What's the buzz... tell me what's happening!

My church has been abuzz, of late, about "The Homeless Problem". Many don't want them hanging around our property. We feed them on Sunday mornings, and to many in our congregation that's too much. Let's keep them away the rest of the week! They scare us.

I'm committed to helping our homeless. I am a staunch supporter of our Sunday Breakfast Ministry. I prepare meals, at my own expense for up to 60 one Sunday each month. I've done it two Sundays a month when the need was present. I feel strongly about the rightness of this ministry, at almost all cost to all other ministry in our church. I feel so strongly about it that if the congregation ever decides to terminate the ministry, I may have to leave the congregation.

Why? Frankly, the homeless scare me, a little, too. I'm relatively shy, an introvert, I don't talk easily with folks I don't know and can't relate to well. My ministry to these folks is two-fold. I cook their breakfast one Sunday a month. And I stand in the food line serving them and doing what comes natural to me... I pay them respect. Each scoop of eggs or ham or bacon or whatever comes with a "Good Morning, Sir! Thank you for joining us today!" Or, "Good Morning, Ma'am! It's a pleasure to see you!" They're human beings, and they deserve common courtesy as much as the VP of my division at work. PErhaps more.

Why am I so devoted to this ministry? Perhaps it's because I come more and more to embrace the words of Peter:

9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,£ in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

I remember my bishop (RCC) referring to gays as "faggots". I recall the numerous condemnations of me as a gay person put out by the Vatican. I hear the sneering attacks on my humanity by major, national evangelists... you know the ones. I have seen people turned away at churches, told they are not welcome, not wanted, unloved. I have seen those who have been graced by a gracious God, turn away those they disapprove of, in acts of utter UNgraciousness and even cruelty.

Once I wasn't anything. But then I discovered that not only am I something very important, someONE very important, but I learned to accept that my God made me who I am, and I am Chosen, a royal priesthood, once I didn't matter, but now I realize I AM part of a people, still scorned by the churches, I've received mercy at my loving Parent's hand. I AM somebody.

How foolish, then, and how ungrateful, could I be as to turn away ANY of God's people because they don't conform to societal norms. Because, for whatever reason, they have found themselves destitute and bereft?

So, no, I don't think we have a homeless problem at my church. We have, in our pastor's words "a homeless situation"... more to the point, perhaps, we have a homeless opportunity.

An opportunity to share the love that has been given us unconditionally by our Parent with others who need that love just as much as we do - maybe, no PROBABLY, more than we do.

Walking

Have I mentioned here that I've taken up the sport of walking? Well, I have.

I don't know a lot about addiction. I'm lucky in that vein... I've never had a problem with alcohol... IF I have a drink, I have A drink... maybe 2. It's been nearly a decade since I've been drunk. And I've only ONCE tried an illegal drug... I took a hit off a cousin's joint. Okay I took several.

Well, I DO smoke. So I fully admit to having at least one addiction. I imagine somewhere out there, there's a Smokers Anonymous program (and please don't misconstrue that comment... I mean no disparaging remark to AA).

But now, I seem to have developed another addiction... to walking! (Another side note... I really don't intend by this comment to minimize addictions.) I can't seem to get enough! And when I walk I need, NEED, to know how far I've walked! I get a bit of a natural high off of a good walk!

I washed my pedometer this week. $60 down the drain... almost literally! I forgot it was attached to my shorts and threw them in the washer. By the time the new one arrived, I thought I'd go crazy not knowing how many steps I'd taken each day.

Every morning, I get up before dawn and get a cup of coffee. Then, I go check email and skim through my list of blogs, opening them all in tabs, then closing the tabs that have nothing new. I leave the remaining tabs for later.

Then I get dressed. First the socks, then the shoes... then, ahem, my underwear, t-shirt and shorts. Why? I have no clue. All other times of the day, I dress the NORMAL way, with shoes and socks last. TMI?

Then, I grab my bottle of specially prepared gatorwater and head out the door. I walk up the hill, listening as I walk (no stroll, this, I mean WALK... HARD!) to the sounds from the houses as families wake up.

About 8 blocks up the hill, the hill starts to steepen. Two more blocks and the hill is now pronounced. I turn right and walk a block over, then left and another block, then right once more. I'm at the foot of Eliott... This is a STEEP hill... without breaking stride, I begin my climb. I have to change my gait a little, or the arthritis of my knee would lock me up. But I keep my pace. By the time I'm at the top of the hill, I'm out of breath, but I don't stop.

I start down the other side. By the time the hill levels out to a bit of a downward slant, my breathing is back to normal. This is good.

Because now I finally slow down and creep another 20 yards until the hill to the right gives way to the edge of the lawn by the nursing home. There she is. Every morning. She's a beautiful girl, always with her two children trailing along.

She looks up at me with those big beautiful eyes, every bit of her attention now on me as she tenses.

I stop. I whisper sweet nothings to her. Finally she relaxes. Behind her, her children look expectantly at her, waiting for her to give some kind of signal. They utterly disregard me. It's MOM who they focus on.

After several minutes, I tell her I have to go. She nods her assent, then bends her long graceful neck to her task. I turn and walk off, looking over my shoulder at her. Every morning it's the same... and for some reason, every morning a tune from Sound of Music pops into my mind... I wonder... am I in love?

"Doe... a deer... a female deer!"

A little further down the path, I sometimes see a raccoon run down in to the creek at my approach. Then I'm over the bridge, and across the highway. From here, its a straight shot down to another highway, a right turn, and 10 minutes later... an hour after starting off... I'm home. I check my faithful pedometer. 5,485 steps. Let's see, a 3 foot stride, 5,485 steps... that's 16,455 feet...uh, come one brain do it... do it.... dooo ittt... ah, yes! 3.11 miles. Sigh. Tomorrow I need to add some to my route. 3.11 miles a morning is just NOT enough!

Scott is now up, feeding the cats. Nikki jumps all over me as though I've been gone a week. The lights come on. I strip off the shoes and socks, the shorts and, uh, shorts. I put a towel over the office chair so that the sweat which now streams off me won't damage the stained fabric... then pour another coffee, sit down and read the blogs that interest me.

I always finish with the same one... one of the few bloggers I feel like I'm beginning to know.

It's now 3:30 p.m. I only have 12 and a half hours before I can do my walk again. I need it! I WANT it! I can't wait!

I'm Back... maybe

(See correction about Lake Moraine below. 8/4/05)

Well, I'm just finally getting settled back in to the hum-drum of daily living after a 10 day vacation... sort of.

Scott & I left on July 21 for a two-pronged vacation. For the first 5 days, we visited beautiful Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This was a blast!

Our first full day, we rented a van and drove up to Jasper National Park and Banff National Park. It was a fun drive, and the views were just awe-inspiring. These parks are home to what I believe to be the most beautiful mountains in North America (perhaps shy of Alaska, which I've not visited...yet.) The Bow River which ran parallel to the highway was a magnificent green color. We saw Elk. Wanted to see bear, but didn't expect to, and didn't.

When we got to Lake Louise, we drove over to the ski lodge and rode the chair lift up to the 6850 foot level. I honestly don't have the kind of language to describe the view! Far off across the valley lay Lake Louise. The air was crisp, clear and with just enough warmth to make the trip up and the visit to the nature center there a delightful experience.

After travelling back down the mountain, we continued along to the west just so we could say we'd visited British Columbia, then made the nearest turn around, and headed back to Lake Louise. This time, we drove up to the lake and walked along it's edges for about an hour. The three people with me all took off a shoe and tested the water. That wasn't good enough for me... I removed both shoes, rolled up my jeans and waded out as far as possible without getting my pants wet. Oh, my gosh! Was it ever cold. But, really, after the numbness set in, it was quite enjoyable!

After leaving the lake, we drove back towards the road (Trans-Canada Rte 1, aka TC-1, by the way) we saw a turn off for another lake, Moraine Lake. Feeling adventurous we followed this road for 11 kilometers (a bit over 6 miles) up a 75% grade (ear-popping time!)

When we finally arrived we discovered that we'd made a fantastic decision. Moraine Lake was far more beautiful, in my opinion, than Lake Moraine! (NOTE (8/4/05): Uh, sorry for this last sentence. It should have said "Lake Moraine was far more... than Lake LOUISE!) I've never seen water that blue! I've never seen anything NATURAL that color blue! The closest I can describe it is... check out a neon "Open" sign... the blue neon ring around the outside... that's close!

Walked over 12 miles that day! Beautiful scenery, good friends, nice companionship... and the man I love... what more could a guy ask for????

The remainder of our time in Calgary was spent at our church's General Conference. Each morning, the four of us woke up, and walked around the city, down to the river (still the Bow) and back up to our hotel... about 3 miles. The rest of the day was spent in awesome worship and reasonably good workshops.

Then it was time to put the cool, crispness of Calgary behind us, as Scott and I flew on to Washington DC, with it's haze and 99 degree heat, and humidity that was almost unbearable.

Washington DC is in actuality a pretty fantastic place to visit. We got to see many of the sights. But I'm so glad it's only a place to visit for me. I'd hate to live there!

We joined my mom and dad for dad's "96th Infantry Division Reunion". It's probably the last one this big, and it was 60 years since the end of the war. It was fun seeing Dad meet old army buddies, in some cases for the first time since he was evacuated from Okinawa.

It was a very stressful time for us, though. Mom's Alzheimer's is taking a serious toll and the stress of the event and travel really showed. I think she had fun. I hope she did! I did, just knowing that it's one of the last memories of her I'll carry.

Of all the cities I've visited in my travels around the globe, Calgary is probably the only one I could REALLY get into. Small enough to be similar in size to Omaha, yet with a distinctly big city air to it. Folks aren't hooked on the macho man image there, lots of folk walk and bike, and there's a decent rapid transit system.

I'm no huge U.S. jingoist. The USA is, to me, just one more country in which to live. No better, and no worse, than any other country. Our legal system and form of government are potentially among the best, yet how we use them, and abuse them, means that potentiality is never reached.

I won't bash my country. I won't bash any other country. I'm happy here.

But if I HAD to leave, I suppose Canada might be a nice place to settle. Not that they're likely to want me!

I'd like to say I was surprised by the anti-American sentiment I encountered there... though it was appropriately directed towards the government, not to individuals. But I wasn't surprised. Not after 5+ years with the Australopithecus that currently pollutes the White House. I'd have called him a Neandertal, but frankly, didn't want to insult that species.

I'm hoping to return to my posting on a more regular basis soon. When I do, though, I plan on writing about what interests me. And if I seem to get stuck in a particular topic or area, well, that's just the way it is. I write for me. If others enjoy it, that's great! If not, I do truly apologize. I've really enjoyed getting to know the one or two folks I've met through my blog.