Hayley “Blossoms” on India Journey

Our middle granddaughter Hayley is 10 years old. She is in India right now with her dad as part of a group of about a dozen, nearing the end of a two week mission to that country.

Yikes, isn’t she a bit young to travel half way around the globe to a third world country? You might think so, but Hayley didn’t. She wanted to go.

And it’s now obvious why. God was leading her.

It turns out that of all those in the group on the fact-finding mission to India, young Hayley has had as much of an impact as anyone.

The purpose of the trip was to explore if their church, Newberg Friends, could find a partnership in India with an existing ministry that protects children who are vulnerable to being exploited by human trafficking. On their trip, the group has visited several such agencies where they have been given opportunity to meet with and interact with scores of these young girls.

And guess who can relate best to another young girl, no matter what their culture? Right, a young girl like Hayley.

These precious young Indian girls have followed Hayley around like she was a magnet. Hayley has taught them songs, played games with them, prayed with them and loved them. I can only guess that her life has been forever impacted. Click here to read Gregg's narrative of Hayley's connection with the girls (on his blog post from India).

In the map above you can pick out the three areas the team has visited. They arrived in Mumbai (Bombay), on the northwest coast of India, then traveled south by train to Hubli-Dharwad, and finally took another train trip south and a bit east to Bangalore from where they’ll fly back to Mumbai, their gateway to back home. Click on the map for a larger image to see the cities on their route.

We’re anxiously awaiting their arrival home on Thursday so we can hear first hand about the incredible journey and how it has affected all of them.

The Sun Always Shines When Granddaughters Are Here

Two of our sweet granddaughters, Talli, 13, and Aubrey, 5, are here for a few days visiting their grandparents who are loving every minute of it.

In the meantime, our third granddaughter, Hayley, 10, is on her own adventure, half-way around the world in India with her dad on a fortnight-long church mission. We miss them.

Today we just “hung out” and then this afternoon we went to a nearby State Park here on the west coast of Puget Sound.

We took our dog Buddy along, who posed for above photo with Talli and Aubs on some monster driftwood (big logs, actually) on the beach. That’s Ballard across the water in the distance behind them.

Grandma, the girls and Buddy had a grand time walking and running up and down the beach in search of shells, crustations and whatever else had washed ashore. It was fun, fun and more fun, as they came back with a big bucket of beach "stuff".

It’s been cloudy for a week, but the weather has cleared marvelously for the girls’ visit. Truth is, no matter what the weather, the sun always shines when our granddaughters are here.

Tomorrow we may catch a ferry boat and venture over to Seattle for a visit with Aunt Jamie and Uncle Doug. And of course all the girls may do a little “shopping” in the city.

I’m just the chauffer.

The Historic Belmont Hotel in Port Townsend

Last Sunday, on our day trip to Port Townsend with our California friends, the Walls (see last post), we had a late lunch/early dinner at the vintage, red brick Belmont Hotel.

The historic inn is the city’s only remaining 1880s waterfront restaurant and saloon and is recognized as one of the “Northwest Best Places” by AAA.

Much of downtown Port Townsend’s main drag is lined with improved or restored Victorian edifices.

A walk up and down the quaint sidewalks takes you past building after building and store front after storefront that causes you to feel like you’re experiencing what it was like 120 years ago. Only the horses and buggies are absent.

In 1885, saloon keeper George Sterming erected the building that still bears his name. He put offices on the upper level, and the lower floor facilitated the soon-to-be famous restaurant and saloon. Sterming’s clientele was an eclectic mix of rowdy sea captains, arguing cargo brokers, adventurers, gun and rum runners, gamblers and hustlers.

In spite of the carnival atmosphere, the Belmont also was often a welcome conclusion to a terrifying sea passage for those seeking a fresh start in life.

The cuisine was sumptuous, and the ambiance was equally splendid. If you’re ever up in the Northwest’s Olympic Peninsula, the Belmont Hotel and Port Townsend are worthy stops.

A Weekend With Old, er, Longtime, Friends

My wife and I have known Ed and Darlene Wall since 1964 or closely thereabouts. That’s them above in historic Port Townsend, where we had dinner Sunday, against the backdrop of the Admiralty Inlet which links the Straits of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound. The Port Townsend—Keystone ferry is behind them to the right just leaving the dock on a scheduled run.

We all met in San Jose when they were newlyweds and Kay Lynne and I were courting. At the time I was working on the staff of a large church and Ed was with the old Crocker Bank before it was gobbled up by the big boys. After Kay Lynne and I were married, we got to know one another much better in a “young marrieds” class at the church.

Through the years we raised our kids together, took trips together, and, additionally, Ed and I were business partners for about 15 years during the 70’s and 80’s. This past weekend, they were in our area primarily to attend Darlene’s 50th High School Reunion in nearby Bremerton. The remainder of the time we just did “stuff” together.

Whenever Ed visits, we have to do a tour of his boyhood homes in the greater Port Orchard vicinity. He lived in more places than McDonald’s has franchises. His famous humor line about it is, “I was a teenager before I learned it was ok to move in the daytime.”

We exposed the Walls to some good Lutheran theology on Sunday morning when we went to church in Poulsbo. They’re used to singing praise choruses from words projected on a large screen, but I don’t think it hurt a bit to reacquaint them with a hymn book and some participatory liturgy.

Yesterday, Ed and I went fishing (well, ok, “line-wetting”) at Mineral Lake which is located south of Tacoma at the foot of Mt. Rainier. It’s a beautiful lake and location, and the conditions couldn’t have been better. But the fish had lockjaw – not only for us, but also for everyone else. One possible reason: it’s August. But as they say, the worst day fishing is better than the best day doing anything else.

Best of all, we were able to enjoy some quality time with longtime friends.

756 Is One More Than 755

Tonight, Barry Bonds has become the all-time homerun king of Major League Baseball.

Whether Barry Bonds did, or whether Barry Bonds didn’t, is likely to continue as a matter of discussion for baseball fans, and, maybe, for a few outside of baseball.

But for now, he has hit one more round-tripper than the classy Hank Aaron, who held the record for more than 30 years, and, who sent a congratulatory video message to Bonds that was played on the big center field screen at AT&T Park following the shot.

It’s a monumental achievement that, in my humble opinion, deserves to be recognized and congratulated. After all, he did hit the homeruns.

How history will treat the accomplishment will be up to others.

“…One’s Life Does Not Consist in the Abundance of Possessions” –Luke 12:15

In our Gospel reading from Luke (10th century image, left) at church yesterday, we heard Jesus’ words once again: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

This time however, Pastor Alison Shane, expanding on the text in her sermon, gave the passage a “down home” connotation that is causing me a bit of pause.

The Scriptures do not condemn wealth, per se, she observed. The difficulty, she quickly zeroed in on, is greed, accumulation for its own sake and amassing riches so one can “party” (verses 19 & 20 of Luke 12).

In our western culture, and especially here in the U.S., we Christians often rationalize the idea that, relative to others in our society, we are safely avoiding all of the above.

But in so thinking, we are overlooking – perhaps even avoiding – our brothers and sisters around the world. Compared to them, how does our understanding of greed and accumulation stack up?

Pastor Alison pointed out that later in the chapter Jesus cautioned, “from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.”

When we compare OUR “much” to third world “much,” a whole new light is shed on the situation. “We need to think about wealth and greed in terms of the world,” she suggested.

Ouch. That’s getting a bit close to home.

Are real estate holdings “accumulations”? Are investments “amassing riches”? I’m probably “copping out” to say I really don’t know. I can see, however, how they could be considered such if compared with possessions of people in the third world and with their ability to accumulate.

In Jesus’ parable, the rich man who had amassed enough so he could relax and party received this rebuke: “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.”

Pastor Alison suggested that excessive accumulation beyond sustenance is the point with which we ought to wrestle. But even for sustenance, God has promised provision.

After pointing out how God takes care of even the birds in the air and the lilies in the field, Jesus offers this advice beginning in verse 29: “And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

Wow. This is a kind of faith and this is a perspective that I have to admit is pretty much absent in our western culture. And I’m bothered by it.

But will I be bothered enough to take action in my own life?

On a Scale of 10, This Book Is a Solid 9

I didn’t read Simply Christian because I needed an apologetic to reinforce my faith, although many are touting it as an even better synopsis of things Christian than C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity.

I read it because the author, acclaimed historian and Biblical scholar N.T. Wright, just could be my favorite “personal religious studies” author. On top of that, this thoughtful theological treatise is written so a lay person like me can easily understand it.

To reflect back a moment, I grew into adulthood pretty much swallowing a brand of Christianity that focused, almost exclusively, on “getting saved so we can go to heaven.”

Let me be clear: there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to go to heaven. In fact, it’s quite preferable to the alternative.

However, this kind of thinking breeds ongoing frustration in that it requires me to try to continually reach out to an all-powerful God, who is out there “somewhere,” but seemingly out of grasp. It’s a deistic approach to faith (man’s domicile and God’s domicile are both real – but they don’t interact).

With this book, Bishop Wright offers us a much more encompassing view of Christianity (and a theology) in which the domicile of God not only interacts with that of mankind, but also has already begun the work of redemption and rehabilitation for those of us who still must struggle in a tired, deteriorating world.

This is a book that describes and elucidates the actuality of the coming together of heaven and earth (in contrast, for instance, to my previous focus on their “separateness”); it is the account of how an infinite God initiated and provided the means for a loving re-interaction with a creation that had fallen irretrievably from its original status. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the agency of that confluence. But he came to earth for much more than just “saving me so I can go to heaven.”.

I can’t begin to try to summarize in this short post all that the book covers. However, I’ll note a couple of recurring themes.

First, according to Wright, there has always been a way where heaven and earth overlapped, so to speak. Ancient Israelites had the tablets of law, for instance, and we today have not only the indwelling Holy Spirit, but also the Biblical canon and the church to both build us up and provide a means for worship of the Living God.

A second recurring theme is that not only has heaven and earth convened, but also the work has been accomplished for the rescue of mankind from his helpless, sinful state. And that rescue enables an incredible, fresh perspective.

Here is how Bishop Wright describes it:

“With Jesus, God’s rescue operation has been put into effect once and for all. A great door has swung open in the cosmos which can never again be shut. It’s the door to the prison where we’ve been kept chained up. We are offered freedom: freedom to experience God’s rescue for ourselves, to go through the open door and explore the new world to which we now have access. In particular, we are all invited—summoned, actually—to discover, through following Jesus, that this new world is indeed a place of justice, spirituality, relationship and beauty, and that we are not only to enjoy it as such but to work at bringing it to birth on earth as in heaven.”

Now that’s quite a contrast to the “slimline” Christianity to which I was initially exposed. Rather, I want to embrace this new vision..

Simple – and Complex

I’m in the middle of reading a book right now which I wish would have been written back in the dark ages when I was a college student. The book is penned by my emerging favorite religious studies author, N. T. Wright, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, England.

It’s called Simply Christian, with the subtitle, Why Christianity Makes Sense.

The classic book of this genre when I was heading into adulthood is C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. According to many, Simply Christian, in time, may even surpass the Lewis masterpiece as a standard.

I don’t know what it is about Wright’s style that is so appealing. Perhaps it’s his distinctively British manner, which seems to make his thoughts feel fresh. Or it may be the perspective of his expertise on the Hebrew/Jewish culture and its influence on Biblical writings – a perception often either taken for granted or skimmed over.

Whatever the case, I’m really into it. No doubt there’ll be more about this book in future posts on this blog.

Granddaughters Rub Elbows With American Idol Stars in Portland

Last night our granddaughters Talli and Hayley got to go backstage and meet the Stars of American Idol Season 6. The Idol finalists are on their live tour concert which had a stop last evening at Portland’s Rose Garden.

A friend from church, Rachelle Staley, is a long-time buddy of top contestant Phil Stacey, and so Talli, Hayley and their Dad were able to get a pass to meet the stars after the concert.

Above is Hayley (left) and Talli with the incredibly popular Sanjaya Malakar (from the Seattle area). Below are the girls with the very wonderful Melinda Doolittle, who not only shares her Christian faith openly but also came in third overall this year, behind Blake and winner Jordin.

Click here to read the whole story on Gregg’s blog, which also has a batch of many more neat pics of the event.

Getting Back to Whatever “Normal” Is

After re-processing on paper, er, on the computer’s word processor, just about all of my recollections on our great American baseball adventure, I guess it’s time for blog posts to return to “normal,” whatever that might be.

During the 10 days or so it took me to post all the baseball recollections, we had house guests from California last weekend, my wife taught a solid week of Vacation Bible School co-hosted by our church, and I caught up on a few chores around the house.

My son Doug called the other day and asked if the boat was ready for the water yet. Embarrassingly, I indicated the negative. Somehow in my mind the “serious” Puget Sound salmon fishing wouldn’t occur until August, and I’d be ready by then.

Wrong.

Doug reminded me that the nearby “month-long or until catch limit is reached” Chinook keeper season (the first in 13 years) began on the 15th. Of course the fishing was “hot” immediately, and the area boats have been reaching their daily limits for most of the week, while mine sits in limbo, parked below the house. Plus, I found out that the boat repair guy is full up for a few more days, and it may be some time before the Arima is seaworthy.

Yikes, available fish, and the boat sits dry on the trailer. This is a dilemma of significant proportions (tongue is in cheek).

Where we oughta be is out on the Sound with the downriggers dragging spoons in the water. The photo looks north toward Point-No-Point from Kingston, an area that contains lots of salmon right now.

Doug also told me today that the Chinook fishing is tailing off a bit (only a fish a boat, rather than limits, reported at Shilshole Marina this afternoon). That could actually be good news for us. It means the season may last another week or three, in contrast to being cut off because the total fish count had been caught.

Plus, we’re getting record summer rains for July. It’s the tropical rain which has kept the waters pretty flat. Maybe now, even though the calmer waters would have been easier, but wetter, fishing, I can get the boat done in time to fish late next week when it’s predicted to be a lot drier.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #7: Touching Home Plate

After the Sunday afternoon Cubs-Pirates game, Gregg, Doug and I enjoyed some great conversation and a nice Tex-Mex Dinner at Don Pedro’s, out toward the Pittsburgh airport.

We then dropped Gregg off at his steel city airdrome hotel from where he would fly home very early Monday morning. The car seemed to naturally point its way northward toward the Cleveland area where Doug and I would spend the last night of our baseball odyssey before driving to Chicago to fly home.

On Monday morning we drove past “The Jake” (Jacobs Field) in downtown Cleveland (above) on the shores of Lake Erie. This is where the Indians play their home games. Due to the MLB All-star Game break, the field was eerily empty and silent.

Down the road apiece, along the same lake shore, is the Cleveland Browns football stadium – adjacent to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One last baseball city and two neat stadiums provided a perfect tip of the hat to our trip.

O, yes, I did get my luggage back. It was delivered to the house about 36 hours after we arrived back in Seattle. Fierce thunder storms in the Midwest had delayed hundreds of flights at O’Hare on the evening of the 9th, resulting in Doug and I getting re-routed home through San Jose where we transferred to a different airline.

That, apparently, was too much for the airline luggage people to keep up with.

We flew some 4,000 total miles and drove an additional 2,000 miles going from city to city on our great American baseball adventure. We saw four and a half baseball games, including extra innings, and visited five of the newer Major League baseball parks (if you include the Cleveland drive by).

For me, it was the trip of a lifetime, enjoying the greatest game of all – baseball – in four of the very best new parks in America. And best of all, it was with my sons, taking pleasure in our common passion.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #6: The “Confluence”

Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is located in the triangle formed by the “Y-shaped” meeting of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers. The area is simply known as “the confluence”.

A statue of Honus Wagner welcomes you to PNC Park. Pittsburgh’s new baseball facility is to the north of downtown, across the Allegheny River, and is connected to the forest of skyscrapers by the signature yellow Roberto Clemente Memorial Bridge.

Before, during and after each Pirates home game, the bridge is shut down to vehicle traffic and becomes a convenient, pedestrian-only approach to the Park site. Gregg took the bridge pic below from outside of the right field fence.

Just to the west, on the north side of the very spot where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers converge to form the Ohio, lies the also newer Heinz Field (above), home of the football Steelers. Heinz Field replaced the now razed but appropriately named Three Rivers Stadium, in which both the Pirates and Steelers played.

What I remember most about July 8th in Pittsburgh is that it was quite hot – and humid. Of course it was an afternoon game, and the beating sun made it feel a little like a sauna.

The game itself was a good one. Pirates 6, Cubs 2 was the final score. We had two seats together and one separately (because we bought the third one later), but the single seat actually turned out to be a better location – directly behind home plate.

From the vantage point of that seat (which was also in the sun most of the game) you could see Carlos Zambrano’s wicked breaking stuff. How the Pirates could hit him at all was amazing, and they did so enough to beat him, aided by some spectacular defensive plays.

PNC Park is truly one of the finest baseball parks in the country. There is a hedge out in center field that is cleverly clipped to spell out “Pirates” (left). The views from inside the stadium toward downtown are spectacular. The service people in Pittsburgh were especially friendly and helpful.

In fact, the whole Pittsburgh area was (to me) surprisingly green, hilly and beautiful. Where were the steel mills and smoke?

For me, Pittsburgh comes in extremely close to number one St. Louis as far as ranking the four stadiums we visited. Detroit would be a close third followed by Cincinnati. However on a scale of 10 of all stadiums, the rankings would be 9.9, 9.8, 9.7 and 9.6. They are all wonderful Parks, including my hometown Safeco Field in Seattle, which I’d rank about a 9.8 or 9.9.

Of course for me the only 10 ranking is AT&T Park in San Francisco. Nothing can compare with the views of the San Francisco Bay or a “splash hit” into McCovey Cove.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #5: The Eyes of the Tiger(s)

During the long drive from one of last year’s World Series cities (St. Louis) to the other (Detroit), we talked on and off about the Motor City's inability to relate to the American marketplace despite it’s historic inventive prowess regarding the coach on wheels.

The best mileage cars are either Japanese or Korean. Toyota is head and shoulders above everyone else in hybrid technology. And, unfortunately for Detroit, the Asian car makers have little competition – still.

The pretty obvious conclusion is that across the Pacific they don’t have to deal with union strangleholds and gagging union pensions. Very sad, and the exodus from the motor city due to dwindling jobs in auto manufacturing is not only obvious, it’s also taking its economic toll on the area.

Another Detroit “distinction”: in San Francisco, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Pittsburgh, you find the featured ballpark statuary to be a key player or players in the franchise.

In Detroit? Statues of TIGERS! (top and left) You mean Ty Cobb doesn’t deserve a bronze likeness?? To each his own, I guess.

Comerica Park itself is quite nice. It’s on par with many of the newer parks. One sparkling feature is that they often play the hit song “Eye of the Tiger” between innings, and when they do, the eyes on the scoreboard tigers shine brilliantly green. A nice touch.

However, only a downtown skyline, with lots of obviously empty office space, is its backdrop (photo below); there’s no adjacent water as in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and, of course, San Francisco, where you can hit a home run into the Bay (a “splash hit”).

The game we saw, however, was quite another story. It was a spectacular, well-played, 13-inning marathon between the hometown Tigers and the visiting Boston Red Sox. Each team had opportunities to win, but neither could convert to lock it up, either in regulation or in any of three extra innings.

Finally, in the bottom of the 13th inning, Pudge Rodriguez lined a shot into right center just beyond the diving Coco Crisp to score the winning run. These were two first class, first-place teams playing like it was the last game of the ALCS (which it very well might be in early October). Neither would give an inch through the entire contest.

To Detroit’s credit, there ARE some great things at Comerica Park. Gregg, in his blog, mentioned the large, functional food court (like in many shopping centers) with a carousel in the center for kids of all ages to enjoy.

Midwest ballparks are VERY “family-oriented,” and that’s great. They even stress over the P.A. system that anyone using foul language will be removed from the park. Wow. I don't recall that ever happening in San Francisco.

After the game we headed for an overnight in Toledo to get a jump on our drive to Pittsburgh the next morning so we could arrive in time for a Sunday afternoon game.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #4: Seeing “Touchdown Jesus”

After an overnight in Springfield, Illinois following the Giants-St. Louis game, on Saturday morning we headed north and east toward Detroit, almost 500 miles away.

There is a lot of road construction along this route that caused us some frustrating delays, and on top of that, the rental car overheated.

Somewhere around Gary, Indiana the temp gauge on the 300 suddenly shot upward. Doug quickly exited the tollway, and we popped the hood at the first gas station. The problem was obvious: there was no radiator cap in place.

Fortunately, even though the cap had somehow popped off, it had landed on top of the coolant overflow reservoir, where it remained in plain sight. After giving the cooling system a fresh drink of coolant and water, we were on the way again, none the worse for wear.

We soon were passing South Bend, and Doug said, “We’ve gotta see ‘Touchdown Jesus.’” It wasn’t long until the massive Notre Dame football stadium loomed ahead. We stopped to take some pictures.

“Touchdown Jesus” is a full-wall mosaic opposite the stadium entrance depicting Christ with his arms raised toward heaven (and also approximating the signal for a touchdown). It is pictured at the top of this post.

Looking at the main entrance to the football field (above) brings to mind the many historic memories contained within those walls. Knute Rockne, George Gipp, the Four Horsemen, Paul Hornung, Joe Montana, and on and on. The school’s storied football past almost invokes awe.

As we left the hallowed grounds of Our Lady, we talked about all of the tradition and history of the school. It could just be the most significant college sports institution in the country.

After the radiator experience, we decided to turn in the car at the Detroit airport and get another one for the remainder of the trip. We got to the Detroit area just in time to accomplish the trade and get to Tiger Stadium for the evening game with the Red Sox. That’ll be the next post.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #3: St Louis-Gateway to the West

We drove to St. Louis on Friday (July 6) from Indianapolis, where we had made an overnight stop late Thursday night following the Cincinnati game.

Doug had planned our trip perfectly: get on the road a bit toward the next town following a game, thus lessening the next day’s drive time. He also picked hotels that provided free hot breakfasts, giving us a healthy fueled start to each day.

On the way, we had lunch in Greenville, Illinois, home of Greenville College where the famed Christian musical group Jars of Clay met, formed and got their start. The downtown restaurant was quintessential mid-America.

You get a first view of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (top left) from some 20 miles east of the city. It’s an architectural wonder that marks the approximate point from which began the Lewis and Clark expedition and eventually opened the entire western part of our country.

Both Gregg and Doug took the tram to the very top of the Arch. You can see some photos taken from the top on Gregg’s blog by clicking here. The parabolic monument was designed by famed Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who, unfortunately, died suddenly before its completion. It’s twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty, but only half as tall as the Empire State Building.

At the new ballpark in St. Louis you are greeted by the bigger-than-life statue of Stan “the Man” Musial (top right), whom I watched perform magic with his bat many times in my youth when he’d come to Wrigley Field to play the Cubs. Of course Musial’s home field in those days was the old Sportsman’s Park. He was an incredible baseball player and is an even better human being.

I think we all agreed that this new Busch Stadium in St. Louis is the best overall park of the four we visited, although each one had its particular “bests”. This park just seemed to have the most “bests,” architecturally, aesthetically and functionally. The red brick and black iron exterior perfectly complemented the gorgeous playing field (above photos).

Plus, we finally saw a Giants win, 4-3 (they had not been playing well – and still aren’t). But the Cards are the reigning World Champions of Baseball, and it was great to see them play in their new facility.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #2: Hall of Fame Museum in Cincy

If I remember correctly from our baseball museum exploration in Cincinnati, in only three decades since 1900 have the Cincinnati Reds NOT won a League or World Series Championship. I don’t think any other team, with the possible exception of the Yankees, can make that assertion.

Above is a dusk photo of their new stadium on the Ohio River which features a “Riverboat” theme.

My sons and I learned a lot about the Reds and the history of the one time-horsehide covered sphere at the Hall of Fame and Museum in Cincinnati, which we toured prior to the July 5th game with the Giants. A large part of the museum fetes the accomplishments of Pete Rose, who, like Barry Bonds, is viewed as “tainted” by many who follow the sport.

Pete Rose’s shortcoming was gambling on games in which he participated, while Barry Bonds of the Giants is knee-deep in the steroids “investigation” being conducted by Major League Baseball.

Despite his human frailties, Pete Rose was one heckuva ball player who, in my humble view, deserves consideration for Baseball’s Hall of Fame despite the controversy. He had the most hits ever by a player (4,256), and he played with an abandon rarely seen since Ty Cobb.

With players like Joe Nuxhall, Ewell Blackwell, Tom Browning, Ted Kluscewski, Johnny Bench, Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez – and Rose, of course – the Reds are a storied franchise.

One could “put oneself in the picture” in part of the museum. Gregg took this picture of Doug “leaping over the Reds outfield fence to snatch a homerun away from a hitter.”

Our glimpse back into the archives of Reds baseball was a treasured experience, expecially reliving the memories from my childhood when these Reds would periodically come into Wrigley Field.

Time Out For Aubrey's 5th Birthday Celebration

When in the course of human events a granddaughter’s birthday occurs, it provides one with the wonderful privilege of celebrating. Actually, it was three of us when you include my wife and our dog.

Monday was Aubrey’s 5th birthday, but yesterday was the first opportunity we had to drive to Oregon and commemorate the observance.

The picture above was the culmination, as she gets ready to blow out her cake candles.

Aubrey got to choose the place to eat (Lucky Fortune Chinese). But that was after she chose to play with her sister and friends in the backyard above-ground swimming pool all afternoon.

Then, in the evening after dinner, it was time to open packages. Her sister Hayley wrapped a gift in a box big enough to hold a large Teddy Bear. But it wasn’t that. After unwrapping tons of paper and two “false alarms” inside the big box, Aubrey finally got to the the gift inside – a wonderful spray candy stick! (left above)

Of course we have to include a pic (right) of Aubrey’s “Princess Dress, glasses and phone.”

After a drive to the store and back in Gregg and Elaine’s beautiful new "green" Prius – and being “wowed” by the technology and the variety of moving graphic displays in the dash that describe in detail what is going on between the gas and electric power sources and the various ways to charge the batteries – we began the drive back home to the Evergreen State just as darkness was setting in.

Although we arrived home a while past midnight, our travel time passed quickly because we had so many great memories of the day. Let’s see.. two weeks from tomorrow granddaughter Talli becomes a teenager. Yikes, the time is passing quickly.

Four Summer Days In Four American Cities: Nothing But Baseball, Hot Dogs, and Highway Driving With My Two Sons – Post #1

Well, we’re all back at home following a whirlwind baseball tour of four Major League cities and their respective (all newer) ball parks – Great American Park in Cincinnati, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Comerica Park in Detroit, and PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Getting home was another story (I still don’t have my luggage), but that’s for another time.

The experience of enjoying four-plus solid days with one’s adult sons doing nothing but either watching Major League baseball or driving from city to city amidst family-oriented baseball chatter, is one that will remain with me for the rest of my life.

The entire spectacular sports voyage was the brainchild of Doug, who planned and executed the itinerary for a father and brother who, like him, relish “the great American pastime”.

Doug and I flew to Chicago on the 4th of July and he rented a comfortable Chrysler 300 for the more than 2,000 miles of driving ahead of us. The following day we met up with Gregg in Indianapolis at noon. He had flown there from Portland the night before.

We arrived at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati (above) about 5 pm so we could take in the Big Red Machine Baseball Hall of Fame (a.k.a. the Pete Rose museum) before the game.

When we emerged, it was ominously raining steadily and the tarp covered the infield (below).

The game went on, thankfully, following a 40-minute rain delay, with “my” SF Giants losing to Cincinnati, 6-3. Perhaps more later on the game and day's events, but for this post, here are initial photos of the three other parks we would visit in the three following days.

Above is the outfield at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis with the famed Mississippi waterfront Gateway Arch dominating the view beyond the park.

This is the beautiful Comerica Park in Detroit, with the downtown skyline as a backdrop. The tall round building in the center is the GM (General Motors) building.

And finally, here's another beautiful newer park, PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Roberto Clemente bridge, just beyond the outfield wall, connects the waterfront park site to the downtown Pittsburgh triangle just across the Allegheny River. By the way, for a larger view, just click on a photo.

If you like, you can "read ahead" on Gregg's blog, as he took along his laptop and posted daily while on the trip. He took a zillion more pics with his cell phone cam than I took with my camera, and you can see the whole trip through his "eyes" by clicking here.

Re-Drafting My Spiritual Formation – Log #12: “Social Gospel” Is an Integral Part of Salvation, Not a Label

My learning experiences from a relatively new Lutheran faith perspective continue to be not only serendipidous but also life changing.

As I discover these faith nuances, I find myself thinking, “why haven’t I grasped this before?”

Carl Florea, an ordained Lutheran minister, has brought to light, for me, a discernment which I can’t believe I’ve not fully fathomed nor embraced in my many years of faith practice.

By the way, the Rev. Florea is not a minister of a church; rather, he is the executive director of a Housing Resource Board in a burb of Seattle. He wrote a newspaper column this week in the religion section that contained this observation:

“More than once I have had well-meaning Christians refer to the work I have been doing as 'social gospel' work, which, though important, just doesn’t carry the same weight as the 'real gospel' of saving souls.”

Up until a year and a half ago, I must admit that this likely would have been one of my own observations. The point this all raises concerns our mostly cultural-based separation of “spiritual things” and “earthly things”. This has been described philosophically as being “dualistic,” perhaps rooted in Greek thought.

Unfortunately, many of these dualistic notions have crept into segments of the Christian church, resulting in many quarters in a higher value being placed on the “spiritual” over the “earthly”.

When our total focus is on “getting people saved”, salvation somehow defines itself as being concerned with only the spirit and the afterlife. How we conduct our lives here and now is of much less importance, because we’re “in the fold” everlastingly.

Florea posits that “this dualism is unknown to the Jesus of the Bible”. He believes that when Jesus spoke of salvation, it was not about souls exclusively, but it was about people and wholeness. It was not primarily about the afterlife and one’s status therein; salvation was about the provision to make us whole right now – connected to and in relationship with God.

That’s as profound as I am able to comprehend. And it means I need to expand my contemplation of what salvation encompasses and impels.

Florea concludes with a quotation by the famous “author unknown”: “The goal of the faithful life is not to flee the material world to embrace the spiritual one, but rather to gain the eyes to see that the spiritual world is known in and through the material one.”

That’s why the Rev. Florea’s congregation is composed of people with shelter needs rather than of people in comfortable pews. If we as Christians could even grasp a portion of this wisdom, the world would see our Savior differently.

Time Is All We Have

Of late, I’ve sort of gotten hooked on a word game called Decoda-quote that appears daily in our local newspaper (and probably in yours as well).

The object of the word puzzle is to solve a pithy quotation by often famous sources. However, what appears is a jumble of alphabetic letters in groups. Each group is a word and each letter consistently represents another.

So if this is what appears: “GK MCF JLZBF; GK MCF MZBF,” the solution would be: “DO THE CRIME; DO THE TIME.” Obviously, some are much harder to solve than others.

Today’s Decodaquote was not only pithy, but also oozed with poignancy. The solution was, “Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time you’ve got.”

The author was the late urbane columnist, Art Buchwald, who himself has now run out of time as we know it. But he was so right.

“For everything there is a season,” declares the ancient book of Ecclesiastes (and popularized four decades ago in a song recorded by The Byrds).

We need to use wisely the time with which we are given.