Cruise Sponosred by Wall Mart

Sitting at the buffet on the ocean, I’m watching one cruise ship head in one direction as the one I’m sitting on heads in the other. The sea is majestic, the sky is blue, the salty breeze is refreshing as the coffee hits the spot.

Johnny O and Judy O are eating breakfast which boggles my mind given the twenty-eight course meal that we had last night. Dedra is talking without breathing. Cheryl and Jodee are nowhere to be found. I am afraid that Sarah is dead.

But we had a good time … we think.

I’ll get back to you on that.

I confess that I am not a cruiser. The last one I was on was 12 years ago. It’s kind of like Camp at Sea but we’d promised the kids so we did. I swore that I would never do that again.

I’m an island hopper. I like going to one and sliding into the culture. St. Martin is my island away from my island. I love the ocean though and I will say that this is a nice way to start the day, sitting with friends breathing in salt air on the deep blue sea.

It only cost us a few hundred dollars to be here and we decided it was time for a spring break for adults. So here we are.

We did not understand that the reason this cruise is so cheap is that it is sponsored by Wall Mart! Everybody else on this cruise apparently won their ticket because they appear on the People of Wall Mart web page (if you’ve never visited it … do it!).

How many fat people can you fir into a hot tub?

They jump into a hot tub full of water, causing a tsunami and when they get out the hot tub is empty.

How many people in baseball caps missing a front tooth does it take to start a stampede?

The answer is one.

If one makes his or her way to the buffet the entire damn ship stops what they’re doing and wobbles like hell to get in line.

Dedra just shut everybody up when she said, “You know I look at people and say … I used to dress like that.”

“You dressed in brown shorts and plaid turquoise pants with an extra wide butt?”

She confesses that she did.

This is the first day of Adult Spring break. The cruise ship director (a real pain-in-the-ass) has us scheduled to conduct a hostile takeover of Nassau, Bahamas at 12:00 noon. The city will capitulate in record time.

Well, now all of the children have woken up and are screaming that they don’t want that for breakfast. “I WANT McDONALD’S!)

The cruise director (a real-pain-in-the-ass) has informed us that we must be back on the boat to disembark Nassau by 8:00 or we may be left behind.

If Sarah ever gets up, I’m going to try to talk her into staying.

Adults on Spring Break

It began with a party in a south Florida hotel room where an arrest was barely averted.

"You know," I said to Jodee at one point, "this is like we were twenty years ago."

"Except we drink better wine now," he shot back.

It's true. The wine is better but the actions are incredibly similar to what we did when we were younger.

The other thing that happens now is that I go to bed earlier. I start early but I always did. Now I go to bed earlier.

But doing the chicken dance naked beside the hotel swimming pool ... then having security chase you away ... well, how many people can claim to have done in life?

In fact, the world would likely be a much better place if once a year everybody had to do the chicken dance naked in front of people they don't like. It doesn't necessarily have to be by a swimming pool but I think it helps.

And alcohol doesn't have to be a factor (but I think it helps).

So this morning I'm doing what any mid-50 year old man on Spring Break does ... taking a bath in coffee, eating Mydol because I can't find the asprin and wondering what happened to my suitcase.

I am in the same hotel room that I checked into when we arrived so ... that's a good sign.

Now reconstruction begins.

Not the putting back together of the United States after the Civil War ... but the attempt to collectively remember everything that happened last night. It will take all seven of us to collect all of the details and get them in order.

Today we've been asked to vacate South Florida so we're getting on a cruise ship for the Bahamas.

While others don't forgive me for the way that I practice my faith, I have. I think God enjoys it all watching us enjoy ourselves. I believe She made us to be happy. Besides, I go to Bar Church where our creedo is that Jesus really did turn water into wine and ... dammit if we're going to be followers of Jesus then we're going to keep practing until we get it right!

I just finished my morning exercises ... meaning I fell and tumbled through the living room area to the bedroom area ... and did a perfect triple sumorsalt landing on both feet on top of my lost suitcase.

Now I'm ready.

Cracking up the Beach Boys on the lap top, I find Sarah and we dance.

Adult Spring Break is off to a rocking start!

Sail On

I've thrown away the blues

I'm tired of being used

I want everyone to know

I'm looking for a good time

I was never a fan of The Commodores but I love this song. Sail On is about failed relationships. Lionel Richie says, "It seemed everyone around me were getting divorced and I was having lots of conversations so I put myself in their place." Where he put himself was taking stock of the reality that you can give and give only to get nothing in return. So it all breaks down and you're left with a choice ... will yourself to a better place or wallow in it.

Yesterday, in the middle of work I was told that I'm giving too much of myself away again ... for free. AND people are taking advantage of me ... AGAIN. Having already given a lot to a group I've been working with, yesterday they asked for more. I shared it with my friends who went off on me.

"You're too nice," I was told ... AGAIN.

Strolling out to the Beloved Back Deck, which is Corporate Headquarters, I acknowledged that old patterns repeating themselves. My friend Bill Bowling (Georgia Trends Magazine's 2012 "Georgian of the Year") told me a couple of years ago, "Mike, if you give them your all ... make no mistake ... they will take it."

I thought it was one of the most profound things I'd ever heard.

I wish I'd have listened to him.

I didn't.

At the time, everybody had taken it all. I had nothing left. Union Mission had warned me out. In a profession where the average tenure is 2.7 years, I'd lasted 23. At the end, I was begging for a break but was told no. They just kept taking ... my time, energy, wife, passion. The bitch of it all is that I gave it to them. Because I loved the work, the people and the things we'd accomplished.

For a year-and-a-half now, I've worked hard to get back to myself. I've moved along.

Just like it cost me a lot to get here, it's sure as hell cost me a lot to get back to me. Everything costs ... emotionally and monetarily.

So today, I'm sailing on ... literally.

The Carnival of Friends will caravan to CoCo Beach to get on a Carnival Cruise and sail to the Bahamas. I'm taking a break from Bar Church, Street Medicine, responding to the people asking me to do things, and Goddess. The people who've loved me most over the last year-and-a-half and I are going to celebrate.

A lot remains to figure out in my life. My new family is being born. Creativity abounds again. I'm very aware of the things that I don't want again and I've got a pretty good idea of the things I want to keep.

Last night, lying in bed, it was hard to sleep because of the excitement of travel. I've been ready to go for days. Yeah I know, I'm leaving one island to go to others ... it's one of the things I love most about me.

Besides I've seen enough cities and the biggest and tallest mountains are all under the ocean. And you can have my life's allocation of snow.

In the car this morning, an old song came on the radio. As it reminded me of all of the things I've been though ... all that I've given and everything that's been taken ... it ends with a bit of reggae and island sound with a promise ...

Sail on honey, good times never looked so good.

Anywhere and Anytime (To President Reagan)

"Is this what you do in the mornings," she whispered as I poured coffee into the cup?

Holding her blankey with blond hair all askew and sleep still in her eyes, it was as though she'd just stumbled into one of the great mysteries of the universe ... experiencing an Ah-Ha moment ... so this is what you do?

In the car she continued to whisper though there was no need, "Why do you get up so early?"

"Well," I said backing out of the driveway, "it started so I could get to the television set before my brother David did."

"Why," she whispered in the blackness of the car?

"So I could pick which cartoon I wanted to watch. Back before the Cartoon Network we were oppressed people and could only watch them early in the morning and for about an hour after school."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief rubbing large blue eyes.

"Yeah, it was all government related somehow. The F.D.A. or something like that tried to keep cartoons off the air so kids like me couldn't watch them. Then Ronald Reagan became President and everything changed."

"How," she asked as she turned the heat up in the car?

"Do you know who Ronald Reagan was," I asked as she shook her head from side to side?

"He was President of the United States. He really liked cartoons. So he did the funniest thing. It was amazing actually! He deregulated everything and make government bigger while promising to make it smaller at the same time. He was incredible! And he had great hair."

Lying her sleepy head on my shoulder, she yawned really big and asked, "So that's why you get up so early. The President did it"?

It gave me pause as we sped through the darkness of a predawn morning on the Tybee Road.

"Yes," I explained, "Ronald Regan is responsible. And you should thank him because there would be no 24/7 Cartoon Network without him. My generation never had that opportunity but President Regan was a visionary looking out for you guys."

"What's a generation," she asked sticking her head in her blankey?

"I don't know," I replied rolling to a stop in front of the Breakfast Club, "mine was lost."

Excited she peered into the window and saw the Closed sign and said, "Ah, it's closed. We can't get in. Where's Cheryl?"

"Come on baby," I said, "President Reagan deregulated this too. The guy was amazing. A real visionary."

So we stumbled into the Breakfast Club taking full advantage of deregulation. FOX News was on which was also invented by President Reagan. As was maxing out credit cards. He was incredible and so far ahead of his time!

"Hey," she asked finishing her egg. "Can we go watch cartoons?"

"Absolutely," I said giving her a squeeze. "We'll start with FOX and then move to the mainline networks before going to CNN, MSNBC and WTOC."

"Oh," she said with tears welling in her eyes.

"Then we'll find Spongebob Sqarepants, but I have to warn you," I explained as I tenderly buckled her in, "the problem with Spongebob is he looks like every member of Congress, state legislatures, most evangelical pastors, WAY too many Mayors ..."

"Hey Mike," she interrupted with the big blue seven year old eyes with the sun rising in them, "so we can watch cartoons?"

I hugged her tight.

"Anytime baby."

"Anywhere."

Thanks to President Reagan.

Marriage & Divorce, Inc.

I did something yesterday I've never done before.

I walked out of a wedding.

What made it particularly bad is that I was the minister.

Leaving the bride in her white dress and holding a single rose, her groom wearing a white shirt and a blue 1970's knot in his tie and one very angry Mother-of-the-Bride ... I stood there with my black preachers robe slung over my shoulder to cover the Grand Tetons tee-shirt, bluejeans and flip-flops I was wearing, holding the Preacher's Manual my Grandfather had given me and ... I angrily walked.

I rarely get angry.

It takes too much energy that I'd rather invest in other things.

But I was pissed and stormed out of the room with the black preacher's robe and my dear Grandfather's gift.

Cheryl handed me a glass of wine as I made my way outside. Jenny O came flying over to check on things as the after wedding party was to occur in her restaurant. Dedra looked like would burst into tears at any moment. Essie ordered another round. Swanee mumbled, "This isn't looking good." Even Roma stopped what she was doing to watch.

I stormed out by the pool and gulped the wine.

"I'm so sorry," the sister of the Mother-of-the-Bride said, "she's had a bad week. Her divorce was final on Tuesday."

Incredulously, I stared at her and gulped the wine again.

Her husband, also a fan of 1970's ties, asked, "Can I see those papers?"

I handed him the folder and he inspected the pages inside. I watched him. His wife watched him. Everybody in the whole damn bar watched him.

"Is he a lawyer," I asked?

"No," she said.

I gulped the wine again.

Clearing his throat he said, "Nope baby, these ain't like the wedding we had a couple of weeks ago."

Spitting out wine, Cheryl came flying out with another glass for me then darted back in to join the audience and the wedding party standing side by side. They were easy to distinguish as half were a bunch of beach bums and the others looked like the entire cast of "The Seventies Show."

I've seen a lot in my life but this was my first counterfeit marriage license.

"This isn't the right license," I explained before the Mother-of-the-Bride exploded.

"It is in Wheeler County," she informed me.

"It's not in Georgia," I said.

The Bride said, "Oh can't we just do this, you sign it and we'll be out of your hair."

Then things got worse.

Holding up my hands, I said, "Hey, I need a moment. Let me talk to the Boss about this so I'm say a prayer while I calm down from you people."

It all started when I was doing a favor for a friend of a friend ... so it's my fault. Never do a favor for a friend of a friend! It never works out right.

As unconventional as I may be, I really do try to do things right. Tell the truth. Do what you say you are going to do. Clean up after yourself. Be nice because it's easier and more rewarding than being mean. If you see somebody being mean, say something about it. Share. Sing. Dance.

But A COUNTERFEIT MARRIAGE LICENSE???!!!

In a few weeks, I'm getting married and want it to be perfect. After that Dani is getting married and I want that to be perfect. A little bit later my beautiful daughter Chelsea is getting married to Sam and I want to dance in joy. One day my beautiful daughter Kristen might even get married (you never know).

At this time, the groom with the white shirt and big knotted tie stuck his head outside.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We found somebody else to do it. Thanks for your time."

And he walked down the aisle along with the entire cast of the 70's Show.

All of my Beach Bum friends went back to dancing and drinking.

I went home.

The funny thing about life is that it always surprises you. When you think you've seen it all, something else happens. And you never know where inspiration will hit.

So I've been thinking. There are several vacancies on Tybrisa Street (which used to be 16th Street and is between 15th and 17th Street but has a name for no apparent reason) so I'm going to rent one and open a One-Stop-Shop.

Marriage & Divorce, Inc.

Get them at the same place.

Hell! Get them on the same night!

Special Prices if you get them in the same hour!

I'm telling you .... there's a big market for this.

Going to Church (or NOT)

"Can we see the ocean?" she asks ... in the dark of a predawn morning.

And it's raining.

I love the logic of a seven year old.

"Aside from the dark and the rain," I say as we drive, "I don't see why not?"

So we drove down front, which is the big parking lot on Tybee Island that separates the sea from Fannie-on-the-Beach and Spankeys. She unbuckles her seat belt so that she can sit on her knees and peer into the vastness of a new day being created by God.

I roll the window down and it thunders.

Laurel's eyes grow huge and she wraps herself in her "blanky".

We meander back to Butler Avenue and see that Sam and the boys are already setting up the equipment for Bar Church. We'll join then in a couple of hours and I think a thought that I haven't thought in years. Decades! It was a stupid thought but I thought it anyway.

I hope it stops raining so people will come to church.

"Christ Jesus," I say out loud.

"What," she asked?

"Oh it's really nothing," I answered.

Here we are, watching God again declare, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let there be" ... ISLANDS! God was showing off a bit with the thunder on a warm February morning and the rain made it more dramatic. The holy acts of creation are exploding around us. People are making ready for worship, giving of themselves in the unselfish acts of making ready for others.

I laugh again at myself.

I hope it stops raining so people will come to church.

How lame is that?

The last time I prayed that lame prayer was when I was a "Professional Christian" in Louisville, Kentucky. I'd think such stupid thoughts. Now Laurel and I are watching God give us all another day to do what we will and ... I cared about numbers.

Damn Southern Baptists!

"Hey," Laurel asks turning up the radio, "can we see more of the high tides?"

"Absolutely," I say as we drive to the Back River.

Whoever shows up for Church today is supposed to be there. And God will say that It is good.

And whoever doesn't show up ... well God will probably say that It is good too.

She's a lot less demanding than the rest of us.

Manly Pedeicures

I went straight from the conference call in the parking lot of the Mexican restaurant to the Pedicure.

I love Pedicures and converted my dearly departed friend Trolly Joe to them. He called me a "homo" forever because I got Pedicures. I like to take a large glass of wine, make them turn the television to ESPN and have women play with my feet in the water.

Trolly Joe hated hearing this ... until he did it.

Then he realized that you can be manly and still enjoy Pedicures. There is a picture of him on Face Book and his feet are in the water and he has a Rum and Coke in his hand and is smiling and enjoying the Asian woman playing with his feet.

When he first showed it to me, I called him a "homo".

The conference call had been brutal. It was with a bunch of doctors who were all prescribing different things. They had no idea. I order my drugs from Canada (meaning they actually come from Germany for some reason) but they cost 75% less than what the American health care system charges. I like bargain basement drugs!

As soon as I hung up, I ate a Taco. Then Sarah, my beautiful daughter Kristen and Dedra and I showed up for Pedicures.

"Oh no," said the owner as we walked in. "Not you."

I immediately walked to the television to change the channel from the LIFETIME network to ESPN 2.

Ripping the remote my hand, the owner told me that we were going to watch NET FLIX. Staring at her, I took a sip of wine and said, "Alright then."

I sat down and was ignored for about an hour. The water my feet were soaking in got cold. The owner was giving Sarah a Pedicure who was sitting beside me.

Grabbing my I-Phone I called the owner whose phone number was on her smock.

"Hell-Row," she said into her phone.

"Hey, how long do I have to sit here," I asked?

She hung up on me.

On the other side of the room Dedra was bitching about something so I called her to see what was wrong. Dedra never took phone in college so she is challenged. Instead of answering, she yells across the room, "What do you want?"

She is an unsophisticated country girl. I was embarrassed for her.

"That's my Dad," Kristen announced as the rest of the customers left.

Sarah reached out and tenderly held my hand ... so that I couldn't use my phone anymore.

Finally I got my Pedicure.

After they threw us out, I wanted to work on our collective tans. We walked into the Tan Shop and this really tanned woman with really white teeth tried to sell me package deal.

Since when do tans come in packages?

I needed time to think about it so we left.

Most of the time, I try to make point when I write these things.

Not today. I'm merely telling you what actually happened yesterday.

Oh ... and can somebody tell me how I got home last night?

Last Rights and First Rights

I'm sitting here watching the cars go by, sipping hot coffee, smelling yellow Jasmine underneath some overgrown Palm trees. Barefoot wearing jeans and my Samuel Adams Band tee shirt, I am glad that it is Friday. I want to dance at Doc's tonight.

Doc's is the oldest bar on Tybee Island, Georgia where I live. When I first went, "Doc" actually owned the place and I was with my Dad. We split a pitcher of Past Blue Ribbon and talked about things. There were two guys sitting down the bar from us and they were on their third or forth pitcher of PBR. They were loud and their conversation was fascinating so Dad and I grew silent and listened.

"I know how we can make a living," the first said. "We go into the burial at sea business."

"We got get to a boat," replied his partner.

"Yeah, I know, but think about it. Everybody wants to get buried at sea. We'll make a killing."

"That's funny!" the partner laughted as he poured them another one.

"We'll take the family and the coffin out a little bit, not too far, then we'll drop the coffin in the ocean, bring family back and serve Mimosa's."

They tapped their mugs together before the partner protested, "Wait a minute. Coffins float."

"Shit!" said the master mind.

The two stared off into space, lost in thought.

"I got it!" the master mind announced. "Led coffins. We'll have to use led coffins so they'll sink."

They toasted again.

"You know what?" the partner asked. "If we keep going to the same spot using led coffins we'll eventually build an artifical reef. Fish will be everywhere."

Mastermind slapped his hands on DOc's Bar. "Last rights and first rights!"

"What?"

"Last rights and first rights. We bury the dead and give the family a license for fishing rights at our reef. They'll be a lot of repeat business. Who gets repeat business doing funerals?"

"You're brilliant!"

Dad and I tapped our mugs at their thought processes. It was indeed brilliant.

Hoo-Hah!

Crowded around the kitchen table, four of us are busy making plans. Sunshine floods through the sliding glass doors and the window above the sink. Jesus smiles upon us from the magnets on the refrigerator. Pope Benedict XVI nods in approval after I slap the top of his head. Chocolate covered strawberries consummate wishes being turning into plans.

Sitting back for a moment, I appreciate the reality of what's happening.

In a general sense, each of us have expatriated, having left what was ... now living in a foreign culture because it's not the one we brought up to follow.

We're creating our own.

We've left marriages or had them leave us ... live on a clump of sand on top of the ocean by choice ... four laptops are open in front of us as we put the pieces together ... bound by the common conviction that there is no going back.

"No matter where you go," explained Buckaroo Banzai, "there you are."

Here we are.

Expatriates.

Just like Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and the other members of The Lost Generation living in Paris in the 1920's or the songs that Jimmy Buffett sings The Weather is here, I wish you were beautiful ...

"There's no place like home when you're this far away. I don't care what they say."

And we don't.

Our parents care. Ex-wives and Ex-husbands care. People who want us to do what we used to do care. Our children care because we're not acting like adults anymore. Politicians are suspicious. Clergy are hurling prayers our way because it scares the hell out of them. Our bankers definitely care! Our creditors are considering their options.

Ever since I read Hemingway those years ago, I've wanted to expatriate and leave the United States for ... an island. Jimmy Buffett had much to do with the location choice ... as did Bob Marley.

Visiting home once when I was living in Louisville, we rode out to Tybee and I knew with as much conviction as did St. Paul when God knocked him off that ass and told him what to do ... that this was home. I didn't live here but I knew I would one day. And I do.

So does Dedra ... and Sean and Wyn and their kids ... Sarah's already got one foot here ... then there's the Carnival of Friends ... Johnny O and Judy O expatriated here years ago ... Roma did too ... O John and O Judy have ... Cheryl and Jodee ran out of gas just as they rolled onto the island ... Samuel Adams stumbled in and brought music ... I found Rocky on my doorstep one night.

Everybody thinks we're nuts and are quick to say so. They're very judgmental about it too.

So we throw Judgement Parties at Fannies-On-the-Beach and Marlin Monro's. We dance at Doc's, brunch at Bar Church, burn some out back at Bennie's and skinny dip off the dock and in the pool at the top secret locations. The only rule in attending is there is no judgement.

So, none of us are quite certain of where we're going but ... here we are.

Hoo-Hah!

In some ways it's as scary as it possibly gets. How do you keep paying for this? How come we haven't been caught? We acknowledge that we've broken the Ten Commandments but God hasn't hurled bolts of lightening at us yet.

So we're going to stay the course.

Between navigational beacons that we can't see.

And that's an excuse for a party!

Hoo-Hah!

The Best Life I Ever Had

My friend Joe got in touch asking what I'm up to these days.

I told him that I'm very much in love, writing a lot, doing work for a diverse collection of organizations helping them raise money and getting ready to hit the road again traveling.

He came right back saying how wonderful that is. Then he said, "You did so much for the Recovery Community. Now enjoy yourself."

And that was it.

It left me remembering Potter's Place, a long term transitional house for addicts. In a grand old Victorian house on 34th Street in downtown Savannah, twelve men lived in community with one another. Each doing his best to recover, stay clean and do good work. I always loved visiting which I did often.

It was a broken down old house when I was hired by Union Mission but in couple of years we'd raised what we needed to renovate it. The guys really got into renovations as they represented lives being changed. It was always a happy, profane bunch of smokers who drank coffee by the gallon. The budget for coffee was the single largest budget line item!

Later we took over The Hacienda, a seven bed program for women. It was just as much a dump when we got it with a big hole in the living room floor. The ladies were all rail thin from their addictions. They flaunted their sexuality, all spoke with gravely voices and drank coffee like the men at Potter's.

Together they would throw these cook-outs and invite every addict in Savannah to come ... and they all came. You couldn't see any of them for the clouds of smoke but I could hear them slurping coffee, speak in gravel voices and explode into coughing fits whenever they laughed.

They always invited me to say a few words at the beginning then ... they wanted me to leave. As much as they liked me and as much I loved them, I wasn't a member.

"When you go home at night," Andi Grant once asked me at The Hacienda as she flipped burgers on the grill, winking at me with one eye with a lit cigarette dangling from her mouth, "do you just get freaking wasted?"

"Sometimes," I honestly answered.

"Man," she continued taking a long drag from the cigarette, "I would stay wasted forever if I did what you do."

I shrugged my shoulders.

I loved Andi. She worked as a waitress at the old Checker Club where the Savannah Visitors Center is now located. I'd eat lunch their several times each week because the food was good and Andi always made me laugh ... and think.

Eventually, she found a better job and moved into a trailer off Highway 17.

We lost touch.

Then she called me one day out of the blue. "Hey Rev," she said in gravely voice. I could picture her with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I asked her how she's doing.

"You know Mike," she said as I heard her exhaling the smoke, "the happiest days of my life were at The Hacienda and those cookouts. We all loved each so much. And we were all messed up Mother Fu&%ers."

I've never forgotten that. The happiest life had for her was a homeless shelter? There's something wrong with that. But what she missed was the community of strugglers all sharing the same addiction. Somehow they loved each other through. It was as holy as it gets. I'm proud to have been a part of it.

A few years, Andi died of complications from AIDS. We sold Potter's Place for almost half-a-million dollars and used the money to help start the J.C.Lewis Health Center. The Hacienda also closed though we started the Ben & Bettye Barnes Center to take its place. Both of those are still going strong.

These days it cost a lot of money to recover from addiction. Most programs are court ordered and pay for themselves by charging addicts crazy expensive fees.The logic is to punish the addict by taking their money away and giving it FOR-Profit companies who do quite nicely. It supposed to not be a burden to tax payers ... except it is. When they can't pay the courts have them arrested and they go to jail which is paid for ... by the tax payers.

It begs a question doesn't it? Where do addicts get money when they have none? Right? It makes little sense.

While I'm busy creating this new life for myself, I appreciate the Joe's and Andi's I've had the honor of knowing and loving. It's nice that they remember the things we did then.

Maybe we'll do them again one day.

The world sure needs them.

Heart & Soul

The last time it happened, Chelsea did it.

She always made me things; drawings with notes or lyrics ... scrapbooks of photographs of the two of us illustrated with her creativity and remembrances ... Compact Discs full of music she wanted to share.

Before that Kristen did too.

And that was Valentine's Day.

I'd buy them candy in boxes shaped like hearts.

As they got older, I'd take them out to dinner ... unless somebody else was which was normally the case.

This time last year I was in Myrtle Beach with my son Jeremy and Bill Berry (not the former drummer for R.E.M. but the other one who went to Seminary with me). It was a bachelor's celebration of love ... meaning Jeremy called my brilliant-daughter-in-law Marie and talked about how much he loved her and Bill called Kathy and talked about how much he loved her and I ... drank wine and looked at the ocean.

We all got wasted later and Jeremy threw a temper tantrum over wanting me to be happy ... Now! ... Dammit!!

I think Bill lapsed into prayer or something ... no ... I remember ... he ordered another round.

Jeremy and I made up driving the four hours back to Tybee. We're very close anyway and I think he was bummed that I was spending Valentine's Day "Valentine-less". It was OK. Like every time he and I do something together, it fun and memorable ... now it's another story to tell.

But then last night ... I stumbled in Sarah's door and had a pink piece of paper thrust in my face with silver words describing in detail everything that Laurel likes about me. The page was full of interesting things. Who knew my long curly hair is endearing to her? It drives my Mom nuts. Or ... that my occasional utilization of cuss words has made the impression that I'm standing up for myself?

She had to sit at the table and read it to me which was ... I don't know the word ... Heart Smiles. Sometimes you need two words.

Then Maddie had a keyboard and wanted to play me the song that I was teaching her last week. So we sat on the couch and played Heart and Soul together.

Cassidy was dressed like a rabbit for no apparent reason as she handed me a bag with tissue paper coming out of the top. Inside was a jug of the wine that I drink (Yes Cheryl Sadowski ... Really!) and a travel coffee mug.

They wanted what I'd brought them but I told them they'd have to wait. It wasn't Valentine's Day yet.

Then we watched "The Bachelor".

Let's be honest. I could less about him. He seems to be doing alright. He and a bunch of beautiful but bitchy women were in Belize. Sarah and I are going there soon so it was more kind of like the Travel Channel ... except for that really bitchy girl with the black hair on top of the Mayan Ruins who put the Tarantula on her arm. I like her ... though Maddie, Laurel and Cass all think she's a bitch and are in disbelief that she got a rose.

But Ben the Bachelor seems pretty happy about it all. How can he not be? When he's not giving out roses ... he's making out.

(Which brings me to Robin Wheeler. I delivered the message. Let me know what happens.)

This morning, in the darkness, I lay velvet heart shaped boxes in front of three bedroom doors. I blew kisses of love to Kristen and Chelsea. I wished Jeremy all of the love that he deserves and I thanked God for giving him Marie. Then I remembered Sam Harris who loves Chelsea and a bunny and thanked him too.

Then Goddess and I drove home in predawn of the day.

And the sun rose ... looking like a velvet heart in the sky.

"Well I just hope that you're not making a mockery of church," my Mother said in a scolding way.

"It's Church Mom," I explained. "It just happens to be in a bar. And our music is really good."

"It sounds like a mockery," she said again.

"It's like Jeff Street was," I quickly countered.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

Then everything got quiet.

I could hear her breathing into the phone as she contemplated this. She could hear me breathing into the receiver. But I knew that she knew what I'd just said.

Jeff Street was ... and remains ... something very special. Holy.

A broken down little inner city church in a big building owned by the Southern Baptist (who love buildings far more than they love people) was kidnapped by God. The most specific example I remember is Chester Fallbush and Micki Davis. He was a homeless alcoholic. She was a broke Seminary student. He was old beyond his years. She was young and beautiful.

At the end, when he was dying, he lived with me. I was figuring out government at the time and Chester ended up with a large social security payout when he died (I held his hand when he did). He'd worked for many years before falling into his addiction.

Then Jeff Street, a church that followed no rules ... made up of people who loved God and the idea of loving others as we love God ... did crazy stuff. The Baptismal Pool was the bathtub. Sunday School rooms became apartments. Music was an integral part and the dance from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was a cornerstone of Sunday Services (we all acted out our favorite parts). We closed once a year to go on retreats ... because we needed a break from it all.

It was this jumbled mix of homeless men, hookers, little old ladies, kids from the projects, Seminary students who believed in God way more than they believed in Seminary, prisoners who were escorted to worship by a guard with a gun ... it was crazy.

I was the pastor.

When Chester died a few months after receiving the money, he left it all to Micki ... who had nothing.

I remember sitting in my office, giving it to her.

And how she cried.

Which of course, made me cry.

But Chester died sober and beloved. Mickie had the money to get through. It was about as holy as it gets.

Fast forwarding 30 years, my Mom is struggling to comprehend Bar Church. There were 131 one of us there yesterday according to the Counters of Sheep (though they Bible says we're supposed to Feed them and not count them). We've almost outgrown our second Bar. Success is coming fast.

I lived it at Jeff Street.

At Union Mission too.

Now I see it at Bar Church.

Sitting here, I think about Jeff Street. It's still there doing the things that it did to make it special (though the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention kicked them out because of the leadership of Dr. Russell Bennett and other Pharisees).

Union Mission is split asunder but it's still there too ... doing a mixture of good and bad (because of a Board Chair who chooses to remain anonymous, meaning Jerry Rainy and assholes who think they're leaders). And now Bar Church is doing it all again.

When you hit stride with God though ... it's a roller coaster of a ride! At some point you shake your head asking, "What the hell was that?"

Later ... maybe seconds later, hours, days, years, decades ... it all the same in God's time ... you realize that holiness is exploding around you. Hopefully you're not too preoccupied with the details to notice.

Three times in my life I been a part of it and never really comprehended it as it was happening.

The Jefferson Street Baptist Chapel in Louisville, Kentucky.

Union Mission in Savannah, Georgia.

And now ... Bar Church on Tybee Island ... where everybody is either running to ... or from ... something.

But I can see it. Taste it. Know it.

God is here.

Things are exploding.

Praise be to God.

It's been a while ... but it's time to ride a bullet.

One more time.

Questions for God (again)

Hey God? You still up?

Of course you are ... you're God. You're always up.

Can I ask you something?

Why do you keep waking me up?


This is getting old.

Anyway ... since we're both up, can we chat for a few?

It's dark, the house is quiet ... well I got Dave F.M. streaming "Acoustic Sunrise" but other than that it's quiet ... and Johnny Cash is singing "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and it makes me think of you.

First, as much as it irritates me you woke me up when I was snuggled and warm in bed, you did it in a really cool way. So I appreciate that. The way you sprinkled stars in a pitch black sky so they shone especially bright was excellent! Then the way you had them throw stardust straight into my eyes forcing them open was pleasant to look at ... until I couldn't shut my eyes anymore.

So I lay there figuring why you were waking me up yet again. Rather than toss and turn for an hour or so, I just got up. Thanks a lot! (and I mean that sarcastically!).

I got dressed, saw that it 4:32 and, as you know, said "Thank God."

There would be coffee at the Breakfast Club.

The next words I said were, "Good God! Jesus Christ! It is frigging cold!"

Stumbling inside the door marked "Exit Only" four chefs all simultaneously stopped what they were doing and staring.

"Where you off to?" Chris asked.

He did this because normally when I'm traveling I storm through the Club at an ungodly hour. (Hmmm ... God did you invent ungodly hours? That's an interesting question. I'd like an answer to that one.) I grab a coffee for the airport and they ask me where I'm going.

"Nowhere," I answered him today. "I just missed y'all."

"Bullshit!" all four said at the same time.

I poured myself coffee and sat down.

Back home now, I'm pondering why you woke me up so early. This is becoming a habit and I must confess ... and confession is good for the soul ... I really don't care for it. I get up early anyway. This is getting ridiculous. What do you need me up so early for?

I see ... no answer.

Thanks.

I'll talk. I hope you're listening. I believe you are.

I find myself a bit antsy these days ... like I'm full of anticipation that things are getting ready really take off. It's the calm before the storm syndrome ... nothings happening yet but I sure feel it coming. I'm finding this makes me more reflective and ... that makes my friends ask questions like "What the hell is up with you?"

Shirley sent me hugs and concerns. Samuel Adams, who plays damn good live music on Tybee Island, hugged me and told me that you told him to tell me what to do. Conner and Hania called from heaven knows where demanding to know ... when and where. My brilliant daughter-in-law Marie is ordering me to make plans. Johnny O keeps telling me how warm it's going to be. Sarah just keeps looking at me and smiling.

So God ... I figure you're up to something. It's like you're planning a surprise birthday party. Is that it?

I see.

You're still keeping quiet about it all.

Fine then.

I don't have a clue what you're doing to my life but ... I don't know ... people seem excited about.

Thanks.

I'm going back to bed.

The Wretched Refuse

Throughout my life I've spent a lot of time with underdogs. The tired. The poor. Huddled masses yearning to be free. The wretched refuse of teeming shores ... the homeless and tempest tossed ... All of the people that America used to welcome with a lifted lamp beside its golden door but ... doesn't anymore.

Yesterday I spent a few minutes marching in the Savannah Founder's Day Parade with a bunch of first graders. They were dressed as Pilgrims, Indians or in school uniforms. It was impromptu as I held the hand of a little girl who was holding the hand of a little boy, I started dancing and singing.

There she comes just a' walking down the street singing

Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy-Do-Ditty Dum

Snappin' her fingers and shuffling her feet

The kids started laughing. Their teacher gave me the evil eye.

"Come On!" I yelled snapping my fingers and shuffling my feet," EVERYBODY!"

The teacher with the evil eye rushed the tiny Pilgrims, Indians and Preppy kids away from me. They continued to laugh though and I felt good showing them that you don't always have to be so regimental about things.

I love the movie Stripes with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis and the whole Do-Wah-Diddy thing was blatantly stolen from it. It was fun to introduce it to first graders.

Then in the middle of the night I lay thinking about the little Indians holding the hands of little Pilgrims who were holding the hands of the little Preppies who refused to be costumed. They were black and white ... rich and poor ... yet too young and innocent to care There's always hope the next generation will get it right cause ours sure as hell hasn't.

Somewhere in the darkness, Bill Murray popped into my head. "We are the wretched refuse, the stupid ... we're mutts. We're Americans with a capital A which means that our forefathers got kicked out of every decent country in the world."

And we rose to be the greatest nation ever ... with nothing but ourselves to rely on. Wretched refuse was enough.

I live on the vacation paradise of Tybee Island. It's home to a mix of people who normally wouldn't be caught dead together. Old Savannah families who kept the island as their private retreat for generations. New comers who relocated to the warmer sub-tropical climate with retirement funds ... and the others.

I've been spending much more time with the others lately ... bartenders and Bar-flies ... waitresses and hotel clerks ... maids and yard keepers ... those who hit nails straight and those who bend them for a living ... musicians and artists ... folks on fixed incomes and folks looking for fixes. The wretched refuse.

I marvel at them.

The only thing they have going for themselves is ... themselves and each other. Every month they struggle to pay to rent yet somehow they do. They're quick to give money and to forgive when its not paid back. Food is shifted from refrigerator to refrigerator. Passenger side seats are filled with those who don't own a car ... They are Statue of Liberty kind of people.

They are more Biblical than most and on Sundays they gather in a Bar for Church. Breakfast is served because no one believes that everyone there will have the a full meal even on a Sunday. Hugs are freely distributed, forgiveness of the previous nights sins quickly acknowledged and dispensed, hymns are sung while Davy beats the hell out of the drum. Dancing often breaks out. Smokers, flip-flops are welcome and communion can break out at anytime by anyone.

While we don't really mean it anymore, the Statue of Liberty still hold the lifted lamp beside the golden door for the wretched refuse ... my kind of people.

My Questions for God

Hey God! You up?

Of course you're up. You're always up.

First question I'd like to ask is, "Why'd you wake me up? I was sleeping perfectly fine until 2:59 when you decided that the world would be closer to salvation by having me awake. So I lay there staring at the clock in the dark for an hour. Then I used a VERB followed by a PRONOUN, which I'm sure you heard 'cause you're God and all, so please forgive for that if its a sin which I'm not sure it is. Let me know."

As you know, I stood there in the shower for a long time questioning why in the hell you have me up at this hour thinking deep thoughts. I'd much prefer to be dreaming sweet dreams with erotic content. I don't think there's anything wrong with that so I'm not asking for forgiveness. Besides according to the Bible you're the author of dreams anyway and let me say you are a master of creating erotic dreams.

I do want to thank you for the coffee. Hallelujah for coffee! As you know since you were already up, I stumbled naked down the long hallway to hit the "On" button of the coffee pot before standing in the shower. That way it brewed while I thought the deep thoughts in the shower that you obviously woke me up to think about.

Driving back to Tybee Island in the pre-Dawn darkness, I admired your work. The moon is really something and the way you sprinkled stars across the sky ... I just have to say it's some of your best work. I sipped coffee looking at it on the Tybee road in the middle of the marsh. It was worshipful.

I do have a question though.

Why are the cops out hiding in the darkness under Palm Trees? There were tons of them! It makes no sense at this time of night. They should either be home with their lovers, cleaning their guns, surprising criminals in the act or ... I don't know. It makes no sense to me. You obviously led them to do this so I'm just interested in why.

Don't rush on that one. It can wait. I'm just curious.

I want to thank you for Goddess, who as you know, is named after you. She was wagging her tail when I opened the door and flopped around on her back so that I could rub her belly. It was pure love so I lay in the floor scratching her tummy for a while.

Do you like to have your belly rubbed God? I mean I do. Surely you do too ... in an anthropomorphic sort of way. I want to thank you for the gift of belly rubs. Goddess does too.

Now ... as you already know ... I'm sitting on the Beloved Back waiting on you to approve the coming up of the sun. I wish you'd hurry up.

Killing time now ... I pray a little bit, mostly asking you to bless and take care of people who I love. Not questioning your judgement or anything but you do allow crazy shit to happen. I'm sure you've got a master plan but ... it really is some crazy stuff! Heart attacks and floods, unjust firings and unholy Sons-of Bitches who end up in charge, Congress ... I could go on. It's a pretty long list. But I'm just going to trust that you know what you're doing because it makes absolutely no sense to me.

Oh yeah, before I forget. Thank you for inventing communion. I find it really helpful on a daily basis. But you already knew that.

Now back to the questions.

Why is it that my life was rocking and rolling merrily along and you decided to reshuffle the deck? I was pretty content with it all and I really liked the way that you were handling things. Then you apparently got distracted. It could have been Israel which seems to keep you permanently distracted according to Fundamentalists of any kind and most Republicans.

Anyway it's a different life now since you threw the cards of my life against the wall leaving me to pick up the ones I chose. So, let me go ahead and say that while I question your methods, thank you for Sarah, the girls, my children, the Carnival of friends, the college reunion, and not having the faintest notion of what I'm doing. Or how I'm going to pay for it.

Again, and I hate repeating myself, but I'm really counting on this master plan of yours ...

OK, I'm back.

Why did you wake up so many people to get on Face Book at this time of the day? It's crazy! And you're leading them to post really stupid stuff. Seriously? This is in the master plan?

As you already know, it's time for me to go the Breakfast Club. I could use some more coffee. And I want to see what Whitley did last night.

Thanks ... I guess ... for dragging me out of bed at 4 in the morning. I have no idea how this helps anything but you're God and know much more than I do.

We'll talk again soon.

Ummm ... but next time, let me call you.

The Middle of the Road

It is one of those magic mornings when a full sun is rising from a blanket of clouds above an angry ocean and a cold wind. It is red and majestic and seems to say it trumps the unpleasantness choppy seas and biting gusts.

On the other side of the sky is a full moon, holy and white, against a dark blue sky. Having guided us through another dark night, it begins to slowly fade though it remains higher than the sun is at the moment.

In the middle of 15th Street I look at the sun and then at the moon. Inside of the Breakfast Club customers and friends are drinking hot coffee, eating cheese grits and staring at crossword puzzles. I've left them because there are things that must get done ... unpleasant tasks that make me sigh, then suck in air and make me try to tackle them one at a time.

I make it no further than the middle of the road before the rising sun commands my attention as though it's a King ascending to his throne wrapped in white sheets of clouds, throwing light to his subject, bathing me in a golden glow of sanctity. Just as large and beautiful is his Queen the Moon. She is complete throwing off her own loveliness with the confidence of a woman who knows she can take your breath away by just ... being.

In days gone by I would have thought to myself, "Stuck in the middle with ...me."

That is no longer true.

But I am in the middle of the road.

Another song lyric burst into my brain.

Crossing the highway late last night, should have looked left and should have looked right, didn't see the station wagon car, skunk got squashed and there you are ... dead skunk in the middle of the road.

"Hmmm," I think to myself laughing out loud.

I'm very much in the middle of the road ... literally and in every other way too.

Who I was is no longer who I am ... and it's certainly not who I'm becoming.

Yesterday, something I've spent months working on ... blew up. I'd planned on it happening but it's not going to ... at least in the way that I'd planned it. Come to think of it, most things I plan never quite work out the way I imagined.

Oh well.

What do you do?

The Moon throws fading beams on me, patting my back to remind me that I'd done my best. "It's alright," I'll watch over you tonight."

Simultaneously, the sun speaks louder, "Forget about it! That was yesterday. What are you doing today?"

My head turns from one to the other as I recognize that I need both. Consolation and challenge are perfect complements because one desperately needs the other ... and I find myself in desperate need of both.

Blowing a kiss to the moon, I leave the middle of the road ... very much alive and knowing that it's all going to work out alright. Opening the car door I throw a salute to the sun, now yellow and godly, understanding that today I'll make new plans.

Yesterday is gone. I did my best.

Today is here for me to do with what I will. I'll let you know or ... it'll be pretty obvious soon. Or it won't.

Tomorrow though, holds my heart and my promise. I wish the planning was better thought out but it's not ... yet anyway.

Oh well ... at least I'm not in the middle of the road anymore. Stuck or dead.

Hell

I was late but he waited patiently. Not patiently enough to refrain from ordering without me, assuming that I wasn't coming so a plate of fried fish, Cole slaw and baked beans were steaming in front of him as I sat. He smiled as I sat in the booth across the table from him. He looked frail and beaten though his eyes had the sad look of gratefulness that I'd made it ... that anybody had made it ... that anyone cared at all.

I ordered a glass of wine and fried chicken with a smile.

His grey eyebrow raised in condemnation of the wine ... so I ordered a glass of water too.

"Hey Jim," I said, "Don't worry. I'm going try to turn the water into wine and the wine into water. That would be pretty cool."

Shaking his head and laughing, light flickered behind his eyes before they turned sad again.

I know the feeling. He'd been a a very public person who did really good things. Much more religious than I am, he quotes Scripture a lot and begins sentences with "God led me to do this..." or "Then God told me ..."

I've never figured that out. God's never said squat to me ... until after the fact. Looking back on my life's triumphs and tragedies, loves and losses, hurts and happiness, I can see God was involved in these things. I never recognize it until after the fact and I have a hard time trusting people who say that God told them what to do before they did it.

But Jim believes that God tells him what to do first and then he tries to do it. This always worked out fine until the last time God told him to do something.

"There are women and children living on the streets of Savannah," God said. "Help them."

"How Lord," Jim asked?

"Buy an old Bakery and turn it into a home for them."

So as he's always done, Jim listened to God.

Then all hell broke loose!

Apparently God forgot to tell the neighborhood surrounding the Bakery or the Politicians representing them. They rioted calling Jim all manner of evil. Then the people he worked for were instantly converted to popular opinion and they fired him on the spot. The newspaper reported it all so it was a public crucifixion. The providers of Sanctuary ripped his world out from under him not giving a damn and being righteous about it.

And he was left alone, unemployed, unsure of what to do, continuing to wait for God to tell him.

I knew him marginally. Sitting at the counter at the Breakfast Club I'd followed all of this in the Savannah Morning Blues and I felt bad for him. I've been there. He was being purposely hurt for doing his best to go good. It's funny how the Gospel story repeats itself for those who believe. Crucifixions are part of believing and if you haven't been crucified then you probably don't believe.

A mutual friend called me. "He could use you," he'd said. "Will you meet with him?"

It's funny that the mutual friend is the reporter who had covered his crucifixion.

So I called and we were sitting at Johnny Harris' and I reached out and touched his arm. He looked shocked and flinched in recoil. For months he'd been shunned. He was no longer used to being touched ... or wanted.

"Hey listen," I said. "God told me to tell you that you tried. You did your best and She appreciates it."

He shook his head at me referring to God as a woman (though Jesus described God as a hen gathering her brood to protect them. What's the sexual hang up over God? It's God for God's sake and God can be whatever God wants to be).

I squeezed his arm.

"You didn't deserve what they did to you. That Son-of-a-bitch who runs the Church that did you in ... and the politicians whose ass he kissed so that women and children can stay on streets ... they all have reservations in hell."

Diverting his eyes from mine, he smiled as his covered his face with his shoulder.

"You did good," I continued. "God likes good."

He cried.

It made me cry.

"You've been a blessing," he said. "I didn't know what to expect meeting you today but I didn't expect a blessing."

I smiled. "Yeah, I'm not all that," I answered, "I got blessings in my life and I don't mind hell. I've been there. I don't mind going back. Especially if I get my chance with the self righteous Sons-of-Bitches who who did this to you."

He cried again.

I cried again.

We left one another with an embrace.

As I walked out my blood pumped with anger at the Sons-of Bitches who run Savannah ... and the women and children they leave on the streets every night ... and a believer in God who they broke.

Sarah picked me up and I told her about it. I needed healing and she gave it to me. Then I prayed for him so that he gets it too.

God damned he deserves it.

And God damned there are people who deserve hell.

Hope

I've penned almost a thousand of these things now. Since I began a few years ago, I haven't missed a day.

Every morning I sit collecting my thoughts or have them forcibly grab me by the throat. Sometimes I break into my heart while other times it was already broken. There are times when I can't type words fast enough as they rush to get out but then I can sit staring off into space waiting on them to come.

It's a lot like prayer ... except I'm not asking for anything.

Occasionally I go back and revisit them but I have a tendency to not look back very much. I should actually pay more attention to them. There is enough written to comprise three different books.

It's been a while since I've written one.

Tour of Homes was published in 2004 though I actually wrote it a couple of years prior to that. It's big, ending on page 368 and what I remember is that I wanted to write a big book with lots of stories woven together to make one story. I also was determined not to restrict myself so the language is salty, there's plenty of sex and no sugarcoating anybody or anything. I call it "my sex, drugs and rock-and-roll" book.

What it really was though is me working my way out of the world that I'd created. It's a description of what I loved and hated at the time ... the marriage I was in, the heavy burden of an incredibly successful career working with the poor and hurting, the hope for better days ... with an ending where evil wins ... though the very last words are from a mentally ill homeless man ... possessed by demons who are speaking in his head ... as he smiles at the thought of going home again ... wherever that is.

There's no place like home ... sometimes meaning that home is no place.

Dorothy was wrong ... Home is what you make it.

Since then ... the marriage ended, the career abruptly ceased several years after I started trying to leave it, a public life became private and there were hundreds of days when the only thing that I did was write ... and drink.

I believe things happen when they're supposed to. All of these pages were written on Face Book , Blogger.com and in a Word Document. The World Wide Web published them in real time for whoever wanted to read them. Gone are the days of driving to the Book Store or Library to search shelves of what may be interesting reading. Now you can drag the mouse over the first few lines and if they appeal to you, you click more and keep reading.

It's a new world being created. I still love book stores but not as much as I used to.

This morning, lying in bed looking out of the window at an almost full moon and the beauty that surrounds it ... everything I've written came rushing into my head as though children all demanding individual attention at the same time. I watched them as though they were sheep leaving me wide awake.

What I thought about was they all make up three different stories. The first is of love lost, betrayals of the worst kind and what survival looks like. Second is a manual to putting a broken heart back together and how you can never quite get it right again. The last are examples that faith, hope and love abide ... and the greatest of these is love.

The funny thing is the people who kept up and who read these things. Sometimes they comment. Sometimes they don't. I wonder if I stopped would anyone notice? Who knows? It's my way of praying anyway.

When I die and if my kids have any interest left in me, there are books, blogs and notes that they can visit anytime if I'm missed. The same goes for my friends who are now a tight and small Carnival of people. I've had audiences before and they may still be there but I have no need to satisfy them anymore.

When my world crumbled around me, Herb McKenzie told me "With your ability to communicate ... to speak and to write ... you'll do fine," spoken as though it were Pilate himself washing his hands.

So today I'm doing fine. I'm deeply in love. I'm working but in a completely different way. I'm out of the public eye and actually like it, enjoying helping others be in the public eye. I've raised millions of dollars helping my work and now do it to help others do theirs. I speak in Bar Church and ... I write.

I know lots about yesterday, last year and before that too. They're just a bunch of stories.

What is much more interesting is tomorrow.

I've always had faith.

I have love again.

But let me tell you about the hope of what's coming.

It's pretty Kick-Ass!

These Days

What I remember about last year's Super Bowl is that it was depressing as hell. It wasn't that Green Bay won the game, but that I was home alone watching it.

I'm uncertain why I did this but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Except it wasn't.

Super Bowls are family and friends, chips and dips, chicken wings and pizza, wine and beer. There is the game of course, and the funniest commercial to be on the look-out for, and a half-time show that may or may not be memorable. That was always the way it had been.

Then two years ago I can't even remember the Super Bowl. I was suddenly single and likely wasted out-of-my-mind. The other day Maddie was telling me about the 2009 game and I had no recollection of it what-so-ever (sorry Stacy Jennings). I remember listening to ten year old Maddie tell me about something that I know far more about than she does.

I knew nothing.

Yesterday was so different.

Starting at Bar Church, where we were all spotting a Samuel Adams in recovery from surgery, we rocked! The vibe was good, the music soared and the Kingdom came on earth as it is in heaven. I preached but was immediately forgiven by the congregation of Bikers, Bar-flies, those rising from the deaths that occurred on Saturday night, a former politician and a current member of the Methodist Church who is quitting them to join us.

(God is leading us to have a transfer of membership service where anybody who wants to quit the Steeple they've been attending can do so. We will send a scroll to aforementioned Steeple demanding their letter of membership or we be coming after your booty Mate! Especially the fine booty in the Soprano and Alto Section of your choir! AAARRRGGG-MEN! Then Methodist, Baptists, Presbyterians and other known sinners will show up with the transfer of membership letters and ... we'll burn them. Cause we really don't give a shit about things like that.)

Anyway, then I went to a little girl's birthday party in the park. It was almost 80 degrees on island in February and life was good. We ate cake, washed it down with PBR and played in the playground. We played in the cemetery until we were ran out for waking up the dead.

Then it was time for the Super Bowl.

And the house was full of love and celebration. We watched, ate, laughed, snuggled and ... enjoyed it.

This morning I stumbled into the Breakfast Club where once again I lost the Super Bowl Pool. Then I came back home with an incredible sense of expectation and joy. The weather has turned windy and somehow 20 degrees vanished overnight.

So I may as well ... work. I've got plenty to do. People from everywhere all seem to be wanting something at once. My list of things to do is ridiculously long and complicated.

But unlike last year, the Super Bowl was fun last night.

As was Ava's party in the park ...

As was Bar Church ...

As is everything these days.

Way Back When ...

Way back when I was in Seminary School

There was a person there

who put forth the proposition

that you can petition the Lord with prayer

Petition the Lord with prayer

Petition the Lord with prayer

YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!

So says Jim Morrison of The Doors in their classic song The Soft Parade, a crazed psychedelically jazzed explosion of different tempos thrown together into one song.

Growing up in Port Wentworth, Georgia ... a tiny Mill town with with a mill, Mr. Cowart's Drug Store, Frank Daughtery's gas station and an abandoned saw mill in the woods that we magically transformed into a fort ...

Jerry Rogers at WSGA introduced me to the world. Jerry was (and remains) the greatest DJ ever and now runs his own independent station which is the one I listen to most these days.

I first met him at a High School dance at the Starland Dairy in Pooler, Georiga. He showed up with hair down to his shoulders, stacks of records a microphone and just dripped of coolness. He may as well have been one of The Beatles.

Growing up in Southern Baptist land which was still coming to terms with the reality that black people are equal, you couldn't drink on Sundays and sex was something never discussed and rarely achieved ...

Jerry Rogers represented the outside world of rock-and-roll. New ideas and ways of thinking were exploding and Jerry delivered them personally to my house in a Mill Town.

Later, I remember him introducing the bands that played at the Savannah Civic Center. We all flocked to see The James Gang, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Grand Fund Railroad, Eric Clapton and ... The Osmond Brothers, Olivia Newton-John and The Carpenters. Jerry was the Master of Ceremonies and he was bringing the world to us.

Then he did this FM station and the music got better and deeper.

I remember sitting in my bedroom for hours listening to him introduce me ... everything.

And I specifically remember hearing The Doors do The Soft Parade which begins with this little sermon that was contrary to everything I'd ever been taught at the First Baptist Church of Port Wentworth. "Way back when I was in Seminary School ..."

The funny thing is that now I can say that and mean it. Way back when I was in Seminary School with Guy Sayles, Mitch Wesley and Bill Berry, I heard lots of talk about petitioning the Lord with prayer.

Ask and it shall be given.

Sometimes that's true.

Most times its not.

Or if it is, then not in the way that I asked for it.

I've asked for a lot of things and have gotten many.

Other times God said "No", "HELL NO!" or "Maybe later."

It's OK.

God's awful busy.

Today, I live on Tybee which is one of the affirmatively answered prayers, around the corner from Jerry Rogers who remains a hero and an icon, and later this morning I'm playing guitar in Samuel Adam's Bar Church Band ... where the Lord will be petitioned with prayer.

It's all good Karma.

So today is the day that the Lord has made ...

Let's rock and roll!