Bless Arthur

Arthur Blessitt quickly became one of the more recognizable figures of the "Jesus Movement" (hippie Christians) of the late '60s and early '70. He helped to make Christianity cool for young people of that era — like me.

We put his little round "Smile, God loves you!" stickers on our cloth-covered "Good News for Modern Man" New Testaments. Along with "One Way" T-shirts and Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ) medallions around our necks, we were styling for Jesus.

Of course, Blessitt is best known for walking around with a large cross ... and walking, and walking, and walking, and walking...

My only personal encounter was brief and by accident. In an oddly fitting event, the Southern Baptist Convention held its 1989 annual meeting in Las Vegas.

Blessitt was invited to address a pre-convention evangelism conference. At the conclusion, Blessitt took up his cross and headed down the Vega Strip with hundreds of preachers in tow — handing out New Testaments and Gospel tracts to suspects like me in non-preacher attire.

I was headed from my hotel pool to the mall at that time in search of air conditioning and a Schlotsky's original sandwich. Getting there was nearly impossible due to Blessitt's followers attempting to gang-save me several times.

While Blessitt has received his share of praise and criticism (some well deserved) over the decades, I'm not standing in judgment. He may be odd, but such could be said of most Old Testament prophets and John the Baptist. Undeniably, however, he is persistent.

From Christmas 1969 through June 2008, he walked over 38,000 miles with his familiar large wooden cross. For those interested in the details, he has written a book about his journeys titled "The Cross."

"One of the privileges of carrying a cross around the world is meeting all kinds of beautiful people," said Blessitt in an interview related to the release of his book. Then he added the following explanation:

"Just as Jesus related to all people, I have tried to do that myself as I carry his cross. In our world today, it seems few of us desire or are able to relate to various kinds of people. I’ve had encounters with world-famous people like Pope John Paul II, Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat. I’ve also shared meals with the poorest of the poor, the homeless. I’ve slept in remote villages where mine was the first white face any of the people had seen. And always, I have been awed by the beauty and joy of the children. In God’s view (and in mine), all of these people are equally valued and equally loved."

Good point, Arthur. Makes our "normal" lives seem quite boring in contrast. Walk on.

The stars have dimmed

Throughout my youth the Major League Baseball All-Star Game was a television event not to be missed. It was the rare opportunity to see the best players in baseball at one time.

Additionally, National League hitters would step to the plate against American League pitchers — for the only time that year other than the World Series: Mantle v. Gibson, Clemente v. Catfish, etc.

They all got together for one big night: Aaron, Killebrew, Koufax, Robinson et al. Just to see them on one field was a thrill.

Fast-forward to 2009. I will probably watch some of tonight's All-Star Game unless a more thrilling episode of "House Hunters" in on HGTV. The luster is gone.

It has nothing to do with my love of the sport. I watch more baseball on TV and in person than ever before.

But in an effort to reach new fans and boost television ratings, MLB keeps adding gimmicks that water down the experience for those who truly understand and enjoy this remarkable sport. For one, having uninformed or understandably biased fans pick the starting players is a joke.

Inter-league play is another bad idea. Sure, it was neat seeing Jeter, Tex and A-rod at Turner Field recently. But it will make the World Series less special if (OK, a real big "if") the two teams surge in the second half and face each other in the Fall Classic. (My Sunday school teachers taught me to believe in miracles.)

So to see players from the two leagues on the same field now is no big deal. (And, worse, inter-league play has created an unbalanced schedule meaning that teams playing for a division title are not facing the same competition.)

And with the way players move from to team to team now, some of the All-Stars may have to look at their jerseys to remember which league they represent this year.

Of course there are other gimmicks like the atrocious designated hitter rule that has turned the AL into pseudo-baseball. Managers in that league no longer "manage" — just keep roll. Gone is the art of a double-switch or having to handle a bullpen.

Increased television exposure may have lessened some interest in the All-Star Game, but I doubt it. Watching more baseball on TV seems to increase the interest.

In Denver recently, I met Braves fans from places like Montana and Utah whose allegiance was built during the Super Station era of nightly televised games. That loyalty caused them to travel good distances to see their favorite team.

Baseball is a perfect game. After all of these years (with high tech equipment and high-powered athletes), a soft grounder to short still makes for a close play at first. Pitchers and hitters — set 60 feet and six inches apart — still battle without distinctive advantages over the other.

But like everything else in life, the imperfection comes from our human engagement. That is, when we start messing around with stuff.

Since we (in Macon, Ga.) lost our minor league team to Rome, Ga., a few years ago, I guess the All-Star Game is my best baseball option tonight. It might even be fun to watch. Indeed, a lot of talent will be on hand.

Perhaps I'll stick with it longer than the interminable home run derby last night.

At the least the All-Star Game is filler until the real stuff gets going again — when I'll be looking for opportunities to catch as many games as possible in the big stadiums and small parks along the way.

[PHOTO: Friday night rain delay at lovely Coors Field in Denver, one of the best baseball experiences in America.]

[Now for matters of greater interest and substance, keep following Tony Cartledge through the Holy Land at this link.]

Believe it or not

You can call me lots of things — but gullible is not one of them. I have never assumed that new products work as magically as the late pitchman Billy Mays said they did.

One adage I've long taken to heart: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

TV-pushed products, through 60-second ads or 30-minute infomercials, probably vary in quality. (Don't think I've ever order one.) But there is one aspect that always turns me away — aside from the announcer's intensity.

It's the added: "And that's not all." After making great claims for a new product, an offer of another great product "for free" is thrown in. The "bonus" always makes me think the primary product must come up short of its claims.

One approach to being a wise consumer involves references. We find out what kind of experiences others have had with a product or service.

The emergence of the Internet widened the circle for feedback. Various forums allow for a wide range of individuals to offer praise or condemnation of just about anything being offered for sale.

But now this:

A recent article in Parade magazine (if you can believe them!) claims that companies now pay about $1.6 billion a year to get persons to post positive views about their products in online forums.

You mean the guy in Jersey who just put the best set of tires he has ever owned on his Mustang may have been paid by the tire manufacturer for saying so? You mean the cruise line may have paid the well-traveled couple to claim that their ship surpasses the competition by many knots?

Social websites like Facebook are also formats where paid-endorsers readily sing the praises of particular products and services, according to the article. The Federal Trade Commission is considering its regulation options.

"When you're being paid to promote a product, you usually have to disclose the relationship between you and the advertiser," an FTC official is quoted as saying.

Hmmm. That must be why infomercials put "paid endorser" on the bottom of the screen when an aging TV or movie star pumps their goods.

Oh, well. Even in the more trivial aspects of life, belief is not so easy.

Belief is an important part of our lives. The challenge is in the discernment — making wise choices about what to believe.

[PS: Travel through Israel with Tony here.]

A blog about blogging

Online editor Bruce Gourley urged me for years to add a blog to the Baptists Today website. He found an ally when Tony Cartledge became a contributing editor.

Tony had been blogging as editor of the Biblical Recorder in North Carolina. So he was ready to keep writing web logs.

I reluctantly agreed to write two blogs a week. Tony suggested that I do them on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. (Math never was my strong suit, so I fell for it.)

Alternating blogs with Tony has been an enjoyable experience over the past couple of years. He is more faithful than me to post new material even in the midst of vacations or other travel.

Here are a few observations about this unique communications outlet that has gained some of my attention since Aug. 14, 2007.

One, blogging three times a week is the maximum. My original goal of two would be preferred. My friend Ed Grisamore, a newspaper columnist, tried a daily blog. It lasted for a year before burnout got him. Now he is back at a more reasonable pace.

Two, blogging is a lot like preaching. Sometimes you have something to say and sometimes you just have to say something. (Like today when a publishing deadline is breathing down my neck.)

Three, the feedback, even when limited is appreciated. It is interesting that responses come in the form of posted remarks, private emails and discussion in other online forums.

There is also joy in bumping into people who tell me they read the blog regularly but have never responded.

So many thanks to all who visit this blog regularly and occasionally. I enjoy this creative outlet (on most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) and appreciate those who dare to respond.

Especially, I'm grateful for those who post responses to my blog — even those who think I'm Tony, or post in Chinese, or strongly disagree with my conclusions. Even my friend in Collinsville, Ala., who always tells me what to read and do — just in case all my ideas have dried up.

How we work today

With widespread Internet access and hand-held communication devices, the good news is many of can work just about anytime and anyplace.

The bad news, of course, is that we can work just about anytime and anyplace.

One summer, as a mid-teen, I was offered work salvaging building materials. The long-haired Vietnam vet who hired me would buy and tear down old government buildings to sell the lumber, copper, windows, doors and other usable materials.

Two strapping men — about twice my age and size — were already on the job. They could swing sledgehammers, back out nails and stack reclaimed materials at blazing speed.

So at the end of the first day, my new employer — who paid those two men a whopping $3 an hour — told me I was worth about $1.50 an hour to him. My self-esteem crashed.

In hindsight, however, I saw his point. He was not talking about my value as a human being, but my value to his business. The other guys could simply produce more of what he needed in a given hour.

Though I have worked many jobs at an hourly wage, my professional career has been salary based. But, even then, success was often measured by the number of hours “at work.”

The late pastor Brantley Seymour, with whom I worked at the First Baptist Church of Roswell, Ga., in the summer of 1978, taught me much. He had a gifted staff of creative and capable ministers.

“I never tell a professional to get to work,” Brantley told me one day. “Professionals should be self-starters.”

A professional who is lazy, undependable or irresponsible should no longer be an employee, he explained. As a recent college graduate headed to seminary, I took his point to heart.

Over the years, my own supervisory style has become one that focuses on effectiveness, efficiency and productivity over busyness. And my personal approach to work causes me to be more demanding of myself than those to whom I am accountable.

But advanced communications technology is impacting the daily work habits of many in ways not previously known. It creates both wonderful opportunities — as well as new challenges.

Instant communication increases the expectation that a message — regardless of what day or time of day it is sent — deserves an immediate response. And, even when “off” from work, it is hard for many of us to have devices like BlackBerrys out of our reach.

Cell phone and email messages are often a mixture of personal and professional correspondence — making it hard to give attention to one while ignoring the other.

So the lines between work and personal time get blurred — requiring our careful attention to finding the right balance in our daily lives. Even vacations — times that refresh us to be more productive workers — can get cluttered with attention to work no matter how far we roam from home.

Yet being able to work in coffee shops, or airports (as I’m doing at this moment), or late at night in the comfort of a recliner is a great advantage. But it does seem filled with potential for abuse.

Being keenly aware of this dilemma created by growing communication technology and seeking a proper balance in our management of time seem to be the right course of action to me.

But for those who don’t clock in at 9 and out at 5 on weekdays — or can leave work behind on evenings and weekends — there is more consideration to be given to the important question of how we work. Everything from health to priorities becomes part of the equation.

What does "M Night" mean to you?

Suppose you have made it to "Final Jeopardy" and the answer is "M Night." What would you scribble down as your question?

Alex Trebek would nod approvingly if you offered: "Who is the Indian-American writer and director of such films as The Sixth Sense?" (That would be M. Night Shyamalan.)

But "M Night" means "Mirth, Music, Mondays and Merrymaking" (see photo) to those who gather at the Yellow Deli in Chattanooga for weekly Israeli folk dancing. (If you're not into Israeli folk dancing, just show up anytime for a great sandwich and papaya juice, and to gaze at the '60s-'70s inspired decor.)

But for those of us bred in the deepest traditions of Southern Baptist life, "M Night" — no matter how widely used today — means only one thing.

Associations of Southern Baptist churches would host an annual event called "M (Mobilization) Night" that brought out the competitive nature of neighboring congregations unlike anything other than church-league softball.

Tied to Sunday evening educational programs (known as Training Union and then Discipleship Training, with roots in BYPU), congregations rallied to be well represented at the annual event — and, ultimately, to bring home the M Night banner that would be proudly displayed on a church wall until the next M Night when they would have to defend the crown.

For example, the Oct. 29, 1971 edition of the Rome News-Tribune reported that the Floyd County Baptist Association drew nearly 1,000 persons to the First Baptist Church of Rome, Ga., for the annual M Night.

Park Avenue Baptist Church took home the banner with 80 members in attendance. And Mount Vernon Baptist Church was recognized for having 33 percent of its Church Training members present.

Oh, it was a different time and place. But for those of us who grew up in such environments, the mark never leaves us.

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, you were probably raised Southern Baptist if "M Night" means going to an annual association meeting.

Or:

-If Saturday nights involved polishing shoes and studying Sunday school lessons.

-If you made ashtrays in Vacation Bible School that lasted for two weeks each summer.

-If you measured your faithfulness in terms of the little boxes you could check on your offering envelope each Sunday.

-If you've heard hundreds of different persons pray that God would "lead, guide and direct us."

-If as a young person you "rededicated your life" occasionally on Sunday morning for something you did (or thought about doing) on Saturday night.

Deleting millions

Some people send me the nicest emails. Like Rosemary, who addressed me as “dearest one,” and James who called me “beloved friend.”

Although we’ve never met, they trust me to be “a good, honest and reliable person” and seek my trust in return. They also prayed and sensed divine direction before contacting me.

Rosemary’s late father was a wealthy gold and diamond dealer in Sierra Leone who was poisoned by a business associate. She wants me to have 20 percent of the more than $18 million dollars her father left in a secret bank account.

James, a 58-year-old widower suffering from brain cancer, wants me to have the same percentage of his more than $10 million dollars being held in the Ivory Coast. His email assured that he is a “true Christian.”

Getting this money into my hands is his last wish. Such generosity astounds me.

Unbelievably, Rosemary and James are not alone. Such opportunities come often.

Yet, week after week, I keep deleting these offers — even after taking my daughter to the orthodontist and hearing the price of braces.

But money is not everything. Just the nice things they say about me in their emails make me feel special. I’m sure they would not send such sweet words and offers of easy wealth to just anyone.