November 30, 2010
I don't know how many, if any, folks read this blog, but if you do I want you to know that my book, Feminine Faces, has been published by Parson's Porch, out of Cleveland, Tennessee. PP, guided by David Tullock, is a fairly new enterprise and fills quite well the niche for writers like me. My former agent once told me there wasn't a market for guys like me because, in her words, I'm an "evangelical liberal," and nobody was interested in what we had to say. That’s why she’s my former agent. David disagrees, and I’m glad he does!
Eric Killinger, son of my good friend John, is the design editor and did a beautiful job on the book’s layout. To say I am excited about it is an understatement. I have the two complimentary author’s copies, and plan to make a bulk purchase soon. The retail cost of the book is $18.95. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at rhyde@phbclr.com and I will send you one for $15 plus shipping and handling.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Cell Phones
November 30, 2010
Lately, I’ve been walking early in the morning, a two-mile track around the neighborhood. Usually, my sojourns take place before very many folk are out and about. I encounter a few schoolchildren waiting for buses, but overall the traffic is pretty slim. Though I’ve never been too keen on walking for exercise, I’ve found it to be a good way to collect my thoughts, plan my activities for the day, and pray.
My walk this morning got started a bit later than usual, and the traffic was heavier. By the time I was making the turn and about to head home (walking north on Napa Valley Drive), the cars were whizzing by at a pretty good clip. More often than not, I ignore the drivers as I am absorbed in my own thoughts. But this morning I looked into the faces of those who drove past. It was not yet 8:00 a.m., yet most of the young women who drove by (this is not sexist, it’s just the way it was) had their cell phones affixed to their ears.
There is no particular lesson to be gleaned from this, just the observation that the dependence on the cell phone starts mighty early in the morning. Had my daughter been one of those young women driving by, I am thoroughly convinced she would have been counted in that vast number of those who can’t drive without talking to somebody.
Lately, I’ve been walking early in the morning, a two-mile track around the neighborhood. Usually, my sojourns take place before very many folk are out and about. I encounter a few schoolchildren waiting for buses, but overall the traffic is pretty slim. Though I’ve never been too keen on walking for exercise, I’ve found it to be a good way to collect my thoughts, plan my activities for the day, and pray.
My walk this morning got started a bit later than usual, and the traffic was heavier. By the time I was making the turn and about to head home (walking north on Napa Valley Drive), the cars were whizzing by at a pretty good clip. More often than not, I ignore the drivers as I am absorbed in my own thoughts. But this morning I looked into the faces of those who drove past. It was not yet 8:00 a.m., yet most of the young women who drove by (this is not sexist, it’s just the way it was) had their cell phones affixed to their ears.
There is no particular lesson to be gleaned from this, just the observation that the dependence on the cell phone starts mighty early in the morning. Had my daughter been one of those young women driving by, I am thoroughly convinced she would have been counted in that vast number of those who can’t drive without talking to somebody.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tom Logue Redux
We will be saying goodbye to our friend Tom Logue today, so his memory is much on my mind, to say the least.
His copy of God, Could You Talk a Little Louder? was sitting on my desk and I thumbed through it yet again. I will remind you that this little book is a collection of Tom’s journal entries during the 17 years the Logues had Tommy with them. Tommy died of muscular dystrophy in 1972.
All the entries are pure Tom Logue, but let me share this one with you...
I visited friends last week in Hot Springs who had lost a family member. When I returned home, I realized I didn’t have my eyeglasses. I called back to see if I might have left them at the house. I was told they could not find my glasses. There was an extra pair on the piano, but they were sure those belonged to the deceased.
At the graveside service, I served as a pallbearer. When the casket was opened it looked to me – without my glasses – that the deceased was wearing my glasses!
After the service was over, I asked the preacher to tarry with me a moment. I told him my dilemma.
Even looking closer, without my glasses, I couldn’t tell for sure if the gentleman had on my glasses.
My glasses never have “shown up here” at the house, or the office, or anywhere.
My guess it they have “shown up There.” Well, if they had to go, I am glad they didn’t take me with them.
It is my hope that where Tom is now, he won’t need his glasses.
We will be saying goodbye to our friend Tom Logue today, so his memory is much on my mind, to say the least.
His copy of God, Could You Talk a Little Louder? was sitting on my desk and I thumbed through it yet again. I will remind you that this little book is a collection of Tom’s journal entries during the 17 years the Logues had Tommy with them. Tommy died of muscular dystrophy in 1972.
All the entries are pure Tom Logue, but let me share this one with you...
I visited friends last week in Hot Springs who had lost a family member. When I returned home, I realized I didn’t have my eyeglasses. I called back to see if I might have left them at the house. I was told they could not find my glasses. There was an extra pair on the piano, but they were sure those belonged to the deceased.
At the graveside service, I served as a pallbearer. When the casket was opened it looked to me – without my glasses – that the deceased was wearing my glasses!
After the service was over, I asked the preacher to tarry with me a moment. I told him my dilemma.
Even looking closer, without my glasses, I couldn’t tell for sure if the gentleman had on my glasses.
My glasses never have “shown up here” at the house, or the office, or anywhere.
My guess it they have “shown up There.” Well, if they had to go, I am glad they didn’t take me with them.
It is my hope that where Tom is now, he won’t need his glasses.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tom Logue
We’ve lost a real friend and colleague. Tom Logue, for many years the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s Baptist Student Director, and then in retirement the Coordinator of the Arkansas Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died Saturday night. His service will be Tuesday, March 9, at Second Baptist in Little Rock (see my newsletter column from March 9).
Tom joined Second Baptist a few months ago, along with his daughter Louise. For years Tom was faithful to the Lakeshore Drive church (formerly University Baptist). Lakeshore Drive has just about died, if it hasn’t ceased worshiping altogether. Tom loved that little church and gave his heart and soul to it, as he did anything to which he was committed. As long as he was the CBF coordinator, he kept his office at the church.
Most of all, Tom was committed to Jesus. I have told many people, and I’ve said it in front of Tom, that he’s influenced more people for Jesus than anybody I know. He didn’t do it by confronting people; he simply loved them. He did this despite his own personal pain. His eldest son, Tommy, died in 1972 at the age of 17 from muscular dystrophy, a slow, debilitating disease. As Tom put it, “His cup was measured and he savored every drop.”
A funny thing happened on the way to this blog... Just before I sat down to my computer to form these thoughts, I got a call from a woman representing the local muscular dystrophy association. It seems that on April 7 I will be “arrested.” My bail is $2000, and I have until then to raise it.
What an aggravation, I thought. I don’t have time for this, and the only means by which to raise this kind of money is through my contacts at the church. And yet, I don’t want to ask my congregation to pony up. And then I thought of Tom. Years ago he wrote a little book – actually, it’s a compilation of his daily journal thoughts during the time Tommy was ill – entitled God, Could You Talk a Little Louder? Now, I’m wondering if Tom is talking to me from the other side.
You know what, this is a small thing I could do for MD, to help them raise funds to send children like Tommy to summer camp. I think I’ll ask them if we can do this in Tom’s memory.
We’ve lost a real friend and colleague. Tom Logue, for many years the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s Baptist Student Director, and then in retirement the Coordinator of the Arkansas Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died Saturday night. His service will be Tuesday, March 9, at Second Baptist in Little Rock (see my newsletter column from March 9).
Tom joined Second Baptist a few months ago, along with his daughter Louise. For years Tom was faithful to the Lakeshore Drive church (formerly University Baptist). Lakeshore Drive has just about died, if it hasn’t ceased worshiping altogether. Tom loved that little church and gave his heart and soul to it, as he did anything to which he was committed. As long as he was the CBF coordinator, he kept his office at the church.
Most of all, Tom was committed to Jesus. I have told many people, and I’ve said it in front of Tom, that he’s influenced more people for Jesus than anybody I know. He didn’t do it by confronting people; he simply loved them. He did this despite his own personal pain. His eldest son, Tommy, died in 1972 at the age of 17 from muscular dystrophy, a slow, debilitating disease. As Tom put it, “His cup was measured and he savored every drop.”
A funny thing happened on the way to this blog... Just before I sat down to my computer to form these thoughts, I got a call from a woman representing the local muscular dystrophy association. It seems that on April 7 I will be “arrested.” My bail is $2000, and I have until then to raise it.
What an aggravation, I thought. I don’t have time for this, and the only means by which to raise this kind of money is through my contacts at the church. And yet, I don’t want to ask my congregation to pony up. And then I thought of Tom. Years ago he wrote a little book – actually, it’s a compilation of his daily journal thoughts during the time Tommy was ill – entitled God, Could You Talk a Little Louder? Now, I’m wondering if Tom is talking to me from the other side.
You know what, this is a small thing I could do for MD, to help them raise funds to send children like Tommy to summer camp. I think I’ll ask them if we can do this in Tom’s memory.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tiger and Toyota
It is not necessary to recount the sins of Tiger Woods. That has already been done in ample supply. We all know what Tiger did… and with whom… and almost how many times. As he said himself, the temptations were easily available to him because of his fame and fortune, and he took “advantage” of them. The question is, of course, who took advantage of whom?
Nor do we need to jump on the anti-Toyota bandwagon because of their recent woes. I could be accused of a conflict of interest since I drive one of their vehicles. But it’s a 2000 model with almost 124,000 miles on it, and as far as I know was manufactured long before the accelerator/floor mats/ brake problems/ lack of forthrightness issues that have come before public scrutiny of late.
But hold on to your hat, lean in closely, and listen carefully. This is my take on the matter: Tiger and Toyota have the exact same problem… which would have been more ironic had it been Toyota that dumped Tiger as a spokesman instead of Buick. This occurred, of course, even before his peccadilloes came to light. Their problem is (are you ready?) idolatry. Both made the bottom line their god, and in the process innocent people got hurt. In Tiger’s case, of course, it was his family. When it comes to Toyota, the damage is more obvious.
Tiger didn’t need a bigger bottom line, at least one that represents dollars, for he literally has money to burn. But his bulging wallet, not to mention his notoriety, gave him access to places and people he did not need to encounter. Toyota disregarded the welfare of its clients because of its desire to produce what they could pass off as quality vehicles and, as much as possible, do it on the cheap. In both cases, priorities were skewed, constituencies were disregarded and both discovered the truth in the maxim that says, “Be sure your sins will find you out.”
And both have now issued public “apologies.” I put “apologies” in quotation marks because cynics will suggest they weren’t sincere. Whether that is true must be left up to Tiger and Mr. Toyoda, the chairman of Toyota (the name spellings are a bit confusing, aren’t they?). Tiger’s body language was wooden, as if he would have rather been anywhere else but standing in front of that camera with a microphone in his face. And I’m sure that was the case. However, he still called the shots, limiting his audience to selected supporters and not taking questions. Mr. Toyoda was very emotional in his public outing, but we are told that it is a part of Japanese custom for one in his unfortunate position to exhibit that kind of behavior. In other words, it is expected in order not to lose any more face than is already the case.
What are we to make of this? It’s simple. We must learn from it. To focus on the one true God keeps our vision cast beyond ourselves and our immediate needs. And it helps us when it comes to our worship in making sure that the God to whom we give our allegiance has nothing to do with instant desires. In the meantime, let’s hope that both Tiger and Toyota can find some redemption. After all, we do believe in grace, do we not?
Nor do we need to jump on the anti-Toyota bandwagon because of their recent woes. I could be accused of a conflict of interest since I drive one of their vehicles. But it’s a 2000 model with almost 124,000 miles on it, and as far as I know was manufactured long before the accelerator/floor mats/ brake problems/ lack of forthrightness issues that have come before public scrutiny of late.
But hold on to your hat, lean in closely, and listen carefully. This is my take on the matter: Tiger and Toyota have the exact same problem… which would have been more ironic had it been Toyota that dumped Tiger as a spokesman instead of Buick. This occurred, of course, even before his peccadilloes came to light. Their problem is (are you ready?) idolatry. Both made the bottom line their god, and in the process innocent people got hurt. In Tiger’s case, of course, it was his family. When it comes to Toyota, the damage is more obvious.
Tiger didn’t need a bigger bottom line, at least one that represents dollars, for he literally has money to burn. But his bulging wallet, not to mention his notoriety, gave him access to places and people he did not need to encounter. Toyota disregarded the welfare of its clients because of its desire to produce what they could pass off as quality vehicles and, as much as possible, do it on the cheap. In both cases, priorities were skewed, constituencies were disregarded and both discovered the truth in the maxim that says, “Be sure your sins will find you out.”
And both have now issued public “apologies.” I put “apologies” in quotation marks because cynics will suggest they weren’t sincere. Whether that is true must be left up to Tiger and Mr. Toyoda, the chairman of Toyota (the name spellings are a bit confusing, aren’t they?). Tiger’s body language was wooden, as if he would have rather been anywhere else but standing in front of that camera with a microphone in his face. And I’m sure that was the case. However, he still called the shots, limiting his audience to selected supporters and not taking questions. Mr. Toyoda was very emotional in his public outing, but we are told that it is a part of Japanese custom for one in his unfortunate position to exhibit that kind of behavior. In other words, it is expected in order not to lose any more face than is already the case.
What are we to make of this? It’s simple. We must learn from it. To focus on the one true God keeps our vision cast beyond ourselves and our immediate needs. And it helps us when it comes to our worship in making sure that the God to whom we give our allegiance has nothing to do with instant desires. In the meantime, let’s hope that both Tiger and Toyota can find some redemption. After all, we do believe in grace, do we not?
A Personal Note
There has been a noticeable lack of entries to my blog column these last few months. A knee replacement will do that to you, not to mention the demands of church and other things. Now, having gained some momentum, and unfortunately a bit of weight, I’m ready to get back to the practice of fairly regularly letting you know what is rolling around in my brain. These entries are in addition to what you will find in our weekly newsletter and in my sermons. I hope you find them to be of some value, and I welcome your personal responses. My e-mail address is rhyde@phbclr.com.
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