Middle Tennessee

To All Those Bracket Busters

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I love this time of year when the season known as March Madness descends on all those who love college basketball (or just good competitive sports in general).

It’s the time when people fill out brackets of who they think will win each and every one of the 67 games all the way up to the national championship game. Mostly, it’s just for fun and mostly it’s akin to throwing darts at a dartboard while blindfolded.

This time around, I filled in 11 brackets, hoping that maybe one might actually win me something– if nothing more than a good sense of pride in finally having a decently picked bracket.

This is also the time of year when at least one team will come out of nowhere to pull off the monumental upset that will wreck just about everybody’s brackets.

Last year, it was Middle Tennessee shocking Michigan State and rendering a lot of brackets as birdcage liner or recycle bin filler.

Four years ago, Florida Gulf Coast knocked off Georgetown and managed to break into the Sweet Sixteen before being unceremoniously ousted by Florida.

A lot of us know what it’s like to be the underdog. Many feel like outsiders and outcasts in a world where image and style are everything.

Yet in God’s economy, those are the ones He picks to advance His kingdom on this planet. Those very underdogs are the ones He calls more than conquerors through Christ.

So far, every one of those NCAA Cinderella teams eventually get kicked out of the ball and end up going home short of being champions. Just about every time, it’s one of the power programs who ends up winning it all.

With God, it’s a different story. It’s the last who are first and those outcasts who end up with the victory. It’s the nobodies who are the ones God calls His beloved.

So far, my brackets are still in the running, for the most part. I still have an outside shot of ending up with a respectable outcome. If I win any money or fame, I promise to remain the same humble blog post writer as always.

 

Happy 5th of July!

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Due to thunderstorms that prevailed over Middle Tennessee yesterday, I got to see fireworks on the 5th of July. They were great.

They actually were. From where I was seated, I felt like I was right underneath all the colorful explosions, like a canopy of color.

I realize that the 5th of July isn’t an actual holiday, but it should be. We as Americans shouldn’t choose to celebrate freedom only one day a year and then take it for granted the other 364 days (365 on those oddball leap years).

Freedom is precious. It may be free to you and me, but it wasn’t free. Somebody paid for it.

Men and women paid for it with their sacrifice of time and service, blood and (sometimes) their very lives. They died so we could have the freedoms we take for granted.

Ultimately, all freedom comes from the Ultimate Sacrifice, Jesus who paid the supreme cost so that you and I wouldn’t have to be slaves to sin but could find true freedom and abundant life.

That’s a freedom that no one should ever take for granted. I hope I never do.

On a side note, I remember how scared I was of fireworks as a kid. Actually, I was scared of loud noises. Now that I realize how there was nothing really to be scared of, I can enjoy fireworks so much more.

Do you think maybe that could extend to fears other than those of fireworks and loud noises? I think so.

 

 

More Snow, Snow, Snow

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“‘Come. Sit down. Let’s argue this out.’
    This is God’s Message:
‘If your sins are blood-red,
    they’ll be snow-white.
If they’re red like crimson,
    they’ll be like wool.'” (Isaiah 1:18-19)

Well, apparently Middle Tennessee is catching up on all that snow we were supposed to get this year (according to the famed Farmer’s Almanac). Ok, it’s still not that much by New York or Boston standards, but snow is snow. And Nashvillians still can’t drive in it. Not that they can drive in any other kind of weather.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I can remember back when it used to REALLY snow. There was that one time when I was a freshman at Briarcrest High School when Memphis got 13 inches of snow. 13 inches! Again, that’s a light dusting for places like Minneapolis, but for us folks down South, that’s a big deal.

I also remember the Great Ice Storm of ’94 when I was a student at Union University and people lost power for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, the campus shared the same power grid as the nearby hospital, so we only went without power for a few hours.

This time, it’s nowhere near as dramatic as that. Still, even with only an inch or two on the ground, it is rather pretty. Even at night, there’s still enough light reflecting off the snow for me to be able to see out the front door when ordinarily I wouldn’t be able to see much beyond the glow of the streetlights.

I’m thinking how snow covers up so much ugliness and makes everything beautiful again. I wonder if that was what Isaiah was thinking when he penned the words about how “though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.”

I’m hoping with all this Arctic (for Middle Tennessee) weather we’ve been having that there will be less bugs next summer. I wonder what the Farmer’s Almanac has to say about that?

 

Radner Lake and Henry David Thoreau

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image When was the last time you paused and stood absolutely still and silent for one minute? When was the last time you went to a place of solitude and did nothing more than listen to the quiet? I walked my favorite trail at Radnor Lake State Park again today. Even after so many times, it still feels like I’m leaving Middle Tennessee for Middle Earth. I feel like I could be Frodo Baggins out for a hike in the Shire. image When I stood still, I could hear nature all around me. Leaves rustling, birds singing, wind humming. Even myself thinking. I think God speaks loudest to me in the quiet. When I’m still and my brain isn’t racing with 9,956 tabs open at the same time. Like He did with Elijah, God often chooses to speak through a still, small voice that won’t compete with all the noise and clamor around us. image I can hear that Voice when I’m at Radnor Lake and when I’m sitting in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church or when I’m laying in bed late at night. I confess I’m still not very good at listening. I’m still too impatient and easily distracted. If I try to be still, immediately I think of something I need to do or a note I need to write. Complete stillness is so unnatural for me. For all of us.

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I need to get out more. And by out, I mean to these quiet places with no flashing neon lights or constant noise. Sometimes I think I could be like Mr. Thoreau and find myself a Walden Pond to visit for a while. Yeah, that’d be nice.

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Grace Notes on a Thursday Night

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As I type these words, I have one extremely sleepy therapist curled up in my lap. I can feel my blood pressure dropping and my stress melting away. It’s almost like I’m living inside a Norman Rockwell painting.

I visited my favorite place on earth again. Downtown Franklin for me is almost like leaving Middle Tennessee and entering Middle Earth. If Middle Earth had amazing frozen yogurt and talking crosswalks.

I saw two of my favorite friends down there and ate at McCreary’s Irish Pub yet again. I felt like a senior adult eating at 4:30 pm, but I didn’t have to wait and I was able to sit outside and people-watch while I ate.

I really think the way to slow down your life is to be intentionally thankful for each moment, grateful for each frame of your fleeting life, and to seek joy where you are. Once you start looking for them, you’ll be amazed at how plentiful the blessings are. How numerous the little joys are that quietly intrude on your day.

Sometimes, you have to put down the iPhone and the iPad and the MacBookPro and live in the moment. Actually be present in your life to the people and places around you.

toystore

I find that my gratitude increases my awareness of grace and my need for it and my capacity to both receive and give it. Everything I have and everything I am that’s worth anything at all is grace, including possessions, people, health, education, and (as hard as it is for me to admit) even the faith to believe in the promises of Jesus.

I say take time to bless those people behind the counter. I went back into Sweet CeCe’s after I finished my divine Southern Sweet Velvet yogurt and told the girl working there that they always did such a great job and made me feel welcome every time I went in there. I’m sure plenty of people probably complained or took out their frustrations on her, so I felt she needed at least one positive and encouraging word that day.

Even if it’s only a smile, you can change a person’s world. And as I’ve said before, to change one person’s world is to change the world.

Gee, I do so love grace.

dorie

Spring’s Here

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I gotta tell ya. I’m lovin’ this weather we’re having in Middle Tennessee. I don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the country, but right here, the weather’s just fine.

I think the temperature is supposed to be in the 70’s for the entire week. After going up and down from warm to cold like a demented yo-yo, this is a nice change of pace. I don’t know if there’s any chance of rain, but I’m fairly certain there’ll be no snow at least until next December.

My favorite of the seasons is fall, but spring’s a close second. Especially when it’s right around 75 and the sun is shining and a cool breeze is blowing. I can literally feel my cares blowing away with the wind.

I know better than to trust Tennessee weather or Tennessee weather forecasters. So nix what I said earlier about no more snow. Stranger things have happened in April and even in May.

I’m just thankful that I woke up this morning and was able to enjoy the fine Sunday spring day. I don’t take for granted that I’ll get the same privilege tomorrow. It’ll be another gift tomorrow.