10 Things I’ve Said “Hello” To

Do you ever stop to think about the things you’ve said “goodbye” to through the years? Not people. Not places. Just the things?

Sometimes, I like to look at the things that bless my life now and think about what they replaced. THOSE are the things I’ve said “goodbye” to. So here are 10 things I’ve said “hello” to over the last few years and how my life is better for them.

#10 – Whole Grain Bread

For the first 25 years of my life, I was a white bread guy. Bunny, Colonial, Sunbeam – whatever brand seemed the freshest. Bunny was always the most consistently good (in my opinion). Then, I went mainly to whole wheat bread. More flavor, better for you – a good change.

Then, a couple of years back, I began my changeover to whole grain breads. I’ve said goodbye to white bread. While I’ll still eat whole wheat bread, I prefer whole grain. There are so many flavors in whole grain bread. Sometimes, I get “nine-grain” bread and it has chunks of stuff in it. Wow! Delicious.

My favorite food.

I don’t know if I can remember the first pizza I ever had. I can tell you without a doubt it was a Chef BoyArDee. McMinnville didn’t offer a pizzaria. I did love the pizza.

Then, some years later, Roma Pizza Parlor opened. In Roma, they tossed the crust. Sure, it was middle Tennessee farm boys tossing it into the air. But it seemed so international. I’ve never thought of it until this moment, but it was probably my first “international experience.” I had no idea that pizza was really made this way. Tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, italian sausage – things I didn’t even know existed. Roma pizza was incredible.

It started a 30+ year love affair between me and pizza. It has always been my favorite food. I can eat it any time. We don’t eat as much pizza as we once did, but it doesn’t matter. I could eat it today, tomorrow and the next day. For me, it’s one of those foods that, if you smell it just after eating a huge meal, the aroma of oregano and sauce still makes you a little hungry.

It’s been my favorite food for years. But I have a new favorite.

A few weeks ago, I described a ragout that Aprill made. It has kale, white beans, diced tomatoes, zucchinis, sausage, onion, garlic, and some various spices. It is just awesome.

She made it again this week. We had it twice. I love it. I cannot think of a more perfect food.

I’m not ready to throw pizza under the bus just yet. Equity means a lot to me, and pizza has built up a lot of equity with me through the years. But ragout…ragout…it’s on the charts…with a bullet.

Mr. Deeds

Great movie. Watch it.

Green and Blue

There’s a song by Nickel Creek called “Green and Gray.” It’s a great song – great group.

But tonight, Aprill and I were sitting on the patio and she said, “look at that sky.” I looked up and the sky was a perfect blue. There were clouds rolling in from the west from a storm that is supposed to arrive later tonight. For the moment, however, it was just blue with white clouds.

Against it, was the green canopy of the trees in our yard. We have some of the most beautiful trees I’ve ever seen.

It made me remember the fall of 2002. It was a bittersweet time in our lives. We had just lost Elmo (our Basset Hound of 13 1/2 years) and we were contemplating leaving Charlotte for Greenville, SC. In fact, we had already made the decision to go – but we hadn’t told anyone yet. I was raking the yard, thinking it might be my last time to rake the leaves from these trees. For those who know me, you know that I hate raking leaves. I hate it.

On that afternoon, I wasn’t thinking about how much I hated it. I was thinking how beautiful the trees were. They’re big, big trees. They offer so much shade, and and cover for wrens, owls, hawks, cardinals, finches, sparrows, nuthatches and chickadees. And although they dumped bags and bags of leaves on me each year, I respected them, and knew that I was going to miss them.

We left, and I missed them.

As luck – or fate – would have it, we came back. I can remember that day, too. I can remember looking at the house we left, and at the neighborhood. But mostly, I looked at the trees. It was October, and there were a lot of leaves on the ground. There were a lot of leaves on the trees, too. My friends, the trees, welcomed me back. Within a couple of days, I was raking leaves again.

Tonight, I looked up at the trees. We’ve battled cankerworms all spring, and won. The result is probably the most beautiful canopy we’ve had in years. A lot of leaves – shades of green, against a perfect blue sky and wispy white clouds.

Wow.

David Cook

Isn’t it great to watch a star being born? We’ll be listening to David Cook for a long time – win or lose. If you don’t watch American Idol, why not?

Chip & Chuck

Well, it’s been almost 8 years since I did any regular gigging. For those not familiar with the word, it has nothing to do with frogs. It is simply playing music somewhere…anywhere…where people will listen – or at least feign interest.

This Friday, I make my symbolic return to gigging with my good friend Chip Cash at Harper’s BBQ, 112 W. Trade St. at the corner of Trade and Tryon in downtown Charlotte. We could probably have picked a lower-profile location for our first gig, but why? 11:30 – 1:00. Some great food in a lunch-time environment. Come out if you have the chance.

Lima Beans

Speaking of Chip, he wrote this piece for his enewsletter – and I thought it was great. So I’m reproducing it here – without his permission, but giving him 100% credit.

(For the record, I love lima beans.)

From Chip Cash…

I don’t like lima beans. Some people call them butter beans. Doesn’t really matter to me what you call them. Either way they have neither a butter taste nor a lima taste–whatever that is.

My grandmother loved lima beans. My mom loves lima beans. My mother-in-law loves lima beans. My wife loves lima beans. Since I don’t, I have taken it upon myself to stop the lima bean chain with my children’s generation.

My son liked lima beans for a while, but God is faithful to those who continue to pray. I don’t want generations of my descendants enduring what I consider to be the worst vegetable on the planet.

But you know, there is one time I’m going to ask for lima beans. If I get the option, I’ll ask for them for my last meal on earth. A lot of people talk about what they’d eat for their last meal if they knew it would be their last. They talk of filet mignons and hot fudge sundaes. Not me. I want lima beans.

I want lima beans because it will be the last less-than-perfect thing I have to endure before I see Jesus. See, a filet and hot fudge sundae are a deceitful last meal, because they make you think that you’re going to miss them when you’re gone.

Let’s put this in spiritual language: we ain’t going to miss jackdiddlysquat about earth when we get to heaven. Heaven is the full and final redemption of our souls. Heaven is a promise fulfilled. Heaven is the garden restored. And anyone with any sense who has ever eaten lima beans knows they came after the fall in Eden.

So give me lima beans. I want them to remind me that this world is not my home. I am a stranger here–only passing through as an ambassador for my King. While I am here, I will watch others–even those in my own family–eat lima beans. And I will be reminded that one day I will sit at the foot of the throne of the One who made me. He’ll pull out a loaf of homemade bread, and I will be served communion by the One who originally came up with the idea–with nary a lima bean in sight.

The Zone

Ever find yourself in the zone? I’m currently living squarely in the middle of the zone.

For me, the zone represents those times in life when you’re hitting on all cylinders. Unfortunately, more rare than frequent, life in the zone means going from one thing to another and never dipping in your enthusiasm or your interest in what you’re involved in.

Case in point. I spent most of this week in Dallas at the Christian Leadership Alliance annual conference. I went to take part in the IT Summit. Now, there aren’t many Mac guys in the CLA’s IT community – so the thought of being there (other than getting to spend some time with my friend Mark) had not enthralled me.

But I loved it – learning about areas of IT that I had not been exposed to.

Here are three things on the horizon that are good – almost spooky good (you’ll see what I mean):

1) Voiceless Cellphone Technology – in short, the brain waves that control speech are identical from person to person. So Texas Instruments is developing a cell phone that reads the brain waves, translates them into speech. You don’t even have to talk.

2) Duke University Brainwave Tracking – Duke has mapped even more brainwaves – they are developing the first video game that is played brainwave against brainwave. So the children of the next generation won’t even exercise their thumbs. (Not good – sorry!)

3) All of the new digital cable converters have RFID readers installed. RFID is the next generation of the barcode (radio frequency ID). So, if you buy crackers, the RFID reader will detect that in your house, and then you may get a cracker commercial. If your neighbor doesn’t buy crackers but buys cookies, he/she gets the cookie commercials.

I think these are all good – but I’m not sure ?!??

The Road

OK, so when is good not good?

A couple of months back, Aprill read a book called “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy. She went on and on about it – asking everyone she met (and I would guess some total strangers) if they had read it. I can picture her standing in line at the grocery store tapping the person in front of her on the shoulder and saying, “don’t buy that Redbook – you want a really good book, read “The Road”…)

I was intrigued, but at the time, I was eyebrow deep into “Pillars of the Earth” – my favorite book of all time. So I couldn’t begin to think about starting something else.

Then, it was done and I was still in the reading mood. So I hopped onto “The Road.” Awesome. So when is good not so good? This is a good book – but it is by no means a happy book. I do highly recommend it. But be prepared – it’s one you won’t be able to put down.

(And by the way – I read it cover to cover in about 4 hours – and I’m a notoriously slow reader.)

Sprung.

I love the days when spring fully grabs hold and takes control over winter. Even though we have a couple of 30 degree nights in the 5-day forecast, spring is now in charge.

Last night, Aprill and I sat on the patio until 11:30. It was one of those great spring nights. Warm – over 70 degrees. No bugs – too early for them. Well, no bugs except for one crazy jarfly that started singing (and may I add LOUDLY) in the big oak tree in our backyard and one lightning bug. But no mosquitoes. They’re coming – make no mistake. But not yet.

The sky was cloudy but bright, and you could look through the silhouettes of the trees and see them at about 50% summer canopy. Henry was chasing shadows in the porchlight. (So I guess there was at least one other bug – a moth). The traffic was buzzing on Sharon Amity. I ate a big hunk of cheese, drank a glass of wine and had a nice, long conversation with my lovely wife. As my favorite writer, Bill Bryson wrote, “I found myself enjoying it immensely.”

Warm spring nights are really good.