The War on My Timeline

As a kid I remember riding in the car and pulling up beside beat up old trucks or mini vans or station wagons completely covered with bumper stickers. I was too young to understand the metaphors or puns or even some of the language being used. But somehow, I intrinsically knew the driver was passionate about something. There was a marked intensity that was palpable even if I had no understanding.

Fast forward to today. Grab your phone. Hit Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram. I'm right back at the window of my family's minivan looking out at a nearly indecipherable world of e-bumper stickers.

The truth is we're not more or less opinionated than we were 20, 30 or 50 years ago. We just have more access to information and more square footage to cover with sticky sided vinyl. Yet, despite more perceived awareness and the availability of more potential platforms to inform, it feels my corner of the world is more divided than ever before. And according to every thing else I can find, the rest of the nation feels that way too.

It feels like a war on my timeline and I'm struggling to figure out where to engage. I've posted about sport and it becomes a war zone about the politics of socioeconomics. I've posted about ministry to various at risk segments of society and it becomes a war zone about theology or race relations. 

Have we lost the ability to ignore the things that don't deserve our time? Have we lost the ability answer legitimate questions without hostility? Is there a way to stand for beliefs, knowing you'll upset the cart, without the sole intention of creating hostility?  

I know there has to be a fight and change requires anger, division and most likely rage. I'm an endurance sport coach and athlete so I am fully aware that washing yourself clean through the tides of pain and struggle is both necessary and often healthy.

I'm just not sure social media bumper stickers are any more effective than the polyurethane plastered to the rusty bumpers and rounded glass of AMC Pacers in 1987. 

And yes, my car is covered with bumper stickers, too.  

Embracing Life on Good and Bad Days

Tomorrow is not a guarantee. Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Words never more applicable to my life the last few weeks. A bit more than a month ago I had a seizure. All that I remember was sitting in my office at work at my desk constructing an email to a recruit and talking across the hall to my supervisor. The next memory is waking up in the hospital with my wife looking down upon my body laying in an emergency room.

Things checked out at the hospital and I was cleared to leave and resume regular activities with the exception of driving a car, which will have to wait for three more months. Since then an EEG and an MRI have been conducted and there is a pending appointment with a seizure clinic. Things would appear okay.

But are they? How do you really know if things are every truly okay? The truth is there are very few guarantees in our lifetime. After this experience I have been forced to evaluate my lifestyle. The way I spend my time. Who I spend my time with and what we do with those encounters. I sat at my home office last week after a week of much needed vacation. I looked upon pictures of my wife and I, a curio cabinet holding my marathon medals and a laminated 11x16 photo collage from the North Central University cross country season of 2006 and finally some Bibles and books from Christian authors that I am currently reading.

In one sideways sweep of my head, I encountered the visual representation of the things that are truly important in my life.

My wife. The time we have together is so special, she is my world, my treasure.

Running, my outlet, my artistic expression, often neglected because of "life".

The team I coach, the people in that picture who were a part of a dual NCCAA National Championship season, represent my passion at its purest, most meaningful form.

My Faith. The blood and the water that give my life purpose; that allow me to be a husband to my wife, that give my endless miles a meaning beside just the monotonous shaping of my physical man. Coaching, the thing I've been given to do with my life, matters more than just finding new ways to be good at sport.

Does my day to day life allow complete commitment to those areas? Do I give myself space to recover from the grind of day to day life so that I can embrace both the great and the bad elements of living? The truth is I need to embrace each today for what it holds and commit to living in those moments completely.

For better or worse it took an unfortunate event to help me realize how fortunate I am to live a full life each day. I hope to do that more thoughtfully in the future. And I encourage you to do so too.