Hide & Seek

Remember the game Hide & Go Seek? It’s a child’s game that has two parts. One child turns his back and count on the home base, usually a tree, while the rest hide. A minister I talked to the other day gave me a different variation. He told me that the game had three parts; a hider, a seeker and an opportunist. He broke it down for me. Remember as a hider you always tried to find the places where no one expected you to be. Sometimes those places are very uncomfortable and dirty. They are not always close to home base, so you better be fast to outrun the seeker. It can be very hard if you’re stiff from being in an uncomfortable position so quite possibly even if you are fast, you might not win. By the time you run out the stiffness, it could be too late. The seeker (hunter) beats you back to home base. Game over, you lose. The opportunist, however, will try to stay as close to the home base as possible, because he believes that he can outrun the seeker and will be in a position to move quickly. He’ll hide but hopes that the seeker will overlook his hiding place. His comfort zone is always changing. He wants to do better each given moment. He is thinking constantly what he can do to get to home base safely. Compare our hiding to the way of living. Many times, we live, work, or stay in uncomfortable positions. Sometimes, we don’t have any other choice. But, when we stay so long, we become complacent and comfortable. We don’t want to leave that comfort zone because of various reasons. It’s not easy to deal with change. We enter unfamiliar territory and we are fearful of what might happen to us. We must walk in faith and remember that we are never alone. Even though we might not see Him, true faith will prevail. It might be hard for some unbelievers, but if they believe in themselves, they will see the power that our Almighty God has given us. And with His help we can use it to glorify Him.

For October 21, 2009

Today is our mother’s birthday. Had she lived, she would have been 79. Even though it’s been only two years ago, it still seems like yesterday when I last talked to her and she said she wasn’t feeling well. Tears are beginning to well up and I’m having a hard time typing this. My grandmom and her instilled in me a can-do attitude and to always treat people the way you would like to be treated. That is, be kind, patient and respectful to others, even if you didn’t like them. They are still someone else’s child. I wanted to do something special at her gravesite but I know that she would rather for me to keep things simple and pay tribute by being a better person. I can almost hear her say, baby, don’t waste your money on me, I don’t need that. Mom liked nice things but she wasn’t an extravagant person. I think a lot of that has rubbed off on me. I’m not a materialistic person. I want to enjoy some things as long as I live but I also know that I can’t take any of it with me. I also know that I like peace and comfort not stress and drama. I buy what I can afford, and enjoy what I have. Keeping up with big payments can be stressful even if it’s showing others how much I have. Well, you just about have to kill yourself by working so hard to keep it. But, in the process, how much are you willing to give up? And who and what are you willing to give up? I have seen people with such expensive things that they can’t enjoy it. They can’t enjoy vacations or just be still because their mind is on what they’ll have to do at work to keep making the big bucks. Mom, talked about appreciating the simple things, not be jealous of anyone, but be true to yourself. She was my confidante and as I got older I realized that life itself isn’t as complicated as we think. She took time with my stupidity and ignorance, always forgiving and always patient. Losing someone you love leaves an emptiness inside. Cherish them, take time with them, appreciate them and love them. Because someday, you or them, will have some wonderful, unforgettable memories to share.

That Inner Voice

Sometimes we are so busy rushing through the routines of life that we don’t have or take the time to listen to the Voice of God. I mean we get so wrapped up going to work, doing our work, picking up the kids, running to the store, cleaning up the house, dealing with traffic congestions, and maintaining our sanity that we actually don’t have the time to make time for a moment of peace. This is what we do! We rip and run to show that we are productive and not wasting our time. We don’t think about the stress and strain brought on by some of our own self-inflicted necessities. We are in such a hurry that sometimes, we ignore that inner voice that tells us to take another route or do something differently. Then we get perturbed with ourselves when we are stuck in traffic or didn’t look down when we should have. I usually say, I knew I should have done it the way my mind told me. Okay, we ignored the Voice that time. But what do we do when we’re supposed to be enjoying ourselves and don’t take the time to appreciate it? Do we take the time to eat with our families? Keep up with old friends? Greet passersby with a smile? Do we really take the time to appreciate the sights during our walks? What about looking at our loved ones? Do we even bother to take the time to pray and thank God during our busy schedules? Miracles are happening every day and we don’t notice. We separate ourselves from God and ourselves for the sake of completing today’s mission. Today, we’re already planning what to do tomorrow. We have to! If we can get a jump and expect the unexpected we think we are already one step ahead. We’ve forgotten that we are on loan. Whether it’s today or tomorrow, nothing is guaranteed except death and taxes.

Attitude

Encarta Dictionary defines Attitude as a personal view of something, bodily posture, challenging manner, orientation of aircraft’s axes, and orientation of spacecraft. Of course, a positive attitude can take us to a higher altitude. Since this topic is not about aircraft, we can presume that I want to discuss personal views. It’s not easy being or staying positive. Our surroundings alone, not counting socio-economic conditions, can be the excuse we need not to be positive. That in itself implies that wanting to be positive requires discipline and commitment. In other words, having a positive attitude takes a lot of work. For the sake of not staying rhetorical, let’s keep this simple. The right attitude can make a major difference in your life even when those unforeseen obstacles pop up during our journey in life. We all have had our shares of ups and downs. It seems that the downs dominate. But there is nowhere written that we would be exempt from life’s problems. In fact, Adam and Eve had there share of problems and we all know that they had everything they wanted. But, they made their choice, just as we choose to be either positive or negative. We tend to choose the negative. We can’t help it. Misery, though depressing, makes us focus on the reality of life that bad things happen. And there is nothing that can be done about it. And because we expect the worse, we draw the negative to us. We are what we think. Mother Theresa called problems, gifts. Imagine waiting in line for a while and considering it a gift. Imagine being stuck in traffic for hours and saying it’s a gift. Imagine wondering how you’re going to pay bills with no money available as a gift. As hard as we try to develop our relationship with God and try to do right, when things go wrong, we choose the negative emotion because it’s comfortable and easy to deal with. How can we look at issues as gifts? Trying to be positive is hard enough but look at problems as gifts will take more than human effort. We really need to look for help from a higher being. Frankly, I don’t think it would hurt. What do we have to lose? One thing for sure, we can do something with the presents we have. We can at least try.

Semper Fidelis

In these times of political and national disagreements, let us take a moment to pay tribute to our fallen heroes. As I said before, men and women serve our country in the various capacities in the military, medical response, and law enforcement put their lives on the line everyday. They do it not just as an obligation of duty, but they as a need to make a difference. It is indeed regrettable regardless of age, race, or culture that their families and others will never see them again. It is bad enough that those same families worry day and night whether their loved one will return home safely. How ironic can it be that we lose a South Carolina State Trooper leading a memorial procession for a fallen fellow trooper, who also, was killed in the line of duty in 1992 on the same route? We may never know what was in the mind of the elderly lady that did it. I believe that she is experiencing a personal hell that only she can live with. But, now is the time to mourn a lost life. Both families, friends, community, and the department are mourning a person that was very dear to them. So in these times of frustrations and whatever you would like to add, let us for a moment say a pray for those heroes who take an oath to protect us everyday and lose their lives in doing so. Say a prayer for those people that are close to you that are being taken for granted. You have found a better peace, brother!

Family Love

This insert will be about peaceful, pleasant and positive talk. I’m tired of reading, hearing, and seeing so much negativity and evil done against each other in the news. So today, I’m going to devote this submission to focus on people helping each other. Of course, you know that this was labor intensive. It was hard to find something good that the media reports but I’m sure even the media can get tired of bad news. Here is a wonderful story about a father’s love. “Dad simply wanted a souvenir - not a national television appearance. Steve Monforto won over many hearts after his 3-year-old daughter tossed a foul ball he caught at a Phillies game back onto the field. Stunned by his toddler's toss, all Dad could do was hug her. "I didn't want her to think she did anything wrong," Monforto said on WIP-AM radio Wednesday." By the way, Philly beat the Washington Nationals 5-0. That’s what we need more of, real love for one another. I give the media some credit for this. Hopefully, they'll find more good things to talk about.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Baby John

My baptismal godfather passed this weekend in silence. His name was Crayton but we called Mr. Baby John. Ever since we were children that was what we always called him. He owned a store in the neighborhood when we were kids. He had another brother who owned a store in another part of the neighborhood a little farther from where we lived. Those were the days when a nickel could go a long way. You could get push-ups, ice cream in a cup with a stick at the bottom to push it up. Ice cream cups, ginger snap cookies, and an assortment of candies. Even a penny could buy two for one cookies. As a child there were so much you could get with change. A quarter made you feel rich. After we'd look for loose change or earn our allowance, we would go to Mr. Baby John's and load up. He was a really nice guy, we couldn't be loud or disrespectful in the store but that was expected of us. He knew all of our parents and would tell if we were out of line. Back in those days, parents, teachers and neighbors didn't have a problem disciplining us kids. He wouldn't let us "hang out" in front of his store but we played football and baseball in the back of it. He and his wife had three children, two daughters and a son. All are very successful. Most of the guys back then had a crush on his oldest daughter. I could go about our childhood but I won't. This is a tribute for Mr. Baby John. As Mr. Baby John got older, he closed up his store, retired and did other things. He also owned a building next to the store where he stored things and let other people in the neighborhood use it. I'm much older now but back in those days no one thought of taking anything from his store. If you needed anything, he would give it to you. He knew us like that. This is just a small tribute to a good man. All of us have our ways and all of us have good and bad days. Whatever it might have been, Mr. Baby John treated us kids like human beings. Rest in peace, Mr. Baby John, we'll miss you old timers.