The new Nordic Track has arrived ensconced in its box. I am thinking that Aaron and Jonathon and I can slide it down the basement stairs and there it will await the person, yet unnamed, who will assemble the walking machine. Rain clouds are gathering and there is the threat of some flooding in a neighboring town. We live in the Big Muddy River Basin and flooding is a periodic hazard of our area.

Our inner life and reality often control our interactions with others. If we are not careful our brains will assign a meaning to each interaction and communication that we have and the meaning will be colored by our bias and world view of others. Friends and colleagues say one thing to us…and we hear another. By the time that the communication clears our auditory filter…it is much like the old telephone game that we played when we were children. The game consisted of several people sitting around a room and the first whispering a phrase into their neighbor’s ear. For instance the person might say, ‘Molly rides her bicycle to school each morning.’ Then, by the time that the message reaches the ear of the last person on the ‘Telephone Line’ they might report that, ‘Mary says her prayers each night before bed.’ Such is our continuing battle to communicate effectively.

Others are essential to our successful walk through this roller coaster of a life. We cannot make the journey alone. Sadly we have all experienced the hidden agenda of faux friendship. We hear from someone whom we admire and later discovered the they needed a favor from us or wanted to engage us in a business deal…or wanted to sell us something? But…this does not involve most human interactions. At times we are a bit like a porcupine…our friends do not know where to touch our live as there is some pain involved.

Many times we say yes to jobs and volunteer duties that we really do not want to be engaged in. Everything is not for everybody. We must learn to say no…when a request is placed before us that does not fit with our life plan or time constraints. Our friends encourage us in endeavors that are not right for us…but we hate to say no…and we end up a square peg in a round hole.

Walking is exciting and stress reducing and health edifying. Walking is a practice that we have been engaged in since we were born….either metaphorically or physically. Rachel Held Evans said, ‘The folks you’re shutting out of the church today will be leading its tomorrow. That’ how the spirit works, the future’s in the margins.’

We criticize our friends and family and colleagues…with a wanton abandon. We measure them by our mental photo of our life. We measure by the yardstick of our experiences. We judge from the lofty height of our pure motives and sacred calling. All this is accomplished without understanding what the person on whom we pass summary judgment is undergoing or what their mental and emotional state is…or what herculean challenges they are facing…and they are alone…

The wind is whistling through the willows in Little Egypt. Although it is 63 degrees the 25 to 40 mile per hour gusts create a chill in the air. After much moaning and maneuvers Aaron and Jonathon and I finally disassembled and removed all of the old treadmill…to make room for the new one that […]

Why Do We Attend Church? — The Jazz Man

MJ has been a treadmill aficionado for over 30 years. I have been a reluctant treadmill user on a sliding scale. Our treadmill of 15 years has bit the dust. When I telephoned out trash removal company to ascertain if they could pick it up…they told me to disassemble what I could and that they would send the big truck tomorrow. MJ and I got to work and I unwrapped my cloth satchel of 100 screwdrivers and related tools…and we were successful in some significant disassembling of Old Faithful. When I telephoned the treadmill retrievers I spoke to another woman and told her, with some pride of purpose, that we had disassembled a significant portion of the treadmill and that it would be waiting by the road for them in the morning. She responded that they would do their best…but that they, at times, were unable to pick up some treadmills due to their being…humongous…

One of my problems with treadmills is that they remind me of the futility of some aspects of life. Have you ever felt that your were walking as fast as your legs and feet would carry you…and yet you did to seem to be getting anywhere? I had the feeling, at times, when I was working. Try as I might there were years that I seemed to be able to move the department forward and other years when we simply marched in place. Ever diminishing budgets were are most virulent foe. The same could be said for our 2020 Pandemic experience. We count our blessings if no one in our family or friends became ill with Covid and if no one succumbed to the terrible plague. Everything has been on hold and we have been walking in place…waiting for the vaccines. Now we see the light…as we round the corner of our discontent. Now we understand how precious was the fellowship and comity of our family and friends and the living of what we call a normal life. Perhaps now we realize that we were never walking or marching or running in place…but rather we were living a wonderful and generous and full life…that could so easily be altered in a draconian fashion…

Treadmills produce appreciable results that redound to the health and well-being of the user. They are neither a waste of time or a useless endeavor. The treadmill exemplifies much of the feeling of the daily walk-of-life. Sometimes it seems mundane and ordinary and repetitious…but the benefits are immeasurable…

I saw some new buds on the trees at Campus. Spring is on our horizon. I receive my next jab or my second vaccination on March 18…and I am in good spirits. Easter is coming and I am in the Bible Mood. I am always ready to purchase more Bibles at Eastertide. I often think […]

The Time of Planting — The Jazz Man

It is a lazy and laconic Sunday that has contained within it the hope for a bright future. The temperature is mild and portends the coming of spring. The Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale Campus was quiet as Jonathon and I perused its confines. The squirrels were experiencing a happy Sabbath. Life is usually quite and serene on Ash Wood Lane. The backyard pond brings me hours of comfort and peace as I watch the actions of the Blue and White Heron and our resident Beaver…and the jumping of the fish. At night the frogs croak a melodious tune.

I journeyed to Barnes and Noble Booksellers, yesterday, to see if they had a Bible that I could purchase. I have been collecting Bibles for many years. Most of the ones that I liked appeared similar to those that I have bought in years gone by. I did see a Scofield Study Bible commemorating the 1917 anniversary of Mr. Scofield’s writing of his notes into what became the Old Scofield Study Bible. My first pastor had a Scofield Study Bible that he enjoyed and thus I have ordered a Bible for Easter that I did not already have.

Waiting on yesterday is a hobby that we all engage in. We often compare our current society to the society that we were either born into or at least the society that we grew up in and lived our formative years. Even after 10 years of retirement from SIUC…I still reflect, almost, daily on my many years working at the University. I ruminate regarding the untold hours that I worked… and the worries and stress that were associated with the position…but primarily I remember the good times and the success that we enjoyed as a great housekeeping organization. I was talking to Aaron yesterday and I recalled scuffling his hair and playing with him when he was a youngster. He was such a sweet natured child and a good boy. Even in my more recent history I recall with a vivid memory our visits to Europe and the excitement of being newly retired and, ‘As free as a bird on the wing!’ I remember wondering if I would eve be able to retire…and now the primary event is a decade in the rearview mirror!

‘Today is the tomorrow that we worried about yesterday.’ Our future is here and the harbinger of peace and prosperity and happiness is upon us! ‘Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.’ German Proverb

Hope for our future greeted us with open arms when we were 20…and 30…and 40…and it greets us today. We are living in a different chapter of our lives…but none the less as important as each of the preceding ones. The Bible has captivated me since I was 12 years old. I used to read it nightly at the kitchen table while the coal and wood stove in the adjoining room was fired up to 90 degrees plus! The pages on my Bible curled up due to the extreme heat.

During my formative years I attended the movies both on Friday night and again on Sunday…where I stayed from early afternoon until late evening on the strength of a 35 cent ticket for admission. I watched the same movie for 3 or 4 screenings and could quote entire segments of dialogue from them. I love going to the movies to this day…

Mysteries do not reveal their primary secrets until the latter portions of the book. Life is a magnificent mystery and we are the characters within the narrative. How often we have wondered why events in our lives went the way that they did…now we are in the most exciting portion of our novel! It has always been my conviction that this earthy life is but a ‘Foyer Experience’ and that once the door of our passing into there next phase of our life has transpired…we will wonder why we dreaded the opening of the door…

Billy B. truly believed that he was ready for anything. His life in Chicago had truly been an adventure and he was the star of the Billy B. show! His mom and dad adored him…’Don’t you like the sound of saying the word adored?’ His friends hung on his every word…and the adults in his life deferred to his mature speech and observations Susie, Billy B’s much older girlfriend, hugged him whenever she saw him and seemed to be in love with his thin and tiny physique. Billy endeavored to shake himself awake after he saw the actor Fess Parker…at his kitchen table in his Daniel Boone outfit…eating waffles… Uncle Lester mentioned that Daniel had been hungry and therefore he had made him some waffles and black coffee. Mr. Boone asked Billy B. if he was ready to hunt some raccoon in the hills of Kentucky and Billy asked if Chet and Parker could come with him. Daniel said, ‘The more the merrier,’ and doffed his Coonskin Cap on to his head and they departed the Chicago suburb home that when the front door opened…. there was the wild woodsy hills of Daniel Boone’s home…Kentucky.

Chet said, ‘We are not in Chicago…anymore.’ Indeed…on the horizon…were a family of black bears. Jefferson asked where Billy and Parker and Chet were. Lester said that they went out of the front door with Fess Parker who was portraying the historical figure and television show personality…Daniel Boone… Jefferson said, ‘I hope that they do not get into any mischief.’ Along came Mingo who was Daniel Boone’s friend and compatriot on the television show. Mingo was of the Cherokee Nation and was portrayed by the actor, Ed Ames. Parker asked, ‘Are we really in Kentucky or are we on a television show set?’ At the same moment the group heard a loud call, ‘Cut and print…that is a wrap!’

Fess Parker walked laconically up to the group of 6 year olds and said that he appreciated their willingness to guest star on his TV Show. He went on to say that they had truly added to the ambiance of portraying a Kentucky family who was in danger of being eaten by black bears. Ed Ames added that Billy B. and Parker and Chet had been so natural in the portrayal of Kentucky Hill Children that he would like for them to accompany him on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson the following week. He mentioned that he thought that he was scheduled to throw a tomahawk at a silhouette during his segment…

Suddenly Billy B.woke up…again. He was in the Lottaburger and there was Uncle Lester grining like the Cheshire Cat of Alice In Wonderland and asking him if he wanted More…as David Copperfield had said in the Charles Dickens classic.

Jonathon and I were out and about today when a gentleman of some seniority, or my age, called out to us, ’16 more days,’ and we shook our head vigorously to signify our mutual agreement…to what we did not readily understand… Probably because the Announcer could see the blank look in our eyes as we […]

16 More Days! — The Jazz Man

The game of life requires determination. I walked my 10 thousand steps today…just after noon. I was waiting on the furniture delivery folks and the walking was good activity for someone who hates to wait on people. I often reflect on MJ and my sons, Aaron and Jonathon, and think of how I felt when I was their ages. Aaron is 39 and Jonathon will soon be 37. I had some physical aliments then…that I do not have now…and posses new ones that have arrived with the Golden Years. Needless to say there are pressures and stresses and struggles at every stage of our lives. For instance…I never enjoyed running. Not in grade school or high school. I was never in that big of a hurry… I have noticed that we humans seem to endlessly debate ephemera. We have our political ideology and our faith…and we want you to share them with us…

I was watching a little boy on the news this morning that had Covid and is left with a racing heart and has lost the ability to read and write. There is a term for him…’A Long Hauler.’ A young woman was in the same news segment and it is reported that she has gone from an A student to just barely able to pass her school studies. The little boy’s name is Norman and he was asking Dr. Fauci what the answer for his physical aliments was…to which the good doctor replied that thus-far we do not know enough about Covid to provide him with an answer to his dilemma.

I recall needing to earn the next promotion and the intrinsic importance of keeping a good job. I was in the trenches with those who had more month than money and seemingly never enough to address the vacillating vicissitudes of life. Everything that has value in this life requires hard work and a focused dedication of efforts.

Happiness is a constant search. It does not emanate from a chemical substance or the peculiar fairy dust of specific happenings. Substantial happiness often ensues from the ability to defer pleasure for the greater good for your life. Working toward a goal and achieving that goal is a satisfying vocation. Often it is the plodding turtle rather than the racing hare that wins the race… The ability to stay on the path and take enjoyment in the small gifts of life…results in a peaceful and satisfying journey.

The Daybed has arrived. Parker took one look at it and attempted to get on it. She is very pleased that her human family has purchased her a luxurious bed. We did not tell her that it was not for her. It is 64 degrees and sunny. Spring has come to Carbondale. One of the […]

Accepting Others…Without An Agenda — The Jazz Man

It was especially warm for Christmas Day. Billy B. woke up early and decided to make some Maxwell Houses Coffee for his breakfast. It had snowed about 12 inches last week and the temperature had been below zero for several days. The snow was so deep that Billy B. could not get his Camry out of the driveway but he could extricate his new Subaru Forester through the snowy depths. It had been bone chilling cold and treacherous to drive on the roads…and now it seemed like summer time in the south. It was 80 degrees on Christmas morning. Pauly and Danny were happy with the warm and actually hot weather…and Steve and Susie, being a bit older than Billy B. and his friends, knew that an 80 degree Christmas in Chicago was extremely unusual…

George and Helen proposed a barbecue for the holiday due to the summer like temperatures. Billy B’s parents, Neva and Jefferson, were all in for an unusual celebration of Christmas 1963. Chet was on his way over and Parker had called Billy to ask if she could come over and watch him open his Christmas presents. Billy B. could not help but notice that the ‘Leave It to Beaver’ street that he lived at had a strange sepia color… There was a knock at the door and when Billy opened the door, uncle Lester was smiling and presented Neva with a bag of Lottaburgers. He had just consumed his two hamburger breakfast at the local burger emporium and he was ready to join the Bump family for a Christmas celebration. Billy’s dad, Jefferson, swore and said, ‘It is as hot as Hell on Christmas!’ Billy B. considered the prescient words. Chet arrived and announced that he had received a life size animated figure of the Actor Fess Parker’s rendition of the television character…Daniel Boone. He went on to say that Daniel Boone referred to him by name and that he seemed to know him. There was Parker at the front door. Parker said that her mom and dad were asleep and that she could not awaken them… She noted that her Christmas Tree seemed to be on fire and could not be extinguished. She had received a Barbie and Ken doll and they had apparently taken over her home and had asked her to leave the premises. Just before she had left to go to Billy B’s house, Ken had pulled up in a Jaguar and Barbie had ran out of the house to get into the sport’s car. Something about this 1963 Christmas did not seem normal.

Chet remarked that they were traveling in time and space once again. They were apparently in an alternate universe or ‘Hell’ as the christian doctrine speaks of…and everything was Topsy Turvy. Action figures had taken on life of their own and the winter temperature for Christmas Day had become erratic and the hope for their future was contained in a Black Hole…

‘Come and get it,’ said Helen…as George turned the Ribeye Steaks. ‘The beer and Coca Cola is ice cold…and the Steaks are red-hot….intoned George!’ It was 110 degrees now…it was Christmas Day in Chicago…and there was a figure in the shadows that was watching the festivities….

Well, the mysterious figure was none other than uncle Lester. Billy B. began to shake as if he had the chills that he had experienced with a skin infection that he had undergone for sometime last year. ‘Wake up Billy…wake up,’ said Lester. ‘You were having quite a nightmare,’ he went on to say. ‘What is the date today,’ Billy B. asked. ‘Why it is March 2nd,’ Lester replied. Billy discovered that it was neither Christmas nor Halloween…and he was still 6 years old…and that he did not own a Toyota Camry nor a Subaru, Forester…and that he had not heard of either type of automobile. He did know his dad’s Harley Davidson motorcycle and the joys of riding between his mom and dad on the exciting machine. He also vowed to not eat before bed…as the dreams were bizarre….

Billy walked into the kitchen…and there was Daniel Boone making waffles…