Month: August 2018

Yesterday was one of those days that just seem perfect! RuthAnn, good friends and I were at the ball park. I don’t think there is anything more American or more ‘home’ than being there, a baseball game. The smell of the field and hot dogs. The crowd loving their team and the players still reminding me of days gone by. Days when I stood in left field anticipating the fly ball. But more than that reminding me of my home park, Wrigley Field.

I have to admit, I am forever a Cubs fan. Born in Chicago and tied to the North side, not the South of those White Sox. There was nothing better when I was young than to sit in the bleachers of the ‘old park’ and watch my team. Losing as they did so often, made no difference to us. They were our heroes and lose or win we were loyal.

But there was one season that stands out and if there was ever a time I could have lost all hope for my team, it would have been in 1969. When that season began we all had hopes. The perianal cellar dweller Cubs had finished in second place the year before and this year the league had been broken down into divisions for the first time. At that time, it was a confusing mess for those of us who just knew National and American League teams. For reasons to lengthy to explain here, the Cubs ended up in the East division with their hated foe the St. Louis Cardinals and the ‘come lately’ New York Mets. While teams from farther east like the Atlanta Braves were in the West, strange! But at the time it seemed a sure thing it was a break for the Cubs, no one in this division were better.

The team was strong, with a mix of old and new. Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo, long time heroes, were joined by lesser knowns like Jim Hickman. With Fergie Jenkins and Ken Holtzman on the mound, it was sure to be our year. And it started out better than we could have imagined, Cubs winning 11 of the first 12 games. Not looking back by August, they had an 8 ½ game lead and were a shoe in for the division title. Then it happened, September arrived!

The Mets had been coming on since mid-August, but they were still 5 ½ back going into September. But now the Cubs could not hold a lead, or something would happen that led to a loss. It was bad. Losing 18 of 25 down the stretch the Mets kept winning and blew by them to win the division and eventually go on to be World Series champs. Ever to be known as the Miracle Mets. Cub fans so hopeful in the spring of 1969, would never see a Championship until 2016.

There has been a lot written why that team collapsed. Some who are superstitious believe it all started when the Cubs were at Shea Stadium and a black cat walked behind the ‘on deck’ circle while Ron Santo was coming up to bat. Others have blamed errors in that game by Don Young that led to an unrecoverable loss. Most think manager Leo Durocher overplayed his regulars and the team just ran out of gas by the end of the season. It makes no difference to a fan; the pain of that season never seems to go away.

It is strange to me how our loyalties to a team are so deep. We are willing to expose ourselves, with body paint, standing in below freezing temperatures stripped to the waist. Stand in lines for hours waiting to get a seat. Travel miles to follow our team. Cry when they lose and soar with joy when they win. For some that team is everything. Why? After all it is just a game, right?

Really, there is a bigger question for a Christian, why don’t we have that kind of deep loyalty to a truly ‘winning’ team led by a superstar, Jesus Christ. I have been in church on a Sabbath near Superbowl Sunday and heard more conversations about that game than about worshipping our God. Believe me, I am not pointing fingers unless it is at me. I recall with dismay conversations that expose me as one of the crowd, for sure. So why is it we struggle with worship of the One who deserves all of ours but can devote a life to worldly pursuits?

Maybe we need to spend a little more time contemplating verses like this, “For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols. But the LORD made the heavens.” (Psalm 96: 4-5) When I read this it puts it all in perspective. The things we worship become who we are. If we spend all our time worshipping a team, a TV show or even our job, we are worshipping the creature instead of the Creator. Maybe today we need to put God first and spend more time in worship of Him.

If we have the right perspective, a day like yesterday becomes more beautiful. I was at a game, but it was the beautiful day and my beautiful wife that brought joy. Friends to share with and having fun in the crowd made me smile. Even though I carry the memories of losing seasons gone by, I know truly this is our winning season, when we put Him and His Word first, we cannot lose!

Blessings John,
8/20/18

I have always been a team player and never cared much for individual sports or careers. As a kid I loved being on a team, be it basketball, baseball or football, it was where I wanted to be. Later in life I had that same feeling for being part of a ‘crew’. In construction the closest thing you have to a brother is your crew mate.

Any of you who have been in the service and especially if you have seen combat know this feeling better than anyone. Your very life is in the hands of one of your unit, no matter at the platoon or squad level. Brothers in arms. It is the same if you are going to form a safe and productive work crew.

For any crew to function to it’s full potential it needs a person to direct the talent and keep each person working with the feeling of accomplishment. I have to say, without boasting, that was my gift. I could take a bunch of guys who were completely dysfunctional and turn them into a team.

There are many considerations in being a ‘boss’ but a few of the most important is being able to listen and also being humble enough to learn even from the least of experienced of workers. I was not always so good with these two things and it took a particular instance for me to grasp them fully. Yeah, this is leading to another story, here is how it goes.

I was promoted to foreman the first time when I was still in my apprenticeship. That is not unusual, most programs insist that sometime during your learning years you be in charge of work. What was unusual about this was that most of the time it occurs during the last year of apprenticeship but in my case, I was in my first year. Being raised by a father who was in the trades as a plasterer and builder, I learned early how to read construction plans. Also, I have always had a knack for putting things together. So, when the company I was working for came up short a foreman the union steward pushed me forward and said, “I think this kid can do it.” The general foreman was reluctant but shrugged and said, “It’s your funeral, if he can’t do the job, you better have an experienced guy out here tomorrow.” No pressure, right?

So that day I went from crew ‘punk’, the go-fer of the gang to its boss. The strange thing was that I was not scared, I wanted the job and was sure I could do it. There was only one problem, my crew.

This crew consisted of five guys and now me as foreman. Four of them were journeymen of many years and they weren’t a bit happy to have a punk boss. I could see it in their eyes, it was shark time and I was the bait. The other guy was an apprentice like me. He had just come on the job this morning and was greener than I was.

I had no time to think of any of this, I knew what we needed to get done and how to do it, so I laid out the plan for the day and got us going. The old guys complained and drug their feet but when they saw I was willing to work just as hard as they did, things evened out by morning break. It was during this break that the new guy came up to me and suggested something he thought could make our work faster and more efficient. I shrugged him off. What do you know? I thought. I was feeling my new position and was not about to let someone steal my thunder.

As the rest of the day went by, I could see the idea that kid had was right. But I just couldn’t accept it. If I did, wouldn’t that make me look stupid? Maybe they would promote him, and I would be back punking, in shame. What a dilemma.

Have you been there? Maybe on your job, or with one of your kids. You’re in a position of leadership and someone maybe when you least expect it comes up with a better plan. Your pride or fear of loss of respect keeps you from accepting what could be best for all. Because of it more than just lost time or money is the result. You have weakened the team because of pride or insecurity.

Since I have become a follower of Jesus, I like so many have an erroneous idea that churches would never have such problems. After all we are Christians, right? We are loving and accepting but the truth is we are humans in need of a Savior. Churches struggle with the same issues. We have some who think, “Hey, that new guy can’t tell me anything. I have been a Christian all my life!” But is that what the Bible says?

The Apostle Paul has a lot to say about this and I do not have enough room to write it all here, but I think this is a good synopsis, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of workings, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. (1 Corinthians 12: 4-5). Again, he says so much more, you should read all of Chapter 12. But that last line of verse 5 is so important to remember, “…but in all of them (gifts) and in everyone is the same God at work. If we can remember that God has gifts for each of us to use and be open to listening and be humble enough to believe that all gifts come from God. We will be ready for Jesus soon coming and our churches will be overflowing.

It took me as a fledging boss over a week to admit that young man in my crew was a smart cookie and for me to be able not only to accept his ideas but bring him to the notice of the company bosses. He went on to be a great Ironworker and eventually a superintendent of a large company. As for me I learned a valuable lesson that has served me well, listen and be humble enough to allow others ‘gifts’ to be used for the better of the work. I pray I will always apply this to God’s work too. Think about it!

Blessings and Happy Sabbath,

John
8/17/18

I stood toe to toe with the man. He was shorter that me by maybe two inches, but he outweighed me by a good one hundred pounds. It made no difference to me, I was angry and there was only one thing I wanted and that was blood.

It had all started out ok. I showed up to work early at the job I was running in Santa Monica, like I always did. It was my practice to get onsite at least an hour before my crew showed up and have my whole day planned. So, this day did not start out any different.

Traffic had been bearable on the 405 at 4:30 in the AM so I had not been angered by gridlock. It was a beautiful Tuesday morning in the beach town and the jobsite was only two blocks from Santa Monica pier, so I could smell the salty cool air coming off the Pacific, peaceful. I had drank a small whiskey and coke on the drive in so that had soothed by ‘jones’ for booze.

All and all it was going to be a good day or so I thought.
But here I was a mere two hours later on the sidewalk off site ready to fight a man who I barely knew. Why and how did it happen? Well, the truth is that it happened way to often over the last twenty years of my life. The littlest thing could set it off. Everyone who knew me got it. “John has a temper, don’t get him riled. Or we will pay for it all day!” That is what my crew would say. Now a days, I guess you would say I had a problem with Anger Management.

Strangely enough, it seemed to work. Companies that hired me liked the fact that I was angry most of the time, I was a tough boss and got the job done. In fact, only a few months after the day of this fight, I was promoted to general foreman, because I had ‘what it took’. Things like, “John won’t take guff off anyone.” Or “John will do anything to get the work done.”

Were said among my employers and I got praise for being a hard case.
I have to admit, I took a certain amount of pride in my reputation. And like the TV westerns of the 1960’s there was always someone who wanted to proof they were tougher, faster or meaner than me. Hence, I got into a lot of fights. Win or lose I walked away bloodied but unfazed. At least on the surface.

I tried to tell myself that the ‘angry John’ was just a persona, that I could turn him on and then turn him off. But that was not true. Anger was not an act. When I looked in the mirror, a sullen and angry man looked back. And though I was never violent in my home or with a spouse. I used angry words and a sullen disposition to express myself more times than not. The idea of peace and joy were brief encounters in my world.

The question is, “How did an angry man come to a place where he now cannot stop smiling and feeling a deep sense of joy?” I’d like to say it was a miraculous thing. That one day I just woke up and all that anger that was stored up in me was gone. But it did not work that way. In fact, I never saw it happening. People who knew me would say, “John, you look happy these days, what is going on?” I would shake it off and be determined to hold on to my anger, especially because I thought my livelihood depended on it. But the Lord works in each of us in His time and in His ways. Somewhere along my path walking in His light I could no longer hang on to the anger, it just wasn’t there.

As I have said so many times in these writings, if you fill yourself with God’s Word it will transform you, if you like it or not. The power of it is beyond anything within us. No addiction, or deep-set problem can stay unshaken by it. No, they don’t all just dissolve but like a drip on a hard rock over time and with patience they are eroded. At least that is how it worked for me. God’s Word eroded my anger and through that help release me from my addictions to substances.

Psalm 37 says this, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads to evil. For those who are evil will be destroyed but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.” (Psalm 37: 8-9) That is the essence of what the Word does, if you believe, it gives a hope that nothing else can. Through that hope I began to see that all those things that I was angry about were all about the hopeless life I led. I carried the burdens of things that I could not let go of, from childhood and beyond.

As I accepted Jesus’ words, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) I released, be it unknowingly, my burdens on to the one who bore all to the cross. It changed me forever, Amen!

None of these thoughts were with me on that street in Santa Monica. My rage was all consuming. I fought with a man before I even knew his name. Both of us ended up bloodied and nothing got settled. In fact, he and I became enemies for years to come. Today I seek his forgiveness and am blessed to know I am forgiven through nothing I have done. Joyful and no longer angry. Thank you, Lord.

Blessings John,
8/15/18

I was talking to a young man recently and he was upset. As I listened I began to understand his problem. He had been to church and while there Christians seemed so Christ-like. It was once they left the church door that he noticed the difference. The ones he lived around thought that he needed to come to Christ in the way they believed and had little tolerance for anything that differed from their opinion of salvation.

As I reflected on this, I remembered a time when I felt very much the same. It seemed to me that Christians were good folks as long as they were inside a church but if I ran into one when I was high or drunk, I saw the look of distain in their eyes. Or maybe they would offer some platitude about how Jesus could save me then I would observe them living like the devil. Hypocrites all of them, was all I could think. But there was also a time the stands out when one Christian man reached out to me in such a loving and remarkable way that it has never left my thought, here is what happened.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s I was a general foreman for an independent rebar company in Los Angeles. It was small, but we eventually acquired a lot of work. The problem was that the work was spread out. From Ventura in the north to Long Beach in the south and it left me a large area to cover while overseeing the work. The company had provided me with a pickup and I had a car phone, so I could be reached in case of emergencies. Mainly I would pick a sector each day of jobs I would visit and work with the foremen. Sometimes in Hollywood or maybe in the Valley or it could be Santa Ana, but I tried to stay in that area to be the most effective.

No matter where I was there was always a bottle of whiskey under the seat and by mid-morning I would be drinking. Most of the time just a hit off the bottle now and again, or I would ‘juice up’ a coke I bought at the local 7/11 but I tried normally to keep it under control. That did not always work.

On the day I would like to share, it had been hectic. Fires to put out on jobs all over the city. On one job I had gotten into it with a city inspector and he really got my blood boiling. As I left that job, I decided I needed more than a nip. I needed a good stiff drink. Stopping I picked up a ‘Big Gulp’ from the 7/11 and only filled it half way with coke and ice. If you don’t know a Big Gulp is a 32-ounce drink you get ‘to go’ and I wanted to fill about half of it with whiskey.

My thoughts were that it was about quitting time anyway, so as I was driving home I drank. Somewhere in the valley the affect of the booze and the long day hit me, and I nodded off at the wheel. As I awoke the truck had veered out of my lanes and across the median. The impact of hitting it blew first my right front then my left rear tire. As the truck went even more out of control I skidded across lanes again and landed in a front yard. Dazed and still drunk, I could not comprehend what had happened. Then I heard a voice and a gentle knock on my window.

As I looked there was an elderly man standing staring at me with a look of worry. I could hear his muffled voice asking, “Son, are you ok? Do you need a doctor or ambulance?” Rolling my window down, I wanted to yell or swear but looking at this compassionate face, all I could say was, “No I am alright, but I do not know about my truck.” Slowly getting out, he could see I was unsteady and inebriated, so he told me to lean on him as he directed me to his porch. When I sat I must have passed out again?

When I awoke, I was confused. Where was I? Then it came back to me and I jumped up with a start. Looking around I saw that my truck was gone, and the man was standing not far off, smiling. I said, “Where is my truck? What is going on? Did you call the cops?” He just shook his head and said, “Calm down, son. I have had a friend of mine pick up your truck and take it to his shop. He will look it over and repair your tires, once you are sober enough we will get you back on the road, I promise.” I sat back down dazed. Finally, I asked him, “Why are you doing this? I could have run that truck into your house.” He smiled again and said with his head lowered, “I saw a miracle when that truck of yours made it through traffic and landed in my front yard, I knew the Lord had put you here and I needed to do what I could for you. It is as simple as that. Tears came to my eyes.

Jesus walked among us, He gave us a commission, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations….” (Matthew 28:19) But he did not say to make them all the same disciple. He had already shown His followers that it was by compassion, by love and by sacrifice that we will complete this work. But I think we to often believe we can ‘save’ others by churching them without loving them right where they are. And the young man I spoke to reminded me that it doesn’t work.

Years ago, a man took me in after I had ruined part of his yard by driving my truck into it in a drunken stupor. He didn’t judge, he didn’t preach. He, like the Good Samaritan loved this wounded man. Never once did a judgmental word come from him and he paid for my repairs and would not take a dime. As I was leaving he said this, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another…” I did not know he was quoting the words of Jesus at the time. But years later when I read those same words in the gospel of John chapter 13 and verse 34. I remembered him and today, renew my desire to be like him. How about you?

Blessings John
8/13/18