New Grips

It’s been decades.

As a kid, I spent countless hours at Hillcrest Golf Club in Maplewood, Minnesota. I started as a caddy—three dollars a day if you were lucky, six if you carried two bags. When the pro shop offered me hourly wages, I jumped. I pulled clubs from storage, prepped carts, shined sticks, stocked shelves, and even tinkered with my own grips and weights.

Then came the “demotion.” I became a driving range attendant. My job was to wander a hilly, rutted, overgrown field and pick up golf balls by hand. No machinery. Just bend, grab, repeat. Both backbreaking and hot, I was miserable.

Ben Franklin's Moral Algebra

Every Sunday, for years, a “Sandals and a Stick” article was published. I was pleased with that record. To me, it reinforced the chosen path for the analysis and discovery of who I am as a person with a gauge for tracking my spiritual progress – or lack thereof. A year ago, 30-Second Sermons and Seasonings videos were added to the workload, along with high hopes and forward-looking excitement.

But if you’ve read the main webpage in recent times, you’ll notice things have changed. Mentioned here were moments of clarity and hope. There were also times when the ‘agony of defeat’ ruled the day. “Sandals and a Stick” was waffling.

The Light Comes In

Darkness falls on everyone. Like seasons, it comes and goes — some days radiant with hope, light, and awe; others shadowed by trepidation and tinged with hopelessness.

As Forrest Gump reminds us: “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.”

To a degree, Mr. Gump and his mother were right. If we wander through life with little more than a wish and a prayer, choosing confections at random, we’ll taste both sweetness and bitterness. I must admit I have shaken hands with tartness as of late.

I Didn’t Know, a Confession, and a Way Forward

I have been around the block a few times and I spent much of my life thinking, “Things are getting better. People are getting better.” But I didn’t know.

I Didn't Know

Hope From Those in School

In the first January article, I noted that my 2025 word-of-the-year challenge is to be a warmer person. 

I knew that would be a difficult goal but that’s the point of this annual exercise – to improve in areas where one needs improvement.

But today, I’m not feeling warm. All I can think about is the windchill of minus 30 degrees. I’ll take a break from that warm person thing since there’s less chance than a cold day in hell that I’ll see anybody today. I’m off the hook while shivering in place. Sounds fair.

I will take this time to wrap up in a blanket and read a book. Before picking up the novel, I will spend a little time reinforcing the I-never-want-to-forget memories from yesterday. 

Captured on Video

I grew up in an age where it was possible to hide. No video cameras recorded your every act and no GPS tracking devices broadcast your location. A simpler time, perhaps.

Although we’ve made a lot of noise about privacy, we have adjusted to the normalization of ‘visibility’ which has become very prevalent.

This week, I read an article describing one person’s experience with video surveillance. The highlights are briefly described in the bullet points below. The full article is here.

Not Just About Me

As I work on this concept of hope, I’ve been coming across blogs, sermons, and discussions about hope everywhere. A reference to a similar situation; someone you know buys a new car and you suddenly notice that model at every intersection.

The basis for today was another HuffPost article. Please consider waiting to read the linked article until you're in a good place as it mixes great sorrow with a couple of impactful points that matter to us as we walk through this life.

What is the Point?

Have you ever felt despair that created a need to exclaim, "What is the point of this?"

• If you read the news, even occasionally, you probably did.
• If at some time in the past, you enjoyed people-watching, but have since given up the ghost on that one, you probably did.
• If you’ve gone grocery shopping, if you’ve driven to work, if you’ve got a job, and even if you just finished a holiday dinner with family, you probably did. 

One Dream

I Have a Dream Speech.

Of course, you know about this one, right?

Reverend Martin Luther King spoke to thousands at the 1963 March on Washington. We are typically reminded of his words on the MLK holiday in January of each year. A full transcript can be found here.

But about a month ago, the email subscription I have to the Center for Action and Contemplation introduced me to another speech that begins with the words, “I have a dream.”

“I have a dream,” God says. “Please help Me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts, when there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, that My children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, My family.” Desmond Tutu

Encouraging Hope

I am guessing that inside each of us, we carry a wild tempest of emotions right now. I am choosing to ignore them today. You have yours.  I have mine.  My job is to love you – no matter what.  In my mind, that is the primary definition of life in Christ.  You might feel differently about that too, I suppose.

Today, I look for peace.

Today, I look for joy, celebration, and maybe even some contentment.  

We All Hope, Right?

Hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.”  That sounds reasonable.  We all hope for things to get better, right?  We all hope for change that matters to us, our family, and even the world itself. 

There are lots of reasons to hope. A staple of writing for me seems to be a little research tool called Google.  If you ask the algorithms to search this topic for you, you might find 726 million results like I did.  I did not read them all.

A short synopsis reveals that people find hope in different categories.

• Theology
• Psychology
• Politics
• Climate-change
• Racial Disparity
• Ecology

Be The Bucket Brigade

I’ve decided it’s time to lose a few pounds.  Actually, I decided that a long time ago but I’m finally getting around to spending time on my feet attempting change.

There’s a mall not far from the office.  During lunch, I’ve been trying wander the hallways at a ‘brisk’ pace a few times per week.  Burning calories is the goal, but it's a sad place to be, actually.

I researched the mall's history.  Someone (actually many of them) spent a small fortune (This, a relative term as small doesn’t resonate with me.  Huge might be closer to truth) on this retail structure.

Efforts to create a scaled-down Mall of America never saw success.  Currently, with few exceptions, storefronts remain empty and boarded over.

Light & Life

From the time we first open our eyes at birth to the moment we die and "follow the light", our world is filled with signs of hope through this miracle of life.

A morning sunrise.
A lighthouse on a rocky shore.
A street lamp on a running path.
A light refracted to create a rainbow.

A miracle because;
Light completely dispels darkness.
Light provides safety and leads the way.
Light encourages hope

Bounci"full"

A toy.  A simple ball introduced way back in 1965.  Yes, the Wham-O Superball.

Acting normally on its way down, it lands.
Compresses.
Then it leaps upward with energy exceeding all anticipations.

This ball seemed to bounce forever.  It was a powerhouse of energy.  I wish I could say that.  I seem to run out of energy all the time now.  There are reasons for this of course - none of which I'll discuss here!

Today, I saw more than a bouncing ball.
Today, the ball taught me a lesson.

• Trust God on the way down.
• Allow the compression
• Experience the gift; incomprehensible energy, peace and hope for the future.

Lord, help me to be more like a Superball. Help me to trust you in difficult times knowing that soon, you will be the reason that I am able to bounce forward.

May every one of you experience this bouncifull" relationship.

(I know, right? Sometimes, I just don't know where this stuff comes from...)