a good Citadel wife, mom, and employee, she owns broaches, bracelets, necklaces, pendants, watches,  pins, scarves, pocketbooks, purses, pens, and other gadgets. Maybe you can see why we look forward to football season so much. It give us the opportunity to strut our stuff, so to speak.

Not this year. We've traded our reserved seats at Johnson Hagood Stadium, pictured above, for two front row seats in the new worship center of Northwood Baptist Church, also pictured above. OK, we've got the team spirit thing for church too---t-shirts, coffee mugs, thermoses, pens, and even a couple of new hats, Northwood logo proudly displayed. We may even do the tail gate thing every once in a while just to stay in practice. Who knows? 

It's a Saturday change of venue. More than that, it's a Saturday shift in priorities. And, I am so thankful to be a part of a church that eagerly wants to make this change of venues for the sake of the Kingdom. This is exciting! I'm looking forward to it. Yes, we'll slip downtown a couple of times to see the Corps of Cadets march to the stadium and maybe talk to a few classmates on Homecoming or Parent's Weekend. Or, maybe to hassle my dad and brother for the Furman game.

But, our seats this year are at Northwood Baptist Church every Saturday @ 5:30 p.m. Hope to see you there too---