Monday, March 18, 2024

Dave And Tom And Bill And Robert

 Dave And Tom And Bill And Robert


This NFL story is from March 18, 2020.
I was watching the news yesterday and the anchorwoman said there was some sadness out of Boston besides the ongoing tragedy of the Coronavirus. Actually, there were two sad stories she related. The first had to do with the present health situation preempting any real St. Patrick's Day celebrations. The second was more of a shocker. After twenty seasons with the New England Patriots, and nine Super Bowls appearances, Tom Brady is leaving and going to another team, presumably Tampa Bay. There were rumors that it might happen but many could simply not conceive playing for any other franchise. But, the far fetched came to pass.

Yesterday morning, I saw the story on the Internet when it hit the wires. Brady made it official on social media and in his statement, praised his former team as well as owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick. Soon after, both the owner and coach posted their own good-byes to the quarterback with more Super Bowl rings than any other. There had been reported tension over the possibility of the divorce but you could not tell from what the main characters said. Later in the day, I caught an interview with my favorite sports announcer/columnist/personality of all time, Chris Berman. His take was awesome. Berman was reminded of the lines from from a 1977 Dave Mason hit:
There ain't no good guy, there ain't no bad guy
There's only you and me and we just disagree

One of the interviewers moaned he would have the song stuck in his head for the rest of the day! But my takeaway was that it was an extremely appropriate way to deal graciously with a pubic breakup without bitterness and rancor from anyone. We see so much animosity displayed in the public arena these days over trivial things and by public arena, I mean Facebook, Twitter, etc. I wish it were only celebrities falling into that trap but we know that's not the case. For believers, whatever happened to Blessed are the meek... or peacemakers. Can't we display the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) towards those whose eyes might not line up exactly with ours? I know many sports fans despise the Patriots and are suspicious of their tactics. In no way am I condoning any skirting of rules or guidelines that the Patriots might have been involved with in the past. But, at least yesterday, I thought they carried out a flawless game plan.

To watch and listen to Dave Mason's We Just Disagree from The Midnight Special, click or copy/paste the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCJ0nVjuWK4

Applicable quote of the day:

"Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it. No destructive lies. No ridiculous fears. No debilitating anger."
Bill Bradley


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Irish For The Day

 

Irish For The Day


HAPPY SPD! This is from  March 17, 2013.

It's St. Patrick's Day! I saw plenty of folks at worship this morning sporting any number of green articles of clothing, even hats! There was nothing green in my outfit as I dressed up in a suit and although I have many ties, they don't tend to the shade one would wear on this holiday. When I was kid, I seem to recall not wearing green on March 17, I'm sure in hopes of certain girls pinching me. Of course, my bachelorhood is proof of the fallacy of that pre-teen boy logic....and I guarantee there's a lot more where that came from!

By my best estimated guess, I would think I'm 1/8th or 1/16th Irish but I'd have to have Uncle Jack and Uncle Monroe consult with each other to make sure. Did you know that 11.2% of the US population is of Irish descent according to the 2010 census and that the State of New York has the highest Irish percentage? Or did you know that Irish people in the US are older than the general population and that both parents of President Andrew Jackson were born in Ireland? All I know is that one of my favorite movie scenes ever is when Harrison Ford (Dr. Richard Kimball) escapes into the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago! You can't beat The Fugitive!

I'm not sure why this calendar date is slotted as St. Patrick's Day but to me, it was interesting it fell on a Sunday this year. Sometimes, I think we approach our Christianity like we do this holiday; you know, pull it out when it's convenient. I don't go around mentioning my Irish heritage normally but it came up today. Maybe we wear a cross like we wear a swatch of green, sort of an identifying mark, just enough not to get pinched. Often I believe we pigeonhole our spiritual side to one day instead of a daily walk. We're believers on Easter or Christmas or Mother's Day but that leaves 362 days unaccounted for. Being a disciple can't simply be like St. Patrick's Day in America, a feel good nod to those good folks and ancestors who four and five generations ago fled poverty and scratched out an existence in places like New York and Boston and points west. I'm proud to be partly Irish but that produces a minimal difference in this world. I can only hope my Christian heritage is of more substantial impact to our culture at large.

Applicable quote of the day:
“If my last name were Bedient, I’d want to Irishize it and have you call me O’Bedient. Of course, just because you call me, doesn’t mean I’ll come.” 
Jarod Kintz

PS: I would have printed this entry in the predictable color but blogger doesn't supply a good Irish green for print!

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Saturday, March 16, 2024

The $125,000 Question

 

The $125,000 Question

This is from March 16, 2020 at the start of COVID lockdowns.
It's Spring Break 2020, a week long anticipated break from school that is unfolding much differently than any other in US history. I've got a list of stuff to do- dentist appointment, new license plates, IRONING- so it's a working vacation for me in some sense as it is for most educators. One thing that's consistent is that I still go to Chancellor's Fitness Center, near both my apartment and school, twice per day. The main difference is that my PM  workout comes earlier than normal. This afternoon, I had finished on the treadmill, had taken my shower and dressed when I ran across a guy I've known casually as a fellow member for a decade. He asked about school and I told him we were out this week and would be online next. Then, he asked me a question I've never been asked that I recall:
"What's a guy like you make? $125,000 a year?"

Now, I didn't consider him nosy, just curious and I took zero offense. I laughed and told him that was just SLIGHTLY higher than my pay grade. From now on, though, I'll associate him with that query!

Over the years, I've asked my students in class how many think athletes/actors/actresses/models/musicians are overpaid and most hands go up. But when I ask. "How many of your parents make too much money?", there's no similar response. I do know this. Longevity tends to increase compensation so I make much more than when I began my career in the classroom and on the field/court. In school, pay may be calculated by observation or surveys. I have no dog in this fight but I'm not sure I would evaluate teachers based on standardized testing alone, if at all. You might make a case for contract amount for entertainers based on revenue of their movies/TV shows/album sales or professional athletes using the increasingly complicated statistics available... but I'm guessing those can be skewed in either sides' favor. But teachers? We know that Jesus was often referred to as teacher as well as rabbi, a synonym for teacher. That's pretty solid company! In Luke 6:40, Jesus tells us this: “The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher” (Luke 6:40).
My best argument for compensation? Six of my former WCS students are full time employees of Westbury Christian School (as well as the daughter of two former students of mine!) They make me proud because they do a terrific job and exhibit the characteristics the Savior would want us to possess. They are growing daily and making an eternal difference in the lives of of our student body. I would say that would make me underpaid even at $125,000! Oh well, we're laying up treasures in heaven, not at Chase Bank. But I have some excellent assets in my career portfolio!

Applicable quote of the day:
You can pay people to teach, but you can’t pay them to care. 
Marva Collins 

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1


Friday, March 15, 2024

This Morning

 

This Morning

This is from March 15, 2020, the beginning of COVID.
If you read this somewhere in the future, please make note that this was written in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 when our world changed abruptly without knowing the duration. With that being said, our Sunday morning worship services were cancelled this morning in person but were available through the magic that is Facebook. Spring Break officially starts for us tomorrow but in actuality, it started two days ago on Friday when we had teacher in-service and the kids s
tayed home. As many schools and school districts have similarly decided, WCS will have school online in the week after our break so we spent Friday preparing for that. Our administration explained that our custodial service will do a deep cleaning on our facility so we had until the end of the weekend to get whatever we needed out of our classrooms.

This morning, I was in my room/our building from roughly 6-9 AM, grading some tests and straightening up. Since I drink a great deal of water and coffee early in the day, I made several trips to the nearest bathroom for males. Several times, I was faced with detailed instructions for the washing of hands, instructions on the wall above the sink that only appeared in the very recent past. I followed the guidelines as far as I could- we don't use paper towels so that part is out. I'm always careful to wash my hands after visiting the boys' room  but I admit I'm more thorough now. Pandemics have that affect. (Or is it effect?)


I grew up in a family in which our parents LOVED to sing and specifically church songs. Since Dad was the preacher, the home playlist was probably a mirror of our congregational favorites. One that has stuck with me is very  applicable in our current climate. I Washed My Hands This Morning, which is also called Little Feet, Be Careful, was written and published by Lucinda M. Bateman in 1886. It went like this:


  1. I washed my hands this morning
    So very clean and white,
    And lent them both to Jesus,
    To work for Him till night.
    • Refrain:
      Little feet, be careful
      Where you take me to;
      Anything for Jesus,
      Only let me do.
  2. I told my ears to listen
    Quite closely all day through,
    For any act of kindness
    Such little hands can do.
  3. My eyes are set to watch them
    About their work or play,
    To keep them out of mischief
    For Jesus’ sake all day.

    Pretty amazing in the context of our present world! And it's Biblical! Both James 4:8 and Psalm 24:3 connect clean hands with a pure heart. Jesus was criticized by a Pharisee in Luke 11 for not washing His hands before dining but commentators tell us the washing referred to by the host was a traditional, ceremonial ritual to get rid of possible contact with Gentiles rather than actual cleanliness. It looks like the Pharisee wanted Jesus to at least go through the motions of the legalistic rite. I've gone through the motions all of my life at the sink. I'm reformed now- twenty seconds at least! Plus, I want that pure heart!

To hear an adorable 2 year old child singing this hymn, click or copy/paste the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyALZcrkko0


Applicable quote of the day:
If I wasn't writing poems, I'd be washing my hands all the time. 
Sherman Alexie

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Thursday, March 14, 2024

No Trumpets

 No Trumpets


I wrote this the first day school closed due to the pandemic, March 14, 2020!
This is an exciting post for me! For the first time in more than two and a half months, I am able to write new material following a hard drive crash and an inability to retrieve my blogger password. I've really missed fleshing out new ideas so I hope to pen some good stuff in the near future. Thanks for sticking with me or, at least, welcome back! And thanks to Jon Berglund for getting me back up and running with a repaired laptop!

We are in the middle of our 22nd year of collecting loose change at WCS to help works in Honduras and Haiti which focus on children. During that time, we have raised close to $200,000 for the organizations we partner with, Mission Lazarus and Hope For Haiti's Children. This is really an ongoing project which has become a part of  the fabric of our school over the decades. Our kids receive bank bottles each year and collect pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters which we apportion between these two wonderful agencies. (It's completely voluntary.) Over the years, I've witnessed some amazing acts of generosity from kids ranging from five to eighteen and this year has been no different. 

I was in my classroom after school one day not long before Christmas break when a former student walked in. An extraordinary young man, I also taught his sister and his wonderful mom was a colleague of mine for a number of years. He's in college now and after our greeting, he stuck a wadded up plastic HEB grocery bag into my hand and told me to use it as I saw fit. I assumed it was a roll of quarters and didn't even open it until he had been gone for a good while. When I finally unwrapped the gift, I found $300 inside. Three hundred dollars. The next day, I divided the money into two parts, putting it towards the college education of three sisters in our church in Vietnam as well as our Honduras/Haiti fund which we keep year round. I left him a Facebook message and as expected, he approved of the apportioning of his donation.

This week on Wednesday, our MOMS IN PRAYER group came to my room late in our first period time slot to hear a brief presentation from me on the aforementioned Honduras/Haiti project. Before school started, I was straightening up Room 258- don't want a messy place for my honored guests! I noticed one of the new bank bottles that a middle school girl had turned in to me last week, shortly after I had distributed them. The bottle, which felt like it had only a few coins in it, was lying under my desk so I picked it up and proceeded to pour the contents into one of the five gallon containers we use as receptacles. Imagine my shock when a $100 bill fell out! I found this girl's older sister in the hall and she thought it had come from the young lady and not from their folks. I found her in class and learned the sibling was correct- she had indeed put in her own one hundred dollars. I'm pretty sure I had never even seen a bill that large at her age!


Here is the remarkable thing about both of these youngsters and their generosity; neither one called any attention to the amount of the gift. I told the young lady, one of my favorite people in the world, that if I had been her at that point in my life, I would have said, "Coach Hawley, you need to be careful because there is a $100 bill in there!" Both of the donors were discreet, a trait sorely lacking among many of us, including me. We believe in giving credit where credit is due, even when it means calling attention to ourselves. Jesus was very plain when He laid out the guidelines for proper giving. In Matthew 6, the Savior said,
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
You might note there are no mentions of tax write offs or public recognition in that paragraph. The Lord explains the only reward worth having comes from above, Pats on the back on earth are nice but eternal blessings from heaven dwarf temporary compliments. We shouldn't give to please people but to please God. Many kids will be helped, maybe even rescued, by the contents of a plastic bag and a plastic bottle. As you can't tell a book by its cover, you can't tell a gift by its container. But maybe you can learn about about human hearts by the manner of the transaction. Some people don't need trumpets.


Applicable quote of the day
“There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother.”
― Theodore Roosevelt


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18
:1

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Weight Of Being An Expert

 The Weight Of Being An Expert

What's it like to be an expert? I'm not sure but others think I've got secret information! This is from March 14, 2016. 
It happened again five days ago. I was doing a typical lifting workout at Chancellor’s Fitness Center before Wednesday night Bible study. On MWF, I do upper body work both before and after school and TThS, I do a lower body routine, followed by swimming every day. On Wednesday, I was performing one of about twenty different exercises which I rotate depending on the day, as well as how I’m feeling. I was doing a twisting routine, swinging a 45 pound weight plate from side to side at shoulder level. A young man in his mid twenties with a French accent came over to me as I was drinking water between sets. Very politely, he said:
“Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me what muscle groups you are working and the benefit from that routine?”
Here is what is incredible. About six weeks ago, another guy asked me the same question, identically, almost to the word. The main difference is the first guy spoke with a German accent. Both times, I responded honestly and almost apologetically:
“I’m sorry but I really don’t know. It’s just something I got off of YouTube.”

I take it they were both disappointed, like they thought I was some big-time trainer. But, in reality, I know very little about how and why the body and muscle groups develop when twisted and contorted in certain ways with certain weights. So my go-to source of knowledge is YouTube. I just type in weight plate workouts and voila', I'm an expert.... or so some people erroneously believe.

I'm not sure what characteristics bestow on us an air of credibility in our world. I do know I've been mistaken for a doctor in Honduras and a store manager in WAL-MART. People have asked me if I'm in the military because I make use of Sir/Ma'am when I speak. I am a Bible teacher/basketball coach who has taught the Social Sciences and coached baseball. I've worked on farms and in a grocery store. I've been the commissioner of a youth baseball league, painted houses, and labored on a maintenance crew. Currently I'm also employed as the English Coach/Makes me Laugh Consultant for my future accountant, the stunning Yanping Cheng. But never before have I been confused for a fitness guru. Maybe I'm missing something!

I'm not sure quite when it happened but it seems like the number of those who have been anointed or maybe self-anointed as experts in any number of arenas has exploded since I was a kid. My guess is that it has something to do with chat rooms and message boards and talk radio. In sports, there are those who claim to know the identity of the best fifth grade basketball shooting guard in the US which is absurd. The only thing I think I might be an expert in is getting little kids to put loose change in plastic bottles for poor children in countries which begin with the letter H. The scriptures spoke about distinguishing those who were put up as teachers or prophets- by their fruits. Good tree: good fruit. Bad tree: bad fruit. You know, apples came from apple trees and not peach trees. And we know fruit doesn't show up overnight. It takes time and nurturing. In the final verse of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew records that, 'the crowds were amazed at His (Jesus') teaching because He taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the Law.' The authority of the Savior was evident when held up against those perceived experts of the day. I'm afraid any so called expertise I might have would wither in the light of inspection two thousand plus years later whether in the classroom or on the court, in the corn fields or in the weight room. Let's be careful before crowning the latest genius or savant. Just remember this- I get my knowledge on You Tube...... and I don't think I'm alone!

Applicable quote of the day:
"I lift quite heavy weights, but unfortunately no one believes me."
 Cyrus Broacha


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Griffith VS. "Griffith"

 

Griffith VS. "Griffith"


The political season is  in full bloom. Is there anything stranger, or at times nauseating, than politics? This is one of the best stories I have heard in the arena of public service, taken from November 11, 2006.

The elections are over but the fallout is in full descent. In Wisconsin, legendary actor Andy Griffith has filed suit against William Fenrick over the use of his name. In his quest to be elected sheriff of Grant County as an independent, Fenrick legally changed his name to Andrew Jackson Griffith. Fenrick, hoping to make political gain from the name of the revered sheriff of the fictional Mayberry, still finished third in a three-way race. The eighty year old sidekick of Barney, Floyd, Goober, and Earnest T. Bass et al, was not amused. The authentic Griffith contends the Andy-come-lately infringed on his copyright and trademark rights in addition to his privacy as he tried to link his name to the veteran of film and television. He is asking the courts to require Fenrick/Griffith to return to his original name as well as issue public apologies and disclaimers. For his part, the would-be politician claims he never reaped any financial advantage from the name change, insisting all promotional items that hyped the name of the famed actor were given away. Stay tuned! Could there be a Law And Order episode stemming from this conflict? I can hear the NBC ad now: "RIPPED FROM TODAY'S HEADLINES! Non-descript imitation politician steals storied actor's name in bold political power grab!" Your local news at 10:00 PM. I can't wait!

Invoking the use of another's name is nothing new. It isn't all that unusual to have a student forge a parent's name on a form or note. Kids have used false ID's for decades in an attempt to purchase alcohol as minors. Two thousand years ago, Jesus prophesied his name would also be used in a deceptive way as impostors would step forward claiming to be the Messiah. The Savior even predicted in Matthew 24 that the ruse would be successful as many would be led astray by the false claims. In John 8, as Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Tabernacles, the crowd in the temple asked him bluntly, "Who are you?" His reply, equally as blunt, was 
"Just what I have been claiming all along." What he claimed to be was one sent by his Father in heaven for the deliverance of the world. His name and his claims were authentic. He did not use deceit to prove a point or improve his popularity. He was simply who he said he was, the Son of God and the Son of Man. Those titles cannot be copyrighted or duplicated. There is only one rightful owner to wear those names: Jesus of Nazareth.


Applicable quote of the day:
"A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs."
Henry David Thoreau


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1