Mission to Mississippi Days Two and Three

I won't be writing much tonight and, unfortunately, my part of the trip is going to be cut short because I learned tonight that my grandfather passed away today. I'm flying home tomorrow night to go to the funeral.

The weather has been superb and, though we're all sore, tired, and itching because of the bugs that keep after us, I think all will agree it has been well worth the trip. I spent some of the day on the roof, putting shingles up and also part of the day putting a new lattice around the foundation of Miss Ethel's home.

I've realized that it will take decades for this area to fully recover. So much to do. We drove down to the gulf (if you look at Hwy 90 along the Miss. southern border, you'll see where we drove) and parts are like a ghost town. You can see slats where houses where, swimming pools, torn down trees, but nothing else. Some homes have rebuilt, but those are nicer homes with folks who could probably afford to do so.

I've also been struck by how nice everyone is. You hear about southern hospitality, but I've been experiencing it first-hand. Today I had to call the electric company to ask them to shut off Miss Ethel's power so we could work on the roof (the line was in our way) and even the customer service rep was nice.

It's hard for me to collect my thoughts right now. So much to take in and now thinking about my grandfather and preparing the eulogy for his funeral Saturday. God is good, though, and I have been blessed.

Mission to Mississippi--Day One

Today was our first full day on our Mississippi Mission Trip and we couldn've have asked for a better day weather-wise (probably near 70 degrees). Breakfast was at 6:30, so we were up pretty early.

An aside: They say that cats have a sense that tells them which humans don't like cats. Of course, they then proceed to go jump in that person's lap. I think I have the same kind of attraction to snorers. My apologies to those of you who snore, but, it's almost impossible for me to sleep when a snorer is near. Of course, there's a man right across from me in our bunk beds with a snore that's a bout a 6 on a scale of 1-10. Yes, I have earplugs and they help, but they're not soundproof. OK, I'm done complaining about snorers.

Anyway, we got up and ate breakfast. We're staying on the grounds of St. Paul United Methodist Church in Ocean Springs, MS. The church didn't get hit too severely by Katrina (at least I don't think it did), but it's obviously close to a lot of things that were destroyed. On the grounds of the church is a former Navy SEALS barracks which was purchased from the government by a local benefactor and that's where we're sleeping. Accommodations are pretty good and we eat our meals in the church.

I'm in a work group of about 9 or so and that includes fellow CUMC members Jay Geerdes and Joe Hmieleski (Sue Howard and Gerrie Geerdes are on the kitchen crew for the first couple of days). The work group also includes folks from LaSalle, Naperville, and Rockford. We're working on the house of a woman named Esther, who's 81, in the town of Moss Hill. I'm still not sure how or if the house was affected by Katrina, but she needs a new roof and her carport is/was pretty rickety. I say "was" because we demolished it while also getting a pretty good start on the roof.

I've talked about this issue before, but maybe I can finally resign myself to the fact that my brain just doesn't grasp carpentry. That's a hard thing to admit because it's such a guy kind of thing, but, when it comes to this kind of work, I'm definitely a follower. Most of my work was doing some demolishing (my crowbar got a workout today) and lifting up old shingles. I let others do the planning. I'll simply follow. That's actually a good thing for me to experience.

Esther's daughter's church is providing lunch for our group tomorrow, which should be a treat.

We came back around 5 today, waited in line for showers, and then ate meat loaf and cheesy potato casserole for dinner. Joe and I made a quick run to Wal-Mart (I needed Chap Stik and shampoo) and I called home, recieivng a boost when I heard my wife's voice.

We went down to the Gulf yesterday to get some perspective on the damage and I'll write about that tomorrow. I won't complain about snorers any more. I promise.

One more quick thing--I have to say that, so far, this has been a more enjoyabale experience than when I went on the Appalachia Service Project in 2001. Various reason for this (one major one is that the ASP trip was about a month after our daughter was born), but one is that it's such a joy to serve with Joe, Sue, Gerrie and Jay. Keep us in your prayers!

Goodbye, blogspot...

It's been a great 12 months or so on blogspot, but my blog is moving on to (hopefully) more adventurous climes.

It's a very, very, very rough start, but I took a plunge into the domain name waters, bought genxrev and now have a new home at:

www.genxrev.com

In addition to all this newness, the blog has my first attempt at a podcast where I've recorded this Sunday's sermon. You can also go to iTunes, click on the "Podcasts" button on the upper left, type in "genxrev" in the search engine and you can listen to me there.

Frankly, I'm sick of myself and wouldn't be surprised if you are too, but, here it is. I'm going to keep this blog up, however, if you want to read earlier posts.

Thanks for reading!

Krispy Kreme grace

This must be a dad kind of thing, but I enjoy taking the kids out for doughnuts, though I try to limit it to once a week. (My 21-month-old now says "dough-dough.") For some reason, my daughter likes Dunkin Donuts the best even when there are much better doughnuts at a local bakery in Deerfield. So we take turns. One time, my bakery, the other time, hers. Other times, we really splurge and drive about 20 minutes to a Krispy Kreme. Krispy Kremes are everywhere now, but I first had one before they migrated north in Birmingham, Alabama. That was an epiphany. The highlight for the kids, though, are seeing them made. One of the things I like about KK is the sense of abundance. Whenever we go in, we all get a free glazed right off the conveyer belt, hot and soft. The people there are always happy to see us and appear to be so eager to please.

Contrast that attitude with a trip to Radio Shack later that day (last Monday). I shouldn't pick on Radio Shack because so many other businesses do this, but I simply wanted to buy a cable that would connect my computer to a TV. As I waited to pay, watching Ethan try every radio-controlled car in sight and Caroline ogle a Barbie computer, the salesperson slid a mobile phone in front of me. "Have you seen the new Motorola phone?" (There was a name for it that I can't recall--probably something Razr because doesn't Motorola make Razr phones?) I smiled weakly and said, "It's nice." He then engaged me in discussion about my cell phone carrier and whether we were happy with it and this brought out my frustration with suggestive selling. Suggestive sellers are never satisfied. It wasn't enough that I was buying this cable. I had to buy more to satisfy the salesperson.

It was such a contrast between these two experiences and it has something to do with being the church, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe there's a Prodigal Son thing going on here. When we return to Krispy Kreme, we're welcomed and given the fatted calf/doughnut. That's a great feeling. When we go to other businesses where there's suggestive selling, there's a sense that one has to earn grace or love or satisfaction. One can never purchase or do enough.

A different kind of remembrance

Millions of people will do some significant remembering next Monday, the 5th anniversary of 9/11. I must confess I'm a little surprised at the amount of attention this anniversary is getting. I don't know if this is a media-driven thing or if I still am not grasping just how jarring this event was to our nation. Maybe some of both.

What really struck me today, though, was in reading about what happened on today's date 66 years ago. This is from the Writer's Almanac (www.writersalmanac.publicradio.org):

"It was on this day in 1940 that the German Luftwaffe began dropping bombs on London, in what became known as the London Blitz. On the first night, 600 German bombers came in waves, dropping explosive and incendiary devices over East London. St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Lambeth Palace, Piccadilly, and the House of Commons were all hit. And that was just the first night.
"Over the next eight months, Nazis dropped tens of thousands of bombs on the city. At one point during the bombing raids, Germans attacked every night for fifty-seven consecutive nights. In addition to London, they bombed fifteen other British cities. By the end, more than 30,000 Londoners had been killed, and more than 100,000 houses were destroyed."

As awful as 9/11 was, I simply can't comprehend being bombed 57 nights in a row. It put a few things in perspective for me. That, and the fact that dozens/hundreds of Iraqis are dying every day due to various forms of conflict. The war over there has been so wrong.

If you think of it, pray for my cousin Tyler, a Marine who's serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. Thanks.

Labor Day thoughts

Sights and sounds from a Labor Day in Matteson and Park Forest, Illinois...

I ran in a 10-mile race today down on the southern suburb of Park Forest. We decided to make an overnight of it and stayed in a hotel in Matteson last night.

--I realized while staying at the hotel how white the area in which I live is. I'm not often in a situation when I'm in a social setting with members of other ethnic groups and I'm in the minority. The key phrase here is social setting. I'm occasionally in the minority in other instances, but I'm usually in a position of a servant helping others who are poor. I have the label of servant, but, really, I'm still in a position of power. Yesterday in the hotel pool, though, we were swimming with Hispanic and African-American families all simply wanting to have fun with their children. There are Hispanic families who live in Highland Park, but, again, it's rare to be in a social situation with them when we're on fairly equal social ground. What can I do to foster these opportunities?

--We went to Olive Garden last night so I could do a little carbo-loading. About 30 minutes after we sat down, another family sat down, too. He had on running gear and, to be honest, looked African so we assumed he was running in the race, which has become nationally known and draws some international runners. I asked him if he was running, he said he was, and we engaged in some small talk throughout the evening. The next day, we discoverd he was Gilbert Tuhabonye, an American citizen who is from Burundi. He's a top international runner who also had a book written about him and his survival of an incident of genocide. Check out his amazing story at www.gilbertsgazelles.com.

--It was a fun race wih a lot of different musical ensembles along the way, including a string quartet, polka band, church choir, and bagpipes. A little rainy and a little hilly, but a great way to spend Labor Day.

--Speaking of Labor Day, here are a couple ways to honor the day. The first is to go to www.hotelworkersrising.org and learn about the effort to earn better pay and rights for hotel workers. If organizing isn't your thing, here are some things to consider doing the next time you're in a hotel (I got these suggestions from my clergy colleague, Rev. Dr. Marti Scott):
1. The day you check out, strip your own bed(s)
2. Put your used towels on the toilet seat to save the worker from having to bend down too far
3. Tip your housekeeper each day anywhere from $1-$5, more if you're really messy
4. Leave a note of appreciation and, if you're comfortable doing this, tell them you'll pray for them that day.
These are small acts of kindness and compassion that will help a person who does an enormous amount of work for not a lot of pay.

Is this heaven?

I ran in a 5K three weeks ago down in the city that celebrated (?) the anniversary of Elvis' (alleged) death. It's quite a party--held at 6 p.m. on a Saturday with plenty of runners dressed as Elvis, music, food, drinks, etc. It's a nice route, too, that skirts around the Lincoln Park Zoo and goes along Lake Shore Drive for awhile.

Many bigger races these days have professional photographers snapping shots of runners with the hopes that each runner will purchase a memento of their looking hot, sweaty, and a little pained. Who wouldn't line up to buy one of those? I almost always pass on the purchase, but there was one shot of me that I simply couldn't resist.

Iowans are trained now to answer the question, "Is this heaven?" with "No, it's Iowa!" That's a line, of course, from "Field of Dreams." But I wonder if this photo also captures a sense of what heaven might be like. There's a crowd along the side cheering me (and others) on. I'm crossing the finish line (with the big "FINISH" sign above me). Someone's there to greet me. More specifically, someone's there to give me a high five. It isn't just anyone, though. It's the king. The king is there awaiting my finish to say, Well done, good and faithful runner. In this case, the "king" is a professional Elvis impersonator, but I kind of like the idea of a different King greeting me when my time comes to cross the final finish line.

I'll try to get around to scanning the shot and putting it up soon.