A hero's welcome

If you need a good cry, click the link on the title of this post.

It takes you to a video of U.S. Navy Ensign Bill Hawes as he surprises his 6-year-old son and his son's first grade class by returning early.

Apparently the whole class had been writing to John's dad while he was deployed in Iraq. John Hawes had no idea his daddy was coming home early and no idea he was coming to his school, apparently. So the tears are genuine.

It made me think of a lot of analogies - especially fathers and sons, Christ's return for his children, the parable of the prodigal (okay it's the return home thing).

It also brought home the personal costs of the war in Iraq - families separated for months or years, people dying, tears of loss instead of joy.

So be forewarned - if you don't have any tissues in the house, get some. If this video doesn't make you cry, then hold the lilly tightly while they close the casket.

Get my gun ... NOW!

I just watched the footage of Karl Rove trying to get his groove on at the White House Correspondent's dinner. You know, Karl Rove, the man so white that his skin looks blue in sunlight.

There he was in a tux, with some dude rapping, and Karl was trying to bust his move.

Note to history: Old, balding, doofy-looking white men cannot dance and should not subject the rest of humanity to the abuse of watching them. One would think with all the years of dancing around the truth, Karl would have aquired a sense of where the beat is.

Unfortunately for those of us who saw the tape, The Lord High Counselor and Architecht of all that's wrong with the world has proven the old adage about the line between Miami and Rome - those below it can dance and those above it drive big cars and make money.

Thaz jus sick

Wrecked Ferrari Enzo (c) LA Times.

Eddie Griffin, the star of the spoof flick Undercover Brother crashed a $1.2 million Ferrari Enzo during practice for a charity race in California. Click the link on this post to see a report and the crash.

The race was associated with the movie Redline, and included Jackie Chan and other celebrities. When he totalled the bright red Ferrari, which looked strikingly like the one on the poster for the new movie, Griffin said the undercover brother is fine, he just can't drive.

The car belonged to the movie's producer. If it's a publicity stunt, I hope the guy has good insurance. Also two Porsches were destroyed during filming of Redline; they were valued at $500,000 each.

New Life

I took this shot of a Japanese Magnolia downtown today. It is a gray foggy day in DC, and this little flower was blooming on a tree outside the Switzer Building in Southwest.

It reminded me of something I read one time by Thomas Merton. He said something like a tree glorifies God by being a tree; it is what God created it to be. But what about us? We are not as God created us to be. We bear the marks of our forefather's rebellion against the Most High.

How do we glorify God? One answer to that vexing question is to allow Him to live His Life in us. Jesus told His disciples that "apart from me you can do nothing."

This point was brought home to me this week when I read an interview with singer Chris Rice. The interviewer asked him how he lived life on the road as a musician and a minister. He said that he didn't think that being a performer or singer was any different from being a businessman or a doctor or a housewife - you still have to bring glory to God regardless of where you are.

I had the thought "who you are now is who you would be in ministry because it is who you are." That was humbling. How I behave at work - in the godless world of journalism - would be how I would behave in ministry - where I would claim to represent God. Because that's who I am.

Thankfully in the same magazine, there was an article about reflecting the character of Jesus. It used the beatitudes in Matthew 5 as descriptions of the person in whom Christ lives. The first quality? Poor in spirit - in need of a Savior. And the promise? For theirs is the kingdom of God.

In Luke, Jesus read the passage from Isaiah that said he came to bind up the broken hearted; to free captives; to give sight to the blind. In Hebrews it says Jesus came to deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

So there is hope. I am not what I will be; but I have One who will continue the work he began in me. Then I can be a channel of His life to others.

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
Thomas Merton