Wednesday, November 21, 2007

GiveThanksing

In the cartoon PreTeena, oddly quirky friend Stick has started a campaign to change the name of our November holiday from Thanksgiving to Givethanksing. Since "thanks" doesn't do the giving and since we're supposed to "give thanks" to God and to others, the reversed name is a much more accurate description, according to Stick's theory.

She's got a point.

So ... some "Givethanksging":

-- Family around to share it with. My son is home and Mom came over for the night. And, if it hadn't been that there was family around, I have "family" in the broader sense: people who would have welcomed me into their homes for Thanksgiving dinner.

-- Finally being home! Even with the work that needs to be finished, it is wonderful to be back in my own home. Yet it reminds me of those whose homes are still unfinished and who may not have homes to return to. To have a roof over one's head is something to be thankful for. And, during these past two years, I had generous and wonderful people who provided that roof while mine was being repaired. Something else to be extremely thankful for.

-- My elderly, yet often puppy-ish, canine pal. She's such a scaredy-cat when thunderstorms come through; however, she's quite ferocious when someone's on the other side of the front door. The past couple of days she's been pretty "windy", but that hasn't affected her playing with my son or chasing squirrels. I hope it's just a transient affliction and not a sign of something more. I've had her for 12 years! Never would have believed I'd have such a loving critter-friend in my life for so long.

-- A great congregation! Yes, there are challenges, but without challenges, our faith would not be stretched and strengthened and given a chance to grow. These are truly wonderful people who have not turned their thoughts inward. Helping others is what they are about.

-- Friends, in real life and online. They are a lifeline when things feel bleak and someone to share rejoicing with when things are uplifting.

I'm going to stop there, but the blessings in my life could go on and on. And for each of these blessings, I give thanks to God, the Creator; Christ, the Redeemer; and Spirit, the Sustainer. Their presence has helped me to become the person I am today, and continues to encourage me to grow even beyond that.

The Me I am right now would have been an impossible goal for the Me I was 20 years ago. The journey became possible through God's unconditional love shown in ways I never expected. I hope that I live my life in such a way that expresses my thanks daily.

I hope that your lives are touched with many blessings and hope for the future.

HAPPY GIVETHANKSING ONE AND ALL!!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

How Absurd!

An AP article in today's paper reports that a developer in Arizona is planning a water park in the desert where people can surf and scuba and do other water stuff.

This while significant portions of the middle east coast are under drought conditions and some places are looking at the water supply literally drying up to nothingness. Pictures of lakebeds with cracked bottoms and only small puddles of water are heart-wrenching.

Wouldn't a better use of that water be to aid those who are suffering?

So what if surfers have to travel farther to get to the surf! They have to do that now, as it is.

*sigh* What a waste of resources!

Friday, November 09, 2007

Just Plain Reee-diculous!

It's been over two years. Believe it or not, mucho (in my humble opinion) federal buckos were allocated and actually sent to the state of Texas, where it's been languishing in some state coffer while state bureaucrats whine and moan and groan that $500 million isn't enough money. Reeeeeee-diculous!

Since the money arrived in the state ONLY THIRTEEN families have had their homes repaired. And people have been bitching about the way that federal monies have been spent in Louisiana? Shoot ... Louisiana has managed to spend much more than Texas has in the same two year period.

According to the article in the Houston Chronicle, 4,000 families had applied for the assistance, and my guess is that, for the most part, they are probably among the neediest of the needy. True, there's always a huckster around to manipulate the system, but there's just no excuse for that $500 million to be lolling around while so many people are living in homes with blue-tarped roofs and damage which is only getting worse with each rainstorm that comes through town. Damage which could have been healed at a fairly minimum now has become major renovation for many of those who've waited this long for repairs.

What is their problem? Sure, I want to make sure that it goes to legitimate recovery projects. But do they have to reinvent the wheel themselves?! There are organizations in the area whose reason for being is to ensure that the neediest are the ones who reap the benefit of the limited money that has been released for hurricane repair. They already have lists with priorities and ways to maximize the funds which are received through volunteer labor and donated or low-cost materials to help along the way.

Is there some kind of invisible restriction which requires that the funds be spent to pay contractors, and only contractors, to complete the work? Shouldn't the state be working with local programs to make the most of the money we have received? Why just sit and moan and groan that "we didn't get the kind of money that other states did", when what we have could be actually HELPING AND HEALING families?

To only allow a trickle of funds to be released when at least a small spate is available is absolutely unconscionable!

I'd suggest that we get some buses and cars together, fill them up with people whose homes need repairs from Hurricane Rita, and caravan to Austin to camp out on the Capitol steps. But wait! These people have already been "camping out" for over two years! Maybe instead, we ought to make plans to show up on the doorstep of Michael Gerber, executive director of the Texas Housing and Community Affairs, come Thanksgiving morning. I wonder if something would happen if suddenly 4,000 displaced families became real people instead of numbers on a page.

Nah! With this crew in charge?! Probably not!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

It Passed! Now Comes the Hard Part

Well, bless my soul! The BISD school bond issue was actually approved. As I said downstream, it's not perfect, but there was so much that was necessary that I felt it was important to support it.

There's been a lot of bitching about the football stadium/natatorium. I can't see anything but good coming to Beaumont as a result of all of the district's schools using the same facility for sports and other competitions that need similar arenas. I lived here in the 70's-80's before all of the school consolidations were finished. There was incredible dissension in the community, much of it due to the rampant racism AND classism that existed then. True, it still exists today, but isn't anywhere near as virulent as it was back then. Sharing a sports facility can only help to eliminate further the niggling in the background suspicion that one school has better "x" than another, for whatever reason.

Pasadena Independent School District has shared a common football stadium since long before I was in public schools. There were four schools sharing the facility when I was in high school. Now there are five. Problems with that? None that I'm aware of; however, I can only imagine scheduling got a bit more difficult when they added that fifth school three years ago. Scheduling certainly wasn't a problem for the previous years with four schools, and BISD only has three high schools at the moment. (A fourth is planned for the future.)

The other thing people are bitching about is its being built in the first stage. The thing people forget is that the sports complex isn't the only thing being built in the first stage. Sheesh! Talk about tunnel vision!

So ... now comes the hard part.

There was honest disagreement with the bond issue, and valid points of concern were raised. Here's what I hope will happen (not counting on it, though, people being the cantankerous critters they are):

Several of those who were vocally against the proposal have offered to help bring things into being if it passed. For those of you whose noses have gotten out of joint over the opposition (both past and present), pop them back in place and let the opponents have a stake in bringing this new vision of the future into being. Sure, they may operate as roadblocks instead of bridge-builders. But sometimes we need someone to stand in the road and say "Wait a minute! There's a better way!"

And to the opponents, it's wonderful of you to ask questions and poke harder into making things the absolute best they can be for our students, present and future. Just don't use that as an excuse to subtly sabotage the good which can come from fulfilling the promise of this bond proposal.

There are those out there who have a legitimate gripe that they were left out of the initial process. LET THEM IN! And not just in token numbers. Look at the demographics of the community and make sure that each racial/ethnic group is represented in a proportionate basis.

We all have a stake in making sure the promise of this bond proposal comes into being, the promise of a community which may finally begin mending the brokenness of past injustice and providing for all of our young people an education in equitable facilities.

I don't deny that we've a long way to go. BISD has many obstacles besides facilities to overcome. However, the fact that we've taken action on the first thing gives me hope that our community may come together to tackle the others. Prayers arising that this might be so!

Friday, November 02, 2007

Being Visible

Given a choice, I'd much rather be there in the background than up front where everyone can see me. Ironic, isn't it? Especially since I'm a pastor. It's part of the job description to be where you can be seen.

Within our denomination, I've gotten a bit better at standing up for things I believe and making myself heard on particular issues. Still, I prefer to do it in small group settings. Speaking before hundreds of people continues to make my knees knock together in fear, but it's not the total impossibility it would have been 15 years ago.

Recently, I found myself involved in the local school bond election. Not particularly as a vocal proponent or opponent, but more in the interest of getting those on each side of the issue in the same room and talking with each other. There's something about a bond issue in this part of the country that leads to civic deafness. People seem to prefer to "Jerry Springer" their points and not particularly take the time to hear what's being said by those they disagree with.

The interfaith organization we got involved with after the hurricane decided to try something a bit different and attempt to get those involved in the bond election in the same room, with the intention of providing a forum for each to listen to the other. We held two forums this week, fairly controlled to keep grandstanding to a minimum and to avoid those in the audience who like to make speeches under the guise of "asking a question". The forums were planned to address specific issues of significance and to allow each side a limited opportunity to present their positions. Equity in the presentations was one of our objectives.

Somehow I ended up doing the welcoming and intros at each of them. Visible, but not too bad, since the number in attendance was fairly small. For me, it was an opportunity to hear concise information from both sides with only a limited amount of hype. Good fodder for decision-making. What was truly encouraging about both of these forums is that much common ground was discerned, and both sides were not only willing to admit it, but were willing to open themselves to hearing what the other had to say.

While the bond issue is not perfect and I probably would have approached several things differently if I had been a part of the process, on the balance, I find myself in support of approval. There's so much history which has been impeding the progress of the school district that much of the work which is being targeted in the bond proposal has been postponed for way too many years. To put things off longer by defeating the proposal would only make the costs great and the animosities even deeper within the community.

So, today I ended up being part of a press conference of a racially and religiously diverse Beaumont clergy in support of passing the bond proposal. Being one of two women present, I was on the first row of the "visual". (Never quite know what to do with my hands in those situations, but at least I wasn't picking my nose!)

Afterward, the camera crews were doing individual interviews. I'd done a really nice job of avoiding those until the end. One of the cameramen came up while I was talking with the head of the local Church of God in Christ (COGIC) association. Guess the visual of a male African-American pastor speaking with a Caucasian female pastor was irresistible.

Why is it when I get in front of a news camera my brain seems to shift into blubada-blubada-blubada mode? I'm not completely convinced I said anything which made any sense; however, my "this is an opportunity to move beyond the past and into the future" cliche, but truthful, statement ended up being the final sound-bite for that station's report. (We won't focus on the rest of the inanity that I'm sure surrounded those 13 words.)

Now I think I'm going to crawl back into my hole and pull it in after me. I've had enough being visible for a while!