Patch Adams

I was home alone on Saturday night. I was bored and tired and depressed. I decided to watch a movie. We don’t have HBO anymore so I went through our remaining DVDs and finally selected Patch Adams with Robin Williams.

If you are unfamiliar with the movie, it is about a man who brought joy to others.  I was so looking forward to getting that happy feeling. 

I looked through the cabinet and when I found the movie I was so excited. I pulled it out started into the next room and I realized it felt light.  I opened the case and the DVD was gone.  This is why we have children, so your favorite movies can disappear.  I hope one of them is enjoying it.

Empty case.  No movie.  Poop!

Sometimes in life you get what you want and sometimes in life you get what you get.

I refuse to stay depressed.  I ordered a new copy. When it comes I am going to watch it and get that happy feeling!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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Favorite Songs

I have a ton of favorite songs:

Van Morrison- Into the mystic

CCR - Heard it through the grapevine

CCR- anything by them

Lynyrd Skiynyrd - the Breeze

Dolly Parton - Islands in the stream

and on and on.  Yesterday's post reminded me that one of my very first favorite songs was, and still is, If you want to sing out sing out by Cat Stevens.  It is a song that I first heard when I saw the movie Harold and Maude in 1971.  So I have loved this song for 50 years.

Here are the lyrics and here is a link to listen... The song is linked to a video from Youtube that has scenes from the movie.  The pictures are grainy, but note the concentration camp prisoner number on Maude's right forearm...

So here are the lyrics...

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are

And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

[Chorus:]
You can do what you want
The opportunity's on
And if you can find a new way
You can do it today
You can make it all true
And you can make it undo
you see ah ah ah
its easy ah ah ah
You only need to know

Well if you want to say yes, say yes
And if you want to say no, say no
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

And if you want to be me, be me
And if you want to be you, be you
'Cause there's a million things to do
You know that there are

[Chorus]

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are

click here to listen to the song

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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you can always go to the web site

Over the past week this blog has had some issues with delivery by email.  My I.T. person is wonderful, but I asked her to do some things that might have caused some of you to miss the blog.  My fault.

Please remember to check your spam folder for the blog.

Also, if you don't get a daily email, you can always go to the web site of the blog:

canyouhearthebirdssing.blogspot.com

click here to go to the blog site on the web

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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Discomfort

Recently heard on a TED talk: Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life.

It seems to me that there is more discomfort as we get older. More ailments, more disappointments, more sadness.

I realize that I can wallow in the discouragement, or I can work harder to see the good. Because, the good is still there.

Harold Kushner, in his book, Why do bad things happen to good people says, "we have to realize that the universe has some rough edges."

You know one of my favorite movies is Harold and Maude. At the end of the movie [spoiler alert] at the end of the movie, Maude dies. Harold is mad. He drives his car at high speeds towards the cliff. You think he has gone over. The car surely goes over. But then the camera pans up and there is Harold on top of the cliff with his banjo, and the Cat Stevens song comes on, If you want to sing out sing out.

Tomorrow I will post those lyrics, but the point is, we have a choice. To bow to rejection and pain and discomfort, or to get up and see the good.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

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I was at my best

A week or so ago, I watched the movie, The Big Chill.  It is a coming of age movie about friends who have not seen each other for ten years and then are brought back together due to the death of a mutual friend.

Interesting note, the deceased is played by Kevin Costner, even though none of the scenes showing his face made the final cut.

Anyway, in the movie there is a good bit of remembering and a good bit of reminiscing.  Glenn Close is talking to the group and she says,  "I was at my best when I was with you people."  That line struck a chord.

I was at my best when I was with you in Princeton and Mercer.  I was at my best when I was with you at Woods Chapel.  I was at my best when I was playing ball with the Armadillos.  I was at my best when I was with you in Cape Coral.  I was at my best when I was with you at Fort Pierce First UMC.

I hope to be at my best again, soon.  But who knows?

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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You will be grieved

I have written about this before, but I think about it often.

There is a scene in one of the Superman movies after Clark Kent’s father dies. He is standing by the grave and he says to his Dad, “you will be grieved.” I once told this story to my father. I told him that when the time came, that I would grieve him. He told me that that was one of the nicest things that anyone had ever said to him.

And here is a note to you my friend, to many many of you my friends.  If you go before me, I will grieve your loss. Losing you will leave a huge hole in my heart.

I love you.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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I am thankful

Today I want to tell you how thankful I am.

I am thankful for my family.  They put up with a lot.

I am thankful for my friends.  They don't have to be my friends, but for some reason, they keep hanging around.

I am thankful for the ability to read.  For the ability to think.  For the ability to think thoughts that challenge the way that I was brought up.

I am thankful for ice cream.  I am thankful for a car that runs.

I am thankful for living in a free country.

I am thankful for how I feel when I think of you...

We have so much to be thankful for.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

We have a lot to be thankful for

A man was struggling to get a table into his truck.  I stopped to help.  When we were finished, he said, "thank you and have a happy thanksgiving."  I replied... We have so much to be thankful for.

Later in the day I was checking out and the checker wished me a happy thanksgiving.  I replied as before, we have so much to be thankful for.

In both situations, those simple words "we have so much to be thankful for" those simple words were the catalyst that launched two very meaningful conversations.  I talked to the man with the table, and the checker for ten minutes each, about gratitude.

We have so much to be thankful for.  Do you want to talk?  Could we talk for an hour about what we are thankful for?

I hope so.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

it doesn't count

I have talked about this before, but some things bear repeating.  My friend Pat Stark once said, "if you are thankful for someone and don't tell them, it doesn't count."

This week is thanksgiving.  While I believe we should be thankful every day, we should certainly make the extra effort this season.

If you are thankful, and don't say so, what good does it do?  If you love someone and don't tell them, what good is that?

If you don't say it, it doesn't count.

I am thankful for you.
I love you.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

take me to church

Yesterday I went to church for the first time in a while.

It was so great to see everyone!  They were all so welcoming and gracious.  I loved the music... Come ye thankful people come! and We Gather together.  Great thanksgiving songs.

I loved the sermon.  It was about helping the poor.  Good stuff.

The bell choir was awesome!

It felt good to be there and my heart was strangely warmed.

I plan to go back next week.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

A small act of kindness

A friend sent this in to me.

One of the many morning walkers in our neighborhood is a man who used to stop and visit with my husband. These days, every morning, when this man is out walking, before I even get up, he retrieves the paper out of my yard and puts it on the front porch. All I have to do is open the door and reach out to get it.

There are many kind people in the world. This is one small example of one human showing kindness to another.

I love examples of kindness. They don’t usually take much effort, but they can make such a difference to the receiver and the giver.

What can you do today that would take less than a minute of your time, but mean the world to another person?

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

leave them alone

My friend’s sister died. His boss sent an email to the entire team. “____ is on vacation for the next seven days. Don’t call him, don’t text him, don’t copy him in on anything, leave him completely alone. Let him do what he needs to do."

I absolutely love that. Sometimes we need to be off the grid. Sometimes we need to leave people alone.  Sometimes we need to be left alone.  Sometimes we need all the craziness of our world to take a vacation so that we can have some brain and heart space. It is ok to go off the grid from time to time. Our brains need it.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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The other side

So we have a story about our country’s history. God bless America, from sea to shining sea. We learned a narrative in school about our story. But it is not the only version of the story.

Every story has more than one version. What did the whale think of swallowing Jonah? What did the Mexicans think of the Alamo? What did the Cherokee think of the trail of tears? What did the Arawak Indians think of the landing of Columbus?  What did they think when he claimed their homeland for the King and Queen?

We rarely consider the version of the other side. Because, whoever wins, in the end, gets to tell the story. The victors tell the story. So many of the stories that we have come to embrace are not the truth, but they are our version of the story.

It can be painful, but we all benefit when we consider how the other side sees it. 

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

It's not perfect, but it is ok, it is even good!

 

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

Supremacy in love

From Richard Rohr’s blog, Friday, October 22nd [edited]

God’s Supremacy in Love
Friday, October 22, 2021

Brian McLaren is a guest author from time to time on Richard Rohr’s blog. Brian has spent years calling Christians to a practice of faith that reflects the loving, nonviolent Jesus of the Gospels instead of the conquering Jesus of colonialism and empire:

"The God imaged by Jesus exerts no dominating supremacy. In Christ, we see an image of a God who is not armed with lightning bolts but with a basin and towel, who spewed not threats but good news for all, who rode not a warhorse but a donkey, weeping in compassion for people who do not know the way of peace. In Christ, God is supreme, but not in the old discredited paradigm of supremacy: God is the supreme healer, the supreme friend, the supreme lover, the supreme life-giver who self-empties in gracious love for all. The king of kings and lord of lords is the servant of all and the friend of sinners. The so-called weakness and foolishness of God are greater than the so-called power and wisdom of human regimes.

In the aftermath of Jesus and his cross, we should never again define God’s sovereignty or supremacy by analogy to the kings of this world who dominate, oppress, subordinate, exploit, scapegoat and marginalize [see Luke 22:25–27]. Instead, we must migrate to an entirely new universe, or, as Paul says, “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in which old ideas of supremacy are subverted by kindness and love."

Luke 22:25-27
25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

It can't always be my way

My daughter Jennifer is a pretty smart cookie. We were talking the other day about relationships. She said, “Sometimes people are not going to give you what you think you need. We need to understand that and accept that. If this is someone that we want to stay connected to, we need to work on the relationship and figure out how to keep the it going.”

Sometimes in relationships, you get what you want. Sometimes you don’t. We can still love people, even if it isn’t quite the way that we want it to be. In fact, as long as we are all balled up about what we think is wrong, or what we think we are not getting, we cannot love. We cannot love because our heart is filled with feelings about that which we wish were different. What if we release others from doing life the way we want them to do it. Then we would have space in our heart to love them, even if it isn’t exactly the way that we prefer.

"In honor preferring one another." Romans 12:10

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

People care about you

Do you know that people care about you? They have told you when you were with them. And then they tell you again, and again. And they act like they genuinely care about you!  

But for some reason when you’re not around them you have this weird feeling like you don’t matter and you’re irrelevant. What is wrong with us? How many times do they have to tell me that they care before it will sink in? My friend Bruce says there’s a story that plays over and over again in your head that something is wrong with you. We need to stop thinking like that.

There is nothing wrong with you. I like you. I care for you. Be happy in your own skin.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

Cruising again

Last week I finally got back out on a cruise ship. The Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. 

For those of you that are wondering what that was like, I want to tell you some things about starting back to cruise. First of all you have to have both doses of the vaccine. And they have to be done weeks before your cruise. You also have to have a negative Covid test with results in writing from your doctor and the test can’t be more than two days prior to cruising. 

Lines to get on the ship are longer than in the past as all of these forms need to be checked and verified. In any enclosed areas masks are required unless you’re actively eating or drinking. All of that’s a bit of a pain in the neck. But having said that, all the beauty of watching the waves go by and the sound of the ship cutting a path to the ocean was amazing to hear again. 

For me all the headache was well worth it.

a peaceful, easy feeling

a close up look at the glory of God

The Chiefs vs Packers game was on the big screen!!!

This is a short video of the sound of the sea.  So soulful, so mesmerizing, so touching.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

Dark Humor...

Dark humor

Most of my friends have a bad sense of humor. It might even be a requirement. A fellow sent me a very bad joke the other day. I told him that I did not believe in hell anymore, but after a joke like that he will probably be relegated to a Section 8 duplex in heaven. Referring to me he indicated that he would not be alone.

Anyway, Cathy and I were on vacation in California with Roger and Kathy Grout. We enter this outdoor bar "The Chowder Hut" on Fisherman’s Wharf. It is crowded. There are four chairs open around a fire table. We look at the young couple seated on the other side. They motion for us to join them. We have a nice talk. Young people are so beautiful. I mentioned to Roger that young people have the most beautiful skin. He replied, “yes, I want to wear it.”

We all laughed. We laughed really hard. I am laughing as I write this now. The crazy things that people think!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

click here for the brochure

Yeah Roger!!!

When we lived in Princeton we became great friends with Roger and Kathy Grout. Scott was two and three years old. Roger taught Scott to say “yeah Roger!” Every time Roger came over, Scott would throw up his hands and shout, “yeah Roger!” 

Shortly after Scott’s injury my phone rang from an unknown number. Sometimes I answer them just to mess with the telemarketers. It wasn’t a telemarketer. It was Roger Grout. We had not talked for about 15 years. Since that phone call, we have seen each other five or six times. We took a trip to California together.

I am glad to have Roger back in my life. Yeah Roger!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

http://www.eo.travelwithus.com/files/uploads/RC22_031922T_TulipTime_002_FINAL-1.pdf

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