Before you dismiss this as another "I got a great church" rant, it's only to preface an example. That said, I may have mentioned that I love my church. It's not at all like the "traditional" Methodist one I grew up in, or the one I used to go to. You know, the old "Dominus Omus benedictu Christus....and Moab lay it down for the Caananites.......stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down. Body of Christ?" Then sing the old "Praise God from whom all blessing flow, praise him for all creatures here below, praise God blah-blah something about a Heavenly host, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost...Aaaaaamen." Then the old arms outstretched salutation "May the peace of our Lord follow you and bless you richly in the coming days, etc." Our church doesn't have as many old extremely relevant 19th Century Germanic hymns that speaketh directly toeth thines souleth, and thus, one can verily doth applyeth to thines everyday life.....eth. By "doesn't have as many" I mean "none." Not that there's anything wrong with that. That used to be the way I liked it because I was comfortable there. I knew what would happen. I scoffed at change. I fought change. It took a good 2 years for me to come around. I would alternate weeks between my old Methodist service and the new one. Then I found that I just wasn't able to connect anymore with the old one. Everything about it seemed dead, lifeless in comparison. Our church music is contemporary, as is the presentation, message, etc. The new building has a cafe, a bookstore, a huge enclosed indoor playground. Only one crucifix in the entire building that I've seen so far. By all accounts, it's got a huge membership, upwards of 2,000 to 2,500 and as such there is a lot of talent there.
(IF YOU HAVE BEEN SKIMMING, WAITING FOR THE GOOD PART, HERE IT COMES.......)
The Director of the Audio Visual Department is, by day, the Executive Producer of news for the local CBS affiliate. About once a month he puts together about a ten minute presentation, sort of a "man on the street" thing. My favorite was a few months ago. He went to University City, in the Delmar Loop area. For those non-St. Louisians, this is the "alternative" part of town. Dreadlocks, Birkenstocks, Doo-rags, sushi bars, Thai food, vintage clothing stores, "New Age" crap stores, tattoo/piercing joints, fags, she-fags, queers, bull-dykes, lipstick lezbos, posers, wanna-be's, etc. Your typical grotesque Liberal freak show condensed into about a six block area. Not what one would consider "my peeps."
Anyhow, he took the video camera and stuck his microphone out and when passers-by would approach he would ask, "Who can you count on?"
The answers were amazing. Some people said, "Mom." Others, "Dad," or "My brother!" Some said, "Myself, baby!" Others said emphatically "No one!"
It wasn't until about the 30th person that someone finally said the one answer we were all waiting for, "Jesus." Very powerful presentation.
My point?
It got me to thinking. Besides Jesus, there are others in my life that I know I can always count on for one thing or another.
I can always count on Liberals to be Utopian-wishful-thinking-Socialist-idiots.
I can always count on my boys to make me smile or laugh.
I can always count on my she-bud "O" to do the same thing. (I tend to give people new names. Or take the first letter or sound of their last name and that is their new name as far as I'm concerned.)
I can always count on my wife.
And, I can always count on Jerry Mitchell. (NOT his real name.)
Last night, I'm at the Y with my other buddy John (one of 4 John's in my life) and we get to talking about the 80's movie "Vision Quest." For the life of us, we can't remember Matthew Modine's character's first name, the guy that can't hold his blood. We knew his last name was "Swain," but the first name was driving me crazy. I knew that if I didn't get the answer within minutes, my head may have exploded. I'm strange like that. One call 700 miles away and 2 minutes later, and I hear Jerry say, "Louden, Mike B.,...... Louden Swain is the name I believe you are searching for."
Amazing.
I know who I can count on.
*When you have time and want a good laugh, I highly recomend going to that New Age site and looking at the Wand Selection, especially the ones for Wiccans. Or, the statues. I almost wet my pants laughing. Damn, I can't help but just pitty the people who believe in that crap.
(IF YOU HAVE BEEN SKIMMING, WAITING FOR THE GOOD PART, HERE IT COMES.......)
The Director of the Audio Visual Department is, by day, the Executive Producer of news for the local CBS affiliate. About once a month he puts together about a ten minute presentation, sort of a "man on the street" thing. My favorite was a few months ago. He went to University City, in the Delmar Loop area. For those non-St. Louisians, this is the "alternative" part of town. Dreadlocks, Birkenstocks, Doo-rags, sushi bars, Thai food, vintage clothing stores, "New Age" crap stores, tattoo/piercing joints, fags, she-fags, queers, bull-dykes, lipstick lezbos, posers, wanna-be's, etc. Your typical grotesque Liberal freak show condensed into about a six block area. Not what one would consider "my peeps."
Anyhow, he took the video camera and stuck his microphone out and when passers-by would approach he would ask, "Who can you count on?"
The answers were amazing. Some people said, "Mom." Others, "Dad," or "My brother!" Some said, "Myself, baby!" Others said emphatically "No one!"
It wasn't until about the 30th person that someone finally said the one answer we were all waiting for, "Jesus." Very powerful presentation.
My point?
It got me to thinking. Besides Jesus, there are others in my life that I know I can always count on for one thing or another.
I can always count on Liberals to be Utopian-wishful-thinking-Socialist-idiots.
I can always count on my boys to make me smile or laugh.
I can always count on my she-bud "O" to do the same thing. (I tend to give people new names. Or take the first letter or sound of their last name and that is their new name as far as I'm concerned.)
I can always count on my wife.
And, I can always count on Jerry Mitchell. (NOT his real name.)
Last night, I'm at the Y with my other buddy John (one of 4 John's in my life) and we get to talking about the 80's movie "Vision Quest." For the life of us, we can't remember Matthew Modine's character's first name, the guy that can't hold his blood. We knew his last name was "Swain," but the first name was driving me crazy. I knew that if I didn't get the answer within minutes, my head may have exploded. I'm strange like that. One call 700 miles away and 2 minutes later, and I hear Jerry say, "Louden, Mike B.,...... Louden Swain is the name I believe you are searching for."
Amazing.
I know who I can count on.
*When you have time and want a good laugh, I highly recomend going to that New Age site and looking at the Wand Selection, especially the ones for Wiccans. Or, the statues. I almost wet my pants laughing. Damn, I can't help but just pitty the people who believe in that crap.
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