The Magic Bus

So, work was exhausting, took me a full day on Friday to recover, lethargic all day, and when I'm in that state I have nothing to share, except selfish thoughts and nobody wants to listen to that. Anyway, I have been considering lately the words that related to Jesus's reference to 'The Least of These', and when you invite people to dinner, to not invite the rich or those who can repay you but the blind, lame, poor, etc, you know the 'unlovely' people, either in your church or without, those that NOBODY else would invite to a dinner or party or whatever. Sometimes the current American version of these blind/lame/poor are simply the unwanted, those with personality defects, unable to hold a job , uninteresting, awkward, basically unwanted, and in some ways it would be easier to be with them if they were just blind/lame, or poor. What if I had a full house of them at dinner, what would that really be like, and would they be hurt that they were invite...

It is one of those mornings, not too early, about 7:40 am, you have to get up, you don’t remember where you are, and you have the flu, and you don’t want to but you have to take a shower. This is a four star, so you take certain things for granted, a clean floor, nice bathroom, soft towels, soap, shampoo, etc. You turn on the water and sure enough there is something else you take for granted, the hot water, but after about 10 seconds it turns cold, cold because everyone else has decided its time to take a shower. It is so cold that you have to step out of the stream, but you are now naked and wet, and standing on the cold tile floor where the warm water has been replaced by the frigid, making you feel sicker than you are, and you feel trapped, alone, with the combination of the flu, cold water, and cold surroundings making you weaker by the second, and even though words can’t illustrate it, it is one of the worst feelings of despair that you know, and I was thinking just that as I...

The blue line in Chicago had a wreck at O'hare, so I decided to take a cab instead of the train and the cab driver was from Cameroon. I told him that I've never been to Africa, or anywhere overseas really, and I started to tell me how I really should go abroad since it would help me to appreciate the essence of the United States. He said there is no other country with such a system, and when I asked him to explain it he said the following, "In this country, if you want something you just go get it. You just have to follow the rules, and if you try to take shortcuts you will probably get caught. In other countries there are too many roadblocks and regulations",  What a lesson! If you want something just go get it. No complaining, no excuses, just go get it! Another inspiring lesson from an African cab driver.

I am disturbed today since I met a rare person that reminds me of one of Tolstoy's characters, but I'm agitated because I can't remember which one, and furthermore I can't remember if it was in War and Peace or Anna Karenina, which could mean I may have to read them both again. Ugh. The person being described in the novel so impressed Tolstoy that all he could say was that they had "that that", which is striking because it means Tolstoy could not describe them in his own language, and if Tolstoy can't describe them that maybe it can't be done through human language. In any case, I WILL read both novels again if I have to, because even though the description is seemingly so meager, the reader knows EXACTLY what he means. In any case, there are a handful of people, male and female, old, young, and in between,  throughout one's life that when you meet them you can't think of one word to describe them, their presence is so comple...

At a recent leadership conference we were given an assignment to write a letter from the future (10 years from now) to yourself. The instructions read: Write a letter to yourself from the future you Since I read the instructions on my iphone I only saw this: Write a letter to yourself from the Future Since the 'YOU' was clipped off on the iphone this is what I submitted. Some were amused, what a difference a word makes. Dear Bill, I am flattered that you have asked me for a letter,  although I’m not sure what I should write about since no one has asked me for any type of correspondence before, except maybe in a mocking way like in that Chuck Dickens play, or that Michael Fox set of movies. I am really nothing like that, in fact as time dimensions go, I’m fairly normal, yet somewhat complex.  I’m part of the trinity (yes small T), with my siblings being Past and Present, except that I am much more insecure than both of them due to the complexity of my content...