12/27/2019
Today, we start to rebuild our Blue Jug in our bright and shiny new location. This has been nerve-racking, being closed since the 13th. But, getting all the mechanicals of a totally reconstructed building ready to have its new tenants and all that comes with them, that takes some time and patience! We are excited and expectant, nervous and apprehensive, as well as both anxious and reticent! What if we do it wrong? What if we break some vital part? What if we’ve been closed too long and no one comes? What if we make great decisions in our own minds, but not in our customers’ minds?
Ah, but then the professional attitude begins to permeate all this angst and calm and cool thought processes take over and we slip right into doing exactly what we should do to be as efficient with our time and efforts as it takes to make it all come together perfectly. Or, chaos sets in and reigns! (Just kidding, this is easy stuff!)
My SIMH today is “Stand By Me”—is that fitting , or what? “So Darlin’, Darlin’, Stand By Me, oo-oo-o Stand By Me…When the night is come, and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light I see. No, I won’t be afraid, Oh, I won’t be afraid,…Just as long as you stand, stand by me.” When Ben E. King first wrote this song, he was with the Drifters (a really great 50-60-70s group.) They said, yeah it’s a nice song, but we don’t need it. Mr. King wisely showed it to a producer who immediately put the music ensemble together and they recorded it all in the same day..and the rest is actual Rock ’n Roll history. (Rated #122 out of the top 500 best songs of all time.) It’s been recorded by 400 different artists. Way to go, Ben!
It isn’t often that I can supply you a sports story, a faith example, and a moral conclusion all in one short blurb. but, here goes.
I used to play basketball (as an old man in a kid’s game) with a group of business guys—everything from lawyers to contractors to doctors. One of them I’ll call ML here, was a terrific shot. I would guess, though we had no stats, of course, that his shooting percentage was in the high 60s. He was a doctor, also he was a non-practicing agnostic. (If you asked did he believe in God, he would have said, “yes, probably!”) But for the most part, he was faithless. On the gym floor, we had a “next” system of who plays in the next game and to start that system it was the first 5 to hit a free throw against the next five, then “next” would play the winners of a short game. Winners stayed on the floor.
I liked playing on the team with ML. But, not at first, I had to teach him something. I was a good point guard in that group. As I once dribbled to the left and cut toward the basket, I saw ML coming from the opposite corner, passing the basket and continuing to head towards an open spot. So I threw the ball to the open spot before he got there and it startled him! He barely was able to maintain possession of the ball, turn and shoot. Of course he made it. That’s why I passed it to him. When we had won and the “nexts” were shooting for who we played next, ML came over and said, “why did you throw that pass without me looking at you?” I said, “why were you running toward an open shot and NOT expect to get a pass?” He walk away. From then on, he was always alert to my throwing the ball to him. And we won a lot of those short games. Did he aways get the ball? No. But did he always expect it? Yes, he knew he was the best shooter.
This sports story points out a need for faith: ML’s job as a shooter was to always take the shot if he was (in his own estimation) open enough to take it. Therefore, he should always exercise the “faith to believe” he was going to get the ball. Did he always get the ball? No. But, was he right to expect it? Absolutely. that’s what faith is, expectation of what is not certain. The existence of certainty is scant. But, if we believe in something, faith helps us expect it.
The moral in the sports story is this: If you cannot prepare your mind as well as your body (and vice versa), you will likely miss opportunities for greatness in your endeavor and great grace of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I saw ML professionally from time to time. Our conversations about faith in what the bible declares as truth got better after that b-ball court experience. I’m not sure he has ever trusted Christ for salvation, but I’m sure he understood faith and reasoning better after our conversations. Of the many thousands of people I’ve met and been around on numerous occasions, ML is one I hope to see in eternity, singing the praises of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Next up on here will likely be more update about the Blue Jug of Fort Payne, an expectation plan for 2020, and another testimony of the Lord in our lives! Hope you’re expecting great things!
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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