always on my mind...

Denton Family Photo - September 10, 2004 - Dad's 90th Birthday

Opened one of those long Christmas letters from old friends last night and sat down to read up on what's been going on with their family in the last year. They're forever frozen in the mid-nineties in my mind... yet life has moved on... they've lived in several different states, added three children to their family and earned enough stories to easily fill a three page Christmas letter that must have been difficult to edit: knowing what to add and what to leave out. Each year their little missile keeps us feeling somewhat connected, though we're now miles and newly added experiences apart.

Learning to play the guitar, the two of them once sat in my office, long before kids and new careers and he played the guitar as she sang an old song I'd been fighting the chords to find. His fingers laid them down with ease and deliberation- showing me each move, allowing me to follow along. She lifted her voice in grace with words that haunt my heart from that sweet Willie Nelson ballad: Always On My Mind.

Reading their new adventures, learning the growing lives of their children, absorbing their stories of intentional living for Christ- one lovely moment together wouldn't let me go- a singular segment of time I doubt they'd remember... and the faces of so many I'd loved filled my heart... bits and pieces of the song came back to me, "little things we'd said and done. I just never found the time- but you were always on my mind... you were always on my mind."

We've been blessed, they're two among so many. I'm closely related to most the folks in the photo above, many whom I haven't had contact with since the photo was taken three years ago. Add to that the great number of family not in the photo and multiply it by the amazing number of people who've loved us like family- who we rarely see any longer and like the friends in the Christmas letter are now far from us and it still doesn't even number all those we see day in and day out, week in and week out, who we love so deeply and love us wonderfully, yet we never find the time... but you are always on my mind. We're so blessed.

At the bottom of our friends Christmas letter, not hand written in, just part of the print that went to everyone, the closing salutation read simply, "missing you." It struck a chord. I knew exactly how they felt... to everyone we love, missing you. To all those who've loved us and keep us in their thoughts and prayers: missing you. To family far and near this Christmas, missing you... to those no longer with us: Uncle Glenn, Uncle John, Gary, Gerald, Ed, Villora... so many more each Christmas... missing you... but you are always on my mind.

To live with intention... I think one of the first changes I'd make is to begin to find the time; to hand write that note of love, to make that phone call, to stop in and visit, to sit down together for a meal, to break the barrier that's kept us apart, to reach across the schedules and miles, "while today is still called today" and reconnect in love. "Little things you've said and done" like playing guitars and singing together in the office... have not, could never slip by unnoticed.

I went to bed with so many of you on my heart. Woke up at 2:30 and needed to write... the picture of my family is just the beginning of so many we love... so many as we approach Christmas who are in our thoughts deeply... so many of our friends captured in two simple words for this season: "missing you."

Missing you this morning. Praying that God sweetly surrounds you with His presence and comfort and that you know you're loved... that you're not alone this Christmas.

missing you,

Eric

ps
song of the day... not too tough to figure out... try playing it on your guitar. Wish I could hear Scott and Terri sing it again.

Danny... and Kung Foo Fighting

That's my buddy Danny. He lives at our children's home in Tijuana, Mexico. He and his brothers were the first kids to move in over three years ago and we've become pretty tight. Danny can be a quiet guy... I'm not real quiet... so when he gets excited, starts running and playing, I feel like life just might be alright, even if he has been abandoned by his family. Yesterday Danny was having a great day running and playing with the older boys. Occasionally he'd run by me- as if playing tag -lay one one me and say something in Spanish or just look up and smile. Since I didn't understand a thing he was saying I responded as any level headed, college educated pastor would... I gathered him up in my arms and started singing, "Everybody was Kung Foo Fighting..." It always draws a laugh and is well worth being the fool for the moment just to watch him smile. Give it a try today. Don't know all the words- but listen in at the side bar- it's the song of the day.

blessings,

Eric
Song of the Day - Kung Foo Fighting - Listen in.
Click to hear music file

The Material Girl... a little lunch together

Sat down to lunch at my desk... where I eat most of my lunches... and clicked in to check my email as a gentle effort at multi-tasking. On the front page of MSN was an invitation to follow a link to the 7-7-07 LIVE EARTH concerts, greening the world one pop star at a time. Ready for change and eager for a little free music, in a matter of seconds, Madonna herself was up and singing live from Wembly Stadium, England.

Very cool song about loving yourself, loving someone else, saving someone, changing... I'm certain entire groups will find numerous reasons why the song is anti-something and probably hedonistic... me... I'm much easier to please and not nearly so quick to lay out judgement. Never the #1 Madonna fan, I found myself thinking: "Nice effort... hope someone hears a message of hope." Not to mention that the song had a good beat and was easy to dance to, (I'd give it an 8 out of 10), but she was also backed up by a bunch of English school kids... what's not to like?

So after sharing a song with Madonna- clicking her picture with my cell phone- live, no less, just inches away, I returned to work... actually I had to tell someone about lunch with Madonna... so here I am bragging and doing a little name dropping... now it's time to get back to work.

30 years ago today I thought about friends I'd met while traveling in Rome. We all needed places to sleep so we rented a large room in a hostel and crashed together. He was traveling with his girlfriend, who didn't want to be traveling any longer, she wanted to go home and get married. He wasn't planning on going home any time soon: they'd been on the road for nearly a year and the only thing that would take him back to Canada was a promised reunion with a bunch of High School buddies on 7-7-77... she thought it was a stupid idea and wanted to get married on 7-7-77.

After a week or two in Rome, we parted ways and never touched base again, email wasn't even a dream yet, it was a BIG world. 30 years later, tens of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of miles gone by, I don't remember either of their names, but I think of them most July 7's and especially today: 7-7-07. I hope they're celebrating their 30th anniversary, she was a keeper. I hope their happy.

It was nice to share lunch with the material girl, but if I could have clicked in "live" anywhere in the world, I would have clicked on the two of them, just to check in. Stuff- this material world -comes and goes, but the relationships that shape us... that somehow touch our spirit: remain. Maybe that's what Madonna was trying to say in her song. It touched me, all the way from England.

blessings friends, wherever you are...

Eric