This past Saturday I went with Brittany to see the new movie, Across The Universe. In a word, Genius! If you like the Beatles, you’ll love this movie. The singing is very good, the acting is crisp. As musicals go, it’s the first one I’ve seen in a long time that I really enjoyed. The story, set in the turbulence of the 1960s is interesting, fun, sometimes disturbing and romantic. The message is redemptive.  

Last night I sat and watched a little TV and stumbled across Dr. Phil. What grabbed my attention was his guest. He had on the author Mitch Albom. It’s been 10 years since Albom’s book, Tuesdays With Morrie, came out. They were talking about the importance of people in life over work and money. He wrote the book to help Morrie pay medical bills, but in the process, learned from his old teacher, how to live life.  

James Taylor says in the song Secret of Life, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” I think you can enjoy your work, but work alone leaves us empty. We perhaps work too much and certainly don’t take enough time for people. I’ve really made an effort in recent years to re-connect with people who were my friends whom I have allowed to drift away. Friends that we lose touch with due to neglect are like preserves in a cellar. They still have goodness and value and they may be better now, but we need to retrieve them. 

In this past year, I’ve re-connected with several old friends that I really want in my life. I’ve not always been the best at staying connected. We get too busy. We forget, we move on. Just a couple of weeks ago I went to see one of my closest friends. I played football in Jr. and Sr. High with Karl Hardman. He was always a good friend to me. We lost touch for a time, but having reconnected in recent years has been great. 

The great thing about Across the Universe is that friends, separated by the course of life have the courage to find each other again. It’s easy to get so busy with life that we forget the people who gave life meaning and substance. As Karl and I strolled through old yearbooks and relived the glory days of our teen years, we found depth and joy that make our friendship richer.  

Go see Across the Universe, listen to old music that makes you feel great, and find someone that you’ve lost and reconnect. Enjoy the treasure of people who are in your life and value the ones who make your life meaningful. Don’t throw away relationships by neglecting them and enjoy the passage of time as you stroll across the universe. telemicus out

The Boss is back with another album. It’s called Magic and it is greatness. I’ve been a Bruce fan for a long time. Born to Run came out in 1975 when I was 16 years old. I developed a real appreciation for his writing and music in the 80’s. His life has had it’s ups and downs, but he continues to write from the heart and to make music that is genuine. It’s not over engineered, tricked up, or over the top. It’s just good solid old-fashioned rock and roll. 

While I don’t agree with some of Bruce’s political positions, he does have the right to speak his heart through his music. There are a couple of songs on the CD that are anti-war, but not overtly so. (For the record – EVERYONE should be anti-war. War is sometimes necessary, but it is always a bad thing for man to be at war. Pray for peace.)  

Among my favorite songs on the album are; Your Own Worst Enemy, Long Walk Home, You’ll Be Coming Down and Radio Nowhere. But far and away the song I like best is, Girls in Their Summer Clothes. It’s a completely different sound for Bruce, but I like the message. It’s nostalgic and light. It’s about a guy with a broken heart who hasn’t given up on the idea that someone might love him. 

In the song, the guy is out and noticing everything around him and also noticing that the girls don’t notice him. But toward the end of the song, when the waitress at Frankie’s Diner offers a “penny for your thoughts,” he says, “Loves a fool’s dance. I ain’t got much sense, but I still got my feet.” I think the guy is saying that he still has hope. I like that. Life has a way of beating us and staying at the task for a long time. But in an earlier line of the song he says, “Things been a little tight – But I know they’re gonna turn my way.”  

It’s hard to keep hoping for thing to get better when it’s been hard for a long long time. But the noble heart stands fast. It hopes beyond hope. It doesn’t mean you believe in something that is doomed. It means you believe that things are going to break your way in time. It trusts in the goodness of life and God’s roll in it. When we trust in God we trust in his justice. I don’t join ranks of those who believe everything is bad and getting worse. That’s a miserable way to live. Believe in good things and that God is at the core of all things good. 

Magic is not positive in all respects, but it is really good. If you have a great friend, listen the words of Terry’s Song and say a prayer for your friend and share the song. As my friend Jim McGuiggan says, “Think noble things of God.”  

telemicus out

There is a new program this fall that I really like. Its called Journey Man. Dan Vasser is a family man who suddenly finds himself in another time and place from where he should be. In each episode there are people he interacts with and through his actions, he changes their lives. He doesn’t know why this is happening; he can’t understand what his purpose is in each of these journeys. He didn’t choose this existence, but he is doing his best to live his destiny while being faithful to his own real life. 

In recent, separate discussions with my dad and sister, I have attempted to explaine my current view of God. I don’t think that the reality of our human circumstance says anything about how he feels toward us. When things go bad, it does not mean He has abandoned us. When things are great, it does not mean that He is pleased with us. God is sovereign. He does with us as it pleases Him in the big picture of His perfect will.   

God has purpose and work happening that we may not know. Our lives are like a bigger version of an episode of Journey Man. There are godly connections at work in each of our lives. I don’t claim to understand anything about all of this. But I believe God is righteous. What is unfair, will be made right and just. I don’t know when; could be in this life, could be in the next, but God is just. If I am living what some would call a charmed life, it is a function of my role in God’s plan and the choices I make in that role. If I am living what would appear to others as a cursed life, it is a function of my role in God’s plan and the choices I make in that role. 

Peterson says in The Message, “But doom to you who fight your Maker— you’re a pot at odds with the potter! Does clay talk back to the potter: ‘What are you doing? What clumsy fingers!” (Isaiah 45:9). Its God’s right to do with us as it suits Him. It doesn’t mean He stopped caring for us when He doesn’t answer our prayers according to our wishes. The list of people who faithfully followed God and served him while struggling and enduring difficult times is long. If He adds your name to that list, it is an honor. It may mean questions that must go unanswered and a burning anguish of heart that seldom finds relief.  

Brennan Manning says in Ruthless Trust, “…trust is the preeminent expression of love. Thus, it may mean more to Jesus when we say, ‘I trust you,’ than when we say, ‘I love you.” These days I am trying to live faithfully in the shadow of God’s will. I don’t have to have everything I’ve ever dreamed of or hoped for, but the scriptures still say, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (I Psalm 37:4). I declare here and now, I delight in the Lord. I love righteousness and the nobility of the heart that seeks to please God regardless of circumstances. So even when it ain’t all good…. It’s all good! 

telemicus out