The Race Run

We did it and we did it together.  My wife, my son, and I just ran the HCAVA 8K (say that 5 times fast).  There were two much longer runs that day with the McDonald’s half marathon and the SunTrust marathon occurring, as well.  But the 8K was a big step for us, as a collective.  It was the first event of this type that my wife and I would both participate in together; and the first ever for my fourteen year old son.  We all started out together but of course pacing and the crowd soon had us spread out with my wife leading.  I ran between them thinking I might be able to keep them both in sight but my wife’s ability (very good) and my son’s inexperience (none), soon had me realizing my presence would be appreciated by my wife … but needed by my son.  I backed off and came along side him.  We weren’t as prepared as we needed to be, as the week prior had been all rain disallowing us any road time.  And I had the good fortune of catching a very nasty cold a few days prior that realistically made it foolish for me to run – though, I’m still glad I did.

As I ran, my thoughts were filled with my wife and son.  This experience was unique, as my wife had only become my wife as recently, as early August, of this year.  My son has been my closest friend and greatest treasure, his entire fourteen year long, life.  We were actually, beginning a different race together.  One much bigger and longer.  We were embarking on a lifetime, together.  I began to consider all the analogies that applied.  How we each would run at different paces – how each would need my help, in different ways and at different times.  Sometimes needing me in different ways at the same time.  I thought of how much I loved them.

As we passed a Patrick Henry impersonator shouting the mileage remaining to “win” the race … I thought of my own life-race.  I recalled where Paul said, in Corinthians …

1 Corinthians 9:24 (NIV) – Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.

I was struck with the impression, “winning my race means helping others to win theirs.”  That’s my prize.  I’m here, in part to help my wife and son win their respective race of life.  And not just them but others, as well; as God and circumstances bring me into proximity to others needing my help.

It has been four days since, the run and I’m still trying to shake this cold.  Again, I probably shouldn’t have run but that also, is much like life.  We are rarely given perfect circumstances to run our life races.  Much of it is uphill, bad weather, and against the wind; with some of the longest stretches seeming to come just as we’re running out of steam.

The race run … is never really finished.  The race of life is never the “race-having-been-run” – but always the “race-being-run”.  Until it is the “race-done” … and only then can it be the “race-won”.

2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV) – I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Consonant Sadness

There are twenty six letters, in the English alphabet.  Five of those letters are dedicated vowels and the remaining twenty one are consonants; with the letter “y” serving as an occasional vowel, in special instances.  The alphabet is a bit like humanity, in that you can get a staggering degree of results with any effort to combine its members.  The results may communicate understanding, goodness, and love … or selfishness, shallowness, and hate … or something altogether unintelligible.  Also, much like humanity, I have a greater fondness for some letters more than others.  It isn’t that I hate or even dislike any letters, in particular — I simply, have grown to be closer to some letters more than others.  It is typically because these letters are closer to the matters of my own heart than most; with a select few being my very heart itself, in substance and meaning.

I have recently had a terrible blow to my heart, as I have discovered space between myself and my most loved letter.  I have loved this letter since, I first encountered it in its lowercase form.  For very special and particular reasons, I have held the letter “P” in my heart, as one of my greatest treasures.  That may sound odd but I could never adequately convey how much this wonderful consonant means to me.

Yet, space has developed between myself and “P” that has been a terrible blow to me.  Again, I understand that most wouldn’t care so deeply about their relationship with a consonant.  Indeed most would be incredulous that I might have a relationship of any heartfelt substance with a letter of the alphabet.  But then, again … most members of humanity don’t really understand what it means to have relationship with other members of humanity, on any real level.  So to them … this would only be an odd tale about a man and the consonant, that is “P”.

What they also, might not fully realize is that I cannot create nor possess certain things like “complete” without the consonant “P”.  And though, you may not fully understand it … “P” is the heart of “complete”.  And “whole” is “total” … and not “complete”.  “Whole” fills a void … where “P” fills a hole.  A hole uniquely for and dedicated to “P”.

So if you’ve actually read this and only have the thought of “huh”, going through your mind;  pay me no mind … I am simply, in mourning for the loss of “P”.  I miss him terribly.

French Import

I met this guy on YouTube after he sent an e-mail saying, he liked some mixing I had done to some music I had posted.  I was surprised he had bothered to e-mail me, as I don’t even allow comments to be posted to these mixes.  It’s just some things I had done and I wasn’t really looking for a critique of any of it.  I was pleased that he had stated liking the mixes, as it’s music that most purists of the originals would have seen as blasphemous to have altered.

After, replying to him, I hopped over to his channel to see who he was.  I was pleased to encounter a very talented young man from France, that had somehow managed to capture much of the essence of many of his favorite musicians (that happened to be many of my own, as well) along with possessing a skill equal to them, as well.  That is saying much, as these included the likes of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and David Gilmour.  Yep, if you can imagine someone with the speed, dexterity, and technical prowess of Steve Morse or Eric Johnson while simultaneously having the intuitive ability of David Gilmour or Robin Trower to milk the most beautiful and powerful portions of any given chord … you would have this guy.

Jean Hancok

His name is Jean Hancok.  Where I was really impressed with his killer and unique covers of tunes from the likes of Clapton … I was today, blown away, as I opened my inbox on YouTube to discover he had sent an e-mail linking to his newest submission.  It is an original composition called La Nuit (The Night).  I needed this, today.  It is one of the best pieces of this genre I have heard in a long time.  Further, I can say that I may prefer his playing over 3 of my all-time favorites that he might be compared with – Satriani, Vai, and Johnson.  Where they are all impeccable guitar players and truly in a very small circle of excellence … I don’t think they may possess the degree of intuition that Mr. Hancok demonstrates.  There are those that may say, that’s blasphemous considering all that those musicians have contributed to the world of guitar (& truly pioneered in many respects) and the fact that they are the original “3 G” lineup; but I’ll stand by that statement.  Give young Mr. Hancok a listen and see what you think.  I’m confident you will be very pleased.

He can be found on Facebook, also where he has posted some videos and he apparently even has an album of his own completed but obtaining it may prove difficult, as I could only find it available on a French site.  The album contents are available for listening, on this site, as well.  Bon appétit.

Finding Yourself

Where have all my friends gone
They’ve all disappeared
Turned around maybe one day
You’re all that was there
Stood by on believing
Stood by on my own
Always thought I was someone
Turned out I was wrong

– From Jayhawks – “Blue”

Most of us spend our lives figuring out who we are.  Just as it’s difficult to get much of a view of your car when you’re driving it – it’s often difficult to get a clear self-perspective when you’re busy driving your life.  Like a car, we’re always moving through life adding mileage, getting dings, entering and exiting relationships, wrong turns into confusing circumstances, repairs, etc.  So whatever perspective any given moment offers … it has changed on some level, by the time we gather it.

Hopefully, we learn as we go to use other elements around us to reflect perspective.  We listen to those relationships in our lives, as they build-up and tear-down who we are.  We note reactions to our activities, replies to our comments, allies and enemies and the qualities they possess.

Through our faith in God … we try to listen.  We listen with hopes of hearing our Creator.  He knows us like no other, can.  He is a God of description.  Describing Job as “blameless and upright” … Daniel as “highly esteemed” … David as “being after His own heart”.  He can certainly give us insight and understanding about ourselves.  Listening proves difficult, however as we live in a microwave world where everything moves faster and faster.  God never changes however, in His manner of communication with us.  To know anything of God requires something increasingly rare; being still.

Psalm 46:10 (NIV) – “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Above all else, this is the source of input we most need to cultivate.  Yet, it is often the area I least nurture.  I purpose to avoid being caught up in the pace of our microwave world … only to find myself swept up in its current even if I stop, altogether.  I long for the peace I can only find at the feet of God.  This focus has always been a struggle for everyone.  It isn’t a struggle any longer … it is out-&-out war.  There are a million times a million distractions asserting they are more important than this time, I need with my God.  The world is encroaching in on our most private times.  Yet, it remains.  I need to hear from God to gain any substantial understanding about myself and my world.

For a million and one reasons … I had virtually no self confidence growing up.  Like many … life was extremely hard with a sea of pain.  I always hoped, however.  I always hoped to find peace, stability, … happiness in life.  I always hoped to gain comfort and confidence, in who I was.  I always hoped to become someone, as I grew.  To define myself with traits that I held in great value.  To be honorable, trustworthy, a man of integrity; a man truly in love with his God.  What I didn’t realize is that being ‘someone’ can often mean being no one.  ‘Someone’ can be as anonymous, as anyone.  Someone can be an ideal … with no more possibilities of breathing than a statue.  I’m trying to be someone other than ‘someone’ these days.  I’m trying to be me.  Accepting all flaws and shortcomings — and falling into the mercy of God that by His grace, I might be a better ‘me’ tomorrow than I was, today.  That has become my primary aspiration.  Above all else … as I look to find myself — I must always find that I am His.

Change

Unless you live on Mars, you are by now aware of the incredible events that unfolded, yesterday.  We here in Virginia got to see firsthand, as the tide-of-change began rolling in and washing the political flotsam back out into the deep sea of “what was”.  This is a very exciting time.  We haven’t seen change like this since … well … the last election, I suppose.  But it doesn’t matter … because this is new; with new representatives carting new agendas making new promises.  Well … not terribly new, I suppose – but they are different representatives.  So … that’s pretty exciting.  I suppose.

I can imagine the changes coming in the form of the following:

1)  We will begin to hear from those taking office (no matter their political affiliation), in approximately 80 days or so how their predecessors were so inept that existing problems were far more severe than they had imagined.

2)  We will begin to hear from those taking office (no matter their party affiliation), in approximately 160 days or so how they just can’t get any cooperation from their counterparts representing the “other” political party — but they won’t give up.

3)  We will begin to hear from those taking office (no matter their party affiliation), in approximately 300 days or so how they are beginning to make real progress towards getting past the legacy of issues they inherited.

4)  We will begin to hear from those taking office (no matter their party affiliation), in approximately 20 months or so how they simply, need more time to work within the system to bring about the changes they campaigned on – and how they hope to have the support of voters, in recognizing this when election time rolls around.

When I was younger, I based my vote on the belief, in the candidate of my choice being the better person for the job.  Sometimes, I even believed a particular candidate sincerely represented good change.  As I got older, I found myself more often than not voting to prevent certain candidates from reaching office.  Lately, I found myself chewing on a line from a Rush song that states, “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”  Something else occurred yesterday, that has never occurred in my life since I was old enough to vote.  I didn’t vote.  I wrestled with this until I came to the firm conclusion, that I could not abide the idea of voting for someone based on the perception that they ‘sucked’ less than the other guy.

But isn’t it un-American not to vote?  After, all that has been sacrificed by so many, for so long to ensure and protect this right … this privilege?  On the contrary – I believe it is the very heart-&-soul of America.  Democratic election in the United States is not about simply, electing.  It is not about simply, picking someone because someone needs to be picked.  It is about democratically supporting and selecting the representative of your choice, from the field of candidates to fill the office of government.  Ideally, based on the belief that this candidate best reflects your hopes for government.  What happens when you hold no preference between those running for office because you believe them both equally qualified and capable (quit laughing).  What about when you (more likely) feel those running to be equally inept; or equally (& inappropriately) self promoting … or even equally corrupt.  What about when you have become so utterly disillusioned with the political process in America, that you cannot bring yourself to pretend it has much meaning, in any real way.  Even preparing for any election, as a voter is comical.  It is difficult for the ardent voter to gain any real understanding or insight about a given candidate even when they invest substantial time and energy seeking it.  At best, one can only hope to encounter the generic professional resume and polished political campaign refuse – which is certain to be sanitized and glamorized by their respective campaign staff or smudged and smeared by the opposition, before it greets your eyes.

Having served seven years in the Army, I’ve invested along with those that went before me, substantial time in serving our country.  I have been a solid proponent in being a good citizen, making genuine contributions to build a better country for all its citizens.  I understand the need for taxes and readily offer my share to build a better country … with better schools … roads … hospitals.  In return … the nation and government that I have supported has continued to place greater and greater burdens on me to pay for the mistakes of others by insisting that I pay yet, more taxes as this same nation and government shoves huge checks, into the hands of those that ruined whole industries.  Those now taking office look and smell to be the same plastic rodents jumping ship.

Demonstrating my gratitude and value for those that have helped to establish this right and privilege, for me; I participated in this election by making no selection.  I elected to demonstrate a virtual lack of faith in the political process we have marketed as being “of the people” for over 200 years.

Your Wildest Dreams Will Come True