Franklin

My Favorite Bookstore

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I confess that I currently listen to more books than I read. Since I spend a lot of time in my car, it makes sense to listen to books through Audible. That said, I still love an honest to goodness bookstore that only sells books.

I do love me some Barnes & Noble, but I also admit they’re like the big bad bookstore in You’ve Got Mail. They not only sell books but movies, music, and lots of other stuff. They have a very retail chain feel to them.

My favorite bookstore right now is probably Landmark Booksellers. It’s close enough so I can go there regularly. They have a unique indie vibe that I really like. They also sell new and used books, which is definitely right up my alley.

On a bit of a tangent, there’s something about holding and reading a physical book, especially if it’s older. Those old books have an aroma and a texture that makes you want to soak in every word.

Parnassus is also a legit bookstore, but it’s a bit out of my way to go there, plus the parking in Green Hills is practically nonexistent. But that’s a good one for those who live more in the Nashville area.

I hope there will always be books and people who read books and places that sell books. I can’t imagine a world with only audio books and Kindles. That would be super sad.

Today, I picked up an old used C. S. Lewis book at Landmark. It wasn’t a planned purchase, but I saw this old book with the dust jacket still intact, and it called my name. What else could I have done?

Waiting

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I’m waiting on my retro Nolan Ryan jersey to arrive in the mail. If it’s anything close to the picture on the ebay listing, then I will be thrilled.

I feel like I spend a lot of my life waiting. It’s exhausting at times and scary at times but always worth whatever time it takes.

I remember when I found out that Mafiaoza’s was coming to The Factory in Franklin. It felt like forever. I drove by several times and it seemed like nothing was happening. Then boom, one day there it was, all filled with customers and glorious pizza.

Most of us will spend most of our lives waiting on one thing or another, whether that be a spouse or a career or a place to live.

I still don’t believe that waiting is sitting idly by, like waiting for the phone to ring.

I believe waiting involves action.

That action is mainly preparing yourself to receive what it is that you’re waiting for.

The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Again, it’s not an idle and passive kind of waiting, but one that involves surrender and constantly being vigilant to the voice of God.

As my pastor has said more than once, when God calls you, you won’t have time to get ready. You’ll have to be ready. And waiting is the process of being made ready to answer God’s call when it comes.

Waiting is hard. The temptation is always there to give up or to take matters into your own hands to achieve your own desired outcome. Sometimes, the bravest part of waiting is simply showing up and not giving up for one more day, one more hour, one more minute.

Good things come to those who wait, not passively and idly, but with expectation and readiness.

 

TGIF

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If you’re reading this, you’ve made it through another week. Congrats! Your reward is getting to read this post.

Maybe you felt a little beat up after a long week where you started off two steps behind and were struggling to catch up for the next five days.

Maybe you felt a little overwhelmed at times by the task list that never seems to grow any smaller and that mound of papers that only seems to multiply.

Maybe you had anther one of those existential moments where you wonder if you’ve completely wasted your life and if there’s any chance that things will get better.

Here’s something to remember: God is still on His throne. God still sees you. He has not forgotten. He has not ceased watching over you with ceaseless vigilance. He is still in the business of working all things together for your good and His glory.

And tomorrow’s Saturday. You get to sleep in. Hopefully.

It also helps to keep the big picture in mind. Where you are right now is not the end of the story. As Frederick Buechner famously said, the resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing.

It also helps to bear in mind that God’s redemption story is way bigger than you or me. It’s about redeeming and restoring a fallen creation and setting the universe right.

I recommend during this weekend that you find a moment or two where you can be alone with your thoughts and God. Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted and take fifteen minutes to sit in God’s presence, not to make requests but simply to bask. Adore. Gaze. And listen.

I plan on doing that tomorrow in Franklin when I visit my favorite church building. I also plan on visiting my favorite street. But that’s beside the point.

Who you are is not your to-do list or your schedule. Who you are is not your job performance or your salary. Who you are is who God says you are– Beloved. Above all, remember that.

 

22,000 Steps

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Today, I set a new personal record for steps taken in a day. According to my Fitbit, I put in 22,874 steps totaling 10.15 miles and burning 3,195 calories in the process.

No wonder I feel so tired.

But those steps represent activity.  Those steps mean that I didn’t just sit on my rear and binge-watch Netflix all day (which is a good thing every now and then but not every day).

I participated in Serving Saturday with The Church at Avenue South. The group I was with served at the Room in the Inn headquarters on Drexel Street. For my part, I helped clean up the cafe where they serve the meal to the homeless men who come through on a daily basis.

It still feels good to serve like that and do something you know is contributing (even in a small way) toward people finding the grace and mercy of Jesus.

Every day you take steps toward or away from who you want to be. Every day you make choices and decisions that move you closer or further away from who and where God is calling you.

I won’t lie and say that every day I choose right. I’m thankful that the security of my salvation lies in the strong hand of my Savior rather than in my own strength. Otherwise I’d be screwed.

Everyday you must choose all over again whom you will serve, as Joshua reminded the Israelites way back in ye Old Testament times. You don’t choose Jesus once and then set your spiritual cruise control. You have to choose again and again with each new morning that you will follow Jesus and not every other competing voice that calls you in a contrary direction.

I ended up the night in Franklin for the Main Street Festival. I saw quite a few people that I knew and got in a lot more of my steps. I also had a fantastic hamburger which probably offset all those calories I burned in the entire day.

Oh well. It was worth it.

 

One of Those Nights

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“When trouble surrounded me, I cried out to the Eternal;
    He answered me and brought me to a wide, open space.
The Eternal is with me,
    so I will not be afraid of anything.
    If God is on my side, how can anyone hurt me?” (Psalm 118:5-6, The Voice).

So here I am at 10:30 with a mild headache and absolutely no idea of what to write about. It happens on occasion. So I supposed I’ll just make stuff up as I go.

It was a good night. I visited my usual favorite places in Franklin: McCreary’s Irish Pub, Kilwin’s, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. I got my 10,000 steps in. I took in all the fresh night air allowed by law and then some.

In St. Paul’s, I set the timer on my phone for 15 minutes of silence. I didn’t check my Facebook feed or any of the NCAA scores. I prayed some and sat in the dark some. It still amazes me how long 15 minutes can seem without some sort of distraction or amusement.

I walked down my favorite street and once again wished I could win the lottery or run into an inheritance so that I could buy one of those old houses. I just love old houses with character. Plus, I’d be so close to all the aforementioned favorite places.

It’s comforting to know that there’s nowhere I can go where God is not already there. There’s nothing that I can confess that He does not already know. There’s no fear or regret that He isn’t already aware of. There’s no future possibility that God can’t turn to my ultimate and lasting good. There’s not a time even in the darkest places and the loneliest times where God does not see and know where I am.

That’s a good thought to end this Saturday night.

 

 

 

Winning the Lottery

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So, the lottery is up to something like $1.4 billion. I also read that if every single person in the U.S. had a winning ticket, every person would win $4.3 million. I believe whoever calculated that was off a few decimal places. The actual total would be $4.30 per person, enough for a value meal at Taco Bell.

I have ideas with what I’d do if I won the lottery. I’d buy one of those old houses on Fair Street in Franklin. I’d finally get my red Mini-Cooper. I’d travel a lot and go to all those places I’ve always wanted to go.

I’d be very generous. I’d give to charities and pay off people’s debts and buy really nice stuff for my friends and family. Or would I?

I believe wholeheartedly that people that aren’t generous with $1 won’t be with $1 million. If you’re not a charitable person now, the chances are that sudden wealth won’t change that.

Maybe the answer is to start looking for ways to be generous now. It doesn’t necessarily have to involve spending lots of money on others. It could mean spending time with people. It could also mean donating your talents.

The best way of all to learn generosity is to remember how generous God has been to you all this time. He saved you, didn’t He? He rescued you from your own mess and gave you everything you needed in Jesus, right?

That kind of generosity should inspire us to a kind of generosity that is most needed yet most rarely given– a generosity of loving people not because they deserve it or earn it but because God loves the unloveable and calls us to do the same.

In fact, when we tangibly love those who can never return that love, we are most like the God who loved us when we were at our worst.

But I’d still like the opportunity to prove that all those millions wouldn’t change who I am fundamentally as a person. I’m just saying.

PS If you’re a millionaire and you don’t have a bookshelf that spins into a secret room you’re spending it wrong. Give me your money.

 

The Long and Winding Road

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“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to” (Bilbo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings).

I had another good night in Franklin. I hit all the usual places– McCreary’s Irish Pub, Kilwin’s, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. I had to cut it short when it started to rain.

I also had to improvise a bit for my drive home. Franklin Road going north was blocked off for the Pilgrimage Festival, so I tried a new way. More accurately, I started to try a new way and resorted to GPS when my way led me into unfamiliar territory.

When you’re not sure where you are, i.e. lost, nothing feels better than finding a familiar landmark or street.

When I turned on to Berry’s Chapel Road, I knew I was finally heading in the right direction. It was literally the long and winding road that led me back home.

The faith journey often takes us into unfamiliar territory. Usually, God does that to increase both our awareness of dependence on Him and to grow our faith as we discover new aspects to God’s ability to come through in the clutch.

Sometimes, I’ve been guilty of viewing God as my GPS, a sort of last minute back-up plan in case my own way of getting home fails. Too many of us have prayer and God as a last resort after every other effort has failed.

The lesson from tonight is to start off with prayer. It involves less stress in the end. It also will save you from a lot of heartache and disappointment and distractions that your own “short cuts” inevitably lead to.

One other note: I’d have probably done better if it hadn’t been dark and raining. I probably missed a street or two from not being able to see street signs very well. I think sometimes when you’re tired and frustrated, it’s best not to figure things out because you can’t always see everything properly. And definitely hold off on those emails and posts until you’ve had a good night’s sleep. Just FYI.

 

Hot Chicken on a Friday Night in Franklin

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I had another first tonight.

I ate my very first hot chicken. Technically, it was medium hot and it was listed as “crybaby,” but I’ve discovered that was as hot as I want to go. I was sweating and dabbing myself with a napkin and saying things like, “Lawd, have mercy.” I felt like Madea in one of those Tyler Perry movies.

FYI: They have four levels of hot chicken, with the hottest requiring a signed waiver before you eat it. I kid you not. As the famous philosopher Paris Hilton said, “That’s hot.”

I somehow managed to get diverted on my walk back to Five Points on Main Street. I ended up walking through an area that was a little sketchier than I normally like, but I kept walking until I saw something familiar– good ol’ 11th Ave N.

From there, I was good. Maybe there’s a life lesson in that? I’ll leave it for you to decide.

I worked my way over to Fair Street, my favorite place to walk in all of Franklin, and even looked for the friendly cat that I saw a few weeks back. Alas, he wasn’t there.

I spent time in the dark in my favorite church building– St. Paul’s. After all that hot chicken and all that walking and sweating, it was probably best that I was alone.

I got my iced beverage from Frothy Monkey– I wanted pumpkin spice or something else fall-ish, but I settled for hazelnut. Still, I had my Harper Lee book, so it was all good.

If I ever win the lottery (or some rich distant relative leaves all his dough to me), I’d love nothing better than to live in one of the old houses either on Main Street or one of the nearby roads. I’d be super-trendy in my red Mini-Cooper with my Mac Book Pro and my downtown Franklin cottage. Someone should definitely make that happen.

But for now, I’ll just continue to live in the moment and count my blessings and give thanks for another day to be alive and celebrate the God who always knows how to give the best gifts to His children.

 

 

My Favorite Walks

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In The Hobbit, there’s a passage that references a map that contains all of Bilbo Baggin’s favorite walking trails. I think I’ve found mine.

There’s a street that runs parallel to West Main Street that I’ve discovered that lends itself to walking and thinking. There’s not a lot of traffic on this road so it’s fairly peaceful.

All the houses on this street have been around a while and every once in a while I’ll run across some kids playing in a back yard or some friendly neighbors who will wave as I pass by. Once I even encountered a chatty grey cat who pegged me for being a cat person and ambled up to me for a bit of petting and conversation.

If I had loads of money, I’d like to live on this street. There is a house for sale that dates back to 1900. There’s another house that recently hit the market that I’d be sorely disappointed if there weren’t a ghost story or two to go with its fabled history.

I prefer walking when it’s not swelteringly hot. It’s hard to achieve tranquility when you’re sweating like a turkey that’s about to be Thanksgiving dinner. Or a pig that’s about to be in a BLT.

I’ve never been one to hear God speaking to me audibly, but I’ve found that God often speaks to me during one of my walks. Plus, I do need the exercise.

The Gospels record many instances of Jesus and the disciples doing a lot of walking. Back then, that was the main way to get from Point A to Point B. You walked.

I imagine that most of the memories the disciples carried with them of Jesus were the ones of the conversations they had while en route from one town to another. That’s how Jesus often speaks to us today. Generally not in those special moments but in the grind of daily life while we’re headed from one place to another.

So often in the walk of faith, the journey is just as important as the destination and the lessons we learn most are the ones we learn along the way.

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For a Limited Time Only

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puckettsGro

Yes, that’s right. The guided tour is back.

I will be your personal tour guide through the streets of Historic Downtown Franklin. Here’s a brief overview of how a typical tour would go.

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1) We start off at either McCreary’s Irish Pub or Puckett’s for some fine dining (as well as some exquisite people-watching). Those are my two favorite places to eat in Franklin.

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2) We head on over to The Frothy Monkey for iced or hot coffee/tea/chocolate beverages and more people-watching.

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3) From there, we trek over to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church where I expound on everything I know about this Civil War-era building (which takes all of two minutes). I recommend finding a nice quiet spot and sitting still for a minute or two. There’s also a lovely courtyard between the church and the old fire station as well as a garden on the side of the building.

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4) We walk around the block to Fair Street, which is currently my favorite street for admiring old houses and catching the ambiance of Franklin (as well as meeting and greeting any friendly critters that cross our path).

5) We can always walk up and down Main Street and gawk at the stores that sell stuff that I can’t afford. I can offer some almost entirely inaccurate historical facts about Franklin, like how Mr. Benjamin Franklin himself founded the Franklin Theatre way back in 1936.

6) I’m open to any further additional whims or ideas you may have. There are additional old church buildings and older homes that are worth seeing (as well as my very favorite house directly behind St. Paul’s on Fair Street).

For a limited time only, I’m offering half-price tours. That’s right. Half-price tours. Of course, half of $0 is still $0. You  can always offer to pick up my dinner and I will offer only mild resistance.

I do think that everyone should see what a perfect slice of small-town Americana looks like at least once in their lifetimes. Preferably on a day when it’s not 110 degrees in the shade. If you are really and truly interested, please reply to this blog or hit me up on my facebook page.

Lucy the Wonder Cat appreciates your business. And mine.