No, the title of this blog doesn't mean anything. That is, I'm not going to write about trains - or best friends. It's just the title of a song off a great Waterboys album. It popped up on my iPod while I was driving back from Houghton yesterday and I thought it would double as a good title for a blog post.
If you're looking for my post about Sarah and her departure for college, that's the previous post. Otherwise, here's something about the trip. (As I listen to my new favorite band, Frontier Ruckus, whose recent recording Deadmalls and Nightfalls, is pretty good.)
Sarah and I left yesterday a little after 5 AM. We had good conversation. I was hoping she would be able to sleep, having stayed up late the night before, packing - but she couldn't, and I understand that. So there was great talk - and a lot of what we did was just listened to her iPod, and various songs led into conversation and memories. Both of us would place The Rural Alberta Advantage (Hometowns) in our top 5 records of all time - so we listened to that. And Josh Rouse. And a Pretenders song that I recently referenced in a sermon ("Nobody's perfect; not even a perfect stranger...."). Etc., etc. She played me a U2 song that was helpful to her over a period of time in her Junior year. And the music was a springboard.
With a half-hour to go before reaching campus, we switched to Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakav -- Sheherazade, and the Russian Easter Overture. We think that that was one of the pieces of music that helped with her interview for the East Meets West program. At the very least, it was part of the conversation, early on in that interview, and was good for calming her nerves in that pivotal conversation.
So we arrived on campus, and I have to say that I just felt good! We went to the building where we always used to go, Admissions. They said, "Great to see you, but we're done with you now. Find your RA at the dorm."
And there to unload the van were a couple of professors, the dean of the chapel, and a few students from the sports team. A great welcome. Not the kind of "servanthood" that I remember from another "Christian" college where I landed on my 18th birthday about 30 years ago. I had expected about an hour of trudging up and down steps, box at a time, elbowing and being elbowed by others. Not at all. Orderly, friendly, efficient, and kind. Good stuff.
I like Sarah's roommate, and her RA. She'll do well. I left, sad but more happy than sad -- glad for where God has placed her. This is a college with strong academics (top 4% of colleges in the country, according to Forbes; upper echelon by Princeton Review and US News), and with a Christian worldview that I love.
Didn't want to be a hovering parent. After lunch (from the vegan food station, though the cheeseburgers two islands down looked good) and a trip to the bookstore, Sarah came back to the van for what I had missed, retrieved her headphones, and we had a brief farewell - and that was it.
If everything else in my world goes to hell - church plant implodes, house burns down, we all get cancer or smashed by a stray airplane, the groundhog in our back yard mutates into a fire-breathing dragon and annihilates us, I forget to use the spell-checker, or whatever - I feel good and grateful about Sarah's start on the world.
Then it was the six hours back home to a different life. And now I'll say goodbye so I can help David Jr. get his stuff moved into the vacated room. If you've just started reading through this blog - it won't always be about Sarah and Houghton. That's just the week I started blogging, so that's what you're getting. No apologies - just FYI.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Circle Back - the nest begins to empty dad! are you comparing us as birds!!!!
Tomorrow at this time, I'll be in Western New York State, with my oldest daughter, our firstborn - approaching Houghton College. www.houghton.edu It's a bittersweet time as she leaves. Today is her last day at home. And I know that she'll be home at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but still I'm getting tear-y as I write this. The time was too short with her.
Yes, I remember what it was like to lose our first pregnancy - and Paula getting pregnant within a few months - and along came Sarah. I love that first little one who I never held (who, beating heart and fingerprints and dreams and all, is waiting to be embraced by us in heaven); but I can't imagine life without Sarah who would not have been here had we not had to experience the first pain. We waited longer to tell people that Paula was pregnant, fearful that we would lose the second baby. So glad she survived!
When we went to the movies - the Rocketeer - there was a place that got loud, airplanes and all that - and Sarah spun around and kicked in the womb. Paula put my hand where I could feel Sarah saying, "Stop all that noise!" Then, later, Sarah arrived. I got one day off from my route salesman job at Frito-Lay and was there for her birth. Her little baby picture taken just after the birth has her fists clenched as if she just went a dozen rounds with Muhammad Ali.
Sarah is our most (our only obviously) Hispanic-looking kid. Regarding appearance, the Cuban genes from Paula's side won out over the Scandinavian ones on my side of the equation. I thought all of my kids would look Hispanic. They didn't.
One of my saddest memories is making the rounds again: three-year-old Sarah and I were sitting on the steps of our porch. We watched the school bus stop at the house next door and she said, "Daddy, someday I'm going to ride that school bus." And I thought, "Oh, no, you aren't! Not if I can help it! You're going to stay right here at three years old and never leave." But she got on the bus, eventually. Now she's getting on the bus again.
My greatest sadness might be for our younger two children, David and Lily, 10 and 8 years old. She was a constant for half of their childhood - and they will always be able to say they had a terrific big sister who spent time with them. I watched with admiration as Sarah went out of her way to enjoy them and to allow them to get to know her. Last night, all four kids stayed up late. Paula and I were in bed at the usual time, but didn't enforce bedtime hours for the little ones. How it made me cry to hear that laughter drift upstairs at midnight.
What's ahead? Great things for Sarah, I think. She has her mom's personality (mostly) with my interests (mostly). She's in the honors program at her college and gets to spend some time in the Spring in the Balkans. All those places that will be so great to study about and visit - Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, etc. She recently told me about pulling Solzenitzen off the shelf in our house and trying to read it when she was little.... An attraction to history and Eastern Europe and politics and art. State Department? Missionary? God, who knows her better and loves her even more than I do, knows what is in her future.
For me - it's just an ache in my heart and yet joy in knowing that she's taking her goodness to a good place, and she'll work hard to apply her gift mix to do what she was born to do.
Yes, I remember what it was like to lose our first pregnancy - and Paula getting pregnant within a few months - and along came Sarah. I love that first little one who I never held (who, beating heart and fingerprints and dreams and all, is waiting to be embraced by us in heaven); but I can't imagine life without Sarah who would not have been here had we not had to experience the first pain. We waited longer to tell people that Paula was pregnant, fearful that we would lose the second baby. So glad she survived!
When we went to the movies - the Rocketeer - there was a place that got loud, airplanes and all that - and Sarah spun around and kicked in the womb. Paula put my hand where I could feel Sarah saying, "Stop all that noise!" Then, later, Sarah arrived. I got one day off from my route salesman job at Frito-Lay and was there for her birth. Her little baby picture taken just after the birth has her fists clenched as if she just went a dozen rounds with Muhammad Ali.
Sarah is our most (our only obviously) Hispanic-looking kid. Regarding appearance, the Cuban genes from Paula's side won out over the Scandinavian ones on my side of the equation. I thought all of my kids would look Hispanic. They didn't.
One of my saddest memories is making the rounds again: three-year-old Sarah and I were sitting on the steps of our porch. We watched the school bus stop at the house next door and she said, "Daddy, someday I'm going to ride that school bus." And I thought, "Oh, no, you aren't! Not if I can help it! You're going to stay right here at three years old and never leave." But she got on the bus, eventually. Now she's getting on the bus again.
My greatest sadness might be for our younger two children, David and Lily, 10 and 8 years old. She was a constant for half of their childhood - and they will always be able to say they had a terrific big sister who spent time with them. I watched with admiration as Sarah went out of her way to enjoy them and to allow them to get to know her. Last night, all four kids stayed up late. Paula and I were in bed at the usual time, but didn't enforce bedtime hours for the little ones. How it made me cry to hear that laughter drift upstairs at midnight.
What's ahead? Great things for Sarah, I think. She has her mom's personality (mostly) with my interests (mostly). She's in the honors program at her college and gets to spend some time in the Spring in the Balkans. All those places that will be so great to study about and visit - Bosnia, Montenegro, Kosovo, etc. She recently told me about pulling Solzenitzen off the shelf in our house and trying to read it when she was little.... An attraction to history and Eastern Europe and politics and art. State Department? Missionary? God, who knows her better and loves her even more than I do, knows what is in her future.
For me - it's just an ache in my heart and yet joy in knowing that she's taking her goodness to a good place, and she'll work hard to apply her gift mix to do what she was born to do.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Jericho Partnership
Every day I get to spend a little time at Jericho Partnership is a good day. What is Jericho? The best way for me to describe it is to just send you there: www.jerichopartnership.org
One of the things I love about Danbury is the way that the churches and ministries work together. Maybe because in this part of the country, there are so few (comparatively) churches and Christians? Other places I have been, there have been enough Baptists, Presbyterians, and Assemblies of God - whatever - that we all just pretty much stayed to ourselves. And there were always one or two "big dog" churches that didn't think they needed the smaller churches or that the smaller churches needed them.
No, it's not perfect up here in Danbury - but this is a place where there is a high degree of working together across denominational lines. And I love it. We can be a Reformed church that is not despised and doesn't have to isolate. We have a seat at the table; more importantly, there is a place for us to kneel alongside our fellow believers and pray for a city.
More about Jericho in later posts, I'm sure. Me? I'm just looking forward to prayer time with the staff and a little bit of conversation with Carrie Amos, the very capable director.
One of the things I love about Danbury is the way that the churches and ministries work together. Maybe because in this part of the country, there are so few (comparatively) churches and Christians? Other places I have been, there have been enough Baptists, Presbyterians, and Assemblies of God - whatever - that we all just pretty much stayed to ourselves. And there were always one or two "big dog" churches that didn't think they needed the smaller churches or that the smaller churches needed them.
No, it's not perfect up here in Danbury - but this is a place where there is a high degree of working together across denominational lines. And I love it. We can be a Reformed church that is not despised and doesn't have to isolate. We have a seat at the table; more importantly, there is a place for us to kneel alongside our fellow believers and pray for a city.
More about Jericho in later posts, I'm sure. Me? I'm just looking forward to prayer time with the staff and a little bit of conversation with Carrie Amos, the very capable director.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday afternoon - think I'll start a blog me too dad
So I'm just throwing this out there - having thought for a long time, off and on, about keeping a blog. What does one write about? What I ate for breakfast? What Paula is doing with her day (painting our daughter's room)? What the other kids are doing?
How I'm enjoying - or not enjoying - this Tuesday off? How much information? Who will read this? Will the discipline of regularly writing get me into a routine that will then propel/compel me into writing my big book? (And wasn't James Michener about my age when he started writing? - books, I mean, not blogs).
My questions are these (Wait a minute! Pretty much all I've done so far is ask questions, but here are some more):
1. Do I link this with my church website, whose "Pastor's Blog" sits barren, except for a couple of entries from 2009? If so, it's something potential visitors and all members can see if they want, and will have to be written a certain way.
2. Do I simply put this address on Facebook for those "friends" to see? And on the Yahoo update list? If so, that's a different type of blog - more about old relationships that are being renewed, etc.
What is the nature of this blog?
Right now I'm just going to call this a "trial post" and go to sleep on it. Let's see... will I remember how to get back here? That's all for now, then. An inglorious "first blog" if there ever was one! But the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, right? (I know, I'll just fill my blog pages with those kinds of cliches and the fun will be for people to see that as an inside joke.... no good.) See you tomorrow.
How I'm enjoying - or not enjoying - this Tuesday off? How much information? Who will read this? Will the discipline of regularly writing get me into a routine that will then propel/compel me into writing my big book? (And wasn't James Michener about my age when he started writing? - books, I mean, not blogs).
My questions are these (Wait a minute! Pretty much all I've done so far is ask questions, but here are some more):
1. Do I link this with my church website, whose "Pastor's Blog" sits barren, except for a couple of entries from 2009? If so, it's something potential visitors and all members can see if they want, and will have to be written a certain way.
2. Do I simply put this address on Facebook for those "friends" to see? And on the Yahoo update list? If so, that's a different type of blog - more about old relationships that are being renewed, etc.
What is the nature of this blog?
Right now I'm just going to call this a "trial post" and go to sleep on it. Let's see... will I remember how to get back here? That's all for now, then. An inglorious "first blog" if there ever was one! But the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, right? (I know, I'll just fill my blog pages with those kinds of cliches and the fun will be for people to see that as an inside joke.... no good.) See you tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)