"I thought it was God, but it turned out to be Michigan"

Walking throught the living room in mid-commercial I had an interesting experience.

The TV was on and a commercial showed many Lighthouse images, and although I wasn't listening closely, the voice-over seemed to be in favor of light over darkness - good, positive, imagery.

At the close of the commercial, when the viewer is being invited to experience the light, I was expecting the name of a Church, or the Latter Day Saints, to come up - when instead it turned out that this was a tourism ad for MICHIGAN!

Not sure what to make of that shocker - mainly it was good for a laugh. It was about the 100+ actual lighthouses in The State Up North. Even though I bear the same last name as legendary tOSU Coach Wayne Woodrow, I can actually say some good things about the place. I have known some very fine human beings who originated there - many of whom still have a fondness for the place.

But if this commercial wasn't going to turn out to be about God, couldn't it at least have been about - oh, I don't know - Wisconsin?

My quandary over the lack of a lesson in this scenario reminds me (as SO many things do) of a Peanuts cartoon. Once Snoopy found his water dish empty and there were no humans around. He picked up his dish in his mouth and went and stood under a faucet (which was turned off). As he stood there, it began to rain, & his bowl filled up and he got his drink. In the last panel, Snoopy's thought balloon says, "I'm going to have to think about that one for a while."

Same here.

Also, of course, the title of this piece owes some debt to the classic Children's Sermon story, where the minister asks the kids, "What has a cute fluffy tail and scampers up and down trees and hides acorns?" One kid, obviously a veteran of the front Sanctuary steps where these encounters take place, responded, "Well, it sure sounds like a squirrel, but since this is the Children's Sermon I know it's Jesus."

God - Michigan. Way different.

When I figure out a lesson here, I'll get back to you.

[As always, if this is your first visit to "Leaving Nadderby", I suggest that you click on February 2008 and go down to "Looking Back" as an introduction to the site. I hope soon to figure out the intricacies of RSS & to again let the world know that this is online.]

We have no King (of the dogs) but Cesar

One of the great discoveries in my life in 2009 is Cesar Millan.

For those who don't watch the National Geographic channel, his name might be a mystery. To those who do watch, you might recognize him as "The Dog Whisperer".

My family is weary of hearing me extol his virtues, but when someone has had a positive effect on your life, you should bear witness. Toby (7-year-old Lab/Weimaraner mix) & I can now take walks in town together - something impossible for most of Toby's life due to his enormous strength and insatiable curiosity (coupled with my lack of strength and/or patience).

Now he will walk beside me with a slack lead. Now he is willing to suspend his lifetime agenda of saying 'hello' to every person/dog/animal on the planet one being at a time. Now he doesn't strain and cough and choke. How is such a miracle possible?

The Dog Whisperer.

Cesar has a mantra that he repeats over and over to the owners of the dogs with which he works:

• Exercise
• Discipline
• Affection

IN THAT ORDER.

He points out over and over that American dogs get plenty of affection, but their main needs are for Exercise & Discipline (knowing who the "pack leader" is [me] and who the pack leader is not [him]). You can check out Cesar at http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/.

Not a bad approach to life in general. My kids can laugh at me all they want. Since I've been able to walk Toby more easily (without the need to head for the woods), I've been able to increase my own excercise & discipline.

Toby is irresistible - he will always get tons of affection. It is not true affection, though, to let dogs think they are in charge - they're not really up to it. My fond hope is that America (and the world) will discover the Dog Whisperer and apply his tenets to life in general.

It could result in much better kids.

[As always, if this is your first visit to "Leaving Nadderby", I suggest that you click on February 2008 and go down to "Looking Back" as an introduction to the site. I hope soon to figure out the intricacies of RSS & to again let the world know that this is online. ALSO, stay tuned for more wisdom from Cesar in future posts (I'll go ahead & apologize to my family in advance - sorry guys).

Shhhhhhhh -

Keep it under your hat, but I'm going to post something here - broken keyboard and all (but that's another story). It's been a whale of a year, with enormous peaks and valleys, and it has seemed like too much to even put pen to paper (so to speak).

Oddly enough, the first post here, the one that pretty much created "Leaving Nadderby", spoke to just the kind of year this has been. If anyone else sees this post, I will as in the past recommend that you find the original "Looking Back" from February 2008 as an introduction to what Leaving Nadderby is all about, when I'm able to do it.

The year has not all been bad news, and even in adjusting to new directions there have been whispers of new beginnings & possibilities.

My deepest apologies to anyone who has checked by at this site over the past year. This is the first day of Spring (at least since 7:44 EDT), so maybe it really can be a new beginning. I stopped making rash promises about what I would be able to do a long time ago, but there is hope. [BTW, when people talk about "opening a Pandora's Box" in reference to unleashing a torrent of evils, they often forget that the storyteller said that there was still one thing remaining to be unleashed after Pandora's curiosity had turned loose all of the world's evils - Hope. (Storytellers, paradoxically, often know the most about telling the Truth)].

If I can get going again, I will look into the RSS possibilities (about which I was enlightened last year - thanks to a reader) as a way to get word around, but for today it's just about seeing if I can manage to both type AND hit the "publish post" button.

Stay tuned.

With apologies to Henry Ford

Henry Ford once famously said, "Never explain", but with all due respect to Mr. Ford I owe you a line of explanation for recent absences - the pain levels have just been a little out of reach for the last couple of weeks, & it has made actually completing posts seem like too much. This shouldn't be permanent, & apologies to those who click here & find nothing new, - hang in there (see the original post, which I've been re-visiting this week).

BTW - this counts as a post, so now I'm only 5 behind.
- Steve

Dancing with my Father

In addition to watching Spring warily edge its way into Ohio, this is the time of year when we celebrate our wedding anniversary and our Son's birthday. It's now been more than a decade and a half since we lost my Dad to cancer in between those 2 celebrations. On the night before Dad's funeral, Mom asked if I would "write something" for Dad. This is what I wrote.



When Dad came back from the hospital after back surgery, he was still able to walk, if he had some help. So - when he wanted to go down the hall, or into the family room, he and some family member would engage in a slow, deliberate dance, with one person walking backwards, providing support, and Dad holding on and directing the operation.

He and I did this strange dance down the hall, with me there for support and his strong, strong hands holding on to my arms. It made me think of so many other times when I had noticed the strength of those hands, all through my life.

For most of his adult life, Dad held a 'white-collar' job, but I always thought of him in terms of physical labor, and pictured always the strength in those hands.

Those hand had, in the course of his life, chopped cotton, picked cotton, and hoed down the long rows of innumerable gardens and fields. They had also held a well-worn Bible with tender care as he prepared to share the Word in worship or with parishioners who, as he did in recent days, knew illness or incapacity.

Those hands, which could display such strength, could gently caress the frailest hand of another, and did - as he stood by countless hospital beds - a steadfast presence when other friends and family members faced death.

I would think of these things as we did our slow, walking dance around my brother's home. It seems strange, in a family which is not usually physically demonstrative, to remember Dad in a word like "dance" - but for me the image connects with an old Shaker tune used in a hymn that refers to Christ as "Lord of the Dance" -

"... they buried my body and they thought I'd gone, but I am the Dance and I still go on. They cut me down & I leapt up high, I am the life that will never, never die; I'll live in you if you'll live in me. I am the Lord of the Dance said He."

[19th century Shaker tune/Words by Sydney Carter, 1963]

This is for Dad, as he experiences the Life whose promise he shared with so many others, and which he now enjoys. This is from one of your sons, but it comes on behalf of many, many more people.

Thanks - thanks for the dance, Dad.

Why It's Good That There Are Females

The other day I was sitting at a table which had on it (among other things) a tablecloth and a salad fork. As I looked at those items, it occurred to me that if there had never been such a thing as a female, probably neither item would have ever been invented.

[Caution: Absolutely NO Lesson Ahead]

I cannot imagine a world populated entirely by guys in which one of them would one day say, "Hey, why don't we put a cloth over the table before we eat?" I can't even picture guys coming up with a placemat, unless it was a practical matter, like eating over the classified ads so that when you were finished you could just fold up the whole mess & throw it away.

Like many useful inspirations, this one got me to wandering further down the path after the first transient thought (if you are looking for a clue as to how guys' minds function, that was it).

Curtains? I doubt it. I just can't picture any part of a world that was exclusively filled with men that would come up with the idea of hanging colored fabrics over windows. Likewise for scented candles - especially any that matched curtains - or pretty much anything that matched anything else in the house, or existed just to make things smell better.

Guys can exhibit a certain genius for using everyday items in a variety of ways. Coasters? Why would you need that when you have old newspapers & magazines? Why would anyone invent a bathrobe when they already have towels? For that matter, towels could replace rugs by the shower, or just about anywhere else that you really needed something on the floor.

I don't think any craft items would exist that were not made of iron or wood - and don't even get me started on fabric softener.

It's not that any of these items are unnecessary, I just don't think that in a world with no females, anyone would have ever thought them up. And, while in many ways it would have been a simpler world, there's little doubt that it would also probably be louder, & messier, & let's be honest, it wouldn't smell so good. So, good job, God, on thinking up the whole female idea.

Maybe you have your own thoughts on what would be missing in a guy-only world. If so, let me know. And I think we can all agree that I was being honest when I promised absolutely no lesson to be had here at all.

BLOG NOTES: As always, if this is your first visit to "Leaving Nadderby" (especially if, God forbid, this post is your only experience of the site), you are urged to look for "Looking Back" from February 2008 as an introduction. Still working on notifications ideas & ways that you can sign up to receive updates if you want them - meanwhile, continued thanks for any & all forwards. - Steve

Doing What the Stone Could Not

Easter has come and gone again (at least in the Western tradition - the Orthodox believers still have till April 27th to anticipate this centerpiece of the Christian faith). As Easter drew near this year, it occurred to me that the Church has often managed to do what the stone failed to do - keep Jesus in the tomb.

After all of the terrible & bloody tortures of the Passion, and being buried behind a stone door, Jesus managed to defeat Death & escape the tomb only to be delivered into the hands of a Church which has all too often domesticated him, softened his message, and kept him shut within the walls of Churches, where his resurrection goes largely unnoticed by a world which could really use some Good News.

Near the end of the 19th century, a noted British Baptist minister named C.H. Spurgeon was involved in debates about the truth of Scripture. He suggested that you defend the Bible the same way you would defend a full-grown lion-you turn it loose.

Christians have all too often acted as if Christ is their own special possession who needs protection from a rough & tumble world. 'Blue laws' (forbidding most commerce in many communities on Sundays) were an earlier day's effort to maintain a semblance of holiness, or at least better behavior for the day. [As my mother was fond of pointing out back then, this didn't keep the Christians (including us) from patronizing restaurants 'en masse' after Church].

This is a plea, I guess, for the Church not to settle for keeping Christ always within the walls of the Church building. Sunday morning is not only the most segregated hour of the week (as Senator Obama recently reminded us), it is the most invisible hour of the week for most of the world. For the unchurched (oh...there's a churchy word), the things that happen within churches are mostly unknown or, even more scandalous, uninteresting.

Turning Jesus loose into the world beyond the comforts of Church life will be messy, and it will make most Christians uncomfortable. It will take serious effort on the part of church-folks to move beyond the contentment that has characterized most church life for the last century. If the Church is brave enough to truly engage the world with Christ & not just with church-stuff, however, there may be a delightful surprise waiting.

The One who couldn't be held in by the stone door of the tomb is already there.

BLOG NOTE: If this is your first visit to "Leaving Nadderby", you are strongly urged to go to the February 2008 link for "Looking Back" as an introduction to the site. My blog advisor is urging me to increase production & to understand the nature of "blogs" & not to approach each one as a piece of writing (so that more thoughts get published more often). For this week & April, I'll commit to 3/week, on matters great & small, as a way of trying to learn that. As always, I am thrilled to get your feedback, on the site or in person (even if it is just 'Hey, I'm here!'). Thanks for the generosity I've been shown as this begins. - Steve