I have always felt that New Year’s should begin on Labor Day. Its really when the fun stops and the effort begins a new. A clean slate is a good feeling. I have my calendar full already for many months of this next year. But I am also taking care that I leave room for what is important. I don’t want to squander a new year.

I counted the number of productive weeks I have in my life recently. This is a yearly practice. I figure I have I have 832 weeks of high productivity ahead. Fortunately I have had the ability to keep my mind very young. I have been repeatedly told that the core group I appeal to is usually twenty-years younger that me. I have 52 weeks ahead of me this week.

I plan on doing a bit more travel this year. We are planning some multi-site gatherings around the country from our church, which will take some travel. I have a few trips planned for research gathering at some graduate schools and churches. I plan to travel with my wife on a couple of vacations this year. And I have a few seminars and consultation efforts I have lined up. But for the most part I will be at home working no true priorities.

I write songs. I am behind my schedule. I am planning to start back at it this fall. And my preaching is taking a real priority this year. So I have a lot of research to take on. And I am going to get back into my hobby of photography. Lots of stuff coming up.

I have found over the years that the quality of your journey and how much you do excellently depends on the quality of your start. Here is an outline of the elements of a good start that will get you through the year:

• Review your opportunities.
• Silence your fears about your future.
• Reduce the noise factor in your life…get it down to one to three tunes.
• Plan audaciously.
• Remember the tendency is to experience entropy.
• Plan seasons to refire yourself this year. You will begin to lose enthusiasm and energy. Plan for it.
• Become a friend to challenges…. Don’t fall into discouragement.
• Make a new optimistic friend…shed a few negative ones.
• Plan what you will give in money, time and prayer.
• Write up three paraphrases of what your life will look like at the end of the next 52 weeks.
• Review the ten greatest moments in your life.
• Get a new word from God for a new season
• Find who you will help succeed this year.
• Forgive those who fill your mind when you are quiet.
• Save…Only use 80% of your assets and energy in your plans and save the rest.
• Read the lives of great men and women…ask yourself what is the difference between them and me.
• And after all that buy a book titled, “Iconoclasts” by Gregory Bernes. It will help you.

See ya soon….DM

It doesn’t appear that there will be any turnaround in the near to mid future.
So we need to adjust and organize to thrive.

I have thoughts that make a recipe for the future:

• 1 . Expect people to be cranky and disillusioned. We will need to find energy
• that is real and solid to lead. Trust me I am discovering the difficulty here.
• 2 . There are going to be many apparent solutions to address the state of things. Watch out. Many of them are going to be forms that lead to dead ends.
• 3 . Watch out for purists. This is the time for hybrids. New joining old.
• 4 . We will need to learn skills at coalescing at least three generations together.
• 5 . Maximize staff and lay leaders. Start new stuff with the guidance of the Holy Spirit that use your resources to the fullest.
• 6 . Don’t just start new stuff to keep the old stuff in tact.
• 7 . Many people are seeing income drop below their obligations that can’t be
• changed. So drop your giving per-capita projections from past figures. Find ways to add income and cut costs.
• 8 . Multi-sites can maximize resources.
• 9 . Learn to live toward God expecting His love rather than fear.
• 10. Practice the discipline of thanks rather than discussing need.
• 11. It is being seen and reported that people who left the church are returning. Most growth is going to be from returners. Seeker churches may in fact be returner churches. They are realizing that maybe they weren’t hurt by church as much as they thought.
• 12 .Remember leaders are going to be older and younger than they have ever been. The older model of mid-life as being the peak of leadership ability is passing.
• 13. People are more impatient than ever so get some thick skin.

Enough for now.

I have been reviewing new concepts of church life a lot lately. I have been endeavoring to become an expert in as many as I can. I have noted one thing about the new stuff. In many cases, it embraces traits of post-modern ideologies without discernment. It would take far too much time to unpack that statement here. Just trust me, it’s true.

I think there is a great deal about post-modernism that is friendly to a biblical worldview. And I think there is a lot about the modernist world-view that is biblically correct, too. But I see some of our forms doing exactly what the church did in the modernist era. They identified ministry and the church in total accord with present worldviews.

My thinking is a biblical world-view is on many fronts always antagonistic to the popular winds of thought. We should have been a lot less friendly with modernism than we were. And we should be a lot less trusting of post-modern tendencies as well.

We are a subversive community. We are to be intelligible and relevant but maybe always irrelevant to the cultures that rule. And I am not a cranky old man when I say this.

I have a feeling that culture is moving so quickly now that things are being dated and becoming old culturally about every three to five years. And that is a big problem with identifying too closely with culture.

We are to be a revolutionary community. We are to be moving and shadowing culture and transforming it when possible. We are our own challenge. And the huge questions is always what is God making us become and what does the whole thing look like when it gets His endorsement.

I know what the essential to success and obedience is now. It’s desperation. Joshua 15 shows the picture of Caleb. He was a very desperate man. He had to win the hill.

And you have David. It was his desperation and ability to handle it that brought him victory. The key question is how badly do you want it? How desperate are you?

DESPERATION

As a church leader I have had the opportunity to meet and know some very interesting people. Some not so exceptional, many who are. I have noticed something about high impact people. They are desperate.

Tim was a baseball pitcher for the University of Washington. The Cincinnati Reds had drafted him. It had been decided that finishing his college degree and some collegiate ball would be the best route for him in baseball. Tim was a big kid. He had hands the size of two normal people. I played catch with him a couple times. I nearly passed out the third pitch he threw me. He toned it down after that.

I discovered something about Tim the first game I watched him play in. First he was an imposing figure at 6′ 5″ on the mound. The second thing I realized about him was he could get into his own zone like no one I had ever seen. His eyes were glazed over when I talked to him briefly before the game. He was way more intense than the rest of the team. But the pitcher is under a great deal more pressure than the other players so it stood to reason for me. He was ready for battle. And everyone knew it. I was scared and I didn’t have to hit against him.

The thing that made this so amazing is Tim was normally a very mellow person.

The game began. I sat on the front row behind the umpire. I couldn’t believe how fast those balls were humming into the catcher’s glove. It gave me a whole new appreciation of the courage it takes to be an umpire. I had been one when my son played little league but that’s another story.

I soon figured out that every single pitch that Tim threw had life or death written all over it. You could see it in his eyes, in his body language and his motion. He was in a fight he was going to win. I was exhausted after four innings just watching it.

He won the game. A few of the other team managed to get across home plate. But his team won by four runs. Tim was happy but still in the zone when the game was over.

He wrapped his arm in ice and left the field like someone who had just defeated Darth Vader from Star Wars. Tim was a desperate man.

I almost became a musician. I play mediocre amateur guitar. But there was a day when I could play along with the best my age. But other callings and interests found their way in my life and I had to be satisfied with writing worship choruses and playing to myself and God in my safe office.

One of the folks who led me to see my need for Christ was a musician named Don Lanphere. I played sub-par bass with him in a band that traveled around a little bit. Don had been one of the elite saxophone players in New York in the 50’s and early 60’s. He played with the likes of Woody Herman, Charlie Parker (in fact he lived with Parker for a period of time) and many others.

Don took any music seriously. He even liked rock and roll. He could play anything on the first hearing. He was an awesome player. Don played like a crazed man when he picked up his horn. He pulled and tugged everyone else along refusing to drop his level of play.

Don developed a Jazz group in Seattle. I had them play at the church I was pastor of a few times. The group was a quartet. The group included a pianist (head of the jazz department at the University of Washington), a bass player (from New York), a drummer (considered the best in the NW or further), Don, and some times they were a quintet and had a widely heralded trumpet player who attended the church.

It was clear every time these guys played it was life or death. They all stretched to do what they had never done before. They fought and pushed one another while being in perfect harmony and in sync with one another. The experience of listening to them made you feel alive.

I remember one evening at a club when the group really got going. The pianist first rose to a level I hadn’t heard. The drummer followed using stage poles and walls as part of his set. The bass player mimicked the lines the pianist had been playing with sweat pouring down his forehead. And then Don stepped up. It was like he was fighting hand to hand combat with a ten foot tall giant and he was winning. The audience cheered when the tune was over. We all knew we had seen a gladiator’s battle and they had won.

This band to the person was desperate when they played. They played as though they would never again be allowed to play. There’s had been life or death business.

I had the opportunity to help a basketball player in the NBA named David Thompson find his way out of a life jam. David holds the world’s record for vertical leap.

David is not a remarkably tall man. He is maybe 6′3″. But he played like he was a 7′ tall center.

David has told his story widely of becoming addicted to Cocaine and truncating his career. David cleaned himself up and connected strongly with God in the time we worked together. It was wonderful to be part of helping him through that process. David is a magnetic personality with a lot of honesty and courage.

I got my hands on a videotape of his highlights. He is still talked about by my friends I have in Virginia and North Carolina though it has been well over twenty years since he played for NCAA. He was the MVP in the national championships two years in a row when he was in college.

David often scored as many as 50 points a game. A great player can score 30 sometimes. I watched as he played on the tapes. It was unbelievable what he could do.

David was in a class all his own. He played like there was no one else in the room but he and that basket.

One day I challenged David to a one on one game. I was about seven years older than him at the time, overweight and clumsy but I wanted to try my hand. I discovered something about David. He didn’t just play at basketball. Once that ball was in his hands he couldn’t just let me get a shot or two in. This was to the death. And the scary part is I am sure he held back more than a little. But one thing was certain that ball brought something out of David that has been there a long time.

I think David is a desperate man when it comes to living his life.

I made a friend in Port Elizabeth, South Africa a few years back. I was invited to be a guest speaker at a citywide event they were hosting. Jerome Liberty is a pretty big guy. He is a successful businessman and church leader. He is charismatic beyond the word’s description.

He had gathered several thousands of people for our evening sessions. And another 500 pastors for our daily training sessions. I was spent from jet lag but Jerome kept me fascinated with what was going on.

Jerome is a desperate man.

Jerome had a vision to help people suffering from AIDS. He decided he would build some semi-trucks into mobile clinics and go the townships and bush to treat patients suffering from this terminal disease. He told me how he had prayed and worked and given in order to buy and supply their first truck.

They cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars. And his church was not wealthy for sure. He just had to do it he said. He worked and scraped and prayed until it happened.

The problem with those kinds of dreams is they always lead to wanting more. Now he wanted three more semis to take medicines and hope to hurting people. Energized men like Jerome drive the world on every continent and nation.

Jerome feels the desperation of others and it drives him. I got a new passion for caring for people. It’s the kind of caring that isn’t casual. It’s effectual. And it’s desperate.

I have no doubt Jerome will be getting his vision fulfilled. I think God likes to work with people who take his vision seriously.

Annie owned her own business. She was very successful. She was probably too driven. I knew numerous business owners some in the church and some not. Annie started with nothing and exceeded anyone’s expectations for her. She lived in a world where women weren’t supposed to be as driven as she was. She wasn’t supposed to be challenged by how much energy she spread between home and work like men were. She wore the challenge well.

I had the opportunity to watch Annie over several years. She is retired now. She retired in her early forties. Of course that didn’t last long. She had more in her. There were a few years where things weren’t going well economically. A few of my friends had to back out of numerous ventures. But Annie didn’t.

I asked her, “How’s our business going.”

She replied, “nasty.”

I queried, “will you make it if things don’t improve.”

“I’ll more than make it,” she replied.

It wasn’t her words that grabbed me. It was her eyes. They had a fire in them. She was in a fight and she was going to win. Annie was interesting because she didn’t just start working harder. I asked her, “What will you do? Work more hours?”

“No its time to work smarter and take no prisoners,” she replied.

If I had had any money I would have invested in Annie. She did make it through the downturn. And she had three more people working for her once it was over. And the thing about Annie was she volunteered at the church in many areas, she vacationed religiously and after the challenges, married a great man.

But Annie could make you uncomfortable if you weren’t into making life great for others and yourself. I have concluded about Annie what made her great is she was desperate.

I speak a lot. I often speak at the same setting for year’s at a time people ask me back again and again. Sometimes I am not so great to listen to. But I am probably ok the rest of the time. But I want to be impacted to the core. I keep seeking the perfect message every time I speak.

I have learned from when I am desperate things go differently. As I have continued doing my assignment from God it is easy to rest on past accomplishments. Therefore I have made the habit to not present the same message twice. There are a couple I will do from time to time, but not very often. I just don’t want to be one of those guys who has one or two messages and spends their life presenting them.

I am best when I feel compelled to read three books to go with a message, spend a late night or two in prayer. I plead with God for his impact. I hunger to be effective.

I get desperate.

I have learned from my impacting friends that if you aren’t going to get desperate about life you likely aren’t going to succeed that much.

One of the figures in the Bible that shows desperation is Joshua. I love to review Joshua’s life periodically. He was a man in a fix. Moses had left him holding the bag. God promised to be with him. But he didn’t have any margin of error. He either succeeded or they all died.

He was only two of an entire generation who survived and saw the promised land.

He and his older comrade Caleb made it through. They according to Numbers 14 went with ten other spies into the Promised Land to spy it out.

Upon their return there was a meeting with the entire nation to hear the report. Ten of the spies declare before the people, “we can’t do it. There are giants. There is definitely stupendous fruit and milk and honey. But we look like grasshoppers to the folks who live there.”

The Bible says that Joshua and Caleb got very angry. They cried out that the land could be taken. It was too late, the cowards had swayed the nation. And God told Moses only the two people desperate to succeed would make it. The two that weren’t afraid of a fight.

In Joshua chapter one the stage has been set for a hand off of power. Joshua is commanded to lead the new generation of Israel into the Promised Land. It is likely that Joshua, though a brave man willing to take on his challenge, was fearful in the face of the challenge.

Successful people don’t necessarily have less fear than the sub-par performers. They just face their fear in a better way. Joshua would get courageous and take on the challenge. He knew he had to. There was no return. Fearful or not things had to be done.

God said through Moses, “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them” (Joshua 1:6). He further said, “Be strong and very courageous.”

I have done a lot of people-watching and thinking about what makes the difference between mediocrity and successful impact. I keep coming back to the need for courage. Anything we are to take on in life requires courage.

Let’s define some terms now. What does desperation mean? It means to be in a dangerous situation. It also means to long for or desire something intensely.

How about courage? It is the ability to do something that frightens you.

Joshua had despair and he found courage.

One of the verses in the Bible that has intrigued me is found in the Book of Revelation in chapter twenty-one and verse eight. Let me quote it here for you:

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur….”

It caught my eye several times as I have read through the book. Cowards are in the same boat with murderers and the sexually deranged. This has puzzled me. Could it be that God doesn’t consider fear as benign as we do? Could it be we have more control over the emotion of cowardice than we like to think?

I think there is a threshold that one must walk over to be a Christian. Salvation is by faith alone. I think courage is part of faith. It takes courage to say yes to God. Could it be that those who balked at receiving Christ because they were fearful will find themselves in a less than desired situation. It could be.

I only mention this to show that on the positive side God values courage. He works when we are desperate. He doesn’t necessarily not want us peaceful. But to succeed on any level the threshold of desire and passion must be crossed.

Joshua succeeded but every verse recalling his life story is dripping with a sense of desperation on his part and the nation. They had no choice, they had to succeed. There was no way around. Their situation required a great deal of fire in their eyes. Joshua saw his mission fulfilled. The Bible says he did everything as God commanded.

His friend Caleb, though elderly by the time the land was taken, took the toughest battle in the fight. He took Mount Hebron as his home. He wanted the best fight. He wanted the best view and no one was going to stop him from getting it.

I ask myself often, am I desperate? Or, am I hoping for the path of least resistance. It is a discipline that can be learned. I think some are born with an innate sense of passion beyond the rest of us. But courage can’t be commanded if it isn’t a skill to be learned.

Why don’t you take a moment and be honest with yourself. Are you really desperate for impact? Do you fold in the face of challenges? Is it essential that you live to the fullest or is almost good enough?

Sometimes we tease at God and at Life.

I had a couple come to me once and offer to give old carpet from their house. They had ordered new carpet and thought the church could use their old carpet to cover one of the children’s ministry rooms.

I was in a particularly bold mood that day and said, “no thanks.”

They were shocked. How could I turn down such a great gift?

They asked, “Why not?”

“Because you should give God your new carpet. Anyone can give what is left over to life and God. We don’t tease God here. We are in this for life and death. This kind of gift would be giving into an almost attitude. And you don’t want that.”

Fortunately for me they responded well. They not only got their own carpet. But spent the additional money and bought the church new carpet for the children’s room. They had caught the spirit of Joshua in this small way.

I like to watch EBay deals. I got on EBay and decided I would see how it worked. I have in the past had great collections of guitars. There was a guitar on EBay I had owned in the past. It looked to be a beautiful Gibson J 160e like John Lennon played. I couldn’t afford it but I thought I caught a bug and decided to enter into the bidding just the same. Now this is forbidden on ebay for good reason. But I had no desire to actually buy the guitar.

The bidding was set to last three days. The beginning offer was at around $1000 so I bid $1001. After the second day it was up to $1801. So I bid another $1. And the total was $1802 dollars. The bidding kept taking the guitar up on the third morning. So just for the fun of it I put in $1 and it took it to $1928. I decided that would be my last bid. I went to work. And at the end of the day I found that my bid was still the top offer. I panicked. I was going to have to buy this thing possibly and I wasn’t ready to pay the price.

I watched every fifteen minutes to see if there was a change. I was terrified after it got within eight hours of the bidding ending. And two hours before the close thankfully someone bid $2000. Phew!!

But I sensed there was a spiritual lesson to this. Don’t tease life. And for sure don’t tease God. If you’re going to get in the game be ready to pay the price. You might end up with a bill you didn’t plan having to pay.

There actually five types of change might need.

Improvement
This usually entails adding something new to your life. Making things better is part of our growth.

Adjustments
This means tweaking and changing areas of our life for greater effectiveness. Maybe changing the hours we work. Or, fine-tuning a calling. This doesn’t usually require a great deal of change.

Restart
This means recommitting to patterns or habits you have left behind. We all can use a redo every so often.

Revise
This means a pretty radical change in your life. It can mean changing your vocational direction. Or, changing your place of service at your church.

Reconstruct
This is where you tear down parts of your life and totally rebuild. This can be a thing like moving to another city or changing denominations. One can only take a small amount of this kind of change in a lifetime.

Take a moment and take a look at your life. What kind of change does the present require for you to stay effective?

Hebrews 6:12 reads -”We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

I was thinking about how quitting works. Maybe you are wanting to quit. Don’t.

I have experienced emotions at a depth I hope most people never reach. There are some events that shove and push us to quit. Don’t give up. You will make it and when you do you get the prize.

Esau gave up his inheritance over being hungry. He just couldn’t handle delayed gratification. And he missed the promise because he quit too soon.

So strap on some stick it stuff and hang in. I am with you in my prayers.

There are five music selections that I’m enjoying:

Lady Antebellum
This is a new country music trio. Their hit single off the album “I Need You Now” is of the same title. It is the best single I have heard technically and musically for a long time. The album is just terrific to listen to. There isn’t anything particularly Christian about it but it is artistically awesome.

Switchfoot
This group is not a Christian group but a group of Christians in a band making great music. Bono says they are his favorite group. Their latest album “Hello Hurricane” must be bought by all. I love this group. Their worldview is Christian. And they are consummate artists.

Jeff Beck
Beck’s latest album “Emotion and Commotion” is a must own for guitar players. It is just beautiful instrumental music.

Johnny Cash
Cash’s latest release is titled “American VI: Ain’t No Grave”. It was the last recording he made before he died. He wrote a great hymn from Corinthians 15 that spoke of his hope beyond this life. Cash’s passion for Christ comes out even though it is not an official Christian album. You have to like Johnny usually to get a great deal out of his music. I have been a fan since 1969.

The Muse
They call this group Brit Rock in its genre. I love this group. They are complex but beautiful. Usually younger ears handle their music best. It’s just great music for when you feel mindless. I like to listen to it in the background when I am working on the original texts of the Bible. For some reason it releases my creative juices.

I read a lot of books. The following are a few that have risen to the top lately.

Dying to Lead by Robert McKenna
What makes this book great is first the author’s consummate credentials and his passionate commitment to Christ as a renowned industrial psychologist. I am also friends with him and his father. The second power point with this book is it has brief chapters that are concise and robust in content. I have wearied of leadership books but this one has inspired me anew.

Fearless by Max Lucado
This is the first book I have read by Lucado. I don’t usually care for this genre. This book is great. Mine is marked up on many pages. The topic is handled well. And is written very well. I would buy it again if I lost it.

The Path of Celtic Prayer by Calvin Miller
You just have to read this book. It is hard to explain. It is loaded with great history and application. It has helped my praying. I accidentally got the book because I forgot to send in a book club card. But this one was worth the time and money.

The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal
This is an awesome though older book. It was written by the famous Nazi hunter. Basically a collection of essays in response to Wiesenthal’s struggle to understand forgiveness. Every thoughtful Christian should read this book.

The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky
I have given myself to a year of study on happiness. I started with Martin Seligman and found my way here. It is technical but great for those wanting to help people with, or for those who struggle with, depression. I have carried it with me for weeks now. It’s made me happy

One Movie

Here’s a bonus for you. I got a movie from Netflix titled “The Invention of Lying.” There is a little profanity in it but no worse than the way my neighbor talks to me when we get our mail. It is a movie that has a dig at faith and Christianity. It is fascinating to get another angle of how God rejecters think about us. Those who speak need to see this one especially.

TV Show

I am trying to find how I can get my hands on and interview with Valerie Bertinilli on the show titled “Shatner’s Raw Nerve.” It is probably the best example of someone struggling to sort out their life spiritually. If you can guide me how to get copies of Shatner’s show let me know.

So- there you go.

Some of my friends call me irreverent. But the truth is I just hate pretense and religion. I think Jesus was terribly irreverent and made fun of attempts to be superior in a religious way. I think we are all prone to meaningless patter about God if we don’t hang around irreverent people.

I am tired of the whines of people who say the church has hurt them. Come on. I was hurt by my third grade teacher, my neighbor’s dad, little league, grad school, my second boss, and yes even by the church (more times than I could count). Isn’t this why Jesus taught mature people were those who learned to forgive and speak up? For crying out loud!!

One of my friends believes house church is the way to go. I don’t have any issue with house church. I think it is usually hard on kids but that is a whole other story. But if you think you are going to house church to avoid being religious or not get hurt dream on. Some of the most religious and egotistic people I know are house church people. If you are going to do house church do it out of calling. But I can bet you will fight religion just as much as anyone else and you will get hurt and maybe worse.

I find some of my more mature and seasoned leader friends are intimidated by youth. Since the baby boomers popped out of the womb we have worshipped youth. As a sage I think we need to celebrate youth. But we are the first generation in our nation to celebrate and worship youth. I am into integrated generational church myself.

As I was saying I have friends that jump on the bandwagon of anything that is new. Especially if some younger guys thought of it. It has been along time since I saw anything new that was truly new. I like new stuff I just am not buying into the press that it is all that new. Most new things unless they become old in their newness leave a trail of disillusionment and broken dreams.

I think we have become so consumer based it is frightening in church. I agree totally with some of the new ideas on that count. And I think Christians who go to church are in great part bored. Our gospel should make it a challenge and a world changing experience aimed at chaining the world. I was leading missional church twenty years ago. I took a lot of heat then.

As a sage I say mark your steps slowly. If you think you are on new ground I will bet your not. And count on me to cheer you on. The new stuff is really worthwhile if it kicks the teeth out of smug boring lives.

I saw Demi Moore on the Jay Leno show this last week. She has had some surgery on her face. I could hardly recognize her. She reported she tweets. She has 2.6 million people she tweets to. If you don’t know what Twitter is I am too distracted today to explain it.

I have a Twitter account. I used it twice. And after that it just seemed silly to me. I think it is one of those things that when we all wake up from the great tweet addiction we will look back and say, “What in the world did we do that for.”

The whole idea to me points out two things. One, how badly people need to connect. Two, how low we have dropped the hurdle for what counts as a connection.

I got a tweet (from one of three I am signed up for) last week stating, “I am brushing my teeth with new teeth-whitening toothpaste.” It sounds like a great marketing scheme by P & G but why do I need to know about his toothpaste.

I did get a helpful one from another church leader who tweets. He reported on three books he had read and their value to him. Now that was good.

By the time I do this blog and keep up with Facebook I am connected out. I will never Tweet. Neither will I text. Its not that I am too cool to do either. It’s that I broke my wrist and thumb on my left hand a few years ago and the tendon did not really reconnect that well. And I suffer quit a bit of pain when I text. So I am out.

I just wonder what happens to someone who thinks they are that interesting?

The town I grew up in had a population of about 30,000 people in the greater area. It was and is an agricultural area. But it is vastly different now. There are about 80,000 people in the greater area now. And apple orchards have been replaced with housing developments. But the downtown still looks much the same but few actually shop there. There are two malls now and that’s where people hang out.

There are two mysterious people I remember. Let me discuss an elderly man who the town called Speedy. Speedy couldn’t talk. He was somewhat handicapped. But not seriously. Those who knew him learned to use sign language to speak with him. I used to watch in amazement as a kid as these conversations were carried on. You didn’t see much of that in a town like ours.

Speedy worked at one of the local bike shops. He was a wiz at fixing anything. He road a large tricycle around town. He waved at everyone he passed. The word around town was that Speedy was gassed in WWI by the Germans. It left him neurologically damaged. And he couldn’t speak thereafter. I am really not sure how true the story was, but it was widely accepted.

We had parades and festivals in town every year in the spring. And Speedy would ride behind the bands on his tricycle waving. It actually was a little uncomfortable for me to see that. But most of the town knew what the scoop was and accepted the mystery around him.

Speedy died when I was in early high school. The town mourned the loss of their mystery person. I was at the age where you didn’t really stop to think about losses like that. You sort of shrugged your shoulders and went on. But I think of Speedy every once in awhile when I go home. I wonder if I will be a mystery to anyone some day.

The other mystery person was Evelyn. Evelyn was a crazy person. She wondered the streets shouting at strangers. Everyone in town knew about Evelyn and tolerated her outbursts. I saw her cussing out a parking meter a few times. She dressed in bright wild colors. My mother was particularly kind to Evelyn. She had gone to school with her and remembers her when she was sane.

I had one big run-in with Evelyn. Actually there we two but only one on a real personal level. The least traumatic event was when I was speaking at a men’s breakfast and she burst in and offered sexual favors to the men. You didn’t see something like that at most Christian events. It made her a mysterious figure right off. She left willingly and things moved on. Everyone knew it was just Evelyn.

The traumatic event I had with Evelyn was one afternoon at the Post Office. You used to pay your power bill at the Post Office where I lived. I was waiting to pay. The lobby was full of mostly people I didn’t know at all. Evelyn burst into the lobby and looked at me and said, “I know you are one of the Kennedy boys and we know about you, boy!” I didn’t know what to say. I just sheepishly grinned. She went on, “I know you broke into my father’s office and stole his safe.”

Some of the people looked like they believed her. Most just looked at me like they were thinking, “it was your turn, you poor sap.” I quietly said, “Hi Evelyn, how are you?” She said, “Fine,” and walked out the door. No one laughed or said anything. Evelyn was a pain but in a small town you know mystery people are part of the scenery.

When I was in college my mom and I were talking about Evelyn. I learned she had contracted syphilis as a young woman and it wasn’t caught until she had serious brain damage. That is either the case or my mom was using it as a curb to sexual promiscuity on the part of her children. Evelyn died long after I had left the home town. And when she died the church was full of people. Evelyn was loved.

I think God loves mysterious people. They help us remember the possibility of our being unlovable too. I think we are called to learn to love better because of these folks.

I live in a wonderful city now and spent thirty-five years in Seattle. Mysterious people aren’t so obvious there. There was a guy who played Tuba outside sports events and everyone knew him in Seattle. And he was cool. I had a Sunday evening radio show for a while and asked him to come play Tuba on the show. He said he would but never showed.

The church is a collection of mystery people learning to love each other when we are at our best. I think a church of any size functions like a small town that accepts the mysterious kind of people.