Category: Newspaper Columns

Columns I wrote for The Belton Journal, Harker Heights Evening Star or elsewhere

The key to the White Elephant

I wrote an article a couple years back for Relevant Magazine and thought it’s relevant again with the holiday season…

Christmas is definitely here. Lights are a-twinkle around town. The advent candles are burning, and children everywhere are a part of numerous Christmas musicals.
Christmas also brings the proverbial White Elephant gift exchange. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this now common Christmas tradition, let me give you an explanation and some tips for walking away with the best gift.
The White Elephant gift exchange is a game likely dreamed up by genius guys, somewhere, who wanted an excuse for not knowing how to shop for their friends, girlfriends, wives and coworkers. Each person brings an unmarked gift, and then numbers are drawn to allow each person a turn to pick a present from the pile. The ingenious creators of the game also made a unique “out” to ensure they didn’t walk away with a disappointing gift. After a gift has been unwrapped, the partygoers who have not chosen their gift have the opportunity to steal one of the unwrapped gifts, rather than selecting from the pile of the unknown.

Click to read more. (expired link)

This week’s column: An unlikely source

Adolphe Charles Adam was born July 24, 1803. He was born in France, the son of a Jewish music professor at the Conservatoire.

His mother was the daughter of a notable physician.

Adam began to study music but preferred improvising as he went, rather than studying specific pieces or composers.

By the time he was 20 he was writing songs for Paris vaudeville houses.

By 1830 he had completed 28 works for the theater.

Adam is probably best known for his work in authoring the ballet Giselle. He wrote a number of other ballets and nearly 40 operas before his death.

In 1847 he opened the third opera house in Paris, The Theatre National, after feuding with the owner of The Opera, another opera house in the city.

The Revolution of 1848 closed The Theatre National and left Adam with overwhelming debt.

He briefly turned to journalism but settled on teaching composition at the Paris Conservatoire from 1849 till his death in 1856.

Placide Cappeaua was born in Roquemaure, France, north of Avignon in 1808.

Cappeaua was a wine seller and an occasional writer.

Although Cappeaua was not a regular at church, yet a parish priest knew of his writing abilities and asked him to pen a poem about Christmas in 1847.

On his way to Paris, Cappeaua, inspired by the Gospel of Luke, wrote “Minuit, Chretiens.”

Once in Paris, Cappeaua met Adam and asked him to pen music for the Christmas poem.

Three days later, Adam wrote the tune and “Cantique de Noël” was premiered at midnight mass on Christmas Eve, 1847 in Roquremaure.

Not long after its debut, the song began to receive attacks from church leaders in France.

Cappeaua later left the church to join the socialist movement and adopted the more “extreme” political and social ideas of his day – such as opposition to slavery, inequality, injustice and other kinds of oppression.

It was also discovered that Adam was in fact Jewish and his reputation of composing ballets and operas was deemed incompatible with the composition of Christian songs.

The song was attacked not for the nature or subject of the song, but because of who wrote the song.

One French bishop denounced the song for its “lack of musical taste and total absence of the spirit of religion.”

But despite being shunned from the church, the song lived on in the homes and hearts of the French.

And in 1855, American Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight published an English translation to the song, “O Holy Night.”

Dwights’ strong anti-slavery views shown through in his translation with the lyrics: “Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, And in His name all oppression shall cease.”

And so today, we sing — a Christmas song, shunned by the church, written by a French Socialist and a Jewish composer, translated by a Unitarian minister and written about a holy night when God became man to save us all from the oppression of sin.

—

Not only was “O Holy Night” composed by a Jewish composer, but a number of other Christmas songs were written or composed by Jews.

“White Christmas” was written by Irving Berlin.
“You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” was written by Albert Hague.
“We Need a Little Christmas” was written by Jerry Herman.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas” were written by Johhny Marks.
“The Christmas Walz” and “Let it Snow, Let is Snow, Let it Snow” was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne.
“Silver Bells” was written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston.
“I’m Getting’ Nuttin’ for Christmas” was written by Barry Gordo

This week’s column: Returning home

It’s been five-years, but I’ve finally made my return to the Mega-Plex.

I was born in Dallas, raised in Dallas and graduated in Mesquite.

During college I moved to central Texas and Belton where I swore it would be a long time before I would ever consider returning to the Big-D.

But paths, passions and feelings can change quickly – sometimes overnight.

And now that I’ve moved back, I’ve moved in with my parents for a few weeks until final contracts are signed on my house.

A lot has changed in five years.

As I moved back into my old bedroom, which was painted lavender several years ago, I reflected on yester-year.

My first memory of our house in Mesquite was slightly traumatic.

We moved from 8751 Milverton in Dallas to Mesquite at the end of my freshman year.

Shortly after we moved I decided it was time to put my waterbed back together and began the process of filling the large mattress.

But watching a waterbed fill with water is about as exciting as watching an Austin College or McMurry University football game.

So I left my room and went outside to play football with my sisters.

Naturally football took precedence and it was several hours before I returned inside.

In the span of several hours, the hose filling my waterbed had popped lose from its connection and filled the entire end of the house with 1/2-an-inch of water.

Needless to say, my mom wasn’t too happy – until she found out she would be able to re-carpet the entire house for a small insurance deductible.

Now, more than 10 years later, my mom is ready to re-carpet the house, but unfortunately the waterbed is long gone.

As I look back and reflect, I remember the last time I lived at home with my family.

August 2000.

At the time I was 21 and ready to move to University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

My sisters Amy and Kara were in the room next door.

I remember randomly running into their room while they tried to sleep and jumping on top of both of them. I also had a “bad habit” of pulling off their covers while they tried to sleep.

But that last night I lived at home I remember I couldn’t sleep.

I was so anxious to head to college.

Then in 2003 when I finally finished school, I was so independent I wasn’t going to move back home. I wasn’t about to “bum off my parents”, I was going to make it on my own.

But last night I started thinking about all the “what-ifs.”

What if I had moved back home when I graduated?

I would have been able to spend more time with my family, including my sister Amy who left us at the age of 24 in March.

I might have found a job working in radio in Dallas.

I might have found a job at a daily paper – much sooner than I did.

I’d probably have less debt.

I wouldn’t have my dogs, Payton and Precious.

I wouldn’t have gotten to know David Tuma at all.

I wouldn’t have gotten to know Berneta Peeples at all.

I probably wouldn’t be best of friends with Allman — my former landlord and fellow West Wing nut and wrestling fanatic.

I probably wouldn’t be involved with Christian Wrestling Federation.

I probably would have never joined the Lions Club – at least not until I had many more gray hairs.

I probably would have never learned all I did about running a weekly newspaper.

I would have been able to see more of Amy while she was sick and in the hospital.

And the list goes on and on…

Some regrets, some blessings, but “what-ifs” never really get you anywhere.

So I’m going to stop and look to what’s ahead instead.

I may have an imperfect past – but I have a spotless future.

So let’s see where I go from here.

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Phil. 3:13b-15

Piecemeal lives

This past weekend I had the joy of seeing the Body of Christ truly in action.

Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong direction, but this weekend I found it, in a cowboy church in Crosby, Texas.

A body of believers who believed in something far greater than themselves.

A body of believers who realized that their small, sometimes menial tasks were just as important as everyone elses.

It didn’t matter if they were sweeping floors, pouring tea or pushing a button on a sound board — they were there to serve, and they never questioned how important their role was.

They were there to help a bunch of crazy wrestlers put on a couple shows to share the Gospel. And whatever that took — they were going to help put on the best show ever.

I can’t think of anything they could have done better. Well, other than maybe give earplugs to my roommates to help drown out my snoring (Sorry about that.)

NOTE FROM CHRIS: You should have heard it — oh wait you probably did. What meteorologists thought was an approaching thunderstorm was actually Blundell snoring. By the way, Breathe Rights — worthless.

Scripture reminds us that we’re all an important part of the body, no matter how menial or piecemeal our lives may seem.

“By means of His one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which He has the final say in everything.”

As a ring announcer for the CWF sometimes it’s easy to think, “My job is not really that important. I just talk. Anyone can do that. The wrestlers have the really important jobs.” Or, “You know I’m really the important one here. Without me, no one gets welcomed to the ring. I think I’ll just say whatever I want and introduce people as I see fit.”

But whether other people can or can’t do my job, it’s my job and it’s what I’ve been asked to do. And while I may want to try and steal the limelight, if I’m not working as a member of the team, nothing will get completed — and I’m sure I’d get a number of vicious chops in the process.

But what if my sound guy gets bored with being a sound guy? What if he wants to be in the ring getting beat down and tossed around like a bag of potatoes?

Suddenly we don’t have sound or entrance music and our ministry becomes a bunch of guys with sore throats from trying to yell over the crowd.

What if a cook in the kitchen decides she wants to prepare Indian cuisine instead of steak and potatoes?

While the rest of her team is baking potatoes and grilling steak, she comes along and starts throwing curry and asafoetida or hing all over everything.

The otherwise wonderful, simple meal is suddenly ruined.

The Apostle Paul writes, “If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell?”

Each person has their own place. And each place is valued just like the rest — no matter where you are or what you do.

“But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own.”

No matter how independent you think you are or how unimportant you are — you have value and no one else can take your place.

As we wrapped up our second show in Crosby Sunday night I began talking with a church member who had been working the parking lot detail earlier that evening.

He told me he was proud to be able to play such a “little part” in something much greater than all of this.

As we talked, I remembered times that I’ve been stuck in parking lots with poor direction and communication.

I’ve sat in parking lots for hours as people try to direct traffic back on to the roads.

What seemed menial and trivial to him was a blessing to everyone who attended one of our shows.

No matter what part you might have, where ever you might be, you’ve been placed there for a reason and without each person in place — the show (or dinner, or ball game, or office, or church service) would never be the same.

Strive for excellence. Work as if everything you do depends solely on you — because when it all comes down to it — it does.

“The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part… If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.”

Times Up

clock

Oh snikies! Its press time and I haven’t finished my column yet.

What happened?

I remember at least trying to write a column this week, I think.

What could have happened? I’m not even sure why I write this column anyways. I feel like an old preacher who has three sermons he gives year round. Over and over again, hoping someone catches on.

But what happened this week? Why did I procrastinate so much?

According to Wikipedi, procrastination is the deferment or putting-off of an action or task, usually by focusing on some other distraction.

I’m not easily distracted am I?

Maybe I could find an old blog entry and run it here. Or better yet, find someone who’s a better writer, run their blog entry and then once you think I’m a super writer, I can tag the end with one of those silly MLA style citations.

No. Stay focused. Try and remember why you don’t have your column written.

I know I sat down with my laptop Sunday afternoon. I vaguely remember typing something about how big my God is. Because the bigger your God is, the smaller your problems are. And the bigger your problems are, the smaller your God is.

Wait, I remember what happened now.

I kept deleting it because all I was doing was re-hashing that morning’s sermon.

Ok, so that column idea was a wash.

Sunday night I remember – I planned on trying again, but I ended up playing 10-9-8 at my neighbor’s house.

And for the record – I did maintain the highest score throughout the majority of the evening. Yet for some reason, they said I came in dead last. I guess I’ll have to look into that.

After 10-9-8 I remember coming home and sitting in my living room and “getting my praise on” with Chris Tomlin.

Yet before I knew it, morning had arrived and I headed back to the office.

Now I’m pretty sure I tried typing something that morning.

I do remember staring at a blank screen for a long time.

Oh yes. I almost finished two columns Monday morning. But both times I hit a writers block and decided no one would be interested in my weekend trip, tubing on the Guadalupe River.

Somewhere along the way I remember being caught up in the blogosphere.

Everyone was blogging about Apple Computer’s announcement to start fitting their computers with Intel processors, replacing the IBM chips that have run the machines forever.

I think I may have enjoyed a #2 from Crow’s about that time as well.

That should have inspired a column in-and-of-itself, because it doesn’t get much better than that. But I guess food on the brain and a full tummy just made me put writing off even more.

Monday evening I spent my time trying out a new Thai Shrimp recipe from H-E-B and then enjoyed a quiet evening on my porch with my two dogs.

Maybe if I had more time during the day, I would have written a column by now.

Isn’t that ultimately the problem? Its not a matter of time management is it?

Around 10:30 p.m., my “sister” Kathryn Shindoll called and we talked about her trip to St. Petersburg, Russia.

I was so fired up about her going and the opportunity she’ll have, as she leads 11 interns to work in orphanages there, that I completely forgot about writing my column for whatever little time I had left before I fell asleep.

All I could think about was how badly I wanted to take a trip on my own and how I needed to start talking to Rebecca O’Banion about a trip to Haiti.

I was fired up. It felt like the end of a CWF show. One of those shows when we know God inhabits the praises of his people and works in ways we’ll never know or understand. Awesome.

Well, that brings me to Tuesday — one day before press time.

Surely I wrote something — somewhere.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m.

Odd.

Showered, changed and read Isaiah 40-44. I think reading those chapters may have changed my life – I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

In fact, I was so inspired that I did write something that morning. I had to re-write one of the verses in my Bible.

I marked through “Jacob” and “Israel” in Isaiah 40:27-28 and replaced it with my name and America.

Why do you say, O Jacob (Jonathan), and complain, O Israel (America), “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

I was fired up after reading these chapters. I mean seriously. Do you realize how big God is?

Isaiah says, “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Isaiah also writes, “God measures the heavens with the span of His hand.”

Any idea how big the heavens are?

Our sun is roughly 150 million kilometers from the earth. If we traveled at the speed of light, 300,000 kilometers per second, it would take us eight minutes and 20 seconds to get to the surface of the sun.

On average, Pluto, is 6 billion kilometers from the sun, depending on where it is in its orbit. That puts Pluto 5.85 billion kilometers away from Earth. At the speed of light, it would take us roughly 325 minutes, or 5.4 hours to reach the furthest planet in our solar system.

Yet our solar system is only one in our galaxy, which scientists say is 130,000 light years in diameter. It would take us 130,000 years, traveling at the speed of light to travel from one side of our galaxy to the other.

Is anyone else getting this? Oh wait. I’ve started re-hashing Sunday morning’s message haven’t I.

Sorry about that.

On to the business at hand.

Oh no! Times up. Looks like I put off writing my column for too long.

We have to send the paper to press.

So, I guess this is it for me. No time to type anything else.

Maybe next week I’ll plan ahead better. But then where’s the fun in that.

See you next week.

Flowers make all the difference

Originally published as Church Flowers in The Belton Journal

A pastor in St. Paul, Minn. blogged this week about a flower garden planted in front of his church.

First of all, I love pastors that blog regularly. It gives a lot of insight into the ministry and what they go through and see throughout the week.

Some even give insight into how their weekly sermon progresses.

Fellowship Church in Dallas has a blog set up for their entire church staff to post notes and journals on. (UPDATE: While Pastor Ed Young still blogs, I can’t find the blogs for the entire staff anymore.)

It gives you a connection with the staff that you might not otherwise have.

But I digress…

Pastor Pat Kahnke of St. Paul Fellowship Church writes that he noticed a bunch of kids bustling around in the church parking lot earlier this week.

As he walked closer he realized that a number of his church members had taken the initiative to plow up a weedy section of their church lot and plant a flower bed in its place.

While planting the flower bed, one of the church members knocked on a neighboring house door to ask to borrow a water hose.

The church neighbor said they could borrow the hose that day and year-round to keep the flower bed looking healthy.

And as a result, another member volunteered to plow the man’s backyard for him.

What a great sign of ministry on so many levels.

They took the care of the church upon themselves

No one sat around and waited for a church beautification committee to tell them what needed to be done. No building committee hired out work that church members could easily do.

People took responsibility for their church and went the extra mile to be sure their place of worship was taken care of.

What if each of us looked for areas in our own churches or work places where we could go the extra mile without being asked?

What if we quit shrugging responsibility for things in our offices or church and stepped up and said, “This needs to be done — and I’m going to do it. Even if it’s not in my job description and even if I may not be an expert on the subject.–

They involved outsiders

One of the things I love about this story is that it involved people in the neighborhood.

Now granted, with a little planning they could have brought their own water hose, but think of the ministry opportunity they would have missed. In the process, they made sure that a neighbor of the church knew what was going on at the church and then found a way to meet him at his need.

Wasn’t that Jesus’ entire ministry was about? He met people at their need.

If we are passionate about what we do, or wherever we do it, it can be contagious – people will want to be a part of it.

A business cannot grow without new customers and a church cannot grow without new members. We must rid ourselves of being exclusive or selective in who we reach out to. We must bring outsiders in.

A few months ago I wrote about George Masters who was so passionate about Apple’s iPod, that he spent several hours designing a complete television commercial based on his favorite toy.

“Why would a school teacher spend a good chunk of his free time, for five months, crafting a really slick ad for no money? For no real recognition other than a, ‘Hey, that’s cool,’ from a few friends? Because he really, really likes his iPod,– wrote blogger Andy Havens. “Masters frankly admits that he partly worked on the project as a way of teaching himself some computer animation basics, and to be part of a portfolio. That being said, why pick the iPod mini as his subject? Because he’s a huge fan. And let’s remember that ‘fan’ is short for ‘fanatic.’–

If we can get people passionate about our product or message, people will become a part of the message and share it with them where ever they go.

Little efforts can go a long way

Third, as Pastor Kahnke wrote in his blog that he was blessed and ministered to by seeing their effort and the beautiful flowers left by their effort.

A pastor who was worn down was encouraged and blessed by a small effort by members of his congregation.

I can’t imagine that this group of church goers would have realized the impact their thoughtfulness had on their pastor, or the impact it would have on a newspaper editor some 1,113 miles away.

You never know what impact your willingness to serve will have on others.