Stolen Identity

May 9, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment

I was listening to the radio this morning on the way to the Civitan’s Pancake Breakfast that is held each year during the Rooster Days Festival here in Broken Arrow. I’ll have to share a future post about Rooster Days, which is celebrating its 78th year of observance! Anyway, I was listening to Weekend Edition on National Public Radio (yes, I’m an NPR listener; say what you will!), and there was an interview with Steve Forbert, a singer/songwriter with whom I was completely unfamiliar. Forbert, age 53 and a native of Meridian, Mississippi, was once called “the new Bob Dylan.” I imagine that the “Next-Bob-Dylan” Tribe is pretty numerous by now! Forbert’s biggest hit was Romeo’s Tune which reached #11 on the Billboard charts back in 1980. I YouTube-d the song this afternoon and easily recognized and remembered it, but I had never known the title of the song or who had recorded it.

Forbert is still making music and recently released a new album. In his NPR interview with Steve Simon, he played one of his new tracks entitled Stolen Identity. I found it to be a very clever song, one that puts a light-hearted twist on the rampant and highly-damaging problem of identity theft. Hope you enjoy the lyrics.

STOLEN IDENTITY

I worked all week each month this fall
and also had myself a ball;
I punched a clock each day like most
and also shopped the whole east coast!

CHORUS:
There aint no tellin’ where I’ll be,
Because of late there’s two of me
And one has tons of fun for free
With my stolen identity!

I bought two suits in Baltimore
And jewelry on the Jersey shore;
I popped up next in Portland, Maine
For lobster tails and French champagne.

(REPEAT CHORUS)

What have I done? where have I been?
The information’s rollin’ in;
A paper trail comes in the mail,
I’d like to put myself in jail!

An ev’ning out on Harvard Square,
I really lived it up up there!
I did it all, I got around
And not once left my old home town!

(REPEAT CHORUS)

I’ve got to stop myself somehow,
I have become a problem now;
I really should be done with it,
But I just don’t know when to quit!

I hope to meet myself someday,
That is the man whose bills I pay;
We’ll both get wined and caviared
If he’ll pull out a credit card.

An angry husband’s at my door,
I have not met his wife before;
He’s not convinced and wants t’ fight,
I guess I had some fun last night!

(REPEAT CHORUS)

© S. Forbert 2008, Heathercom Music, ASCAP

Hey! Those Aren’t Footprints!

May 6, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | 5 comments

Bear with me on this one, okay? I’ve got to provide a little context. For decades, people have been moved and inspired by the poem, “Footprints in the Sand.” Long attributed to “Anonymous,” authorship is now generally attributed to Mary Stevenson who penned the words in 1936 at the age of 14. You know the gist of the poem: a person has a dream about walking along the beach with Jesus. As scenes from past experiences flash before them, the individual notices that at times there are two sets of footprints in the sand, and at other times, most notably periods of great personal difficulty, there was only one set. The author was tempted to think that Jesus had abandoned them in these hours of trial, until the Lord offered this explanation: “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand is when I carried you.” It is a tender depiction of the Savior’s love and compassion for our “weary and heavy-laden” hearts and His willingness to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

But, what about those times when we should have grown strong enough and mature enough to walk on our own, but kept insisting that we be carried? I suppose this question is what inspired(?) someone to write the following. I offer it for your edification or amusement, whichever one you are in most need of today.

BUTT PRINTS IN THE SAND
(Author Unknown)

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, “What have we here?
Those prints are large and round and neat,
But Lord, they are too big for feet.”

“My child,” He said in somber tones,
“For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.”

“You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know,
So I got tired, I got fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt.”

Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand.”

The Strength of a Handshake

May 5, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

I made a confession on Facebook a couple of weeks ago about my growing addiction to QuikTrip doughnuts. My openness helped me learn some valuable information about this “new-to-me” social networking website. You can add posts about matters of faith, politics, and culture with minimal to no commentary at all from your friends in Facebook-land. But, make a comment about doughnuts and QT and an avalanche of comments will soon follow! I just did not yet properly understand the hierarchy of priorities on Facebook. Now I know!

We had QuikTrips in the Dallas area where I lived for the last twelve years, but I didn’t learn until coming to Broken Arrow that it is a Tulsa-based company. So I did some online research and found a lot of interesting information: QT stores have up to 24 gasoline pumps; there are 520 stores in 10 large metropolitan markets; the 500th store opened in Broken Arrow in May of ‘08; QT has its own line of foods from QT Kitchens. But the most fascinating fact involved why there are no QTs in Oklahoma City. There is a “gentlemen’s agreement” between QT CEO Chester Cadieux and the owner of the 7-Eleven stores in Oklahoma City not to compete in each other’s markets. So, there are no QTs in OKC and no 7-Elevens in Tulsa. Apparently, there is no contractual or legal obligation not to compete, just a “handshake” and taking the word of a business competitor at face value! What a refreshing revelation in this dog-eat-dog, competitive culture that looks for loopholes and buries surprises in the small print of contracts.

God wants us to speak and act with that kind of integrity, so that our word is our bond. We serve the God of truth (Isaiah 65:16), whose very nature prevents Him from speaking a lie (Hebrews 6:18; Titus 1:2). We follow and are clothed with Him who is the Truth (John 14:6). We are personally indwelled by the Spirit of Truth (John 14:16-17). Falsehood was a part of the old self of sin. “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its practices,” (Colossians 3:9). Mr. Cadieux and his competitor reminded me that Jesus taught us to let our “yes” be “yes” and let our “no” mean “no.”

(Tim’s BA bulletin article, 5-3-09)

Does God Want His Name on Our Money?

May 2, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 4 comments

A couple of years ago, I received several chain emails about the Presidential $1 coins that were being released by the U.S. Mint. Images of the front and back of the new coins were included in the email, the point of which was to decry the fact that “In God We Trust” had been intentionally omitted from the coins. This was cited as more evidence of the conspiratorial undermining of Judeo-Christian values in our nation. The email (which belonged to the genre, “Real Christians Will Forward This”) called for a boycott of the coins and urged a refusal to accept them as change. “Together,” the email promised, “we can force them out of circulation!”

My first thought when I received the emails was, “These coins probably don’t need a lot of help staying out of circulation.” Just ask Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea. The $1 coins bearing their images have found their way into my pocket with the rarity of four-leaf clovers. We Americans like to fold our dollars, not jingle them.

My second thought was, “This has ‘all-the-facts-are-not-in-yet’ written all over it.” Sure enough, it wasn’t long before clarifying and corrective information was available. As part of a radical new design utilized for the coins, the year of minting, the motto from the Great Seal of the United States, “E Pluribus Unum,” and the national motto, “In God We Trust,” were all inscribed on the coin’s edge. So, the critics’ concerns and objections were laid to rest by this explanation, right? You don’t know many conspiracy theorists, do you? The response from the “coin-gate” crowd was that “In God We Trust” had been etched on the coin’s edge so that it would wear off once in circulation. Tell you what….start rubbing the edge of one of those coins between your fingers, and let me know how long it takes for the words to disappear. Pardon me if I don’t wait up.

My third thought was, “Has anybody ever thought to ask God whether or not He wants His name on our money?” Let’s see, what all can you do with our legal tender? You can buy alcohol, drugs, tobacco, and porn. You can pay a prostitute with it, feed a slot machine with it, or throw it away on lottery tickets. I’m not so sure that God wants His name associated with those kind of transactions. Even when we use our money for morally neutral or intrinsically good purposes, do we really consciously consider how much we trust in God when we buy a movie ticket, pay the toll on the turnpike, or get our chocolate fix out of the vending machine? Do we demand that “In God We Trust” appear on our credit cards, debit cards, or checks? Just asking, and wondering how far we might need to carry the boycott.

Jesus once used a coin as a visual aid in answering a trick question about paying taxes. In His response, He failed to mention anything about the need to mix God’s name with Caesar’s image. I assume the same would go for the likenesses of Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Grant, and Franklin.

Let’s save our energy for real battles. When we over-reactively cry, “Persecution!,” we dishonor those who truly suffer for their faith.

Mr. Tanner

April 28, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , | 3 comments

The discussion in my last post about Susan Boyle’s performance caused an old Harry Chapin song to pop into my head. As a lyricist, Chapin was a superlative storyteller, and his song Mr. Tanner is one that stirred my heart and emotions many years ago. The song concerns an amateur singer from Dayton, Ohio, a cleaner by trade, who sang simply for the joy of singing. However, after extensive urging from friends, he agreed to try to launch a professional career by performing in a concert hall debut in New York. I’ll let Mr. Chapin tell you the rest of the story. In the studio recording and live performances, the chorus of O Holy Night is sung in a beautiful baritone as a background to each chorus of Mr. Tanner.

Mister Tanner was a cleaner from a town in the Midwest.
And of all the cleaning shops around he’d made his the best.
But he also was a baritone who sang while hanging clothes.
He practiced scales while pressing tails and sang at local shows.
His friends and neighbors praised the voice that poured out from his throat.
They said that he should use his gift instead of cleaning coats.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang;
It just made him whole.

His friends kept working on him to try music out full time.
A big debut and rave reviews, a great career to climb.
Finally they got to him, he would take the fling.
A concert agent in New York agreed to have him sing.
And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money spent to rent the hall.
It took most of his savings but he gladly used them all.

But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang;
It just made him whole.

The evening came, he took the stage, his face set in a smile.
And in the half filled hall the critics sat watching on the aisle.
But the concert was a blur to him, spatters of applause.
He did not know how well he sang, he only heard the flaws.
But the critics were concise, it only took four lines.
And no one could accuse them of being over kind.

(spoken) Mr. Martin Tanner, Baritone, of Dayton, Ohio made his Town Hall debut last night.
He came well prepared,
But unfortunately his presentation was not up to contemporary professional standards.
His voice lacks the range of tonal color necessary to make it consistently interesting.
(sung) Full time consideration of another endeavor might be in order.

He came home to Dayton and was questioned by his friends.
Then he smiled and just said nothing and he never sang again.
Excepting very late at night when the shop was dark and closed.
He sang softly to himself as he sorted through the clothes.

Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang;
It just made him whole.

Click the link below for a great performance of this song by Harry Chapin less than a year before his death in July of 1981.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fkir9alzA&feature=PlayList&p=D354A5EED8D541CF&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=28

I Dreamed a Dream

April 25, 2009 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 4 comments

Chill bumps and tears; lots and lots of tears. That is how I reacted when I watched the video clip of Susan Boyle singing “I Dreamed a Dream” on the British television show Britain’s Got Talent. Boyle’s audition for the show was recorded in January of this year in Glasgow, Scotland, and her performance was aired a couple of weeks ago on April 11. Since then, it is estimated that over 100 million people worldwide have viewed her stirring rendition of the song on YouTube.

Boyle strode non-elegantly onto the stage and stumbled awkwardly through her introductory dialogue with the judges. The camera swept through the audience and found people rolling their eyes and shaking their heads in disbelief as this rather frumpy, middle-aged woman spoke of her aspirations of becoming a professional singer. The atmosphere in the auditorium was thick with skepticism, with trace amounts of pity and embarrassment thrown in as well. Or so it was until the backing tape began and Boyle began to sing. In the mere span of two bars of the song, jaws went slack, eyes welled up with tears, and the crowd rose to its feet with thunderous applause, both in appreciation for Boyle’s remarkable gift and in shame for their own shallowness and superficiality in judging another human being solely by her appearance. Even Simon Cowell, infamous for his cynicism and biting sarcasm, was won over by the clarity, purity, and power of her voice.

When will we ever learn! When will I ever learn! Having a disabled son has greatly sensitized me to how quickly and cruelly people can cast a look, make a face, or utter some inane comment (don’t get me started!) just because someone looks or acts a little differently than “normal,” whatever that is. Yet, I still walked right into the “Boyle Trap” with everyone else. I was so proud of her, and so ashamed of myself. My Savior has tried to teach me, “Don’t judge according to appearance” (John 7:24). God had to explain to Samuel that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7). I don’t know about you, but I am still trying to “get it.”

As moved as I was by Susan Boyle’s performance, I later wondered how I and others would feel about her if she couldn’t sing a note. Does she only have value to us as a person now because of her amazing talent, because of what she can do, and do extremely well? What about her intrinsic value as a person created in the image of God, a person who bravely endured bullying and name-calling in school, and a person who lovingly cared for her mother until her death two years ago at the age of 91. “Lord, please help me; help me to get it!”

(Tim’s BA bulletin article, 4-26-09)

And So It Begins

April 23, 2009 in Uncategorized | 7 comments

This is my inaugural post in a whole new medium for me. I have visited the blogs of others for quite some time now, not with religious regularity, but with a significant level of interest and a fair amount of frequency. Several times in the past I have thought, “I would really like a forum of my own to periodically share thoughts, feelings, and insights.” I guess two things have stopped me. First, I didn’t think I had the time. I am still not sure that I do, but I have resolved to “make time” for a while and see how it goes. Second, I wasn’t sure that others would even be interested in whatever happened to be bouncing around in my brain or dwelling in my heart. I am still not sure about that one either, but neither am I sure that it even matters. I think that my need and my desire to share exists independently of whatever level of interest may or may not dwell among others.

My goal is to post at least every week, with the option of posting more frequently if the inspiration strikes me. I don’t want the site to become static. Neither do I want to feel enslaved by it or somehow obligated to provide daily or on-the-hour updates about the minutiae of my life. All of us have more important things to do than that!

I may share adapted or edited articles that I write for the weekly bulletin at the Broken Arrow Church of Christ, or perhaps things that I have written in the past. I may post thoughts about current events. I may post prayers that I have prayed, or answers that God has provided. I may just share quotations, stories, or lyrics that I have found to be meaningful. I will likely share periodic insights into the journey and transition that I have been going through over the last nine months: things I have learned, changes I have made, blessings I have received, and milestones I have not yet reached.

Thanks for journeying with me as I think out loud.

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