#120 Snowpocalypse

Holing up at home through a blizzard here in Iowa has got me thinking about my college days. Here's the story of my all-time favorite run:

Back in February 2011 Snowpocalypse hit Chicagoland. I don't remember how much snow we got anymore, but it was enough to shut Trinity Christian College down the next day. Tuesday afternoon the snow was falling hard, so hard that my coach canceled track practice. (Pretty sure this storm was the only time practice was canceled in my career.) But that year I was living with my teammates, my best friends, my boys, and we couldn't pass up the adventure of running in this blizzard. So Clark, Kunz, Kyle, Lindy, and myself laced up our shoes and went out. As we hit the parking lot, Joey, our assistant coach and former captain pulled in, jumped out of his car, and joined us. The beginning of the run was not the kind of adventure we were hoping for. The wind was pelting us with snow and we were crawling alongside traffic on the side of some roads. But then we hit our target: a golf course tucked into the suburban neighborhoods. We dashed through the snow and circled around a flag. There was a lot of yelling, some sort of Braveheart-type speech was made, and then we fanned out to sprint across the golf course, screaming and celebrating. Suddenly Lindy disappeared, swallowed up by the snow after stumbling into a hidden sand trap. He popped up to the roar of our laughter. At the end of the golf course we entered a park and looped around Pleasure Lake before taking a back way home to Trinity. All told we put in 9 miles that day. It was slow. It was dangerous. We had quite a few running adventures in college, but running was never as fun as it was that day. Thanks, Snowpocalypse.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#119 Adventure Is Out There!

If you know me, you probably know that I'm a big Superman fan. If we could somehow make a pie chart of the types of knowledge in my head, I think Superman knowledge would be the second or third largest slice. When I want to unwind at the end of the day I read Superman comics. I've blogged in the past about being a member of the Superman Homepage, and I check the headlines there daily.

I think most people I know find my enthusiasm for all things Superman to be a bit strange. Tess rolls her eyes at me once in a while, but she's generally pretty supportive or at least tolerant. My mom is still hoping I'll grow out of this someday. Others just give me the "it's-not-for-me-but-whatever-floats-your-boat" vibe.

So this week I'd like to try to explain why I love Superman. (I don't really like to use the word "love" here, but I think it gets the point across to most people.) I could talk about a lot of things here: how cool it is that Superman can fly, how much I enjoy that Superman is consistently and unapologetically a force for good, how great it is that Superman is a symbol of protecting the weak and fighting against discrimination and prejudice, how interesting I find Superman's dual human-alien nature as an (admittedly quite imperfect) imitation of Christ's human and divine natures, how Superman's twin concerns for truth and justice echo much of what God is concerned about in the Old Testament prophets.

But this is already getting sort of long, so I'll focus on one thing that I think might be the main thing: I love Superman because Superman stories are about adventure. At the risk of stating the obvious, Superman can do pretty much anything. That's what I enjoy about the character. Superman can bust small-time crooks and take down criminal organizations. He can battle supervillains and fight alien invaders. That kind of stuff is interesting and fun, but Superman does other things, too. He can rescue people from natural disasters and help individuals with everyday problems. He can travel through space and time to encounter an endless amount of creative situations and characters. I would argue that you could write loads of great Superman stories without ever truly having a villain. I would read hundreds of pages of Superman just discovering cool new things. I would watch a full-length movie that was nothing but Superman flying around and pulling people out of floods and fires and falls. When I was a little kid I wanted adventure. I found great enjoyment in closing my eyes and imagining the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could. I love Superman because he has adventure, because he does the craziest and coolest and most fun things I could think of (and quite a few things I wouldn't come up with on my own). And if that's strange, I'm okay with that.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#118 Brian the Giant Hamster

This morning I ran on my treadmill. I HATE running on the treadmill. But I have one because some church members wanted to get rid of theirs, and they offered it to me. It was a lovely gift. I'm really grateful that they thought of me. Road conditions are pretty dangerous in Kanawha through much of the winter, so running outside isn't a good option. I'm really blessed to have the opportunity to run safely indoors in my own home. And lately I think I've been a little more stressed than normal, so exercise is good.

So this morning I talked myself into a run. It was brutal. Running and running and running without going anywhere makes me feel like an overgrown hamster. I hate it. I've got things set up so I can watch TV while I run, but it only helps so much. The run still seems to last forever. I miss the wind on my face, the slowly changing scenery. The whir of the belt and the echo of my footfalls burrow too deep in my brain. With about a mile to go, I'm losing it. I've got to slow down the pace. I stumble through the rest of the run. I'm sweaty; I'm thirsty; I'm beat. It's almost enough to make me wonder why I do this. But then that good old feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment sets in. Treadmill running is horrible, but it's still running, so I guess it's worth it. [Sigh.] I better prepare myself to get into hamster mode again.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#117 Manipulative Worship?

I regularly play guitar for worship. With high schoolers on Wednesday nights, I lead quite a few contemporary worship songs. (Sometimes we use contemporary songs for special music on Sunday mornings, too.) Some of the songs we sing have a section (a chorus, a bridge, etc.) that gets repeated three or four times in a row. As a worship leader I try to make each time through a little different in an attempt to keep the repetition from getting stale. Maybe we'll start quietly and slowly get louder. Maybe I'll change my strumming pattern as we go. I think it's good musicianship to use dyanmics (how loud or soft the music is) and tempo to help express emotion. One of the great things about music is how it can express emotion in ways that words alone can't.

But sometimes I have an internal debate. When I quiet a song down and then build it back up again, am I really expressing emotion, or am I actually controlling emotion? I'm not always sure. I don't want to manipulate anyone. I don't want repeat a section of a song again and again until people get the feeling I want them to have. But at the same time, I know that a bit of repetition can create space for people to reflect on lyrics. And if I can help people express their emotions and worship more fully, that's fantastic. The debate goes on for me because I don't have a simple solution. However, I think as a general rule I'm safer as a worship leader if I spend more energy making sure I'm focusing on worshiping God than worrying about if the music feels right. And hopefully I'll learn to lead worship better over time.

I know I'm not the only one who thinks about these things, so feel free to send me your thoughts!

Grace and peace,
BMH